If She was Only 18

For weeks, I’ve been quietly watching this case in Florida…of this 17-year old girl…Rifqa Bary…..who was Islamic but then converted to Christianity. The media does an update each week….and is mostly waiting for the court case to end…before it turns into a 3-ring circus.

The deal here is simple…..her Islamic parents want her back in Ohio. She ran away and positioned herself in Florida. At present….the court system is fairly challenged on this deal. Most folks feel the Islamic tradition of beating a daughter like this will occur, if she goes back. Typically, the father is stuck, and has relatives who will be part of this disciplinary episode.

The Florida court has put up a fair fight on this. Currently, the parent’s are trying to move the dependency hearing to Columbus, Ohio….thinking the local establishment will fix the issue.

In this case....the kid is in this waiting period of turning 18. If she were “of age”, then this entire discussion would be null and void. I have doubts that this will work....the movement of dependency to Ohio would likely shift this into a quicker return to the parent’s control.

My advice? Rifqa ought to pack an overnight bag and kinda walk out the backdoor of her current location in Florida. There are probably 250,000 Christian homes in the state or nearby states where folks would likely hide her until she turns 18. There are folks in the heartland of Bama....who would readily haul up their collection of rifles and weapons to demonstrate to the deputy asking questions to just go and forget about looking.

Staying in this game there in Florida....waiting for some dimwit legal expert in Ohio to lay claim on your life....then to present you back to the Islamic family who has no choice but discipline Rifqa...just doesn’t work.

The Elevator and Me

I had a unique experience this week. I had four pallets of heavy computer gear. We took four young NCO’s and went to a building on Ramstein to store the pallets. They have to move to the second floor….which luckily, there is a industrial elevator. So I push this cart onto the elevator, with two of my junior NCO’s. You can only go from floor one to floor two.

Somewhere in-between floor one and floor two….the damn elevator stops.

You can imagine the look on my face.

It’s not moving.

We’ve got about a 1,000 pounds in cargo, and three of us guys. I’m looking at the damn spec’s and the elevator could have handled our combined weight by double the weight that we had.

I’m standing now and thinking about the last coffee I had and whether there are any bodily functions that might occur shortly. I felt around…..I felt safe.

My associate near the buttons….got the “triple-finger” complex and began to eyeball the instructions on the door. It was in German and English. Three basic lines: (1) hit reset, (2) hit floor number, and (3) If process doesn’t work, repeat.

My associate then began jamming the buttons left and right. He probably hit the reset button thirty times in one minute.

Nothing moved.

My third associate was quietly sitting and just observing….leaning against the close proximity of the sidewall and the end door.

Minutes passed.

Our associates on the third floor, who had walked up….were asking if we had issues and they were getting to the point of calling the emergency folks. I could see myself sitting there for an hour or two.

Then….one of these button punches suddenly launched us six inches up. Then we stopped again. Five punches later….we launched another six inches up. We had around eight feet to make up now….to reach the civilized world.

At some point here….I’m looking at my associate leaning against the door area….and realizing the sensors are right there. I asked him to lean my way and suddenly we have no problems and go to the top floor in a second or two.

Yep, we were serious trouble….because he leaned against the door.

Luckily for me….that coffee hadn’t processed through my system yet.

TV & the President

I sat today and tried to imagine President Eisenhower on the David Letterman show. Frankly, I can’t envision it. You could have had a serious journalist sitting....asking a dozen questions....and gotten some fairly decent answers. The thing is...none of them would have been funny or shown a bit of humor.

I tried to imagine President Teddy Roosevelt on the David Letterman show. Frankly, I can’t envision it. He’d toss out some old-fashioned wisdom....a couple of cracks about loser Democrats, and then tell you why America was tough.

I tried to imagine President Ronald Reagan on the David Letterman show....before the shooting, when he was a bit sharp. He would have shown a little wit but dipped back into why America was such a great place. He might have chatted on taxes and why we need less government, not more.

I tried to imagine President Thomas Jefferson on the David Letterman show....tossing out bits of common sense, Greek philosophy, and a recipe for a great beef stew.
I tried to imagine President George Washington being invited to David Letterman but turning him down to attend a local horse show in Virginia instead.

So I come back to this episode this week of President Obama on the David Letterman show and being the friendly President who can display a sense of humor. I kept thinking....so what other kind of shows will end up showing up on? Price is Right? Dancing with the Stars? Larry King? Bass Fishing with Joe and Larry on Channel 9?

Maybe I’m old fashioned. Maybe I’m in the wrong era. But somewhere along the way....I feel like I’m in some Twilight Zone episode. Some guy who used to be important....is now evening player on the David Letterman show. You feel like some amount of respect has evaporated....and you’ve got less respect than when you started.

My two cents....while a candle burns in the heartland.