Did our fathers die on the beaches of Normandy so we would cave to mandatory seat-belt laws, smoking bans, drug testing, and 0.08 BAL? (etc.)
by Brian Wright

“Son, I’m never going to wear a seat belt; it’s my right as an American to drive as and how I choose—[Dad was a highly skilled driver who would probably, eventually have come to wear seatbelts voluntarily].  It violates everything I believe in… and fought for.  I won’t do it, I won’t pay the fine, and they can put me in jail ’til the cows come home.”

For the previous 30 years Memorial Day has always had a somber quality for me:  My father, Truman, a WWII veteran, died on May 28, 1978, Memorial Day Weekend—I was 28 years old at the time.  [Then, to make it even sadder, last year we lost my brother, Forrest, also a veteran, possibly to the same heart condition that killed my dad.]   Continue reading →