• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

I never thought very much of the late Governor George Wallace. He was a devout racist….and he preached segregation, standing in the school house door shouting……..”segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”…………and he believed it, at least until he had an epiphany after being left paralyzed from the waist down by an assassin’s bullet.

One phrase of his does strike me as applicable to today’s world environment, though. STOP PUSSY-FOTTIN’ AROUND.

I needn’t elaborate on the challenges of the Middle East. The problems have existed for my entire life, yours as well……..and for thousands of years before that. There are no easy solutions.

The United States has tried diplomacy and President Carter’s Israeli/Egyptian Peace accord is as far as we’ve come on the diplomatic front. That was 40 years ago.

We’ve funded freedom fighters, supplied sects and tribal entities with arms, only to have them turn on us, use the weapons and money against us………….and all at a cost of American lives and thousands more lives of the innocents living in these nations……..if you can even call them nations.

Now, we have ISIS entrenching themselves, sponsoring terrorism wherever and whenever they can………lunatics whose sole purpose is to destroy any semblance of comfort for millions of people through unspeakable acts of violence across the broader middle east.

……..and we respond how? Well, not very well.

The United States has spent over two (2) trillion dollars in the region since 9-11. That’s right $2 trillion…….and what do we have to show for it?

A more convoluted scenario in which Iran plays a bigger role, finds the Russians now imposing themselves to protect a vile Syrian leader who attacks his own people, the merger of terrorists groups, well armed and funded, willing to do anything to continue their cause of destroying western values………… primary among their efforts, to destroy our values and our way of life.

We’ve become desensitized to it. A bombing or two a day, a head cut off here and there, a town or village falling under terrorist control, kidnappings, torture, western kids joining their cause and we respond with 50 special ops advisors.

I hate the idea of war….grew up watching our nation nearly cripple itself in Viet Nam…..believe that Peace should be given a chance and feel that mankind is fundamentally good……..but all of that solves nothing.

I saw and heard George Wallace speak his infamous phrase in 1968, when as one of a couple dozen protestors I attended his Buffalo rally at the old Aud……carrying signs and chanting whatever the hell it was they had us chant.

He was running for president and shockingly, the place was full and except for the few of us, there were thousands of his supporters in attendance……..in Buffalo, mind you.

We have but one strong ally in the Middle East………Israel……….and in spite of her (at times) hard headedness………she is on the front line, believing as we believe……..in a value system of freedom of expression, the inalienable rights of all people and defending her borders as needed.

So, here we are. Up to our eyeballs again in lost American lives, bankrolling an effort doomed to fail and trying to figure out which of the lesser evils to support.

I’m tired of War. Enough is enough. 15 years of this has made me and most Americans, I believe…….weary.

Randy Newman wrote in his tongue and cheek song “Political Science”…………”They all hate us anyhow, so let’s drop the big one now”…..

Certainly, no one is advocating that………….but I sure wish we’d stop “Pussy Footin’ Around”

I’m John Merino and this is American Chronicles.

American Chronicles is a bi-weekly locally produced feature on WRFA written and produced by retired Gebbie Foundation CEO, John C. Merino. Currently, John is an Adjunct Professor of Micro-Economics, Organizational Management, and 20th Century World History at Mercyhurst University. American Chronicles airs twice monthly, Friday mornings at 7:15 and Friday Afternoons at 4:35. American Chronicles features original stories (partly fact and partly fiction), commentary on local, state , national, world conditions and more.

Find past episodes at www.wrfalp.com/tag/american-chronicles/

Ronan Tynan will appear in Jamestown’s Reg Lenna Center for the Arts on Thursday, March 6.

JAMESTOWN – World-renowned performer, Ronan Tynan will perform live on stage at The Reg Lenna Center For The Arts on Thursday, March 6 at 7 p.m.

A classically-trained vocalist and an original member of The Irish Tenors, Tynan will sing a variety of songs, including several Irish standards that will get audiences ready for St. Patrick’s Day. Tynan will be accompanied by his longtime pianist, Billy Lewis.

Ronan Tynan’s story is one of beating the odds and defying expectations. A lower limb disability didn’t hold him back as he was an active horse rider and motorcycle enthusiast as a child.  At twenty years old, Tynan’s legs were amputated below the knee after complications from an auto accident.  Within one year he was competing in the Paralympics and eventually won 18 gold medals and still holds 9 world records.

Ronan Tynan became the first disabled person admitted to the National College Of Physical Education where he became a medical doctor specializing in orthopedic sports.  At the age of 33 he began studying voice and won the International Operatic Singing Competition.

His operatic debut was in Madame Butterfly.  In 1998, Tynan made a splash on the world stage as one of the original Irish Tenors with Anthony Kearns and John McDermott, astounding American audiences in a series of popular PBS specials.

For several years he has lived in the United States, first in New York City and now in Boston.  The “big Irishman” has a special relationship with American audiences.  “America is powerful and intense, and it begs you to take it on,” Tynan marvels.  “If you do that and do it right, it will give you absolutely everything you want.  The thing I love about America is that there are so many people who want you to do well.  They will you to do well.

A Celtic fiddle duo will perform in the lobby of The Reg prior to Tynan’s concert.  Sue Tillotson and Jim Cunningham have played together for many years, bringing a love of Celtic music and exciting instrumentation to their audiences.  Sue plays fiddle, whistle and spoons and Jim plays guitar, bouzouki, cittern, Celtic harp and bodhran.  Both are vocalists too.

An Evening With Ronan Tynan tickets are priced between $25 and $60.  Tickets may be purchased at www.reglenna.com, by phone at 716-484-7070 or in the box office at 116 East Third Street in Jamestown, New York.

This concert is made possible by support from United Arts Appeal, Trinity Biotech, Gebbie Foundation and Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation.