Hamas' horrific crimes on Oct. 7 bring to mind the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.

U.S. troops slaughtered between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians — mostly women, children and elderly men. Women were raped and had their bodies mutilated, and children as young as 12 suffered the same fate.

According to military historian William Thomas Allison, "By midmorning, members of Charlie Company had killed hundreds of civilians and raped or assaulted countless women and young girls. They encountered no enemy fire and found no weapons in My Lai itself."

The massacre ended when Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. and his crew landed their helicopter to block the assailants. Because Thompson testified against those responsible, he was condemned and shunned by many members of the military, government and the public.

Lt. William Calley was the only guilty verdict.  Calley was convicted of the premeditated murder of 22 unarmed civilians. Although he was initially sentenced to life in prison, President Richard Nixon commuted Calley's sentence, and he ended up serving just three years on house arrest.

As we witness the immense suffering of the residents of Gaza, let's heed the words of political activist and author Noam Chomsky: “For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.”

Time to change national anthem; use Rall's blueprint to life the poor  

I’ve never seen as much poverty and homelessness and struggling working poor humans as in today’s America.

Johnny Cash’s (1971) song “Man in Black” scolds America for not having a social conscience for America’s poor — and for America’s anemic efforts to help its poor and homeless and its struggling working poor.

So I think the American (national) anthem should be Johnny Cash’s conscience-stirring song “Man in Black,” rather than the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Hopefully, singing the Johnny Cash song “Main in Black” will stire America’s conscience and will cause America to hear and read Jesus calling out to our nation to love and help the poor.

Syndicated columnist Ted Rall had a stirring column in the March 13-26 (edition of the) Asheville Daily Planet headlined, “What if we had $4.5 trillion a year to spend on ordinary people?”

I have forwarded copies to college economic professors for review — and they all say that Ted Rall really does show us a viable and realistic and do-able way to save $4.5 trillion a year to spend on America’s poor and homeless... and America’s working poor.

So, in addition to making “Man in Black” — Johnny Cash’s clarion call for social justice — our national anthem, our government should use Daily Planet columnist Ted Rall’s blueprint for saving $4.5 trillion a year to spend on the poor and homless, found in Rall’s March 13-26 Asheville Daily Planet column.

All eligible citizens urged to register and vote in Nov. 5 elections

We are guaranteed this right by the Constitution of the United States, We are in the midst of another contentious election cycle, but one thing is for sure — we are all better off when we have a good turnout at the polls. 

A president, for example, elected by a minority of eligible voters is not the best way to run our representative republic.

Therefore, we, the members of the local members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, urge all eligible citizens of our country to register and vote for the candidates of their choice in the upcoming elections. 

See you at the polls.

Investing in the presidency takes sacrifice, but worth it 

It takes time, money and gas to get to the voting booth, and a lot of rent to vote against the mayor of Biltmore Forest, and nothing in D.C. — except D.C. city hall — can justify that investment.  

What gets me to the voting booth are referenda (especially abortion rights in many places), writing in myself, mayors (who can both fund abortions like Columbus, Ohio, and address global issues via the World Council of Mayors, which the repro-rights leadership ignores) and whichever local candidates endorse me.

But once in the booth, it takes 10 seconds to vote for the childless candidate who said “reduce population,” (Kamala) Harris, for that reason mainly, but also because it takes 1,000 mayors to win the presidency and Harris has them, where Dave Gardner of Growthbusters, West, Stein, Kennedy, Oliver and I don’t, and so should all be running for mayor, as did Bernie and Pete.

Actually, Brownie Newman may have said those words once, too — but too long ago.  

The destiny of man? It is known by... The Creator

Most humans are so impressed with man’s accomplishments that they completely forget that it was God, The Creator, who created an un-ending Heaven, and the Earth — and us.

So they were impressed when NASA announced that the Voyager 1 spacecraft had encountered some communication problems, and that after some months, our NASA scientists had fixed the problem, while the spacecraft was 15 billion miles away in outer space. 

Surely the scientists consider this a great human achievement, while refusing to give God any credit. It is God who created them, the planets their equipment explored, and the speed of light which made it possible for them to communicate with their equipment at such great distance.

A writer, who writes about NASA’s great exploration achievements, stated that “human destiny will remain ever unknown,” while, “the fate of our artifacts can be calculated in staggering detail.”

However, that is totally wrong, because God has made the destiny of man known to Mankind. And that destiny is NOT GOOD for those who reject Him and His plan for Salvation!

He made it known by his documented word, the Bible, through Moses, a multitude number of his prophets, and Jesus and his disciples. 

Like most of the world, America has disobeyed God and failed to teach the children about God and the “Word of God.”

The words “separation of church and state” were misused to keep God and His Word out of our schools and all government places, including state and city offices. 

Now, not even God’s Ten Commandments, can be posted at these facilities.

The results have been disastrous as we see every day in this country.  

One example of how immoral and sick America has become can be seen in what our current president said about the shooting of former president Trump. He said it was “sick” and that “There is no place in America for this kind of violence.” 

Yet he is so morally blinded that he does not realize, the terrible violence committed when they tear arms and pieces of body parts from babies being aborted/killed. He supports that, as does a great number of other politicians. 

The Word of God says that if we disobey one of God’s “Ten God Commandments,” we are guilty of all of them. And, of course, we are guilty.

When God decides it is time, He will begin the mass punishment upon the human race.   That is called “the end of times.” He already knows it is going to happen! 

At that date and time, He will hand Jesus the sealed book and Jesus will break the first seal.  

That starts the punishment. 

The breaking of the second seal will “take peace from the earth — and they will kill one another.”  

The breaking of the rest of the seals and the sounding seven trumpets — plus the seven angels doing their assigned duties — will bring additional death and destruction upon the world.  

By that time, over 80 percent of the earth’s population will die before the seven-year tribulation begins.

The destiny of those who die unsaved is a terrible time in Hell, until the White Throne judgment, and then eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone....