Another Experience in America

Our African-American fellow citizens are confused.  I have recently had the pleasure of editing a magazine.  As you might imagine it has allowed me to come in contact with a variety of personalities and talents. As a free-lance writer it has also made it clear why many editors probably toss material sent to them without reading it or only giving it a cursory glance.  Those comments are for another column, I digress.

Several of the writers and colleagues at the magazine are African-American or Latino. The divergence of cultures is obvious, but perhaps the similarities might surprise some of those whose experience in America has been rather sheltered by comparison.  I won’t name names as it will serve no purpose.  One of my writers is a young man who is extremely skeptical of white society and whose writing is mostly a disorganized reaction to and defense against perceived slaps against blacks.  His one saving grace is his passion and his ideas.  I have tightened up his work and published it; I can’t wait to see the letters.

Another one of the team is simply writing because he loves it; this comes through very clearly.  His computer skills are limited but cut and paste is simple compared to the task of getting writing that can be published.  His approach to his subjects is fresh, and interesting, always with a black cultural slant but not obviously angry.  The difference between the two: the former is part of the entitlement culture while the latter wants his work to stand on its own.  Both are very interesting people.

The other colleague is a well known NBA and Collegiate star.  He is quite artistic, and intelligent.  His formal education appears to have been just that: a formality.  Yet he is amazingly considerate, diplomatic, and as might be expected goal-driven.  He too keeps the undercurrent of black resentment under control as he views it as unproductive.

Finally my Latino friend.  He is laid back and goes with the flow. The picture of his feelings he presents the world is false.  As he relates his experience “We Mexicans learn to do the work and keep quiet.”  This appears to the way, from this limited sample, that many if not most minority group citizens respond to the Anglo environment.  Of course this is not healthy in the long run.  Our country was made great by arguments regarding what is best for all, even though the few often won out.

I said that African-Americans are confused and the reason is that they are no longer in a life or death struggle for equality, prosperity, and respect.  Their leaders take the opposite view to maintain their own power, not an unusual position for demagogues to adopt, but because the Civil Rights wound is still relatively new, the pain has not fully dulled.  The collective memory will never fade as they get a reminder every time they look in the mirror.
Latinos are a different case, particularly those who have come from professional families or who are 2nd or 3rd generation.  These citizens still have something of an abashed mindset.  It will surprise many in Anglo land that Latinos consider them, albeit quietly, as foolish and untrustworthy.

These are just some thoughts you might consider during your next encounter with friend or acquaintance of a minority background.  They don’t like you as much as you think they do.

Ah Spring!

Spring is coming on strong here in the Carolinas, pollen is making its presence felt; mostly in the form of dust leading to sneezing and coughing.  It’s time to mulch, put a new spark plug in the lawnmower, plant some pansies, and generally clean up winter’s damage.  Daylight savings starts Sunday, more hours for golf being the major benefit, and so all kinds of outdoor activity may be expected.  Boats, water skis, PWC’s will all be made ready.  It’s a routine that is taken to be just that, most of the United States has drifted into a complacent view of life.

Of course there is the nightly news which can be disturbing at times, no one really knows what to make of illegal immigration; the latest media hot button. The nation’s political and social life is adrift on a sea of malaise where the main problem is how to avoid getting involved in anything.  There are plenty of UFO and Conspiracy Nuts to amuse us, but the fear of finding out anything of substance keeps at bay the impulse to really pay attention to the world around us.  Spring is a time to enjoy renewal and avoid reality.

One of the worst things to happen to modern US society, and probably others is the advent of 24 hour cable news.  This is true because it creates apprehension, tension, and discomfort by constantly bombarding those who pay attention with “news” items of little or no consequence and then repeats them endlessly. The stories are constantly revised as the real facts, as opposed to the original “facts” come to light.  We are still dealing with Natalee Holloway’s case, with no end in sight.

Sharon Stone has a crush on Hillary Clinton and basically says so during her publicity tour.  The senators are posturing more than ever and loving it.  All the interests groups are clawing at one another and yet nothing, absolutely nothing constructive is being attempted.  I have zero faith in the ability of the United States government to govern effectively.  Neither Republican nor Democrat really wants to further the interests of the citizens as a whole, lobbying groups only please.  The fact that legislative earmarks have disappeared from the public discourse proves my point.  Public service should be just that, a service to the nation with personal expenses being reimbursed at a low level.  The chance for gain eliminated.  These are naïve wishes but they are after all wishes.

The best plan is to enjoy each day Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter as if there will be no other day to follow.

I Hope This is The Last Time for This Subject

This is the last time, I hope, that I will address the issue of the mentally ill among us; that is the UFO nuts, the 9/11 desperados better known as Sheenites, Oliver Stone fans, Nostradamus believers, fundamentalist Christians, Muslims, Jews, Atheists in short any one that has too much time on their hands or is so warped they can only cope with life with some kind of belief system that resembles the thinking of Stone Age Mankind.  I have had a few emails and have been unfortunate enough to have the television on when the latest insecure nut jobs have crawled out of the darkness and become frightened.  Let’s take a look at the Sheenites and those of his ilk.  Charlie was quoted as saying the 9/11 hijackers were amateurs.  They were not.  They were highly trained commando-style operatives who trained in the Baka Valley and in Afghanistan.  Bin-Laden and Massaoui have admitted to such.  Charlie further said that the planes didn’t resemble any commercial planes he’s ever flown on.  It’s difficult to evaluate this statement as I don’t know what condition he was in while flying a commercial airliner; he could have hallucinated anything.

One of my nutty buddies claims there is no evidence of a commercial airliner.  Well bodies were recovered, including one of Charlie’s friends the producer of the TV show Cramer.  The Pentagon security cameras tracked the flight and crash of UA77 as it hit the building.  The crater it left was quite large over 70 feet in breadth and 80 feet in length.  Another correspondent mentioned that a theologian, unnamed, has definitively stated that the whole attack was a US government plan.  Tell me a man is a theologian and you have lost my interest altogether, I mean look what else they believe in.

Another great thing about my pal the “Ministry of Truth” and “Meta Mind” is that they make statements anonymously indicating that they don’t really believe what they are saying.  Why else won’t they be named and defend their claims in a manner beyond citing questionable sources.

I have a brother who has been ill with schizophrenia since the age of 19.  I have yet to meet a conspiracy theorist who can argue their points with more passion, conviction, and cogency than he.  Yet, he is nuts.

I have a new fan

I have a new fan.  He or she, I’m pretty sure it’s a he, is a great example of shadowy paranoiacs who spout off theories but remain anonymous.  He calls himself Ministry of Truth and is certainly out there around the planet zango.  He reminds me of the Sheryl Crow lyrics “Angels”…  I know they’re out there.  Anyway my new buddy has gone beyond 9/11 and is presented a rather feeble defense of Charlie Sheen, why I don’t know and can’t even guess.  Perhaps it is Charlie Sheen himself, who cares?  Take a look at the latest comments posted by him, and then by all means avail yourselves of the sources he mentions. He defends Charlie by accusing the Bush father and son team of some rather reprehensible practices.  Defense by accusation is the mark of a weak mind and the inability to present an argument cogently.

Still I like having him participate at least he cares enough about his own interests to defend them and to attempt to clarify them.  I hope he keeps up the good work.

Blog Response Comments Are Fun

Please have a look at two comments from yesterday’s post.  They are amazing.  It is not my intention to denigrate anyone except the subjects of my ravings, Charlie Sheen is an idiot.  He has proved this in countless ways including drug abuse, patronage of prostitutes, (not itself a bad thing), and now subscription to wacky 9/11 theories.  The two commenter’s are the same kind of thinkers that subscribe to UFO theories uncritically.  The conspiracy theory about  9/11 began almost immediately with a French writer having a book published, in record time, that purported that the towers did not come down.  Later it was revised to say that the US government perpetrated the act.

My dear readers give me a break. The United States Government can’t get out of its own way; it couldn’t get food to New Orleans.  I know, I know, that was a racist plot; except all the government in New Orleans is controlled by African Americans so drop that one.  I love the one about the blowing up the 9th ward levee another feat of derring-do that didn’t happen.

According to Benjamin Franklin “Two people can keep a secret…if one of them is dead” So here we are, citizens without real lives postulating and accepting verbatim statements that are on their faces absurd.  One reader said that the damage to the pentagon was minor and the fire was small.  Further there were no identifiable parts of a 757.  A 70 foot hole in a building or anything else is not small; try one on your house to gain perspective.  Not only were there identifiable airplane parts, almost all the body parts were identified.  Where did the bodies come from?

If the pentagon explosion was not the plane crashing into it, then where is the plane, passengers and crew?  Where are the 5 hijackers that, according to this theory, didn’t hijack anything?  Where are the UFO’s?  Oh they can’t land because we might attack them.  Is that reasonable?  They can live in outer space environments, fly all the way to earth and back (tourists?) and yet are not able to cope with our pathetic weapons; again where is the rational consideration of the flaws in these arguments?

Thanks for reading and sending in comments.  It does my heart good to know that all the innocent and naive are not just in politics.  Apparently there are very few people who can accept the fact that criminals, terrorists, do exists and will act and sometimes get lucky.

Stupid Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen’s latest comments, that the attack on the World Trade Center was planned and executed by the United States government prove two things: he is an idiot and this is how the left in the US really thinks.  They can not be taken seriously.  Is it any wonder that Hollywood types are completely disregarded by those of us who have to live in the real world?  Try going to work and pretending to be the boss, you’ll get a chance to audition for another job pretty quickly.  Charlie’s friends, the Sarandons, are making a movie about Cindy Sheehan.  Obviously they are out of touch with the marketplace as such a film will be a financial disaster. (It probably won’t get made) although it might win a Golden Globe just for trying.
Let’s get back to the government conspiracy.  Why would the “government” of the United States want to perform such an act?  And if so why was the president so surprised?  Was this something that was planned during the Clinton administration?  The success of the attack depended on the incompetence of airline security and even the hijackers seemed surprised by their success.  Bin-Laden has actually admitted to planning the events and expressed his pleasure and surprise at the extent of the damage.  Hello Charlie, are you still taking so many drugs that you don’t have time to keep up with events?
The Left wing of the Democrat party is so bitter, and in such disarray that when the anger boils over stupid stuff comes out.  The citizens of the United States ain’t seen nothin’ yet if the Far Left has its way.  We will see the true American Gulag.  These people have no regard for anyone who disagrees with them.  They are like spoiled high school students; the mirror of society reflects only their image.  If you don’t believe me read their bumper stickers.  Every issue is reduced to its basic components and then only with a severe left twist.  These people are dangerous and not to be taken lightly.  They have no world perspective.

Cindy Sheehan is a disgusting person

Cindy Sheehan is a disgusting person, and apparently a rather stupid one.  She has been duped by the liberal elite through flattery and manipulation to travel the world and the nation doing something, but what?  Anti-war?  I don’t think so.  Feel good wacko liberalism, most likely.  Return to the sixties when it was cool to smoke dope, get arrested, and brag about it, another likely scenario.  Is she an aggrieved mother?  Yes, she is, but she is using her son and his death for self-aggrandizement.  She cannot speak for him, his final actions speak volumes.  Her son was not drafted or forced into military service.  In fact he had re-enlisted and was killed in action on his second tour of duty.  He made a choice, a willing and enthusiastic one.  Cindy acts as if we have an army of draftees fighting against their wills.  This was the idea from 1964-1973, it is not the case today.  I was in the military from 1966 to 1970 and I think I can speak with authority.  It’s always bad when someone gets hurt or killed, it is going to happen.  More lives are lost in accidents and from disease than from combat.

Susan Sarandon, her dopey husband and their friends are extremely shallow individuals who form their identities by doing what seems to be a good thing.  This entire outcry about the poor etc.  Why don’t these people give away their money, sell their SUV’s and multi-million dollar houses, and do some good in the world.  Maybe “Actors without Borders” would suit them.

These people are so distant from the real world they can no longer function as reasonable people.  I am glad that George Clooney and Madonna have moved to foreign climes where they can pretend that they are accepted by Europeans, of course they never will be, and that they are the sophisticated Americans the world needs.  This in opposition to those Americans who are willing to risk their lives for the well-being, freedom and lives of others.

Danish Outrage Reduced to Petulance Not Violence

60 minutes biased?  I know most people will find that assertion commonplace and some will even say wrong.  The reality is that fans of 60 minutes are generally either so uninformed or misinformed that they take what is presented to them as good journalism that is attempting to get at and present a true picture of a particular situation.  Another aspect of the belief paradigm is that most people are simply too lazy to ferret out the actual facts of any particular story to see if they match the CBS assertions.

What would be found, and it is the same with all network magazines, is an editorial bias to the left and in particular a destructive view of any nation that is friendly towards the United States. By aiding the United States in the anti-terror and Iraq wars Denmark became vulnerable to media acid attacks.  The recent portrayal of Denmark is a good example.  The Danes have every right to be outraged by the program which showed Denmark as a society of dumb blondes, which I can assure you from personal experience is not the case.  The program portrayed Danes as insensitive white folks intent on excluding people of “color.”  The complete opposite is true.  Their hearts bleed for the world.  The country as whole has a socially liberal bent and is in fact a welfare state as is most of Europe.  The education system works and the religious life is basically form without substance; a natural reaction to the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Recently there was a reaction from a famous Danish journalist, Samuel Rachlin, to the CBS story on 60 minutes. This reaction is what can be expected from anyone who has been falsely accused and is feeling angry, hurt, and powerless.  It is also a bit childish and naïve.  The CBS story would have been better reasoned had the actual facts of the Muslim cartoons had been presented; that would not happen for obvious reasons.  One weak point of Rachlin’s argument damaged the writer’s credibility; that the US had problems with integration during Katrina and “we Danes” didn’t crow about it.  This argument is of course false and distracting but reveals something more interesting.  When a conservative American government is elected the European assumption immediately is “Oh look how stupid those Americans are.  Why can’t they be sophisticated as we are?”  This is not simply a Danish phenomenon; it is also espoused by the “cultural elites” in the United States and all the other “advanced” European societies.  Fans of CBS, ABC, and NBC news will never get a completely true picture of the United States (or any place else) the people who are reporting and managing the coverage are products of the Watergate era during which their colleagues became famous and wealthy by attacking the government and society members whose ideas did not agree with theirs.  Since then liberalism self-hatred has been in the ascendancy. The guilt they feel because they are prosperous and others are not is palpable and ridiculous.

There will never equality of circumstances or even a free exchange of ideas as long as human nature prevails.  Some people have a fortunate birth but have faulty genetic equipment and bring ruin upon themselves.  Some are less fortunate in their births but have strong genetic tools that enable them to rise above the crowd.  Others and this is the largest group simply muddles along and does most of the regular work and is satisfied. Most people are interested in the opinion of others in direct proportion to its agreement with theirs.

Danish outrage over the 60 Minutes portrayal of their country and society is fully justified.  The idea that this behavior by 60 Minutes is an anomaly though shows a certain bias and naiveté as well.  It is common to accept the authority of one that is preaching the words the audience wants to hear and difficult to bear when the words of that authority are turned against the very audience which had respected it.  I feel certain, without personal knowledge of the case, that Mr. Rachlin has himself presented stories which have reflected his personal bias; it’s the news business and it is human nature to project oneself in to the story.

I was a faithful viewer of 60 minutes for too many years; I stopped my addiction when I realized that a kernel of truth found in a bushel of half-truths and outright lies is a rotten combination that should be ignored.

Money or Happiness is There Really a Difference?

Should one work for money or should one find a career that assures happiness?  Actually that question is not a choice, if acted upon correctly prosperity and happiness are inevitable.  Here is why this is true.  We all know that we live in an imperfect world, right?  Let’s think about that for a minute.  In my mind the world is perfect; it is in the lives of its inhabitants that the imperfection occurs.

I have engaged in activities simply because I thought they would provide wealth, and I did acquire a lot of money.  I then behaved in ways I thought would provide happiness, they didn’t.  Here is the solution, it is simple but difficult.  Look around and try to find examples of excellence.  I don’t mean simply something that is just good, I mean really excellent.  After searching for awhile you will find some examples, some that will surprise you.  As you look deeper you will find two more things: prosperity and happiness.  Why?

The simplicity is this; the world seeks perfection or tends towards perfection.  It is the most desirable quality because it cannot be attained in an absolute sense.  The simple act of trying is in itself so rare that it too is valuable.  Couple the striving for perfection with an activity that brings personal satisfaction to the striver and without a doubt prosperity and happiness will follow.  This is not an overnight situation, it takes time.  It might take a few or many years to achieve this state, but with belief and effort success is unavoidable.

The reason most people never arrive is due to the difficulty of continuing against what seem to be setbacks, poor initial choice of activity and subsequent discouragement, laziness (another name for fear) and finally most people don’t believe my theory is true.

Dreams can’t come true if they are never dreamt.  When planning or imagining anything about what you want to achieve always make your fantasy the most extreme example of the success you think you want.  In a fantasy you are in charge and it always works out the way you want.  Do you want to be the most knowledgeable archaeologist on earth?  Dream it, it will happen.  You’ll have to work on it, but without the dream your subconscious has nothing to work on.

All personal success and happiness comes from satisfying an internal urge.  That urge must be stimulated.  For some this stimulation is easy but most of us have to search for what is best.  This search can be made simpler this way.  By remembering that success and happiness are the two most powerful stimulants and thinking about the wonderful euphoric feeling you got when something you did was most satisfying, you then know what you want to repeat and are on the right track.  If you look at your life as a quest for dollars at the end you will fail.

If you do something, anything, productive and you are among the best to ever do that thing, money will chase you around.  People want to be around excellence, they love basking in its reflection because they don’t understand it.  The wealthiest people are those who respect themselves and enjoy helping others.  Money should never be an objective it should and will always be a by-product of excellence.

New Life

This is Makena Grace Curley, born March 6, 2006 to Kevin and Beth Curley. This is my wife's and my third grandchild and we are happy to have her. I certainly hope her life turns out to be a happy and productive one. She has a great start as she is surrounded by a loving extended family. This is something every child needs but fewer and fewer in today's world are lucky enough to have. I chose this picture because it appears that she is looking out at the world with a skeptical gaze. I know the feeling.

She is named after a village in Hawaii, on Maui, so perhaps she will have a sunny and mild dispostion with only the occasional blustery storm.

I wonder what changes will occur during her lifetime? Space colonies, cancer cure, endless religious warfare, decline of US influence in the world, all of these are possible perhaps probable. The advances in technology are really unimaginable because truth is certainly stranger than fiction. As Tom Clancy wrote "Fiction has to make sense, the truth doesn't" The interesting part of the changes she will see is that such changes will be amazing to those already of age, while to her and her contemporaries it seem like a natural progression. Which of course it will be.

Anyway, Welcome Makena. 

Sainthood for All

I was educated by the Roman Catholic Church in a series of what was known at the time at parochial schools.  I guess the term was used to illustrate the narrow focus of the curriculum.  A Catholic education, during the 1950s and 60s was an experience that I liken to a military experience.  It wasn’t that much fun at the time but as a survivor it’s an experience that cannot replaced or truly explained to anyone who hasn’t been there.  There was a certain ineffable quality of love and brutality that kept one alert, wary, with a strong longing for escape.

The education was first class.  Even I, a poor student at best, managed to absorb knowledge and life skills at a survival level far above my public school counterparts.  I haven’t kept up with my schoolmates but it wouldn’t surprise me to find most of them as successful citizens contributing to the community.  The emphasis in the program was learning not financial gain, which is a little unfortunate for those who don’t get to live in a convent or rectory.  Nonetheless the intellectual life was, as I now realize, quite amazing.  The assumptions of the plan included the idea that the students were capable of being stretched to the limit and so they were.  You could fail; you could be as many grades behind as necessary to get you to the level required by the Church’s idea of an educated person.  We had students that were two and sometimes three years older than the grade level.

So with all this brain power cooking away in a world that was and is rapidly changing, how did and does the church think people will continue to believe in the spiritual agenda?  I come to this question because as I was watching the newscrawler at the bottom of my television picture I noticed a tag about some priest investigating a possible miracle cure by the late Pope John Paul II.  I got to wondering about this.  In Christian life death is the beginning not the end of existence.  I began to imagine John Paul getting to the pearly gates and being told to head on back down to earth if he wanted a better seat in the room God reserves for His closest friends.  It must be crowded in there. So, do these dead holy people have to circle the planet looking for a worthy cause in an effort to earn Sainthood?  I noticed that there were actually two potential miracles to investigate to establish the rationale of Sainthood status.  Let’ suppose this is something that is real.  What happens after the confirmation is made, do the miracles stop?  I can’t remember hearing of recent miracle investigations of the actions of, oh, let’s say St. Joseph.  Is it the case that once a dead person shows enough life to cause a miraculous action that they can accept a certain status; something like class 1 saint and relax around heaven?

I have long ago left organized religion to those who enjoy living with ghosts and who earn a living scaring the hell out of people instead of nurturing the heaven in them.  All of us have a certain spiritual longing that is difficult to cope with and to pin down effectively. For that reason I never disparage anyone’s beliefs but I do wonder why they believe it.

Our Similarities are Killing Us

In the long view, a view that is very difficult for humans to adopt due to our short life span, there a great many more cultural similarities than there are differences.  This is true especially when considering the Western Civilization vs. Eastern Civilization.  Consideration of these two cultures ignores others in sub-Saharan Africa and pre-Columbian South America.  Let that be the case for this discussion.

As I type and you read we are still feeling the aftershocks of the Roman Empire, it is likely that this will always be the case barring the extinction of peoples wanting democracy, a certain appreciation of life and its gifts.  Admittedly Roman civilization was derived from earlier Greek, Etruscan, and most likely other not so well known cultures.  Rome refined the classical Greek thinking and lifestyle and added a mechanical logic to previous philosophies that is felt today.

The effects in Europe are obvious from the various languages and customs, nearly all of which are Latin based. The Germanic and Celtic languages are survivors of so-called barbarian tribes that did not fully assimilate the Roman ways, the same goes for Scandinavian, and even more remote peoples like the Basques.  In every other way Roman influence is obvious in architecture, legal systems, political life, commerce, and even social customs. The United States of America is, at its roots, a Greco-Roman society.

The Middle East, or Asia Minor as it was once known, is susceptible to the same analysis.  The Greeks got there before the Romans and had a tremendous impact on the area.  A Greek family, the Ptolemy’s, actually became Pharaohs, and ruled Egypt for centuries; Cleopatra being one the family’s more notorious members.  Hellenic culture prepared the way for Roman conquest and in fact Jesus Christ was undoubtedly a Hellenistic Jew whose followers longed to overthrow the Roman rule in Judea.  As Christianity blossomed it moved to the City of Rome and ultimately its liturgy, hierarchy, and laws found their basis in Roman traditions.

As Rome disintegrated slowly over hundreds of years Christianity was used as a unifying tool by Constantine in his bid to takeover the empire, he was by the way a native of Trier in what is now Germany.  He moved the empire east to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople in his own honor.  This beginning grew into the Ottoman Empire at a much later date.  It was here that the amalgam of Christian and Jewish thought was coupled with a desert peoples need for a creed.  Thus was born Islam.  The essential tragedy of modern life is that the combatants all the same basic belief system.  It’s the bells and whistles that make the difference.

The Arabs, Chaldeans, Persians, Jews, and Christians are doomed to a death struggle if they fail to recognize the similarities that are currently driving them apart.  All are descendants of the influence of Greco-Roman thought and lifestyle; either in acceptance or denial.

The European system of monarchies and feudal lords was based on Roman governors and nobles left isolated throughout Europe by the fall of Rome.  The Caliphate, though much more centrally organized, is a direct offspring of the methods employed by the rulers of Byzantium.  The heirs saw no need to reinvent the wheel.  Modern problems are caused by a system of political and religious development that was not parallel, or to the extent it was there has been a significant lagging behind in the Islamic nations.

This is not the only explanation but it is one and it is one that should be considered and examined more closely.

Democrats Win The 2006 Elections

The Republican Party has committed suicide.  It’s hard to believe but it’s true.  A group of politicians that once espoused excellence, decent behavior, and the idea that the best interests of the public should be served, have become pseudo-Democrats.  As a group they were always a bit cowardly, refusing to stand up to the outrageous specious attacks of Tom Daschle, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Charles Rangel, Ted Kennedy and the other luminaries of the dreck filled Democrat universe.  The Republicans have outspent the Democrats, something I never thought possible.

As a citizen of the US who has voted in every election since I came of age, mostly as a Democrat and recently as a Republican, I am disgusted.  I realize this feeling is not new; Mark Twain more than 100 years ago called the congress of the United States the largest, most public aggregation of crooks on the earth.  While nothing has changed on that front the country and the world have become much more dangerous.  We need leaders not place holders.  Representative Cunningham, a war hero, a brave person, is going to prison for eight years for taking bribes.  What would be the population of the congress if all were known about the rest of them?  They are the most disingenuous, lying group of individuals elected by a public that is so poorly educated that the cheapest advertising and media manipulations are effective.

The Democrat party will be returned to power in the year end elections.  It will have nothing to do with their plan, as they have none, but because the Republicans have abdicated their advantage.

We Are Who We Elect

Do our elected representatives really represent the average American?  Alas, I am afraid so.  It is difficult for many to believe but George Bush appears to be head and shoulders above the members of the legislative branch in terms of character, intelligence, and world awareness.  Bush has only a mild record of pandering to public opinion which is why his poll numbers are so low at the moment.  It is my prediction that history will be very kind to him and his presidency; this despite the fact that most historians today have a severe Marxist, left wing bent.  The truth will out no matter how long it takes.

In the case of the Ports and foreign operation of terminals, this is an example of how the congress is really an image of the American people.  There are a few voices of reason among a large group of venal, uninformed, mercurial, fearful, and complacent individuals.  When visiting the Capitol one may look up to see the flags blowing with the wind, the same scene may be found within the offices of the representatives of the people.  These congressmen and senators are job holders plain and simple.

They worry more about their perks than they do about our safety.  They protect their benefactors more than their constituents.  For example it is now coming out that the asbestos and silicosis class action suits are rife with fraud; that law firms apparently paid for false medical diagnoses (in a least 68,000 cases) resulting in immeasurable damage to our legal and business system.  Will the Democrats demand an investigation?  I don’t think so as one Democrat congressman moved to end hearings with the comment that “Trial lawyers get blamed for everything from 9/11 to global warming.”  Decide for yourself what would be happening if this was a Republican issue.  The reverse is also true.

The unbelievably inept system of education in our country is one the great tools that enemies can use against us.  Militarily we can not be defeated.  We have, and are developing more, weapons that can be operated remotely.  We can, and this will most likely be the case, bomb Iran without the loss of a single US military life by using UCAVs (unmanned combat aerial vehicles).  These weapons can target and bomb places that are many hours from our shores, accurately and with devastating results, but we can’t get out of our own way in world affairs.  Neither right nor left really understand or care about the rest of the world.

In the United States if it’s not about us we are not interested.

Just a Picture in a Photo Album

I met my new granddaughter yesterday.  She is beautiful and appears to be fully equipped to start her journey through life.  I am already grandfather to two boys, who are also wonderful, but it got me thinking a little.  By the time I became cognizant of life both of my grandfather’s were already dead.  My fraternal grandfather died just weeks before my birth and my maternal grandfather died about a year and a half later.  To me they have always been just pictures in a photo album.  There is no way to know or appreciate dead people, and when they are part of the genetic mix that is you it’s an irreplaceable loss.

Because of distance, and family discord it was impossible for me and my siblings to know our grandmothers very well either.  As I look around and think back it occurs to me that nothing is or can be as valuable to a human being as a stable extended family.  This includes the crazy uncles and aunts, the wacky granddads, and loving grannys.  The ability to see where one’s origins lie, in person, must be a great experience.

My wife and I see our role as grandparents being stress relieve valves for the parents of our grandchildren, and the grandchildren themselves.  I doubt very seriously that, if we can maintain our relationship with these children, that they will turn out to be problem adults; it’s possible but not likely.  Our children still have one set of grandparents living; they lost completely the chance to have a relationship with their maternal grandfather, but did know their grandmother.  These experiences, both happy and sad, have shaped their perspective on life in positive ways.  They are really fine people, and so will their children be.

Society needs families as much or more than families need families.  Children and adults need a safe haven for tough times. It is not easy to maintain healthy family relationships; the slightest blow can disturb the balance for years.  Any family that has weathered the storms of life is to be admired.

I am very happy that for my grandchildren I won’t be just a picture in a photo album.

Its Back

I see from the paper today that AT&T is re-forming despite its breakup in 1981.  At the time I was in the telecom industry at the time and thought that this state of affairs would be the ultimate result.  The rationale for breaking up the Bell System was flawed.  The underlying reason was a good one.  The public reason was to encourage competition and to break up monopoly power.  The real reason was to accelerate technology development and introduction..

In 1981 the Bell System dominated telecommunications in the United States; similar situations existed around the world, the difference being that the Bell System was publicly owned while most others were government owned.  Because of their dominance the Bell Companies preferred to amortize their multi-billion dollar investments over a long period and so were not inclined to rapidly introduce technology that would make their investments obsolete.  MCI changed all that.

The prosperity of the 1990s can not be ascribed to any politician (Bill Clinton) or party (Democrats); the 1990s were a technology boom started by  of all people Richard M. Nixon, or at least his justice department which filed suit in 1974.  Today anyone can start a telephone company; and many are.

The latest refinement of voice over IP is just that; the latest not the last.  Already it is possible to do almost everything over a wireless phone, and with WiFi work can be done almost anywhere.  These things would not be happening at this juncture were it not for the 1981 breakup of the Bell System.  AT&T still owns Bell Laboratories but has little interest in regaining Lucent Technologies, at the time known as Western Electric.  AT&T was, and I emphasize was, the world’s greatest technology company, even now it is hard to miss senior engineers and executives who at one time or other worked for the Bell System.  They are going away to be sure, but they’re still around.

The new AT&T will never again be the force it was and that’s a good thing.

Is There a Culture in the US?

Does the United States have a culture, or in fact any culture?  If you ask our sophisticated European friends the answer is yes the US has a culture but it more like a bacterial one found in sewage.  They would know of course as their various histories and cultural achievements are well known and obvious.  If you ask our unsophisticated enemies who hate us passionately the answer is also yes, the US has a culture that is Satanic, decadent, and one that must be destroyed.  Ironically this latter view of the United States is almost exactly that of our far left leaning fellow citizens.

Actually the United States does have culture, not a culture, but many.  This is why we are loved, hated, envied, emulated, admired, and discounted.  I know this to be true because in my life I have been fortunate in having been able to travel the world and have been exposed to many peoples, cultures, and ideas.  In the United States one can do this almost every day without much trouble.  We are of course a nation of immigrants and as such we have imported everything from everywhere.

The main cultural aspect of the United States is capitalism which is the prism through which we must be viewed.  Capitalism makes success possible as it encourages personal development while socialism breeds self-contempt and ingratitude.  It is human nature to want to do it yourself.  The greatest gift any government can give is the chance to succeed.  All the rhetoric notwithstanding we are a very peaceful people and we hate any endeavor that keeps us from succeeding in our personal lives.  We will fight if forced to but we are not warlike.  Our defense is strong but its use is preferably dissuasive in nature.  We are currently in a situation which feel we have been forced to fight.  We are selfish.

In the United States there is a strong anti-intellectual bias.  My guess is that this is a result of experience with intellectuals in the “Old Country,” whichever old country that might be.  Cuba, for example, is still reeling from Castro’s intellectual takeover.  Our own political left would behave the same way if given a real chance to take over; which is why they won’t get it.  Our citizens have a healthy disrespect for authority and this makes us strong.  We also have, in general, a low level of interest in academic pursuits for their own sake.  College and University are simply for getting ahead and making connections for later life, this is probably true elsewhere but there is a pretence not found in the United States.  This is the reason high school and college graduates to a large degree can not read or write effectively.

We are a shrewd people; a native cunning has evolved from our immigrant natures.  We know how to survive and are not afraid to do so.  We come from everywhere and are disdained for it.  Ask any German and he will tell you that Americans are the dregs of the societies they left.  Americans are the descendants of failures in the homeland.  That probably is the case when viewed from the exalted heights of the European class system, but we like it.

Democracy: The Root of All Evil?

It’s funny the way people hear things.  I saw an article on the TV news about a high school teacher in a Colorado town who had been suspended pending a review of his actions in the classroom.  Apparently he had been interpreting the Bush state of the union speech or at least relating to the students the way he heard the message.  His comments point up the appalling lack of talent in the United States teaching corps and the way liberalism has been twisted so completely out of shape as to have lost its relevance.

This instructor got just about everything wrong.  Of course his opinions are valid in the sense that they are his, but his grip on history is a little loose.  He claims that Bush and Hitler use the same tones of voice and the comments are ethnocentric in nature. It is impossible to be ethnocentric when referring to the United States.  1930s Germany, yes Hitler was focused on the so-called Aryans.  He was also focused on eliminating the Jews.
This Colorado teacher, molder of young minds considers the United States to be the most violent nation on earth.  I guess they don’t have newspapers or internet connections in Colorado or he could inform himself about Iran, a country that imprisons and executes bus drivers for wanting a union.

This situation is a prime example of the failure of liberalism in the West.  I say again they hate themselves, their country, and their lives.  They are embarrassed by their wealth, opportunities, and freedoms.  As they look around the world and realize that only by accident of birth are they able to ski, vote, rant, and rave, instead of scratching out a meager existence under the watchful eye of a mullah or religious policeman they feel left out.

Another point this fellow makes should cause each of us to pause before voting for a Democrat who espouses this position; he considers democracy the governmental system of violent suppression. My guess is that he and his ilk know what is best for the rest of us and once in power would like to continue telling us what to do and how to live.

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday and it read “If you are not appalled you haven’t been paying attention, Vote” Its meaning is not clear and can be interpreted in several ways but if it is what I think it is then it means “If you don’t agree with me you are stupid”.  Of course it could be a protest against higher property taxes but I doubt it.

Journalists have a liberal bias

Journalists have a liberal bias, that much is true, but why is this the case? To a large extent journalists feel that they must keep track of government activity and that they are protecting to the public.  Maybe this was true at one time.  In today’s polarized world this is no longer the case.  In the United States journalists are generally Democrat party hacks, except for FoxNews where they are generally GOP hacks.  There are exceptions of course.  Since the late 1960s journalism has been corrupted by “liberal zeal” and the goal is to unseat the existing government if it has a “conservative” bent.  There has never been a case of a journalist making his/her mark by embarrassing a Democrat president.  No reporter chased Lyndon Johnson around after he escalated the Vietnam war; college students were much more effective.  There were no Dan Rathers.  Dan made his bones chasing Richard Nixon around and Dan never got over it. Yet journalists made excuses for Bill Clinton.

Journalists must always possess a certain quality of cynical naiveté with the emphasis on naiveté.  Part of the problem is that journalists graduate from colleges where Marxist professors hold sway and this influence is insidious as it makes the prosperous college student feel guilty.  As a journalist it is difficult, once one becomes aware of a problem or injustice, to look at it simply as a story and not a crusade.  Journalists also tend to look down on their audience on the basis of the experiences they have that the average Joe never will.  They begin to have a slight case of egomania.  Once awards have been won the authority of the particular journalist is confirmed, they must.  This is obvious from the recent Dick Cheney press riot.

Journalism in the past had a conservative bias.  The Hearst papers actually got wars started.  Liberal bias is a partial reaction to “Yellow Journalism” and is now “Blue Journalism.”  Why else do we get the scare stories of environmental catastrophe, health debacles, earthquakes, hurricanes, all of which would never happen if a Democrat were president?  Why is the general public so gullible?  Well most of the reason for the stories is that there is space in the paper to fill, and if you repeat something often enough it will probably come true.

In the United States and Europe we are rather lucky to have a “free press” which despite its bias is allowed to have one.  In most countries there is no such thing.  The citizens have no real idea of what is going on around them unless they are able to get information from the internet sources or bootleg radio and television signals.  Despite the objections to liberal media they are not a danger.  Anyone who wants to can dig deeper into a story to verify or discount its contents.  So enjoy your freedom, if you have it, and read on.

The Axis of Prosperity

There is a new triangle of economic power being made final.  The Axis of Prosperity composed of India, China, and the United States, will shape the rest of the 21st century both economically and politically.  It is the opportunity of a lifetime and I’m afraid that Europe is going to be left out to a large degree.  One of the positive attributes of the United States is its determination to succeed and survive; our left wing politicians notwithstanding.  Bush’s trip to India is simply highlighting the situation.

Some may not remember but during the 20th century India and China fought two border wars.  Now they are in competition to become the outsource platform for the production of products formerly designed and built in the United States.  This economic shift has been going in fits and starts for several years and is now about to really take off.  Please note that neither country has a majority Muslim population.  Both countries do have large mainly poor populations that are ready to be integrated into the world economy envisioned by One Worlders.  This in itself is not bad rather it is a complication, and should provide full employment for protesters for years to come.

President Bush is being lambasted by Indian Muslims, on the orders of their leaders no doubt, but they do so at the risk of their lives.  It is well known that Hindus and Muslims do not get along and during their frequent massacres the Muslims usually come out on the wrong end of the body count.  That is why we have Pakistan.  India, with the earth’s second largest population, is also the world’s largest democracy.  They do a remarkable job of maintaining the appearance of democracy and encourage entrepreneurship among the appropriate caste members.  This is the fly in the Indian ointment.  Until nations can overcome their ancient cultural mores success will continue to be somewhat elusive.

China on the other hand has the world’s largest population and has it almost under control. I don’t think it’s much of a risky prediction to say that in 50 years both China and India will be unrecognizable in their current form.  There is no way to centrally control 2 billion people from the top down.  This is already evident in the fraying of Chinese society; rampant corruption at local levels of government, increasing instances of demonstrations; usually suppressed by violent police action, and a general discontent about the wealth generation being closely held.

Should the United States be successful in managing its relationship with these two giants and successfully help them manage the transition to come, then the world will be a much better place.  Unfortunately there are still the Arabs and Iran to be dealt with in the short term.

My prediction: look for fires in Iran and bombers returning to US bases.