"Being Cause In The Matter"

It was, and is difficult for me to accept the notion that I am "cause in the matter." If I made a mistake in my business, or my life, it was not easy for me to own up to it.

When I grew up, I was challenged to come up with a variety of "the dog ate my homework" excuses for things that I did or didn't do.

If I am late for an appointment, it is my responsibility, and it doesn't matter that the freeway was shut down; what matters is that I was late, and there are no excuses.

I have worked in the entertainment industry for a very long time, and through all of those years, I never heard the words, "I did it, and I take responsibility for it, and therefore I resign." Wouldn't that be refreshing?

The discredited David Begelman was forced to resign from MGM after a run of very unsuccessful movies. At lunch with him I said, "But David, you are better at this then anyone in doing what you do." To his credit he replied: "Norman, I failed, and I got what I deserved."

I read this morning that over 17.000 American boys and girls, men and women have been wounded in our latest war. Well over 2,000 have been killed as well. Our armed forces have killed or wounded well over 100,000 Iraqis since the outset of the war.

We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on this war. There is little indication that this horror will end quickly.

I would like to "roll up" President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and Carl Rove into a category that for brevity I would call "THEY."

THEY came into power in 2000, and anything taking place after that date is their responsibility.

THEY took us to war purportedly as a result of bad intelligence; that is their responsibility.

The war has not turned out as THEY intended, and that is their responsibility.

THEY are guiding the course of our country as THEY attempt to fix what THEY have caused. I would like to point out that THEY are "cause in the matter" and have used the "dog ate my homework" defense, or the "it wasn't me" excuse as well.

What "should happen now"? One would hope that THEY would do a "mea culpa" and resign. How can THEY face America every day having been responsible for all of the deaths, injuries, and destruction?

There is something wrong with a system that impeached a president for lying about sex, and tolerates all those who lied and misled our nation about a war that THEY started, and have badly executed.

Norman Horowitz

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