Saturday, January 21, 2006

Democrats: Allies of Bin Laden?

Bin Laden and the Democrats are they allies?  I ask this question because of the latest communiqué from the caves in Pakistan.  The loyal opposition is loud in its displeasure that the Bush administration is trying to thwart terror attacks as the opportunity to do so occurs.  Of course by revealing what has been done, in the name of protecting the constitution, they have endangered us to a greater extent.  What is the Democrat plan to protect us?  My guess is that they would take Bin Laden seriously in his offer to negotiate a truce and would happily pull our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq tomorrow if not sooner.  Nothing is going to deter Bin Laden from attacking us. It is amazing that no successful attacks have occurred in the United States since 2001.  He is in the game and is not getting out; only his death will remove him from the stage.  Even then a successor will arise, most likely from Iran or in the pay of Iran.  We are in a war for our very existence; even the French now recognize the danger.  Our Democrat party is determined to make the United States a weak and vulnerable country; a reflection of them personified.

These are the same politicians that protected the constitution by appointing justices that took away the private property rights guaranteed by that document. So whether their cooperation with Bin Laden is inadvertent or intentional it is still there.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Sexual Abuse- More Common Today?

The sexual abuse of children and adolescents seems to be on the increase; but is it?  I wonder about this not because I have personally been a victim of sexual abuse, but many of my friends and acquaintances say that they have been.  In more than a few cases the results have been devastating for the child and for the adult they grow to be.  In today’s world the sexual predators are more violent if not more common.  Recently a senior bishop of the Roman Catholic Church revealed that he had been molested as a child by a priest.  The bishop is more that 70 years old now, which indicates what common sense, will tell; that these acts are not new.

What is new is the willingness of the victims to come forward, and what is really new is that their families are supporting their claims.  A close friend of mine described an incident that happened to him during the 6th Grade.  When he reported it to his mother, he was too afraid to mention it to his father; she dismissed it and advised him to put up more of a fight.  The results were disastrous.  Later he found out that his mother had been raped by a friend of her grandfather’s and she spent the rest of her life repressing the experience.

These pedophiles or sexual predators are really monsters that should be imprisoned for life without parole; the death sentence is too lenient.  A judge in Vermont has demonstrated how little value children have in our society when he sentenced one of these monsters to 60 days to life in prison.  The life part kicks in when he rapes another child, which undoubtedly he will.  Why should we, as a nation, have to wait for this person to rape again?  The news media, particularly cable, sensationalize these acts in a way that stimulates the behavior in a bid to get attention.

I wonder if abortion on demand has reduced the value of children’s lives?

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Yikes! The Utility Bills are Here




If the war in Iraq is being waged to benefit the  American consumers of gas and oil for heating, then it is singularly unsuccessful.  I just received my heating bill which was three times higher for December than for January.  The electric bill was “only” twice a high.  This put my cost for heating and lighting my house at roughly $600.  Outrageous is hardly a description of my feelings about this.

There is an artificial stimulation of energy price increase that is the result of opportunism and greed.  It is also related to the difficulty in building new refineries in the United States and the completely misguided prohibitions on drilling in areas we know can provide these resources.

Our friends in the preserve the wilderness movement are misguided and irresponsible.  Their policy initiatives in forested areas have actually caused more damage and loss than good forest management techniques would have.  For example, vegetation, like all life forms, must be able to breathe.  When forests get too thick they die. Many Western forest are dying.

When the world consumes more fuel sources than are being discovered, economies die.  As India and China consume more of the world’s resources other nations must consume less.  This is going to be quite a shock for the so-called developed nations.  At the moment India and China consume 22% of the world’s commodities encouraging price increases from oil, copper, and aluminum to steel.

Sensible exploration and extraction should be our goal, especially if we are determined not to develop alternate fuels.  Between North and South America the riches still to be found in the earth most likely could replace or at least compete with current sources in
Arabia.
I wonder how our wacky liberal friends are going to feel when they can’t push their hate America agenda and have to change it to hate China?

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Go Dan Go!

Hats off to Dan Gerstein! I highly recommend that you read his editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal, he gets it. I have been making his points for quite some time and am happy to finally see a Democrat apparatchak see the future through the haze of the “activist base”. The Democrat base reminds me of children that rant and rave when the grownups don’t let them have their way. Dan Gerstein is a former aide to Joe Lieberman, a politician with class, culture, and brain power; in short an old fashion Democrat. He I would vote for, so far no other Democrat is persuasive.

Al Gore is one the people Dan Gerstein is talking about when asks that they abandon the hate Bush platform and come up with something real. I agree. It’s a pity about Al Gore I believe the shock of not being elected has completely unhinged his mind. Al Gore is calling George Bush a criminal, a destroyer of the constitution, and everything else he can think of, he is babbling. I shudder to think what shape we would be in had Big Al been president after 9/11. I’m afraid we would offering the Arabs reparations for insulting Islam or something.

If you can find the time please read Gersteins article.

Semifinal Picks

This weekend sees the semifinals of the US professional foot ball leagues. The playoffs have been well played and pretty exciting. The previous weekend saw the failure of Indianapolis to advance, a real shock as they were expected to win it all. The demise of the Patriots was not too surprising, they’re just being in the playoffs was a surprise to me.

So this  week my picks are the Steelers over Denver and the Seahawks over the Panthers. The advantage hurting the Broncos is the Steelers defense, the cold won’t bother them as they play outside in Pittsburgh.

I’m afraid the Panthers have reached the end of the line. I am hoping for an upset, but it looks like the advantage is with Seattle. The Panthers defense is pretty banged up and their running game suffered a serious loss when DeShaun Foster was injured against the Bears. I predict a fairly close game, especially if Shaun Alexander doesn’t have a great day, if he does then the Panthers will be watching the next two games on TV

Monday, January 16, 2006

Marint Luther King Jr -American Hero

Today we honor and celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In my opinion, which I hope I have made clear, is that Dr. King is the greatest modern American hero. He saved the United States from a very violent descent into racial chaos. By adopting the tactics of Gandhi and insisting on non-violent protest he raised the possibility that injustice could be righted peacefully. His opponents, most of white America, were not so kind. There were many instances of violence during the period I have called the Second American Civil War, almost all were cases of violence by whites against blacks. Of course there were riots but most of the victims were black as the vandals burned down their own parts of town. This war continues at a cooler level.

Dr. King lamented the violence, both at home and in Vietnam, this won him many new enemies. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace many Americans were outraged. In fact Dr. King was one of the few people who won the prize that actually deserved it. To compare Yassar Arafat to Dr. King simply proves how distorted the world’s thinking has become.

I am qualified to speak to this matter because I grew up during this time and lived through every moment. My early opinions certainly do me no credit, but at least I was able to learn. One of the greatest moments in American history was the day, in Washington DC that Dr. King gave his “I have a dream” speech. Undoubtedly the greatest speech given by an American in the 20th century. Today the goals of Dr. King’s dream have not been entirely met, and they never will be fully realized until skin color is a negligible personal characteristic. Every day that passes in the United States this dream seem less possible. Our politicians make it impossible by playing the “race card” and encouraging their constituents to think of themselves as victims and that they are entitled to government handouts ever so subtly reminding them of their “inferiority”

Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. never saw himself as a victim. He wanted no handouts, he wanted a hand up to an equal level, and then he could take it from there. He realized that he would most likely be killed during the struggle for the right to try to be his best and to have all the advantages every American has. He might have been afraid at times, but he was a man of action; a man of peace. Where is his like?

Sunday, January 15, 2006

The Second American Civil War Part 4

I am writing this short series of articles because many people have either forgotten or would prefer to forget the struggle for simple human dignity in the United States. From 1947 , the date the Armed Forces were integrated, to even now the struggle simmered, flamed, and is now beginning to cool. It will be difficult to ever have a perfect calm, but as the generations directly affected by the injustice die then a more rational approach will be taken in judgment. That coolness will be slightly empty because the emotion will be gone and the history will be embalmed.

Today the leadership of black folks still see them as their flock to manage, when in fact some are breaking away as they see their self-interest in conflict with the fossilized likes of Jesse Jackson, Charles Rangel, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, and Julian Bond to name a few. I am not able to judge their internal motivation for keeping their wounds open, and I do know that all of these men suffered the sting of segregation and can’t accept the changes that have been achieved. The can’t forget and they should not forget, but they should work honestly to keep change alive. It is moribund at the moment, and there will be no change as long as they stay on the plantation run by Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, at the rest of the de facto slave holders.

Back to the story, after the race riots tore across the country people began to think about how to mollify the protestors. In 1965 I went to school with black classmates for the first time in my life. They were nervous, we were curious and some of us were hateful in our behavior towards them. This behavior was strictly learned from parents, siblings, and society in general. There were no fights as the nuns and priests enforced a level of civility that made it possible to have classes and a school life.

At about this time the Vietnam War was escalating, this conflict was one that Dr. King protested as unjust. This did not endear him to President Johnson or J. Edgar Hoover, these two leading lights of liberalism who used secret police tactics to spy on Dr. King. Secret wiretaps of his hotel rooms, his home and phones were employed. Mostly without bothering to secure a warrant, these operations were known as Black Bag Jobs. (What is this controversy about George Bush eavesdropping on our enemies about?)

Anyway they tried to ruin his reputation and destroy his credibility, he won the Nobel Prize for Peace; and he deserved it. About this time Cassius Clay changed his name to Mohammed Ali and he too protested the war. He took the stand of a conscientious objector and refused to be drafted. This cost him dearly. The country was at war with it self, which is the point of these articles. Very few of the leaders at that time covered themselves with glory. Millions of young men were drafted and sent to fight for a reason no one quite understood. I went too.

In 1968 a tragedy occurred that still echoes through our lives. Dr. King was assassinated. This event, which I remember well, caused a tremendous flare up. My fellow soldiers were all shocked and dismayed, in those war places white and black depended on each other simply to survive. We were fighting for our lives of course, but also for Dr. King’s right to say or do what ever he wanted (legally of course) and his right not to be murdered. I said earlier that his death propelled the struggle forward, but also began its collapse. It is my belief that had Dr. King lived out his normal span, say to at least 73, the United States would be in far better shape than it is. Dr. King was a statesman, head and shoulders above 90% of the leadership of the USA. His associates were no where near as effective as leaders or even as human beings. They carved out territories for themselves and exploited those they were supposed to help as cynically as any white man. They corrupted the movement.