I recently passed the following along to some of my friends and readers whose email address happened to be in my Address Book online. It is, in effect, a matter of a hard case conservative agreeing with a devout and outspoken liberal Democrat. But I think that a lot of other conservatives would agree with me, that if there’s no “ifs, ands or buts about it” that if it is going to happen, then why not accommodate this Chicago Senator, or perhaps I should say, ‘this Senator from Chicago’; why not indeed?
If you care to agree with me, you need do nothing; just smile and consider yourself doing a bipartisan action to show the liberals that conservatives are actually very amenable at times. Oh, OK, if you really want to, you can send Senator Durbin a note telling him you agree with his decision to take the prisoners to Illinois.
If the very liberal president has actually directed that these ultra dangerous and very unpredictable war criminals be brought to our shores to bypass the stringent requirements of an isolated, offshore military trial, therefore being allowed all of the “soft-touch” provisions that a normal citizen would be entitled to, instead of a harsh formal military tribunal to which any prisoner of war would be subjected; then so be it.
This should give new meaning to the old Frank Sinatra tune, "Chicago - Chicago... On State Street, that great street, I just want to say, they do things they don't do on Broadway;" but maybe not, as I hear Eric Holder, the US Attorney General seems to have a preference for "New York, New York, that toddeling town..."
But as Paul Harvey said so many times: “Now here’s the rest of the story:”
Senator Richard Durbin, D-IL, the 2nd highest ranking Democrat in the U. S. Senate spoke on the evening TV news about how wonderful it is going to be to bring the Guantanamo prisoners of war to the United States for their trials and possible imprisonment, he emphasized that his great state of Illinois, the state with all those "different" politicians (my comment, not his) would be very happy to have them reside there.
As he spoke I had a very strong bipartisan wave come across me and felt I should show this very high ranking liberal Democrat that as a very low ranking conservative that I could support his plea for these wonderful Islamic, peace-loving prisoners to reside in his state while they were in this country; if, in fact, we MUST do it at all as the president insists.
Please know that this endorsement of Durbin's heart-felt plea to house these prisoners in the great state of Illinois, and hopefully in the pristine city of Chicago home of the country's "different" politicians, is not an approval of bringing them anywhere within 500 miles of our borders. No, I feel that Gitmo, as Guantanamo is known, is an ideal place which has been completely renovated and designed as a virtual shrine for an Islamic peace teaching vista, and I would prefer that they remain there. But president Obama feels that the integration of these gentle, pleasant, clean-cut, souls would be good for the United States.
So in the interests of bipartisanship, I pass this along and ask each and every one to agree that if these prisoners MUST come to this country and there is no way of stopping it, then allow them ALL to be housed in Illinois, under the caretaker status of Senator Richard Durbin, the Majority Whip of the United States Senate.
I feel sure that the other 49 states will be happy to allow their share of any of these prisoners to be taken care of by the great and wonderful state of Illinois and Senator Durbin.
So let this message go to all of our wonderful United States for approval from the residents therein to give up the honor and privilege of housing these people in deference to the State of Illinois in the interests of bipartisanship.
All those in agreement are asked to show their name and state of residency below and pass it on to as many people as you know within your own state and on to friends in other states with the hope that the last State will be those generous Illinoisians.
Gerald A. “Jerry” McConnell, 92, of Hampton, died Sunday, February 19, 2017, at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House in Haverhill, Mass., surrounded by his loved ones. He was born May 27, 1924 in Altoona, Pa., the fifth son of the late John E. and Grace (Fletcher) McConnell.
Jerry served ten years with the US Marine Corps and participated in the landing against Japanese Army on Guadalcanal and another ten years with the US Air Force. After moving to Hampton in 1957 he started his community activities serving in many capacities.
He shared 72 years of marriage with his wife Betty P. (Hamilton) McConnell. In addition to his wife, family members include nieces and nephews.
