"Good fences make good
neighbors."
— Robert Frost, New
England poet.
Oddly, this quote is
considered controversial. Guess there have been crazy, open-property
liberals around for a longer time. Here's my home, my yard, my
garden, come on in. And bring your homemade bomb in case you
disagree with something I say, even though I've been supporting you
and your family with my hard-earned pay.
Seriously, folks. I'm glad
I didn't write a column this week about building communities with my
peace-loving brothers, just as we got the news about said
peace-loving brothers blowing up innocent civilians in Belgium,
which had been living foolishly under that delusion.
I'm not a religious person
now, but much of what I learned the first Catholic years of my life
have stayed with me. I still think in terms of good vs. evil, the
latter now represented by Muslims who want to destroy everyone who
won't convert to their religion. They are evil. No they can't come
here to live on our welfare programs. As Donald Trump says, they
can't come here at all until we can vet them. How did that vetting
go in Brussels, the capital city of European civilization?
Until this week, we had a
nice fence (open sea) with Cuba. I remember the 1959 revolution,
which was a good one, against an evil dictator; then the
revolutionaries became evil themselves. Oh looky, our president
celebrated the new openness with evil communism by visiting the
island. Had he first made his pitch to release the political
prisoners?
How about Assata Olugbala
Shakur, a black activist and member of the former Black Panther
Party and Black Liberation Army, who after having been convicted of
the first-degree murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster
fled to Cuba in 1984, where she has received political asylum. In
2013 the
FBI added her to the Most Wanted Terrorist List, the first
woman to be listed. Yay, female equality.
So just wondering: If
President Obama, or
Congressman Seth Moulton ran into this honored
guest on their trip to Cuba, did they shake her hand? Bad photo op,
Congressman, socializing with a cop-killer, for your future campaign
for Senate.
As he paused from his
island vacation, Obama noted the killings in Belgium, as he began
his Cuban speech with the phrase "Please indulge me ..." as he
offered his condolences to the families of the victims. Certainly,
Mr. President, apologize again for interrupting outreach to the
peace-loving communist dictators while deploring actions by the
peace-loving Muslims.
Our own Sen. Elizabeth
Warren wasn't there. She's keeping busy attacking Donald Trump's
perceived racism, sexism, xenophobia and hatred
— regurgitated
phrases used even by Republican opponents. Prove even one of them.
By the way, prosecutors
have dropped charges against four illegal immigrants linked to an
alleged Framingham kidnapping and rape case, citing insufficient
evidence. But all four will now be turned over to immigration
officials, the Boston Herald was told last week.
At what was supposed to be
a dangerousness hearing in Framingham District Court, Assistant
District Attorney Joe Gentile said the alleged victims
— a man and
a woman — indicated they would plead their Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination if they were called to testify. "The
commonwealth has insufficient evidence upon which to proceed,"
Gentile said.
The alleged victim and her
boyfriend had told police they were out walking and enjoying an
unseasonably warm evening when they were approached by a man
carrying beer and another grabbed her by the hood of her sweatshirt,
dragging her away and into a building, where she was held down and
raped. The boyfriend told police he managed to force his way into
the apartment and called 911.
The Herald has reported
that two of the previously accused men had been deported to
Guatemala once before after convictions for drunken driving and
disorderly conduct, and another brother and friend had been charged
in the case. All four suspects are from Guatemala, and one other was
also deported back to his homeland in April 2014, ICE said.
Too bad there wasn't a
fence or a wall high enough to keep them out.
We need to build walls
that keep out illegal immigrants, while tearing down walls which
nurture ethnic enclaves and build "communities" that don't honor the
larger nation that accepts the legal immigrants. Hope Belgium -- and
the United States -- are learning this hard lesson.
But, despite what
opponents of Trump and Cruz say about their supporters, we are not
all angry and mean. I myself am mostly just incredulous that there
are so many "useful idiots" still buying this brotherhood nonsense.
When I get angry, it's
when my own rights are attacked. For instance, as I get older, I
want the right to choose assisted suicide should I be in a "ready to
die" mode. But no, despite my having left the Catholic Church 55
years ago, it still had the power to fight a ballot question that
would give me personal autonomy over its religious doctrine. My own
emotions don't usually run deep, my being a rational, logical person
and all, but I admit to hating the voters who said no to the recent
"death with dignity"
ballot question; hope they live long enough to regret
it. Or better still, hope the bill supporting doctor-assisted
suicide filed by my state rep Lori Ehrlich passes this year.
Unfortunately, legislative
leaders were non-committal, with Gov. Charlie Baker taking his lead
from the voters who rejected the ballot question. As an expert on
the initiative process, I believe that the attorney general should
not have approved the petition, since its assumption violates the
First Amendment to the Constitution, giving me religious freedom. We
do not have an official religion in this country that can tell us
individuals what to do. It should be understood that I have a right
to die with my doctor's assistance.
Well, enough peace, love
and understanding this week.
Barbara Anderson of
Marblehead is a weekly columnist for the Salem News and
Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company.
