Pancreatic cancer took Mother when I was thirty-one. She was forty-nine. She had many gifts. She told few, if anyone (besides me), about her “special” gift.

Mom knew things. She knew things like any mother, but more. Mother knew the night my cousin died (her nephew) in a fatal one-car accident on a deserted stretch of highway. She was awakened from sleep when it happened. She knew he was dead. It would be hours later before a passing truck driver would happen to glance off the road and catch a glimpse of an overturned car in a creek bank beneath the fog. This truck driver was so uncertain of what he saw that he actually continued to drive, dropped off his tractor in the next town and returned in his personal car to investigate further. He found Wayne's body beneath the overturned automobile. He was 18. He most likely fell asleep at the wheel, ran off the road, and was ejected from the vehicle to have it roll on top of him. The clock in his Monte Carlo was stopped at just after midnight. He was found around daybreak.

Mom also knew when another close relative was in a car accident. She wasn't given specific details. She knew a close family member was hurt. (It turned out to be her niece.) She knew at the time that the person was injured but not seriously. (Joyce was only badly bruised.) She got the call later that day.

These are the only two visions Mother ever revealed to me. She didn't like to talk about this gift. She was in a strict form of Christianity that did not teach the existence of spiritual gifts. Thus Mother believed the gift more a curse than a blessing.

It’s a shame, really. She lived her life believing she was cursed instead of blessed. Me, I believe it was a personal gift from a personal God. She was truly a special person.

I miss you, Mother, everyday. I love you.

The United States is a nation. America is a continent. We are North Americans along with the Canadians. We have Central and South American neighbors. Canadians, Central and South Americans are not United States citizens. Yet, all are Americans! Those born in the United States are United Statesians by nationality.

European-American, African-American, Italian-American, what's up with that? Were you originally born in Europe, Italy or Africa! If you were born here, you are a United Statesian. You have a unique heritage, culture and language.

The United States is not a pure democracy! It is a Representative Republic. One of our founders, John Adams, once said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." Chief Justice John Marshall adds, "Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos."

It saddens me to see democracy promoted in the Middle East and Iraq. Democracies fail. A pure democracy is a tyranny by majority. If the majority are terrorists, you have a tyranny of terrorists. That's what happened to the Palestinians. All you need in a pure democracy is for 51% to be evil. Then you have evil reigning supreme. Have we forgotten the lessons from history?

A republic is a decentralized and limited government. The rule is by law. All citizens, including government officials, answer to the same laws. The government protects all citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It punishes illegal activity. It promotes trade and commerce. It builds roads and infrastructure so business can flourish without fear or fraud.

I pledge allegiance "to the REPUBLIC for which it stands”. I sing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” I’ve never sung "The Battle Hymn of the DEMOCRACY" and will never pledge allegiance to “the DEMOCRACY for which it stands.”