'Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" should be our rally cry

"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" was a popular patriotic song during World War II. The origin of the song is unclear but I think it sums up our current situation.
It might have been inspired by a chaplain, Capt. H.M. Forgy, who was on the deck of the U.S.S. New Orleans. It was under fire at 1010 hours on Dec. 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor and the Japanese were attacking. Forgy is reported to have said on national TV that he saw the men were getting tired and he said, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." From that short sentence a song was composed which helped rally Americans during the war.
As I sit in the office, I think about the terrorist attack on San Bernardino, California.
Another song by Longfellow comes to mind.
"And in despair I bowed my head:
"'There is no peace on earth,' I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."
What are we going to do about terrorism at home?
To think of an attack on one building in a California city as terrorism is absurd. It's like watching one of those criminal plots on the old "Batman" TV show. The Joker and the Penguin are at it again.
Yet, the head of the FBI says it is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
Certainly the arsenal that police found in the gunmen's home indicate it was a planned attack. For years, we have been warned that our enemies are recruiting people in the U.S. and we can expect such attacks. That is what makes it absurd. Attack relatively small and unimportant communities like San Bernardino instead of focusing on major cities like Washington and New York? Of course, Paris was one of the Isis targets, so Washington and New York and Los Angeles and Chicago could be attacked in the future.
What is the answer?
I believe our faith will be part of our salvation. I think gun control will not.
Finally, I have found something with which to agree with Ted Cruz, candidate for President. Don't take guns away, arm our citizenry.
I appreciate our police as much as anyone can. But they are relatively few and therefore must be far between.
Honest, hardworking, upstanding Americans are everywhere and where we gather, that is where terrorists want to be. How much better if, instead of the four-minute response time in San Bernardino, there had been several people, perhaps many people who could have fired back at the man and woman who were shooting and killing?
No sir! Don't look to gun control to protect Americans. We still have the right to bear arms, according to the Constitution.
"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
"The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
"With peace on earth, good will to men."
Or, as Capt. Forgy said it, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!"

Hey, national media producers, it's not about you!

We knew it was coming. Those "kids" of a couple decades ago are now officially in charge.

I suppose we can see it many places but today I want to talk about the people in charge at our national media outlets. Do the producers really get up in the morning and think, "It's all about me?" Or does it just seem that way.

Take for example ...

A recent "Saturday Night Live" skit that made fun of a young woman being recruited by ISIS.

"Take care of her," the girl's dad said.

"Death to America" was the response.

Now, "Saturday Night Live" has always been edgy and quite often made people uncomfortable. Remember, "Let's kill Gary Gilmore for Christmas?" It was a skit about the upcoming execution of a murderer that was scheduled to take place around the holidays. That bothered me for obvious reasons.

I would have been bothered by the ISIS sketch also, if I had seen it. What really bothered me, though, was the response to criticism about the skit: "It's a matter of free speech."

So, we can say anything we want is a sketch on live TV about the people sworn to destroy our country but when someone stands up and says, "That was just wrong," the proper reply is, "I have the right to free speech?"

Another example is the current winter season.

Repeatedly, the national media (I usually watch CBS news) focused on Boston and New York.

"Oh, the horror! Boston is about to set the record for snowfall!"

Meanwhile, we were setting records for cold in Indiana but the national media assumed we wanted to hear about their problems on the East coast where those people live. The South, including Atlanta, received quite a bit of attention this winter, too. I guess Indianapolis isn't a large enough metropolitan area to get the attention of CBS New York.

The Weather Channel always does a good job covering all the country and that has been good for NBC New York (The Weather Channel and NBC are owned by the same parent company.)

"It's all about me!"

Guess that attitude has come to permeate the national media.

Oh, well, I can turn the channel or even turn off the TV ... and I do.

No wonder people watching traditional broadcast television TV viewers are rapidly decreasing in number while many more people turn to the Web for information and entertainment.

Guess what. It's not all about you. Each one of us think it's about each one of us and now we have lots of options.

Frank Phillips is an on-the-way-to-becoming a curmudgeon. He is a reporter for The Brazil Times.