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     Dawn. Sirens. Civil Defense sirens. A phone call from the step-daughter on the Big Island. Earthquake in Chile. Wave headed our way. Step-son bursts into the bedroom. Had a call from Anchorage---tsunami coming. Rub our eyes. Turn on local news, CNN, the weather channel. Checking the tsunami evacuation pages in the phone book.

     Bhhrrriiinnngg! Not the phone, not again, not today, not three Saturdays in a row! I opened my eyes and there, staring me in the face were those little red digital numerals, not quite as red as my awakening thoughts. It was 5:30 in the morning.

      In the next 10 days, Democrats in Washington will try and jam through a massive government takeover of health care. This comes just over a week after Obama's bi-partisan health care summit, where neither side yielded much ground. In fact, it ended with a pat on the back to the Republican’s being booted out the door, and Obama and the Democrat’s saying “Okay, we tried this bi-partisan thing; now let’s do what we want”.
     Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.), a physician and former Democrat who changed parties last December said "It would raise taxes, slash Medicare benefits and destroy American jobs. It would put federal bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by patients and doctors. And it must be stopped."
      Support from his own party in doubt, President Obama summoned more than a dozen House Democrats to the White House last week, pleading with them to put aside their qualms, seize the opportunity of a generation and vote for his massive health-care overhaul. "I know it has been a long and hard road to this point," he said. "And we are not finished with our journey just yet. But we are close. We are very close. And so I ask Congress to finish its work."
      Doesn’t that sound like the President just wants a health care bill to pass, regardless of its content, just so he can claim victory? That’s just scary.

    Little Rushie was one of the brightest kids in his sixth grade class. He excelled in English, civic studies and history. Two areas where he didn’t do well were arithmetic and gym. The numbers just didn’t come easy to him and the exercises in gym class made him perspire, which he found uncomfortable and repulsive.
    Rushie’s teachers felt sorry for him, being picked on every day by his school mates. Recess usually found a group of five or six of Rushie’s eleven year old class mates surrounding him, taunting him about his weight and un-cool clothing. Often, the teachers would protect the overweight Rushie by conniving reasons to keep him after class so he wouldn’t have to face the insults as he walked home amidst his cruel classmates.
    Rushie’s main tormentor, Bruce Winger, had known Rushie since they were both six years old. Bruce lived five doors down from Rushie’s home and somehow knew immediately that Rushie could be the pincushion for all his stifled aggression. He picked on his fat classmate mercilessly. Bruce’s favorite taunt was, “Hey jelly-belly, ever seen your belly-button. C’mon jelly-belly let’s see you jiggle, you tub of lard.”
    Over the summer vacation little fat Rushie had engaged in two months of nervous and depressed eating. He had gained an additional twelve pounds. His mother had to buy him new and larger polo shirts, jeans and underwear.

    The kids used to tease him. “C’mon you fatty, try to catch up with us.” Then they’d run away from Rushie, turning around to watch his fat belly jiggle as he strained with every step to join the other kids.

    As I write this on Wednesday, March 3, hundreds of people in Chile are scurrying to higher ground as strong aftershocks are rocking the disaster-weary residents of Concepcion. A tsunami warning has been issued for the quake-hit Chilean coast and troops are evacuating people up the hillsides amid the roar of wailing sirens. The new 6.0 magnitude aftershocks come on the heels of the devastating 8.8 earthquake of four days ago; it toppled numerous structures and caused “monster waves” that ravaged coastal towns and villages. Tragically, the death toll keeps rising.
    Watching this continuing drama unfold, I wonder if this monumental natural disaster is really over. As we learned last Saturday, earthquakes in Chile can have far reaching effects—the entire Pacific Rim was put on tsunami alert. I heard yesterday that scientists claim the Earth has been jolted off its axis by one of the strongest tremblors ever.
    A phone call woke us up at 2 a.m. that day when Hawaii Electric Light Company called my husband John to immediately report to work “to transport trucks to higher ground because of an approaching tsunami.” I hit my bedside TV remote to watch local news coverage of the earthquake and impending tsunami warning that would be issued at 6 a.m.

   They found Chelsea King today. She went out to jog a few days ago and never returned.
   They found Chelsea King today. Someone killed her and buried her in a shallow grave near the lake.
   Tonight there was a memorial service for Chelsea. Thousands of her school mates, friends, family and citizens who met her only through the television news of her disappearance, all gathered on the grounds of St. Michael’s Church in Poway.
Scores came wearing “Missing – Chelsea King,” shirts with a photo of Chelsea between the “Missing” and the “Chelsea King.”
   After a few words of thanks from Chelsea’s father the thousands who had come together carried candles and raised them over their heads as a sign of respect to Chelsea’s family and to Chelsea’s memory.