Saturday, August 7, 2010

Ground-Zero Mosque, a bridge

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf says he is a "bridge builder." He says the purpose of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero is outreach to the people of the United States.

Confidence in his sincerity erodes, however, when we learn he refuses to declare Hamas a terrorist group, and after nine-one-one, he suggested that the United States was complicit in the attack!

Ground Zero is freedom ground, sacred ground sanctified with American blood and tears. It is an emotionally charged area. And they want to erect a monument to a belief system that is in direct conflict with our national love of individual freedom - a monument to oppression and disregard of girls and women, a monument to disregard for human life, a monument to belief in theocracy, a monument to the belief system that gave birth to the attack of nine-one-one.

This is a slap in the face of America. If Rauf isn't intentionally administering this slap, he is clueless, not very bright. A much smarter move would be to offer to build it fifteen blocks away in the interest of showing understanding and furthering friendly relations.

Whatever the case, if he builds a Ground Zero mosque, Imam "Bridge-builder" Rauf is building the ultimate bridge to nowhere. Relations will deteriorate.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Extra-legal?

Do we have a group of extra-legals in this country? By extra-legal I mean people who consider themselves above the law, people who do not think they need to follow the laws, who think they can do nothing for which the law should reprimand them.

For instance, can some people caught doing something that would be wrong for a normal citizen immediately cry, "Racism," to indicate they are not subject to the normal rules of behavior and certainly not to US law, to indicate if they are caught they are in fact victims?

And will that magic word, racism, succeed in drawing a shimmering cape around the poor maligned person? Will it magically qualify otherwise unqualified people for free education, jobs for which they are not qualified, and taxpayer-paid goods and services? Will it magically protect them and make them innocent even if they are undocumented, have lied, raped or stolen, or have engaged in congressional misbehavior? Yeah, sometimes it seems to.

Wow! It is much more magical than the magic word I was taught. Remember "please?" Remember how that magic word was drilled into you by your parents? And how it sometimes got you a candy bar?

Well, it seems that the "racist" word is being drilled into the extra-legals by preachers, legislators, and all sorts of authority figures. Why? It doesn't seem to be making the extra-legals happy. In fact, they are very unhappy. Along with that word, they are being taught that they are "special." They are unhappy because they expect too much for no effort on their part.

They are so unhappy that they disrespect the American flag, try to change America into the sad country they came from, or blow up in rage and shoot people because someone didn't react properly to his totally innocent acquisition of free beer.

So who is benefiting? The preachers? The legislators? Hmm . . . let's try the old rule - follow the money. Who are the millionaires in this picture?

Usually not the extra-legals, I think.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Big Bad Max

Is anyone surprised that Maxine Waters has thrown out that ragged, old race card?

Apparently, entitlements now include multimillion dollar shady deals and conflicts of interest.

OofDah!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Millions on monkeys?

Today another stimulus program was revealed. This one was truly stimulating - at least to the poor monkeys who were drugged up. Yep, drugged up some poor monkeys to study their behavior. Did it with thousands of stimulus dollars.

What the heck would be the benefit of studying high monkeys?

OH, wait, I get it! It will help us understand those out-of-control idiots in DC!

OofDah! This is probably the most worth-while project in the entire stimulus package. But will my grandchildren think we are spending their money wisely or throwing it away on monkey business?

Answering a Ranting Letter to the Editor

If you wish your writing and opinions to be taken seriously, perhaps you should lay off the slurs and try to find some facts to back up your rants. Since many tea party activists are older females, a class who has endured bias for eons, calling them bags wins you no friends among any group of women. As unacceptable as racial slurs, gender slurs reveal ignorance and woeful lack of respect for women.

You suggest tea-partiers are radical, “burning witches at the stake and imprisoning Mandela”, or ignorant, “parroting patriotism.” Witches? Isn't that what your "bag" label is implying? Conjures a picture of women in black throwing themselves onto a fire. Funny but not very effective.

The tea party stands for smaller government and greater individual freedom, the constitution, and less spending to reduce federal indebtedness to foreign countries. That is hardly radical and certainly not unpatriotic.

It seems you are saying that because they don’t always support politicians calling themselves Democrats, Tea Partiers have no respect for Democracy. What? Everyone knows that Democracy and Democrats are not one and the same.

Anyway, the tea party doesn’t necessarily support Republicans either; they’re looking for candidates of any party who will stand for smaller government, the constitution, and less spending. Admittedly most who are in support of those values are Republican, but not always.

You suggest that this country’s financial problems, endless wars, and even oil spills are the fault of tea party supporters, but what are the facts?

The financial mess is the result of poor governmental decisions made by both parties in Congress, under both majorities.

The endless wars also have come and gone while both parties held Congressional majorities. Do you even know which party was in charge in Congress when these endless wars were decided upon and funded? Or do you think the President declares and funds wars all by himself?

The oil spill in the gulf was the result of deep water drilling. Who refused to allow land drilling and shallow water drilling? Not the tea partiers.

Many tea party supporters are in favor of increasing US drilling and decreasing dependence on foreign oil. What does anti-drilling solve? Are you only worried about the environment here in the US? Is it okay to place the environmental risks elsewhere on the planet? How hypocritical would that be?

Perhaps we should take the risks out of the ocean and put them on dry land where spills may be less likely to get out of hand, but is the US too special to take its share of the risk? The gulf oil spill was a disastrous accident, but it could have been somewhat mitigated by prompt acceptance of the aid offered by other countries. Contaminated sea water could have been avoided by on-land drilling.

You further suggest that tea-partiers harbor irrational fears of other races. Controlling illegal immigration is about terrorists and armed drug dealers – they, too, may be God’s children as you say, but with guns and drugs they kill ranchers and children and should not be welcomed with open borders. Unchecked borders make about as much sense as discontinuing airport screening.

Drugs and violence notwithstanding, our southern border states are staggering under the millions of illegals who come here to utilize taxpayer-paid services. Controlling the influx, as do other countries and even the Vatican (who probably are aware these are also God’s children), is only a sensible thing to do.

The tea-partiers are main-stream Americans and their concerns do deserve attention, not out-of-hand condemnation. After all, are not the "bags" also God's children?

Turn on the lights in your attic. Give me not rants, give me facts.

In the interest of full disclosure: I vote the issues so have voted for candidates of both major parties. I have never attended a tea party rally.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Democratic: Liberal, Socialist, or Progressive?

Have you noticed how many of the politicians of the Democratic party are calling themselves progressive or liberal, but rarely Democratic?

The party has changed over the years. Several years ago I heard friends and relatives explain their change from card-carrying Democrat to Independent with, "I haven't left the Democratic Party; it has left me."

They went on to explain how radical some in the party were becoming and choices in beliefs did not seem welcome. They said members were expected to tow the radical line - no choices. The Democratic Party had been the DFL - Democratic Farm Labor. Farm was left at the roadside. Labor began to mean the "fat cat" union leaders with lots of money to donate to the party. The actual laborer? Also left by the wayside.

And the Democrat part? Well, that changed, too. Some Democratic politicians have begun calling themselves liberals instead of Democrats and others call themselves progressives. It is as though they are distancing themselves from the Democratic label.

So what do these labels mean? Liberals? Well, they are more socially liberal than the old Democratic party. One bench mark is abortion. Did the Democratic party of the last generatiuon support abortion? I don't think so. At least they didn't talk about it. If they had, not one Catholic would have joined the party. And certainly they did not espouse support for parital birth abortion - condoning killing a child as long as the head is still within the protection of the birth canal. Nope, the former generation would not have agreed to that!

The idea of one of our major political parties being taken over by progressives scares me even more. Progressive is NOT the same as Democratic nor is it the same as liberal. Progressive is out and out socialism, well, Marxism, and is simply a term they use because they know most Americans object strenuously to socialism and probably more strenuously to Marxism. They think most Americans will not realize what progressive means and intends to do.

Progressives wish to dismantle the United States - FUNDAMENTALLY change this country. They wish to absorb everything into the federal government and redistribute it equally among all. Well, redistribute what remains after the "fat cats" of government take theirs. They wish to plan everything for you and the country - bringing equality to all, their idea of equality.

This, of course, can only be accomplished by taking away all of your choices, because you need to be satisfied with exactly what everyone else has. You work much harder than your neighbor? Too bad. You deserve nothing more than they.

And, of course, American goods and foods will be shared with all the third world. Want to guess how much will be left to redistribute among those who produce it through the sweat of their brows?

Freedom of choice? No, no, freedom from choice!

OofDah! Bring back the Democratic Party. I'm downright nostalgic for it!

Substitutes

Sometimes substitutes can be good. For instance an artificial sweetener for real sugar -- if you are diabetic. Otherwise not so much.

But substitutes for some things just don't cut it - and are way too ubiquitous. Here are a few very common substitutions you should abolish from your life:

Volume for talent - many current bands turn up the volume, hoping you won't notice their lack of talent and risking a resulting generation of hearing-impaired young people.

Crude and potty words for funny - isn't it amazing how many people will laugh at crudity and toddler potty words? It is scary to think people find humor in this childishness. Where are the adults?

Volubility for wisdom - some think if they talk on and on using impressive words, however out of place they may be, they will con you into believing they are wise. Unfortunately this does work on half the population.

Fairy tales for history - unfortunately this works because many of the recipients of this substitution are people who want to believe things like there was no holocaust or my people played an important role in world advancement. Others, unfortunately, are students.

Sincerity for truth - so many liars spew forth with such convincing feigned sincerity, telling you what you wish was true, that you no longer know what to believe.

Talent, wisdom, humor, history, truth -- none of these have good substitutes.

OofDah! You'll have to dig for it, demand it, track it down, but do try to find the real thing. It's worth it.