Straight From The Hart

This is a heads-up to all my readers that I am planning to write a novel.  All best-selling novels contain unforgettable and quotable dialogue and mine will be no different.  I already have the dialogue down pat, but I’m still working on the plot. The dialogue goes this way.  First of all the protagonist will say “You can keep your doctor, period.  You can keep your hospital, period.  You can keep your policy, period.” I’m going to use the word “period” so emphatically  because I want to stress how absolute and immutable these promises are. Then he will say, “All of this will not add one thin dime to our national debt.” I will also have an antagonist with a memorable line of dialogue:  "....the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because some guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?” Then I’m thinking perhaps we could have a series of scandals

Monday will be Memorial Day.  The mere mention  of the holiday generates swirls of memories in my mind.  Our observance of the day has probably undergone more changes in the seven decades I have lived than any other holiday we have throughout the year.  Tradition tells us it started as a way to honor the Civil War dead, but soon included all military graves, and now we decorate the graves of friends and family, too. Graves have been replaced by urns containing  ashes, and today many people have memorial services instead of funerals.  I’m not making a judgment with regard to that, just recognizing that once again things that were familiar to me so long ago are becoming more rare today,  like the fact that it is mostly the older generation who now decorates the graves. My Grandma Dame always called it Decoration Day.  That was back when we observed it on May 30, regardless of what day  of the week it fell on.   I  dislike the fact that it was changed in 1968 to the last Mo

Straight From The Hart By Joan Rowden Hart I have always been fascinated by the study of our U.S. Constitution. In the fall of 1991, I sat transfixed in front of my television set during the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas who had been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush to replace Justice Thurgood Marshall.  The hearings lasted for hours and into the next day if I recall, and I was fascinated by the profundity of the arguments and testimony.  I was then, and remain today, a steadfast supporter of Justice Thomas. But even before then, in the spring of 1988, I served as a delegate to the Jefferson Meeting, a bi-partisan non-advocacy debate of issues concerning the Constitution sponsored by the Missouri Press-Bar Commission in Jefferson City. The Jefferson Meeting’s format is based on the original Constitutional Convention and it is an open public debate.  I was designated one of the group speakers in the category concerning jud

I will never forget the day a young Lebanon business owner came up to me with tears in his eyes to confess that for some time he had “harbored resentment” against the people of Lebanon, his home town, after returning from Viet Nam because no one, other than family members, had acknowledged his service in any way. He went on to say that “Today, for the first time the load is lifted and I feel a peace in my heart which I never had before.” That “day” was July 21, 1984,and we had just concluded a special service remembering those still held Prisoner of War or Missing in Action, while also honoring our local Viet Nam veterans, those who had returned as well as those who had made the ultimate sacrifice. I had been working with Rusty Carmichael for several months prior to that time with regard to our MIAs and POWs.  Rusty was the Commander of District 8 VFW State POW/MIA Awareness Chairman at the time. So I approached leaders in the local VFW, American Legion, and Disabled American V

Is Barack Obama simply too busy to be Chief Executive of the United States?  Apparently.  One of the primary functions of the president is to keep the nation safe, to preserve it from its enemies.  To do that effectively, one would actually have to maintain something of a consistent level of attention to the moving pieces that directly influence how future events will unfold. None other than the truly sycophantic thinks for a second that President Obama cares a whit for anything that does not involve fundamentally altering the social composition of this country.  Or golf.  During the five-plus years that we have been without a real president, meaning one who actually was aware of all aspects of the position and tried, even just a little, to perform them, everything that was predicted to occur during his tenure has materialized.  We are weaker, less respected, less feared, less liked and, well, just less.  No surprise there, really.  Conservatives had this guy figured out early in the

THE EAGLE BOWS ITS HEAD (NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER 2014) America goes to prayer today So many souls to cover The Holy Spirit awaits close by Around us all to hover Men and women in uniform Risking life and limb Hoping for prayers from folks back home Knowing God and trusting Him Flags were not made for caskets Flags were made for flying But when we fail to hold it high It covers those who are dying. Red, white and blue are colors true Blood shed, while loyalty waivers When men and women are willing to fight We ask God to bless their endeavors And over it all the eagle flies Proud bird of a once great nation But when the eagle bows its head He's praying for our salvation For when the eagle soaring high Eyes bright, its pinions spread Sees no respect for those who serve The eagle bows its head. Poem Copyright by Joan Hart May 1, 2014 - Credit for photo unknown.