As I watched the current White House administration officials get paraded before the partisan panel known to us Americans as the 9-11 commission, I was disappointed. Disappointed but not surprised.

I was not surprised at the blatant partisanship displayed by the five Democrats on said panel. Every member of the president's staff came under a partisan attack as a well contrived blame game by the opposing party.

I would like to digress here for just a moment, if I may, by quoting Sen. Bob Kerry. He stated on Fox News: "You can't help but be partisan."

This is this writer's opinion, and I also know that there are plenty of individuals who will vehemently disagree with me. I will for the sake of fairness, though, say that this blame game goes to the Republicans as well, more for their partisan silence than their search for the truth.

I am extremely glad that I do not belong to any party. I owe my political beliefs to three individuals. My father taught me always to research the issues and vote my conscience accordingly. He was very proud of his adopted country of which he immigrated to after the turn of the century and served honorably in our armed forces. The second person was my history teacher, Ms. Mary Willits, who was the most patriotic person I've known next to my father. The third was Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson, along with most of our founding fathers, did not believe in a party system. In fact, history shows that Jefferson preferred to be called a democratic Republican. The belief of the founding fathers was that political parties tended to create your conscience!

Which brings this writer to the heart of my message: the education of our children, our future leaders, through the political process. It isn't a far stretch to say that at least 75 percent of every home in America owns a TV, so it's probably safe to say that our children are getting educated about the political process one way or the other.

Lets start with a definition of "partisanship": 1. Adherent, i.e. stick to steadfastly. (Could this mean stick with your party no matter what, conscience be damned?) 2. Guerrilla, i.e. a soldier engaged in small harassing tactics. (Interesting. Does this mean stick it to your opponent whenever possible?)

Now I know when candidates get up to give a speech, education is always a prime subject. Calling your opponent and his staff a bunch of lying crooks, is this an acceptable part of a political science class? Whether you choose to be a Democrat or a Republican?

During campaigns, it is appropriate not to show respect to your opponent even if he's the president of the United States of America. It's simply part of the political process. When the campaign is over, we'll kind of go back to being a bit more cordial. Please forgive this writer's sarcasm, but it was meant to make a point. If politicians truly believe in educating our young, then teach them to respect each other whether Democrat or Republican. Work together so that 3,000 Americans did not have to die in vain. Let their sacrifice bring us together as a nation under God, not separate us and make us witch hunters, hunting for someone to blame this awful tragedy on.

The Bible says that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. If they are looking down on us, let us not let them down by looking down on others. God help us, let us not let them down.

Richard Segura

Kenai