" Dase still the same."

After the Emancipation Proclamation and during reconstruction after the Civil War, "the vagaries of economics in an ostensible free South motivated hundreds of thousands of slaves to learn to read and write." So pens Andrew Ward. Yes, this was a good thing. But many of "the colored folks didn’t know how to take care of themselves." So observed former slave Temple Wilson. Yes, a bad thing. Special Field Order No. 15, promised to each former slave in the South, forty-acre plots and a mule or horse. Even though 400,000 acres were allotted to about 40,000 slaves, the order was never fully extended beyond the southeast coast of the United States. Yes, this proved to be a mixed blessing. Freedmen attributed the North’s broken promises to the death of Lincoln. Former slave Mary McCray believed that "had the proper steps been taken and careful observations made of the condition of affairs in the South at the close of the war, the Negro race would be seventy years in advance of the position it occupies today. The bloody war results in envy, hatred, strife, malice and prejudice between the black and the white, which is sin of the worst nature." Yes, a bad thing. And so "over the decades that followed the Civil War, the freedoms former slaves had gained would be constricted to the point of suffocation, until their descendants found themselves trapped in a mutation of the Peculiar Institution; a white supremacist snare of poverty, fraud, debt, terror and disenfranchisement." Yes, another bad thing pointed out by Andrew Ward. Yet, on the contrary, Andrew Ward points out that the North’s victory for slaves "resulted in the recovery of their lost relatives, and by extension, their identities... humanity, ... long-lost mothers and fathers, children and grandchildren, turned up to receive their lost kin." Negroes reunited as families. Yes a very good thing. Religion and family formed a core for freedmen and freedwomen to begin their new lives.

Republicans tried for decades to implement and sustain reconstruction and racial reform, but a hundred years would pass until the civil rights movement, Rev. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson succeeded in bringing about changes. Yes, both good and bad things transpired in the intervening years. The Civil Rights Act finally passed. The Great Society program was initiated. Fast forward to 2008. I say, "nothins changed. Things dase still the same." Too many Negroes, renamed as Blacks, speak the patois of rap and hip hop. The descendants of slaves, the inheritors, still speak of vengeance, resignation, reparation or forgiveness - each mentality competing for prominence in our culture. Black families have virtually ceased to exist. The Welfare mentality has usurped the slave mentality. Perhaps 20% of Blacks are free and successful, but 80% remain in chains.

" a great reward" ?

By the time the Civil War entered its 4th year, life and death matters truly were complicated. Those enslaved in the South were freed, but not free because the nation was still ensnared in a bloody conflict based on unreconcilable beliefs and lifestyles. Scouts and spies were hung. Prisoners shot. Corpses abused. Officers possessed body servants as a custom of the time. Negroes were hitched to the wagons, going on their way singing and joking. The most scandalous thing according to a freedman was the "way men were shot to pieces." And to a freedwoman in 1864, whose house was torn down for use by the Union army, a tall, thin man said, "It is hard, but you shall reap a great reward." The specter promising hope to the woman was Abraham Lincoln. Yet it took a hundred years until 1964, for ‘civil rights’ to win proper attention. Why? Fits and starts between Republican and Democrat politicians. Complications prolonged the hard times for freed blacks. The United States has come a long way as of 2008, but Lincoln would not be pleased now that Barack Obama’s running for President because with him, by him and for him, racial tensions won’t disappear.

Lordy, lordy!

Are we Americans being re-enslaved? After January 1863's Emancipation Proclamation, 300,00 black soldiers served in the Union army. 2870 were battle fatalities. 20 received the Congressional Medal of Honor. And slaves, masters and Union liberators expressed themselves in mighty, meaningful words. "Put a U.S. uniform on his back and the chattel is a man, " said a slave. "Tell the slaves the great news. " "You are free to go where you please," said masters. "Don’t you work for anybody without pay," advised Union sympathizers. "All men should be equal," Abraham Lincoln said. He also said, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is not longer a democracy." Just as the Congressional Medal of Honor is not what it once was, so too the condition of our democracy. That difference between slave and master continues to shrink with every liberal dictum, law, court judgment and additional tax. We are becoming more like slaves and less like masters. The Democrat candidate for President, socialist and societal leveler, Barack Obama would never proudly put a U.S. uniform upon his underweight back. He would stifle freedom and profiting in business like a slave master by imposing restrictions and further financial burdens upon citizens. We Americans would never be able to get off the government’s plantation - cradle to grave. Lordy, Lordy!

text messages

The dream of home ownership usually turns out to be a nightmare. For examples: water repeatedly in the basement of one of my homes, water up to ground level in my son’s new home, and the dog warden waiting for me and my family at our ‘dream home’ because a snoopy neighbor was offended. Text messaging from kids has become a nightmarish inner world of coded letters.
IWSM = I want sex now
NIFOC = nude in front of computer
GYPO = get your pants off
WYCM = will you call me
KFY = kissing for you
MOOS = Member of opposite sex
MOSS = member of same sex
NAOPKT = not a lot of people know this
KPC = keeping parents clueless
POS = parents over shoulder
PIR = parents in room
P911 = parents emergency
PAW parents are watching
PAL = parents are listening
ASL = age, sex, location
MRF = male or female?
SOG = straight or gay?
LMIRL = let’s meet in real life
TD2M = talk dirty to me

Why don’t we adults encode our messages too?
SOS = save our souls
L911 - liberal emergency
TPTM = talk politics to me
CRWSD = child rapists should die
BIAS = Barack is a socialist
GPAD = guns protect and defend

You get the idea. Opinions might differ but on essential issues ½ of Americans believe the lies of delusional liberals. Contrary to media propaganda, global warming is a religion and a for-profit business. Home ownership is a earned privilege not a right. Universal health care means socialism at its inadequate best. Investing in America means higher taxes. The sad and worrisome part of modern living, however, is not that ½ of citizens don’t vote but that the children of all citizens are learning to deceive and divert attention from their real intentions just like liberals.

D & D

I beheld the dead and the depraved
In a picture of a starlet and an Italian
Con. The anorexic facade of a young,
Walking dead, deemed beautiful
In the eyes of her depraved fans.
A financier, entrepreneur and thief.
A depraved liar and speculator who flaunted
His lavish, unprincipled lifestyle, dead
To the 7th commandment - and surely more.
Two with false values ringing true,
Tolling as tocsins to the dead and depraved.

Feasible?

Seems to me America has not even entered the ‘feasibility phase’ of the prevention of its destruction from within. These two words used by a city planner on my local radio station conjured up many images. I see fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, heat - all natural disasters. I see the triumph of the political left-wing socialists - an unnatural natural disaster, a pervasive phenomenon. Incivility, distortions and just plain evil pops up from liberals everywhere we turn. Dr. Laura, a conservative counselor has had hurled upon her a death wish for her son in the military. A radio talk show host that expressed dislike for electric cars was cursed by a liberal hoping that he ‘gets cancer.’ Wow! A survey found that most of Americans, 92%, believe in God but becoming a Christian is the "hardest thing to become in life," a youth believed during World War II. He was executed by the atheistic, non-Christian Nazis in Munich, October 12, 1943 just for upholding his Christian beliefs. Unfortunately, it seems to me Americans are not open to dealing with their current disastrous and insane thinking. They fall for meaningless hope and change, for misleading words, for visions of level playing fields and for revenge upon the evil rich. Many are not able or willing to penetrate the liberal veil hiding common sense, the reality of entrepreneurial exceptionalism, historic and moral truths. They have in no way shown that reason is practicable. They have not even entered the "feasibility phase." God help us. God help America.

The final proof of God

What better proof for the existence of God than for one of His creatures to blame one of His followers for several of His subjects choosing evil - and still live. Sorry Hitchens, Dawkins and Harris - there is a God, be this is exactly what the principal of Glouster high school attempted when he blamed President Bush for the pregnancy compact. God also exists because it is sufficient as proof that girls from the Glouster high school have not been stricken dead for choosing to become impregnated - for the fun of it ( I assume). Will God, forgive them for as adolescents they know not what they do? So let’s grant the presence of an all-knowing God. As a backup proof, there is Planned Parenthood. The non-profit ended the year with a surplus of $115 million when in the name of justice this should not be possible. PP plans to build a network of suburban clinics and huge new health centers that project an upscale, acceptable image of their organization to promote murder. Yet their buildings have not self-immolated to date; women who have chosen to kill their children or to play at being God by planning and/or controlling their reproductive years still live to brag about it. The president of an affiliate of Planned Parenthood talks about a "new green clinic," that will encourage more abortions, that will be built with recycled and eco-friendly material. "We’re trying to reposition ourselves as caring about their health ( women’s ) about prevention, about a sustainable planet. So much more mainstream." Abortion becoming "mainstream," proves God must be a God of infinite patience. But if the death of His creations supercedes that of His prior creation, the planet Earth, will God be an all-loving and all-forgiving God when some of his creatures arrive to be judged at the pearly gates?

Picking sour cherries

We came upon prunus cerasus,
totally unaware that she was there
in juicy splendor, a green umbrella
speckled with small, red, drupes.
Thousands called but only hundreds
were within our reach. A paradise
of fleshy fruit sparkled like glossy marbles
in the sun, on a solitary tree, a random
act of perfection achieved over the years
since a homeowner first broke ground.
Asking to be loved, we answered her
by harvesting a willing exhibition,
by tasting her Edenic cherry perfection.

A needed Renaissance

Peggy Noonan, the writes about the passing of Tim Russert. "The world of Russert - stability, Catholic school, loving parents, TV shows that attempted only to entertain you and not to create a new moral universe in your head - that’s over, that world is gone." Yet Russert knew that it was not gone entirely. Hope exists. He would have appreciated the contrast between conflicting mores which permeated the the Middle Ages between 1500 and 1550, and those which divided the nation in the 1960's and persist in our American society today. Evil and good, genius and banality live side-by-side. Pope Alexander VI and Lucrezia Borgia contrast with Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Magellan. Sir Thomas More co-existed with Henry VIII. Contrast the liberal judges of the 9th circuit court in California, sexual promiscuity in TV land and the socialist candidate for President, Barack Obama, with a heroic soldier, Marcus Luttrell, an entrepreneur, Bill Gates and a dedicated, well-intentioned President, George W. Bush. The Renaissance hinged upon the triumph of reason over undisputed faith. Russet would agree with me that another rebirth is needed - the rebirth of reason period. Also, we probably concur in the observation that whether in the Middle Ages, the 60's or in 21st century U.S.A., commoners behave like - commoners. Most remain oblivious to the workings of wealth, power or the clergy. Most will ultimately be appraised by God under Plato’s rule of conduct, that "man is the measure of all things." How we live ( above and beyond what we say ) tells all.

Lost Arete

When in his teens, William Cullen Bryant penned his great elegiac poem, "Thanatopsis." His poetry flows gently off the tongue if read aloud, matched with sentiments of peaceful resignation to the ways of nature and the world. The lines "like he who wraps the drapery of his couch/ About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams" - are typical. Bryant also was a journalist and a translator of the Greek epic poem, "The Iliad." He disliked the convention of his day to use overblown language; for example, commence instead of begin or devouring element for fire. He pursued excellence, encapsulated in the Greek concept of virtue, or arete. In whom does arete reside today? In whom the goal of utilizing one’s gifts to their fullest? In whom does nature and God provide transcendence? After his death in 1878, much mourned by his American public, an admirer characterized him as a "good and venerable man." One hundred and thirty years has provided sufficient space and time for the admiration of goodness and greatness to fade so that high school girls can compete in a pregnancy competition. We now have the socialist, left-wing Democrat as a candidate for President of this country. He symbolizes and manifests ideals and ideas counter to the soul of America. Neither sluts nor a socialist exemplifes the pursuit of excellence or virtue. No higher faculties are in play. Sadly, a generation or two or twenty laid the groundwork for such disgraces. Ours is not the America about which Walt Whitman sung in his poetry. Ours is a culture in which I want to curl up into a ball and die.

5th Column

The 5th column : a clandestine group or faction of subversive agents who attempt to undermine a nation’s solidarity by any means at their disposal. A prime technique is the infiltration of sympathizers into the fabric of the nation under attack and, particularly, into positions of policy decision and national defense. From such key posts, 5th column activists exploit the fears of a people by spreading rumors and misinformation, as well as by employing the more standard techniques of espionage and sabotage. Of whom do we speak? America’s media - the conglomerate of liberals and progressives that hate our country, want to bring about its downfall so that their socialist and Fascist agenda takes control. Journalists, Hollywood’s fellow travelers, leftist Democrat politicians and judges form the vanguard. Though they attempt to subvert America’s greatness openly, their lies and delusions accepted by the gullible, help their supporters work behind the political and legislative scenes. They attempt to instil panic into the public arena through scary reports about dangers to individuals’ health and safety. They pass laws to make us safer and restrict personal choices and rights. Their major premise, that there is so such thing as an accident, of course, shows that their take on reality is flawed. Yet after each horse has escaped from the barn ( as an outrageous crime or accident) they pass another law. Helmets on bikers and scooter riders will be followed - no doubt - by helmets on drivers under 18. They have etiolated common sense as a requisite for citizenship and responsible living. They hide behind words such a freedom of speech and fair and balanced reporting. They employ code words such as invest meaning spend, adjust meaning raise and protect our provenance meaning stop immigration. They are responsible for political correctness strangling behavior; euphemisms run rampant such as forever family for adoptive parents, patient navigator for receptionist, hydrate for drink, account manager for salesman and rapid knock down for kill. The list of revisions to public speech and restrictions against offensive speech and behavior seem endless. The 5th column has slowly become the liberal ½ of America. What is to be done?

Black commas

Simple, basic pleasures
Hold the key to happiness.
A cat purring on a tummy.
A walk with a worthy soul.
Fresh picked cherries
Interred under a lattice crust
Of a warm, home-made pie.
Once past, each becomes
A black comma in my memory.
A pause that refreshes.
Gone but not forsaken.

CALL OF THE WILD

I pule and whimper. I hear a wild call.
We are a pack under a big city’s pall.
It’s guttural, growling, at first
Because I feel our Irish crest is cursed..

I whine about our busy den of late
With our baby brood of six under eight.
In ‘76 I squeak and squeal for transcendence.
Alpha too raises a yelping need for independence.

We’re platonic, romantic wolves of quirky thought,
From five year cycles of bad luck taught.
We’ll seek nirvana, Give up jobs and use up savings.
A quark of an idea moves us to justified ravings.

I snarled at children’s service raising my fears.
I howled about water twice for four months in five years,
Four inches on our basement floor, a fowl mess.
I growled over heat, hot water or plumbing - a weekly guess.

Deferred painting, roof leaks, floor tiles missing.
Months to clean, deodorize, rip up carpets from pissing.
"Shylocks are lawyers, realtors and surveyors," we yell.
A buyer’s market since poor maintenance can tell.

We sold at a loss and started packing.
Our freedom cry no enthusiasm lacking.
An affordable place (once a farm) was found,
Far away, in cruelest April we were bound.

Bed, two dressers, table, sofa and sleepless, we embarked
With cats, birds, dogs, pups and snake as big Dane barked.
Ten hours. Driving with drive shaft failing;
Whooping and playing our wild spirits not ailing.

The dog catcher proved our rude greeting
Upon arrival. Fine neighbors tattled, thus the meeting.
A poor beginning, a dogged depression, my full-mouthed cry
Over a jettisoned dream. We’re left to confront our choice or die.

Puling, snarling, howling, same cycle, new home.
We’re alpha wolf, his bitch and pups, a pack alone.
At the end of a curved, short lane, denned in and young.
Strong. Eight is enough. Our baying has just begun.

Lucky 13

Fresh-picked cherries, in a latticed pie -
Release of laughter at liberal lies -
Profusion of pink in bedded flowers -
Painless, peaceful hours at random -
Companion in orange, a voiceless feline -
Noisy chorus of birds at dawn -
Home-made meals, semper fresh -
Classy music or impassioned voices -
Warmth of sun sans humidity -
Quiet gratification of a good read -
Eucharistic pleasure in God’s church -
Iced beverage augmented with hootch -
Mutuality with one man, forever young -
My lucky, laddered 13 - with love sublime.

Top 12

Hum of husbandry, honey bees -
Fresh-picked cherries, preserved delight -
Release of laughter, at liberal lies -
Profusion of pink in bedded flowers -
Companion in orange, pesky feline -
Home-made meals, semper fresh -
Signatures of music, move passion -
Eucharistic pleasure, in God’s church -
Painless, pleasant days, at random -
Warmth of sun, sans humidity -
Iced beverage, with hootch -
Mutuality with one man, forever young -
My laddered top 12, with love sublime.

Foolishness

"It is a wise father that knows his own child," penned William Shakespeare 400 hundred years ago. Foolish men don’t spend enough time to know or educate their children. We are a nation responsible for an out-of-wedlock birth rate of 38%. For whites it’s 28%, for Hispanics, 50% and for blacks, 71%. Children are raised fatherless in 22% of white households, 31% of Hispanics and 56% of blacks. Trying to put a positive spin on the data, at least there is a lower percentage between creating bastards and actually paying attention to them after they are born. Nevertheless, foolishness, a characteristic of immaturity, rules the world of procreation. A conservative talk-radio host described a politician as a person who masters the art of "saying nothing of substance at great length." Fatherhood now has become an art form of doing nothing substantially manly repeatedly. Devotion to duty? Respect for motherhood? Responsibility after the creation of life? Aw shucks! It’s necessary to hearken back to the good ole’ days when sinning was marginalized and hypocrisy correctly defined. 1/3 of whites, ½ of Hispanics and 2/3 of blacks out to be ashamed. Happy father’s day to the respectable, self-righteous rest.

I say neither

Why can’t some writers write and politicians talk, simply? I had to investigate in the dictionary a fancy word, confect, which means make and the phrase sonically restored, considered in its context, I concluded simply means improved. Writers can’t resist displaying their feathers; politicians can’t either. Verbiage, never simple and never truthful, continues to reverberate from both the House and Senate now that the price of gas keeps climbing and wealth continues to be made (confected) by the wrong people. Politicians’ speeches signifies nothing or something bad for America’s economy. The old liberal play book has just been sonically restored (improved.). Vaclav Havel, former President of a Czechoslovakia freed from undemocratic Communism, recognized "politics as morality in practice." He writes that freedom is the great facilitator. Businesses also, in spite of egregious examples such as Enron and World Com. should practice morality. Free trade can be just only when it conforms to the demands of social justice." Leo XIII wrote in his encyclical Rerum Novarum (of new things). What’s a simple definition for social justice? Obama’s socialism or the compassionate Republicanism of McCain?

Survivors

Cancer calls for a Relay for Life. Survivors and supporters walk non-stop through the night to represents surviving. They purchase luminaries to commemorate survivors or nons. They hold a silent auction to supports survivors and memories. They usually are women who keep three names. ( Feminism is the answer if you ask why). Survivors maintain a phone line that encourages callers diagnosed with cancer to ask for a "patient navigator." The annual Relay for Life is a touchy-feely camaraderie, using politically correct language, ‘celebrating’ surviving the challenge from an unpolitically correct - and never to be vocalized word - death.

Hisday

"Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young,
Who loved thee so fondly as he?
He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue,
And joined in they innocent glee."

Such a sentiment from the mid-19th century applies today to fewer and fewer fathers because more and more male breeders don’t act like men. Possessing religious belief, according to data, assures greater involvement, commitment and staying power in a relationship, especially if sanctioned by marriage. But faith alone won’t do. As our Pope Benedict XVI states often, reason is the flip side on the coin that helps to buy us the good life. Hisday represents less and less of both Faith in God and rational, moral behavior. Statistics mark the downward trend to Gomorrah. Whether a father believes literally in the Biblical account of Gomorrah’s destruction because of its evil ways or believes it’s a figurative symbol or parable against sin, he who has not done his duty should be ashamed. "The principal duty which a parent owed to a child was to make him happy." again was said by a mid-19th century writer knew the formula for fatherhood - being there for a child, then, now and forever. When will some American fathers learn?

Gender inequity

If culture according to Matthew Arnold means trying to perfect oneself and reflects the best of what has been thought and said, this is how far we’ve come in America.

"No matter what you call it, the problem of "gender inequality persists" according to an ad for ‘diversity recruitment.’ "Women who were trying to ‘break through the glass ceiling’ 20 years ago are now ‘getting lost in the leadership labyrinth.’ What’s a glass ceiling? "The phrase was coined late 70's to describe the fate of women who could rise just so far in an organization before they’d whack their heads against an invisible barrier that kept them out of the top jobs. What’s to be done? One answer is mentoring, according to a spokesperson for an organization promoting gender equity in the workplace. " Mentoring is crucial for women who need to see how others have navigated their way through the leadership labyrinth." What’s a labyrinth? It’s a confusing network of passages, as in a building, a park or a corporation. One non-profit organization that works to expand opportunities for women in business, says its goal is to encourage a "diversity and inclusion philosophy." It showcases businesses that "have excellent women’s initiatives, in hopes that they will become models of best practices that will lead to changes for women across all our businesses." It hopes that "the leadership labyrinth itself will disappear and be replaced by a smooth and equal route to the top." Let’s remember Theseus. Yes, it was a woman, Ariadne, who gave the Greek Theseus the thread by which he found his way out of the labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur. But as legend has it, Theseus ‘took up with Ariadne’ afterwards, but eventually abandoned her on the island of Naxos.

The births of societies have never been based on gender equality. Feminists and liberals like to build and then worship false ideals like gender equity. John Lennon wrote a song, "Imagine," with lyrics about a "world with no countries ... nothing to kill or die for/And no religion too." Imagine if women ruled the world?

Our Finest Hour

"Hitler knows he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move onward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, ‘This was their finest hour.’" 1940, Winston Churchill.

In 2008 Churchill’s message still hits home. Instead of Hitler striving to extinguish liberty in Europe we now have the far left of Liberalism trying to obliterate individual freedom in America. Barack Obama should take note of the substance as well as the eloquence of this oratory. With the substitution of a few words, Churchill’s message still hits home.

The liberals know they will have to break us conservatives in this land or lose the war against freedom. If we conservatives can stand up to them, all democratic societies may be free and life around the world may move onward into better, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, specifically the United States, including all that we have traditionally known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Darker socialist Age, made sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted political correctness. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if America and its greatness last for a thousand years, men will say, ‘This was their finest hour.’

Barack should also consider the words of playwright HENRIK IBSEN: "He has the luck to be unhampered by either character or conviction, or social position; so that Liberalism is the easiest thing in the world for him." Or the standard political observation of Lord Action, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Listen up America. Standing on the sidelines won’t do. Taking the first step to vote against Obama will. Further steps to end America’s slide down the slope of liberalism must be taken. I’m available.

June 8, 2008

My goldfish died today.
No minister of presence
Served me with consolation.
Though tired of another death,
I waved a stabbing spree
For relief or open spaces to
memorialize the passing.
Yet an unanswered why, stays.

Public-diserved

Public service announcements PSA’s and most advertisements, dis-serve Americans. Furthermore, they waste money. What else can be concluded about messages that never tell the truth, misrepresent the issue or product or if followed, lead to unforseen, unfortunate circumstances?

Would that it were as simple as parents or guardians confessing to child abuse and neglect, an service announcement suggests. But no way. Anyone suspicious of child abuse should report it anonymously so he or she escapes exposure if in error and parents are visited and/or arrested. Sometimes children are removed from the home by child protection service or even worse, put in to foster homes. Nowadays, of course, virtually anything passes for abuse and neglect from not wearing a seat belt to a slap in the child’s face for spewing a dirty word. The public service announcement encourages snoopers and do-gooders to report politically-incorrect actions by parents even though they are proper, preventive disciplinary actions. Parents should follow the advice in the commercial for Hamburger Helper because its use creates a ‘happy family.’

The announcement that serves to deter men from gun crimes focuses on the wife and 2 sons who metaphorically serve the prison sentence with the culprit. Misleading is the statement about the wife and family because crimes with guns are committed by youth who do not have an intact family such as a wife and two sons. Also unspoken is the fact that most of these criminals are black.

Then there’s the plea to seek help for a drug problem. Supposedly a problem like shyness, boredom or stress leads to a more serious problem, drugs. Too bad none of these three problems cause drug problems. Getting high or getting a buzz on are first and foremost, fun, not problems. Also, shy youth do not have many friends, as stated in the ad, with whom they wish to ‘fit in.’ Neither is boredom a cause since it represents laziness which the PSA does not mention. Stress is synonymous with adolescent biology, not the cause of experimenting with drugs. Doing drugs means doing dangerous, bad and rebellious things. Duh!

Then there are the supposedly wonderful ‘learning moments’ fathers should take with their sons while driving or eating dinner. An ad council describes a 38 yr. old dad with his 2 yr. old son. Is this the normal time frame for parenthood? If dad married at 35, are we all to hope that his virginity carried him to the altar? Was there an altar? Reality tells us that men and women begin parenting as early as 13. Is this PSA preaching a subliminal message for birth control, delayed fatherhood or what? Furthermore, it’s obvious that talking to children builds vocabulary. Service announcements generally serve common sense and doses of the obvious. Why can’t this announcement be true to life?

Another ad encourages victims to locate a physician at a certain website to get help for withdrawal from an addiction. The solution will be provided by a physician. Why? What solution could a physician offer to a drug addiction (pain killers are implied in the announcement) other than other drugs since we know physicians do not practice counseling, psychoanalysis or evangelism. They prescribe drugs.

It is announced that the police will chase you down for seat belt violations. They are serious now, so buckle up. Fear of a fine not freedom of choice now rules behind the wheel. Yes, the announcement sounds compassionate and concerned, but the end result revolve around collecting money. An analogous operation is the use of cameras at intersections to prevent red light runners. The end game is to garner more cash for the city or county coffers.

As a senior citizen I am reminded not to over-do it, over-spend or over-eat by a concerned sponsor. Now I ask any of you seniors who have worked hard and long to get to our present status, if you want to hike downhill? If I can over do it, if I have the money to splurge on a purchase or if I am healthy and can occasionally over-indulge, I’m proud to say to one younger and less fortunate, ‘eat your heart out.’ The last message that I want to embrace is fear of dying in my old age! As usual a public service announcement bases its message on fear-mongering and fantasy. Only those seniors who over-do everything put anti-oxidants into their bottled water to increase longevity.

One of the most offensive (literally and figuratively) PSA’s says "Don’t pass gas in a house or in another person’s face because (and it rhymes), it’s "worse than mace." Really? Surely the pain of mace exceeds that of a whiff of cigarette smoke. But the implication is that the smoke will kill you. What will kill everyone, of course, is a stopped heart. Short of that, life is a series of choices the outcome of which more or less resembles a poker game in which the lucky player holds a winning hand sooner and more often than others.

Dana Reeves’ sister pleads with listeners in another ad for an advocacy group, stop the spread of lung cancer from second-hand smoke. Her statistic that ½ million Americans will die from lung cancer by 2010, proves that we must ‘do something now.’ 450 a day, 650,000 by 2010 will die from the world’s deadliest cancer. She says, sincerely, "Where’s the outrage?" The outrage is her use of over-stated fear. A mortality figure of 325,000 a year ( if 2008 and 2009, represent only 2 years) does not explain or uncover that fact that cancers often spread from elsewhere in the body to the lungs to cause death. And statistically not all smokers die early (?) from lung cancer.

The latest radio ads for playing the Ohio Lottery act like public service announcements. If you play the lottery, that is, throw your money away gambling, you will have fun taking a chance for children in public schools, which are failing in spite of ever-increasing funding. Yet you are warned to play (gamble) responsibly. I say, "Where’s the outrage?" I have never been able to chew with both sides of my mouth simultaneously. The government can. It can also speak with forked tongue.

Why put your faith or credibility into any PSA, public announcement or ad that supposedly benefits the consumer? Common sense and the obvious render them useless. Experts now link 8 food colorings with hyperactivity in kids. Any parent’s personal observations should confirm the fact that healthy kids are active, especially boys.

Unsung heroes

A woman who teaches family studies at the college level - already a clue to the questionability of her beliefs - says that "a growing body of evidence suggests that normalizing divorce and surrounding it with expectations of cooperative behavior is far better for everyone than the two extremes of trying to prevent people from divorce at all or encouraging them to ‘win’ or prove fault in a divorce dispute." Spoken like a true, academic, a politically-correct, agenda-driven liberal. Her justification for normalizing divorce comes from this explanation: " Poor impulse control, antisocial behavior, disengaged parenting, contemptuous behavior toward a partner, and untreated physical or mental problems all make couples more likely to divorce." Is there any human behavioral symptom not covered under her umbrella of excuse? She continues, that "each factor also raises the likelihood of maladjustment in the children even if the parents stay wed. Sometimes, divorce, however painful, is the best outcome for a poorly functioning family." Only a liberal can project upon lies the aura of truth. Where’s the evidence of long-term harm to back up these statements since all families are dis-functional in one way or another?

Thinking Americans know that our society worships too many false heroes, supports too many unworthy causes and upholds too many weaknesses of character. But on this day, June 6th which reminds us of D-day in 1944, let’s remember the soldiers who stormed beaches without whining and fought on to accomplished the ‘mission.’ It’s a sad and tragic fact that the media fails to cover heroes. It’s a sadder and more tragic fact that the ‘mission’ of marriage has been trivialized and its failures normalized. Husbands and wives, true heroes who fill their ‘mission’ are too often unsung.

Katrina-like

The Doctor says Ohio’s economy and job losses are a " Katrina-like catastrophe." What the fix? An Ohio casino. A 600 million dollar solution to create 5000 permanent jobs (that’s $120,000 per job by the math). We need to share the wealth because already 38 states have casino gambling income. All proceeds would be distributed to Ohio counties, Columbus alone benefitting from 20 million. Information on the project can be found on MyOhioNow. com. The Constitutional amendment to allow this enterprise will be on the November ballot, 2008. What do you think? What do I think? It’s all about choice, says Dr. Laura. Americans choose to take a chance on education by gambling in the lottery, to waste money on fancy pain relievers when aspirin will do, to believe that any commercial skin creams will remove wrinkles or diet pills will melt fat, to buy bottled water with anti-oxidants to improve health and to purchase locking fuel caps because someone might steal high-priced gas. Americans’ choices are crazy already; I say go for it. Choose the casino.

Which demiurge

Demiurge (literally translated as public worker) is the Platonic personification of active reason, the creator of the material universe, a subordinate god who fashions and arranges the physical world to make it conform to a rational and eternal ideal. The demiurge was later adopted by the Gnostics (a Christian sect that considered matter evil and denied that Jesus became man). They considered it one of the forces of evil responsible for the creation of the despised material world, alien to the Supreme God of goodness. In other words, their demiurge was the devil. As a worker for the people, where does Barack Omama fit as a demiurge? He hopes to create and fashion his America into a socialistic ideal. His plan, however, is irrational and unreasonable. His planned changes for us Americans would vastly alter our material world making it despicable to those who would pursue wealth, direct their own destiny and openly follow the teachings of the Christian God. Political correctness and liberalism would rule. Government would replace God as the protector of the people. Is this not evil? Barack may campaign as a Platonic demiurge but his soul resides with the Gnostics’ devil.

Which offence?

In France, which follows Roman and civil law, three categories of criminal offense are punishable. 1. A crime which calls for death or a prolonged imprisonment. 2. A delit which warrants a 1 - 5 years imprisonment or a fine. 3. A contravention which is a minor offense. Where does the criminal activity of I. F. Stone fit in? Identified as a fellow traveler by a Russian General, associated with terrorists like Kathy Boudin and Bill Ayers in the 1960's and a rabble rouser par excellence as a journalist - he has been idolized and given not only a pass but a medal struck in his honor. Uncle Joe Stalin would be proud. Uncle Joe shared Stone’s belief in the triumph of socialism over capitalist America. He said, "the victory of socialism in Russia is not complete because the danger of intervention from capitalist countries continues. The problem can be solved only be uniting the serous efforts of the international proletariat with the still more serious efforts of the entire Soviet people." The devil, of course, resides in all details. History records what "serious efforts" were endured by the Soviet people under Stalin. Stalin’s communism could not be criticized by Stone himself or his supporters because it would make it (communism) look bad back here in America and hamper efforts to render its successful. Stone’s ‘blind spot,’ unlike Senator Ted Kennedy’s undetected brain cancer, was never excised. Killer Joe also wrote that "he who does not work does not eat." ... "From each according to his ability, to each according to his own." (A repeat of Karl Marx’s words). Russian Communism put the ideals of Lord Hope, Saint Change and Holy Possibility (the words of Victor Davis Hansen referring to our present Democrat Presidential candidate and socialist, Barack Obama) to the ultimate lie. Test these words of deception from Stalin: "Socialism can succeed only on the basis of a high productivity of labour, higher than under capitalism, on the basis of an abundance of products and of articles of consumption of all kinds, on the basis of a prosperous and cultured life for all members of society." Of which punishable offense was I.F. guilty? Surely one of France’s #3. Did the U.S.S.R. or the U.S.A. actually realize Stalin’s ideal economic and cultural world?

Victims

We need victims today like the Biblical Job tested by God or the Byzantine general Belisarius tried by Justinian in the 6th century. A victim today brings the troubles upon himself but blames the "times." Why must I read about excuses for "even the most financially-savvy consumer, an attorney, who finds himself with self-inflicted debt and credit issues? His new business venture and a divorce contribute to his troubles. The necessitated sale of his house is another component of misery. Yet with money tight, he tries to get a loan from a bank! What is his solution to finding himself in the pits where he can’t make "it" today? "It," of course, is the secret word requiring first definition and then dismissal. He taps into his retirement savings, incurs another loan and takes a taxable withdrawal. Adversity should be the handmaiden of achievement not the enabler of victimhood especially if the individual involved brings the adversity upon himself by rash judgment, lack of proper, prior planning, hedonism, fiscal irresponsibility, abandonment of self-righteousness and absence of common sense. Job and Belisarius merely suffered in both the figurative and literal senses. Americans today - Heaven forfend - find suffering too much trouble.

NDD

An environmentally green activist accused children, adolescents and adults who live indoors watching TV, playing video games or hogging the computer of suffering from NDD, nature deficit disorder. Typically, a liberal, plays the politics of hatred directed against that which violates the agenda. Hypocrisy crowns the politically-correct agenda. One liberal hand calls for the appreciation of the outdoors and exercise, but the opposing hand allows for no risky behavior or challenging, competitive sports. I read today that construction work is one of the most dangerous industries along with agriculture, mining and fishing. I heartily disagree. I was served yesterday for 10 hours by one busy, action-packed tree trimming and removal crew working in the hot sun apparently oblivious to high rope perils, heavy, falling timber and ear-challenging noise from the continuous ripping of chain saws (and a stump grinder). I nominate my men for performing the most dangerous job of the year. Their good humor and perseverence confirm my vote. They operated in harmony with nature as they destroyed her trees and branches (although one target already was a dead soul). Buzzing bees did not distract them from their appointed rounds. I now return to author of THE GREEN PURSE with her master’s degree in nonsense environmentalism and her myriad suggestions for saving the planet through changes in daily living. The new, green, mandated energy saving light bulbs contain mercury which is classified as a toxic waste that cannot be conventionally discarded. Really? I’m certain they were "invented" because an environmentalist suspected Edison’s children of destroying the planet just as green people now suspect chemicals and pesticides are polluting the drinking water. According to my wacko author, "you can’t wait for proof to take action." Ditto for manmade global warming. Luckily, curing our country’s nature deficit disorder, NDD, and/or corrupting religious environmentalism is simple. Open the doors, turn all irrational, Darwinian descendants loose, lock the doors behind them - and let nature take its course! In today’s newspaper some human being abandoned 3 mother cats and 25 kittens with a 10 lb. bag of cat chow thinking they could fend for themselves. Why not green people too?

Uncommon Sense

If a man has no standards, what can you say about his choice of a wife? If America’s public school system needs an IED ( Individual education plan) for its students, alternatively defined as a "multi-factor team process," why expect knowledge to be the goal? With garbage expected or accepted, low quality and low performance result. Heaven needs to help us in this phase of America’s never-ending story. \
Uncommon sense 184

Life’s all about irony, unpredictability and contradiction. A botanist member of the Society of Friends in the 1700's kept a motto above his greenhouse door that read:

Slave to no sect, who takes no private road,
But looks through nature, up to nature’s God.

Think on it. Each of us is slave to private preference or predilection. Each of us travels individually down life’s path in the midst of social interactions. But how many of us look at nature or even through nature up to nature’s God? The world is too much with each of us unfortunately.

Uncommon sense 185

NDD

An environmentally green activist accused children, adolescents and adults who live indoors watching TV, playing video games or visiting the computer, of suffering from NDD, nature deficit disorder. Typical of a liberal, playing the politics of hatred directed against that which violates the agenda. Of course, hypocrisy crowns the politically-correct, natural agenda. One hand calls for the appreciation of the outdoors and exercise, but the opposing hand allows for no risky behavior or challenging, competitive sports. As I read that construction work is one of the most dangerous industries along with agriculture, mining and fishing, I heartily disagreed. Having been served yesterday for 10 hours by one busy, action-packed tree trimming and removal crew that worked apparently oblivious of high rope perils, heavy, falling timber and ear-challenging noise from the continuous ripping of the chain saws (and stump grinder), I nominate my men for performing the most dangerous job of the year. Their good humor and perseverence confirm my vote. They operated at in harmony with nature as they destroyed her trees and branches (although one target already was a dead-barked soul). Buzzing bees did not distract them from their appointed rounds. I return to the environmentalist with a master’s degree in ........... with her myriad suggestions for saving the planet through changes in daily living. Curing our country’s nature deficit disorder, NDD, is simple. Open the doors, turn our nature-deprived men and women loose, lock the doors behind them - and let environmentalism take its course!

'Deaccessioned'

"Idiosyncratic, Yes! Dated, absolutely! Some might find the tiles and rill in the Persian garden, the curved ridge and tiny raked Japanese garden, and the positively eye-popping English herbaceous border cliched, but my friends and I were charmed by their theatricality and found stepping back into this 60's time warp a heady experience." These words were commentary about the Doris Duke Farms and Greenhouses which are today to be transformed into environmentally different spaces thanks the changing wishes of her Foundation. Some greenery, the writer tells me, will be deaccessioned (a coined about 1970 to the retirement of - in some cases - museum artifacts.

Close to 1970, education in America began to be deaccessioned. until we have a system that - using the words of a local mayor to refer to contributions to the upcoming Fourth of July Red White and Boom fireworks show - is " ½ way short." Tell me, oh tell me why a school psychologist must be employed by a system that has a "trickle-down curriculum push," "functional behavioral assessment," "intervention with integrity," a goal of "inclusion" to "separate,""peer assisted learning" that is "researched based intervention"? Tell me, then tell me why students now possess less knowledge than ever when they leave grammar school, high school and college? "Tweak," "tweak," "tweak," was the favorite repetition of the professional counselor speaking about helping each individual student achieve self-esteem and success.

There were some "good ‘ole days " in spite of what politicians and educators today might think. Learning has been degraded into a politically-correct cliche when you reflect upon the motto that "a mind is a terrible thing to waste."