Connect the Dots

I am sure anyone reading this remembers in their growing up years about these puzzles where you go from one numbered dot to the next higher numbered dot and when you finished you had a picture of a cow, dog, frog, or whatever. After a period of time you became pretty proficient on these little exercises. It appears that this is a skill that is lost as the American population grew up.

Way back on December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. In the debate it has been said that dots were there and if they had been connected it would not have been a total surprise. Countless lives were lost in this oversight.

During the aftermath of September 11^th many times you would see or hear about agencies and government groups that did not connect the dots and this disaster happened because of that. Close to three thousand American lives were lost. Millions of dollars have been spent on systems and new laws to help connect the dots.

Recently thirteen lives were lost in the Fort Hood Massacre. Again, it has been said that the signals were there and the dots were not connected in time to avert this shameless terrorist attack on the American way of life.

It bothers me very much that much of the news media will not call that massacre what it was, a terrorist attack. The news media is at the point where they do not use the word terrorist and not by using this word they are distorting the entire issue and other issues. This is another dot that is being missed.

With all these examples it appears that America does not know how to connect the dots to avert a tragedy or a disaster. Why is this so? Many have tackled this problem that have more education than me and are more qualified to as one may say, 'connect the dots'. My speculation is that Americans just trust human nature too much. Americans fail to realize that there are humans in this world that want to destroy us and the American way of life.

I recently received an e-mail with an attached letter that was supposedly written by Sherry Hackett, Buddy Hackett's widow. (link) Was it actually written by Sherry? I don't have a clue, but it did bring up thirteen different incidents or events that involved the president and his actions. I remember some of them and others are new to me. This e-mail prompted me to compose this article.

For example, during the president's campaign, Americans watched as he made mockery of our tradition of standing and crossing your heart when the Pledge of Allegiance was spoken. The president, out of four people on the stage, was the only one not honoring our tradition.

Another example, every time the President apologized to other countries for America's position on an issue we have wondered why you don't share our pride in this great country. When you have heard foreign leaders berate our country and our beliefs, you have not defended us.

A third one, We seek, by protesting, to let our representatives know that we are not in favor of these crippling expenditures and we are labeled "un-American", "racist", "mob" radicals". We wonder how we are supposed to let you know how frustrated we are. You have attempted to make our protests seem isolated and insignificant. Until your appointment, Americans had the right to speak out.

There were ten more instances of questionable activities or responses.

Is this another event that America is not connecting the dots? The stakes are high. The future of our country and the freedoms we enjoy are on the table. The dots are right in front of us. Will America wake up and connect the dots before disaster strikes or will apathy destroy this great country?