Stop it!

Paula Deen has lost her Food Network Gig and some spokesman roles, for truthfully admitting, that in the past, she had used the N word.

How many of us have? There was a time in America when we were so proud of our great "melting pot". People of diverse ethnic and nationality backgrounds came together as proud Americans. We had varying social characteristics, which became stereotypes, and we pretty much laughed at those stereotypes... ours, and theirs.

 Remember when we told 'Pat and Mike' jokes, about two dumb Irishmen. And, Irish were considered drinkers. There were unending Polish jokes. Italians were chided for their manner of speaking English: American sailor, "Is that a U-Boat?" Italian sailor, "No, That's nota my boat." Asians were considered bad drivers. I had a close friend who was an Italian immigrant. When he entered the United States, his documents were marked "W.O.P.", meaning "without papers". He called himself a Wop.

Mexicans were pictured in a sombrero, asleep under a palm tree. Both Scotsmen and Dutchmen were considered tightwads. Jews were money-hungry, always seeking to "Jew someone out of" something. Germans were Krauts. Frenchmen were frogs. Blacks were called the N word. Nobody hated anyone. We laughed at our differences and moved on, abandoning many of those terms over time.

I am sure some people were hurt by this practice, although I hold it was mostly folks who did not have strong self-confidence. My guess is that the word, itself, was not too painful, since many black comedians and black youth use the word freely. I suspect it is who uses it that matters.

Years ago I worked with a wonderful young woman who was Jewish. She told me, "Jews love Jewish jokes - when they are told by other Jews. When told by non-Jewish people, we are never sure if they are laughing with us - or at us." Fair enough. I get that.

I, for one, have never understood exactly why black Americans were called the N word. The definition of the word, after all, is a meanly stingy person. Doesn't fit any black people I know! Think Joe Louis, the heavyweight boxing champ who made lots of money and gave it all away, 'treating' his friends.

Then, something happened. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al, learned they could become rich and famous, while destroying their enemies, by claiming victimhood. Some of those terms were declared to be hate speech and people bought those definitions. The meanings changed entirely. Like the now-despicable C word. Once a vulgar, slang name for a part of the female anatomy, it morphed into a demeaning term for women. Where did that come from?

I never advocate violence, but I wish the mother of the lawyer who interrogated Paula Deen could grab him by the ear and wash his mouth out with soap for using unacceptable language.

He asked Deen if she had every used the N word. She could have just lied and said, "No". But she told the truth and is vilified. Has she been accused of truly demeaning any person because of their skin color? Has she exhibited racial prejudice in hiring practices? Hardly.

What about that planned "plantation wedding", with blacks as old time servants, posing as slaves? I am sure everyone would have been well paid and the 'actors' appreciative of the gig. If she had just had cameras rolling and called it a movie, it would have been wonderful.

Since these race-baiters have successfully turned certain terms into "hate speech", we, including Paula Deen, have quit using them. 

It is time to stop this divisive nonsense. If Sharpton and Jackson really deserve the "Rev." prefix before their names, let them go back to their congregations and preach the Gospel. Stop destroying people with this victim nonsense. 

It couldn't. Could it?

World news gets scarier every day. There is civil war in Syria. Not just unrest, but war, with tens of thousands dead.

There have been massive riots in Greece, protesting some action by their government.

More riots in Turkey. Sparked by announced plans to build a shopping mall in a park.

Now riots in Brazil, over... gee, I forgot what they were protesting.

So I settle back in my chair and think "Thank heavens I am in America where ths sort of thing doesn't happen."

Then comes the news that busloads of protestors supporting the cause of illegal immigration, descended upon the Kansas City area home of Kansas' Secretary of State, Kris Kobach. An estimated 200 persons, screaming in English and Spanish. such taunts as "Kris Kobach come on out, we'll show you what Kansans are all about!"

Happily, Secretary Kobach, his wife and four young daughters were not home at the time. But, imagine 200 angry, screaming people on your front porch!

Someone called the police. They were on the scene in just 15 minutes. Imagine what an angry mob could do in 15 minutes!

I am not faulting the police. Most police departments are so under paid, under staffed, over worked and loaded with stupid tasks, it is impossible to be everywhere in their jurisdiction in a moment's notice.

A former sheriff of my huge home county once told me, "sometimes in an emergency, the nearest available deputy can be 40 miles from the scene."

A State Police official once revealed that he cautions his officers with this warning: if you make a highway stop 'out in the middle of nowhere', do not talk yourself into a dangerous confrontation. Back-up may be a half hour away.

I am not involved in government. I am not a policy maker. It is impossible to imagine a mob descending on my home. But I'm willing to wager that before last Saturday, Secretary Kobach would have imagined it improbable, if not impossible, for a mob to rally on his front porch.

Secretary Kobach says it is vital for all Americans to be armed, to protect themselves and their families. I agree.

But, arms are most effective when you have ammunition. In the Army, we were taught how to use an unloaded rifle to defend ourselves. That, too, may become necessary. Locally, Wal-Mart stores (open 24/7), say customers begin gathering at 2:00 a.m., waiting for the store's daily shipment of ammunition to arrive. The more popular calibers are instantly sold out.

Think they are kidding? Stroll by the sporting goods department of your nearby Wal-Mart and note the empty shelves in their ammunition department.

Things that make an old man cry!

In a June 14 column, Deroy Murdock revealed that 'Petrona Smith told her Bronx Spanish students that "black" in that language is "negro." Some took offense, and she got fired.'

Also, that NBC News recently profiled Oregon's South Medford High School and its 21 valedictorians. At Alabama's Enterprise High, 34 students are "first in their class."

Recently, Arnold Ahlert wrote that 'kids can no longer do simple mathematical calculations such as making change. While their ignorance is mildly amusing, it represents a paradigm shift in the way people think for one overriding reason: math is the gateway to logic. Rob a child of the ability to think logically and anything becomes possible.Especially totalitarianism.'

Celia Rivenbark revealed  that "At the grocery store produce counter last week, a clerk saw me pondering a huge selection of greens. He smiled approvingly and said:

"Always remember: Red and green keep a colon clean!"

Are you kidding me? I don't want to think about my COLON when I'm buying vegetables. What next? Do these cukes go with my pancreas?"

The world is buzzing

with talk about Edward Snowden, the self-identified leaker/whistle blower who revealed the NSA practice of gathering meta-data on phone calls. To some a traitor, to some a hero.

I find both points of view very compelling. But I make no judgement on something I know so little about.

There is, however, one side of the story that is upsetting. News reporters are declaring, with alarm, that Snowden has no higher education credentials! How in the world did he get that job?

Don't you see... if you did not 'go to college' and graduate with a piece of largely worthless paper and a mountain of student loan debt, you cannot be very smart!

Surprise! Snowden probably got the job because he was the smartest computer whiz kid to come along.

Another amazing point of view: How did someone with so little formal education get security clearance? And, do you realize there are over 4 million Americans with high security clearance? Shocking!

Not really. As of June 1, the U.S. Population stands at 316 million. About 200 million of whom are of 'working age'. I see no reason why the vast majority of those adults would not qualify for security clearance. Are we to believe that American citizens cannot be trusted?

In the military I held high level security clearance. As Chief of the Radio & Cable Section at an Army base in the Philippines, I handled message of all levels of restriction.

I have known civilians with high level security clearance. Doesn't take too much to get. An applicant for a job requiring security clearance is interviewed by the F.B.I. From that interview, they learn a lot about you, your friends, your habits, previous employment, etc.

Next, the F.B.I. interviews just about everyone you know. They ask a lot of questions that might indicate your character, etc. When they are satisfied with your probable trustworthiness, when you swear to protect and defend the Constitution of The United States and take an oath of secrecy, you are issued clearance.

Snowden claims to believe that the secrecy he swore to keep put him in conflict with his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

We shall see how it all plays out. But, please, let's not assume that persons without a college degree cannot be trusted, or are not intelligent.

Funny about history.

Knowledge of past human failures and successes is vital. But history is so frequently re-written, we often damn past successes and glorify colossal mistakes.

I just read a detailed column, written last Saturday by Dutch Parliament member Geert Wilders. Wilders provides detailed evidence that Islam is destroying Europe.

That made me think centuries back, when Islam very nearly did destroy Europe. They conquered Spain, and spread their influence. Native Europeans finally had enough. They set about to fight back, launching what history calls "The Crusades". Their purpose became mangled. They accomplished some goals, failed at others. But, I was always led to believe the Crusades were an unending effort to punish innocent Islamists. Innocent, indeed! It was Islam that had waged unending war on Western Europe.

Wilders clearly distinguishes between Muslims and Islam. In another case of learning from badly re-written history, many Muslims believe the story of 'Religion of Peace'. and live their lives accordingly.

But, Wilders stated, and I find it entirely credible to believe, that  "Islam is a totalitarian political ideology which aims to impose its legal system on the whole society. Islam is an ideology because it is political rather than religious: Islam is an ideology because it aims for an Islamic state and wants to impose Islamic Sharia law on all of us. Islam is totalitarian because it is not voluntary. It orders that people who leave Islam must be killed."

How can Islam be considered a Religion of Peace?

I implore people to study history. But you cannot just skim one writer's impression of history. Check more than one source. Satisfy your mind that you are getting the more accurate story. We cannot learn from past successes or failures, unless we clearly recognize both.

Scandals at high places in government:

Something new? No.

The Federal Government is caught surreptitiously snooping through news reporters emails and phone records. The president checks it out, and announces, "Nothing wrong here, everything's okay!"

That is just one of several current scandals, all of which have been brushed off in similar fashion. Some think this sort of thing has never happened before!

Go back to the early years of the Truman Administration. V.P. Truman, on April 12, 1945, became president upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt. Before being chosen as FDR's running mate in 1944, Truman had been a United States Senator from Missouri. Before that, he held a small time political position in Jackson County, MO (where I was born and raised).

Just as Barack Obama was helped in his early political career by domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, Harry Truman was supported by the notoriously corrupt Kansas City political boss, Tom Pendergast. As a result, scandals plagued Truman throughout his presidency.

At one point, another alleged scandal, rooted in Truman's Kansas City past, erupted. Maybe it was related to Truman's long-time friend and adviser, fellow Missourian Harry Vaughn, I no longer remember which scandal was the headline du jour.

So, President Truman traveled to Kansas City to 'get to the bottom' of the story. Shortly he appeared on the front steps of downtown Kansas City's Muehlebach Hotel, to address gathered reporters. "Well, boys," Truman announced, "You can go home now. I have checked this thing out and there is nothing to it." Whereupon, the reporters closed up their notebooks and 'went home'!

My father was infuriated. That was not 'the bottom of the scandal', but it was the end of the scandal!

What happened to Truman? In spite of his scandals, his colossal foreign policy mistakes, for which we are paying yet today, Truman is revered as the no-nonsense, 'The buck stops here' president, the epitomy of clean and honest government.

One day they'll be building a huge monument to Barack Obama. 

What's wrong with lawyers?

As a class, there is nothing wrong with lawyers. The study of law is a noble profession which provides an invaluable service.

The vast majority of lawyers spend their working days in their office, with their staff, poring through law books in an effort to guide some client through the maze that is our legal code. We could hardly survive without them.

Somewhere between 1787, when The Constitution was offered and, say 2010 when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed, we forgot how to craft laws briefly written and easily understood.

But then, as John Adams said: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” We do indeed seem to have slipped from a lofty position of morality and religious fervor, so perhaps all the whys and wherefores and what-ifs, and WTFs are needed.

Another group of lawyers spend their working days in courtrooms, trying to assure that accused persons' rights are protected. A right so valuable, it is protected by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. In fact, our Founding Fathers, familiar with the commonly unjust treatment of the accused, devoted 40% of the Bill of Rights (4 of the 10 amendments) to the rights of persons charged with law-breaking. Again, defense lawyers are important to our freedoms-they are indispensable.

Growing up on the farm we planted potatoes. When the harvest was complete, we stored a lot of potatoes in a bin in our fruit cellar. They lasted well into the winter, but you had to monitor that bin. If one potato turned bad, that 'bad' quickly spread to other potatoes. Must have been some sort of bacteria, generally the source of stink everywhere from roadkill to sewage treatment plants!

Some lawyers are like the bad potatoes. Their stink can taint the entire profession. They are the lawyers who use their knowledge of the law and their rhetorical skills to persuade juries to make obscenely large cash awards to people they successfully portray as 'victims'. These lawyers, of course, pocket a large percent of the cash.

Think medical malpractice lawsuits. Or, the case of the woman who received a pile of cash because she bought a cup of hot coffee at a drive-thru window, then spilled it on herself.

My personal beef was lawsuits against aircraft manufacturers. During World War II, many of us first experienced flying in an aircraft. After discharge, we took flying lessons and hoped to buy our own light aircraft. Then, lawyers began suing aircraft manufacturers and soon liability insurance exceeded the cost of the aircraft. Result? The market dried up and manufacturers just quit making small, low-cost aircraft.

On the farm, we found the 'bad' potatoes and tossed them out of the bin. When will we do the same with bad lawyers?

Would you deface

a precious work of art?

Suppose you were to visit the Musée du Louvre in Paris and could gain access to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Would you spray paint a mustache and goatee onto the portrait?

If you were in Rome and could gain access to Michelangelo's David, would you grab hammer and chisel and proceed to carve your impressions on this incredible sculpture?

If you had visited ancient Greece and came upon the beautiful sculpture of Aphrodite, more commonly known as Venus de Milo, generally attributed to Alexandrus of Antioch, would you have broken off her arms, as someone did 2,000 years ago?

Now, suppose the artist were God, and the art were his masterpiece... a self-portrait, of sorts. A sculpture, which, as we are told in Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Then he gave this sculpture life, intelligence, reason. Would you deface His work of art?

Many people do. Recently I sat at our City's open market observing the passing crowd. Obesity was just the starter at defacing God's art. Slovenly appearance and unattractive attire were common. A slumped, lazy posture often was added.

Recently, basketball great Shaquille O'Neal recorded a TV commercial for some sort of body lotion. In that commercial, O'Neal read the line, "You can't improve on perfection but you can rub lotion on it!" I loved that line, that attitude! The human body is a miracle of perfection. Yes, all living things are miraculous, but only humans can build skyscrapers, fly to the moon, write great books and compose symphonies. Only humans were created in God's own image!

Before you leave home tomorrow, step in front of a mirror and ask yourself to judge if you are defacing God's finest work of art. If you agree that you are, decide what you are going to do about it.

Teaching old fingers

a new keyboard.

My long time favorite computer keyboard just quit. I was not surprised, I have been pounding those keys without mercy.

So, I bought a new keyboard. Lots of neat new features - plus, it is wireless. Using it? Not so neat. Some keys are a slightly different size and shape. Some are in slightly different locations. I misspell a word and want three back spaces. I get three back slashes. Now I need six back spaces, but I have to find that key!

Eventually these stiff old fingers will learn all the new key sizes, shapes and locations. Eventually.

The "Ride To The Wall"

stopped in my town this morning.

Actually they arrived last night. One of the local VFW Posts provided dinner for the Vets, who then spent the night and stopped by our Veteran's Memorial Park this morning before heading toward Midland, Texas, their next stop.

There were over 500 motorcycles on the ride this year, plus a number of "trikes" and "four-wheelers", as the Viet Nam Veterans made their annual cross-country trip from California to Washington, D.C., where they will observe Memorial Day ceremonies at the Viet Nam War Memorial.

I spent some time at the park, visiting, shaking hands and getting hugs. Uplifting!

Who said to... or didn't?

So the IRS is harassing certain Conservative groups, as well as some Evangelical and Jewish groups. People are asking if the White House "ordered" or even "knew of" this activity.

Erick Erickson of Red State explains all of this beautifully today. Erick points out that in 1170, King Henry II of England was troubled by the actions of the Archbishop of Canterbury, one Thomas Beckett. Henry II was quoted as having said words to the effect that "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"

Shortly thereafter, some  of the King's devoted knights, went to the Cathedral and murdered Beckett. There was no proof that Henry II sent them, but that was hardly the point.

With President Obama making such utterances as "if they bring a knife, we bring a gun", and telling Congressional Democrats to "punch back twice as hard" at Republicans, Erickson asks, 'was not Obama asking Will no one rid me of this turbulent group?'

Is it any wonder then that certain loyal Liberal Democrats in an IRS office would try to comply?

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!
 

Ideology, Principles & Common Sense

I believe in clinging to an ideology; I believe in strict adherence to one's principles. But I do not believe either tenet should defy common sense. Here are some examples I have watched:

Ideology. Fox New channel has completely swamped all the other cable news channels in ratings. Why? Because Fox insists on giving air time to both Conservative and Liberal voices. People are eating it up. But CNN & MSNBC continue to sneer at Conservative views and dominate their program schedule with angry, snarkey liberal voices. Where's the common sense in that? They prefer to hurt their bottom line, rather than bend on their Liberal ideology.

Principles. in a Washington Post column, distinguished pollster Andrew Kohut wrote that the GOP is estranged from America: You can review it here. And, Kohut is but one of many voices declaring the Republicans to be extreme in their principles, their policies.

If that is true, why are urban centers which adhere to GOP policies so successful and cities which follow liberal Democrat policies such failures... as pointed out in a Wall Street Journal article by Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore?

Where is the common sense is continuing to demonize successful policies while advancing failing policies?

And, where is the common sense in prominent Republican spokesmen insisting that the GOP should become more like the liberal Democrats if they want to win elections? Thomas Sowell recently called them 'me too' Republicans and pointed out the fallacies of their ideas.

I am a Conservative. I watch Fox News Channel. I would love for FNC to dispense with Alan Colmes, Juan Williams and Bob Beckel. But that would be wrong. Even though these men are argumentative, they interrupt, they filibuster and they are often proven wrong. A broadcast entity, or a printed publication, cannot call itself a news medium, if they fail to present both sides of an argument.(even in their opinion sections).

Besides, it is just common sense to let some of these Liberal voices destroy their own ideology. Thanks Alan, Juan, Bob.

There oughta be a law!

Yes, I've said that many times, but I never really meant it. There are already too many laws. What I've really meant is that I observed a behavior so offensive to me, I wish that behavior could never again be observed.

I suppose it is all in the eye, or ear, of the beholder, but a behavior that most often offends me is the tendency of people to promote their position on a topic over which they apparently have no knowledge. Or, very limited knowledge. I love reading opinions of people who are truly knowledgeable. I learn from one of these people nearly every day.

Then there are the idiots. The most offensive are the idiots who advance some hair-brained idea and push it as a brilliant, new revelation. The current push for gay marriage is an example. First, they say, homosexuality is not choice... it is predetermined at birth. So, surely homosexuality existed in ancient times? If it did, do they think that no one ever considered gay marriage in the past?

British Historian, Paul Johnson said, "It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.”

Tradition is not tradition because our ancestors were too dumb to know better. It is tradition because people experimented with ever-blossoming new ideas - kept the ones which 'worked', discarded the ones which did not.

Should we continue such experimentation? Absolutely! That is what has advanced civilization. But, when a new idea seems to counter a long standing tradition, examine it carefully before replacing what our ancestors have practiced over the millennia.

So soon?

The 2012 election ended and many of us, no matter the results, looked forward to a respite from political bickering. No such luck! The 2016 fighting is already upon us.

The national news media is partly to blame. By keeping a horse race going, they build tomorrow's audience. Every time any political figure does anything that attracts attention, it starts a buzz that he or she is seeking some political office. Maybe it is true. I am still sick of it!

Then, there is the continued re-hashing of last election's news. Didn't we cover that adequately in the nearly four years of the 2012 presidential campaign? During the campaign, opponents, or opossing groups, would take a candidates' utterings out of context, distort and embellish them, and scream it from the rooftops. Now, in the post mortem rehashing, they embellish and distort things even more than during the first time around.

It will be a long four years!