The One Way Street of Tolerance

Try being white and saying the "n" word in a scholarly debate or in the context of a Mark Twain novel, or similar texts.  I dare you.  If you have uber-liberal or progressive professors or associates, you'll soon find out how much venom they store in the sacs on their necks.

We're constantly assaulted with calls for "tolerance" and "healing", especially since Obama took office, but the pleas--or outright directives to redress historical injustices--only ever target whites, TEA party supporters or Southerners--sometimes all at once.

One example would be the arrest of Harvard professor Gates by the Cambridge police.  The whole incident was a misunderstanding, prompted by a 9-1-1 call from a neighbor as Gates seemed to be breaking into his own house.  It became out of hand when Gates refused to co-operate with responding officers (1 of the 2 happened to be white) and Gates was arrested.  Barry "It's all about me" Obama had to give his two cents and said the police "acted stupidly", even before the full details were known.  Eventually, this prompted a "beer summit" at the White House for the trio and a so-called "teachable moment" for us all.  What did we learn?

It seems the black liberal establishment (Congressional Black Caucus and leading figures such as Al Sharpton and professors such as Gates) make race a perpetual issue.  They see the world though a bitter, resentful, "selective historical" prism instead of seeing the world as it is today. 

I say "selective" because for example, no one ever wants to discuss the Africans who sold other Africans into the slave trade.  As we move forward, the efforts shouldn't be to understand the plight of past or current black slaves, rather the plight of all slaves and the divine right to be free men and women.

Another example, specifically regarding the 'n' word comes in the form of a Fox 29 news anchor being fired for saying the Voldemortian word at a staff meeting discussing the word--after black associates had said it too.  He's suing.

We're so afraid of words, aren't we?  At least when it affects a protected minority group.  It's okay (and often a hoot) to insult Christians, Jews, the smart, comic book or sci fi fans, fat people, TEA party supporters...

I'm not even getting into when you "exchange words" with someone.  While a black person might find nothing comparable between getting called the "n" word or calling someone the "c" word (cracker), I find them both insulting. Whoopi has a nice philosophy of calling people out by what they are--regardless of what they are.

For example, "You blankety blank black blank!"  Or, "You blankety blank man!"  Applied across the board, this is normal way to blow off steam without being racist or sexist.  You're just telling the truth!

There is no real consensus regarding the "n" word.  It's a slang of the word negro, the root word for which means black.  Even when the word is used in historical contexts, especially in Twain, it seems to just be a derogatory slang word and is not synonymous with 'slave'.  Being treated as a slave is what makes it about slavery.  Today, the black community is divided over the word.

Some never say it at all and find it offensive like your usual assortment of four letter words.  Some use it affectionately to fellow blacks; and some use it as a run of the mill swear word with no racial implications.  This is why it makes no sense to punish a white guy saying this in an historical discussion and see nothing wrong in black people saying the same thing.

When it's not the "n" word, it's the Confederate flag that sends progressive word & image censors into fits.  If blacks can take the "n" word and make it their own and have power over it, why can't Southerners do the same in an effort to embrace their roots and Southern pride?

According to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, of Texas, a proposed (optional) license plate featuring a Confederate flag must be stopped because it's a "symbol of intimidation."  The plate will honor Confederate veterans and help fund memorials.  Lee and her supporters don't want to acknowlege their sacrifice.  Like it or not, through the pain and bloodshed of the civil war, we became one nation.  THE United States.

Lee says she will take a petition to Austin on the day the DMV votes on the design; hopefully she'll do so without intimidating anyone.

This double standard won't go away any time soon, especially in this "new age" of Obama.

Star Trek - "The Man Trap"

  Although I talked a bit about "The Man Trap" in my posting about the 45th anniversary of Star Trek last week, I decided to start writing about each episode along with the anniversary of its original airdate.  Also, for my sanity, it seems wise to talk about something as culturally important and exciting as Star Trek instead of just the horrible state of affairs in America and around the world.  Spoilers will follow, so if you haven't seen this yet in 45 years and don't want to be spoiled, read at your own risk!

Written by George Clayton Johnson

Directed by Marc Daniels

Guest Starring: Jeanne Bal as Nancy Crater

Alfred Ryder as Professor Robert Crater

Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand

Photos from the amazing Trekcore.com

  "Captain's Log: Stardate 1513.1  Our Position: Orbiting Planet M113.  Onboard the Enterprise, Mr. Spock, temporarily in command.  On the planet, the ruins of an ancient and long dead civilization.  Ship's surgeon McCoy and myself are now beaming down to the planet's surface.
  Our Mission: routine medical examination of archaeologist Robert Crater and his wife Nancy.  Routine, but for the fact that Nancy Crater is that one woman in Doctor McCoy's past."
-Kirk, through voice-over, delivering the opening lines of the series.

And so it begins! 

While on a routine mission, the Enterprise comes under attack from a murderous creature that can assume the form of anyone, real or imagined in order to drain the hypnotized victims of their salt!

We're introduced to McCoy and Kirk on the planet surface along with Darnell--a science officer, who ends up the first dead crewman of the series (and not a red shirt!)


Crewman Darnell:  He died how he lived....on Planet M113

McCoy sees Nancy, as he remembered her from years ago, while Kirk sees a more age-appropriate woman--and Darnell, that doomed sack of hormones sees a young blonde woman.  Darnell is sent outside before the differences could be compared, but they blame McCoy's initial perception of Nancy on his feelings for her.  At one point, Kirk scolds McCoy and says to stop, "thinking with your glands, Doctor."  He should have listened to Bones.  While Darnell was the first corpse over which McCoy said, "He's dead, Jim," he was not the last.

To hell with "Let's Move", We Need Salt!



One of the first clues for Kirk and McCoy--or Plum, as Nancy calls him--is the repeated request for more salt from both of the Craters.  Of course, by the time they figure out something is wrong, a third crewman is pushing up straw-like alien daisies on M113, but they only know of two deaths because Green was replaced by "Nancy", the Salt Creature before beaming back up to the Enterprise in order to engage is some salty rendezvous, no doubt.

Meanwhile, back on the ship, we start to learn about the other officers that populate the world of the Enterprise.  Spock and Uhura's conversations on the bridge show us how different Vulcans are, from showing no emotion even when your friend might be dead, to having no sense of humor.  For some reason, and I've never figured this out, Yeoman Rand delivers lunch to Lt. Sulu in a science lab filled with interesting flowers (made from tissue paper covered hands!)  Sulu thanks her by saying, "May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet."  Eventually, fans began referring to Gene Roddenberry, the creator, as the 'great bird of the galaxy'.



Hailing frequencies...hypnotized!



Green pops in to see Sulu and Rand, and is not drunk on Saurian brandy, but in fact a murderous salt monster.  Thankfully the flowers scare him off.  Uhura has a close encounter with the beast as well as it reads her thoughts and appears to be a man from her home in Africa--even speaking Swahili.  Luckily, the door opens and Rand and Sulu inadvertantly save her life.

Meanwhile, on the planet Professor Crater is proving particularly prickly as he tries unsucessfully to fight off Kirk and Spock.  It is then they learn Nancy is no more--rather the last of its species, the salt creature, had killed her and assumed her identity.  As they warn the ship, the creature has already drugged McCoy instead of killing him, and assumed his appearance.



The Wonders of the 23rd Century, plus that's not McCoy...



This is an interesting development for the creature.  Although Crater likens the murderous beast to a Buffalo, having seen its numbers drop radically and face extinction, it chooses to kill people instead of ask for help.  It is obviously intelligent enough to do so since it cares at least a little for McCoy.  Crater says the memories McCoy feels for Nancy are so strong, it in essence has created a special bond between the two.  That certainly doesn't say much for Nancy's husband's...abilities or overall relationship with his wife, but the stronger the memories and emotional bond, the more the creature can connect with a person.



I guess he has a red gash and green blood because he's half
Vulcan and half human? Or?



Starving for salt, the creature kills Professor Crater and attempts to kill Spock, but we get a glimpse of his "vulcan heritage" in the form of green blood! 

The creature as Nancy attempts to get a groggy McCoy to protect it/her from the others, but Kirk shows up and things get ugly fast---for Kirk.



Give Mama your salt!  This is for calling me a
HANDSOME WOMAN!

Kirk ends up hypnotized and about to be salt sucked by the M113 creature, when Spock arrives and blasts some sense into McCoy.  After Spock is hurled about by a scary, impervious Nancy McCoy is forced to raise his phaser in a POV shot that reminded me of Hitchcock's Spellbound and finish her/it off.

The episode ends on the bridge with a pensive Kirk saying, "I was thinking about the Buffalo, Mr. Spock." 

The buffalo didn't try to murder/impersonate people, though.  I'm glad no one from Sci fi (erg, syfy) reads this or that would end up being a saturday night movie.

The remastered images looked nice.  They expanded the landing site & Craters' home beyond the close-up of the structure we got in the original.

Overall, this episode introduced us to most of the core characters, save Scotty and Nurse Chapel and gave us a sense of the unknown the crew of the Starship Enterprise will face each week.  "The Man Trap" works surprisingly well as a premiere outing, considering it was the sixth episode produced. 

One last question I'd like to pose is, "Was it the writer's and costumer's decision to put something on the dead salt creature, or was that what NBC censors thought every respectable and fashionable salt creature should wear?"



Nancy sporting a special modesty shroud.



A Decade: Frozen & Forgotten

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since the September 11th attacks.  Hard to believe because it feels like so much longer, yet also as if we're forever frozen in those moments.

The smoke rising high above New York, the screams, the sirens, the jumpers, the anger, the sadness, the heroism...

In many ways we've forgotten so much of that day which is so etched into our collective consciousness--either selectively or by accident.  Not many politicians actually feel the weight of that day--and the death toll--as much as President Bush.  His reverence for the dead, heartfelt sympathy for their loved ones and acceptance of his responsibilities as commander in chief when it came to taking the war to them earned him respect, albeit brief respect.

So many people talk of those who died--and either through training or just by accident fail to refer to them as having been murdered by terrorists.  We also don't care to discuss how gleeful random people were in the Middle East who took to the streets to celebrate the attacks and all the bloodshed.

I still remember that touchy-feely story, "My Name is Osama" published a year after the attacks to try and quell blow-back against Muslims in America--a blow-back that never existed.  Jews are victims of hate crimes, ten times more than Muslims.  In the story encouraged for 9/11 lesson plans by the National Council for Social Studies, a character named Todd made fun of a boy named Osama.  Completely coincidentally, someone named Osama had ordered his co-conspirators to hijack a plane (United 93), but a brave group of passenger-heroes, including a Todd Beamer retook the plane, sealing their fates but saving countless lives.  I guess that was back when they thought kids knew Osama Bin Laden's name and all the other terrorists involved.  Now they know even less about history, even recent history.

As we move forward we must consider how much life has changed in America and throughout the world as a result of September 11th--and we must never, never, never forget what happened that day and those since.  The Islamo-facists still hate us and nothing we can do will change that.

We must be vigilant, awake, honest and never let the truth ride away on a plume of smoke like the ones that filled the empty skies on September 11th, 2001.

 

9/11 Project

 

The Final Frontier Turns 45 Today!

On Thursday, September 8th, 1966 at 8:30 PM, NBC aired its first episode of Star Trek and no one could have predicted the phenomenon they were launching.  (If they had, perhaps scraggly-toothed bean counters wouldn't have had their fingers on the kill switch each season of its three season run, ultimately shooting Trek out of the sky mere weeks before the moon landing.)

45 years ago today, also a Thursday, NBC decided to air "The Man Trap", despite it not being the first--or second episode produced.  From a character standpoint, the decision seems to make sense.  We are introduced to the "big three"- Kirk, Spock and McCoy, fellow bridge officers Sulu and Uhura as well as Yeoman Rand.  Uhura gets a little extra screen time, bantering with Spock about his logical Vulcan approach to life (and death).  To audiences in 1966 that hadn't really seen many strong black leaders on television before, it highlighted Lt. Uhura as a senior officer on the bridge!

The episode takes place on planet M-113 and the Enterprise is tasked with doing a routine check-in with an archaeologist and his wife--Nancy Crater, an old flame of Dr. McCoy's.  Instead, the crew comes under attack from a shape-shifting creature that wants to drain them of their salt to survive! 

With the first of 726 episodes (so far) in the franchise, Star Trek proves out of the gate it's a new, more adult science fiction.  The series even got 2 Emmy nominations for best Dramatic Series, and 3 nominations for Leonard Nimoy during its 3 year run.  What does that tell you about the quality of the show--and its message?

While we might have to wait years for more quality Star Trek on television or at the movies, we can at least look back at where it all started, drink a little Saurian brandy and continue to boldly go where no man has gone before.

*Photos from trekcore.com

The Left's Obsession with Sex...and America's Children, Part One

The left is obsessed with sex, particularly as it pertains to America's youth.  A lot of the pieces seem disconnected, but when all of these puzzle pieces from different aspects of our culture and leaders come together, what does it create?  Would we like what we see?  Could we find a way back to privacy and innocence?

In an apparent attempt to out-sex Dr. Freud himself, Kathleen Sebelius' Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has issued an online report for parents suggesting what they should tell their kids about sex, while also sexualizing children  and infants.

The document asks the question, "When Do Kids Start Becoming Curious About Sex?"

“Children are human beings and therefore sexual beings.  It's hard for parents to acknowledge this, just as it's hard for kids to think of their parents as sexually active. But even infants have curiosity about their own bodies, which is healthy and normal.”

As Scrooge might note, "there's more of fallacy than of phallus about that."  According to them, since children are human beings they are automatically sexual beings--as supported by the unyielding curiosity of infants in everything, but especially their bodies.  To mirror their sweeping generalization that being curious about your body parts justifies being labeled a 'sexual being', let's expose this fallacy (erg!).  Children are also curious about applesauce, butterflies, poop and electrical outlets, therefore they are also gourmands, lepidopterologists, scatologists and electricians.  That's one heck of a child labor lawsuit!

Through equivocation, HHS effectively lumps every human being of every age and background into the same sexually-curious group.  What are their motives?

                                                              ---

Meanwhile, if a Maryland psychiatric group B4U-ACT has their way, pedophilia will be de-stigmatized putting children at a greater risk to having their lives shattered or lost.  Even though, like anglophile, which means, "someone who is friendly to or admires England or English customs," the word pedophile (adult who is sexually attracted to young children), doesn't cut it anymore.  PC word police have redefined pedophiles as minor-attracted people.

Granted, there's a difference in having terrible thoughts and acting on them, but would B4U-ACT consider just looking at child porn or just watching/stalking children as a crime or a step in the right direction because they didn't rape a child?

This radical group is running contrary (thankfully) to the position of the American Psychiatric Association which in 2003 was, "an adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act and this is never considered normal or socially acceptable behavior."

I find interesting the B4U-ACT's mission statement and methods.  Pedophiles live in secret since the crime's as horrific as murder so it's not like they can just go to a rehab center or clinic to find the club like they would if they wanted to treat drug addicts, for example.  They instead chose to try and tear down the wall of hate and misunderstand on our side, and shame on the pedo's side to make them more accessible and 'normal', until the day comes when we're ready to embrace them.  From the "About us" section on the group's website:

Due to the tremendous barriers to communication among minor-attracted adults, mental health professionals, and the public, recruiting these volunteers proved to be unworkable. As a result, B4U-ACT chose to direct its efforts at working to eliminate these barriers.

To do this, it organized a small working group of mental health professionals and minor-attracted adults to identify these barriers, discuss how their elimination would benefit both parties and society in general, and develop plans for interventions to overcome them. This working group compiled a report of its findings and future plans for B4U-ACT.

(my emphasis added)

As with any criminal, they are the ones who put up the barriers.  Seeking help is what tears them down. This group decided not to try protect children, locate pedophiles or try and fix them as much as they want to fix our perceptions of them. As with illegal immigration, they continue to focus their efforts on trying to change the public's perception of the criminal problem, instead of trying to stop the problem.

For comparison, we haven't secured our border, deported all illegal immigrants or upheld the rule of law, instead playing off the sob-stories about foreign nationals in the United States.  The results include a troubling job market for citizens or legal immigrants, lost Federal assistance money, full-ride college scholarships, social security dollars, a slap in the face to law-abiding inhabitants (especially those who do not trespass!) and citizen-hopefuls who wait their turn and respect the land that is to become their home.  We can't forget the dead men, women, children, cops, nuns, and others at the hands of illegals, or even the sidelining of English as our national language that once united us all.

The B4U-ACT group would have us tolerate the worse brand of criminality so the perpetrators of these crimes can feel warm and fuzzy inside.  Sebelius told us children are curious about their bodies, and the B4U-ACT wants us to understand that some adults are too.

Before "doctors" wanted to normalize pedophiles, the police asked children to identify, "where on the doll did s/he touch you."  Now that children are perceived as sexual beings they'll just whip out those crime dolls and use them in daycare centers and schools to show kids where on the dolls they should touch and have touched by others.  After all, it's all about education, empowerment and eliminating barriers.

A Girl's Best Friend for a Boy's Best Friend

With the end of NASA exploration of space, and marginalization of the United States in the whole space race part deux, where does that leave us?

But wait!  Diamonds!  They are forever, and go on forever and ever on the newly discovered diamond planet!

The research team believe the diamond planet is all that remains of a once massive star, but most of its matter has been siphoned off towards the pulsar it orbits.

Let's go there!  They say diamonds are a girl's best friend; Well, Elliott would agree, ET is a boy's best friend.

Before progressivism seeped into our lives, America was without a doubt the most miraculous country in history.  Our forefathers defied the odds and created the strongest, albeit frailest (and maybe that's the key), system of self-government.  We pulled the world into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  We put men on the moon...

We must not force our astronauts to rely on Russia (or any other nation) for access to space, or to resupply the International Space Station.  What would JFK say if he were alive to see these defeatist, namby pamby policies?  Besides, how reliable are the outdated Russian spacecraft? 

An unmanned Russian supply ship crashed this week while attempting a mission to the space station.  Granted, there have been both accidents and disasters with some NASA missions, however a month after cocky posturing and bravado about the superiority of the Russian space program as it took was handed the reigns is not a good sign of things to come.

I realize, as with most of our government, wasteful spending as well as bureaucratic red tape has also affected NASA, but is that any reason to give up?  The answer is less government.  Instead of cutting off manned space exploration cold turkey, couldn't we start privatizing NASA or offering government contracts to the highest domestic bidders for private space research and implementation programs?

I say, let's help Michelle feel "luscious" again by once again exploring space.  The dreamers and scientists--as well as FLOTUS can each pursue their own goals.  Do it for the plunder, or do it for the wonder.  Either way, DO IT. 

Her days of flying ahead of her husband for an early start to her vacation are numbered, anyway.

Rick Perry & Surrogates Using Obama's Alinsky-esque Tactics (Surprise, Surprise)

For anyone who has read any of the high school recommended gem Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, this should come as no surprise, but his philosophy is alive and well in American politics today.  I want to link some of these ideas to Rick Perry, but first let me give a little context.

In "Rules", Alinsky talks about how community organizers should instruct others in various tactics to enact change and get power for themselves.  His methods ignore conventions of civilized society or making your case by arguing the merits of your point of view, by suggesting hordes of black people eat tons of beans and then fill up a theater or similar public venue and gas the rich whities.

He also gleefully outlines how super it would be to hold airport bathrooms hostage to the point of mothers telling their children to just squat in the corner and let 'er rip.  The sheer chaos this would cause!

He also is proud of this tactic: camping outside an executive's home to protest capitalism and American ingenuity, causing a ruckus, disturbing the peace, frightening the neighbors, and as is the case in recent years, trapping children alone in their home while they (SEIU "purple shirts") chanted and yelled.

The whole point of these exercises is to demonize, isolate and "freeze out" individuals or businesses they don't like, or to use them as a means to an end.  For example, demonize someone: either they get fearful, or in the case of businesses they start losing money to the competition so the harassment has the result of enacting changes.  They are nudged into submission by the mob for fear of worse reprisal.  Nudges...where have I heard that before?  

Oh yes, Obama's regulatory czar Cass Sunstein wrote the book on nudging (or shoving) people in the direction you want them to--to make the change seem more palatable ("I was happy on path X, but I guess I'll have to take path Y or they'll shove me down path Z" - when in fact they wanted you to take path Y for now anyway).

Through the whole Obama campaign (from the 2008 election until today, since Obama's campaign is unending), opponents, anyone critical, or anyone who asked a tough question was demonized, isolated and frozen out.  You don't want to be labeled 'racist', do you?  Or a "Birther"...you don't want to be one of those. (Obama's mother was an American, so he should be American too.  He just milked the confusion for all it was worth by not releasing the appropriate documentation, like every other candidate.  Hillary was the first to bring up the issue, and Obama used the situation to his advantage for years.)

Obama himself criticized the Tea Party on many occasions, trivializing them as those folks "waving tea bags", not to mention all the "tea-bagging" slurs that have permeated the political discussion for two years.

The most dangerous thing these days is losing sight of the bigger picture.  It's not all black & white, Republican vs. Democrat, good and evil.  While all of those things or groups exist, there are no absolutes.  Anyone can fall from grace, just as anyone can put principles over party.

While there can be firm, unwavering principles, such as our founding documents, when it comes to people, especially when power is concerned there are no absolutes.

Rick Perry, already established as a 'politics as usual' politician, as well as his surrogates are just as capable of wearing the progressive colors as Obama, McCain, or even on some issues, Bush.  In the piece entitled, "On the Nature of the Perry Attacks" by Erick Erickson, he claims "attacks" on Rick Perry are being waged by disgruntled Republican consultants who have backed the wrong horse in the past, gone up against Perry and lost, so now they are bitter at Perry and concerned about losing job opportunities if he gets elected.

So if you criticize Ricky, you're just an angry, bitter consultant?  What's Michelle Malkin's excuse for exposing his record and pointing to pattern of big government solutions, Nanny-state policies and usurpation of powers for the executive branch (him!)?   

It concerns me that Perry and his supporters (the approved-of Republican consultants, perhaps) would resort to Alinksy-esque tactics, but the fact that people on the right seemingly can't connect the broken political machinery of Perry to the methods Obama uses, especially after they cataloged all of these tactics for the last three years now--that truly disturbs me.

Rick Perry (or if Obama was a white guy from Texas)

Governor Rick Perry just entered the Republican primary race.  I guess we expect an initial bump in his polling and the hype surrounding him but his balloon can't deflate fast enough for me.

I'm honestly surprised that he's got the following he has, considering the BUSH = TEXAS logic many on the left have.  Why would we want to run Bush's gubernatorial successor as the Republican candidate to attempt to dethrone (correct word) Obama in 2012? 

I have specific qualms with Bush, particularly some key initiatives and decisions in his second term (although a few spending vetoes would've been nice from the start).  Overall I think he was a strong leader, socially conservative and not afraid to be unpopular especially abroad.  Obama is so afraid to appear unlikable globally that he confuses celebrity with true respect.  Still, the way the media creates controversies and (often imaginary or trivial) albatrosses to hang around a politician's neck, I am concerned about Rick Perry "making it to the next round".

Perry doesn't have the extreme leftist POV shared by Obama and his czars but he does exhibit the same "politics as usual" mindset.  Michelle Malkin collects some facts surrounding Perry's time in office that give us a glimpse of what he believes and how he governs.

One crowning jewel was Perry's executive order mandating the Gardisil 3-shot regimen for all 6th grade girls in his state.  Talk about the mother of all reasons to want to be held back!

In February 2007, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a shocking executive order forcing every sixth-grade girl to submit to a three-jab regimen of the Gardasil vaccine. He also forced state health officials to make the vaccine available “free” to girls ages 9 to 18. The drug, promoted by manufacturer Merck as an effective shield against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) and genital warts, as well as cervical cancer, had only been approved by the Food and Drug Administration eight months prior to Perry’s edict.

This is the definition of Nanny-state policies and overreaching (at best) by the executive branch.  He was motivated, he claimed, by the cervical cancer survivors he used as human shields in the debate over the drug also designed to fight off sexually transmitted diseases such as genital warts.  I guess the money Merck gave Perry in 2007 for his re-election campaign had nothing to do with his order, which was swiftly overturned by both houses.

Perry also injected (pun intended) more power into the executive branch, so he could create committees like the Texas Enterprise Fund to award taxpayer-collected funds (translation into liberal-speak: "government revenues") to corporations.  Unfortunately, his big government, cookie jar-raiding scheme didn't always work.

The Austin paper documents the unsavory case of $80,000 Perry donor David Nance winning a $4.5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. A regional board had denied the grant to Nance’s Convergen LifeSciences, but Perry intervened and ushered the grant through.

 Perry intervened and ushered the grant through.

Add these power grabs to his record on illegal immigration (despite his recent attempts at re-branding his positions), and his vetoing of a bill designed to protect property rights of landowners, post Kelo-decision, and Rick Perry looks about as conservative as Barack Obama.

One note on Perry's war against property rights.  This is Texas we're talking about.  The first things that used to come to mind were freedom, guns, and land.

I dislike Mitt Romney as a candidate because of his old-school politics as usual pedigree and Romneycare.  Rick Perry has even more black marks against him in terms of policies.

If Republicans don't wake up to these facts and start putting principles before party, sure we may still win the Presidency in 2012, but we'll lose the country under similar leadership.
It's not the "R" or "D" we should be focused on.  It's the candidates records, their words, and their ideologies.  If any candidate is willing to increase the power of government, or their own position for that matter, they clearly have lost their focus as a civil servant.

Country Radio: Remember When You Played Country Music?

I had to listen to BBC Radio 2 on the internet to hear Dolly Parton's new single.  Country radio certainly doesn't play her anymore.  Of course, occasionally they'll appease those persnickety purists with an "I Will Always Love You", or if they're feeling adventurous a "Jolene"--though that's usually relegated to the weekend two-hour "oldies" block.

CMT, which like MTV is less focuses on the 'M', or GAC rarely play her videos, or those of the radio-deemed blacklisters either.

They (radio bigwigs) seem to decide who is in and who is out--and they are incredibly ageist.  Yes there's a lot of competition and so many new artists---but those seasoned artists don't go and hide under rocks.  Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Loveless, Alison Krauss and others thrive in the 'folk' or 'bluegrass' genres.  The distinction shouldn't preclude them from being on country radio, which of course was founded in those pure, American styles.

'They' say after all, that country-rock and country-pop, and alas, country-rap, are all vital forms of country music.  That's how you get your Jason Aldeans and Carrie Underwoods.  Personally, I think Jason Aldean hit it big with "Big Green Tractor" and his 'sound' has become less country ever since.

Dierks Bentley's Up on the Ridge album was an acoustic, bluegrass album that was as true blue as it was true to his own writing and musical styles he'd perfected up until that point.  Country radio ignored him, regardless of the praise and accolades he received.  Why?

As a new song on the radio states, "country must be country wide".  Prove it, people.

The unholy alliance between out-of-touch radio stations and equally unholy record labels has created fringe artists out of so many music giants, and other big names who were just coming into their own.  Alan Jackson was recently dropped by his label, a year after being ASCAP Songwriter of the Year/Artist (a distinction awarded to the aforementioned Dierks Bentley for his Up on the Ridge album the following year).  Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Suzzy Boggus, Clint Black, Travis Tritt, Dolly Parton, JOHNNY CASH, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, and countless others still have (or had, in the case of Johnny Cash) something to say and are marginalized by the very people that should be sharing their work with the world.

Now, I don't always love each song by my favorite artists equally so I'm sure everyone has different opinions about each new single, but to have Dolly not even make the top 40?  She still sounds amazing--and has her own theme park!

I know this isn't a unique concept to country music, or the Goo Goo Dolls' latest (and I believe tightest) album would be making more of a ripple.  The same goes for the UK and the cold shoulder they've shown The Feeling with the release of their third album.  I guess the boys in the Feeling and Goo's better start wearing meat purses if they want to remain relevant. 

We forget that these gatekeepers are deciding our culture everyday by making decisions that elevate trash, or hide away traditional sounding music or anything that might be positive.  Gaga and all those rappers--not to mention country acts that mirror them permeate every aspect of our culture from the radio to movie trailers for Pixar films--to how America's youth talks to one another, acts and dresses. 

It's great that the internet has all of these artists and their work available, but if you don't know to look for them, and all you hear every day is the other stuff, then the radio suits win anyway.

Black Racist Thugs: Imaginary, But They Give Us Pause...

It seems every time you listen to the news you hear about a mob of youths attacking, robbing, killing people.  The week-long riots across England exemplify this. 

While many white youths participated alongside black youths in the riots, race was a huge factor that sparked the violence.  The so-called catalyst was the death of a black man named Mark Duggan, who was shot by police.

He's mostly being portrayed as a martyr, or just as a dead father of four, with a grieving girlfriend and mother.  He had ties to gangs and the glowing bio being told to the media doesn't mesh with all evidence to the contrary.  In any event, there's clearly more to the story and he wasn't just some hapless bystander.

His death lit the powder keg that had been brewing and the leftists and anarchists used the youth to strike back at the government and the citizenry.  Alinsky surely would be proud of his words being put into action.  (Aren't we glad his book is recommended reading material according to Obama's National Education Association, at least until the website was scrubbed?)

There were also reports in England of citizens being forced to strip in the streets by thugs.

This is the shocking moment a young man is apparently forced to hand over all of his clothes after appearing to be stripped naked during lawless riots overnight.

Internet rumours last night claimed that on top of the widespread destruction across London and Birmingham, people were having their clothes removed by looters as police attempted to contain the criminality.

Reports on Twitter claimed some people were being stripped, while another shocking video shows a bleeding teenager being robbed in broad daylight by lawless thugs who pretend to help him to his feet.

Can you imagine a white man forcing a black man to strip his clothes in the street?  Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be out for blood.  I guess this slips through the cracks in England, just as it does here.

On election day in 2008, members of the New Black Panthers stood outside election places holding sticks (weapons) intimidating voters.  The state won a voter intimidation case against the Panthers but as Megyn Kelly so often said on Fox News, "they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" by dropping the case. 

Attorney General Eric Holder, himself black, had previous said America was, "essential a nation of cowards" [when it comes to race].  Between those remarks and his sympathy for convicted criminals from a racist organization, it's clear Holder will give thugs cover in America.  How cowardly.

A Panther leader from Philadelphia involved in the incident has gone on to say (as in the video), "I hate white people...all of them...every last iota of a cracker, I hate (em)."  He continues, "You want freedom?  You going to have to kill some crackers.  You going to have to kill some of their babies."

While rioters in England were tearing down democracy, across the pond at the Wisconsin State Fair last week, families and attendees found themselves victims of a race riot as gangs of black thugs attacked white people.  The local news reported:

  The trouble at the fair started around 7 p.m. Thursday in the midway area, where amusement rides are located, when fights broke out among black youths, said Tom Struebing, chief of the State Fair Police. Those fights did not appear to be racially motivated.
  Then around the closing time of 11 p.m., witnesses told the Journal Sentinel, dozens to hundreds of black youths attacked white people as they left the fair, punching and kicking people and shaking and pounding on their vehicles.
  At least 31 people were arrested - many for disorderly conduct - in connection with the incidents on the fairgrounds and on the streets outside. At least 11 people, seven of them police officers, were injured, officials said. Twenty-four people were arrested within the fairgrounds by State Fair Police. West Allis police arrested seven people, five of them juveniles, outside the fairgrounds.
  Struebing said two injured officers were hospitalized; one was hit in the face with an improvised weapon, the other suffered a concussion.

An account from a witness paints this clearly as a racially motivated crime:

  "You could just tell they were after white people. That was the main thing. If you were white, they were coming after you," said Jon Stikl of Oak Creek.
  He said he was stuck in traffic as a group of young people blocked cars near the fair gate on S. 84th St. near I-94 after he picked up family members attending the fair.
  "We noticed a group of five to 10 young black males run up and jump a young white male for no other reason then him being white," Stikl said.
  They knocked him to the ground, and then a group of 15 black men kicked and stomped on him, Stikl said.
  "My wife's brother jumped out of the car - his natural reaction was to try to break it up. Before you knew it, five or 10 guys were on him and started punching at him. My wife was able to pull him back in the car. So now they surrounded my car and just started punching through the windows, kicking and shaking the car, screaming racial things."

Next, flash mobs popped up across the country, including in Philadelphia where groups of thugs (all black) targeted white people.  Still, that's not enough for the Philly Deputy Commissioner to say the attacks were race-based:

"You can’t just simply look at the race of the offender and the race of the victim and say it’s ethnic intimidation. It may be, but we’re not sure. Does it give us pause? Yes it does.”

I'd say, let's call a spade a spade, but I bet they'd draw some racial slur out of that and of course I would not be afforded such latitude as that granted the violent, brutish thugs, who happen to be black.

Wrong on Both Ends

Chris Hayes, a newly promoted MSNBC host apologized for his being straight, white and male when describing how he'd level the playing field in terms of diversity in spite of his horrible, distasteful attributes.  Given time, perhaps he would've added 'American' or 'Western' to the list as well.

Cable news is very white, male and straight," Hayes told TheWrap. "I feel extremely strongly given the fact that I can't do anything about my own white male straightness that I have the duty to double down in efforts to make sure what we present is reflective of the diversity of the country at large in a way that cable news doesn't always do a good job of."

"I can't do anything about my own white male straightness..."  The progressive media and the liberals, feminists and others in the irrelevant Department of Education who have been trying to create gender equality by making every boy and girl, man and woman the same sure have done a number on this guy.

Whatever happened to diversity?  True diversity and the tolerance that should come with it.  No.  Progressives are only happy when everyone changes to their correct way of thinking.

In our modern, supposedly enlightened society everyone should be accepted for who they are and not awarded any special treatment based on anything other than ability or financial need.  Unfortunately, we have 'affirmative action' that scales candidates for jobs or colleges based on their skin color or gender or orientation.  Today is doesn't pay to be a white, straight, male...especially if you're from a poor family because you aren't going to get any help, much less a fair shake.

That said, the mostly leftist media, while claiming to embrace diversity actually does not.  Sadly, it seems Fox News, the actual fair and balanced organization didn't report about this couple either, who happened to be lesbian, and  saved dozens of kids from the gunman in Norway.

"We were eating," Dalen told the newspaper. "Then shooting and then the awful screaming. We saw how the young people ran in panic into the lake."
The couple took off in their boat for the island, picking up shocked victims from the water and transporting them to the mainland. They made four runs in all, helping rescue some 40 of Breivik's victims, the paper reported.
"Between runs they saw that the bullets had hit the right side of the boat," the paper wrote.

With the police completely MIA and ill-prepared for their raison-d'etre,  Hege Dalen and her wife, Toril Hansen were the only heroes that day, and yet all the media is concerned about are the thoughts of the murderous madman.

Perhaps this is due to some of the confusion regarding the whole massacre.   The police, who also can't count, said there were over 90 victims initially.  Now (thankfully), the total rests at 77.  The total would haven been over 100 if not for several brave souls on boats rescuing camp attendees, including the lesbian couple.

This lack of focus on the heroism reminds me how NBC released graphic photos from the Virgina Tech shooter in 2007.  Imagine reading an article and being assaulted with a photo of the coward who killed your loved one pointing a gun at the camera, showing what said loved one's last moment looked like.  At the time, they chose to highlight the horrible actions of a monster, while barely breathing a word about Dr. Liviu Librescu.

In an ironic twist to the deadly Virginia Tech shootings Monday, a professor who had lived through the Holocaust was killed by the campus gunman on a day in which Jews worldwide marked the memories of those murdered during the Nazi genocide. April 16th is recognized in many countries around the world as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Liviu Librescu, a Romanian Jew and citizen of Israel, will be remembered as a hero who died protecting his students by barricading the door to his classroom with his own body, while calling out to his students to "run!"

Gay, straight, white or black, we should accept people as they are and let the diversity chips fall where they may.  It's not little attributes that determine who we are.  It's our deeds.  I only wish the media would focus on the heroes and not elevate the villains.

We Must Pay for the Privilege to Protect Biden...Refund, Please.

If we could cut this $66,000, that would be $66,000 less that we'd "have to" raise the debt ceiling to prevent the apocalypse.

Apparently, Vice President Joe Biden is raking in rent money for a cottage near his water-front home.  This would be a wonderful example of the free market in action, except for the fact the renter is the secret service, tasked to protect their landlord.

Biden doesn't have to pay for the secret service protection--that just comes with the job.  So, how can he profit from this arrangement?

If for some reason a regular person were to be offered free round-the-clock protection by some protection firm, wouldn't that beneficiary be the scum of the Earth if then he charged the protectors rent for the cottage next door?

That Smile Doesn't Pay for Itself...

Where's your sense of patriotism now, Joe?

In 2008, then-candidate Biden had an exchange regarding upper-middle-class job creators paying for taxes:

Biden was asked by ABC News' Kate Snow in an interview aired Thursday morning on "Good Morning America" if people earning more than $250,000 a year would have to pay more taxes under an Obama-Biden administration.

"You got it," Biden replied. "It's time to be patriotic, Kate. Time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help America out of the rut, and the way to do that is they're still gonna pay less taxes than they did under Reagan."

Not only was this the latest attempt to invoke Reagan conservative as a way to make the (soon-to-be) most radical, leftist administration ever seem palatable, but it also is a clear expression of their ideology. 

Perceived rich people should pay excessive taxes to the government so they can redistribute the wealth, instead of allowing the job creators to create jobs, stimulate the economy, grow American entrepreneurial pride and to allow all Americans (the most generous people on the planet) to give freely to the charities and groups they choose to. 

Why can't Biden live up to his own words and give of himself--especially since he's a civil servant, and a wealthy one at that.  We're in such a horrible financial situation as a nation and he doesn't see he's part of the problem.  He clearly has no sense of honor, or duty.

When Biden's now-deceased mother lived in the cottage, they didn't charge her rent (they claimed no income from the property in 2009).  Since his mother got a deal, I think Uncle Sam should get the family rate too.

Oh, the Difference Two Decades Makes...

Teen Nick has started a new campaign and television block called, "The 90s Are All That", and in its initial days of presenting reruns of (this dates me) classic Nick programming such as Doug and Clarissa Explains It All, it has broken the bank in terms of ratings!

No one has really seen Doug (an animated show about a boy played by Billy West aka 'Fry' on Futurama), Kenan and Kel (starring SNL star Kenan Thompson) and Clarissa Explains It All (the first series for "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Melissa & Joey" star Melissa Joan Hart) in years and already in just days the viewership has returned with a vengeance.

The network increased viewership in a time slot by 850%, a staggering number anyway you look at it.  The article continues:

According to Nielsen, the midnight-to-1 a.m. combo of All That and Kenan and Kel drew roughly 600,000 viewers (of all ages) Monday, compared to the 374,000 viewers who caught Lopez Tonight on TBS in the same hour. It also bettered the 559,000 viewers who caught an Awkward rerun on MTV at midnight, as well as the roughly 500,000 people who checked out reruns of The New Adventures of Old Christine and HIMYM on Lifetime. Considering Teen Nick doesn't have anywhere near the profile of those other networks, its after-midnight performance can only be called extraordinary.

This is also great news for those who want more family-friendly, or just more quality on their boob tubes.

For instance, I just saw a "Clarissa" episode through new eyes and was pleasantly surprised at the family-oriented, pre-"it takes a village" approach to parenting and children.  Ah, the good old days!

The episode entitled, "Misguidance Counselor" originally aired June 14th, 1992.

In it, Clarissa struggles with what it means to be normal, when she and her family is in fact quite unique.  A rather beligerent guidance counselor forces her to try all sorts of activities in order to fit in and change herself so she doesn't end up marginalized later.  The climax finds the counselor visiting the family at home to express her concerns about Clarissa, only to have her parents stand up her individuality and the freedom to pursue her own interests her own way.  The parents seemed truly surprised by the fact the school counselor thought she knew what was best for their daughter.  The counselor sees her at school but Clarissa "lives here" at home with them.

The scene also reminded me of King of the Hill and all the government touchy-feely buttinskyism in their lives.  It also showed the mother reminding the children to be respectful toward their guest (and they listen to her)--something you never see in modern television shows.  Bratty kids are like the new POGS or slap-bracelets or Furbies, except they never go away!

While extreme leftists such as Alan Colmes always suggests, we all always say things used to be better than they are today, yet society keeps going, I actually can point to examples of how liberalism has crept into how we raise children, look at the role of family or faith in our lives.  If these shows provide a snap-shot of what families or children were supposed to be like on average in our society, or should strive to be like, I'd hate to discover what future generations will think of our values and if we helped or hurt the role of family.

China's War on Time Travel (and Space Travel, and Transporters) or How 'What if?' becomes 'Uh-oh."

China's latest shtick seems to be putting sci fi writers and scientists out of business, or at least making them look like fools for continuing down a futile (and dangerous?) path.

Hong Kong University scientists claim that photons can not travel faster than light, so therefore time travel as well as FTL (faster than light) or super-luminous travel is impossible.

"Einstein claimed that the speed of light was the traffic law of the universe or in simple language, nothing can travel faster than light," the university said on its website...

"Professor Du's study demonstrates that a single photon, the fundamental quanta of light, also obeys the traffic law of the universe just like classical EM (electromagnetic) waves."

The Battlestar Galactica engages their FTL drive at the last moment

Their findings seem pretty closed-minded and absolute, especially considering the human will to overcome the seemingly insurmountable.  If their theory were to be a fact, it would mean the end of humans traveling through space, exploring the galaxy before it has even begun...not to mention it stands to reason no one will get to say, "Beam me up, Scotty."

A paranoid person might think that they've released these "findings" in order to dissuade others from pursuing this technology that they either already have in some capacity or are endeavouring to acquire.
Instead, I feel they just hate the ramifications of what time travel could pose to the dreamers in China.

In April, it was revealed that China wants to "discourage" (ban) all time travel stories.



I guess River Song has more than "spoilers" to worry about.

 Those "freedom-loving" People's Republic enforcers decided that:


"The time-travel drama is becoming a hot theme for TV and films," it says. "But its content and the exaggerated performance style are questionable......and they, "lack positive thoughts and meaning."

When someone mentions positive thoughts, the first people I think of are always the Chinese government.

The article also describes how TV there has recently shown an increase in time-travel stories that illustrate better times in China for her people.  This is the heart of the issue.  If you see characters from ancient China, or even from not that long ago living in freedom without government regulations and re-education camps strangling your individuality and potential out of you-- a completely unqualified, red-tape-free existence--you will not look at your daily drudgery or servitude to the state in the same way.  You'll think about not only the past--but the future--and what could be for you, your family, and the future of your nation.  In short, the government loses your hearts (and with that, the minds are soon to follow).

With this theory, science fiction, the genre that asks "what if?" becomes an enemy of the Chinese government with all its dreaming and postulating, musings on humanity and historical references to give perspective.  You can't legislate, persecute, re-educate, or scare away the dreamers from any society.  As long as human hearts beat, there will be dreamers and thinkers who remind us there's more to life than the mere moment we are in.

We better find out the Chinese translation for 'uh-oh', or that simple WWII repsponse, 'Nuts'.

Family... The Next Disney Movie Villain

This isn't exactly news, but liberals are trying to tear down the family AGAIN.  Simon Ross of the Optimum Population Trust has said the Beckham's are, "very bad role models" with their "large family" and that they are being "selfish". 

David Beckham and baby, Twitter/AP

 As Laura Ingraham discussed in her book, Power to the People, through family we pass on our beliefs and history to the next generation.  The far-left feminists who have sworn off biology will not have any children to teach their values to, which is sad-- in principle. 

Married couples who have larger families are generally more family-focused.  Why get a golf membership if you hate golf?  They also are more likely to be people of faith--any faith, so progressives attacking larger families is a way to target that last bastion of freedom: how we raise our families and the number of children you are allowed. 

Ross says "one or two" are fine, but more is selfish.  Taking a page from Cass Sunstein, his American counterpart from across the pond, he suggests that "child benefits and tax credits" only be provided for the first two children. You're still allowed to have as many children as you want.  That's how these cockroaches get their policies enacted on a national and global scale.  They just modify your behavior by nudging you in their direction.  Do as we say, or you'll pay.

I guess the Brady Bunch is out.  My three sons...buh-bye.  Those Culkin children have to go!  Thank goodness Mary-Kate and Ashley weren't triplets!  I would love to hear the gushing excuses and stammering, trying to defend their populationist point of view when confronted with Obama, Sr. and his hordes of bastard children.

Ross also says,

"There's no point in people trying to reduce their carbon emissions and then increasing them 100% by having another child."

That's fine by me!

Not that I purposefully intended to link this post with my last ones about the space program...but watch me.  While Obama and the progressives tear down the space program, defund the Hubble telescope's successor and otherwise hand the reigns over to Russia and China, we see further evidence that progress to these Republican and Democrat progressives has nothing to do with empowering America or the human race decades or centuries from now.  I'm not a rocket scientist, though one day soon no one will be, but we have one of two options.

Option 1:  Let big government regulations box us in, tax us to death (and then use the death tax to tax us some more); let them decide the size of our families, what our children learn, eat, dream.  In short, the government will control every God-given choice we were born with-- even the decision if we are allowed to be born.

Option 2:  Return to our founding principles, which have not evolved as the President would suggest.  Recapture that American spirit that drove us for over a century and a half before we started getting off track: the ingenuity, the determination, the sheer guts.  Then look to the stars. 

If we rebuild NASA and find faster propulsions and radiation protection we could travel to other planets, moons and celestial bodies that could give rise to new human colonies in space.  Seems like a win-win.  Houston we have a Go.  Plus overpopulation problem solved.

http://images.wikia.com/covenantofroyalblood/images/e/ed/MarsCity2.jpg

 And those clowns in Washington make this look difficult.