zashin's Open Salon Blog

I Don't Mind "the Gays,"

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 21:12:17 -0500

Rules for "right" leaning politicians:

1. Remove left foot from mouth

2. Take a deep cleansing breath

3. Insert right foot into mouth (your own mouth, Sen. Craig! your own!)

4. Repeat

What's that you say? Gay rights in conservative Utah? Home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints headquarters? Yep. Finally, the city of salt, Salt Lake City, has become the first city in Utah to adopt gay right measures that barrs landlords and employers from discriminating based on sexuality and the church itself is supporting the measure. A small glimmer of hope and light as the church also is backing a similar statewide measure. Can I get an Amen?

The measure has even been supported by Senator Chris Buttars who has switched feet in his mouth enough times to have athlete's foot of the mouth. Last year, the NAACP called for his resignation because of his comments about a controversial bill: "This baby is black, I'll tell you, said Buttars. "This is a dark and ugly thing."

On the subject of gays, male and female, he can also be quoted as saying gays are: "the greatest threat to America going down." "I believe they will destroy the foundation of the American society",he said in February. "In my mind, it's the beginning of the end. Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide."

I guess he must be softening up as evidenced by his latest statement on homosexuals to the press as he was explaining why he opposes their being able to adopt: "I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don't mind gays. But I don't want 'em stuffing it down my throat all the time. Certainly not in my kid's face."

We can only assume that he does actually come up for air in between changing feet, but then an oxygen-starved brain would explain alot!

A Little Perspective

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:11:49 -0500

Remember in Men In Black how the planet the cockroach alien was looking for was encased in a marble dangling from the cat, Orion's, collar? It's mind boggling to truly consider an entire planet, let alone an entire universe, containing all we know our planet and universe to contain, so small that it would fit inside a marble. Yet after watching this video narrated by Carl Sagan, that is how small I feel. It also makes me wonder even more than I did before, just what all this fighting is for............

Hang Them and Dump Them In The Ocean, She Cried

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:11:07 -0500

Recently an ultra-conservative niece commented on her Facebook status “How can OUR president even THINK of having the 9/11 terrorists tried on OUR soil in NYC? Maybe we should ask Obama if he wants to Live in NY while the trial is going on? How does he look at himself in the mirror at night?”

This, of course, brought on the comments, on both sides of the fence, but the comments that have been playing in my head were from the first two commenters. The first commenter asked question “Where else would you have them tried?”, a fair question and the second scoffed at the issue altogether saying “Ha ha ha ha. LMAO at you two. This one's not even worth debating. Who cares where the trial is? I was thinking New York was actually kind of appropriate. Give people there some satisfacation that justice prevails and all.”

My nieces’ stance is “Not in america! Especially not amoung the families of the victims of 9 11 so the misery is spread out 4 another 8 years,. We should just hang them and dump them in the ocean without a trial at all!”

I can certainly understand her sentiment but what she does not seem to be thinking about and it would seem her commenters are not either is that where a trial takes place is indeed important. That and the fact that no matter the charges and the guilt or innocence of the accused there must always be a respect for the due process of justice. Or there will be no justice, now or in the future. If we throw it all out the window for this particular trial and simply prosecute without a trial, without due process, we then open the door for anarchy.

My niece also makes the comment that “These dogs do not deserve the same rights as citizens of the US, THEY are not!” True enough. They do not deserve the same rights as US citizens, but this is not about individual rights. It’s about preserving justice and liberty for all humankind. No matter how heinous a crime may be and no matter how clear cut an accuseds guilt may be, if you don’t follow the laws of justice once it only becomes harder and harder to maintain order and justice down the road.

Where a trial is held becomes as important as any other element of the judicial process. The thought of these trials being overthrown down the road for some minor issue that in anyway can be attributed to the fact they were held on American soil is definitely not a pleasant thought. Cases get overturned for minor things quite often. This is the basis on which I agree with her that perhaps America is not the right place for the trials. What place is best suited is a very tough decision indeed as unfair bias can certainly go both ways and I have no answers or suggestions for that.

What I do know is that should I or anyone I care about ever be accused of any crime, guilty or innocent, here in America or in any other country, is that I want to have all aspects of a fair and just trial to be in place and not thrown away because we let our emotions rule the day.

NFL's Josh Cribbs Shows Real Class

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:11:51 -0500

I couldn't help think of an excerpt from JK Brady's post Gratitude? Pffft. Why Bother? when I read a story on the Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Cribbs. The excerpt reads: "If our heart is true, we seek no acknowledgement of any kind. The simple act of giving is the gift in itself. And it is a gift back to the universe for blessings received. That is all that is required when you are keeping the ego out of the equation."

I imagine many at this point will be thinking "What stupid thing did this NFL athlete do?", and I am glad to say "Nothing!", with a big smile. Very quietly with no fanfare, no alerting the media, "Hey, look at me, doing this nice thing over here!", Josh Cribbs did a very nice thing, giving his time and his presence to the son of late coach Mike Drake, who died in 2005 of lymphoma.

Coach Drake recruited Cribbs to Kent State and was the offensive coordinator for the Golden Flashes during Cribbs's freshman and sophomore seasons.

On October 30, Josh Cribbs showed up to walk Michael Drake, a senior receiver at Stow High School in Berea, OH, onto the field on Senior Night. Michael had no idea that Cribbs would be there let alone walk him onto the field. 'I looked, then looked away, then said, "Why are you here?'' Michael recalled. ''I was shocked.''

Cribbs also offered Michael some advice. "He said, 'Play your heart out. This is it. Give it your all. Don't ever stop on any play. Keep pushing','' Michael said. ''I almost felt worried. I didn't want to look bad for him."

A report in the November 14th issue of the Akron Beacon Journal is the first it's been mentioned. Michael Drake's mother is quoted in the piece as saying that Cribbs took great pains to underplay his presence at the game for fear of taking away the spotlight from Michael and the other seniors. This shows a humility that other professional football players could sometimes stand to emulate.

Josh Cribbs has shown his heart to be true and he did it with a class of character not seen enough of in the world today.

France Says Thank You

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:11:32 -0500

Nelson Rolph stands in Nice, France, during a parade in the summer of 1945 after victory was declared. - photo courtesy of Nelson Rolph

I've been kicking around this story in my head and today, being Veteran's Day, is as appropriate a day as any.

In the small Utah town of Stockton, close to where I live now and where I did live for 5 years lives a man who fought on the front lines of World War II. Nelson Rolph. Rolph was sent to Southern France when he was 18 after being drafted in October of 1943 and the terrible thing that is war is remembered by him still these sixty-four years later.

His story was brought to life for me in our local paper a couple of months ago. Say Rolph: “I had never been away from home all my life, the farthest I had been was a couple hundred miles into Indiana. I had no idea what was going to happen. They just draft you. They don’t tell you where you are going until you are practically there.”

When he and his fellow soldiers disembarked in Naples, Italy they were sent to France with orders to liberate France from the Germans. “Basically we were to put constant pressure on the enemy so they would have one of three things to do: retreat, stay and fight or surrender,” Rolph said. “Each soldier has the responsibility to do what he’s been ordered to do the best he can.”

Rolph fought in many battles, big and small, during his time there and saw his comrads be killed around him. He recalls one battle where the Germans were attacking his platoon “As a platoon sergeant I checked to see if all my men were accounted for,” Rolph said. “They were, except for a soldier by the name of Carpenter. During the shelling we started pushing them back, but then they zeroed all of their artillery in on us and really poured it on. A shell hit Carpenter directly and blew his body up into a tree. Things like this happened all the time. It’s hard but you can’t let the emotion get to you because you’ve got to continue on.”

He recounts another battle where he should have lost his own life: “I remember we were in the Vogue Mountains and a soldier and I were trying to locate the Germans shooting at us from somewhere up a trail,” Rolph said. “You don’t walk on the trail, you walk on the side of it because they’ve got guns, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to get hit anyway. We were trying to locate the shooter. I was on one side of the trail and [my friend] was on the other. A shot rang out. I looked at my friend as he was falling. He didn’t need a medic. He was killed right there. The Germans had their sight set on him and not me. I was lucky. I felt good that it wasn’t me, but felt bad that he got shot.”

After two years of cold and rain, death and carnage all around him he returned home having played his part in helping to free France. Now, 64 years later, he turned his attention to renewing contacts with the people he helped in France and with the help of his son, Dan, he has done just that. Says Rolph: “My son Dan is a historian with the Pennsylvania Historical Society and one day I said to him, ‘Why don’t you see what you can find out about the areas I served in in Southern France. During his research he met a Frenchman by the name of Gerome Villain, who was also looking for information about the men who had liberated his hometown.”

Gerome Villain and Nelson Rolph exchanged letters, photos, and historical information, then this past July, Rolph was honored to received a diploma from the French government thanking him for his services six decades ago. The diploma reads:

“Dear Sir, it is my pleasure and my honor to bestow upon you the official diploma of France. France has decided to honor veterans worldwide who fought for the liberty of our souls between 1944 and 1945. This diploma acknowledges how deeply the people of France feel with gratitude and generosity for all allied soldiers whose sacrifice brought victory and freedom to Europe and ultimately the glorious ending of WW II. Please be assured that France, through this token of memory and recognition hold profoundly to heart the unfailing friendship between her people and the people of the United States.”

Says Rolph: “When I was there I wasn’t concerned about receiving medals or honors, I was just trying to do my job and save as many lives as I could. A lot of people don’t want to talk about the war. It doesn’t bother me to talk about the war even though I saw a lot of close friends lose their lives. That’s war. It happened and I think it’s important to talk about it.”

Nelson Rolph points to photos and a birthday card he received from Gerome Villain, a resident in southern France who Rolph began corresponding with after both men were looking for more information about World War II in southern France. - photography / Maegan Burr / Tooele Transcript