Liberals making sense...

If you get too steeped in your ideology, it is easy to arrive at the point where all who disagree seem like idiots. Hold on! That position is idiotic.

Yes, I deplore the fact that most liberals refuse to look at the records of Calvin Coolidge, and later John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. They refuse to believe the proven fact that Keynesian Economics are a failure. I don't know who they trust for economic knowledge, but while that may make them misled, it does not make them idiots.

Consider Bill Maher, in a confrontation with an Islam proponent, Maher said "...there’s only one faith, for example, that kills you or wants to kill you if you draw a bad cartoon of the prophet. There’s only one faith that kills you or wants to kill you if you renounce the faith. An ex-Muslim is a very dangerous thing. Talk to Salman Rushdie after the show about Christian versus Islam."

The fact is, Bill Maher is a brilliant guy. My problem with him is that too many people, especially young people, look to Maher as a serious source of news. True, Maher often reports serious news, but his job is as a Comedian! His primary task is to be funny.

Then, there is Kirsten Powers. A self-identified liberal Democrat, Kirsten's USA Today column was the blow that finally got the news of the trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell on the national radar screen. As Star Parker wrote, "This of course, is the horror story of a cesspool in Philadelphia posturing as an abortion clinic, operating without inspection for 17 years. Gosnell, the doctor who ran the place, has been formally charged of murder of one woman and seven infants." But his trial has been largely ignored by mainstream media. Good for Powers.

And, how about Alan Morton Dershowitz, the Harvard Law School Professor. Dershowitz calls himself a proud Liberal, but he was the first one to denounce the Florida prosecutor who charged George Zimmerman with murder in the Trayvon Martin slaying. And, I might add, conservative commentator Bernard Goldberg praised Dershowitz as being one of the fairest persons he has ever known.

Tough as it may sometimes seem, it might do well to learn how to say, "I disagree with you on that point... "  As Erick Erickson recently said, "It is, in fact, possible to disagree without being disagreeable and to dispute without being disreputable."

If Richard Nixon were president today,

what might he do about Korea? A fair question, given that Richard Nixon was Vice-President Elect at the time President Elect Dwight Eisenhower negotiated the Cease Fire which ended the bloody killing of, dare I say, The First Korean War?

In 1960, Nixon ran for president, and despite overwhelming evidence that John F. Kennedy's Democrats stole the election, Nixon valued tranquility above his own career and quietly stepped aside. When Kennedy was assassinated, and Lyndon Johnson, like Harry Truman before him, found himself entangled in a war he could not end, Nixon won The Presidency.

First, however, we have to clear up some things. President Nixon was so vilified that his name has become synonymous with bad politics. That's baloney.

What about Nixon's alleged Enemies List? More baloney. Every Republican political candidate of note faces such a horde of opponents determined to bring him/her down by any means, fair or foul, it is imperative that they keep a record of whom they must watch out for.

Admittedly, the illegal attempt to place a listening device in Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Complex, by Republican Presidential Campaign operatives, was an unnecessary and stupid blunder. Nixon was on track to win by a landslide. But, as we learned from the 1992 Bush 41 re-election campaign, the 1996 Dole campaign, the 2008 McCain campaign and the 2012 Romney campaign, Republican presidential campaign operatives are quite accomplished at doing stupid things.

Instead of just admitting to the illegality and stupidity, Nixon tried to salvage his supporters. The entirety of the media establishment, every Democrat in Washington and, eventually, a majority of Republicans, fearing for their own fragile careers, piled on to end Nixon's presidency.

Once, when Nixon was Eisenhower's vice President, the VP was in Argentina. His motorcade encountered a large group of Argentinian students, protesting some policy of the United States Government.  Nixon, refusing to permit a false accusation against his government go unchallenged, ordered his vehicle stopped, jumped out of the limo, and challenged the students to debate.

Then, in July of 1959, Nixon led Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on a tour of an American National Exhibition in Moscow. Suddenly Khrushchev launched into a tirade against a recent action by the United States Congress. Undeterred, Nixon stood face to face with the Soviet and defended America. Nixon had spine.

During Nixon's Presidency, when the Cold War seemed to be spiraling out of control, Nixon made the unprecedented move to clear the air and went directly to China to meet with Communist Chairman Mao Zedong. It worked, big time.

So, back to my original question. No one knows what Nixon would do today. But I'd like to think he would again go to China. Tell the Chinese President that the American people and the Chinese people have been friends for ages. We are important trading partners. Let's knock off glaring at each other and start working out our differences. So, cool that little North Korean creep who is driving a wedge between us.  

Last week, on Fox News Sunday,

Dan Pfeiffer was interviewed, after having been introduced as a White House Senior Adviser. What??? Pfeiffer was born on Christmas Eve, 1975. He is 37 years old. He did graduate from college with honors. He worked for Al Gore and a few Democrat Senators.

But, Dan Pfeiffer started kindergarten the year President Reagan took office as POTUS. Kindergarten! By then, the Viet Nam War was history. Pfeiffer could have no personal experience of the Carter Administration, and only a teenager's exposure to the Clinton Administration. He was 16 at the time of the first gulf War.

So, who are Obama's Junior Advisers? Malia and Sasha? Here we have a young, inexperienced President being advised by barely-out-of-college kids. Remember when we used to speak of people who "are still wet behind the ears"? When someone's 'experience' was largely obtained from classes conducted by uber liberal college professors, is he qualified to advise our president?

Forgive me, but I remember Bernard M Baruch, park bench adviser to six presidents. But that was long ago when knowledge gained by experience was something worth passing along, and Presidents were smart enough to seek out such advice.

 

To paraphrase Roger Ebert,

I give thumbs down to Barack Obama's job as president. But, I'd give two thumbs down to all those feminists who supported his election and re-election.

At a recent California fundraiser, President Obama commented that California Attorney General Kamala Harris was brilliant, tough, and the 'most attractive Attorney General in the country'. What a nice thing to say. Reminded me of the comments from Alaskans who, in 2008, bragged that, in Sarah Palin they had the best-looking governor in the United States.

Ah, but, the feminists, those same Obama-supporting women, went nuts over the President's comment! Obama, in his usual pandering, phoned AG Harris and apologized.

Recently there have been women complaining that the female reporters on television, specifically on Fox News Channel, dare to dress and look like women! Good grief!

Around the world, the sale of women's cosmetics comprise a massive industry. The women's fashion industry is likewise a major presence. Big bucks are spent on botox, facelifts, and other beautification measures. Women want to be beautiful. Some succeed. But, don't dare tell a feminist they have succeeded! That would be demeaning!

I appreciate intelligent, industrious women. I also appreciate women who care enough about their appearance to control their weight, and see to their general appearance. And, I enjoy looking at pretty women - be they on television, or wherever.

My wife of over four decades is one of those women. She has long followed a lot of simple little rules, like, 'never leave the house without your perfume'. On our 40th wedding anniversary we went to dinner, she wearing the dress she wore when we were married. I so appreciate her for that.... forty years of caring about her appearance! And, looking at her each morning is still the thrill it was the first morning after our wedding.

Some time ago, I saw a video shot of a woman on a New York street. She was wearing a low-cut dress which exposed a lot of cleavage. She would stand in front of a man. If he looked a her, she exploded in a rage, demanding of him, "Were you staring at my breasts?" the embarrassed man usually stammered some feeble reply.

I always wished I would have been one of those men! I would have replied, "Yes Madam, I was. Female breasts are attractive to men, and I enjoy looking at attractive things. If you don't want me to look, wear a burqa!"

As I said, I appreciate intelligent, industrious women. But, I appreciate them a lot more when they succeed at making themselves pretty!

In Cyprus, they were truthful!

The Cyprus government said "You trusted us and put your money in our banks. But we need it, so we are taking it." Despicable. But truthful.

In America, they said "Put your money in American banks and it is guaranteed safe - via FDIC! Truthful?

Then the Federal Reserve prints billions upon billions more paper dollars. Throwing all that paper money into circulation waters down the value of every dollar - old and new. So, while you are assured the return of every dollar you banked, each of those dollars is now worth a little less.

In Cyprus the rule is straightforward. Bank a dollar. Get only 60¢ back. Or, whatever.

In America, bank a dollar and get a dollar back, however it is now worth only 80¢. Or, whatever.

Two stories

caught my attention this week.

First, Rutgers University basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for what many, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie deemed 'unacceptable behavior'. Seems he got too tough with his players.

Then, there was Pope Francis, in St. Peter's Square, lovingly embracing a small American boy disabled by Cerebral Palsy.

How different. Maybe not.

I am reminded of the Bible scripture in Ecclesiastes 3:1..."To every thing there is  season...". Many do not know that that passage includes many words,  all worth reading, and repeating...

"1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6. A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Coach Rice was charged with building a winning sports team. You do not accomplish that by "being nice" and calling everyone a winner. You do it by being tough and teaching your players to be tough. That means to concentrate every minute of play - striving ever to instinctively do the right thing and do it better than anyone else. So, he was tough as a boot. How did his players, the recipients of his rough treatment, feel? They had no problems with their coach, they 'understood him'. Translation: he was hell-bent on making us the best basketball team and he was succeeding. Or, "...a time to break down, and a time to build up;".

Pope Francis was showing the world that a disabled child is a most worthy human being, worthy of recognition, of compassion, of special love and tenderness. As in, "...a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;".

Do you remember General George S. Patton?  He was a warrior to the core. Patton was certainly a force in the defeat of the Axis Powers, during World War II. How many defenseless, innocent lives may have been saved by General Patton's efforts to end that war? At one point in his career, Patton visited some of his soldiers who had been wounded. One soldier apparently engaged in some whining about his condition and Patton slapped the soldier across the face. The General's way of saying, 'You are a soldier, toughen up and handle it.' Indeed, there is "...a time of war, and a time of peace."

Yes, it has been true for thousands of years and still true today. There is a time to be tender, and a time to be tough. It all depends on the task at hand. Pope Francis is a sweet, caring man, the perfect kind to lead a large religious organization. Coach Rice is a tough disciplinarian, the perfect man to lead a winning sports organization. Both are to be lauded!