Since Kennedy, Clinton, Bush, Gonzales, Berger, and so many others can get away with flaunting the law, why should anyone in America take the law seriously? It is all too obvious our government is run just like the Mafia in “The Godfather,” but without the same efficiency and capability to provide “service” for the money. Were this not the truth of the matter, things like our porous borders and our enemies would be effectively dealt with. And were this not true, perhaps there would be fewer looking to becoming criminals as a “career choice.”

Imagine if you will a council of Mafiosi coming together to get at the truth of 9/11. Who can be blamed for believing what would come out of such a council more trustworthy than what has been foisted off on us by the 9/11 Commission; and that, folks, speaks volumes about the endemic corruption in our government.

Clearly the law only applies to ordinary Americans who cannot afford to flaunt it. In the film “Mulholland Falls” the point is made by the nuclear scientist those who carry great responsibility and authority do not answer to the same rules that apply to those without such responsibility and authority. However, keeping Los Angeles free of gangsters and organized crime by a special crime unit clandestinely formed by the Chief of Police not bound by the laws applying to other policemen carries with it the risk such a unit might abuse its freedom to act against legitimate targets.

But in the case of the film, the murder of an otherwise innocent woman privy to secret government information, the military unit set up to protect national security acted in what was considered the “best interests” of America. So, in the case of blowing away the punks and not allowing the feds to intervene in a local matter found most of us applauding, but not the case of murdering a woman for the sake of perceived national security. It is that conundrum We the People face, one in which we more readily trust those on the local level as opposed to those on the federal level.

The real difference between the two cases is what We the People believe is our right to determine what is in the best interest of going about our daily lives free from the threat of local punks, and what we believe is important to the larger issues of America as a nation. And we neither trust nor believe our leaders in government are capable of making these decisions for us, but on the contrary lie and protect each other for the sake of power and wealth, and will do so even to the extent of destroying America. The ACLU, a Frankenstein monster, has been enormously successful in advancing the destruction of America by removing the choices of We the People from the local level where we actually live, and giving all power to judges and a Federal Triune Dictatorship.

We can accept the premise that responsibility carries with it the need to circumvent both laws and conventions when larger issues demand those in authority doing so. What we cannot and must not accept is the abuse of such authority to the personal ends of power and wealth, or that anyone in authority is above being held accountable for their actions. And it is this kind of abuse without any accountability that is leading America to become a lawless nation; that increasingly is leading some to make the decision of becoming career criminals, most especially in respect to the phony “war on drugs” with our treasonously unsecured borders and Mexicans running entire marijuana plantations in our own national parks and forests, with our own border patrol emasculated from protecting our borders and our local police emasculated from protecting people from gangs.

The nuclear scientist in Mulholland Falls was correct, that hundreds may be sacrificed so thousands might live. But as individual American citizens we are equally correct in not trusting our government to make the right decisions about sacrifices, especially the sacrifices of war, and especially in light of the thoroughgoing corruption so blatantly and obviously rampant in the federal government.

Whatever the outcome, the only relief for me personally is to raise my eyes and thoughts from the horizontal to the vertical. The Hubble telescope has given us pictures of our universe that are awesome and breathtakingly beautiful. And when scientists like Michio Kaku and others share their speculations about black holes, string theory, and parallel universes, even speculating about an infinite number of universes we look about our world and wonder how our own tiny planet fits into the vast scheme of things; but the greatest wonder and mystery of all is how creatures like us are possessed of the ability to wonder about such a thing at all? And with all the discoveries and achievements of science the two greatest mysteries confronting humankind, life and death, seem no closer to solving than they have ever been.

While viewing the stars, the words of the Psalmist always come to my mind: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” Last night there was a beautiful full moon, so bright I could nearly read by it, floating there in space, a shining globe simply floating effortlessly above me, continuing to inspire the same kind of awe in me I have always felt while looking at it, always provoking the same question of how such a marvel is possible, understanding why some the ancients venerated the moon.

The present status of our science offers no explanation for life and death, nor does it explain those things like the moon and the stars that continue to inspire the same awe in human beings today it did in the Psalmist. That we have actually been able to visit the moon, have been able to send instruments to Mars and strike a comet in flight with such accuracy while commending the genius among some of our species not only does not lessen the mystery of it all, but has only added more dimensions to the mystery of it all. I don’t wonder scientists and astronomers call so much of our universe not only unknown, but unknowable. Given the immensity and wonder of it all it is not surprising the Psalmist would credit deity since such things are so far beyond human comprehension, but the human mind has an instinct to credit it all to intelligence of some kind.

My own Indian ancestors ascribed mystical properties to the figure of the circle, something without beginning or end, a never-ending continuum much as a theory of an infinite number of self-perpetuating universes, and as seeds and pollen are profligate in casting themselves in enormous quantity knowing the most will die, but some few will live to birth others. However, even in trying to imagine something of such immensity, even should one credit such a thing, as with the figure of a circle the mystery of beginning and ending, of life and death remains.

Science is offering some intriguing possibilities when it comes to genetic structure. We now hear autism may be caused by 100 different genes, and such studies will prove invaluable in correcting these kinds of problems. The danger of this science is both moral and ethical; we do not want Dr. Frankenstein to go too far. Unfortunately, human nature and curiosity remain what they are, and there will always be a Dr. Frankenstein.

But whether it be in the realms of science, religion, or politics character and virtue is everything. We cannot know what we cannot know; but we do know when it comes to the responsibility of authority character and virtue is everything; and for the world to survive is going to require leaders in whom we can place our trust, leaders we can believe in. We also know despite the immensity of the universe our small planet is all we have; and unless we take care to preserve and nurture it what will all scientific achievement and philosophical speculation avail us? While it strikes the responsive chord of being truth to me, “what does it profit to gain the whole world and lose your own soul,” it is equally true “what does it profit to lose the whole world for profit?” It is at this point I have to wonder whether the writers of prophecy in the Bible just may have had more insight, even revelation than most are willing to credit.