Happy Old Year

Ring out the old, ring in the new! The old PPP, proper prior parenting, had been replaced by the new PPP, Pubescent pregnant pigs. Progress? Not when reality still involves adolescents’ brains programing them to try risky behaviors. Not when newspaper editors fail to use the English language properly, as they look to "set the stage down the road, "and boast about "tapering into what we do." How are we moving forward? "Ladies first," once was a catch phrase to depict respect for the opposite sex. Now these politically correct watch words imply that women are slower to formulate difficult questions following a lecture session so a concession must be made to their ‘different’ brains. Progress? The old PPP faced the realities of separate but equal sexual orientations and the need for moral standards of behavior. The new PPP allows ladies to be given affirmative action via liberal, feminist, dictatorial principles. The new PPP celebrates unmarried, adolescent motherhood which is beyond the pale.

perpetual youth

Mid 19th century, two writers proposed two similar perspectives on youth.

"In that calm Syrian afternoon, memory, a pensive Ruth, went gleaning the silent fields of childhood and found the scattered grain still golden and the morning sunlight fresh and fair."

"Youth is the only season for enjoyment, and the first twenty-five years of one’s life are worth all the rest of the longest life of man, even though those five-and-twenty be spent in penury and contempt , and the rest in the possession of wealth, honours, respectability. "

Whether golden or weighed down by leaden troubles, childhood, youth, and the modern creation, adolescence, hopefully represent the good times. Yet at the cusp of the 21st century, something has gone awry. The innocence of childhood has been blasted away. Adolescence, the transitional phase of development, has been prolonged. Adulthood moves farther and farther on the horizon. Lost innocence, being unretrievable, portends sadness, desperation and restlessnesss the evidences of which already darken America’s cultural landscape. The perpetuation of youth, albeit in its perverted condition, means that today’s throwbacks, whether twenty, forty, sixty or eighty years of age, never grow up. How can our country, governed by unsettled hormones, both the white and black man’s burdens, achieve greatness in the future?

ARMORED CONFUSION

From Chicago, a contributor to the letters to the editor says the mortgage fiasco, is "another example of the personal greed... illustrated by families spending far beyond their means by using housing as a piggybank for their splurges. Those of us who have spent frugally for years in order to build a modest retirement living, forgoing fancy homes and new cars every year, are now being rewarded by politicians with a forced opportunity to help our ‘less fortunate’ neighbors who are swamped with the debt they have incurred while living in high style." Is this right? HECK NO! The improvident and irresponsible do not need their fellow citizens or the government to bail them out from their misfortunes. And we don’t need a Presidential candidate telling us to come together, to work together across the political and cultural divides in order to share resources in a socialistic society wherein my hard work and sacrifice - along with that of the Chicagoan - will be for naught.

From Washington columnist and author, Peggy Noonan says about the search for our next President, "We just want a reasonable person. We would like a candidate who does not appear to be obviously insane. We’d like knowledge, judgment, a prudent understanding of the world and of the ways and histories of the men and women in it." Is this right? HECK YES! Yet to Peggy, Biden, Dodd, Obama, Romney, McCain, Hunter, Thompson and Richardson are reasonable men. Clinton, Edwards and Huckabee are not. With each of the former, however, I disagree with Peggy. Actually, Ron Paul and Giuliani are typical of the entire lot of contenders because they are reasonable on some issues and insane on others.

From Chicago and from Peggy, the arrow points to me. I am eminently conservative and wholly reasonable. I am the metaphorical and literal embodiment of a down-to-earth, pay-as-you-go life style. My guiding forces are practical, possible and profitable. My common sense prevails without compromise. Like our much-maligned present President Bush, I hold a few unwavering beliefs. Both my personal responsibility and my rationality ( i.e. fairness, moderation, common sense, reasonableness) cut like a double-edged sword through the armored confusion of Presidential hopefuls.

Assissination

A Indian Dalit’s wife and three children assassinated. A Muslim leader, Benazir Bhutto, assassinated. Both massacres were PPP, practical, possible and profitable for an ideology of hatred, prejudice and retribution. Messages from the East differ radically from the message of the West. An elitist, Western movie critic writes about the American film "Atonement." "Astute performances, evocative settings, searching intelligence and bountiful visual details"..."exchange for the inimitable inner voices and not-quite-expressible complexities. " What a verbal parade! Substitute the recent murders from the Eastern theatre and we experience a different view of "astute performances, (a maddened crowd hacking and bludgeoning three people to death and a shooter and suicide bomber killing and blowing up victims) evocative settings, ( a family homestead and a political rally for democracy) searching intelligence (Jihadist irrationality) and bountiful visual details (blood and death on display in real time and on the printed page and in video clips) in exchange for the inimitable inner voices (of rampaging racists and terrorists) and not-quite-expressible complexities," ( caste thinking and El-Qaida).

It’s still East vs. West. New Years is the time to thank our God of Bethlehem and Jerusalem that in the West we settle cultural conflicts of faith and morals without violence and the sword. Having embraced the message of the Christmas child, we, at our best, can ring in our New Year, 2008, with hope and in peace.

Blue Christmas

My post-Christmas blues are inspired by two items in the WSJ, Wall Street Journal
An ad from DHL listing:
12 striped neckties
11 pair of sweatsocks
10 reindeer sweaters
9 character potholders
8 porcelain figurines
7 tennis balls
6 antique fruitcakes
5 thingamabobs
4 gingham-checked smocks
3 champagne glasses
2 pieces of pottery
and a bunny outfit.
Comment: The 12 days of Christmas have obviously gone down the clever but irrelevant, materialistic, politically correct hole.

An article about going down the chief road in the workplace with:
Chief social responsibility officer
Chief vision officer
Chief sustainability officer
Chief talent officer
Chief beer officer
Chief procurement officer
Chief learning officer
Chief green officer
Comment: Chief cook and bottle washer was and is the only ego stroking position that ever merited notice.

If I am in a blue funk because of the shallowness and insanity surrounding me during the Christmas season, then I might as well wallow in it because conditions will not change in the upcoming ‘08.

80/20 Christmas

The 80/20 rule might have been created to explain an economic phenomenon, but it explains virtually all human behavior. Why? 80% of humanity is right; 20% is wrong? 80% is capable of thought; 20% follows the herd? Or vice versa? Evolution must somehow account for the 80% wanting protection from its vagaries and 20% favoring the free market. 80% must realize expensive, branded perfumes are no better than $1.00 Family Dollar bottles, but the egos of 20% need stroking. 80% of shoppers buy standard handbags, but 20 % rush to snap up the bargain Ralph Lauren reduced from $244 to $80. 80% of omnivores purchase food at retail establishments with sliding price scales, but 20% must fool themselves into Whole Foods or Fresh and Easy comestibles with no measurable advantages. 80% of music lovers hear music secondhand, but 20% throw dollars at performers of pop and rock concerts, the highest ticket price being $141 for Celine Dion (whose CD I bought for $2.00 at a local thrift store). The problem with the governance of the 80/20 rule is that its participants keep switching allegiances. Sometimes I fall into the majority; other times into the minority depending upon the issue involved. This Christmas, I’m with the 80% whose consciences and/or beliefs lead them to a church service commemorating the birth of Christ, the Savior. The 20% are on their own.

"Just the facts, ma'am"

Decision making requires getting some facts. Don’t remain in the dark like the man who complained "taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for this, the government should." Such ignorance is costly. Taxpayers and the government, being synonymous, cause great waste. You’ve heard of pork - not the other white meat, but the source of large buckets of lard (pre-Crisco and pre-Parkay) distributed by politicans. The 2008 Omnibus spending bill of $500 billion dollars contains 11,000 earmarks (special favors doled out by politicians) and runs 3,400 pages. The other ‘discretionary’ spending bill for 2008 totals about 900 billion dollars. These thorny facts ought to make us bleed. Some examples of over-spending: $286 billion over 5 years to subsidize 10% of the richest of farmers. $500 million to ethanol producers. $700 thousand for a Minnesota bike trail. $10 billion for terror insurance. $100 billion (projected) for future loses for flood insurance (inspired by hurricane Katrina). $25 billion for renewable energy projects which will have no effect on our oil independence. $8,000 a month to rent a SUV’s in Iraq. One earmark is a ½ million dollars for a minor league baseball stadium.

Americans need to sort out the facts from the fiction of experts and their reports. Consensus does not always equate with truth. Experts claim we are affected by global warming in at least 600 ways, but here’s the real, one-two punch. 1. The earth is totally dependent upon the sun. 2. The earth has warmed and cooled many times throughout time. What are the facts about healthy fats, type 2 diabetes, energy dependency, math and science deficiency in our schools, stem cell research, lack of health insurance and nuclear proliferation? First, without fats we die. We could ask a centenarian how he managed to live so long? Next, genetics will determine which of two individuals with the same diet and/or lack of exercise evidences symptoms of insulin inefficiency. Nuclear power plants are not being approved to alleviate our electrical grids. There is an innate appeal of science and math to the masculine mind, so women gravitate to other disciplines. Only stem cells other than embryonic stem cells have shown promise in scientific breakthroughs. Each American should arm himself against illness and disability with choices about health care and health insurance. Finally, many countries around the globe already have nuclear capabilities as well as missile defense systems.

It’s about time we face the fact that we are awash in political correctness. Other than ignorance or cowardice, what could explain why we have allowed it to persist? A prime example is sports. Young children are forbidden to compete. Little leagues do not keep score anymore, even though life keeps score. Older athletes know the score; the best win the accolades. Haven’t the Olympics been held every 4 years since 1896 based on the competitions in ancient Greece?. Team mascots and names also reflect political correctness. A minor league team cannot have a mascot pig called Pork because it offended one picky person. Pig has been re-named Ferrous, meaning red. And, how much mental or physical damage can a sports’ team named the Penguins or Mudhens do?

Another glaring fact causing controversy is that immigrants won’t go away without a fight. Each wave of immigrants from the Irish and Chinese to the Muslims and Mexicans has not and will not give up its pursuit of happiness without a pushback. What we have in America, they want. What do we do about the fact we can’t progress without them? The immigration issue looms large in the 2008 election. Deciding on a quota and making the distinction between transient immigrant workers and those who seek citizenship are critical issues.

Isn’t it time we faced the declining conditions in public schools? Children often aren’t being educated; they are indoctrinated with ideas irrelevant to specific subjects and in disagreement with our moral values. Just published is a study proving that pre-teen sex benefits youth and ‘protects’ them from health and emotional problems later in life. It will be used to justify procedural and program changes, symptomatic of the trashing of the 10 commandments.
Is there a foreboding message behind the facts of the murders at Omaha, Virginia Tech and Salt Lake City? Certainly the massacres tell us our culture does not recognize the intrinsic value of each human being. Murders were committed by adult men going on 10 years of age, i.e. Americans who refuse to grow up. Also, ungodly offerings from the media and entertainment industry, self-indulgent lifestyles and improper prior parenting contributed to these tragedies.
Lastly, be aware of public service announcements. For example, catchy capital letters call attention to problems like PAD, but peripheral arterial disease itself never gets explained. Virtually anyone who breathes has PAD, especially smokers. These agenda-driven messages, sincerely presented with an aura of fact, are misleading or false. They promote flu pandemic panic and paranoia.

Of course distinguishing facts from fiction among Republican and Democrat candidates in the up-coming election will require extra-sensory perception. Nevertheless, remember the request from Dragnet’s Jack Webb, "Just the facts ma’am."

Without permission

Ignorance depletes America’s stored up treasures of time and talent. Its expense results in waste beyond the imaginary loss of Eldorado. I cite 2 instances. The first calls forth my rage. Try the fact that Senators will now be reimbursed with taxpayers’ money for travel to funerals of service members in their home states. Why am I paying for what should be private grief? My private griefs have not been publically financed. Common sense says that such travel basically just wastes our elected officials’ time, taking them away from the jobs they’re paid to do. Senators think and act like elites who live in an hedonistic, self-important world, alien to the common people who daily slog out their pursuit of peace of mind and their personal version of happiness. The loss of a loved one in the service of this country should not offer elite politicians a chance to score points with the electorate. Another example by an economist from Slate magazine depicts the separation of perception from the reality. Analyzing the drop in fall and winter gun sales, an economist notes that "higher temperatures slow deer movements and raise the risk the meat will spoil." Though technically correct in his data, this elitist plays at being expert, wasting time on analysis of a phenomenon - hunting - that he knows nothing about. Trust me! Real men hunt and eat their kill; the loss of gun sales is no indicator of inherent interest in a sport. Ignorance explains the lack of understanding of the popularity of deer hunting and venison tasting and of the need for a family’s privacy when grieving. We waste salaries on Senators and economists. But all hope is not lost. Judging from the response of call-in radio and TV shows, blogs and Web sites on the Internet, a significant number of citizens have awakened to the theft of our country’s intellectual treasures. Three cheers for speaking up and out against elites who take our money without our permission.

Liberal ideas

Who fishes around in the sea of ideas, chooses the crappy ones and then ... throws them at both the wall and the fan (not taking any chances) hoping some of it sticks in the minds of a gullible public? Answer: liberals. Liberal ideas usually result in the death of common sense. Most dangerous are the ideas of liberal politicians. Theirs are usually commitments, not to what’s practical, possible and profitable, but what dictates their elitist rules. Ronald Reagan warned us that the "most terrifying words in the English language are, "I’m from the government and I’m here to help." Liberals defer to governmental control because they choose not to help themselves. Rather they prefer to let certain selected Americans pay to help other selected Americans when in justice, no American should subsidize another. It’s socialist thinking. Yet they have traditionally been dismissed when their true intentions are known. When George McGovern told the truth about his liberal philosophy and intentions in his campaign for President in 1972, he lost - a summary defeat - 49 of the 50 states’ electoral votes. Only by adopting a centrist position as Democrats, can they deceive ignorant voters into electing a Bill Clinton. So this election cycle, buyer beware. The crappy ideas - always liberal - will never smell or taste sweet.

Holiday cheers

An exiled Iranian now living in Paris likes America because "American culture always lets you express yourself." This Christmas season, even freedom of expression causes controversy. 500 million dollars are spent on inflatables (blow-ups). 16 billion is the industry total for holiday season decorations. The expenditures keep rising each year. My neighbor was ever so industrious and generous as to light up her house with strung lights and inflatable characters to be enjoyed by me, since she never ventures outdoors in the night. Her expenditure provides me eye candy from the vantage of my windows and my evening walks. The nasty games around our country, unfortunately, have begun. Accusations against displays such as ‘too much,’ ‘too tacky,’ ‘up too long,’ too noisy,’ ‘too religious,’ are accompanied by criminal behaviors such as vandalism and theft. Whatever each individual’s reason for the season, only common sense can resolve differences and maintain ‘peace on earth.’

Change

The buzz word is change for this election cycle. Change to or from what? For the better or for the worse? New Jersey has just become the 1st state to abolish the death penalty. Now criminals who have committed egregious murders may spend a lifetime in prison without parole. Are Americans to believe this is a change for the better or for the worse when the cost is high, the effectiveness questionable and the possibility of its actually happening nil? Congress passed the energy bill with projections to 2020, supposedly saving the taxpayers billions of dollars. Will new gas mileage and more efficient appliances and light bulbs change our lives for the better or the worse when they actually cost business, industry and the taxpayers greater billions than will actually be saved? Then Time magazine names an old style KGB communist, Vladimir Putin, Man of the Year. Does this symbolic approval of socialistic thinking represent a world-wide sea change for the better or the worse? Certainly in America, liberal political correctness from Democrat Presidential candidates affirms a change to socialistic agendas from democratic, conservative ones. The 2008 farm subsidy bill, assures that 2/3rd of the richest 10 % of farmers collect 24 billion dollars. Pork spending in Washington has not changed. On the other hand, in Saudi Arabia a victim of gang rape was just ‘pardoned’ from her lashing and jail sentence. A nice change! I hope to live long enough to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary in 2013. But by then or by 2020, nothing about human folly will have changed.

"Just the facts, ma,am"

Who fishes around in the sea of ideas, checks out the facts, thinks about them, chooses the crappy ones and then ... throws the offal at both the wall and the fan (not taking any chances) hoping some of it sticks in the minds of a gullible public? Answer: big government in Washington. I prefer to do my own thinking, be a shopper thinker. What about you? Especially regarding candidates in the up-coming election. What should the President of the most powerful nation in the world represent? Power over the people’s wallets to waste the monies collected from taxes? A campus feminist still plying her trade in the same manner as in her Wellesley days? An anti-war pacifist appealing to global diplomacy? A perfect coiffure? A member of the rich preaching to the poor and ignoring the middle class he impoverished by lawsuits? A perfect coiffure? Personal wealth? A specific religion? A religion that is not Christian? A cute lisp? A crisis manager? A heroic war veteran? A moderate thinker? An anti-free trade protectionist? A closing of our borders? A businessman? An opponent of a trans-American highway? An advocate of a consumption tax? Platforms and labels run the gamut of Presidential hopefuls, both Democrat and Republican. Each policy statement requires my analysis of the facts that will determine the future of America.

With so many diverse issues up for consideration, why believe in any of those we hear until we ascertain the facts? Without regard to the experts. Experts practice the art of contradiction when it comes to advice about virtually every issue. Becoming an expert implies accumulation of facts, insights or experience, but too much consensus today is agenda driven and not a synonym for fact. What does the data say about climate change? Here’s the one-two punch. 1. The earth is totally dependent upon the sun. 2. The earth has warmed and cooled many times throughout time. What are the facts about fats and health, energy dependency, math and science deficiency in our schools, stem cell research, health insurance costs and nuclear proliferation? First, without fats we die and we only need to ask centenarians how they managed to live so long? Nuclear power plants are not being approved to alleviate our electrical grids. There is an innate appeal of science and math to the masculine mind, women gravitate to other disciplines. Seems to me we need a call for manliness. All types of stem cells other than embryonic stem cells have shown promise in scientific breakthroughs. It’s only fair for each American to arm himself against illness and disability in retirement with choices about health care are personal savings. Many countries around the globe already have missile defense systems in the works. We just must face this fact.Experts and government (especially in those disingenuous public service announcements) hope we’ll fall for their facts. Happy and successful Americans are smarter than that.

A good movie

Does "The Last Man on Earth" qualify as a film as defined by the genre? How are plot, characters, setting, point of view and theme, the elements of fiction, transported to the screen with enough interest to hold an audience’s attention and make them care about a resolution? Oh please! As technicolor, wide-screen, stereo sound, surround sound, 3-D, special effects, computer generation and space-age techniques took over the art of film making, the quality of the art plummeted. Yet the price of movie-going increased. What a director could do technically replaced what he should do artistically. Artistic productions over time, however, fared no better than popular, money making films. A ticket price today pays for advertising, mindless diversion and the salaries of stars. Oh please! "Gremlins" ended my days of ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ at the movies. Years before, however, the black and white Oscar-winning film "Marty" starring Ernest Borgnine highlighted the golden days of film craft as I knew it. A plot moved smoothly from introduction to denouement, characters fully developed, held the viewer’s attention, the setting was realistically portrayed, the audience was allowed into the mind set of the protagonist and the theme proved uplifting in spite of faithfulness to the logical evolution of the story. A dollar paid for two hours of worthwhile time. Oh please! Bring on the free video rentals at the public libraries from the heyday of films.

Examination of conscience

An insert in a church bulletin provided a printed checklist for the "examination of conscience - how is my daily struggle?" I strike out someplace on every one of my ten little Indian commandments. First, Have I have doubted my Faith? Of course. When can I believe America will ever find a presidential candidate that is rooted in common sense and moral judgment fed by solid character? Experience with 43 of them belies the possibility. Second, Do I use profane language? By God, yes. I shout an ‘Oh God’ whenever a liberal, a politically correct journalist or politician sucks up to women, Blacks, gays, the poor, the middle class or rants against big oil, corporations, big business, the Christian right, neo-conservatives, global warming - the list is endless, just as are my Oh God’s. Third, Was I easily distracted at Mass? Routinely. My attention glissades into a mental re-creation of a delicious dinner that will follow the service. Fourth, Have I talked back? Naturally. I, a woman have been born and bred to do nothing less when it comes to a man, even my man. Fifth, Did I fail to correct in charity? How can I tell my neighbor - kindhearted that he is - that he smokes like a fiend? Sixth, Did I consent to impure glances? Does a passing thought to emasculate my dog that barks for a career count as a tainted wish? Seventh, Did I waste time at home? Often. Why should I avoid laziness when its bliss is sitting in my sacrosanct favorite chair reading a book? Eighth, Am I negative in my talk? As a responsible citizen I need to be, when it comes to making a choice between the future of America based on personal-responsibility and capitalism or victimhood and socialism, the latter being the embodiment of negativity. Ninth, Do I neglect to control my imagination? My nightly nightmares persist due to an uncontrollable, benign neglect. Tenth, Is my heart set on earthly possessions or on the true treasures of Heaven? Daily. I do my part being super cheap with my money, but yet I cheat when it comes to jasmine tea. The Platonic ideal is humanity’s adherence to the 10 commandments. The history of civilization, however, proves the need for each person’s daily examination of conscience.

Leadership

If according to Rush Limbaugh, the popular and influential conservative radio talk show host, the upcoming election will be all about immigration and taxes, why does the media keep focusing on the religions of presidential candidates - and whose is right? The imbecilic media enjoys pandering to citizen (and illegal) morons. What better proof of their foolishness of debating whether a presidential hopeful be a Christian or not; it was Jimmy Carter’s Christianity that helped him win the White House in 1976. And we know how America’s economy didn’t benefit from that commitment. Nor was it lifted from its malaise. In fact it led Carter down the road to pacifism in the face of non-Christian, Muslim terrorists.

The Mormons’ educational system aspires to show "the glory of God is intelligence." They appear to have a better grasp of the purpose of religion (and education) than either the Christians or the Muslims. Agnostics and atheists probably agree with the cynical writer and satirist, Mark Twain that even though some Christians think they hold the 4 aces (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the evangelists), they still don’t provide all the answers to the meaning of life. Mark Twain’s darker thoughts delved into this territory. Of course, fibs by liberals also produce intellectual death, so where are we left when it comes to evaluating presidential hopefuls? Experience with religion? Religious experience will not necessarily build solid character exemplified by good judgments. Seems to me intelligence asks for facts and then common sense provides the nerve center of leadership.

PLEXUS

Plexus of depravity-
Pluguglies’ urban rule-
Thugs the paraded ideal.

Unfortunate commanders-
Misfortune of greed-
Expense of ignorance-
Waste in a downer of doom.

This day and days to come-
With no expectations-
Of a harvest of thought-
Without a seed-time-
Of fertile character.

Ignorance

In the 5th century B.C., Sophocles wrote "The happiest life consists in ignorance, Before you learn to grieve and to rejoice." Twenty-five hundred years later his advice still summarizes the circle of life. Ignorance is still bliss but blitheness is America’s most expensive waste product. Ignorance may cost us our hegemony in the future. What American today knows the meaning of MSRP? Advertisers lie to bargain-shoppers when they claim they offer stupendous discounts from the sticker price - the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. The MSRP with its100% markup or at least its unrealistic suggested price, was never meant to reflect the sale price. Consumers shop ignorant. Taxpayers also pay because of their ignorance. The words invest and grant are used with sincere consistency by politicians. Invest really means spending income from taxes and a grant takes money from taxpayers to pay for a program. A study conducted on electrical usage of differing types of TV’s concluded that a plasma TV is more expensive to operate than a conventional TV. The comparison reveals $30 a yr. cost as opposed to a $130 a yr. price tag to power the device 5 hours a day. ( My 25 inch Wal-Mart box is not alight even 3 hours a day, but if I choose, $300 a year would be acceptable for the pleasure it provides ). Only ignorance could put any credence in such meager numbers. $130 a year is a laughable pittance to be paid for a privilege, but the public is expected to be so ignorant it cannot put this number into proper perspective regarding other discretionary expenditures. Another example regards Congressional waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Democrat House Majority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi spent $16,000 of taxpayers’ dollars on flowers to impress only 3 foreign dignitaries and $10,000 to employ a speech writer for 1 speech. While we Americans are ignorant, some politician is blissfully spending our money. $26,000 could have supported one worthy American citizen for 1 year or put a worthy student through 1 year of schooling at a prestigious university. Or $26,000 could not have been wasted, period. Doing the wrong thing, however, is possible because of the ignorance of the electorate. As Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk host, astutely notes, America is awash in ignorance, drowning in it, costing our country bundles of bucks each and every day. ‘Why worry, be happy’ seems to be our mantra but eventually bodies will metaphorically wash up on our shores with regularity, having died from ignorance. They will be the cause of grief and not rejoicing.

Wrong to me!

How hard can it be? The solution to what’s wrong with America? A reader of the Wall Street Journal writes that "children have to love reading, have a sturdy sense of self and lack a fear of the world." Sounds correct to me! John Bogle, the successful investment guru, adds that "our self-centered bottom-line society is focused on money over achievement, charisma over character, and the ephemeral over the eternal." Sounds correct to me! After watching and listening to an interview with Presidential hopeful, Barak Obama, I am convinced that the greatest waste of time and talent in America is ignorance. Rush Limbaugh, the popular conservative radio talk show host points calls ignorance America’s greatest expense. Mr. Obama’s purposeful pandering from a race neutral viewpoint went unnoticed. His appearance of sincere concern as a politician was noticed. His supposedly bi-partisan audience clapped repeatedly for claptrap. Solutions or rescues from our present state of division in America that Mr. Obama proposed, would in reality just divide us further into two classes. There would be on one side those who acquiesce to or receive the government’s largesse and on the other side those who repudiate help because they would rather responsibly pursue their self-interests unimpeded. What’s wrong with America would not be corrected but exacerbated by Barak Obama. Sounds wrong to me!

Guilty as hell

"Guilty as hell; free as a bird - America is a great country." The tragic irony of this statement should not be lost on us who know better. It was spoken about a Leftist terrorist of the 1960's. The cover-up did not change in the 70's. In the 80's an unrepentant follower of the revolutionary Black Panthers wrote an essay, The Big Chill: How the Reagan Administration, Corporate America, and Religious Conservatives are Subverting Free Speech and the Public’s Right to Know. What we do know, unfortunately is that the lies of the Left persisted through the 90's. Lies on the Left have always demonstrated an intellectual and moral death. Even though radical followers of Marxism, Communism and Socialism were violent and revolutionary in nature, their bad actions were and still are excused because their hearts are in the right place because the inheritors of this tradition are the liberal leftists of today. There are no excuses for hearts in darkness. David Horowitz, a convert from the radical communist and socialist movement, reminds us that "Socialism makes men poor beyond their wildest dreams." So why then, has the liberal Left not gone away? Why does it persist in its attempt to turn its dream of an American socialist state into reality? In the upcoming election, Republican candidates for President believe that the two prominent issues affecting the future of America are 1. Terrorism and 2. Socialism. No doubt, the liberals on the left espouse universal health care, redistribution of wealth, eradication of religion in the public sphere, regulation of free enterprise, restriction of free choice - all 1960's redux. If Democrats take the White House in 2008, the dictatorship will come not from the proletariat, but from the wealthy, liberal, socialist elites.

A false God

A Mormon saying is "the glory of God is intelligence." Alleluias to God representing rational choices are far fewer today because elitism fosters intellectual death. In a comparison and contrast between style and function of two sweaters, $1,000 represents the cost of an Italian designer’s creation, the Land’s End’s sweater retails for $100. Both perform the same function of a cover-up. Between the two, however, is the chasm of perception when it comes to style. An elitist sold on style says that the costly product is "lovely and beautifully designed by the artist." She believes - and her pocketbook will back her up - that artists "deserve more for their talent than from a factory worker." Is this truth to the power of an added expense? Is style "worth much more," to the consumer? Obviously to a designer, an elitist, ranks higher on the evolutionary scale than a factory worker, though both are doing a job. Land’s End’s functional creation is not necessarily the end of rational shopping. There are two other roads. Less expensive than a Land’s End’s sweater would be a functional and ‘stylish’ sweater from Wal-Mart. Less costly still would be a purchase from Goodwill Industries or Ohio Thrift where re-cycled and new, budget-priced apparel are featured. Common sense, of course, disappears when perception and peer approval, sophist in their thinking, cloud judgment. Intelligent shopping never goes out of style. Elitists put their money where their perceptions reside, back their irrational purchases up with their verbal explanations and raise a paeans to a false God.

Market Economics

Communists and socialists never understand market economics because to them, property is theft and the rights of owners do not exist. Marxist theory always assumes that business means exorbitant profits. During the depression in the 1920's, when owners began foreclosing on mortgages that came into default, fellow travelers in America protested and wanted the profit and loss feature in business, ignored. I say, shouldn’t owners be able take away housing from delinquent renters when they themselves are faced with bankruptcy? What’s happening today with the bail-out controversy over sub-prime loans sliding into default demonstrates the same socialistic theory and practice. Banks and mortgage companies make loans which are, per se, at risk of either reaping profits or suffering losses. Since money-lending practices began, no borrower has read fine print or seriously cared about interest rates or re-payment schedules; only the monthly payment mattered. No borrower anticipates a downturn in the future. Yet the decision to not pay cash or to not save cash for a future purchase, belongs to the individual not to the financiers willing to take the risks. Housing markets rise and fall. Markets see profits and markets experiences losses. However, when times turn sour or vicissitudes cloud the horizon, the borrower cries foul, accuses the lenders of being criminals and asks for concessions and a bail-out. Where does the bailout come from? Other, uninvolved, responsible Americans or from the government which, of course, is synonymous with those ‘others.’ who will pay. Punishing capitalism and punishing the forgotten man, the man who must pay for others’ irresponsibilities, just rewards irresponsibility.

Forgotten man

For over a century there has been the idea of a forgotten man. . At the turn of the 20th century he was first identified by Wm. Sumner. "The Forgotten Man works and votes - generally he prays - but his chief business in life is to pay..." In his April 7th, 1932 radio address, "The forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid," was revisited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as he introduced his New Deal Programs during the Depression. Who is the forgotten man on the income graph? A represents an idealist who says we should help D in some way. B seconds the idea of A to help D. D is at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Without consulting him, C is the forgotten man who compelled by A and B to help (finance) D. A and B are elite humanitarians, replaced today by the government. Note, A and B generally just make the decisions. . The forgotten man, in the middle of the economic strata, is the poor schmuck who pays for everything - unnecessary, stupid, unwise, unworthy, etc. you get the picture. Sumner’s forgotten man was C. But Roosevelt’s misapplied the word to refer to D. The original forgotten man, C, still pays the moving target D which originated during the Depression as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs. He is still treated like the fast forward feature on a film in which the picture does not change even after the advancement of the story. Generation after generation he’s still the same ‘put upon’ victim of big brother, do-good, social engineering. If all Americans are guaranteed equality, how is this fair? Justice has forgotten the common man.

CALL ME CRAZY

"It does not match what the opponent want to." Call me crazy, but I discredit animated repartee held between two enthusiastic sports fans who understand this type of language and thought. I’ll pass the basketball to a food service coordinator at a school who can enthusiastically report that 1500 type A meals are served daily, of which 800 of them are reimbursable. Call me crazy, but I resent a continuous bombardment of bragging rights by every education official that a program is funded by or a grant pays for a government program. 13,000 earmarks on Congressional spending bills waste billions of taxpayer dollars just to keep politicians in office, in the game, and well fed. Call me crazy, but I am fed up with pork, not the other white meat, but the poisoned pig.

PPP

What to make of yet another killing spree by a male, this time in Omaha, Nebraska? Reveille has been sounded three times already this year, yet America still sleeps. PPP, proper, prior parenting where are you? Child-raising should be based not upon experience but upon judgment fed by solid character. The upbringing of children is a daily grind which apparently has worn out parents and care-givers. Distinctions between right and wrong, self-control and self-expression, achievement and disappointment have blurred. Solid character in a parent implies unselfish absence of ego and the presence of a concern for the moral future of children, not the power, prestige or protectionism that accompanies the job. Unfortunately, an undercurrent of shallowness and misplaced values flows in America. Advertisers sell enamel bracelets for exhorbitant prices, 4 million botox injections were financed and Barry Bonds was paid 60 million dollars over 2 years. So a 19 yr. old with no solid character or respect for human life lived and died without meaning. PPP could have implanted some meaning. Our culture could have encouraged him to feel life was worth living. A belief in the goodness of God and an awareness of the presence of temptations from the Devil could have gone a long way to prevent the tragic death of 9 people and the sufferings of 5 others (and numerous loved ones). Loss of a girlfriend, loss of job - could have been seen as opportunities opening new doors for the killer, but disappointments just opened the door of doom.

Fullfillment of expectation

Schools are closed. A teeny amount of snow fell. Because all of the lawyers have not been killed as suggested by Shylock, districts cannot take the chance of litigation if some bus on its route suffers an accident. So schools are do dismissed. Will the freed students fight back against the obesity epidemic by running amok outdoors -or indoors - on a day free of studies? Or will they study? Actually they have no time for studies because sports venues and gaming times are rarely canceled. due to bad weather and homework is routinely not undertaken.

In addition to P/E classes a local school district sponsors an exercise program from a local health center. The idea is to teach wellness, to get the students to understand that raising their heart rates will lower their blood pressures. They are reminded that a good thing like exercise can be "a lifelong adventure." Nothing gets my heart rate up like rage over a stupid, inhuman and inhumane idea like the life-saving value of exercise.

"What is missing, ..., from contemporary American popular ... culture are the grace, the wit, the worldly wise honesty and irony, and the expectations of romantic fulfillment." A jazz journalist’s observation applies music. I apply it to reading. An unfit mind is a terrible thing. Its lack of exercise is a terrible waste. When schools are closed, what amount of freed brainpower will engaged on this snowy day behind the pages of a good book? On the treadmill of words, human beings with the unique ability to think can experience grace, wit, honesty, irony and romantic fulfillment. Oh how I wish!

'Tis the season

Wonder of Wonders. A trip to Fantasyland Washington Courthouse in full holiday regalia. "Tis the season to be jolly" with "joy to the world"of shoppers. Aisles upon aisles of consumer goodies, heaped high throughout 1,000's of feet of display space, colorful, appealing, sometimes aromatic, reasonably priced and ready for the picking. I am are minded of the signs in restaurants past, "good eats here, " but with a modern take of "good stuff here." At least that’s what I concluded on a recent, shopping trip in Washington Court House, begun with an intake of awesome eye candy at Wal-Mart, seconded by a stop at Aldi, and then continued in other local retail establishments proudly displaying their Christmas wares. Poverty in America has never been so invisible. Rather optimism is highlighted. Good stuff is available to anyone with a credit card or cash. Freedom reigns when it comes to spending choices for Americans in every income stratum. Sparkling illuminations on Court street and festive decorations in specialty stores enhance the spirit of Christmas sharing. Believers in Santa Claus, the personification of gift-giving, can have their fondest wishes come true at Wal-Mart, for example. Ho. Ho. Ho.
Amen. America has come a long way. Why not revel in our progress? No alternative to Fantasy land could be more uplifting this time of year than perhaps a trip to a warm and fuzzy Christmas church service welcoming "all ye faithful." I’m for caroling about how we’re united not divided, how we’re not poor in spirit when it comes to understanding that Merry Christmas music pumped out at the stores, carries home the message of a blessed season.

"Tis the season

Does my country need me? You bet, who else could discern a connection between a trip to Wal-Mart during this Christmas shopping season and the end of racial discrimination? Wonder of Wonders, aisles upon aisles of consumer goodies piled up in 1000's of feet of display space, colorful, appealing, priced reasonably and there for the taking. I am reminded of the signs in restaurants past, "good eats here," but with a modern take of ‘good stuff here’ (everywhere). Poverty in America has never been so invisible. Politicians who attempt to strip Christ from Christmas leaving only Santa Claus, the personification of gift-gifting, that is, consumerism, have their fondest wishes come true at Wal-Mart. Too bad destructive campaigns against the giant retailer originate from wrong-intentioned politicians. Good stuff is available to anyone with a credit card or cash to purchase it. Black or white, Hispanic or - as far as I can determine - the self-identified, bourgeois, marginal or elite. Freedom reigns. Yet...

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas in 2007 reminds us that , "After World War I, church burnings, beatings, and killings were a constant threat directed against immigrants and ethnic minorities as well as African Americans."

In 1952, the child Barbara Jordan, with a chip on her shoulder said, "There was nothing you
saw to indicate that a black person and a white person could be together on a friendly basis." In 1976 as an adult Barbara believed that no law was capable of compelling people to form a community (of races). "This we must do as individuals, " she said. Later in 1992, Democrat Congresswoman Jordan came full circle in her thinking, when she said that "separatism is not the American way."

Amen. You’ve come a long way baby. Take a trip to Fantasyland - Washington Court House in full holiday regalia. Inhale the atmosphere of progress. ‘Tis the season to rejoice. I’m for moving forward, not accepting fibs by liberals about two Americas and poverty in America. Think of Democrat Presidential candidate, John Edwards and his mythical land of the free and the home of the brave. Fibs by libs are a slow, intellectual death. Americans are smarter than to fall for fibs.

Zero tolerance

I am assured that my country needs me because I found a disclaimer on my bottle of lemon juice saying that it contains 0 calories and 0 grams of trans fats. Perusing an aisle at the food store recently, I noticed that bottled waters contain an expiration date. By mandate, students with disabilities must be ‘educated’ and accommodated in mainstream public schools. Merely, these three instances of politically correct insanity prove that some Americans with power to initiate legislation, have been able to override reason and common sense and ignore the obvious. What is obvious, is that politicians never underestimate the stupidity of the people.

But why should other Americans, I for one, allow such collusion for the sake of political correctness? Rise up, I say, the only thing we have to loose or lose is the chains which bind us to chronic waste of our taxes - and our continued humiliation. A mentally handicapped child can intuit the fat or grease content of any food or drink; he or she realizes that water never goes stale. Also, a child with Down’s syndrome for example, can automatically be recognized as dissimilar to other children, worthy of human association with other children, but is disserviced by the same education as regular students.

Hurrahs to some parents who are now rising up against the failed policy of inclusion of the disabled into mainstream classrooms, demanding that they be cared for among kindred friends. Boos must go to complacent Americans who do not protest stupid labels printed on our consumer products. One down, one to go.

M***** TRIVIA

To Glenn Beck et al. To be politically correct I have used asterisks to refer to your descent into low humor when, this last Friday on your radio show, you conducted another "moron trivia." When I was in grade school the nuns taught us that humor is ‘laughing with people’ not ‘at people.’ Their educational tools for reinforcing this lesson were the yardstick and pointer which were applied to the slow learners’ heads like a metronome beating out the cadence of a polka.

Unfortunately you and your staff have either never benefitted from such a lesson or have ignored it. Too bad. Your ‘game’ of ridiculing convenience store clerks is laughing at people not with them. Yet they are usually gracious enough (through innocence) to try to agree with your clever, demeaning repartee. You degrade yourself and your audience when you humiliate sincere, honest and open people (morons and imbeciles to you and your catchy game tune) in vulnerable positions for the amusement of yourself and your listeners. Think about this. Have any of the butts of your ridicule ever responded in kind? Have any of them ever shown hostility to being made fun of? Even worse is the case to be made for your shameful behavior. How many of these simple folk even know you are trying to humiliate them?

I quit listening to you as of Friday, Nov. 30, 2007. My wedding anniversary. No connection between the two events other than the fact that I and my husband have celebrated years of happiness independent of any smug satisfaction that we are so much better than others and have the right to - and practice it - make fun of our inferiors to their faces. Your baiting of the simple soul from Tampa who said Christmas was about Jesus, was too much. She walked the talk. You just talk the talk. The Nigerian woman was sincere in her statements about her faith but was left shamed and disoriented. Not only did the message of the ‘teaching’ nuns escape you, but also the message of Christian living itself.

America is awash in liberal elites whose profession is to mock and ridicule the common folk and then ask them for votes. We certainly do not need conservative elites like you piling it on.