Judicious Overrides
Had the makers of the movie "Dumb and Dumber" been politically-minded, they might have thought to add dumbest. They would have been referring to the American military, of course. Not our actual soldiers-'n-sailors-'n-fly-boys, but the administrative side of the Five-Side Funny Farm. They were asked by the family of the American Airlines pilot whose plane was crashed into the Pentagon on September 11th if his remains might be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. They said no. Even though Charles Burlingame III had flown Navy fighters for eight years and served in the reserves for 17 more, the Pentagon said that they only interred reservists who had reached 60 before they died.
In all but meager fairness to the military, they've got a problem because Arlington is getting filled up, and they have to have some limits. But goodness me, and not them, considering how tightly wrapped in the flag our country has been since the attack, doncha gotta wonder why they couldn't have bent the rules just a little, to provide a hero's burial for a veteran who fought and died trying to save his plane from the terrorists? I mean, even President Bush was talking about this being war. Indeed, the pilot's sister said he should have gotten a purple heart. The generals should have welcomed him, but they instead held up a copy of their rules and shook their head.
Talk about snatching defeat outta the jaws of victory, these people would have opposed the strewing of George Harrison's ashes in the Ganges, if they had had any authority over the matter. They would have done it on principle. Their principle that they say no to everything that comes from outside. Then they dig in their heals, which is where they stay until someone with a greater concern for, and awareness of, public relations steps in to overrule them. They should all be immediately shipped out to the Afghan front lines where they might assist the Northern Alliance, by drawing fire. It took a higher authority — the National Security Council — to, er-hem, persuade the uniforms to reverse their course and to allow Burlingame to be buried at Arlington. The ceremony will be next week.
In another matter of idiots being over-ruled, a judge in Placer County here in The Golden State has said that a mother may give her child marijuana. Child Protective Services, all too often a misnomer, sued the woman to take away her child, saying she was unfit and was contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The mother had tried conventional treatments, but none had worked.
From birth the boy had exhibited problems, with 16 different physicians diagnosing a whole slew of problems including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder as flavor-of-the-month labels for extreme changes in mood, energy and behavior, and for biting and hitting other children. He was "literally unmanageable" said the mother. "By the time he was 2, he'd been in and out of well over seven or eight preschools. And by the time he was 4, he'd been banned from all of Placer County's child-care system."
In addition to Ritalin, which seemed to worsen the boy's condition, he was given Adderall, Carbamazepine, Clonazepam, Clonidine, Desmopressin, Depakote, Dexedrine, Guanfacine, Imipramine, Mellaril, Methylphenidate, Neurontin, Risperdal, Seroquel, Tennate, Thioridazine, Zoloft and Zyprexa. Said the boy's grand mother, "This poor little guy has been so over-medicated at times. At one point, he reminded me of a dog we once had who just staggered around and drooled with distemper." There were also three psychiatric hospitalizations.
So after considerable research and with a doctor's recommendation, they decided to try marijuana cooked in muffins. The results were immediate. The boy's behavior improved, his mood swings evened out, and he has neighborhood friends now. And while I question the mother for having sent an obviously needy child to pre-school and child-care at such an early age, I gotta say unequivocally, Right on, Judge; it's hard to argue with success.
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
.