SB 05 Flu Virus

Diagnosis of a certain seasonal flu virus/germ strain begins occurring today, as a segment of society in U.S. territories west of the international dateline widely succumb to this degenerative and corruptive form of affliction. This strain has been known to ail a predominantly middle-age male sector of the population, rendered helpless by the disease to do any productive labor at home or at the office when the disease strikes.

Victims tend to self-medicate with large quantities of commercially booze-ted, afficionado-preferred, Irish brew, and/or fizzed sangria o vino blanco, to wash down early morning consumption of bovine choice meat, topped by radiantly yellow avian ova served sunny side up, accompanied by side orders of swine slabs slivered and seasoned minced intestine links. This is one condition where the therapeutic dietary dosage is definitely cholesterol rich.

Sociological and medical studies has shown that a lot of suffering patients of this condition on this third Monday of the first month of the year mysteriously congregate at downtown hotels and/or prominent watering holes. Before images projected on high-resolution, high-density TVs, they commiserate among themselves with rituals of howling, boo-ing, hissing, hooting, and just loud and unrestrained colorful use of the Queen’s English. Mild local exclamatory expressions, e.g. “lang ya,’ often precede the more serious expletives that usually accompany a missed putt at the local greens.

Members of the legal and teaching professions have been known to suffer from this illness as indicated by previous high percentage records of sick-in calls and missed appointments. Teachers have been known to be driven into seclusion to delve deeply, preferably without much interruption from spouse and children, into attempted refinements of the school curriculum. It is claimed that a strong urge to totally critique and overhaul practiced pedagogical approaches and methods happen. This is offered as a corrective to the sudden collapse in academic interests that is very evident at the onset of this malady.

It had been suggested that avian roots to this affliction is traceable to China, particularly the Guandong area, and related to Vietnamese and Cambodian variations, but today’s strain is unmistakably homegrown American. Early morning coughing over cold, frozen Dutch country snowed under overnight will have the Eagles McNabbing the AFC trophy. Confusing application of Vick’s vaporub from the southern nested Falcons is expected to squawk sufficient complexity into the gridiron melee, which may just send soothing vibrations to the southern belles of Atlanta. The Eagles aim to fly high but the Falcon talons are kept sharp and deadly.

Feverish heat boils up right about noon when the newly Roethlisberger-foundered Steelers try to steal the Boston-forged Belichick thunder from the reigning Brady-led SB champion Patriots. This one is no Heinz-sponsored catsup fight at the OK corral. Temperature readings are expected to follow a steady rise, as the forecast to the pigskin competition expects a win by a mere kick over the upright.

The SB 05 Flu virus/germ infection matures to plague proportions and epidemic levels two weeks later when Jacksonville holds the Super Bowl between high-soaring Birds and a steely determined Faithfuls. Then, business in American-influenced western isles of the Pacific come to a standstill.

This musing is really just a prelude to snare the attention of a few legal luminaries and Commonwealth senators afflicted by the SB 05 virus, save for Sen. Paul Manglona. A different Super Bowl is poised to be played quietly a week after Jacksonville but the players involved include 300-some seemingly hapless “Stateless” kids of the Commonwealth. They are not children anymore but they are finding that transitioning to full adulthood under the banner of the red-white-and-blue, which is the only allegiance they have known all their lives, is devoid of a critical civic certitude and standing.

It was hard enough that the local legislative system was non-responsive when the matter was first brought to public purview, and the executive branch was high in rhetoric of its support but snail slow to act. The judiciary at the lower courts found no precedence and played it safe by invoking non-Covenant application. But the higher Court offered a window of opportunity to resolve what has been universally acknowledged to be a wrong waiting to be righted. It essentially said, look at it from the perspective of the U.S. Constitution, particularly the 14th Amendment, and the view would look different from that perspective.

Sen. Manglona glimpsed the vista and trusted his intuition. Bravely and solitarily, he declared that this is not about the Covenant. There are many who concur. It is about American Law. Nurtured by roots with a profound sense of social justice, American jurisprudence is unambiguous in its understanding that the Law was made for humans, and not the other way around. A Rabbi friend in Dallas used to say in the early 70s of the Torah and the Talmud that “the Law is a structural assurance of divine justice that Scribal and Pharisaical maggots invariably feed on to prey on the unwary, the innocent and the disenfranchised.” He was not being accusative, only being Talmudic. Followers of the

Nazarene carpenter will recall the same teaching. The Law is not based on eternal verities where once set in words becomes letter inviolate. It is an organic body of consensed understandings, which grows with the body politic. The higher court offered a defensible view on dealing with a Covenant oversight.

So I ask the senators, and other opposing ethnic groups, why invoke the dead letter of a long forgotten, non-operative Covenant?

February 12, the State Department team is supposed to line up before the highest bench of the land. Maybe, Randy Mendoza and his group should hold a breakfast countdown to see if CNN reports on the other team showing up. They could do some spirited and therapeutic hooting and hollering. It should be obvious who it is I am rooting for. I would not be too unhappy if Condoleeza Rice’s team decides to remain at Foggy Bottom.