November 3, 2013 · 9:44 am

Political party identification be damned

G. Murphy Donovan posted another excellent article, “Rent Seeking and Other Blood Sports”,  at The American Thinker the other day.  Real life intruded on my time, so excuse me for lagging behind on the blogging.  Real life versus politics in my own very mundane life isn’t even a choice really, because for me gabbing about politics here is more like a hobby and having a few readers is a gift I never expected to receive.  Once again thanks for your time.  This difference between how I embark on blogging and how many others approach it, struck me recently when I ventured onto a blog, where a genuine question about a stereotype of Tea Party folks as “despising constitutional principles” led me to question this.  Polls were cited, I was castigated as being a Fox viewer, all with the intent to discredit my opinion as next to worthless and maybe it is.  GMD’s article made me think of this difference between those who take themselves very seriously and people like me, just ordinary Americans, who watch in disgust and dismay as our country teeters ever closer to collapse.  Now, the issue on that other blog was about whether we need a new Pledge of Allegiance or no pledge and all I could think about are the millions of Americans struggling to survive, raise their kids in this crappy economy and hope there’s some future worth inheriting from us and these folks on this blog, who tout all their academic and career credentials are worrying about whether we keep the Pledge of Allegiance.  I got lectured and dismissed, which is fine, but really GMD highlighted the real problems, where we are failing large segments of the population, especially way too many children and the mentally ill.

One more comment about that other blog (which shall remain nameless, because maybe they do have great solutions that I failed to see), but the way in which my simple question led to automatic stereotyping of me as an idiot Fox viewer/Tea Party sympathizer irked the hell out of me.  And here my last lengthy response (because I can’t just leave well enough alone) went as follows:

“The trick is not to mark groups’ opinions as “not worth talking to”, because finding solutions to our country’s problems will require pulling along as many people and they come with widely divergent views. Every team is built by finding some common ground, so it’s an inclusive process and that’s how to begin uniting America.

Our problems are much deeper than whether we have a pledge of allegiance. We’ve got so many people so keen to stereotype based on perceived political groupings, that we’ve lost touch at looking at all Americans as individuals with lots of potential strengths, ideas, skills sets, etc. that might be useful.

I won’t be posting here again, so you can put me into whatever group you choose – just place me as far away from your elitist snobbery as possible. I haven’t heard one solution yet here, just who you think shouldn’t be listened to based on your stereotyping. How on earth you think you can fix what’s wrong when you start off writing off entire large segments of America is beyond ridiculous – “Oh you stupid person, you don’t understand the Constitution, so your comment doesn’t count!”, “Oh you must be a Tea Party member, because you asked why this thread says they despise constitutional principles or you’re dreaded Fox viewer or something – you’re just not smart enough to post here among the enlightened few!”

The Constitution was written with a mechanism for change – to add or repeal amendments – suggesting such a change does not make one despise the Constitution – it’s the exact mechanism that follows constitutional principles. The founders also, in their infinite wisdom, made it a steep hurdle to make such changes – thankfully. And no, I never supported repealing the 14th Amendment, I never joined a Tea Party, I watch Fox news, MSNBC and CNN, because I like to compare coverage, mostly I read as many newspapers online as I can, I oppose capital punishment and drone strikes ( except maybe in a declared war and under tight controls), so I am not sure what that makes me. Maybe when you’ve decided amongst your chosen few, you can let us ordinary Americans know and show us the way. I spent most of my life as a homemaker – I talk to just about everyone and I try to learn as much about what they think, what they’ve done, so I know who they are. I don’t discount anyone.”

Now of course my views were cited as utopian and wrong, on pulling as many people along as possible, with the factual statistic on the very small percentage of rebels who launched the American Revolution, (but of course they worked damned hard to up that percentage quickly).  This behavior pattern of wiping the floor with other people, by quickly stereotyping them into convenient political boxes is the problem of thinking in terms of factions and not of people.  At the end this blogger lectured me about resorting to name-calling when from his first response to my honest question he discarded me as a “Tea Party sympathizer/Fox viewer”, making whatever I had to say worthless.  The further elaboration was that the Tea Party is made up of angry old white people, who are racists and can’t accept a black President.   This entire attempt to find out why he stated the Tea Party despises constitutional principles ended with this lame stereotype.   More breaking down America into rabid political factions.  And while all these factions keep throwing gasoline to keep these fires burning out of control, the rest of us, ordinary Americans sit here hoping the wind doesn’t send the flames in our direction and closer still to the flames are all those who are least able to beat back the flames – those living in poverty, especially children and the infirm.  Factions and political party identification be damned, since 2008 the group of those not able to find a path to upward financial mobility keeps increasing, as does the number of children and the infirm, who need help.

You can’t unite a country if you constantly work to discount and marginalize large segments of it.  We’ve either got to find a way to reach some middle ground on some very existential problems or we will crumble.  And we’ve got to welcome everyone to the table, put some of the rabid politics aside and find our talents and strengths and rebuild the American team.   GMD’s article presented our failure as a society, one that we prefer to talk about in abstract terms, but he knows each one is a life, not a political talking point.  We all need to remember that beyond the political flame-throwing are real lives left in ashes.

8 Comments

Filed under Culture Wars, Pet Peeves, Politics

October 29, 2013 · 12:14 am

What cultural divide?

For an uncomfortable dose of what passes for a respectable line of work in an Islamic society read Gypsy Scholar’s Monday post, “Who says Islam is Intolerant” ((located here, the Monday, October 28, 2013 post).  Don’t want to spoil the impact by telling you more and yes, his title is filled with irony.   After more than a decade of an habitual reality check on the “religion of peace” and reading the demented ravings of revered religious leaders calling for the murder of any who believe something different and other assorted vile, hate-filled diatribes,  this latest story the Gypsy Scholar shared didn’t even shock me.  This is a culture that rationalizes and embraces sending young children with explosives strapped to their chests to blow up innocent civilians as a noble undertaking, so little should surprise us  No matter how the political players try to repackage the disturbing mainstream cultural attitudes and beliefs across the Muslim world, all it takes is reading the translations of the religious figures and interviews of even ordinary citizens to realize theirs is a culture dedicated to glorifying extreme depravity, as long as it’s directed at non-Muslims or fellow Muslims who don’t blindly follow.

Not to give up hope, the other day I came across this post at The Counter Jihad Report blog (here) on a noble effort by one Kurdish  couple who devoted 10 years to traveling across Iraqi Kurdistan talking to people about female genital mutilation.  There’s a video clip worth watching along with this post and a link to The Guardian news report on this couple’s documentary and the impact it is having at changing minds on this barbaric practice.

Yes, we’ve got our own cultural issues to tackle too, but our main challenge remains to counter those who would argue all cultures are equal and of equal value and seek out the better ideals, both past and present, to champion.  Seeking the truth will always be a better road to travel, but to find it, you’ve got to be willing to confront the cozy deceptions the moral and cultural relativists use to lure you down some scary detours.

Leave a comment

Filed under Culture Wars, Islam

October 28, 2013 · 6:51 am

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

Here’s a must read opinion piece, A Judgment on Intelligence,  at The American Thinker on the latest spying brouhaha over the US eavesdropping on Angela Merkel’s cellphone.  The author, Herbert E. Meyer, begins, “Despite everything you’ve gleaned from spy novels and movies, the most important raw material for a successful intelligence service isn’t information; it’s judgment.”  From there he elaborates on that very issue of judgment.

Leave a comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, Politics, The Media

October 27, 2013 · 9:15 am

A must read Mark Steyn on Obama’s Healthcare.gov

Mark Steyn (Obamacare’s Magical Thinkers) offers up the details about CGI (Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique), Obama’s Healthcare.gov web designer. Steyn, being Canadian-born, pays more attention to the goings on with our neighbors to the north, so he already knew a great deal about CGI. He asks:

“Was the government of the United States aware that CGI had been fired by the government of Canada and the government of Ontario (and the government of New Brunswick)?”

Leave a comment

Filed under Politics

October 24, 2013 · 1:06 pm

“Love and Peace”

Often the thought crosses my mind, “I wonder what foreigners think of America watching American TV shows, movies and reading the stories that make front page news?”  Even closer to home, I’ve often wondered what immigrants to America think about us and for the purpose of this post, I’m not going to veer into the political hot potato illegal immigration patch.  Instead, I want to talk about immigrants, people who move to our country and don’t know us yet.

Working in a big box store offers an opportunity to meet all sorts of people and years ago when I worked in the fabrics and crafts department, my store utilized recent immigrants to handle the floor-cleaning and overnight maintenance.  We had a Bulgarian cleaning crew of three people, a couple and one other very tall man.  They worked diligently with never a fuss, starting before my evening shifts ended.  They avoided eye contact as they passed through the fabrics and crafts area every night.  One evening I decided that I was going to meet them, so I began a halting conversation with the very tall gentleman.  His English was not good.  I don’t know any Bulgarian and through a few words I realized he spoke Russian, but I couldn’t remember more than a few words from my high school Russian classes.  He quickly introduced me to the couple and I began chatting with them whenever I saw them in the store.  The couple had been professional people in Bulgaria and they had a middle school age daughter.  The tall gentleman, Lubomir, had been a Soviet-trained Bulgarian army officer.  He was saving up money to bring his wife and son to America and besides working on that, he was studying English and studying to be able to become a truck driver, which would pay more and offer more opportunities to reach his goals.  Often, I watched in dismay as some ignorant co-workers would mock his halting speech and ask him what his name was and treat him like the village idiot.  He would patiently tell them his name was Lubomir and invariably they would ignore that and call him “Big Lou”.   Lubomir seemed surprised that I knew where Bulgaria actually is, as most times when he told my co-workers that, it was met with, “Never heard of it!”

As Christmas drew near I decided to bake an assortment of Christmas cookies and take it to the apartment where they lived.  I love baking, so I happily mixed and baked away and I had a large round metal Christmas tin can awaiting my cookie assortment.  Then one of my sons came in the kitchen and I chattered away about how I was going to take Christmas cookies to my Bulgarian friends from work.  Quickly, he started casting doubt on my gift idea. It started with questions like, “Mom do you realize that Bulgaria has quite a few Muslims and you don’t even know if these people are Christians?”  He went on to fill me in on all the reasons why I shouldn’t presume they celebrate Christmas.  I began doubting my project.  Finally I told him I am not trying to convert them, I’m merely giving them a gift to let them know I value their friendship.    His stream of over-thinking a simple goodwill gesture permeates how American society operates though, but he did have me wondering if my cookies might offend them.

I drove over to their apartment and the young daughter answered the door.  She told me her parents were sleeping, which I expected as they worked the overnight shift in our store.  This young lady possessed gracious manners, spoke impeccable English and offered the warmest smile when I told her I was friends with her parents at work.  I didn’t want her to wake up her parents, so I just handed her the can of Christmas cookies and she said with just the slightest accent, “Thank you very much!”

Several thoughts struck me as I drove home.  I thought about how we brag about how by the second generation immigrants assimilate and mainstream into American society and this young lady seemed well on the way toward that.  Then I thought, why do we settle for the second-generation of immigrants assimilating – why not make it a commitment to assimilate new immigrants to America and turn as many of them as possible into American success stories.  Why accept that it’s natural that the first generation toils away on the outskirts of American society, never really finding their way to being a real part of American society?  I’m not talking about new federal programs, merely suggesting we start noticing the immigrants in our own communities, try to get to know them and treat them like neighbors.  Assimilation into a community doesn’t come about through federal programs, it comes by making friends and accepting people into your group.  It doesn’t even have to cost as much as a can of cookies – it can be as simple as talking to people and letting them know you’re willing to help them.

That conversation with my son came to mind last night when a friend mentioned cutting off aid to drug addicts and turning our backs on them until they clean up their act as part of the remedy to deal with that problem.  As one who doesn’t think federal hand-out programs solve problems, I have no problem with eliminating many of these programs, as they fuel dependency and vicious cycles of poverty.  In our communities though we, especially those of us who do celebrate Christmas, still need to try to find ways to help people in trouble, even though it would be easier to cast them aside as not part of our neighborhood.  And on a lighter note, my Bulgarian friend’s name, Lubomir, means “love and peace” and if that wasn’t a good sign that my Christmas cookies would be welcome, I don’t know what is;-)

7 Comments

Filed under American Character, Culture Wars, Food for Thought

October 24, 2013 · 10:36 am

More of Malcolm’s links

If you really want to travel on the information superhighway, just visit Malcolm’s, waka waka waka blog and  put on your comfortable shoes, because his links sure find the unbeaten paths and the most unusual ways to travel to tourist hotspots.  Went from a 3-D visit to the Sistine Chapel, then back to the US for a pretty nifty digital reenactment of the US Civil War battle of Antietam, with music and sound effects, all within ten minutes.  Ok, I plan to zoom in much longer to view the Sistine Chapel later, but want to surf the web for some news too this morning.

3-D zoomable Sistine Chapel – amazing!!!

Battle of Antietam – maybe McClellan would have done better if he had modern technology and could game his battle plans like this. Technology sure does make it possible to dissipate some of that “fog of war” excuse-making for bad decisions.  Could technology have made McClellan a better commander, perhaps, but just wonder how modern technology in the hands of Napoleon might have altered the course of history.  Scary thought there, but you know if you look at women in Europe, French women and Russian women would be in perfect fashion harmony.  Ever watch those interviews with ordinary Russians on the streets of Moscow since the collapse of the USSR?  It kind of hits you with how so many Russian women dress stylishly.

Leave a comment

Filed under Out and About

October 23, 2013 · 10:26 pm

On the march with some old Romans

Here is the quote I was looking for on restoring a republic, from “Discourses on Livy” by Niccolo Machiavelli, Book III, Chapter 1:

“A republic may, likewise, be brought back to its original form, without recourse to ordinances for enforcing justice, by the mere virtues of a single citizen, by reason that these virtues are of such influence and authority that good men love to imitate them, and bad men are ashamed to depart from them.”

Machiavelli goes on to list some illustrious Romans of great virtue, who changed the course of the republic by virtue of their upstanding characters, so it’s not like he’s spouting idealistic theories.

For more inspiring Romans, I always turn to “The Meditations”  by Marcus Aurelis, which begins:

“From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper.

From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character.

From my mother, piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.”

Now if that doesn’t demonstrate the timelessness of family values coming from the second century (161 AD or I guess CE is the preferred method now), I don’t know what does.

Now just when you think you’ve heard as much about the Romans as you might wish to know, here’s the Roman connection of my hero, George Washington to Cincinnatus, the Roman general called from his retirement as a simple farmer to once more lead the Romans to defeat the Aequians.  Right from the Mount Vernon website (here), “For Romans and Americans alike, Cincinnatus represented the ideal republican simplicity, an enlightened poverty that spurned luxury and cultivated a simple nobility of spirit.”  This comparison of George Washington to Cincinnatus led to the formation of the Society of the Cincinnati, composed of former Revolutionary War officers, with naturally, Washington being the first elected president of the society.  The Mount Vernon website states the society adopted the Latin motto, Omnia reliquit servare rem publicam (“He gave up everything to serve the republic”) alluding to the story of Cincinnatus.

If all these Roman names are a mystery to you, spend a few minutes googling, but as most of my readers seem to read more history than me, that probably won’t be necessary.  I have mentioned this book before, but since here’s another opportunity to wax on about a book that makes learning about the Romans fun.  Yes, really  this book is written tongue-in-cheek and it will bring a smile to your face and you’ll be anxiously wanting to sign up to be a legionary too.  The book is called, “Legionary; the Roman Soldier’s (Unofficial) Manual”.

3 Comments

Filed under American History, Food for Thought, History, Military

October 23, 2013 · 4:13 pm

Where every child really does count

Yesterday my post highlighted a Thomas Sowell article on the race-hustling industry in America and today he presented the second part, “Race-Hustling Results: Part II”, at Townhall.com and it’s also on National Review Online with a different title, “The Business of Being Offended”.  He offers one of the most honest takes on the results of decades of grievance politics, determined initiation of programs to keep minorities enslaved to state programs and aligned to the political hand that feeds them, and a culture that gravitates toward the lowest rather than aspiring toward the highest.  This paragraph sums up where we are at:

“Young blacks are especially susceptible to the message that all their problems are caused by white people — and that white society is never going to give them a chance. In short, they are primed to resent and hate individuals they have never seen before and who have never done a thing to them.”

All sorts of studies abound about the racial divide and from decades of this area being a political tinderbox, for every statistic purporting one fact, you’ll find some determined politically motivated folks conjure up statistics stating the exact opposite.  The one thing, numbers aside on black women compared to black men in college, that is irrefutable is the large number of black men in prison.  Beside that trend is the irrefutable fact that more than 72% of black children are born to single mothers  and this leads to a large number of women and children trapped in a cycle of poverty and government dependency.

It’s very easy for white middle class and above people to cast judgments and get behind all sorts of broad-stroke welfare reform programs, like drug-testing before benefits or making welfare dependent on seeking employment, but few people want to look at this national problem close-up and personal and actually see that these are individual Americans, whose potential seems destined to be unrealized from birth.  We should commit that every American child should be able to reach for the stars.

For some reason in America, we always look to government solutions for problems that require committed social action (being good neighbors), that finds expression in community action and used to be most commonly found in our churches.  Unless and until we get enough people to stop dividing America into raging factions, where the only ones who benefit are the race-hustlers and politicians, we will never be able to bridge this gaping cultural divide and have one America, where every child really does count.  This type of commitment starts at the most basic level – one on one communication and building trust.  It starts with one person daring to offer a helping hand.

Gladius is a committed conservative, but what he emailed me a couple days ago goes beyond politics, it cuts to the what is ailing America – a lack of moral courage:

“Bottom line is that nothing occurs in a vacuum. It is a cliché but it is true: If we have strong individuals, we can have strong families; with strong families we can have strong churches; with strong churches we can have strong communities; strong communities beget strong states; strong states a strong nation. We are at a loss for strong individuals. Moral courage has been trained out of too many through a corrupt and liberal education system. Principles are deemed narrow-minded bigotry rather than honorable. Greed is rampant. And, through it all, the rot of individual integrity is sapping our strength.”

Dr. Sowell and Gladius expressed the problem a little differently, but they both traced it back to the roots – a breakdown of our communities, because our families have fallen into disarray.  While it would be nice to believe that money can solve this problem and that with a few more determined social-engineering programs and millions more in tax dollars tossed at the problems, we would have our solution.  Decades of widening income and social gaps, decimation of largely black urban inner-cities, sky-high incarceration rates of young black males, so many single black moms trying to go it alone clearly show that governmental band-aids can’t stop this hemorrhaging.   It’s going to take lots of committed helping hands to pull people up in communities all across America, resuscitating an American spirit that seems to be almost on it’s last breath.

We need to focus on helping individuals in our own communities, mentoring, truly being good neighbors and investing the time to make sure we don’t forget to rescue those who keep falling through the cracks.  To even begin the process takes finding a way to talk to each other as neighbors first, not as political opponents.  Our out-of-control politicization of every issue in America, which often seems deliberately motivated by various factions, will end up destroying our Republic, unless we commit to a drastic course correction.   I’ll harken back to President George Washington’s Farewell Address to our young nation on the dangers of letting political factions burn out of control;

“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection”

For more on George Washington’s timeless advice to keep our Republic strong and united and how he helped me form my American character, here is my “The duty of a wise people” blog post from back in May.  I’m searching for the Livy (that old Roman historian) quote on how the virtues of a Republic can be restored by the example of one man and will add it to the bottom once I locate it, because it speaks to where we are at with our own Republic.

1 Comment

Filed under American Character, Culture Wars, Food for Thought, Politics

October 22, 2013 · 12:21 pm

Bumblebees really can fly

Thomas Sowell, renowned economist, writer, and social commentator, wrote an excellent piece, “The Bad Fruits of Race Hustling” (here), in today’s National Review Online.  He tackled race hustling and the many naysayers who opine that for most black and many other minority groups opportunity does not exist in America.  You can always count on Thomas Sowell to hone in on home truths, using simple, direct language – yes, he’s a direct and to the point writer, but his writing is pure golden honey, he begins:

“Years ago, someone said that according to the laws of aerodynamics bumblebees cannot fly. But the bumblebees, not knowing the laws of aerodynamics, go ahead and fly anyway.”

Read the entire article yourself and I promise you will not be disappointed.  Back in July I wrote one of my rambling pieces “Good Citizen Solution Starts With You” (here) and although Dr. Sowell states the case much more eloquently, I do believe we both see America as a place of hope rather than a prison of thwarted dreams.  I ended my meandering post with this,

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” – Martin Luther King, Jr. ( I Have A Dream speech, August 28, 1963), I was a toddler and here we are 50 years later still retracing our steps, trying to realize this dream. Instead of letting our hopes be dashed over a local tragedy of two young men brawling in the street one night, we’ve got to set our sights on getting to that mountaintop where freedom rings for every American child and hope rises above being a political slogan. Hopefully, in my four children’s lifetime this dream will become reality.

Decided to add more because bumblebees and flying made me remember a story I read a few months back at the Library of America, Story of the Week site (you can sign up for email delivery).  The story is called, “The Day I Sprouted Wings”, by J. Herman Banning.  Banning was the first black male to receive a pilot’s license in America in 1926,  Even more amazing is the story of Bessie Coleman, the first black female pilot and the first black pilot to receive an international pilot’s license in 1921.  Believing you can fly really does matter.

4 Comments

Filed under Culture Wars, Politics

October 21, 2013 · 10:38 am

It’s called the Second Oldest Profession for a reason

It’s called the Second Oldest Profession for a reason.   This article posted on The XX Committee blog offers a much needed historical background on intelligence-gathering to put the media hype in the wake of the Snowden leaks in perspective.  Definitely worth your time.

Leave a comment

Filed under Foreign Policy, Politics