An Update on the Jerome Kowalski Case

According to Detroit Channel 4 website ClickonDetroit.com, arraigned murder suspect Jerome Kowalski, who is reportedly believed to have killed his brother Richard and his sister-in-law Brenda in their kitchen in their home in Oceola Township in Livingston County, had a motive for the killing.

According to police officials in the story:

The motive for the double slaying was money, said investigators. Jerome [Kowalski] was upset that his recently deceased mother left Richard and Brenda Kowalski her inheritance and that he thought by killing them, he would receive the money, police said.

This development is interesting, considering that it was never reported in the Livingston Daily News, the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, and even MLive.com. Moreover, the police, unfortunately, are still keeping a lid on the details of their investigation and the autopsy results.

What brought this up was the fact that, while my parents, my brother, my sister-in-law (his wife), and my niece (their daughter), and I were at Red Lobster celebrating Mother's Day, my brother happened to mention this to our dad that he "read it in the paper."

This development will continue, and more details should be available on or after Tuesday when Kowalski shows up for his hearing....if he shows up, that is.

Here's to Hoping

The Original Mother's Day

The Mother's Day holiday was originally started as a feminist movement to urge all mothers of sons fighting in combat to speak out against war. Its origins date back to England as what it used to be known as "Mothering Sunday," which came from a 16th century Christian practice that enslaved women who would be allowed to visit their children during the weekend (on Sunday, specifically) on an annual basis.

Later, an American feminist named Julia Ward Howe, who penned the Battle Hymn of the Republic (a notorious hymn to Mars), was inspired by the British holiday after becoming repulsed by Lincoln's War Between the States. She planted the seeds of the American version of the day, thus authoring her infamous 1870 poem "Mother's Day Proclamation."

Unfortunately and eventually, the holiday lost its meaning and has since then come to mean honoring your maternal parent (your mother, that is) by taking her out to dinner and/or giving her a personalized "Mother's Day" Hallmark card.

Here's the original poem to commemorate the original holiday (not the silly holiday we have today):

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

The Bachelor-Turned-Soldier Wants You to Serve Your "Country" -- Ahem, Government

Lieutenant Andrew Baldwin, a Navy recruiter who's also a former star of The Bachelor, appeared on America's Election Headquarters, one of the pro-war, pro-military news shows on Fox News, today to talk about recruiting Americans into the military, specifically the U.S. Navy. Baldwin, clad in his black tie and blue Navy uniform, said to host Brett Baier that he was there to tell people about the "best deal going these days" -- that is, naval medicine. He said, "Navy medicine is, like, one of the best things you can do, in terms of financially, job security, opportunity, adventure, and ultimately being a service to your country and humanity."

He then went on to say that, while doing The Bachelor, he thought the Navy "was great" and that he "did [his] best to put [his] best foot forward" for the service. He praised the Navy, saying that joining it was the "best decision" he ever made. Apparently, his opportunity "enabled [him] to go to college," considering "[he] grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania." He furthers notes, "It nabled me to go to UCSF Medical School, and come out debt free, and really have experiences throughout the world that you couldn't have in the civilian sector."

Of course, the nice touchy-feely, couched pro-war, pro-military spiel sounded nice to the ears, but the rhetoric didn't get my blood boiling, nor did it bolster any excitement for me. All it did was that it reinforced the fact that the American Empire and its Military Industrial Complex were employing its government propaganda-laden news network to energize massive pro-government and pro-Big Military support for the military, especially during wartime.

While Baldwin and his pro-Big Military, pro-war cronies can rest on their laurels and take delight in their recruiting efforts, Bush and his cronies are racking up the civilian and soldier body count in Iraq.

Here's the video here: