One More Goodbye

His hair was always slicked back, not in a greasy gross way, but in a manner resembling the 50’s attention to style and presentation. His eyes sparkled with a smile to match as he joked around and thought of the next punch line to get in; all the while trying to find out what is new and important in your life. His handshake was always strong and firm though arthritis had long ago curled them in a manner as to make them unusable for the farming and metalworking jobs that he loved to do.
Now the hair was almost all gone, the pale scalp beneath held only the slightest wisps of shock-white hair. His eyes were clouded with the pain and confusion by the amounts of radiation and chemotherapy chemicals that had been assaulting his body and his spirit for the past months. He still reached up for a handshake, but gone was the message of strength that he once conveyed.
But it wasn’t any of those things that made him so special to me and to those around him. It was the 30 odd years of standing at the entrance of the church with that trademark smile welcoming everyone to the service. It was that same suit that he wore when he took up the offering later on that day. It was his loyal service as he quietly went back to the altar and did the day’s accounting work long as the rest of the folks were trying to beat the Methodists to the steakhouse. It was frequent visits to my grandfather as he lay in his bed with the same strains that he was experiencing now. It was the chicken tenders dinners that his wife cooked for 4 days in a row after Papa passed. It was the Goop Cake that she prepared for me (my favorite) after I graduated. It was a check for $25.00 that he signed to me for my high school graduation and another one for college. Always giving. Giving of his time, his talents, himself.
When I went to visit him at the hospital in Asheville, he called loudly for the nurse to bring him his “pee can”. The nurse came in and asked what he meant. He repeated. ‘You mean a pecan?’ She asked. It was just Hebren being Hebren. Trying to make others laugh while he internally fought for his life.
I made it a point to stop at least once a week and visit. It was always the same. A giant smile as I entered the room and another as I left with that famous “Be careful out there. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” The last time the smile was more labored, and his eyes only opened momentarily. I shared with him one more time about how much he meant to me and how much we all appreciated the work he had done, and with a handshake and a hug I left.
About 3 days later I was in the back of my Uncle John’s store pricing drugs and I got this very heavy feeling in my heart and I just couldn’t get him off my mind. I called them and told his wife that I just wanted her to know that I was thinking about them and that I was praying for them. That was 11:50pm. At 12:10pm Hebren Layell passed from this life to the next.
Our associate pastor was by his side and told me exactly how it happened. With his family around him, he suddenly opened his eyes wide and said,
“Somebody’s calling me. I gotta go.”
His wife said, “Well Hebren who is it? Where you goin’?”
“Someone’s calling me. I’m going home. Come here and give me a kiss.”
She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.
“I’m going home now. One more kiss and I’ve got to go.”
She bent down again and kissed him, and he passed from this world into the one prepared for him by the Master Constructionist. He will be missed precisely because he made his time here count for so much and made himself a large part of a lot of people's lives. I will miss that handshake and I'll miss getting that warm feeling every time I visited. But like they said at the funeral, "Just imagine what Harold Lusk and Hebren Layell are getting into up there right now! God's got His hands full."

***In Loving Memory of Hebren Layell**
*A servant, a neighbor, and a friend*

Sensing Right and Wrong and Other Mysticisms

Today we hear that Senator Orin Hatch is trying to calm down all those whacko right-wingers who weren't yelping for joy upon hearing that Harriet Miers was the new nominee. Inexplicably the herd didn't 'baaaahhh' in perfect unison with their approval. Not buying, "A friend of Bush is a friend of mine. Friends make great Supreme Court Judges."
But don't get so upset you whackos Senator Hatch says. "I've known her for quite a while and I feel she's gonna be an excellent justice. She has a very strong sense of right and wrong." Ok, so she's your friend. I've had girlfriends before that I cared deeply for, there were however friends of hers that I deeply detested. So "A friend of his, should be a friend of yours" doesn't work. She also broke up with me, proving people never are who you really think they are.

"A Sense of right and wrong." Actually, this is not anywhere on the application form, and shouldn't be. In fact I would argue that having a strong sense of right and wrong may make someone a BAD JUSTICE!

Now wait, hear me out on this. That sounds completely ridiculous, I know becuase of the way that we've grown to view the Supreme Court of the United States. You see, I believe ideally that a computer (completely free of a conscience, bias, or political ties) could decide these laws. Obviously that won't ever happen but the methodology should be similar. Read the laws, don't read INTO the laws. That's one of the reasons I admire Clarence Thomas so much. He's a strict constructionist, he reads the case problem, then goes back to the law and sees how it is handled. The other side of that is Sandra Day O'Connor, she is the absolute CLASSIC for someone who knows what the outcome should be (based on her sense of right and wrong) and then using her magic decoder ring, and special cryptographer assistant she interprets new rights and privelges in the document to give her the right out come.
Ok, Ms. Miers has a strong sense of right and wrong...I bet Ginsberg has an EXTRMELY strong sense of right and wrong (which can actually be useful for all of us: If she votes against it, then the founding fathers would have voted for it and we should support it. And so forth). I sure as shooting don't want another GINSBERG on the court Mr. Hatch.


Let's take a look at Roe V Wade, the very lifeblood of the modern feminist movement, and the one thing that the Democrats do know that they stand for. This is the epitome of looking at the problem deciding the solution and then trying to make the law say what you need it to say.

Can you imagine the founding fathers (after opening the Convention with prayer to "Lord God Almighty" which they did at the beginning of each day...even the day when they wrote The Bill of Rights which was recently interpreted to say that "Under God" in the pledge is unconstitutional) sitting down at the table and saying,

"Hey Ben, you know what we really need to protect in here? The right for a woman to spray saline solution onto the raw flesh of her unborn child!" "Gee whiz Tommy, I hadn't even thought of that! You are absolutely right, that was one of the biggest things that kept ticking me off about Britain."

Of course they never intended that, so the liberals needed a way to make sure that their "right" to such neccassary freedoms as stabbing an 8 month old "fetus" in the base of the skull with scissors and sucking its brains out with a plastic tube, would be forever protected. They could have relied on the spirit and conscious of the American People to, oh say, vote to protect it. But such delicate and intracate measures can not be trusted in the hands of the average American voter! We must concede to a higher power, the most trusted, the all-knowing, the alpha and the omega: *insert chours of angels* The Supreme Court of the United States. Surely in all their goodness and mercy and wisdom they could see how vital abortions on demand were to the Women's Movement to maintain law and order and equality.

And they did, and in a very creative way. In fact, if it didn't have such deadly (literally) consequences you could almost laugh at such skewed logic. I can't imagine the consenters signing on with a straight face. Most people know what the court case was about, but very few actually know HOW it was decided. Here's a synopsis for you:

Step 1) Refer to the Bill of Rights which says that the government can not quarter soldiers in civilian homes.

Step 2) Infer that what they really meant was that we have a right to privacy in our homes.

Step 3) Decide that if we have a right to privacy (note that this phrase appears NO WHERE in the actual Constitution) in our homes than that means we also have privacy in our property.

Step 4) Extend the right to privacy in our property to mean our physical person.

Step 5) Decide that the new right to privacy means the government can not tell a woman that she can't kill her unborn child.

Step 6) Legislate to the states that abortion must be available to everyone!

Forget the fact that aboritions happen in a hospital, not a home so Step 1 falters, forget the fact that we are talking about another being, not a piece of property, just grin and bear it. The Supreme Court knows best.

So when Mr. Hatch tell me to not worry because Ms. Miers has 'a strong sense of right and wrong', I hear: Ms. Miers has her own internal values system which may or may not reflect those found in the Constitution, and I should just 'trust' her.

Not happening.

W Stands for Whaaaaat???

I feel so frustrated....so disappointed….so ANGRY! I feel like going out and burning a bra or something. Except I don’t have a bra and if I did it might be deemed hate speech and then I might have to go to jail, and if I did I might get Cindy Sheeman as a cellmate, and I’d end up in a hairy arm pitted full nelson and I hate getting beat up by girls. So instead, I shall sit here in my comfy chair and whine about it on the internet.

I signed up for fireworks. That’s right, I wanted to light up the political and cultural landscape that has been so darkened by the liberal plague. I talked to my friends and invited them to join the fireworks show. I walked countless miles, left countless messages, held signs, argued with foes, and basically worked my little fingers to the bone trying to make sure as many people as possible would support the fireworks show. And they wanted to! YAY! We won! YAY! So we all gathered on the lawn prepared to see the fruition of all those unpaid hours of labor. And then…..AND THEN…..*pop* Some disinterested looking fellow came out and threw down one of those little white Hershey-Kiss looking little things: pop. yay.

In case you didn’t catch on to my analogy (though I always have been a fan of fireworks), I’m talking about the lackluster appointment to the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers. (Yeah, she spells it “Miers”…I’m not sure if there’s some cultural reason for that, like that guy from Road Rules “Darrell” who insisted that his name was (phonetically) DUH-RELL. But that’s beside the point.) But let me first start with the previous appointment, John Roberts. When I first heard the name (and yes I was one of those pathetic political junkies hovered around the TV with my fingers cross when he announced…I need a hobby), I was like “Hmmm, well I didn’t see that coming but it could definitely be worse.” After watching the hearings on CSPAN (I know…a hobby) I am truly impressed with Mr. Roberts. He actually looks like the kind of guy (or gal to you bra burners) that I wanted. Not a Republican, DEFINITELY not a Democrat, but an intelligent, non-partisan judge who will look to the law, see what it says and then find the correct decision as opposed to thinking, “Ok, I know how this should come out, now how can I make the Constitution say it?” (See Roe V. Wade) So, I was skeptical but kept an open mind and I think I’m satisfied.

Then a truly great American, Judge Rehnquist, died. I don’t want to get into a tribute to him, but he was truly a wonderful human being and a stellar judge. So Bush had the opportunity to put a new Chief into place. The chief (though only having an equal 1 vote) assumes the responsibilities of the logistics, the inner workings of schedules, meetings, and dockets, to keep the highest court of the land running smoothly. Here was the PERFECT opportunity to send the “adjudicate not legislate”. As a double whammy to the Dems, the most qualified, most capable candidate also happened to be a black man who worked his way up from the VERY BOTTOM of the economic and social rung to land a position in The Court. CLARENCE THOMAS! I mean, come on! He is known for his stringent work ethic and attention to detail (and I got to shake his hand). Alas, the night sky remained dark as Roberts was re-nominated for the Chief spot. A newcomer. A man who, though indisputably intelligent, has minimal judicial experience and has never worked with the people is now going to lead. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Sigh

Now to the ultimate source of my angst and apprehension. As I stood in the dark field with my brethren staring at the dark sky, I couldn’t help but feel like a contestant on The Price Is Right waiting for the curtain to be pulled back. But instead of a nice shiny Corvette…I got a jackass (Like a donkey, as in inferior to a car not like a stupid person…actually it might turn out to be both). WHY??? WHY MR. BUSH???

(Me knocking on President Bush’s door)

Hey buddy, remember me? Yeah, I was that college student who got the worst GPA of his college career because he was putting in 30-65 hours a week working to get you back in White House? Yeah, that’s me. Well, when I was doing that it was because I believe in the principles of conservatism NOT because you were a friend of mine or you were in my clique. I didn’t put that work in so that you could reward your pals with cool new titles. I understand being loyal to friends. Loyalty is a great quality…in a dog, not a president. If you’re going to be blindly loyal, why don’t you do it for the people who elected you? Remember us? “Value Voters?” Yup, well we’re not all giggles and smiles when you give us a candidate who is in favor of gay adoption. We didn’t pop the corks when you gave us a woman who is in favor of an international criminal court. In case you didn’t get the clue when Harry Reid said that he DID like her, we don’t want a woman who gave money to both Gore AND Clinton!!! (By the way all three of those things are true)

After I threw my tantrum, I tried to find solace in the Vice Presidents oh-so-comforting words, “trust the President.” Yeah, ok. That’s all fine and dandy, but this shouldn’t be something that I have to blindly trust him on. If I’m jumping out of a plane at 40,000ft I want my parachute to be made by a company with a proven track record, and Bush saying “oh trust me, I knew the guy that made it, he’s swell” ain’t cutting it. And believe me, this is nothing short of America jumping out of an airplane.

I don’t know Mr. Bush. You’re getting really close to breaking my heart. Seriously, you’re just a different person. Is there another interest in your life that has taken my (The Base) place in your life? Who is she/he?
Ok, maybe that lipstick on your collar really was caused by a tight elevator or whatever. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe you really have just been busy, and that you haven’t forgotten about our relationship. But please, you’re really starting to scare me.

We’ll see. We’ll see. I hope he knows what he is doing, but based on the information we have now she sure wouldn’t get MY vote for confirmation. And I’m sure not feeling like telling my friends about the fireworks display. Pop. Fizzle. Goodbye.