On April 30 the United States of America will be remembering, or totally ignoring, what is likely the most reprehensible, shameful act of cowardice by the US government in the history of our republic.

On that day the US Senate and House of Representatives, abetted by the president of the United States, Gerald Ford, completed the treasonous task of turning their backs on our long-time ally, South Vietnam, as it fell to invading communist forces. The collective inaction of the legislative and executive branches enabled, encouraged even, a communist onslaught that left millions of Southeast Asians butchered, enslaved, tortured or homeless.

The death toll was staggering as communists in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia slaughtered millions in retribution for their decades of opposition to the communist "utopia." Obviously, that version of population control was favored not just by the murderous communist hordes, but by their supporters in the US Congress, State Department, executive branch, and most certainly the media, as evidenced by their acquiescence, even as the murders rose to a level that could no longer be ignored or hidden from the public.

Those westerners who bought into the wonders of communism should take their place alongside Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, the Castro brothers, and Che Guevara as accessories to one of the most atrocious mass exterminations of the 20^th Century. Members of Congress who voted in favor of the Case-Church Amendment in 1973, cutting off military aid to South Vietnam and negating the just-signed Paris Peace Accords, and those who also voted in 1974 for the Foreign Assistance Act, reinforcing the cessation of aid to the south, are accessories to murder, nothing less.

And speaking of the media, it is highly unlikely that the truth of the fall of Saigon will be told by any of the so-called "mainstream" media outlets this week, mainstream being a euphemism for communist propagandists. Instead, to deflect attention from its complicity in the holocaust it helped create, the media in the mid-1970s propagated the myth of the disaffected Vietnam veteran, the shaggily dressed, hollow-eyed baby killer who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress as a result of the alleged (and for the most part fictional) atrocities he committed in the war.

For the record, once again, the US military never lost a single major engagement in the entire Vietnam War, was instrumental in keeping South Vietnam free for nearly two decades, and wiped out the entire military arm of the Viet Cong, as well annihilating the North Vietnamese communist army twice over. That accomplishment alone speaks to the cold calculatedness of the communist leaders who fed entire generations of conscripts into their war machine, only to die as their leaders waited for the western politicians to tire of the war and disengage.

On the US side, Army Gen. William Westmoreland was at the helm of the free-world armed forces for much of the early part of the war including the Tet Offensive of 1968 when an estimated 75,000 Viet Cong communist guerrillas supported by North Vietnamese main force troops attacked across the south. Virtually the entire attacking force was annihilated in just over a week, losing nearly 40,000 guerrillas killed in action, along with more than 20,000 North Vietnamese communist troops.

Tet 1968 was a crushing defeat for the communists and should have reinvigorated the American public in seeking a full military victory, which certainly was within sight. However, the American media, frantic that their dream of world communism was crumbling, hastened to Vietnam, led by Walter Cronkite, who was referred to as "the most trusted man in America," but in reality was a communist propagandist.

Cronkite, in late February 1968, standing in the rubble of the crushed communist offensive, called the war "a stalemate" and told his viewers back home that a negotiated settlement was the only possible outcome. To put it bluntly, Mr. Trusted Man lied through his teeth, and as such was directly responsible for the ultimate orgy of death that befell Southeast Asia.

Nonetheless, from that point on, after a year of continuing US and allied successes on the battlefield, the war was gradually turned over to the South Vietnamese. Their army, far improved and battle hardened compared to the early years, won the biggest battle of the war when they defeated an all out invasion by the North Vietnamese communists in the spring of 1972. Out of 250,000 communist invaders, an estimated 75,000 to 150,000 were killed in action and half of all the communists' armor and artillery was destroyed.

As a result of their crushing 1972 defeat the northern communists fired their top general, Vo Nguyen Giap, and placed him under house arrest. So how did the south fall only three years later? Perhaps a timeline of events relating to the Vietnam War will help in understanding what occurred there.

1862 – France begins occupation of Vietnam as a colonial power.

1920s – 1930s – Nationalist movements, encouraged by world communists begin organized opposition to French occupation. Ho Chi Minh is a minor player at this point, but ultimately outlasts those above him who are killed or imprisoned.

1941 – Japanese invade Indochina leaving the French bureaucracy in place to administer the country until 1944 when Japan takes full control.

1945 – Japan surrenders to western powers, and French forces return to power.

1945 – The Viet Minh, under control of Ho Chi Minh, assassinate leaders of rival groups, leaving the Viet Minh as the dominant communist organization in Vietnam.

1946 – Ho Chi Minh petitions American President Harry S. Truman for support for Vietnamese independence. Truman does not respond; guerrilla war breaks out.

1950 – United States establishes Military Advisory Assistance Group (MAAG) Vietnam.

1954 – France loses major battle to Chinese trained and equipped Viet Minh forces at Dien Bien Phu; loss leads to France ultimately leaving Vietnam. From end of WWII to mid-1954 the Viet Minh assassinate an estimated 150,000 Vietnamese civilians.

1954 – Geneva Accords conclude between France and the Viet Minh. More than 1 million North Vietnamese flee to the democratic South; far smaller numbers move north. Viet Minh prevent some 2 million more Vietnamese from moving to the south. Estimated 180,000 northerners are assassinated for being land owners, or landlords.

1956 – Reunification elections claimed by communists but not agreed to by US or South Vietnam are not held. Viet Minh cadre who had stayed in the south renew guerrilla attacks, aided by North Vietnamese regulars.

1956-1961 – MAAG Vietnam continues to expand; South Vietnam creates, expands and modernizes its armed forces.

1961-1962 – Major expansion of US troop levels in Vietnam. MAAG evolves into US Military Assistance Command Vietnam – MACV.

1962 – Agreement on Laotian Neutrality. This agreement removed Laos from the protective shield of the South East Asian Treaty Organization, and ties the military's hands in future fighting. US leaves Laos, but communist forces remain and begin expanding the Ho Chi Minh trail. US forces are largely prohibited from entering Laos to block NVA throughout the war.

1964 – Gulf of Tonkin incident; attack by North Vietnamese navy patrol craft against US destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy. President Lyndon Johnson uses the attack as a pretext to expand US military involvement in Vietnam to offset the already expanded presence of North Vietnamese main line communist units.

March 1965 – 9^th Marine Regiment and supporting units land at Da Nang in major escalation of US military role.

1965-1968 – US forces take over major ground and air combat operations. Army and Marine infantry units decimate Viet Cong and NVA forces in pitched battles throughout the period, while also fighting elusive enemy forces in guerrilla operations. Operation Rolling Thunder is launched; US Air Force begins bombing North Vietnamese ammunition facilities, power plants, storage facilities, air fields and factories. US Naval and Marine aircraft also take part in Rolling Thunder which begins in March 1965 and continues until October 1968. Total of 900 US aircraft are lost to what becomes the most sophisticated air defenses in the world.

February 1968 – Communists launch Tet Offensive across South Vietnam. Viet Cong assisted by North Vietnamese regulars attack cities and regional capitals and are crushed by allied forces. Estimated 40,000 VC killed along with 20,000 NVA

January-April 1968 – 40,000 NVA surround US Marine base at Khe Sanh, attempting repeat of French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. After months of shelling, repelled by counter-battery fire and massive air strikes NVA withdraw. Estimated communist losses – 15,000 troops.

February-March 1968 – NVA division infiltrates undefended Hue City, selecting civilians by name and occupation, killing 8,000 of them and their families before being defeated by US Marines and ARVN forces.

1969 – Responding to political pressure and abysmal knowledge of military matters, President Nixon announces beginning of troop withdrawals. Later announces "Vietnamization" policy, whereby southern forces take over their own defense.

Spring 1972 – Communist forces launch all-out invasion of the south, with estimated 250,000 troops including major armor and artillery units. Only 10,000 US combat troops remain in Vietnam most ready to deploy back to US in coming months. South Vietnamese ground units bear the brunt of the battle. After months of bitter fighting, southern forces, backed by US air power, rout the north. 75,000 to 150,000 northern troops killed in action; half of all armor and artillery destroyed. US 7th Air Force and Navy aircraft launch Operation Linebacker in support of South Vietnamese. Linebacker runs from May to October and in conjunction with South Vietnamese ground forces is instrumental at preventing Northern victory over South Vietnam. North Vietnam's bosses fire their top military leader, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap and place him under house arrest.
December 1972  - Operation Linebacker II bombing of North Vietnam forces communists to agree to US positions at Paris peace talks. US President Richard Nixon wants an accord before the new, Democrat dominated Congress convenes in January.

January 1973 – North Vietnam, South Vietnam and US agree to Paris Peace Accords, ending all fighting.

March 1973 – Last US troops leave Vietnam. Henry Kissinger claims all US prisoners of war have come home, neglecting to mention an estimated 300 American flight crews and pilots being held in Laos. These troops never come home.

June 1973 – US Congress passes Case-Church Amendment halting military aid to South Vietnam, contradicting promises President Nixon made to South Vietnamese. Amendment effectively negates the Paris Peace Accords for South Vietnam.

August 9, 1974 – Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United States.

October 1974 – Congress passes Foreign Assistance Act, again denying aid to South Vietnam.

December 1974-January 1975 – North Vietnam begins invading outlying provinces in the south. Invasion escalates as US politicians refuse to reconsider helping the south.

Spring 1975 – All-out communist invasion of the south. Province after province falls as US refuses to help the south, or to retaliate for blatant violation of Paris Peace Accord.

April 17, 1975 – Cambodia falls to communists.

April 23, 1975 – President Ford announces to cheering students at Tulane University that as far as America is concerned, “the war is over.”

April 30, 1975 – Saigon falls.

December 1975 – Laos falls to communists.

1975-1990 – Communist retributions against South Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian citizens lead to the deaths of more than 3 million people. Communist Vietnamese establish concentration camps, euphemistically referred to as "reeducation camps" by the American media, in which more than 1 million people are imprisoned; estimated 165,000 die. Millions of refugees, termed "Boat People" by media, flee South Vietnam, estimated 300,000 die. 2 million Cambodian citizens executed by communist Khmer Rouge.

1979 – Embarrassed by the excesses of slaughter in neighboring Cambodia, extreme even by communist standards, Vietnam invades and installs a more "moderate" government. China, which backs Cambodia, invades Vietnam in retaliation. Russia which backs Vietnam steps up its aid.

1975- Present – US media, politicians, bureaucrats and diplomats, etc., initiate and perpetuate a misinformation campaign blaming the military and Vietnam vets particularly, for "losing the war."

Question: What American general ever was defeated in which battle, was routed off the battlefield and/or surrendered his sword and/or his flag to the North Vietnamese? (Spoiler) Don't hold your breath waiting to find out. There wasn't one.

By now you have probably learned that the up close and personal relationship the United States once had with the mid-eastern country of Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula has dissipated, since Yemen has been taken over by violent extremists who just happen to be Muslims with close connections to the Al Qaeda terrorist syndicate, as well as ISIS.

Maybe you're saying "so what," and feeling more than a little agitated about all this terrorist nonsense taking up broadcast and print space that could just as easily be devoted to the most recent entertainment awards show or political disputes. "What," you may be asking, "does any of this have to do with me?"

Well, welcome to the Gateway of Tears. What is the Gateway of Tears? It is a narrow waterway between Yemen and the east African country of Djibouti, which sits very uneasily between Ethiopia and Somalia.

This small body of water – 80 miles long by only about 20 miles wide at its widest point – is officially known as the Bab-el-Mandeb or the Mandeb Strait, and informally as the Gateway of Tears or the Gateway of Anguish. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, or, in reverse order it connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea which further connects to the Gulf of Suez, the Suez Canal and ultimately to the Mediterranean Sea.

Why does this matter? Oil, ladies and gentlemen, oil.

You see, while 90 percent of all international trade moves by ship – at least according to the US Navy – and the oceans of the world are vast and wide, there are less than a dozen or so chokepoints around the globe through which the vast majority of international shipping must move. To circumvent these chokepoints means thousands of extra miles per trip, per ship, and billions in extra annual costs.

Mideastern oil moving to international markets has two outlets from the Indian Ocean which is the preeminent body of water in that part of the globe.

Oil moving to European and American markets travels out of the Persian Gulf, through the Straits of Hormuz (chokepoint number one) and into the Arabian Sea which merges into the Indian Ocean. Traveling west the ships go to the Gulf of Aden, through the Mandeb Strait (chokepoint number two) to the Red Sea, Suez Canal (chokepoint number three) and onward. (If that ship passes out of the Mediterranean to Atlantic markets it must navigation the Straits of Gibraltar, chokepoint number four.)

To get to the Pacific markets ships must move through the Straits of Hormuz (chokepoint number one) and into the Arabian Sea which merges into the Indian Ocean, and from there through the Malacca Strait, (chokepoint number two for that trip) into the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean.  You may recall that recently an Air Asia jetliner disappeared in that area and the Malacca Strait gained international notoriety.

Control even two of those chokepoints and you control international oil transport. The freedom of movement through those chokepoints has been pretty much guaranteed for the past four decades, but now that is no longer certain. It is true that Iran regularly threatens to close down the Straits of Hormuz, but it also is true that the rest of the world regularly ignores the Iranian threats.

Now, however, we are facing another challenge. Djibouti is not a truly stable country, despite more than a decade of one-party rule. It has a small armed force and certainly could be seen as a viable target for manipulation to exert control over the Mandeb Strait, in collaboration with the new regime in Yemen. If it doesn't agree to do so peacefully, it could be coerced by threat of force.

So what are we going to do? Send drones over to teach them a lesson? Disarm the rest of our armed forces the way the State Department ordered the disarmament of the Marine embassy guards when the embassy in Yemen was abandoned? Engage in heartfelt discussions in which we try to see things from the terrorists' point of view?

Send out a sternly worded letter?

We need a plan; or expect to see oil prices skyrocket once again. Needlessly. Any ideas?

Watching the FOX News Channel current affairs show The Five, so named due to its five co-hosts and that it airs at 5 p.m. weeknights, is a constant in my home. If we can't watch it live, we record it to watch later.

There are myriad reasons for our loyalty but prime among them is the fact that my wife, who is not a political junkie by any means, has long been impressed by the knowledge, strength and delivery of Dana Perino, one of the show's co-hosts. Her admiration for Perino goes back to the days when Perino was White House Press Secretary under George W. Bush.

Added to Perino's charisma are the equal but different strengths of Kimberly Guilfoyle and Andrea Tantaros. Basically my wife believes these women – well educated, experienced in national and world matters, and possessing high levels of common sense – are good role models and she makes it a point to keep informed on issues of the day by listening to them on The Five.

Personally I also have noticed that these women, who rotate their appearances, are strikingly beautiful, but hey, that could just be me. Male co-host Greg Gutfeld brings another dose of much needed common sense, often with an infusion of righteous indignation, and Eric Bolling comes across as a father figure with an extensive knowledge of finance and business.

Then there is Bob Beckel, the lone, self-described, long-suffering liberal, who occasionally is spelled by Juan Williams. Beckel refers often to his early, hands-on involvement alongside his father in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Beckel does and should take great pride in his personal history in that tumultuous time, sometimes going on tirades if he thinks the issue is being disrespected or taken lightly.

However, Beckel also has a annoying habit of shooting from the hip, making comments on issues in which he has an emotional interest, but little in the way of direct knowledge. That in turn gets him a lot of whacks in the social media, some of which come from me when he goes off on issues related to the Vietnam War.

Such was the case on Friday's show when the panel was discussing the case of Army Private Bowe Bergdahl, who disappeared from his unit in Afghanistan, and later turned up in the company of the Taliban. His fellow soldiers say he is a deserter and traitor but President Obama traded the solider for five General-level international terrorists, promoting him to Sergeant as well.

The debate was whether we should engage in prisoner swaps, and whether that has been our history as a country. After virtually the entire panel repeated the inaccurate mantra that the US leaves no soldiers behind, the issue of POWs left in Korea arose, followed by Beckel speaking of prisoners left behind in Vietnam after the American involvement ended. Beckel made the unforgivable, reprehensible comment that those left behind were "deserters" and then mumbled something about the US attempting to rescue them.

This is a total crock on both counts. I have researched this issue both personally and as an investigative reporter for three decades and even though the Internet of late has been inundated with false "research" attempting to debunk the POW issue, there has been a ton of solid research which maintains that American  POWs were left behind in Laos after the Paris Peace Accords of 1973.

Substantial research indicates that then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and others in the Nixon administration refused to negotiate directly with the Laotian communists, the Pathet Lao, who held the American prisoners. Since there were no direct negotiations with the Pathet Lao and subsequently no payment of billions in reparations allegedly promised by the Nixon administration, the Pathet Lao kept somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 US POWs, mostly airmen shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the final years of the war.

They were honorable American troops serving the country they believed in; and they were deserted by their government. How many is not relevant. That they existed is relevant. They were not deserters and many Americans believe with good reason that the US government worked over decades – both parties – to hide their existence, not rescue them.

This is not new; Americans were left behind after WWI, WWII (Bill O'Reilly touches on this in his book Killing Patton), Korea and Vietnam.

Bob Beckel owes Vietnam veterans, Fox viewers, the American military and the families of those who were left behind by the government a sincere apology. And FOX should sit down with Mr. Beckel and impress on him the importance of speaking the truth, or staying quiet.

To be fair, there are times when I completely agree with Bob Beckel, and I hope that doesn't give anyone a heart attack. But it wouldn't hurt if someone at FOX reminded him of the saying that at times "It's better to keep your mouth closed and have people think you a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt."

Today is Thanksgiving Day and much of our country is in a state of distress. So perhaps we should all take a moment to remember that we still have much for which to be thankful, and people who are working for us in many places and professions who won't have a typical Thanksgiving Day.

There are the issues we see in the news, and there are many other matters being attended to that we rarely if ever hear about.So please take a moment to thank all those who can't spend the day with their loved ones, enjoying the many benefits of living in America.

Thank you to all members of the military who are on duty today, in the states, in foreign countries, and in war zones around the world. Thank you to the police, firefighters, EMTs, ambulance drivers, Life Flight pilots and crews, doctors, nurses, aides and attendants, anyone and everyone who is spending part of their day looking out for the rest of us.

And thank you to their families and friends who won't breathe easy until those special people make it back home safely.














 Happy Thanksgiving.

Hardly a day goes by without news of returning veterans encountering readjustment difficulties after a tour - or several - in a war zone. We hear of veteran suicides, or those who commit crimes, but we do not get much information on how to help our veterans understand their battlefield experiences.

It seems there is no end of commercials from various charities featuring victims of post traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury or loss of limbs from bullets, mines, rockets, grenades or Improvised Explosive Devices. The impact on family members as well as the veterans is prominently displayed, usually along with a plea for money to help the charities help the veterans.

While there is no question that the terrorism is having a savage impact on the wounded, their families and society in general, requiring extensive research into brain injuries, amputations and prostheses, there also is much that can be done to help those who bear the unseen scars of war.

The emotional impacts of battle are documented well into ancient history, and for millennia the non-warrior societies that welcome the warriors home from the fight have been hard pressed to understand and relate to the changes that fighting brings to their loved ones. A recent historical documentary noted that the Israelites required their fighters to spend a week after returning from battle encamped separately from the rest of the population, presumably to decompress from the savagery.

Jay Standish photo

I appeared on the cable show Full Bloom recently with host Zita Christian, discussing the issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and she noted that some native American tribes had similar practices, requiring their warriors to spend time with their tribe's grandmothers before returning to the mainstream. See the show here. I opined that there probably is no less threatening a sub-demographic in any social grouping than a gathering of grandmothers.

But for all the advances in medicine and technology, we haven't done much to advance the cause of returning vets who may need nothing more than time to get an overview of what they have just been through, and what they accomplished. The fact is, they can't plan on getting information and real assistance from the media, which only covers wars closely when it suits their political agendas, nor from family members or society in general who get most of their info from the media.

But when I was talking with Zita on Full Bloom I offered a suggestion that I have made in the past - that since we take a minimum of three months to change civilians into warriors, why not take the same amount of time to let our returning warriors decompress after battle, a form of "reverse boot camp?"

I learned well after I returned from Vietnam that first I needed sleep, lots of sleep where my subconscious could relearn the patterns of a low-threat environment. I needed time to talk with my friends who had shared the battlefield.

Most of us who returned from Vietnam got neither. And it doesn't seem that today's returning warriors get much help in that endeavor either.

So what is wrong with taking some of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on defense annually,  to develop an interim stop on the way home from the war? What is wrong with reversing the boot camp experience by giving the warriors  time to decompress in a safe and monitored environment?

There are myriad ways a program of this nature could be implemented and it could be tailored to individual needs, depending on where the warriors were stationed, what they did while there, how much combat they encountered and their reaction to it. They could readjust to an environment where loud sounds don't necessarily mean explosions, where there is no enemy to rocket or mortar them in the middle of the night, where there is regular food and water, and especially where no one is trying to kill them.

The length of their stay in this boot camp would be dependent on the individual, and for those who need more time it would be fairly simple to arrange family visitation and similar amenities. There would be no stigma attached since everyone who goes to war would be required to go through this decompression process on the way home.

This is but the germ of an idea and it needs more discussion. But think about the billions of dollars that are spent now on care for veterans who never got the treatment they needed when they needed it most. And think of the loss of productivity and other costs to society that would be significantly reduced - reversed even - if we spent some of our defense budget a bit more wisely and appropriately.

The way I see it, anything would have to be a lot better than what we have now.

My Memorial Day weekends typically have involved marching in the annual parade in my community, giving a speech on the necessity of remembering those who fell protecting our freedoms, writing speeches for other speakers, or heading up the Buddy Poppy sales for my local veterans organizations.

We usually have a cookout at the Winter household, because we also acknowledge that it is the informal beginning of the summer season and we love to indulge in our hard won freedoms by doing what we like to do. And I always, ALWAYS, remember my brother Marines, those I served with in Medium Helicopter Squadron 161 – HMM-161 – who died in Vietnam, or afterward.

This year there will be no speeches or parades for me. I can't march after being injured in an auto collision three years ago, suffering debilitating back injuries as a result. I won't be doing speeches, partly because of the same reason, but also because I am up to my eye teeth in getting ready for a reunion of the remaining members of my helicopter squadron. These are the people I served with in New River, North Carolina in '66 and '67, and who took part in our historic flight from North Carolina to California in April 1968, and on from there to Quang Tri, Vietnam.

And herein for me is the true meaning of Memorial Day this year. One of my reunion planning jobs has been contacting people who served with us so long ago, informing them of the coming reunion and getting information out to them. There were approximately 200 Marines in our squadron when we landed in Vietnam, and in past reunions roughly half of them have attended.

During our tour we lost 20 Marines out of the 200 in combat, dozens more were wounded, and over the years our numbers have been whittled down due to the deaths of many of our leaders, most of whom had also served in WWII and Korea. In those cases, I have accepted that time marches on and we are not immortal. There also are many who simply dropped out of sight in the years after the war and extraordinary efforts to locate them have been fruitless.

But this year I have found time and time again that an old friend and brother-in-arms has died, or is unable to attend due to injuries and sicknesses that have come far too early in their lives, often as a result of combat or exposure to toxins in the war zone. The impact of these sudden revelations, that we will no longer see a person who was such an integral part of our lives, has not been gentle; in fact it has been brutal.

But to a great degree that has been offset by the knowledge that we who have survived will be enjoying each others company for a long weekend, and will be providing the venue for the family of at least one of our fallen Marines to attain some aspect of closure.

It has been very difficult for the families of those we lost in combat to come to grips with the deaths of men who in many cases were barely out of their teens, and in many other cases were only at the doorstep of adulthood. To send a young man off to war and to receive only a metal coffin and flag in return does little to nothing to resolve the issues that the families have endured.

But this year we also will be joined by the sister of one of our fallen Marines and her family. And this year she finally will meet many of the people who were close to her brother and were there when he died.

She will meet people who knew an entirely different side of the young man she grew up with and I am certain that she will be pleased to discover that we also saw him as intelligent, warm and humorous, in addition to respecting him immensely as a Marine helicopter crewman.

There is little to nothing I can do this year to offset the ravages of time or reverse what has happened to so many of my brother Marines. Yet, helping one family put to rest some of the questions that have lingered since Vietnam will be a worthwhile endeavor.

And before our gathering in June, I will take some time this Memorial Day to maintain my long-standing tradition of saluting an honor roll of the deceased - an honor roll that continues to grow longer with each passing year. Semper Fidelis.

Specialist Ivan Lopez who committed suicide on April 2 after killing three people and wounding 16 others at Ft. Hood, Texas was an Army truck driver who had been diagnosed with emotional issues and prescribed Ambien, a sedative-hypnotic.[1]
 
Nonetheless, Lopez was still on duty even though one side effect of Ambien is "sleep driving."[2] But far worse, Ambien in combination with other anti-depressants – or even alcohol – also can cause "decreased inhibition (e.g., aggressiveness and extroversion that seemed out of character), bizarre behavior, agitation and depersonalization."[3]

Why are US military doctors prescribing mind-altering drugs to service members who have been diagnosed with mental health issues, at times in combinations that are known to cause serious reactions? And why are the people who are being prescribed these potentially dangerous combinations still in the military? 

No civilian truck driver could legally drive in Lopez' condition, which media reports referred to as under the influence of a "cocktail" of mind-altering pharmaceuticals. If any service member in the Vietnam era had been found in the possession of, or using, drugs of the types that are now prescribed, they would have been dishonorably discharged.

There are plenty of victims in this tragedy and I truly sympathize with the families of those who were murdered or wounded.

But I also sympathize with Lopez' father, who issued a statement to the media saying "I ask for prayers for the affected families. My son could not have been in sound mind."

To ensure that similar tragedies will not erupt on our military bases in the future we must acknowledge that the military is in the business of securing our country, not providing social services. The military needs people at the peak of physical and mental preparedness, nothing less.

The mission of the military is to protect us: to close with and destroy our enemies, and maintain a status of readiness that makes any potential enemy think twice before launching an attack. How can the military be expected to complete these missions when it is suddenly tasked with providing long-term psychiatric care to potentially thousands of troops?

If a person is physically debilitated in the armed forces he or she may be medically retired, becoming eligible for disability compensation and lifetime medical care. Why not the same treatment for a person emotionally or mentally wounded while serving?

This is not a slam at those who are disabled fighting for our country, either physically or mentally, it merely acknowledges the reality of military service. Rather than debating whether we need more or better armed military police, we should first remove the trigger to these types of incidents.

Any service member diagnosed with emotional or mental issues serious enough to warrant prescription drugs such as Ambien should receive medical retirement and be moved to the care and supervision of the Veterans Administration. Rather than cutting benefits for retired and disabled veterans, as has been championed by Rep. Paul Ryan[4] and others, the VA budget should be adjusted upward accordingly.

If the United States is going to send people off to wars for decades on end, it is obligated to not only provide the best training and equipment for the fighters, but the best care for wounded veterans. We should never forget the credo of the true warrior: leave no one behind on the battlefield.

And we also should remember that two members of the Obama Administration, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry, built their public personas around their combat service in Vietnam.

Perhaps they should reflect on how they would respond during a firefight if they knew their comrades had cocktails of mind-altering drugs running through their veins rather than adrenalin. They should think about their own reactions if they knew they could not count on their fellow soldiers to apply clear minds and solid training to the most dangerous of situations.

Then they should ask for an Oval Office meeting and share what they know with their Commander-in-Chief.

---

[1] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/02/fort-hood-shooter-had-mental-health-problems/7237489/

[2] http://www.drugs.com/sfx/ambien-side-effects.html

[3] http://www.rxlist.com/ambien-drug/warnings-precautions.htm

[4] http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/12/20/Veterans-Conservatives-Destroy-Paul-Ryan-on-Social-Media-Over-Pension-Cuts

This originally was written for Thanksgiving Day 2005. It is updated for today in this column. It has been 45 years, but the memory is as fresh as if it was yesterday. The message is still relevant.

Although I frequently write about the Vietnam War, and my book Masters of the Art is based on my service there, I don't have a repository of dates locked in my mind that surfaces like a mental file folder reminding me of long ago battles and deaths.

But on Thanksgiving Day every year I make it a point to stop for a moment and remember one day, and one comrade. On that special day in 1968 I volunteered to fly gunner as helicopters from my squadron, HMM-161, delivered hot turkey dinners to our Marine infantry in outposts and fire-bases all over northern I Corps.

There was little action to speak of that day, and I was not involved in any firefights. Just a long, long day delivering canisters of turkey, potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and even cases of beer, to give the grunts a brief respite from the war.

I held no animosity about spending my entire day in a series of flights under leaden monsoon season skies. I knew what the grunts faced every day of that war and anything we could do to give them even the slightest break was fine by me.

After a day of seeing and smelling all that food, I was truly ready for a meal of my own by the time we returned to the air strip at Quang Tri. But a Thanksgiving dinner was not to be, at least not one prepared in a mess hall.

There had been a dinner. But it was consumed in its entirety by the troops who stayed back on the base that day. Little more than crumbs were left for those who had been flying. I returned to my hooch totally dejected, ready to curse out any and all who crossed my path and not at all looking forward to a meal of C-rations.

Enter a new guy, Billy Bazemore, only recently arrived from the states, who like me was a helicopter electrician, and like me volunteered to fly gunner. New guys had little to no status in Vietnam, and usually deferred to the veterans on virtually all matters. But seeing the look on my face prompted Billy to question its origin, and then to offer a solution.

Reaching triumphantly under his cot, Billy dragged out a box that had arrived in the mail from home, containing a canned turkey, potatoes, carrots, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. To add to my amazement, I also had received a package, bearing a Sara Lee chocolate cake that had survived the voyage from The World intact.

Billy could have kept his stash secret. He could have squirreled it away and hoarded it for himself. But he was a Marine and believed in the Marine code of sharing the contents of food packages from home. We spread the food out on boxes and proceeded to divvy it up among several other crewmen who also had returned to Quang Tri to discover there would be no dinner for them that day. In short order, the dismal grayness of a monsoon day was forgotten, and probably for the first time in my life I completely understood the meaning of Thanksgiving.

Billy Bazemore's life ended a few short months later, in a vicious firefight with the North Vietnamese. I know the exact date, but I would rather celebrate his life than his death. He was flying with another electrician, Tommy Lenz, who had served with our unit, HMM-161 since we were stationed at what was then the Marine Corps Air Facility at New River, North Carolina.

We had traveled to Vietnam together as a unit, all our personnel and our helicopters, arriving in early 1968. We were friends, fellow Marines and Brothers-in-Arms.

Tommy and Billy died together that day, and their names are on The Wall, not far from each other.
So this Thanksgiving, as our troops are once again fighting what has become yet another 'unpopular' war – this time in Afghanistan, although the media seems to have forgotten they are still in danger - I will remember where they are and what they are enduring for those of us back home who will be warm, and secure and well fed because of their sacrifices.

I'll offer a toast to my fellow Americans and all other freedom-loving troops who are fighting the terrorists wherever they are. Because I know that out there somewhere, it is very likely that two Marines will straggle back to their base from a long day that held harshness and death, only to find that there will be no traditional meal waiting for them.

But they will pull together, as we did 45 years ago, and will find a way to salvage their day. In that moment a bond of brotherhood that can not be duplicated under any other circumstances will be forged, and it will endure.

I will say a silent prayer for them, and ask that this time they both make it back home, safe and sound, to enjoy other Thanksgiving Days in the warmth and comfort of their homes, with families that may even make an effort to understand why this day has such meaning for their returned warriors.

And although I won't share it with my family and friends because it is just too personal and private, I will find a moment to remember Thanksgiving Day, 1968, Quang Tri, Vietnam. I'll raise my glass to toast Billy Bazemore, a new guy who long ago taught a lesson in Marine brotherhood to a veteran, to Tommy Lenz who stayed at his post until his death, and to every other American serviceman and woman, and our allies, who still believe in freedom and will fight to the death to preserve it for future generations.

We've all heard the phrase, usually uttered with a sneer of disdain or condescension, "Conspiracy Theorist."

It crops up wherever someone points out that something doesn't seem right, usually with our government. Too many things look suspicious; too many things don't add up. But unless there is solid evidence, the so-called "smoking gun," the 'someone' who has unearthed the disturbing information is promptly labeled as a nutcase, always looking for wrongdoing where none exists.

But what if the theories are real? What if the person exposing them is a highly respected career investigative reporter? What if, as it turns out, there really is collusion behind the scenes, say between the two political parties that claim to be at odds with each other? What if there really are big money interests behind both parties, and our system of government has become a sham, using trillions of tax dollars to pad the bloated, overstuffed pockets of a handful of elitists while everyone else struggles?

What if Washington really is a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah where an incestuous mélange of public officials, lobbyists, bureaucrats and yes, even the media, are lined up at the public feeding trough and spend entire careers manipulating and expanding both the sources of tax dollars, and their share?

Washington, D.C., based journalist and lawyer Andrew Kreig, in his just released book Presidential Puppetry, Obama, Romney and Their Masters, brings to light story after story of insider manipulation and corruption in the nation's capital and elsewhere, but contrary to the often dismissed conspiracy theories, he does it with facts, hundreds of them.

Kreig applies the lessons learned through a distinguished career as investigative journalist, making sure that every single scandal he exposes is documented. Kreig makes extensive use of both 'on-the-record' witnesses, and painstakingly cataloged footnotes often referring to previously published reports that received scant attention from the "mainstream media," at the time of original publication.

For instance, while much of Presidential Puppetry is focused, as the title suggests, on Mitt Romney's presidential bid, Kreig also asserts that President Barack Obama has far more in common with former President George Bush – both of them – than differences. The common thread is the nation's intelligence community, which shockingly, Kreig notes, knew of and had dealings with Obama decades before he emerged on the national political scene.

For instance, Kreig reports that Obama worked at Business International Corporation, which gave Obama his first job "after his 1983 graduation with a bachelor's degree from Columbia University." Kreig writes that BIC had been exposed several years earlier as a CIA front company but adds, "the most striking aspect is how few in the media or anywhere else even dare to ask questions publicly abut Obama's former employer …"

Similarly, while Kreig dismisses the "birther" claims that Obama was born outside the US, there is significant evidence that Obama's mother renounced his US citizenship in the late 1960s when she moved to Indonesia to join her second husband, Obama's stepfather. The rationale behind this claim is that Obama could benefit from attending Muslim schools, which required that he be a citizen of Indonesia, and not hold dual citizenship.

Apparently, political operatives believed it would be easier to deny birther claims, than to explain how and when Obama's US citizenship was restored.

Kreig also reports extensively on members of past administrations and how they are still connected to the current administration, and how those connections are not necessarily beneficial to the general public.

Among the themes Kreig gives particular attention is the under-the-radar scandal involving vote counting hardware and software. Kreig writes that Karl Rove, former chief of staff for President George Bush is at the center of the vote-counting industry. Kreig avers that Rove has amassed a vote-counting "empire" that can alter the outcome of any election from local to national.

Rove isn't the only national figure with vote counting connections in his resume. Prior to entering politics Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was CEO of American Information Systems, a vote-counting firm which had tabulated votes in Nebraska elections and elsewhere. Hagel became Nebraska's senator after his 1996 upset victory in the state's GOP Senate primary, and then defeating Democrat Ben Nelson, who was heavily favored. Both victories came in elections using machines from AIS, which Hagel left shortly before announcing his candidacy, Kreig reports.

Another subject of interest is closeness of relationships between government officials, bureaucrats and the media. Presidential Puppetry is replete with instances of spouses who work both sides of the fence, either in the media, as bureaucrats or office holders, all making money off the public trough, and often influencing where taxpayer dollars go.

For serious students of government excess, spanning a century from the administration of Woodrow Wilson to the president day, Kreig has compiled a comprehensive collection of evidence pointing out that the US government – or more accurately, those who comprise the US Government, do not always work in the best interests of the country.

And while some may dismiss Presidential Puppetry as just another "conspiracy theory," it again should be stressed, Kreig has meticulously sourced the entire book, involving dozens, if not hundreds of verifiable sources. And it should also be pointed out, that the legal definition of a conspiracy requires only two participants – far more than can be found living, working and yes, conspiring, inside the DC Beltway.

PRESIDENTIAL PUPPETRY OBAMA, ROMNEY, AND THEIR MASTERS 

© 2013 By Andrew Kreig

Publisher: Eagle View Books

ISBN: 978-0-9886728-1-9

www.presidentialpuppetry.com

The annual Troopathon, supported by this website since its inception, in conjunction with WTIC-1080 talk radio host Jim Vicevich, is on again today, starting at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific.

Hosted by the non-profit charity Move America Forward, "Troopathon" is a month-long care package drive that ends with an eight-hour web-a-thon broadcast full of familiar personalities and political figures. This year’s broadcast will be on June 27th from the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

Breitbart News's Larry O'Connor will be hosting the event along with Governor Mike Huckabee, Troopathon co-founder Melanie Morgan, and Gold Star mom and troop activist Debbie Lee.

The event features a star-studded lineup including Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Rick Perry, Mark Levin, Herman Cain, Ambassador John Bolton, Gene Simmons, Gary Sinise, Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski, Col. Allen West, and Adam Carolla, along with many others.

You can watch it here, and please, use the link on this website to make a tax-free donation to help our troops. Don't leave them in the lurch wondering if anyone knows they are still there.

 
Video streaming by Ustream

 In honor of all my brothers and sisters who served and are serving. Please remember that the purpose of Memorial Day is to remember those who did not return from battle.

The very first thing this morning I walked outside and looked upwards to see if the sky was gone.

Fortunately, it is still right where I left it last night, and looks none the worse for wear.

Checking on the status of a constant and dependable scientific reality should not be seen as excessive, given the media's month's-long predictions that today it would fall.

The media, a concept which defies definition in the real world, is a subgroup of a lower order of being that is identifiable by its nonstop braying and carping. The intensity of its noise-making ebbs and flows in direct proportion to the ability of its current subject to draw attention to it – the media that is, not the subject.

The subject for today, as reported for months by the media, is drastic cuts in federal government spending scheduled to take effect this morning. The cuts, according to the media, herald the end of civilization as we know it; or at least as it is known in a section of the Planet Earth commonly known as "inside the Beltway," or metropolitan Washington, D.C.

The media claimed that if Congress and the President couldn't find common financial ground for our astronomical federal spending and out-of-control debt, then everyone and everything, everywhere, would be negatively impacted by a sudden dearth of federal tax dollars across the board. This plan was conceived of and hatched by President Barack Hussein Obama, and put in place with help from his henchmen in Congress and the media.

It is called Sequestration but now the prez wants us to believe it will cause the downfall of the United States of America and it is all the fault of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. So all interested parties inside the beltway are arguing interminably about this and the media is right there jabbing any malingerers who get tired of the game with a sharp stick to get them back inside the ring.

Since there are far more outstretched hands and fat wallets demanding constant and immediate resupply from federal tax dollars than the supply of federal tax dollars, the argument breaks down along the lines of either limit the demand or create more tax dollars. Failure to do so, the media claims, will be calamitous.

But in the last week or so cooler heads determined that if the aforementioned agreement was not reached, there really wouldn't be CUTS in federal spending, there just would be a miniscule reduction in the INCREASE in federal spending. Big difference. No one will be laid off, no services will dry up, no children will starve, no teachers will be on the unemployment line and the sky will stay right where I left it last night.

Do you know where the federal politicians and the symbiotic media that feast on them came up with that idea? From every single municipality and local school board in the United States of America, that's where!

If you own property and pay taxes you know that municipal budget season is upon most of us and if we hold our collective breath for just a month we will be exposed to headlines and television news segments screaming that proposed local budgets are being "cut to the bare bones," and can't be cut one cent further or "the children will suffer."

Every single year America's towns and cities come up with budgets that are always higher than the previous year's budget even if real costs of government have gone down.

Some years for instance, municipalities will pay off bond issues, or school enrollments will drop, meaning there is no longer a need for as many teachers or administrators, or the money that paid them, or paid off the bonds.

But even with reduced needs, the town councils and selectmen and mayors and school boards find ways to fill in those nasty spending gaps with other items that apparently reproduce with abandon in hidden supply closets that are jammed packed with unreported tools of good governance. This "reproduction of need" comes with total disregard for the taxpayers who pay for all of this one way or another, including the higher costs of goods and services that are passed on to consumers as a result of corporate taxation and regulation.

Know what we do in my community when the government turns a blind eye and deaf ear to the plight of taxpayers? We hold referendums … or referenda if you prefer … because it usually takes more than one to get the attention of the tax and spend people. And we keep holding them – a total of 13 in one fiscal year a while back – until the budget increases are reducing to a point where a majority will accept them.

I realize that it sounds as if we have the situation under control, but each year the cost of government increases and we end up paying more. All we can do short of firing the whole damn lot of politicians from all parties that are party to this assault on the public is hold the level of increases to something more or less manageable.

Success in life sometimes is measured in little victories.

So today, just like so many other days in so many communities across the nation, things will go on as they always do. I will continue to be myself, you will continue to be yourselves, the world will turn, the sun will shine and the sky will stay right where it is supposed to be, doing what it is supposed to do.

Happy Sequestration Day. I propose we make this a federal holiday, and in the future celebrate by jamming all the politicians and media into a place where the sun doesn't shine so they can bray and each other and contemplate their navels.

I understand there is just such a place, just east of the Washington Monument, attached to and beneath the White House. The Media says it is a special bunker built by and for Barack Hussein Obama, but exactly why he needs it is unclear. Now it has a purpose, thank you very much.

There is a good reason why neither Massachusetts Senator John Kerry nor Arizona Senator John McCain is or was President of the United States of America; neither had the full support of the veteran community which could have swayed sufficient votes in their direction to guarantee election if it so desired.

If you apply classic media reasoning to their campaign support equations – for instance, every person of Hispanic descent in America votes for Democrats and every black voter in America (as well as some who don't exist) voted for Barack Obama – then you have to wonder why every veteran, minus blacks and Hispanics in McCain's case, didn't vote for either Kerry or McCain.

The answer is that the classic media equation is bogus – not every person of Hispanic descent votes Democratic and not every black voter voted for Obama, except in Philadelphia and parts of Ohio were there were far more votes than voters. And, considering that American voters are smarter than either the media or the political parties think they are, the veteran community like other voting blocs looks beyond the superficial when making their selections.

Neither man could garner sufficient votes to win the presidential election because there was significant opposition to Kerry's and McCain's candidacies from within the veteran community even though they are both veterans; well, allegedly in Kerry's case. I mean, he served, but there is considerable speculation that he was separated from the service dishonorably which pretty much negates his classification as a veteran.

This is all of interest once again because of the withdrawal of Susan Rice, currently the US Ambassador to the United Nations, from consideration as the next Secretary of State, and media reports that President Obama may appoint Kerry as Hillary Clinton's replacement by Christmas. I have been waiting for months for Kerry's name to surface again in this regard, so I'll dispense with any further comment about Rice and concentrate on him.

When Kerry was running for president in 2004 a number of veteran groups and individuals lobbied intensively and unsuccessfully for him to sign Standard Form (SF) 180 which would authorize the release of his military records to the public. He refused, thereby denying the public an answer to a question that has dogged Kerry since the 1970's; was he dishonorably discharged from the Navy for providing aid and comfort to the enemy – or any other reason?

Further, veterans want to know if that alleged dishonorable discharge was reversed by president jimmy carter, when he gave blanket amnesty to draft dodgers and deserters in the post-Vietnam era.

Kerry's entire service portfolio has been marked by: self-generated hype over his actions during his abbreviated tour of Vietnam; his use of high level political and military connections to obtain medals that many combat veterans believe he didn't deserve; his traitorous actions in his bogus "Winter Soldier" hearings and Congressional testimony in which he falsely branded his fellow Vietnam vets as murderous Neanderthals; and the belief that he sold out his country by giving aid to our communist enemies while still obligated to the US Navy.

All of this was brought to the forefront in his presidential campaign by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and other veteran groups that opposed him. There even was Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry website.

(The website still exists although one of its founders, former Green Beret Ted Sampley, died in 2009 after complications from surgery at a VA hospital. A similar site went up when McCain was nominated. The liberal media - not to mention Kerry and McCain - hated Sampley and wrote some pretty caustic and to some, unfair, articles about his opposition to McCain and Kerry, but all that did was give more attention to his cause.)

But there is another issue that really rankles many veterans, especially those who served in Vietnam, that being the conduct of Kerry and McCain – in concert – as co-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in the early 1990s.

They were charged back then with getting to the bottom of allegations that hundreds of American prisoners of war were left behind in Laos when Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger agreed to the debacle known as the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. There were live sightings and even a couple of people who turned up in Vietnam long after the government - which halted back payments of their federal paychecks - declared they were dead.

Many in the military and intelligence communities knew of the POWs in Laos, nagging reports of live sightings and other evidence kept surfacing and the issue was kept alive by the League of Families and other POW-MIA organizations.

But Kerry and McCain declared that there was no credible evidence that any POWs were still alive, closing the books on the issue and classifying much of the information that was presented to their committee as secret, removing it from public view. There was dissent from within the committee, but the dissenters have been relegated to the media's "nutjob" file and are no longer taken seriously.

So, what do we do now with a man who has such a speckled history of 'government service' potentially being nominated for Secretary of State? How about, renew our call for release of Standard Form 180?

How about the Good Old Boys club, also known as the US Senate, act in the best interests of the country for a change instead of the self-interest of its members? How about we really find out what went on with Kerry back in the 1970s that played so heavily on his actions in the 1990s as well as his failed presidential campaign, and determine under real questioning in the confirmation hearings whether this man is truly qualified to be the international representative of the United States of America?

That would be a real accomplishment for a government body that is seen as a group of self-absorbed ego driven puppets wouldn't it? Yeah, I know, not likely. But hope springs eternal.

Like most people with a heart mine was broken Friday as my family learned of  the horrific events unfolding in Newton, Connecticut; initial reports of a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, followed by conflicting and horribly inaccurate reports from a media and political crush that was remarkable mostly for the extent of the misinformation involved.

My wife and I were glued to the television for the bulk of the late afternoon, stunned, shocked, and grief stricken trying to find out what had happened, who did it, and at one point as the misinformation was sorted out I turned to her and said; "Dunblane, Scotland" and then "video games."

I made the reference to Dunblane because of the eerie similarities of the shootings in Newtown, to the March 13, 1996 shootings at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, by a gunman who killed 16 children in a class of five- and six-year-olds and their teacher.

The killer in Dunblane was identified Thomas Hamilton, 43, an alleged pedophile who was thrown out of the local scouts organization nearly two decades earlier, after parents learned that he forced some of his young charges to sleep with him on overnight camping trips. In the years just prior to his rampage Hamilton was described as a shopkeeper who was angry at his community for not patronizing his store.

Hamilton unleashed his anger at society by attacking the most vulnerable and innocent of victims; children at the local elementary school whose deaths would certainly make his point that he was angry and considered himself a victim.

As a result of his actions Great Britain's anti-firearms activists launched what became known as the Snowdrop Campaign leading in 1997 to a ban on all privately owned handguns. The anti-firearms proponents were successful in banning handguns, but unsuccessful at ending violent crimes against people which doubled in a subsequent 10-year period according to an article in the Telegraph in July 2009.

The article stated that the UK was thus the most violent place in Europe, with Austria second, followed by Sweden, Belgium, Finland and Holland.

I make a point of this because as appalling as we all found the shooting in Newtown to be, those who advocate disarming the citizens of this country who legally carry firearms for their protection were calling for new "gun control" measures before the bodies of the tiny victims were even released to their devastated parents.

Within hours of the shootings my inbox was receiving emails from anti-firearms activists crowing of the Newtown travesty with a "See, see we told you so!" mentality, making the case that now the 2^nd Amendment of the US Constitution can finally be circumvented at least and repealed at best. I find this to be as reprehensible as the crush of politicians who actually went to Newtown to stand before the cameras while the crime scene was still being actively investigated!

(Note to my readers; in a two-decade career as a reporter and editor, covering or directing coverage of criminal justice issues, I never, ever, ever saw a crush of politicians descending on the scene of tragedy while police were still engaged in an active investigation like that which occurred on Friday.)

In addition to the near copy-cat similarities with the shooting in Dunblane more than a decade ago, I brought up video games because as a combat veteran I know from personal experience that when locked in a life and death struggle an overwhelming desire for revenge against the enemy may be the dominant emotion. Eventually that may be replaced by a cold aloofness, but even then most combatants are keenly aware that human lives are being lost.

Yet the unending stream of extraordinarily violent video games that are played for thousands of hours by many American youngsters makes every enemy an inhuman "target" and the only emotion that counts is the joy of running up the score of "kills" and advancing to the next level. I believe those games act as breeding grounds for sociopaths, and every so often one of them takes the game playing out into the community.

As it turned out, I heard Fox and Friends co-anchor Steve Doucy report Saturday morning that the Newtown shooter was a "gamer," who was known for his video game skills, and also embraced the "Gothic" lifestyle which is a sub-genre of teen angst marked in many cases by wearing dark clothing, listening to deathrock music, and living under the assumption that everything related to life sucks.

Doucy's report speculated that the techniques the shooter developed playing video games were to account for the accuracy with which the victims were killed, and that may be, but I also believe that if a person who already has mental issues becomes immersed in the extreme violence of the video game culture, they are a walking prescription for disaster.

Only an inhuman monster could have blithely executed child after child in Newtown last Friday, or Dunblane Scotland in 1996 – as well as the adults who tried to protect them – with no sense of regret or remorse for their actions. Only a mindless sociopath could have committed those murders with no sense of responsibility – and that certainly appears to be what happened in Newtown.

If Adam Lanza thought he was getting back at his parents for divorcing, or some other issue, he failed and failed miserably. Few people are blaming his parents for the actions of a person who was legally an adult, but who still could not legally purchase the firearms he used in Newtown murders. The blame for the act itself lies squarely on the shoulders of the criminal, not his parents and not society; he was an adult and responsible for his own actions.

I am not making excuses for anyone who uses a firearm recklessly or with intent to harm others. But I don't see how disarming an entire society and thus creating a new class of victims will accomplish anything except encourage more criminals and bullies to abuse more peaceful citizens, as has happened in the UK since 1997 the handgun ban went into effect.

We don't tell everyone who drives to give up their cars when people die in a fatal accident caused by someone who is texting while driving; we didn't ban vehicles when deaths caused by drunk drivers increased, we took aim at the behavior of drunks; and we don't hear a call for banning kitchen knives in the wake of a maniac in China attacking and stabbing 22 elementary school students last Friday. We don't do that for myriad reasons but first on the list is that we all know it won't work and it is inherently unfair to penalize law abiding citizens for the actions of criminals.

So instead of resorting to name calling and threats to murder the head of the National Rifle Association, I think it would be far better to acknowledge the evil that exists in society – worldwide – and put our energies into helping the survivors of Friday's unfathomable tragedy work through their grief.

And instead of getting into unending arguments about firearms control we would be doing far more of a useful nature if we work on ending the conditions that led to the creation of an inhuman monster who killed 27 innocent people, and then in final act of cowardice ended his own life so he wouldn’t have to face the consequences of his actions.