Really, You Really Said That?

There are so many times I would like to reach out to a public figure, who talking extemporaneously will say things you really have to wonder about.  Sometimes I can only shake my head, other times I have to laugh, occasionally I am sympathetic, but often I think they get exactly what they deserve.

For example, when Mr. Limbaugh opened his mouth to criticize Ms. Fluke he probably got the response he deserved, with the exception of the attempt by the left to rob him of his livelihood by threatening his advertisers.

On April 2^nd the President said, “Ultimately, I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”  Really, someone with a law degree from Harvard would really think the Supreme Court has never-ever taken the unprecedented, or the extraordinary step of overturning a law passed by congress, especially one that was passed on a strictly partisan basis? Maybe Harvard should release those college transcripts, if for no other reason than to show he may have missed the class on Marbury vs. Madison.

I could talk about the Vice President, but I don’t have either the time or the space so lets move on to some others.

How about Mr. Olbermann – canned from MSNBC and now Current TV, by the way is that really a network?  In his statements immediately afterwards and on subsequent interviews it sure appears he has said maybe one or two things that have led others to find less worth in his comments then he believes.

In talking with Soledad O’Brien in a CNN interview, Mitt Romney said, “I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor — we have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich — they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90 to 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”  Really, in this campaign where the Democrats will paint you as a rich, uncaring, sheltered white man, you would really use the words “I’m not concerned” and “poor” in a sound bite?  This is only slightly better then Custer saying, “I think we have them on the run boys!”

On the Subject of Letting Go

The easiest advice to give is along the lines of “you’ve got to let go, and get over it!”  So often in an effort to comfort a friend or colleague we offer that advice and perhaps follow it up with some thoughts and suggestions on how the individual can follow the advice.

I think I’ve come to the conclusion I shall never again offer that suggestion because among the hardest things we as humans do is “get over it.”  It really doesn’t matter if it is the loss of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, a loss of an ideal, or the battle against an addiction, the individual must work through an internal process if he or she is to succeed and move on.  Any advice I would offer would be based on my life experiences and not the individuals so the value of that advice is at best mediocre.

Some people struggle for years trying to get over it, they cannot let go and move on, because something inside them believes there must be a way to regain what they had.  In that way they are like a marathon runner who gets to 20 miles and comes up against the wall, where their energy supply is near exhaustion, the muscles are starting to break down, and they are drawing on the last of their reserves.  Some can reach that wall, and are able to draw from within, tap their spirit and move past it to finish the race.  Others cannot, they crash headfirst into it and are unable to go further.  You can say it is because of conditioning, or will, but it is something unique to each of us and only the individual can choose to persevere or quit.

There are a few things I have learned in my six decades here.  First, you have to know with complete certainty you, and you alone, are responsible for your life, your happiness, and your future.  Next you have to understand if you focus on the wrongs that have been done, to you and to others, you will drive your life towards destruction because in life two negatives do not make a positive.  If you tear down others to reinforce your worth, in the end you lose the most.  Finally, letting go does not mean you forget the past, it means you choose to remember it in the context of then, not now. 

For example, we should never forget that slavery existed and that it exists in the world today, but if we cannot get over that as a historical event, and we believe, because it existed, we must continue to apologize for it, can we ever move towards a discussion of equality?

It is a Fine Line

Once again, we as a nation are embroiled in racial controversy with the unfortunate killing of a young man.  The media has latched on to this tragic story and is of course insuring it is played on the national stage.  The president has weighed in with his statements calling for the nation to do soul searching over how a decent black youth can be killed by a Hispanic, or white, neighborhood watch vigilante.

The Black Panthers have placed a $10,000 bounty on the capture, dead or alive, of the shooter.  Whose identity is known but has not yet been formally charged.  The black community is pressing for the federal government to become involved and to declare this a hate crime.  Spike Lee tweeted his supposed address to his 240,000 followers, and it turned out to be the wrong one, putting an elderly couple in danger.  All based on news reports that are bias and agenda filled.

It reminds me of the time the President energized his supporters to blame conservative politician’s and conservative media for inciting the Tucson shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and several bystanders, including a tragic death of a 9 year old girl.  With those condemnations we saw an outpouring of violent rhetoric including death threats against prominent conservative politicians.

All this is done before the real facts are known, the investigations completed, and the evidence weighed in honest judgment.  It is today’s version of a lynch mob, fired up by leaders out for blood, no matter the cost, or politicians seeking a political advantage.

In today’s world it is a fine line between inspiring a nation, and inciting a nation.

Spring is a Time for Renewal

It is spring now, and although the winter was a mild one it is seems the right time to get out of the house and take on those nagging chores I’ve been putting off for a while.  The mailbox sits resolutely at the end of the driveway, but the post upon which it stands is termite infested and threatened to give way.  So with the sun shinning, the temperatures in the 70’s and nothing else that had to be done it was time to handle this little project.

While I was at it, the idea of just remounting the mailbox seemed somewhat inappropriate.  Here was a nice new cedar post.  How would it look with an unkempt box atop it?  So it was time to sand and repaint the box as well.

While I was digging out the old post and refreshing the mailbox with a new coat of paint I had a chance to think about the similarity of this simple task to life itself.  For example, sitting alone performing your role day in and day out can lead to a weakening of your core.  If I had given the mailbox post more attention through the years, perhaps it would not have become infected with termites.  It was Ben Franklin who said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  In this case he was very accurate.  Although the post had served me well for ten or more years if I had taken just a few moments to sprinkle a few ounces of pest control around it every year it would not have taken all my strength to pull it from its home to make way for a new one.  We need to find time to keep our own core sold and strong as well.  For me this involves reading, writing, work, care for family and loved ones, and renewal of my beliefs.

As I painted the mailbox I thought of how our economy has become one where disposal seems the first choice.  When something becomes too old we cast it aside and replace it with something new.  I am not sure we always find that new is better.  My mailbox was solid and functional.  It had served us well for ten or more years and did not need to be replaced.  I found a couple of cans of paint brings a whole new look, and as far as I can tell the old box should serve us well for the next ten years, at a fraction of the cost of a new one.  Isn’t that really what life is like?  If we spend just a few minutes repairing things, rather than casting them aside we have what we need at a fraction the cost.  It doesn’t matter if it is a mailbox or a life, we should always look to what we can do to keep what we have and strengthen and renew it when necessary.  While this may not work all the time, I think it a good first rule.

Speaking of Spring Renewal.  If you’ve not heard of the Alcoa Eagle Cam, it is worth a quick look.  There are a nesting pair of Bald Eagles with baby eaglets. 

Life is About Choices

As I see life there are always choices.  The question before each of us is do I have the courage or the will to make them?  When I was younger there was a tremendous pressure to be part of the group.  If you weren’t you were outcast and left on your own to develop the confidence necessary to move on.  Far too many did not make good choices and turned to others for that support.  They rationalize to themselves they had no choice.  Once you give up the right to choose you give up control of your life.  

As adults there are similar pressures to give into the popular positions of the day.  This again is rationalized in a number of ways.  We can say we have to fit in, or everyone agrees so it must be right, or someone made me this way.  When you choose to be petty and vindictive and say it is because others have made you that way, you are only kidding yourself.  You are that way because you choose to be.  Is that really a choice you’re happy with?

Choose wisely.

Can you be Presidential If you are Always Campaigning?

Over the past three years a lot has been made about how the Republican’s have attacked the President.  Although his defenders don’t want to hear it, much of this has been of his own doing.  I would almost suspect by design based on what has transpired.

How long did the President drag out the debate as to his right to serve because of possible irregularities in his birth certificate and the fact his father was not an American citizen.  You haven’t heard much on that subject for a while.  What did it take to end it?  Simply releasing a birth certificate.  What was so hard about that?  While everyone was focusing on this rather petty, but central issue, was the President able to accomplish great things behind the scenes?   If he did I must have missed it.

On to the subject of College transcripts, along with the debate on birth, there has been a question on how the President did in college.  This has been made a big deal by the universities and President about the privacy of that information, yet earlier in the Republican Primaries, someone in Texas A&M didn’t think it so important to keep the transcripts private for Governor Rick Perry.  Where was the outrage over that little slip, did Perry make a big deal out of it, not that he had a lot of options once it is out?

Both these positions worked effectively during his initial campaign to draw attention away from his far left agenda to bring the United States in line with a more socialist, progressive country where the central government controls the decisions and the states become increasingly irrelevant. 

Once elected the man who promised to work for good legislation that would end the ever increasingly partisan rancor has done everything but.  When the Democrats swept into office in 2008 what did we see?  The Democratic leadership of both the House and the Senate demonstrated complete arrogance in how their agenda was to be implemented, even if it is a path to bankruptcy.  Any time the Republican’s raised objections they were painted in the media as the party of No.  Where was the President on this?  Did he help moderate his congressional leadership, and steer the debate towards a centrist solution.  If he did I must have missed it, for all his speeches reflected exactly the same message as Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reed.  We are in charge and we are going to have it our way.  Where was all the action to support the rhetoric of the campaign about working with the other side?  Sure the diehards, the ones that still can’t get over the fact Bush was elected in the first place hang on the excuses, but I don’t think those looking for government solutions and cooperation do.  They realize it is all about making the other side look weak and preparing for that next election.  This approach cost him a democratic victory in 2010.

When fiscal conservatives, concerned about the skyrocketing federal deficit united they were viewed as “terrorists,” “racist’s,”  “hostage takers,” and the “Antichrist.” Then when it suited the progressive agenda, another group sprang up to be embraced by the leading Democrats.  The Occupy Someplace group brings with it a demand that the rich pay for all their desires.  Where was the President on all this?  Right in the middle of fanning the flames of class warfare, not focusing the nation towards a common goal where all benefit, but sowing the seeds of racial division, ethnic division and fiscal division.  Are we a stronger nation from his campaign to divide Americans?  I don’t believe we are.

How about in addressing the National Debt?  On the two sides we have, a) more taxes on the rich help to pay our bills, and b) no new taxes, reduce the size of government and its many programs.  With Representatives and Senators locked into a battle about how to control spending, something I would point out no Senator or Representative has ever in the history of our nation been very good at, where does the President fit in?  Again, he is on the campaign trail fanning the flames of class warfare as he pushes for bigger government funded by more taxes on the rich, as well as reducing the income from taxes for everyone else.  How does that address a long-term solution to the debt issue?  Obviously he is all for kicking the can down the road if he can.   That does not strike me as a leadership role. 

Health care – there are too many issues here for a simple synopsis, but again it becomes an all or nothing proposition.  When there is an issue he plays to his strength, mustering the forces available to condemn the opposition rather than find a path to make the nation stronger.

For someone who has said he opposes stupid wars perhaps he truly believes he strengthens the US as a leader when he bows to the European Union, and the Muslim Brotherhood to overthrow governments.  I am just not sure I understand how we are better today than we were a year ago, with uncertainty in Egypt and Libya. True we left Iraq, but was is left behind for stability besides a $592 million dollar Embassy with a $1.2 billion/year budget? 

When given a choice, reach out or attack, why is it inevitable what you would do in a election campaign is the choice our President  makes?

Questions on a Saturday

It was a quiet weekend day, the schedule was not demanding.  In fact, it was as full or empty as I wanted it to be.  It is good to have these types of days from time to time.  What I needed to do was done, what I should have done was considered, what I didn’t feel like doing – forgotten.

So in the course of this lazy day here are the questions I come away with.

Ø  How long can meat be kept frozen before it is bad?

Ø  Why isn’t permanent press permanent?

Ø  Why did my car battery go dead after sitting in the drive for 13 days?

Ø  How do you persuade your Magnolia tree to not drop its leaves?

Ø  Whose idea was 10% ethanol gas? – it is killing my gas powered tools

And finally

Ø  Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, the patron saint of Ireland.  He is known for driving the snakes off the emerald isle, so shouldn’t everyone be celebrating by waving snakes around rather than dressing in green?