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.

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?

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?

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

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?

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.

The Second American Civil War Part 3

1963 saw the advent of the Freedom Riders, groups riding the Greyhound Buses to towns and cities in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. The skirmishes had been heating up for sometime. The idea of peaceful civil disobedience was gaining currency as public opinion began to shift, very slowly, in favor of those demanding that their civil rights be honored . There were Freedom Marches and there were deaths. In 1962 the attempt to integrate the University of Mississippi resulted in riots and the deaths of two French journalists. Three young men, two white and one black, were murdered by police officers near Meridian Mississippi their killers, though known were never prosecuted. Viola Luizzo was shot and killed while driving a black man to his home. Medgar Evars was shot in his driveway by a sniper, the killer was imprisoned 40 years later. The war had begun to heat up in earnest.

The riots in California that destroyed theWatts district in 1964 spread to Atlanta in 1965 and to Newark NJ in 1967. The country was tearing itself apart over race and over the Vietnam war. It is a tribute to the citizens of the United States that the country was able to stay pretty much intact, though those days are still being felt in the political life of the nation.

The greatest hero of the second American Civil War was of course Martin Luther King,jr. Without him the country would have fallen apart and most likely into two armed camps in a situation not unlike Lebanon. The leadership at the Federal level was pathetic. The so-called boy wonder John F. Kennedy wanted to do as little as politically possible to remedy the situation. The Democrat party was pretty much controlled at that time by the Southern members of congress, as they held the majority of the leadership positions. The FBI was corrupt under the control of J.Edgar Hoover, who considered all activists to be Communist agents. Undoubtedly there were communist sympathisers and in fact many black leaders endorsed Marxism as the way to reorganize the country.

The greatest tragedy still lay ahead, an incident that actually propelled and stopped the civil rights movement simultaneously. Come back tomorrow for that discussion

The 2nd American Civil War Part 2

1956, the year my family moved from California to Georgia was an eye-opening experience for me. While attending school in Monterey and Pacific Grove I would take the bus, public transportation. You could sit anywhere on the bus and I usually sat near the door. I don’t remember the buses being particularly crowded but that memory might be a bit foggy as I was just six years old. No black people on the bus, on the horizon, in view, nothing.

I also rode the bus to school in Atlanta, the #2 Westview, which went from my bus stop on Ponce de Leon , stopping at Sacred Heart Church where I got off, then it continued to the end of the line at the Westview Cemetery. There were black people on the bus, they sat in the back. I remember there were vinyl screens that separated the white from the black sections though you could easily see each other. Whites could sit in the back, we school children often did, but blacks could not sit in front. There even stencils posted instructing Negroes to sit in the rear of the bus. This all changed when Rosa Parks decided she was too tired to walk to the back of the bus.

Rosa Parks was the catalyst of the modern phase of the second American Civil War. Though change, real change, was in the air with the 1954 case of Brown vs.Board of Education. Living in Georgia in the 1950s blacks were basically invisible. My classmates and friends, I have since figured out, were white southerners first, Roman Catholics second, and citizens of the United States third. The word nigger was commonplace, even to my surprise and confusion among the blacks you could hear conversing on the street. It was a time of turmoil just beginning, it was not unusual to read in the newspaper of a black man being sentenced to death for raping a white woman or of hearing on the radio about a lynching. At my age then, about 10 years old, it just another thing happening. At age 13 I got a job delivering newspapers and became an avid reader of the Atlanta Journal. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization I became familiar with because they hated blacks, Jews, and Catholics, and I remember feeling a slight sense of fear about them. Nothing, I imagine, like the fear black folks felt.

As I look back on Atlanta in the 1950s and 60s it is a time that seems unimaginable today, but it happened. There was a thriving Afro-American community at the time, centered in Auburn Avenue and the surrounding streets. We called it “Buttermilk Bottom” a slightly nicer name than “Nigger Town”. It’s mostly gone now thanks to urban redevelopment and welfare. We watched on television as Martin Luther King jr. went to Montgomery, Alabama to promote the boycott of the white owned stores in support of Rosa Parks. A judge ordered an end to the boycott, which even at my age, seemed stupid. How can you force people to shop where they don’t want to? The protest worked, the bus rules were changed and the fight was on. I wouldn’t be long before a second Federal invasion of the south would take place.

I happened in Little Rock, Arkansas when Governor Faubaus refused to allow black students to attend Central High School. President Eisenhower was outraged and dispatched the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the law, a visible result of the  Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education.. Only those who lived through those times can know the feelings of fear, and hatred that began to permeate every conversation. We hear about it now, but history is empty of emotion and cannot convey what people went through at the time.

All next month will be “Black History Month” a meaningless gesture attempting to keep these events fresh and to build “Black Self-Esteem”. Until we can see the person beneath the skin these wounds will be difficult to heal.

The Second American Civil War

This is the first in a series of posts that will culminate on Monday January 19, 2006. The course of history is often a reflection of the after effects of great events. This is true today as the entire world struggles with the after effects of the First World War. The Ottoman Empire, among others, was toppled and the present day countries of the Middle East were created by France and Great Britain. This kind of after effect is also part of the life of nations. I want to discuss the second Civil War experienced by the United States of America.

Though the first American Civil War ended April12, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia only the flames were dampened, the embers continued to seethe. The second American Civil War, which might be described by some as a Cold War, really got into high gear with the end of the Reconstruction Period during the 1870s. At that point the vanquished southern states were able to regain control of their destinies and they began to turn back the hands of time. Slavery had been abolished in 1863 by Lincoln in a purely political move to hamstring farm production in the Confederacy. By 1879 the so-called Jim Crow laws had reduced many former slaves to a de facto return to their former status. The white population still owned the land and means of production, the blacks possessed most of the labor. Unfortunately the former slaves were not in a strong bargaining position because they needed to sell this labor at any price just to survive.

Migration to the North was feasible but not very tenable as blacks were no more welcome up north than were the Irish, Italians, and Poles. Prejudice was rife, especially in New York City. So, the  blacks stayed “home” enduring limited persecutions and abuse in the form of lynching for being uppity, whippings, burnouts of their homes, and other behavior by whites that was stimulated by fear and insecurity.

Some of the heroes of the second Civil War were W.E.B. Dubouis, GW Carver, Dwight Eisenhower, Rosa Parks, and the most important; Martin Luther King jr. These men and women took tremendous risks to free their people; a struggle that was long and bloody. As in any war there were heroes killed in action, I plan to discuss some of these people later this week. For most white people the struggle was invisible and for those who were aware of it many found it confusing, unnecessary, and frightening.

I only became aware of this struggle at the age of 10. I had never seen a black person until that time. Though I was born in Louisiana my family moved to California when I was two years old. We lived in a small town called Pacific Grove. I attended the local Catholic school and there were no black children at the school or even in town I guess. There were  Latino children so I knew not everyone was like me. We moved to Atlanta Georgia in 1956; what a change! My first eye-opening experience in the south happened one day on a school trip. There were no black children in that school either, though I suppose there weren’t many black Roman Catholics at the time. The class had been taken to a city park to have a field day of some sort. It was very hot and we got thirsty. We formed a line at the water fountain, it seemed like a long line to a10-year-old. The line formed at a water fountain that was painted white. There was another water fountain, but it was painted black, there was no line there. I looked around and saw that I would have a long wait, so I went over to the fountain that was painted black and slaked my thirst. The reaction from my classmates and teachers was immediate and angry. The water fountains were segregated but I didn’t know it. I don’t remember segregation in California.
I learned about it that day.

Samuel Alito- The Right Judge at the Right Time

I wonder how many people outside the US understand the process that is occurring in the Senate? For that matter I wonder how many US citizens understand? For me this is a critical juncture in the task of reining in the court and returning power to the people’s representatives. The US is fairly evenly divided in political thought with slightly more leaning libertarian to conservative. This is very frustrating for the intellectuals, or least the self styled ones, who feel that they know what is best for the American people. These are the same people who actually hate the United States even though they are protected by its laws and prosper in its freedom. They want to go back to the womb; the mother country. The contempt in which the rest of the world seems to hold the United States is frustrating to them because when they go to Europe or Asia they are tarred with the same brush. More than anything else the American liberal brain trust wants to be considered first class citizens of the world. This of course will never happen.

Back to Judge Alito, he is important because he might actually be the vote that overturns Roe v. Wade. The opponents of Judge Alito rightly suppose this to be the case and insist on blocking him for that reason, no matter what else they say. ( If the Democrats fail to block this nominee their base of support will be enraged and might try to get rid of the present batch and put in a new bunch.)This is important because during the last fifty years the courts have actually made the law because they perceived the legislators as moving too slowly. The most recent example of this is the decision to alter the protection of private property from expropriation by the government; local, state, or national. In this case eminent domain was used to take property from the rightful owners and re-sell the property to private developers so that a profit on the real estate could be made. The irony of the situation is that the original decision was made by the Democrat city council to take this action. (This will be the topic of another rant)

What the United States needs more than ever is a congress that will act in the best interests of the nation, instead of for their personal gain either in reputation or monetary, and a court that decides cases based on the written law. The law clerks who do the research for the judges should also be scrutinized as I think they are far more influential than anyone supposes. At any rate the Supreme Court of the US should be far more humble it is approach to taking issues out of the hands of voters and out of the public discourse. Resolution may take longer if this occurs, but perhaps that is better. For example, abortion is really a moot question because there are so many ways to obviate it.

The most interesting component of the current hearings is the possibility of a filibuster, which should trigger the constitutional or nuclear option. That is changing the senate rules to prohibit a filibuster against judicial nominees. If wars are won in the will, this test of wills between Republican and Democrat senators should prove which side is the most committed to its ideals. My guess is that the Republican rank and file doesn’t have the stomach for such a fight and will remain cowardly in their behavior.

I hope Judge Alito is confirmed. It will be a turning point in the political life of the United States, and will without question be the most enduring act of George Bush’s presidency.

Belafonte Has Gone Crazy

Harry Belafonte has lost his mind, but apparently he is right about one thing; some Americans agree with him.  I have already written about some of this but it bears saying again. The Left in the United States is morally and intellectually bankrupt. The Right in the United States is not far behind.

Anyone who praises Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro is either incredibly naïve, extremely uninformed, or just plain stupid. For Harry Belafonte to call George Bush a dictator and a terrorist illustrates in the simplest terms how when someone with Belafonte’s perspective opens his mouth to speak; nothing comes out. Mr. Belafonte would not be able to make the same statement about Chavez or Castro, in their respective countries, without being imprisoned shortly afterwards. George Bush will not be president or even much of a political force after 2008. Mr. Castro has been in power since 1959, that’s 47 years, and it would not surprise me to find out that Mr. Chavez intends to be president for life.

Belafonte applauds the socialist revolution in Venezuela, as a journalist I must disagree with his assessment. I have met and interviewed many Venezuelans and while there are many supporters of Chavez at the moment, among the youth there are but a few. This is not good for the future of the socialist revolution, which will collapse under its own weight as it ruins what is left of a vital economy. Socialism doesn’t work, period. Look around the world. All this talk of an elite running the US is actually true and it is true everywhere. Elite doesn’t have to be a bad word it simply means the best. This word has been corrupted to refer to wealth and the privilege that derives from wealth. In another sense it is used to convey contempt for those who have risen to power or have simply excelled in their chosen field.

It is normal for human beings to resent those in power particularly if they are not providing real leadership, as is the case most of the time. Who really believes that Fidel Castro has been a beneficial leader for the Cuban people? He is what he calls the United States; an imperialist. His goal of quashing dissent, evidenced by his imprisonment of journalists and political opponents, and of exporting his brand of communism is the same as colonizing another society. Why the Left loves Castro and Chavez is beyond me but I am glad they feel free to express their admiration. Their speeches provide a warning about what they want and what would happen if they could ever get that kind of power in the United States.

Such a disaster will not happen, but it could happen. Suppose a major economic catastrophe struck the world. Demagogues would arise and people desperate for hope would follow. The one thing that keeps the United States safe is the reasonable, not perfect, distribution of wealth, and the power of the ballot box. We are a free nation. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t meant they hate you. George Bush was fairly elected and re-elected (the polling stations in Dade county were controlled by the Democrat Party so who did the disenfranchising), and he will leave office in2008. Believe me, that is not very long from now.

Impeachment An Answer?

I see that the Democrats are starting to push very hard for the impeachment of the President. Is this their idea of winning the public over? Has our political life degenerated to the point that our elected representatives are so isolated from reality that all they can do is behave like high school sophomores? That is unkind to the high school students. What agenda are they advancing? We will have an election in 2006 and a presidential election in 2008, let the voters decide.

The grounds for impeachment appear to be the Iraq war. Well, the “prosecutors” voted for the war and have now changed their minds based on the opinion of their political base. That’s fine, their base buys them and pays for them so they should get what they paid for. Does this add credibility to their posturing? Ted Kennedy is a besotted, windbag, Joe Biden is a plagiarist, and Russ Feingold is a naïve demagogue, Charley Rangel, whom I used to admire, seems to have gone crazy.

The fact that the democrats are using an issue like tracking down terrorists by electronic eavesdropping shows how out of it they are. I for one want the people that are trying to kill us stopped. What the congress should be concentrating on is reducing energy dependence either through increased domestic production or new technology development, preferably both. It won’t be long before we are strangled by China and India because of their consumption of fossil fuels, then what? Most Americans are so poorly educated and unaware of their surroundings that they seem to believe whoever shouts the loudest about the latest sensational headline. Global warming, yes thank God; clearing dead wood from forests, as soon as possible please; drilling in ANWAR, should have already been done; all this and more is required to succeed as a nation. Constant partisan bickering, a venerable pastime, has gotten so bad that we are at a standstill, the cowardly Republican leadership and the infantile Democrat whiners are actually more of an enemy than any Muslim fanatic.

Political Dark Age In The US

The Democrat Party entered the political Dark Ages around 1990 with the election of Bill Clinton to the office of President. Until then the Party had at least the semblance of an agenda. When Clinton took over the leadership reins, the Party became a party. It has lost track of its soul. I am a registered Democrat but it is unlikely I will ever pull the Democrat handle in a voting booth any time soon. I cast my first vote, in a presidential election, for Hubert Humphrey in 1968. It was an absentee ballot cast from where I was stationed overseas. From that time on I voted strictly Democrat Party, yes even for McGovern, because I thought they had the best handle on the severe problems that were facing the nation. I began to disagree, but only slightly in 1975 when congress passed the War Powers Act, and then when Senator Frank Church and company eviscerated the CIA. I had been away during wartime and I knew how important it is for intelligence to be gathered, even using unsavory and sometimes unreliable sources. Still I stayed in and voted for Jimmy Carter. His bungling of economic conditions and his almost personal creation of the Islamic State of Iran raised real concerns. I voted for Carter a second time, mainly because I bought into the hype about Ronald Reagan being a fascist who would erode our lives and cause social and political degeneration. I was wrong and so was my Party. Even so, I voted for Mike Dukakis and succeeding Democrat losers. I also voted for Bill Clinton, the first time he ran. Of course we now know he was a charlatan.

I became disillusioned with the welfare state because I saw what really happened. The poor and racially discriminated against were making very slow progress. White society in an effort to feel good about its own prosperity destroyed, by accident I believe, black families and culture in the United States. Blacks are now just as much slaves, albeit in a different sense, as they were before the Civil War. Their leaders cannot recognize success; they are beholden to the white power structure of the Democrat Party. They are told and believe that they need handouts, whether in the form welfare checks or affirmative action, and that they are not as good as whites so they cannot be expected to stand on their own without help from the Democrat Party. That help can only be available if the Democrat Party has political control of the government. After more than fifty years why are blacks still poor and stupid? Of course they are not but are hypnotized into believing their victim hood.

In 1996 I voted for Bob Dole, something I never thought I would do. The contract with America, which resulted in a Republican victory in the House of Representatives, frightened me at first. Then I saw it working, and saw politicians actually trying to keep their promises. Not Democrats but Republicans. This was quite disturbing. When Bill and Hillary attempted a socialist coup, which is what it seemed like to me at the time I began to finally drift. I voted for George Bush in 2000, finally a winner. The ensuing behavior of the Democrats reminded me of a cornered animal. It still does, and it is scary.

The United States is in a bad way at the moment. There is no loyal opposition. There are no ideas coming from the left, just hatred and grief. Hatred because George Bush is doing a good job and grief for the loss of their political stature.  Obstruction is the only thing they can do, they are disrespectful of the electorate, considering us too stupid to be trusted. Name-calling is not a philosophy. Until the Democrat Party admits to its lack of ideas and fear of taking political risks they have no chance of taking the reins of power back from the Republicans. To my mind there are no good candidates for president on either side, so 2008 will be very interesting.
I want my Party back. I want George Soros and his ilk to Move On.

Where are the Bloggers

What happens to bloggers that lose interest? Does this mean they have lost interest in life, their hobby, and their passion? What ever impelled them to start a blog in the first place must now be missing. The world is full of blogs, I know because I have been searching them out. A surprising number of them are no more, just links to nowhere. Others, while still faintly alive have not had a post for almost two years. What causes the demise of these blogspots that were at once interesting, even up to the last post? Maybe the blogger died, or is in prison; though I think there are prisoners who are also bloggers, maybe their spouses objected to the subject matter. Whatever the reason this blog, “That’s Outrageous” has a stated goal of longevity. This means a post at least once a day about something.

Today I have been reading the double issue of the Economist, which has several very interesting articles. This of course is not unusual. The one that most attracted my attention was the Survey about Evolution. This was interesting because it grazed the latest evolutionary thinking. It will be anathema to Christian fundamentalists and those who hate the idea that their surviving ancestors are jungle residents or found in the local zoo.

However there are some very thought provoking ideas in the article not the least of which was the theoretical reason for the largeness of the human brain. It turns out that certain survival techniques among fruit eating mammals may account for the growth of the brain. The reason was to facilitate color recognition and memory, the need an organ that could accommodate the enlarged cortical connections that would enable these processes. There is much more and I encourage you to seek out this article for enlightenment and additional source material should you decide to learn more.

For those who don’t subscribe to evolutionary theory, just because you don’t believe it doesn’t make it false. Evolution is happening every day somewhere, as far as we can tell creation is not.

Perhaps the demised blogs are mere remnants or fossils left behind by cyber evolution.

How to post a comment

I am very interested in having your comments, anonomysly is fine. To post a comment I've discovered that you must put the cursor over the comments field and right click. This will bring up the comments page. You can take it from there.

Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life

The idea of Pro-Choice has internal contradictions, as does the idea of Pro-Life. Both seemingly succinct expression of concepts, emotions, and intellectual justifications are the mirror image of the positions and are actually reflections of each other. In this year, 2006, the right to abortion on demand is simply ludicrous, the myriad birth control devices and medicines that are available to all obviate this “need”.  Abstinence certainly works but is an unrealistic expectation and  a denial of human nature. Women’s freedom does not depend on their right to kill their unborn children. This may seem a harsh characterization of the Pro-Choice position, but it is accurate. Most of the world’s society still hold women in contempt and view them as male property. I doubt that the world of Islam has many abortions. China has state sponsored, mandatory, abortion programs for the pragmatic purpose of keeping its population in check; male is the preferred gender in China.  These contradictions between two large populations point up the difficulty of the question.

In the United States and Europe the cynical approach to this question frames it in a completely inappropriate way. “ Our bodies Ourselves”  is the outdated battle cry from the left on this issue. In reality women have very little political control over there bodies. Except for Nevada in the USA and Amsterdam in Europe prostitution is a crime. this means that in most places women cannot sell their bodies for any legal income or dispose of them in any legal fashion. The medical profession controls women’s health and certain drugs are not permitted to them for various reasons. Sexual intercourse is going to happen and personal responsibility must be a part of that choice. Men must play a role in ensuring that pregnancy does not occur simply because passions are running high. These very same advocates of infanticide are horrified when a mass murderer is executed by the state.

On the other hand Pro-Life, while it seems to be on the right hand of God fails to pass scrutiny. It is true that the United States has a population gap of approximately 40 million due to abortion since 1973 and I’m sure the number in Europe is roughly the same. This gap is creating political problems unforeseen by the left at the time, now the quasi-socialist societies are breaking under the strain of having no young people to replace the old. The very women and men who aborted their children have jeopardized their lives in old age. The irony is almost too terrible to contemplate.

However the hypocrisy of Pro-Life is obvious. The first thing one notices is that the Pro-Life movement is mostly run by men, this should raise concerns that this is a political movement, which of course most things are. These are the same people, by and large, that insist on the death penalty for so-called heinous crimes. If all life is sacred then so is that of a murderer. Revenge belongs to God, if you are religious, as many of these groups claim to be. Though it may be financially costly to society to imprison murderers for life the cost of the coarsening of society is equally high, if not higher. I think this is obvious in the behavior of 21st century Western Culture. Where are the caring Pro-Life adoption programs? The willingness of Pro-Lifers to condone the violence against abortion clinics and the killing of the staff certainly weakens their claims to righteousness.

I doubt that this situation will change without the recognition by both sides that they are arguing from a false premise. I realize that in political questions the quest for power often prevents the success of the search for truth, or at the very least compromise. Let me know what you think.

My Grandsons

Here is a picture of the world to come. This was taken about a year and a half ago. Today they are aged 6 and 3 respectively. To them the computer, video games, cable television, mobile phones are simply a part of life. Utensils to used and enjoyed, but nothing extraordinary. From this comfort will come even greater technological advances as these children and their contemporaries take strides to make what is now standard, obsolete by developing the technologies that will astonish an aging society, but will always be commonplace to the youngsters.

Can You Trust The Numbers?

Health statistics can have an important bearing on behavior, especially those interested in their own health and those who are charged with raising money, creating initiatives, or riding their own health hobby horses to death. Many years have passed since the anti-smoking initiatives began to get traction among the general population. One of the major numbers cited as the reason to become anti-smoking and/or stop smoking was the proposition that 400,000 deaths yearly could be ascribed to tobacco use. The particular bogey- man was lung cancer, when fact there could be a number of different cancers and health conditions developed from smoking.

I use this number as a way of raising the question about the reasonableness of relying on statistics of this sort as a way of managing one’s behavior. For example the number 400,000 deaths is still used as the standard for abating tobacco use. What happened? Tobacco use is at its all time low yet the number of deaths has remained unchanged. There is another reason the be wary of the numbers thrown out by anti-anything advocates. Now that obesity is the target guess how many deaths per year are charged to this condition. You got it in one! 400,000, now I wonder where that number came from?

I recommend that when you hear or read about a statistic that is posited as the reason you should do something to take a hard look at it and its basis. You are going to be surprised and disappointed. Surprised because you will often find the numbers are exaggerated or at the very least mischaracterized, disappointed because certain groups are trying to manipulate you into behaving in they want you to.

You can look it up.

Golf in North Carolina

Living in North Carolina has its good points, and one that I like best is year round golf. While you might not be able to expect good weather everyday you can expect to be able to play golf 12 months a year. Today for example, while its foggy and drizzly at the moment by the time I tee off the sun should be making its appearance and providing warmth up to 60 degrees. This is January after all. I am hoping that the damp conditions will reduce the number of players so that my friends and I can get through the round at a reasonable pace. I actually have not played since Thanksgiving and am looking forward to it. I normally play at a local municipal course called Bryan Park, named for Joe Bryan who donated the land. It actually has two 18-hole courses but one, The Players, is closed for green renovation. So today we will play the Champions Course, which is slightly longer and a little more challenging than the Players. To me though one course can be as difficult as the other.

North Carolina is geographically interesting with its easy access to mountains, forests, and the sea. The state is almost 500 miles long, but less than 300 miles in width, in some much less. Abutting Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and South Carolina, in sometimes only slightly, its location provides interesting opportunities for cultural exchange. The physical beauty of the landscape can be breathtaking, particularly along the trails of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which sweep from Virginia into Georgia, and brush the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains.

In late March and during April the great Canadian golf migration will begin, many are in Florida now. I will inevitably meet and play golf this spring with many of them. I have been fortunate during past years to play golf entirely in the French spoken by those from Quebec, those most speak English many don’t or won’t.

Come to North Carolina if you haven’t been here, there is a lot of fun to be had.