Donald Rumsfeld and the Ranger's Widow

     The Tacoma News Tribune reports that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been on a tour to promote his memoir, "Known and Unknown." On Friday, August 26, 2011, two people were expelled from his book signing at the Joint Base Lewis-McCord PX.

     Five to six security officers and military police officers led Ashley Joppa-Hageman, the widow of an Army Ranger who committed suicide at age 25, out of the book signing by the arm. Jorge Gonzalez, the executive director of the  anti-war group known as "Coffee Strong," was also removed from the book signing.

     According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Ms. Joppa-Hageman approached Ms. Rumsfeld with a program for her late husband's funeral. She told Mr. Rumsfeld that her husband had joined the army because he believed Mr. Rumsfeld's lies about fighting for justice for September 11th and about Saddam Hussein's regime having weapons of mass destruction.

      Ms. Joppa-Hageman complained about her husband's frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. When she voiced her belief that her husband took his own life rather than go on another deployment to Afghanistan, Mr. Rumself replied "callously" that he had heard about it.

     Shortly thereafter, Ms. Joppa-Hageman and Mr. Gonzalez were escorted out of the book signing and told not to come back. A spokesman for Joint Base Lewis McCord stated that Ms. Joppa-Hageman and Mr. Gonzalez were "causing a minor disturbance."

     Should we have expected Mr. Rumseld to be "callous" to a grieving Ranger's widow?

     According to the Washington Post, soldiers at Camp Buehring, Kuwait voiced their complaints about the lack of armor, the stop loss and other issues to Mr. Rumsfeld on December 8, 2004.



      Donald Rumsfeld replied, "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

     This writer is a former military wife. My husband retired on December 31, 2009 after serving 21 years in the U.S. Army. I hope that complaining to the former Secretary of Defense will help heal Ms. Joppa-Hageman's broken heart. I thank Ms. Joppa-Hageman and Mr. Gonzales for speaking up for the soldiers, veterans and military families who suffered because of Donald Rumsfeld's actions. I'm sorry that the military police and security officers at Joint Base Lewis-McCord behaved in such a rude and an insensitive manner toward a fellow soldier's widow.

     

Young Street Bridge or Kurt Cobain's Bridge?

       On July 28, 2011, Aberdeen's City Council  voted 10-1 against renaming the North Aberdeen Bridge after the late Kurt Cobain. Many residents were opposed to renaming the bridge after Kurt Cobain because he was addicted to drugs, committed suicide and often made derogatory comments about his hometown. Instead, a small park near the Wishkah River will be named "Kurt Cobain Memorial Landing."

      An accomplished musician and songwriter, Kurt Cobain was the frontman for the grunge rock group, Nirvana. In the early 90's, 25 million copies of of Nirvana's albums were sold in the USA alone.   

      The council also voted not to make "Young Street Bridge" the official name of the North Aberdeen Bridge. For years, the bridge was called  "Young Street Bridge" after Alexander Young, a pioneer who founded Aberdeen's first sawmill. The sawmill was important because the economy of the Pacific Northwest depended heavily on the lumber industry in the 19th and 20th centuries.

      It is easy to understand why Aberdeen's city council voted not to rename the bridge after either man. Other cities have had problems when streets, bridges and other landmarks are named after heroes.When my husband was stationed at Fort Benning in the mid 90's, a problem occurred in Columbus, Georgia. Columbus' city council had voted to change the name of Thomas Jefferson Boulevard to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. After the street signs had been changed, the council decided that they were wrong. It isn't proper to honor one hero by disrespecting another. The council then voted to change all  "Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard" back to "Thomas Jefferson Boulevard."

      Many residents of Aberdeen believe that their city has already done enough to honor Kurt Cobain. The city's welcome sign includes the phrase, "Come as You Are," from Nirvana's Nevermind Album. A statue of an electric guitar was unveiled in a small park last April. A sign about Kurt Cobain stands in the same park.

      Yet people come from all over the world to see the bridge Kurt mentioned in his song, "Something in the Way." Tourists bring revenue. If Kurt Cobain made made negative comments about Aberdeen, he is still helping his hometown's economy by bringing in tourist dollars.

     Would naming the bridge after Kurt Cobain suggest to children that drug addiction is acceptable? Would naming a bridge after a person who committed suicide encourage others to commit suicide? Some people seem to think so. But they seem to lack compassion and to be rather judgmental. Alcoholism and drug addiction are diseases like cancer. Depression is also an illness. Would they have refused to name the bridge after Kurt Cobain if he had died of cancer?

    This Washingtonian prefers to remember Kurt for his musical genious rather than dwell his mistakes. Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh suffered from mental illness, abused absinthe and committed suicide at age 37. If we focus on Van Gogh's illness and shortcomings, we might miss the beauty of his masterpiece, "Starry Night on the Rhone." 

        

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah

     Eighty three degrees and without a raindrop in the sky! Washington's warm weather was so inviting that I couldn't resist taking my children on a trip to the beach.

     After crowding into my Jimmy, the kids and I took Interstate 5 south, the 101 west and then Route 8 toward the beach cities. As we entered the small town on the Olympic Peninsula where grunge rock's icon Kurt Cobain grew up, we passed a sign which stated, "Welcome to Aberdeen -- Come as You Are." We were enjoying lunch at a Subway sandwich shop near WalMart when I remembered reading that Nirvana's fans had erected a statue to honor Kurt on the seventeeth anniversary of his death.

     I had to see the statue and pay my respects to Kurt. More importantly, my teenage daughter, Kate, had to!

     We asked some locals for directions. They told us that Kurt's statue was located near a bridge by the cemetery. We drove across what appeared to be an ordinary overpass before we realized that it was the Young Street Bridge. Turning around, we crossed the winding river and entered a quiet neighborhood of older houses with colorful wooden siding. I parked the truck.

      At the entrance of the KC Waterfront Park stood a lifesize, concrete statue shaped to resemble a guitar that Nirvana's frontman once commissioned from Fender.

     Kurt Cobain lived two blocks away from the Young Street Bridge when he was a boy. The bridge became one of his favorite places to hang out. He claimed that he lived under the overpass for several days when he was 15. This experience inspired him to write his popular song, "Something in the Way."

     Someone painted the words "In Memoriam: From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" on the bridge's concrete support beam. Brightly-colored graffiti was spray-painted under the bridge. My kids were delighted by the rumble they heard when a motor vehicle drove across the overpass.

      People come from all parts of the world to pay tribute to Kurt Cobain. The small park near the Young Street Bridge is the only memorial for Kurt because his body was cremated. One third of his ashes were sprinkled into the Wishkah. A sign erected on the grassy knoll stated that Kurt's spirit flows with the river under the bridge twice daily.

     

Stuart Greenberg -- A Lesson on Morality

     Just how honest and moral are the psychologists and social workers who are appointed by the courts to serve as custody evaluators?

     On June 25, 2011, the Seattle Times ran a special report entitled "The Twisted Ethics of an Expert Witness." This report deals with the life and death of Stuart Greenberg, who served as an expert witness in the field of forensic psychology for the Washington courts.

     Stuart Greenberg had a Ph.D from the University of Southern California. He came to Seattle in 1979 when he was hired by the University of Washington to replace a psychology professor who had resigned. He earned a relatively modest salary as a teacher. After teaching for two years, he resigned and moved into private practice.

    Greenberg accepted positions as a child custody investigator, expert evaluator, arbiter, mediator and guardian ad litem. As a custody evaluator, he interviewed the parties involved in child custody battles and made recommendations to the court about which parent should have custody of a child. The courts usually followed his recommendations. His career flourished. This was partly because he was charismatic when testifying on the stand.

     In classrooms, at continuing education conferences and conventons across the country, Greenberg taught others how to be custody evaluators. One colleague later commented that his conferences were "the best he had ever attended." Another stated that he still uses Greenberg's forms for certain evaluations. Greenberg was the author of the national certification exam for his profession. Admired and respected by his peers, Greenberg was elected to be president of the American Board of Forensic Psychology in 2002-2003.

     But a hidden camera brought his career came to an abrupt end.

     In June 2007, Greenberg purchased a device that looked and sounded like an air purifier, but contained a hidden camera. He installed the hidden camera in his office's bathroom so that he could watch employees and clients use the toilet.

     It's easy to understand why his employees became suspicious. An "air purifier" was in use, but the bathroom still stunk. According to the Seattle Times, a female psychologist devised a test. On July 3, 2007, she placed an aerosol can in front of the camera to obstruct the view. Within 30 minutes, Greenberg entered the bathroom and closed the door. Caught on videotape, he adjusted the lens, stared into the camera, smiled and masturbated. After the videotape was found in Greenberg's VCR, the woman who had been filmed was alerted. Greenberg was arrested by the police that afternoon.

    The man was a voyeur. For purely selfish reasons, he disrespected his employees and clients by invading their privacy. To get a thrill, he filmed them while they were partially undressed and using the toilet. How long was Greenberg behaving in this sick and disgusting manner before he got caught?

     Did he abuse anyone else?
   
     A pervert should never have been allowed to make recommendations to the court about which parent should have custody of a child. Nor should he have been allowed to testify as an expert witness in sexual abuse cases. Because he was an abuser himself, his views might be slanted in favor of another abuser. This put innocent children at risk. A pervert should not have been allowed to work as a psychologist because he could have easily taken advantage of vulnerable clients. He did take advantage of vulnerable clients.

     We must enforce laws which prohibit perverts from taking advantage of unsuspecting people. I am grateful to the woman who reported Greenberg to the police because she protected his clients and employees from further abuse.

    Three weeks after his arrest, Stuart Greenberg committed suicide.

     According to the Seattle Times, the Washington courts spent three years studying through the damage that Greenberg left behind. I believe that this was the right thing to do. Because the courts relied on Greenberg's recommendations to make rulings, the courts have the responsibility of making sure that innocent children were not harmed by these rulings. If Greenberg's recommendations were tainted, the courts should make sure that no parent was wrongfully deprived of custody of or visitation rights to a child. The courts should take steps to correct any damage. 

     The Seattle Times went through the trouble of unsealing court records and disciplinary actions against Greenberg. These records suggest that Greenberg was not as fair and impartial as he should have been. Why didn't Washington's Examining Board of Psychology realize that something was amiss before the incident involving the hidden camera?

     I will close with a quotation made by historian and moralist Lord Acton in 1887:  "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."


  

No Comment

     Yesterday I mentioned that there are certain people I do not want to post comments here.  Rebeckah/Rianya is one of them. OftenLate/Huesos is another one of them.
     This is my blog. I reserve the right to choose who may and may not post comments here.

The Vulture and California Jim

     I have a friend who calls himself the Vulture. He is a Christian Libertarian. Sometimes he writes about Warren Jeffs and the raid of the Yearning for Zion Ranch, but his blog is mostly about politics.

     The Vulture took the unpopular position that it is better to let Warren Jeffs go free than to compromise our Fourth Amendment rights regarding search and seizure laws. This did not set well with the folks at the Texas FLDS website who despise polygamy. The Vulture annoyed an antipolygamy activist who calls himself California Jim. California Jim just happens to be a friend of TexasBluesMan, whose lawsuit against Modern Pharisee, Bill Medvecky and others was recently dismisssed for lack of prosecution.

     A few weeks ago, California Jim started posting comments on the Vulture's blog. At first, I thought Jim was lonely and wanted to socialize with us. I'm open-minded. I'm willing to socialize with an antipolygamy activist if he's polite and civil to me. But California Jim's comments were full of antipolygamy rhetoric and were aimed at discrediting the Vulture. Jim couldn't resist defending his old buddy, TexasBluesMan.

     I asked the Vulture why he permitted Jimmy and other like-minded people to post comments on his blog. The Vulture explained to me that the folks at Texas FLDS website delete comments posted by people who don't share their views. They also delete comments posted by people they dislike. He said they had accused him of deleting comments on his blog, just as they delete comments on their site. The Vulture has higher principles. He allows California Jim to post comments on his blog to prove that Jim's pals at the Texas FLDS website are wrong.  

     At first, California Jim's arguments seemed to liven up the Vulture's blog. I'll be the first to admit that bickering with him was fun. After awhile, it got boring. California Jim seemed to take over the Vulture's blog. His comments dominated the conversation. They didn't seem to be on topic with the articles the Vulture had written. While I admire the Vulture for sticking to his principles, I feel that California Jim is taking advantage of the Vulture and using the Vulture's blog to promote his own antipolygamy agenda.

     I read the Vulture's blog because I want to read what the Vulture has to say. If I want to read what California Jim has to say, I'd go to the Texas FLDS website.

     When people with different opinions can discuss a subject in a civil manner, the conversation can be interesting. People with different opinions can learn from each other. Sometimes a thought-provoking debate  can be fun and entertaining. But personal attacks should be avoided. Arguing is counterproductive if the parties involved become rude and hostile to each other.

     So I can't promise that I won't delete a comment posted by someone who disagrees with me. I won't allow an opponent to dominate the converastion because this is my blog. I'll be honest. There are certain people I do not want to comment on my blog. If you don't like me, feel free to start your own blog.

     I can promise that I will try to be polite and courteous to my readers. I will also try to be civil to anyone who posts a comment. I will not make a blog entry if I'm angry. Keep thinking happy, positive thoughts!

Welcome

Dear Friends:

I decided to start my own blog because I want to share my thoughts and feelings. I'll call my blog "Pearls"  with the hope that every entry will be a pearl of wisdom I can share with my readers. Maybe... just maybe... I learned something during the half century I've been on this planet.

I have several friends who blog. I like to think I've learned from their experiences. I'll share a little bit about what I've learned from them to help readers understand the rules I'd like to follow.

Modern Pharisee is a friend of mine. Modern Pharisee told me that, some time ago, a person using the screen name "TexasBluesMan" copied a photo of his stepdaughter on her My Space account and posted it at the TexasFLDS website. Then the people who frequent the TexasFLDS website posted derogatory comments about her.

I'm sure you'll agree that TexasBluesMan's behavior was rather childish and cruel. Modern Pharisee's stepdaughter was a college student. She had absolutely nothing to do with the FLDS. What right did the folks at the TexasFLDS site have to try to humiliate or embarass her? TexasBluesMan and his followers attacked an innocent young woman simply because her stepfather had a blog in which he expressed an opinion that differed from theirs. It was a despicable thing to do. 

Modern Pharisee flew into a rage when he saw what TexasBluesMan had done. I don't blame him. I would have been outraged if someone tried to hurt my children like that too. Modern Pharisee and several of his friends used TexasBluesMan's IP address to identify him. When they identified him, they also learned his place of  employment. Modern Pharisee made a few phone calls to TexasBluesMan's superiors and told them what TBM had done.

My friend, Bill Medvecky, also wrote a letter of complaint to the employer.

To make a long story short, the person whom Modern Pharisee identified as TexasBluesMan got fired.

The person whom Modern Pharisee identified as TexasBluesMan got angry. After all, he lost his job. He hired an attorney named Natalie Malonis to file a lawsuit against Modern Pharisee and those who helped to out him. Seeking monetary damages, they claimed that Modern Pharisee had incorrectly identified him as TexasBluesMan. He and Ms.Malonis obtained a restraining order to bar Modern Pharisee and several other bloggers from writing about him.

A few months later, a judge in Texas dismissed the lawsuit for lack of prosescution. I was thrilled for Modern Pharisee and his stepdaughter.

The moral of the story is to be kind. I don't want to get into a nasty dispute with anyone. If you disagree with me, let's try to be civil toward each other. Don't attack my children, and I won't attack yours. I won't out you if you don't out me. Let's be kind.