Can You Hear the Children Crying?

Hey, I wanna talk about DHS in Oklahoma. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that they kill children here. Let’s examine this statement…from the beginning.

We have given the responsibility to a government agency to safeguard the random children in our society, the innocents with the misfortune to be born into violent, drug-addled, destitute, crazy, evil circumstances. They’re being beat, starved, tortured, molested, and as a society, we can’t have this. We pay our taxes to address this. (Mind you, this despite all evidence that government is inept and corrupt.) We do not consider any other option except “government.”

More often than not, the case worker dives in and realizes the whole situation is jacked up. All the relatives are weirdos. For example, exactly who is the father? Oh, he’s in jail. The mom’s a crackhead or methwhore. The biological grandparents don’t follow the rules (meaning they deliver the child to the unfit parent). Another possible caregiver is facing molestation charges. These people breed, and we’re stuck trying to take care of the offspring.

Foster homes? Yeah, I knew one person who practically ran a business (very profitable) of taking in children so she and her husband could pocket the support money. Neither had a real job. They left the kids at home unsupervised while they vacationed at Disney World.

Government-ran care facilities? We’ve heard those horror stories, too. Sexual molestation by the staff…Where to put these poor children?

The case workers and courts choose the best option they can. It doesn’t work. The child dies. We have so many here that die, it has become commonplace in our media.

The latest is a 5-year-old girl named Serenity. That's her picture at the beginning of this story. Her mom is up on charges for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy. The grandparents let the child stay the night with the mom and her boyfriend, who is a convicted sex offender, says DHS. She’s given to the dad who has never had anything to do with her. He tells them he doesn’t want her. He works the night shift at the front desk at a south-side hotel near me. Are there daycares open all night where he can drop her off? What is he supposed to do? He’s suddenly saddled with a child, against his will. He takes her to work, sneaks her into empty rooms, tells her to be still and quiet, so he’s not caught. Also, who is going to watch her while he sleeps during the day? There are two documented incidents of black eyes and bruises. He had her less than a month before he beat her to death. (The media says her body was found in his apartment, but I think she was killed at the hotel.) And DHS people thought this was the best option. An ex-girlfriend with kids by him said she would have been happy to tell them she doesn’t let her kids be near him because he’s violent. TWO documented incidents…

Caseworkers will tell you how they have 45 cases when they’re only supposed to have 15. They’ll tell you how they don’t make enough money to do their job properly, in a manner in which children don’t die. I fail to see how numbers on a paycheck justify a job poorly done. Overload is not the same thing as underpaid. Why would we want to pay them more? They suck. They seem to lack character. Oh, and here comes the proof.

Two DHS employees are to be fired over this latest deal, the caseworker and his supervisor.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-dhs-workers-say-they-will-fight-expected-firings/article/3603942?custom_click=lead_story_title

This story is the result of the media jumping like an obedient dog when the employees’ lawyer snaps his fingers. Yes, a press conference at the lawyer’s office so the employees can be given a forum to whine about how they are made a scapegoat, and they’re going to fight! (Oh, nice, you and I will be paying the lawyer bill to counter-attack and defend DHS firing them.)

The supervisor particularly disgusts me as she cries that she’ll never be able to find a new job (and obviously it’s because “they” fired her, not because of her gross incompetence). She laments that she will be reduced to waiting tables! Does she not realize she killed a little girl due to her stoopidity? She admits “somebody” should have called the ex-girlfriend. Perhaps…her? The case supervisor? Maybe she could have supervised and had someone make a quick call. Who is the “somebody” she’s referring to, for God’s sake? And did the newspaper cut the part where the two express sorrow and regret? Is it too much to hope for, that some judge dismisses these imbeciles’ case and saves us a little money?

They need to move up the chain and fire everyone along the way. Whatever bureaucratic, inefficient, ineffective system they’ve created, IT DOESN’T WORK. Sound the alarm. Ditch the old way, create a better way. Think creatively. Children are dying here – it’s worth the effort.

So, who sits on top of this pile of crap. His name is Howard Hendrick, a Republican state senator for 11 years, then appointed by Governor Keating, an R, then retained by Governor Henry, a D. He’s been in this job for decades. His degree was law. His experience was politics. And for some reason, this qualified him to run DHS. I did not notice any real-world experience. Sitting on committees doesn’t count, sorry. How can he not call for a massive overhaul of the system? Why do people choose to be the villain instead of the hero? Is he gutless? Or stoopid? Fire him.

The current governor, Mary Fallin, an R, appointed two new people to an oversight commission this month. (People sit on that commission for 9-year terms. Really.) She’s the governor, why can’t she just fire the guy and find a new visionary. Why dicker around with commissions and existing power structure (the commission hires and fires the director)? How many children have died on this guy’s watch? I’d like to see a bar graph on that, maybe a pie chart with all the children’s different injuries or perhaps how many incident reports were filed before ultimately death. What about Kelsey Smith-Briggs, Aja Johnson, Melissa Ellison…all the many others who suffer but don’t qualify as dead yet.


So, what does this commission exactly do? You’ll love this story. It’s more like what they do not do…they DO NOT read reports or congressional audits or lawsuit papers or expect the agency to comply with law. I love their excuses – “my eyes would glaze over!” and “I’m not superwoman!” How silly of us to expect that they read. And think. And oversee. The chairman of the commission thought the audit was “very, very favorable.” You see, he didn’t read it.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2011/Sep/11/okla__dhs_panel_pays_scant_attention_to_lawsuit.html

Well, Hendrick is so busy right now with all the lawsuits, the biggest being Children’s Rights suing DHS for incompetence. This has been dragging on for years now. Since 2008, DHS (meaning you and I) have paid $2.4 million in lawyer fees for outside counsel to defend DHS (to strangely enough, Mike Turpen’s Tulsa law firm). Yes, let me repeat. We’re paying OUTSIDE counsel an exorbitant amount of money to DEFEND DHS, because we think they do a bang-up job, right? The oversight commission never voted on this. Hendrick just went ahead and signed the contract. And to pay for it, Hendrick has “furloughed” the caseworkers. They work four days a week now, for less money with the expectation to do more in less time. Governor Fallin, please, please fire this guy. This isn’t amusing anymore. Children are dying.

Turpen?!! Are you kidding me? I liked Turpen 25 years ago when he ran for governor himself as a D. I giggled at his hyper, bombastic style. Now I’ve grown up and he’s become just a boring mouthpiece for the liberal cause. I can hear his defense now (wow, imagine the money he’s personally pocketing on this deal), “We don’t give them enough money to do the job! These dead children are all of our fault! Yours…mine! We all need to feel the weight of the guilt! Reach in your pocket now and make it right!” (But, you know, most of us don’t do drugs, don’t neglect our children, make good choices every day…but we need to pay more for those who do not? Okay, let’s remember this is not about the parents, it’s about the children.)

The trial is supposed to begin in 2011. Whoopee. Well, apparently, they have $2.4 million to spare, and my friends…the trial hasn’t even started yet. What will the final bill be?

Hey, Children’s Rights just wants DHS to change the way it does things. Just change. Do better. Hendrick says there is no choice but to defend.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100418_11_A1_TesaeD750643

Why? Seriously, why? How about we settle and launch change? This is also what the people want who are paying his legal bills (we the people, remember). Somewhere in the maze of bureaucracy, we lost our power and voice. Can we vote on this 2.4 million bucks? Can we vote to settle? No, we can vote in a governor who appoints oversight commissioners (when 9-year terms expire) who really don’t oversee squat. They’re lazy. Soooo, when I read that Keating “appointed” Hendrick, really commissioners who may have been appointed by previous governors “hired” Hendrick? And that Hendrick jackass does whatever he wants. My Stoopid American readers, the POWER lies in the bureaucracy, not within us. The government has taken us over. The faceless bureaucrat runs the show. They spend money like water and kill innocent children through ineptitude.

Change is hard, but Hendrick’s resistance is off the charts. We still have a societal problem not being solved. Can we give $2.4 million to a church to open a home for destitute children. We can let the D’s watchdog them…they seem to hate and mistrust church, they’d be great at keeping an eye on things. I’d rather trust the children with the church than the faceless, soulless government.

By the way, the House Speaker is calling for a performance review of Hendrick (he hasn’t had one in 9 years). Governor Fallin says she gets 10 calls a day complaining about Child Protective Services…

Meanwhile….children die.

Love Yourself, My Dear

I saw the best movie I’ve seen in years last night. No, it wasn’t “Jane Eyre” or “The Tree of Life.” It was “Madea’s Family Reunion.”

Flipping through channels, I got drawn in by a humorous courtroom scene of a judge ordering the loudmouth, heavyset, elderly, Black woman Madea to foster a little wise-cracking female juvenile delinquent or go to jail for some transgression.

I expected one of those insipid Black comedies in which the male star appears as various stereotypical characters in his family. But, what I got was poetry from Maya Angelou, a monologue from Cicely Tyson that made my eyes drain, an entire two hours packed with life wisdom, delivered in a Trojan horse-package of campy silliness. I forgot to say something about the smart music choices – jazz, gospel, Motown, the icing for pivotal scenes.

I see crap-movies all the time and can’t remember them a week later. I will not forget Cicely Tyson’s powerful performance.

It comes toward the end, during the family reunion, as the elderly women of the family walk across the ground, taking in the young men gambling and fighting, the young women half-naked drinking and gyrating with the men. The 96-year-old matriarch says “This is what we sacrificed for?”

They gather at a slave ancestor’s shack, and Ms. Tyson is spellbinding on the porch. I was in tears when she finished. She represented every Black person who came before the current young generation, the pool of that combined suffering and sacrifice. She roared “Young Black women, you are more than your thighs and your hips. You are beautiful, strong, powerful. I want more from you!” She has plenty to say to the young Black men, as well, demanding they take their place.

But the words for the women were the ones that pierced my heart. Ten years ago, I taught personal development at a “business” college. My students were strippers, hookers, junkies, drug dealers, and welfare moms court-ordered to get some job skills. My students came fresh from the failure of the public school system to my classroom, and it was standing room only. I quit after two years with burn-out.

They always wanted me to meet them in a dance club, to hang out with me. I relented once, and was appalled at the grinding and gyrating of these young women, prostrating themselves in public for the pleasure of men they don’t even know. They were drunk on the power of their sexuality, like a 14-year-old girl with newly sprouted breasts. This is the only value they had, the only power they had to wield, the only tool in the box.

Lord knows I tried to talk to them about self-esteem, self-pride, in a funny role-reversal in which the White woman teacher played Mammy to their Black Scarlett O’Haras. I clucked my tongue at them and scrunched up my face, “It just ain’t fittin’!”

I just wanted to help them be free. Free of the psychological shackles that tell them that they’ll never be able to do anything amazing except grind and gyrate. They had genuine affection for me and sensed my concern, but I lacked the dark skin of Cicely Tyson and her unique position of authority. “I want more from you!” she thundered.

Everything about this movie was so smart, using humor to break down the attitudinal barriers so the message has a better chance of successful delivery. One scene saw Madea beating hell out of a bully on the school bus. Another found her on the porch telling other old women how these “chid-ren” just need love and patience, then immediately snatching one flying by her and snarling in her face to hang up the phone attached to her ear.

The Big Message for the Black race is to treat themselves and each other better. And it is that simple. That’s an excellent message for the entire human race, period.

Criticism for the movie comes from all directions online – upper class Blacks offended by the corny stereotypes, lower class Blacks offended by the holier-than-thou preaching. I don’t care. I wish Tyler Perry would make a hundred more. I’ll go see them.

I applaud the scenes following one niece, with two children by two uninvolved men, who chooses to not have sex again until she’s married. Some criticize the scenes of her courtship with a new man as boring, “do-nothing” – are you kidding me? If someone isn’t getting it on, it’s boring?! Their first date was incredible – Poets and Painters night at a club. She recites an original poem at the mic while he paints a portrait of her.

We follow another niece being forced into a marriage with a well-to-do man who beats her. I rejoiced when she finally uses Madea’s tutorial on the technique of “hot grits followed up with a frying pan.”

Let the critics whine about spanking children versus beating spouses. There is wisdom in this, people. You have to stand up for yourself to make others treat you correctly. And Madea explains this to the niece, that only she can do this for herself, no one else can stand in as her.

One scene jarred me, however. The young women at the reunion tied their shirts up to show off their bodies, worn with very short, tight shorts. The old men were asking one girl to reach deep into the barrel to get them drinks while they gawked. These are family members! This was so gross. Then I realized it was yet another message Mr. Perry was sending to women – you will be treated based on how you dress and view yourself.

This movie is the most loving, love letter, written especially for Black women, but women of all races can feel the love and appreciate the sentiment.

A picture of Bert -- a wily old black man, a former slave who forged a future for his family in America.

The Story of Bert

I read the most touching story about the family of an ex-slave, Bert Luster, in the local alternative weekly. I actually cried. Not from joy, but sadness, as I read his words captured in a narrative collected by a black reporter in the WPA (New Deal program).

Scattered among the “dems” and “dats,” is a story of how mean those Yanks were and how good the white folks was to “us niggers.” White men were shot by the KKK for trying to teach blacks in the 1910s and 20s. That was the word that made me break. This was a freed slave! I wanted this fellow human being to lift his head proudly.

We think only of the change forced on white slave owners, to deal with their labor issues and collapsing economy on their own. We rarely think of the change forced on black slaves, to figure out how to support and care for themselves. This change was necessary but hard. Why weren’t we smart enough to recognize the need for a plan to transition the economy of the South to something else and transition these people to new jobs in new businesses.

And that is the CHANGE many are still struggling with. A government has filled the new role of master.

But, thank God, the story continues with his descendants. History constantly moves forward. We met a university professor (insert my big, happy smile) who, despite her joy to discover his freed slave narrative, was dismayed by the language in it. We learn that WPA writers were given instruction to use “dems” and “dats,” obviously someone’s stoopid political agenda. Or maybe one black reporter’s agenda, to spice up the flavor of the piece. The great-great granddaughter insisted he didn’t speak that way.

Grandson Frank Luster, raised by Bert, said he was savvy, spoke however he was expected in different situations, to his advantage. This “downtrodden” freed slave, at different times, was a real estate broker, farmer, produce importer, clerk for the State Board of Agriculture, and janitor at the state capitol. He originally moved from Texas to OK so his kids could receive an education.

“I came to Indian Territory in search of educating my kids,” he said. “I landed here 46 years ago on a farm not far from now Oklahoma City. I got to be a prosperous farmer. My bale of cotton amongst 5,000 bales won the blue ribbon at Guthrie, OK…dat bale of cotton and being a good democrat won for me a good job as a clerk on the Agriculture Board at the State Capitol. All de white folks liked me and still like me and called me ‘cotton king.’ “

When I think of the intelligence and perseverance of this man, I could scream at every confused, young black man today, engaged in crime, violence, drugs, gangs…doing everything but paying attention in school. My heart breaks at the disrespect shown to this ancestor’s hard work and sacrifices. I feel the same way about women who don’t vote. Really? People died for you to have certain rights, and you don’t care?

Other narrative excerpts found online:

“I am a member of the Church of God. My wife is a member of the Church of Christ. I’m a good democrat and she is a good Republican.” (I adore this couple!)

“I’m glad slavery is over, but I don’t think dem white folks was fighting to free us niggers.” Despite the contrived ebonics, you can tell how smart this man was.

The Story of Bert is this: In a few generations, the great-great grandson of a freed slave once custodian of the House of Representatives is elected as a member of the House of Representatives (Rep. Mike Shelton, D-OKC).

That WPA narrative? If the government’s name is on it, it’s usually a lie. The truth is found with the people, the ancestors and the lives they live today.

The Story of Bert should be told in every church this Sunday, taught in every classroom next Monday. It’s a story that teaches all of us to face an uncertain future with courage and hope for the best. And reminds us to shoulder the burden of expectations of our ancestors with resolve. It’s a salute to excellence.



A recent photo of some of Bert's descendants...yeah, the guy with the bow tie is the politician.

Trumping China

In every article playfully postulating and probing whether Donald Trump plans to run for POTUS, there’s a tidbit of him hammering China.

“I would tell China that you’re either going to shape up, or I’m going to tax you at 25% for all the products you send into this country. I’m all for free trade, but it’s got to be fair trade,” he said. “China has taken advantage of this country for a long time.” Trump said China stands to make $300 billion from trade with the U.S. this year.

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/04/06/n_trump_china_sob.cnnmoney/
What’s the deal with his focus on China? A friend commented that it’s never a good idea in foreign policy to antagonize someone to whom you owe a lot of money, and has a bigger army. I would tend to agree!

But I can’t get this out of my head. By golly, I think the Dude with the Toupe has hit it on the head. Everything.

We stood a better chance of funding LBJ’s Great Society if we had healthy American Business to pay for it. I’ve heard (repeatedly) that taxes are paid by the middle class and all those amazing small American-owned businesses. Yeah, the mom-and-pops. The ones who went out of business because they couldn’t price their goods to compete with the Chinese crap sold at Wal-Mart. Over half of them in bankruptcy court are there due to tax debt.

Nixon and Kissinger extended the olive branch and opened the gates and we got flooded with cheap Chinese crap. Substandard food, dangerous toys and furniture. It’s tough to find seafood in American grocery chains not “farmed” in Asia.

So Chinese imports ran ‘em out, resulting in no taxes collected from those American businesses. And no taxes on the Chinese company’s profit. And no jobs for the Americans at those belly-up companies, thus no personal taxes from them and the added burden of their welfare. The American economy just shrank from those less companies, less jobs, less GNP, less taxes. (I believe it was offset for a while off and on by other factors.)

This is the picture for the last 35 years. Protectionism…a dirty word for those wishing to hurry along that vision of a global economy. I used to like the idea of Germans making the beer and Japanese making the cars. After 35 years of kumbaya, I think we need to look at protecting our own interests. We’re the ones who got hurt in this deal, and to add insult to injury, China is now coming into America and buying up the struggling businesses and re-opening defunct businesses as “foreign investment.” Who gets the money in the end? And Americans are thrilled to get a bone thrown their way – they get to go back to their job at the factory, and we at least get their personal tax, tax on purchases, and them off welfare.

And our appetite for more and more Great Society benefits has grown out of control, forcing spineless politicians to spend money we/they don’t have. Who’s got money to lend so we can continue to operate – China.

The road doesn’t run both ways, you see. They won’t allow our exports in or foreign investment.

Lord, it’s a nasty place. My engineer husband dealt with Chinese factories a lot a few years back when his factory began buying all raw materials from China and assembling in Mexico. The U.S. locations were closed, except skeleton crews of engineers and salesmen.

What they’re doing to their people and environment is wild. Wanton. Hubby said it’s freezing and filthy in the factories, no heat, little light. We need to think of a new word for “sweat shop,” a cold Chinese version. They’re not going to pass labor laws and environmental protection laws unless they’re hurt in the pocketbook.

I glanced at a book at the library today that suggested “how China goes, the world goes,” meaning they are so huge and have such a large impact, we’re all screwed together. They’re beginning to amass wealth in a newly developing upper class, very into conspicuous consumption, and they’re hungry. I’ve referenced before their Industrial Age on Steroids. They are the largest contributor to global warming right now, and they want more cars.

Blaming China for our weak economy may seem simplistic. A case can just as well be made against labor unions who made it impossible to price products competitively. Maybe it was just a perfect storm, with the Democrats and their labor unions and the Republicans and their trade agreements. But, what if cheap Chinese crap had never been introduced into our market? And more recently, communication between Chinese and American businesses to escalate the purchase of their raw materials and components.

Every time someone buys something, an impact is felt somewhere.

And we’re continuing to do it. Oil. Gulf Coast. Brazil. My friends in Houston explain. Obama froze all new drilling permits after The Big Spill. He has since un-frozen the approval of new permits, visited Brazil, and the only permits he has approved are for Brazilian oil companies. He wants Brazil to get rich, not America. We need American companies to drill, if anybody’s going to drill, to make a FAT profit so we can tax it. I don’t know, maybe Brazil will loan us some money so we can continue to operate our welfare society. They seem nice…snivel, snivel.

It’s about jobs. And Obama just gave ‘em to a bunch of Brazilians.

I like the idea of a businessman as POTUS, for a change. Hell, I liked it 20 years ago when I voted for Perot. I understand what Trump means when he says China has been taking advantage of us for a long time, and if they don’t shape up, he’ll tax all Chinese imports 25%.

It’s the only way to fight our greatest enemy, who has brought us to our economic knees, without spending a dime or firing a shot. Just the public threat of a POTUS might make them open their market to us, instigate a few laws, quit playing with the exchange. The 25% tax would bring in a lot of revenue and create jobs here.

I can’t determine yet if he knows anything else, but he knows how to fix our economy.



"Obama, you're fired!"

Imposition

This is the scariest thing I've ever seen. For a lot of different reasons.

Full Frontal Face…in France!

Ah, those Frenchies. Today their new law banning the “full-face” veil went into effect, and I can’t stop smiling at the article. The French law does not single out “full-face-veil-wearing-Muslim-women,” but obviously this is an outrageous assault on their religious freedom! Pah. It’s kinda hard for me to give a s***. They could leave France and go to Afghanistan or Iran. They love the veil statement there. You know, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Personally, I don’t care what they do, wear, or subject themselves to willingly. BUT it is difficult to see in one of those things when driving a car or crossing a busy street, I would think. No, France is not medieval Persia, sands a swirling…and they have a right to make and enforce laws that uphold a safe society for all, even for the veiled ones.

I’m intrigued by the idea of disguising yourself as a Muslim chick to pull off a bank robbery, gun someone down, heck, any crime at all. How does crime compare in veiled countries with non-veiled countries. Nevermind. They get their hands chopped off for stealing (quite the crime deterrent); here they would get an all-expenses paid vacation to the pokey.

It really ticks me off when people come to a new country, refuse to assimilate or modify their behavior or customs in any way, even get militant and obnoxious in their insistence to act according to the culture of the place they left. Why did you come? Please go back. If you did not want change, why did you change countries? Why are you demanding we change? I don’t want to become Big Iran.

What is the veil thing about? Is it that the men like to hide their treasured possessions from the eyes of others, elevating their own importance as the only “man” to see her face, or does he just like to be a pain in the ass to his woman, perversely chuckling at her clumsy attempts to navigate stairs? Oops, there she went down again. Isn’t she cute? Like a pet, a clumsy dog that makes you laugh. Why would a woman want to be demeaned so? Some love it, feel it preserves their “mystery,” forces everyone to focus on other aspects of them besides physical beauty. Interesting…but only for about a second. We live in a world in which you need all of your senses to get around and stay safe. Publicly drunk, publicly veiled, not a big difference to me. Thanks for the car keys.

So, France is the first in Europe to focus on this problem…and the liberal world sees it as violating religious rights (I guess screw my rights to not be hit by her car as she squints through a slit to maneuver a killing machine through a 360-degree environment).

Well, you knew this part was coming, right. A Muslim leader is encouraging the women to engage in CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE (that almost sounded sexy), wear the full-face veil, and meet up at Notre Dame cathedral for a prayer to protest (he’ll pay their $216 fine). Will they pray a Catholic prayer at the cathedral, like a Hail Mary or something like “Please, Mary, OUR LADY (Notre Dame in French) and Mother of Jesus, don’t let them take my face veil and strip me of my religious identity and identification with the ways of Mohammed…” It kinda takes a little of the steam out of their sails…

The French Muslim chicks need a new director for their film. The location shots are all wrong, the dialogue not ringing true, not enough emotion from the main stars…

Oh, and Osama bin Laden has called for attacks on France. He’s a peach. I mean, France is just sitting there, being France, and bin Laden thinks they need to be attacked for not being Iran. Actually, I wonder if he is the anti-Christ.

One reporter managed to get two veil-wearers to speak to him. They explained that they will go out in public a lot less now, that the ban will create a hidden underclass. Create? Really? The French ban will create this?

Do you ever get the feeling that you are the only one in the world who is not a brainwashed moron?



You’re creepy! Stop it! You’re in France, for Pierre’s sake, go get a nice hat!

Obama’s New Civility

Dubya spoke recently by invitation at a small Christian college in Phoenix. One of the instructors in attendance wrote an article (that has appeared in NPR, American Thinker, Dallas Morning News, online forums and blogs everywhere) describing the gauntlet (of hundreds of protestors) attendees had to run to enter the building.

It was apparent the author enjoyed the speech very much.

“He spoke of the God-given yearning for freedom that is written in the hearts of every human being, reminding us that despite the sorrow inflicted by terrorism, the suffering endured from dictatorial oppression, and the pain inflicted by injustice, good will prevail, and God is good – always.”

(BTW, Obama should steal this from Bush for a future Libya speech, to all those of little faith…)

I found a few of the photos of protestors on the college site to include for your viewing pleasure.





I just want to know why. He’s not the guy in charge anymore. Why protest? He’s a private citizen now, speaking to other private citizens about faith, who have every right to speak, and listen, and attend an event without being harassed, heckled, and screamed at. Are they protesting that this tiny evangelical college wanted Bush to speak? Are they protesting the attendees? No one here has the power to make policy that affects these protestors. Why not protest where you can actually maybe make a difference?

Well, it’s OBVIOUS that the motive is HATE, an obsessive HATE, as strong as the day he left office OVER TWO YEARS AGO. He’s no longer the president, and the sick looneys still follow him around spewing their HATE and VITRIOL. I believe Bush is far more at risk for assassination than Obama. This is crazy.

Dippy Hippy

The counterculture was not pretty. Some believe the selfish, immature, irresponsible, unethical behavior of many Americans today has its roots in the 60s and 70s...

Presidential Hate

Many feel that the hate directed at Obama is unprecedented. I can confirm that there ARE many who hate him. I certainly don’t want to engage in a who-hated-who-more contest between Obama and Bush. (It is interesting that many Obama-supporters try to connect Obama-hate to just racism. Do they not understand the political issues? However, there are racists, and there are those who genuinely disagree with his policies who also go too far.) I must confess that I feel the natural urge to notice, point out and oppose all the hate for Dubya because I like him.

However we got here now, whether it was by defending Bush or by defending Obama, we all need to denounce the craziness. If you allow Bush-hate in your public space, you’re allowing Obama-hate, too. Everyone needs to take the high road and condemn ALL of it as terrible. This is shameful. There’s free speech, and then there’s a ridiculous extreme, the abuse of free speech.

A blogger known as Zombie spent a lot of time and energy collecting photo evidence of Bush-hate signs and displays for an article on his blog. His purposes were not what you think. Firstly, he had a difficult time finding them because they were not in the mainstream media, but photos taken by himself or individuals at events and posted, thus proving media bias. They did exist, but the media and WE didn’t think they were newsworthy or important. We accept extreme, hate-soaked displays in our public space. That is a sad observation of us.

http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=621

I’m grateful for the chance to focus on this now, even though the rationale is wonky (it was okay to victimize a white man, but not a black man). If having a black president is what it took to get our attention on this matter, thank goodness.

I am an outspoken critic of Obama’s presidency. I also think he’s a handsome man and a great salesman (with no product to sell), very pleasant and unbelievably brave. His two biggest problems are he was never a Boy Scout (!) and he hoped to parlay his lawyer-skills (the only knowledge base he has) and unusual background (his background is not the same as most Americans) into an influential political position, “to make a difference in the world.” It’s not his fault that he doesn’t understand how America WORKS; it’s ours for electing him. His intentions were good, and the road to Hell is paved with them. My opinion is incompetence. You have no idea how much I wish Obama WAS a competent black president.

If only he had been in scouts. See, he’s the guy standing on the side, talking about what all he’s going to do. Some of the other boys are actually doing, leading, advancing through projects and ranks. I can imagine little Barry then gathering the younger, littler kids together to stage a protest and demand ranks be given them, listing reasons why, all external “reasons.” It doesn’t matter what they say – nobody gets ranks and badges who didn’t earn them. Then the Scoutmaster points out to Barry how he organized this, what a great ability and what great people skills he has – now use your skills and energy to organize and lead a service project! Create value for your community and self, not take it from others and demand it be given. Use your powers for good, not bad!

(BTW, Scouts involvement fixes a lot of faulty thinking. You carry your own backpack. You earn your own accolades. It’s pure.)

However, it would bring tears to my eyes if this man were shot, like so many of the white-guy presidents were. Reagan was shot. Ford was shot at as he reached to shake the hand of Charles Manson-follower, Squeaky Fromme. Four bullets were in the gun, none in the firing chamber. Kennedy…Lincoln… Unspeakable shame. There are 20 known attempts to assassinate presidents, none so far for Obama, thank God.

I believe the secret service has their hands full, in more ways than one. When I saw the pictures of Michelle strolling the streets of Spain with her 40 closest friends on vacation, I was alarmed for her safety first, then pissed at the extravagant waste of taxpayer money. Where were the agents? Not in the pictures. I wanted to yell at her to at least think of those two little girls – take a car for God’s sake! Does she think we only have crazy people in America?

So, I appreciate the vigilance today in condemning over-the-top presidential hate. Zombie states that the number of threats investigated by the secret service is up 400% with Obama. He believes an increased number of threats is not necessarily the case, but the vigilance of Americans to alert the service so they CAN investigate is.

When I see the hired demonstrators at the Wisconsin capitol blow their hoo-hubas and bang their little drum-dinkers, I could puke. They look like 2-year-olds. (Noise is a primitive attack, as someone with hearing loss and sensitivity, I don’t find this amusing.) I am not proud of these Americans and the so-called American process at that moment. We have a process that supports right to assemble and free speech, and I see a lot of demonstrations today as an ABUSE. Let’s put the freaks from Westboro Church at the top of the list. ABUSE of our precious rights!

I know proposing legislation to check abuse would never pass. But, in my dream world, we could define free speech abuse as using racial and sexual slurs, nudity (the naked men at the Berkeley parade was a visual assault!), or any images of violence and death used in a political context. (Note I did not say artistic context, although the crap coming out of Hollywood can be considered more political than artistic these days.) Then let a jury of peers decide. They just need a careful framework of law to guide them.

Stop trying to shock people to get their attention! Your argument either has merit or not. It’s obvious it does not.

NOTE: I tried to find an example of a hate-spewing Obama sign to run next to the Bush guillotine display…couldn’t find one anywhere on the same par as the stuff against Bush on Zombie’s blog. This is a great story found on another blog, put together by kids at Marquette University. Their findings? The same. Sorry, the media bias on this one is very clear.

http://mu-warrior.blogspot.com/2009/09/those-offensive-anti-obama-signs.html

Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

I wanted to share THIS picture with you because I think we have the WRONG picture in our heads when we look at limiting the right to bear arms. First, we visualize the handful of gun-toting crazies who over the years have opened fire at a political gathering, school, restaurant, and post office. They are mentally ill. And if they don’t have a gun, they strap a homemade bomb to their chest and sit on a bench at a college campus. They get lots of press and attention.

I personally imagined that the bulk of gun-owners were sportsmen. I’ve always supported their right to engage in this traditional, family-oriented activity. Important lessons about responsibility and confidence are transmitted during long periods of time ACTUALLY spent with sons and daughters on hunting trips.

A sorority sister, who hunts with her husband, sons and daughter, commented on a Facebook friend’s query yesterday. The man, a gun dealer and trainer, asked his gun-savvy female friends for suggestions for the best way to illustrate a new holster product for women that involved the chest area. My sis provided her usual wit (“well, that brings a whole new meaning to packin’ pistols”), but I can understand his dilemma as a “married Christian man.” The idea here is to get women to stop putting the gun in a purse, the first thing grabbed by a mugger.

But, this is the fascinating part (as if a bra-holster isn’t): 70% of his students are women. Concealed-carry products are the bulk of his business. Over 50% of those products are purchased by women. Everything else is a distant second.

Then, today, a cousin posted this pic proudly posing with her classmates upon completion of that man’s Concealed-Carry class! (I know, Facebook is a trip! That whole degrees of separation thing…paths zig-zagging every which way.)

This picture is an important piece of the right-to-bear-arms puzzle. We need to start imagining WOMEN when we consider chipping away at their rights.

How many of those women depicted have been beaten by boyfriends or husbands? How many raped? How many finally feel safe, empowered, calm and capable?

I’d like to add two additional puzzle pieces.

Women who recently rallied for democracy in Egypt were arrested, beaten, photographed, and subjected to “virginity tests.” Don’t ask me what a virginity test is (If the presence of a hymen is explored, is she a virgin afterward? Why do ignorant people STILL equate the unreliable hymen as proof of virginity?), BUT, if she failed, she got raped. Now, that’s a test you definitely want to study for. I realize this isn’t Egypt, but I want to make sure any American woman has the right and means to defend herself from sadistic sexists. Call it an “equalizer” or better yet “equal protection under the law.”

Second point. The wife of my husband’s young co-worker was at home with their small children in a back bedroom one recent morning. She was chatting on the phone with her husband when she heard the back door kicked in by two intruders. She met them in the hallway to the bedrooms with her gun. She killed one and hospitalized the other. Later that day this young Army engineer’s wife was busy packing everything she owned to move to another state, after receiving death threats from the intruders’ families. She did not want to have to use her gun again to defend her family. His transfer to Utah was approved immediately.

If a woman wants a gun, she should have it. End of story.

END NOTE: There are two Gravitt women in that photo, and my great-grandmother Sarah would be beaming with pride. I believe Sarah knew how to handle a piece herself since she was married to a U.S. Marshall here in the Territory, our great-grandfather Philow Washington. She would want her female kin to fight back!

There Are No Right Answers

Cooter and I are arguing about what would be the correct answer to this question on his Chapter 26 history study guide:

President Reagan’s “Star Wars” program would have
a. Put weapons in space
b. Increased nuclear weapons production
c. Stopped any attack against the United States

He insists “a.” I say “c,” because the text at no time describes the lasers on ground and in space as “weapons” (I’m trying to find exact duplication of terms). Furthermore, the text specifically says this program is to stop an attack. Young Cooter wisely said, “I don’t care what the book says. The lasers shoot and destroy missiles thus they are a weapon, and ‘c’ says ANY. Any attacks? Maybe, and that’s a big maybe, just the missile ones.” Spoken like a true video gamer.

But my son doesn’t understand that in public education, he is supposed to regurgitate. They don’t have time for a lengthy analysis. I picture the teacher staring at him, then glaring at his defiance and nerve to challenge her red mark on his paper. My son does not do well with most public school teachers, and his “grades” reflect it. He thinks too much. Sigh.

Stoopid damn public school test materials…

Wut up, nigga?

I have a wonderful friend, a black man with whom I attended junior high school in the 1970s, during the time of “busing.” For some reason, the smart people in charge at that time thought it would be good to take a black kid from a poor, black neighborhood and bus him to the opposite side of town to attend a school in a poor, white neighborhood. We both joke about how crappy this school was. Nevertheless, a wrong was set aright – money, time, and effort were expended to enable my friend and many others to attend this rotten school…and I’m personally glad because otherwise I would not have met this wonderful person.

We recently reconnected on Facebook, and this weekend I saw the pictures he posted of the 50th birthday party of his sister. She wore a blue formal gown with a sparkly tiara perched on her head. Another sister wore a gold lame’ blouse, the 80-something mother a bright pink suit with shoulder pads, sharp and church-ready! I love it when people dress in such a joyful, lively manner. That older sister was the queen of the ball, the princess of the prom, and I resolved right then to do the same when I turn 50 in three years.

Being the nosy Facebook creeper I am, I enjoyed reading the comments from family and friends, wishing the sister birthday happiness and remarking on the combined beauty of these women. Then I came to one comment from a male that said “wut up, nigga!” and I froze. Who was he talking to? The sister in the photo or the photographer-brother who posted it? Huh? How dare someone cast a cloud on this lovely family occasion!

I know my black friends call each other this and mean it like a slangy substitute for “friend.” But, is this really the right time and place? I can’t stand either version, the original “nigger,” or its stoopid cousin “nigga.” Even typing it makes me feel disgusting.

However, this is not my business, my sister, my photo, my Facebook page. But, I did wonder how my friend would view this. I seem to remember him grinning in embarrassment in the distant past, shoving a stoopid friend behind his body, like you would shove your daffy great-uncle in the broom closet before company arrives. Yeah, we all have friends like that, you know.

The comment was removed less than an hour after its appearance, as if it never happened.

Well, now I have to research it, study it, understand it. I do believe in the power of co-opting words, claiming an evil word or concept as your own and giving it a new meaning on your terms. But, where are we now in 2011? It’s still a stoopid word created by stoopid racists who were too ignorant to properly pronounce Niger. And now it is still being used by stoopid people living in the past.

The past I speak of is circa 1970s. Richard Pryor was a tortured soul and a comedic genius. He is the man I credit with the brilliant move of taking this powerful, evil word and draining it of its juice. Every last drop of hate. Laughter can do that, strip a situation of its pain and frustration, like a beautiful healing balm. Pryor was an amazing person when you begin to analyze what laughter can change AND what people laughing together can change. He was a great human being.

But. After he traveled to Africa as a tourist, he never used the word “nigga” again in his routines. I wonder if he felt, at that time, that the word’s time was over and now its widespread use might hold black Americans back in their collective psyche of how they regard themselves. I wonder if he was a little sad at his part in society holding onto a word that should have been buried with no funeral, or a little happy at his part in moving us all down the healing path to a better tomorrow. I’m sure it was both.

I don’t regard black people as “niggas,” and I am impatient with those who still do. I am impatient for a new world, the future.

The best Internet discussion I found of this situation was on the site of black political pundit and Columbia University professor Marc Lamont Hill. Dr. Hill, a pleasant and charming liberal, wrote a very funny piece on this topic. “We’re conflicted!” he asserts. I smiled throughout the article.

http://www.marclamonthill.com/is-it-ok-to-call-niggas-nigga-1511

He asks for a little more time and understanding as black America wrestles with this weed in its front yard. Okay, Marc. Take all the time you need, my friends, but please hurry. Because we need black America and ALL-ALL-ALL of its energy, intelligence, forbearance, vibrance, and creativity, and I am anxious to see it in my lifetime.

Join me in making this a better place before we, too, have to leave.




Richard Pryor, RIP

The Movie Star

A friend asked that I write a little thing acknowledging today's passing of one of the greatest movie stars of our time, Elizabeth Taylor. He included some thought-starters:

"Breathtakingly beautiful. Fat and Bloated. Child star. Sex symbol. Award-winning actress. The marriages. The divorces. The jewelry. The career. National Velvet, Little Women, Raintree County, Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Violet eyes. Perfume. Champion of AIDS sufferers. Self-absorbed. Generous and giving. The world is a lesser place without her."

I think his words stand by themselves as a fitting tribute.

The only things I would add are: Did you know she raised more money for AIDS research than she ever earned as an actress? And she was the first actress paid $1 million for a picture. (Debbie Reynolds, whom Liz burned when she stole her husband Eddie Fisher, was the second.) :^) A traditional 1950s woman who really knew how to make the dough...

The Total Package

This pic is for those of my friends who have never seen it before...it sort of "commands" your attention, huh.

I laugh everytime I see this photo! I insist that George W. Bush was the greatest war president we've ever had.

World Peace

“…for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.” – Ronald Reagan, 6/12/87, standing near the Berlin Wall, delivering his famous “Tear Down This Wall!” speech.

Mr. Obama has no idea how to claim and frame world events around him to mold perception of himself and US as the fortunate heroes we are. He should take a tip from the master, Reagan, who knew how to put smiles on American faces, flushed with pride. He really knew how to peddle hope and lift a country’s spirits. Mr. Obama is probably a nice person, but he is out of his league. I really believe he has no one capable around him to help him fulfill his role in history. I prefer to believe that scenario instead of Mr. Obama refusing to listen to the advice of any capable advisors.

He missed the opportunity on this one (to position us as the victor over tyranny and the deliverer of freedom in the Middle East) because I suspect he really does not see the situation as thus. But, I do – yes, I see big possibilities in small, routine news items (we have become so jaded to life around us.) The people of Egypt oust their dictator – oh, that’s nice. Gadhafi flies in mercenaries to mow his own people down when his generals refuse to – oh, that’s sad.

Wake up! See the opportunities and possibilities! Remember: Educated, free Muslim women do not VOTE for their sons to become suicide bombers. I think I can glimpse World Peace, in my lifetime.

And for the 10th time, when I look to Mr. Obama expecting to see leadership, something to get behind and rally us together, I see…nothing. And when I look around, at us? Bickering. Confusion. Nonchalance. Like usual. Remember the oil spill?

God, I miss Ronny. He would be having a heyday with World Peace within his grasp. Funny how Reagan will always be perceived as a hawk, while Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize, for being black, certainly not for assisting the populace push for Democracy in the Middle East, and thus ushering in human rights, education, TRUE progress. The very idea of that still makes me light-headed, even giddy. That’s real change, real hope. Why is Obama so cautious on this?

Because he has no idea who he is, who we are, or what he believes in. The rest of us don’t know, either! Will he be the guy who gave billions to unnecessary or nonexistent projects to stimulate the economy (don’t think that worked). Will he be the president that brought free-health-care-for-all, or that’s what was supposed to be in the 1000s-page bill no one read…(we’re still not clear on exactly how this will work or if it will be declared unconstitutional or blocked by states who can’t pay for it). He’s definitely the guy who, faced with the worst instance of environmental damage inflicted by industry, set up a commission of lawyers to negotiate for a fund for victims’ claims (and BP low-balled them on that monetary cap). Hmmm. I’m thinking here, I really am. What will be his legacy?

Oh. It’s as obvious as the nose on my face. He’s the black guy. Well, when we’re done having our token black, maybe we can get a president who really sees himself as The Leader of the Free World. He can be purple for all I care. But wouldn’t it be incredible if he was black? You know, with all those powerful concepts of Leader and Free thrown into the perception of him. That is who Obama COULD be. If only he could embrace it.

Well, I don’t think we’ll ever see him strut down a carrier deck in a pilot’s jumpsuit like “W” or Putin (with his, you know, “package” on display), but I can help him out with the speech (to replace that lame-ass one I heard on NPR explaining the scope of the U.N.’s resolution to us little people who will be paying for it with our taxes).

It should have been in the evening, televised, from the garden.

“Tonight, we stand. We stand at the beginning of a new world, one of peace and unprecedented cooperation between its inhabitants. We stand witness to the desire of the peoples of the Middle East and we hear their cries for freedom. We stand ready to help, by evening the playing field. And by doing so, we all stand a chance for harmony and happiness. It’s time for us to take a stand.”

And, that is how you take your place in history. Not by explaining that we have to go do this because the U.N. told us to.

The Last Word

The last word on former President Gerald Ford comes from a New York Times article.

[Mr. Nessen and others said they particularly enjoyed swapping memories of how Mr. Ford had treated people, regardless of their station in life, with dignity and respect, and how he had never taken on airs.

He described the day when Mr. Ford’s dog, Liberty, made a mess on the carpet in the Oval Office and a Navy steward had scrambled to clean it. The president stopped him.

“ ‘I’ll do that,’ ” Mr. Nessen recalled Mr. Ford saying. “ ‘No man should have to clean up after another man’s dog.’ ”

Mr. Ford’s energy secretary, Frank G. Zarb, remembered the time when Mr. Ford had been ready to make an announcement to the White House press corps but then realized he did not have any cufflinks handy.

“He got two paperclips,” Mr. Zarb recalled. “And he said, ‘Let’s go. We have more important things to do.’ ”]

Betty and the kids say goodbye...

The Healers

It’s unfair to poke fun at former President Gerald Ford. I’ve been reading up on him, and this was a great guy. There’s a lot to be said about him, in spite of history textbook publishers trying to edit him out.

First, can you name a president who inherited a bigger pile of crap to deal with? The end of our involvement in Viet Nam and the fall of South Viet Nam, a sick economy with staggering inflation, and widespread disappointment and disillusionment in our government, thanks to Nixon and Watergate.

You know how we gripe and curse our politicians today, or merely shrug when we hear the president was caught in a bald-faced lie and cover up? It wasn’t like that before Nixon…well, and I guess, during, huh.

(Actually I can think of a poor schmuck who inherited a bigger pile of crap…Lincoln, but I’m digressing…) We just “lost” a war, the economy was in the toilet, and the president was impeached. Here you go, all yours.

He did try to do something for the economy, called Whip Inflation Now – WIN – get it? It didn’t work despite that catchy name. Can you blame a man for trying? (Well, actually I can, if he runs up a trillion dollar debt in deficit spending in the attempt because that is just crazeee.)

So, he mostly just tried to stay the course. And, Nixon did pick the right man to succeed him. Many are quoted as saying in his 25 years in the legislature, he never spoke an untruth or spoke ill of another. I don’t think I could do that. I would have to speak ill of my co-workers! Only 3 in the Senate did not vote for him to become vice president. This was, by all accounts an honest, nice man. He’s the only president who was an Eagle Scout. He was captain of his football team. He washed dishes at his fraternity house in college to pay for it.

Another great accomplishment, in my opinion, was marrying Betty, despite the general opinion that a divorcee-ex-dancer would ruin his political career. Who does not love this woman? She’s breaking taboos, sharing her mastectomy with the world, marching for ERA, talking about her sex life with the prez in women’s magazines, yakking on the CB radio as “First Mama.” Buttons were made for his re-election that said “Vote for Betty’s Husband.” She often made sandwiches and coffee for the secret service detail, delivered by Gerry. Her approval rating was 75%! And the last thing to say about her is consider the lives she has healed with her Betty Ford Center for addictions and the lives she saved with breast cancer awareness. She gives Eleanor a hard run for Best First Lady we’ve ever had, only in the job three years.

While Gerry was busy healing a nation, she was busy healing a nation of individuals.

His stance on gay rights: gay and lesbian couples “ought to be treated equally. Period.” He was part of a group working inside the R-party to make sexual orientation a NON-ISSUE. Thank you. The Equal Rights Amendment: Outspoken supporter, urged ratification.

After he was sworn in, he immediately addressed the country. “I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers.”

How could we have skipped over these wonderful people?

For his funeral, he requested his college fight song play instead of “Hail to the Chief” and a large role made for the Boy Scouts of America. 400 young men in uniform provided escort; others served as ushers.

Many historians consider his loss to Carter a “sacrifice he made for the nation.” He died of heart failure in 2006, the longest living president.

Despite the image of being a klutz (thank you, media, for your part in creating this false legacy), he played his role in our nation’s history with uncommon grace.

Ah, Yes, the Ford Years

I am gonna drive everyone crazy the next few weeks writing about Cooter’s U.S. History textbook, as we focus on recent history, the events that have shaped the last 40 years of our country and my life.

Cooter commented that Gerald Ford got only three paragraphs, out of the 1000-page text. He asked if I remembered anything about him. I had to laugh because the only thing I remembered was funny montages of his stumbling and fumbling his way from the helicopter on the lawn to the house. His eyebrows went up. “Really? You know he was a football player.”

Well, I think the skimpy coverage does say something about the guy who was the 38th president of our nation and who was NEVER elected as president NOR vice president. How is that possible? Nixon APPOINTED him when his vp Agnew resigned, and so Ford elevated when Nixon resigned.

What the quick treatment says is he did pretty much nothing (except immediately pardon Nixon), he basically kept the seat warm for Carter who was swept in during a very anti-Republican election. Ford barely beat out Ronald Reagan for the presidential party nomination in 1976. Then got stomped by the post-Nixon, anti-Republican sentiment. And so we ended up with Jimmy Carter…who was a very good man, but not as good of a president.

And for that reason alone, yes, Nixon, you were a crook.

I almost feel slimy posting a link to his trippings...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlz0he9rtKw

When to Throw the Penalty Flag?

A friend, that I like and respect, and I were discussing the role of government. She felt strongly that the role of government is to right the wrongs in society. Who else can do it, certainly not the citizens, they are powerless. My first impulse was to agree. After all, I can think of many instances in which the government was the only entity powerful enough to right a wrong: the Civil Rights Act, the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sherman AntiTrust Act, to name a few.

The government had to step in and right the unacceptable wrongs occurring for blacks in the South. It would not have happened on its own, I believe this. Regarding immoral and unethical businesses destroying our environment, how can we as citizens keep an eye on every business dumping toxic waste into our water supply? Yes, this needs a governmental solution. (Although, today, one could argue how ineffective the EPA is in its task since some businesses still dump toxic waste irresponsibly and bribe officials to look the other way.) And who can possibly take on a monopoly other than the government.

However, now that I have had a little more time to ponder this statement, I want to disagree with my friend in many cases. People do have power, with their money. They can choose to spend their money with conscientious businesses. This requires an informed populace and an ethical, resolute free press, neither of which we have at the moment, though. The U.S. is like a perfect storm, with coalescing factors swirling together (an uneducated populace due to the failure of public education, stoopid politicians elected with no expertise or experience in any area -- some who can barely think or speak, entire industries guilty of immoral conduct, labor unions with business-killing demands, huge percentages receiving public assistance, high taxes, high unemployment, deficit spending, shocking debt, dependency on foreign business and governments…). What will be the result? A tsunami wave, an earth-shattering quake, a hurricane sucking the country down into a vortex?

In a perfect world, the people do hold the power to right wrongs with their pocketbooks. I suspect we see it all the time around us and do not recognize it for what it is. I think the American people repudiated anti-business labor unions many years ago…when they chose to buy Hondas and Toyotas instead of Fords and Chevrolets. And instead of letting the people’s economic vote stand, our government took our tax money and used it to rescue the auto industry, allowing the grip-hold of unions to continue, now sucking the life out of not only their host companies but the American taxpayer as well.

This is what that previous sentence means: You chose to buy a Toyota because it was a better product for less money (compared to the jacked up Chevy price to cover ridiculous American factory labor costs). And then your government decided you needed to buy a Chevy, too, with your taxes, so that we can “save” the manufacturing union jobs. Your money supports two car companies, although you only selected one. And, you only got one actual car to drive home.

Was British Petroleum punished for its oil spill last summer? For a long time, stock analysts recommended buying the seriously devalued stock, as the large multinational company will surely rebound. There’s fortunes to be made. Now, some are starting to say sell, the costs associated with restitution of the spill will only continue to escalate, that there will be no happy ending. So has the punishing power of the people’s money done its work here? Way too early to say.

Recalls of contaminated food? Punishing bad companies with our buying decisions should definitely work in this case. But, I read that we are developing “recall fatigue,” not even paying attention to recalls since they have become so common. Costco now telephones customers to let them know they purchased a recalled item. Does this relay into any economic punishment? “When spinach was recalled in 2006, consumers took over a year to return to previous spending patterns. But after recent calls of peanut butter, beef and eggs, customers came back in a matter of weeks.” Okay, so, yes and no. We have to eat, for God’s sake. And the same food producers sell their food to different packagers and marketers…gee, it’s like a hidden monopoly in some instances. Actually, shouldn’t we reward companies who do recall items instead of those who let it go?

So, what’s the stance we should adopt for governmental involvement? If a financial punishment/reward by the people will work, let it. If a church or a charity can step in and help, let them. We need to be very careful about the new areas of influence we allow our government. So the question becomes for each American, what are the wrongs so seriously wrong, and no other recourse exists to fix it, that the government must step in and right? Could boycotts have worked to solve the civil rights issues? I don’t think so, we were seeing bombings of churches and buses, murder, beatings, outright criminal behavior skewing the natural order of economics. Civil Rights is just the perfect example of when a government must get involved and RIGHT a serious WRONG.

Many people feel that any abortion under any circumstances is a wrong the government must right. Others feel not creating a system for free universal health care for all, as an advanced civilization, is a wrong that must be set right. Some feel that the human rights violations in other countries is an unacceptable wrong to be righted, their sense of decency is offended, and they cannot simply avert their eyes. I understand and sympathize with all these positions…and yet, disagree completely that these are areas requiring, even demanding, government action.

We simply do not have the money to do all the wonderful things we’d like to. And whatever we endorse as a government (such as the current model of medicine) may show itself as criminally negligent in the future. Kind of like backing Saddam Hussein with our money, satellites, helicopters when Iraq attacked Iran in 1980. Yeah, we really did that. And don’t you wish you had that money back…

Young Black Men

A news item in the local paper caught my eye…an 18-year-old student at Edmond Memorial High is charged with aggravated assault and battery after fracturing the skull and jaw of a 15-year-old student in the school restroom. The older kid is black, weighs 270 pounds, plays football and identifies himself as a “Rolling 60s” Crip. The younger kid has a Mexican surname, weighs 155 pounds.

[Police reported Fields admitted hitting and stomping the other student, saying Sanchez used a racial slur and “got what he deserved.”

Police reported Fields also said “this is what you get when you mess” with someone “from the hood.” Police reported Fields repeatedly described himself as a “Rolling 60s” gang member.

Witnesses said the assault began because someone in the bathroom was singing a rap song, which has the slur in it, police reported.]

So, the Mexican kid may or may not have been the one singing. Details are sketchy on that. Regardless, Fields is an idiot. And a dangerous one at that. Who knows what situation he will misperceive next, there’s already many packed into this little scenario. First, mistakenly assuming he was the personal recipient of a racial slur and possibly mistaking who made it, then thinking an acceptable response to that would be breaking someone’s skull and jaw. This is a stoopid and dangerous individual. How should we as a society try to fix this? Can this young man be rehabilitated, taught to be more patient before reacting with his fists, taught more appropriate responses? Sure he can, but the chances are not likely in our current system. He will be given a year in prison where he’ll really learn the dope on how to be a career criminal – why bother with a trial, he already confessed to the crime.

Another question is why would a football player be so eager to claim gang membership? This is Oklahoma, football is serious business here, and a 270-pound defensive lineman on the MaxPreps list has a future. At one time this boy was ranked 25 in the state in his position. Did the gang influence outweigh the football influence?

So, what’s up with the Rolling 60s Crips – who the hell are they and why are they in an Oklahoma City suburb? Wickipedia: “According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Rollin’ 60s is ‘the largest black criminal street gang in the city of Los Angeles with between 2400-4500 members just in LA…Gang activities include pre-meditated murder, bank robberies, rape, drug trafficking, carjacking, assault and vandalism.’”

Did this idiot not realize he had a future?

Why the hell are they here, in the heartland – we already have tornadoes, snow blizzards, flooding, out-of-control grass fires, dust storms, ice storms that make trees explode, an earthquake that shook my house, temps that range from below zero to over 100 – do we really need the gang problem, too?

So, how did the Crips become an organization with 35,000 members in multiple subsets (over 800 by 1999)? The top four states with the highest estimated numbers of members are: California, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. You’ve got to be kidding me. We’re freaking Crip-Central? This is sort of funny if it weren’t so damn tragic. Missouri – the Ozark mountains, home of the hillbillies? Oklahoma – nothing here but plains grasses, blackjack scrub, cows, and oil wells drilling here and there. Wow. Why have we fallen prey to a foreign invading sweep of gang culture? (Trust me, California and Oklahoma are like foreign countries to each other!) Why does anyone succumb?

According to the Wikipedia article on the Crips, two guys joined their little street gangs in 1969 to fight other little street gangs. They became known as the Crips, a reference to the young age of 17 of the members (cribs) that morphed into crips, short for cripples, when some started carrying canes to display their pimp status. But, this is the line that makes me see red in the article.

“Gang activity in South Central Los Angeles has its roots in a variety of factors dating back to the 1950s and 60s, including post-WWII economic decline leading to joblessness and poverty, racial segregation leading to the formation of black “street clubs” by young African American men who were excluded from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, and the waning of black nationalist organizations such as the Black Panther Party and the Black Power Movement.”

The Boy Scouts refused to let black young men join? Really? And the Black Panthers were waning in 1969? Hmmm. Why would they name the BSA, the only one named mind you, for widespread racism?

This was written by someone who has no idea how BSA works. The BSA is not a top-down organization, in which a group of men sit on high and make decisions how things are going to happen in the thousands of little packs and troops all over the nation and world. No, it’s the greatest, largest mobilization of community volunteers the world has ever seen. Packs and troops are run by volunteer dads and moms, who commit their time and energy to delivering a program in their neighborhood. The parents choose whether they will work to ensure a certain experience for their children, and they are not paid one dime. Every unit reflects the cultural make-up of its community. You would be shocked to know how few paid positions there are in the BSA. And those guys concern themselves with background checks and training of all the volunteers, raising money, and moving resources to the local units.

Yes, there are strict, tough troops with strict, tough dads running the show, with military ties. They camp a lot, engage in high-adventure experiences. There are soft, laid-back troops, who focus on merit badges like Reading. All sorts of crews or explorer posts that focus on a future profession or hobby: law enforcement posts sponsored by police departments, scuba diving venture crews, etc. The typical BSA unit today is sponsored by the Mormon church, but executed by the parents in the neighborhood (although, there are a lot of Methodist church-sponsored units). Through ongoing training of the adults, a strong, vital unit can be maintained for years.

Little Johnny’s dad, Scoutmaster of Hoolaboolah, may have been guilty of racism in 1969, probably was. But, that may not be the official stance of the BSA, and the BSA cannot control what every volunteer does and says. Let’s look closer at black involvement in scouting.

The first black troop was formed in 1911 in North Carolina. (BTW, the BSA was not officially chartered by the U.S. Congress until 1916, so this troop probably applied for a charter from England. The Boy Scouts of America was just getting started in 1910.) By 1926, there were 5000 black scouts in 250 all-black troops (segregation was not the fault of BSA). By the 1960s, a committee on inter-racial service became Urban Relationship Service, working to establish units for inner-city children of all races. According to this article found on a website for the African American Registry, “Programs targeting gangs were unexpectedly successful, and in many cities as many as 25% of boys living in housing projects were enrolled in the Scouts, many former gang members.” Of course, units in the north were integrated, most of those in the south were segregated. After the Civil Rights Act, all units became integrated except those that chose to remain all black. (And I have a problem with that actually, it’s called reverse discrimination. However, I am sensitive to the needs of individual communities and their methods to achieve their goals. A BSA unit ONLY reflects the composition and commitment of the individuals in its community.)

The greatest program for young men in the history of the world is available to all young men. Oh, thank God. The only thing you need is volunteer parents to run the unit. However…even that is changing today in high-need areas. Yes, units are sprouting up all over for the sons of homeless families and sons of incarcerated single mothers, all conceived and executed by VOLUNTEERS who are not the parents. God bless those citizens providing this service for the future of our nation. Tears well in my eyes looking at the pictures and videos of little boys given blue shirts, yellow kerchiefs and a code to try to live by, with or without their compromised parents.

So, how can someone carelessly claim the BSA excluded black youth and furthermore, name the BSA as a CAUSE of the rise of gangs, and how can the rest of us let that sort of statement pass? Did you know some scout jamborees were raided by Ku Klux Klan? The scope of this lie is absolutely breathtaking. They not only included black boys, but bared the brunt of radical crazies because of it.

What about advancement, were black scouts blocked from achieving high ranks? Let’s talk about Eagles, those young men who defy the odds (less than 2% rise to this top rank). Do you know what it takes to earn the Eagle rank? The young men who do this are special, there is something inside of them driving them forward with positive attitude. It would take too long to explain all the 21 individual merit badges with escalating pre-requisites in specific areas, the numerous pieces of each rank building toward the next, endless boards of review and scoutmaster conferences, and the Eagle Service Project itself, omg, which has to be approved by several committees, volunteers recruited, funds raised or solicited, do the dumb project, the work evaluated, then all the paperwork before, during, and after. At every step is a dad or mom volunteer checking quality, character and intent before signing off. Some young men do this incredible thing as young as 14, however most are 17. This is not easy, and I propose that most American adults could not do this. Eagles go on to win Nobel Peace Prizes and fly spaceships to the moon. They will naturally assume roles of leading this nation.

The first black Eagle was probably Edgar Cunningham in 1926 (uh, that was 43 years before the Crips formed), and the reasons this is uncertain are because several young black men eagled at that time and BSA does not ask ethnicity on Eagle rank applications.

There was Dr. Frank “Tick” Coleman, of Washington, DC, eagling in 1927, who went into education and counseling. Tick said “If we can get young men, young boys into scouting, it might help them get off the streets with these guns.” And you know an Eagle doesn’t just talk, they do. He dedicated many years to bringing scouting to underprivileged youth. He passed away in 2008, but a prestigious award is still given annually in his name by the BSA to its volunteer scouters who serve underprivileged youth. He said “I always wanted to make a difference.”

And what about Percy Ellis Sullivan, a 1936 Eagle out of San Antonio who went on to become a legend, first as a Tuskegee Airman then a Civil Rights lawyer. He said, “I dreamed that I could go anywhere in the Boy Scouts.”

Then there’s Chuck Smith, retired president and CEO of AT&T West, an Eagle from inner-city LA. “Clearly I wouldn’t have been president and CEO of a Fortune 500 company if it were not for this great movement of ours. I attribute every day of my success to it,” he said.

And check out Guy Bluford. While the Crips were forming in LA, he was busy getting a bunch of college degrees and flying planes for the Air Force, which would all lead to being the first African American in space. Of course he was an Eagle. He brought back the Challenger flag to a scout troop in Colorado.

Earl G. Graves, vice president of the BSA board, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, and an Eagle, said “The generation now being shaped by scouting will be strengthened by deserved self-confidence and molded with its own history of kindness, bravery, honesty, and its all-out pursuit of excellence.”

I dare you to say that the BSA excluded black youth causing a rise in gangs to the faces of these Eagle Scouts.

The answer is clear to me. If you want to make this a better world (in which young black men do not crush the skulls of young Hispanic men in high school bathrooms), get out your checkbook and donate some money to the Boy Scouts of America. I looked, there is no scout unit in Arcadia, the Edmond community where the big-wrecking-ball football player/ Rollin’ 60s Crip dude lives.



Earl Graves, magazine publisher...Eagle.



Guy Bluford, first African American in space...Eagle.



Chuck Smith, business titan...Eagle.



Percy Ellis Sullivan, Tuskegee Airman, famous Civil Rights lawyer...Eagle



Tick Coleman, mentoring football players into his 90s...Eagle.

Look at that crackerjack on the far right. Isn’t he the cat’s pajamas? I know a Senior Patrol Leader when I see one, and it’s not by the color of their skin. What is that young man going to be when he grows up? Oh my lord, anything he wants to be!

Can’t Buy Me Love

Do you notice any bias slant in the questions posed to the young readers of my son’s history textbook? Is it “unusual” to suggest a traditional, prosperous life? This is why many home school.
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I’ll tell you straight up, I am a conservative female, and yet, I hate Phyllis Schlafly. But the witch is smarter than her feminist contemporaries and tries to open eyes to a certain truth. There will never be equality between the sexes until men have the babies. They are not equal. At some things, women are better; at other things, men are. And then there are all those darn individual variations. The Equal Rights Amendment is one of those awesome little pieces of legislation that strives to change an unchangeable reality.

Sexual “equality,” or the attitude that women should be able to have sex indiscriminately, has only led to a bunch of stoopid single mothers living in poverty, and raising those children in poverty with limited opportunities. Without some kind of code of behavior, whether religion-enforced or not, our loose society has victimized those children.

Women have been made victims, too. Most women continue to work in fields that pay less, in the “pink collar ghetto.” Raising children and pursuing a career is a juggling act no one does well. They struggle to hold on to a decent job. Their education may have been sidetracked due to motherhood. They struggle to get a decent job, lacking qualifications. Hmmmm. Stoopid American Women didn’t realize by pursuing sexual equality, they would take a hit in economic equality.

Not only are the children and women hurt, but the rest of us, as well. With the influx of female workers into the labor force, who will accept lower wages, the real cost of labor has declined for all. This is a simple supply-demand equation determining price (lots of women in addition to men competing for the same supply of jobs, resulting in a lower wage paid to those selected). Add to the scenario the pressure on American Business from foreign competition with slave-like labor, and we get lowered standard of living for Americans. Married women with children MUST work (thanks to feminism, they no longer have a choice), so that the household has two crappy incomes and can maintain some quality of life, meaning a house instead of an apartment.

Not passing the ERA as the companion legislation to the Civil Rights package exacerbated the economic situation with low wages. The Civil Rights laws addressed unfair hiring, housing, and loaning practices. The ERA would have made sure all the women hired were paid the same as men. Why wouldn’t a business want to hire several women for the price of a few men? AND with the advent of Affirmative Action, businesses will be rewarded for doing it, with government money. It’s crazy, huh. They made a bunch of laws and policies that worsened the very situation they hoped to fix (low wages for some women) by dragging down wages for everyone and rewarding business for doing it.

I remember how, as a young single female newspaper reporter (all reporters are paid the same and starving), I used to snatch the fresh issue off the delivery piles, turn to the op-ed page, and rant about the latest Schlafly column. I was particularly outraged by her proposal of a “mommy track.” How insulting! I was in my early 20s and knew nothing about life, family, children, never imagined how I might one day try to balance the needs of my employer with the needs of my child. My fellow female reporters and I even made fun of her name after verbally shredding her arguments. (Of course, we were all relegated to covering the arts, entertainment, education, cooking and society beats. No females worked the police and court beats. So, we were pissed anyway.)

Fast forward 10 years. I’m a marketing mukkety-muk flying all over the world, anxiously talking to my small children in brief phone conversations in evenings. Sitting in Chicago traffic in a taxi, staring at the rain, I wished there was such a thing as a mommy track for me. Anything to relieve the pressure. I was sick from worry and guilt. I would have been happier if only the travel could have been reduced.

Look at the picture of Gloria Steinem. She’s beautiful. Wild, free, strong. Did she have kids and feel the tear in her heart? No, she did not. What if she had had a son, who came out of the womb carrying his genetic male DNA code from centuries past? Would she have understood that he now faces life in a modern world that does not value his natural characteristics? Even scorns them? Her stepson is Christian Bale, isn’t that interesting. Can you think of a more traditionally masculine male actor? Wow, who really was the British guy she was married to for three years? She recently appeared on “The Colbert Report” to tell us that men who take care of their children have better sex. How does she know this? Was there a study? Who determines what “care of their children” means and what is “better sex”? She’s a sad dinosaur in her 70s, about 30 years behind the times. Trust me, a man who doesn’t care about his children is perfectly happy with the sex he’s having, and will not fall for her promise of “better.” He’s got plenty of stoopid bitches in line.

What about Phyllis? She had six children. Still going strong with her groups, forums, books, running for offices and losing. She and her husband were lawyers. Does she ever stop to think how she played a part in creating this societal mess? Let me clarify. She defeated ERA, a simple bill proposing equal pay for equal work, which is the right thing for Business to do. If it had passed, would the radical women’s groups have disbanded with the main mission accomplished, would they have been more clearly exposed as the man-hating, anti-family, free-abortions-for-all anarchists? Schlafly stoopidly claimed ERA meant abortion funding. This is untrue and inflammatory. Socialist Democratic politicians in power means public abortion funding. These are different targets. If Conservative Republicans would do the right thing for individuals would Socialist Democrats even be necessary? They help put D’s in office who then go overboard and create crazy fiscal policy that results in one of three Americans on social welfare. Yes. Unbelievable, huh.

I’ll hate that Schlafly hag forever for the ERA thing. She says the most outrageous things, but, but…she does defend a woman’s right to not be a feminist. She is on point in her criticisms of public education.

So, what is wrong with paying women equally for equal work? Nothing. Passing ERA would have slowed down the current decline of civilization as I see it. It’s smart to treat people right. It’s not smart to relax societal standards for sex, and we women have to shoulder the task of maintaining society’s standards. We must not accept a man who beats women, who does not provide for the welfare of his children, who weakly engages in substances that inhibit his ability to thrive and compete. They should not have the joy of a companion and offspring. And if we slip, we all slide down the muddy slope.

How muddy? We now live in a society in which 41 percent of children are born out of wedlock. Hold on to your seat. Over 72 percent of America’s black children are born out of wedlock. Over 52 percent of Hispanic children are. And they will all struggle with poverty, demanding more and more from the government in exchange for their votes. Would any of these women have made the same choices without the existence of a welfare state? Hey, those women have the feminist-promised good life – have sex whenever you want, with whomever you want, no consequences to pay, because you are really just like a man…what a lie.

For all of time, women will fall in love with men (let’s assume good men) and want to have children with them. In the end, it’s the only thing that really matters. Not the job. Did you love and were you loved? Wouldn’t it be great if lawmakers quit confusing fiscal and social matters, which leads to forcing an extreme anti-family agenda on us? Has “feminism” been what is best for us? Perhaps I should say anti-people, instead of anti-family, because “family values” has come to mean extreme narrow-mindedness and hate.

Extremism is bad, no matter which direction.

By the way, Betty Friedan, author of the famous 1963 book, “The Feminine Mystique,” that started the feminist movement, wrote a second book in 1981 accusing the movement of becoming “anti-family.” One article states that as early as the 1960s, she criticized the polarized and extreme factions in her own movement that attacked groups such as men and homemakers. Yes, both Gloria and Phyllis had it wrong. Betty got it right, but no one listened to her. Her voice was lost in the middle.