Left Meets Right?...

When our oldest boy was in 6th grade, he attended a school-sponsored "health education" lecture.  Teachers were asked to leave the classroom and parents were not invited for fear that the presence of an adult other than the male instructor would inhibit the boys from asking burning critical questions.

Long story made short; soon after that, I found myself talking very frankly with the principal and the president of the school board.  I wasn't the only parent, and soon a special meeting was arranged with the contracted "health education" company, some members of the school board responsible for curriculum development, and a group of "concerned parents".

The floor was taken and held primarily by the contractor.  Their representative spoke condescendingly to us.  It was clear that the assumption by the contractor and the school board was that we were a monolithic, homogeneous group of religious whackos.

After a half hour of this, I was getting tired.  Then a woman stood up.  "I'm not religious," she said.  "I'm in favor of my son experimenting with his body.  In our home we talk freely about all kinds of topics, including sex.  And I want to be sure that when my son learns about sex he learns it from me first.  What you did was wrong because you introduced ideas and concepts that were not covered in your published curriculum.  It is my job and my right as a parent to be the first person to teach my child anything.  You deceived us and took away the chance we had to take the initiative."

And she was right.  There was no possible way that any reasonable person could have anticipated a detailed discussion of deviant sex taking place between an adult male and a group of thirty 11- and 12-year old boys in a classroom in rural America.

And I sat back and thought, "Wow!  We've identified the presence of a REAL problem when the opposite ends of a philosophical spectrum agree that there's a problem."

Today I was listening to Norman Goldman, a leftist radio personality and comedian.  He was advocating that the Left reciprocate the voter fraud perpetrated by the Right in 2000 and 2004.  In his mind, the problem with Leftists is that they're too principled to fight back against the Right's criminal tactics.  (Not sure where he comes up with that idea.  Pious virtue and political left are not usually closely associated in the mind.)

One of his tangential rants, though, was against the Tea Party - and I think he's mistaken in his understanding of who Tea Party adherents are.  He said that Tea Partiers support the invasions of privacy and the destruction of individual liberties perpetrated by the Bush regime and perpetuated by the Obama administration since 2001.

I can tell you that is not true.  Mr. Goldman has "Tea Party" confused with "Neo-Con".  Those are the hawkish, pro-State, sheeple who bleat the party line.

When I listen to Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh I consistently hear them speak in favor of individual freedom and against the intrusion of the State in the life of the Individual.  (Along with impugning the intelligence of the liberal illuminati and their disciples.)

I think Norman Goldman and Mark Levin agree on the idea that too much government is a bad thing.  And when that sort of agreement - based on principles and ideas - happens between extremes, I think there's substance.  

She Broke My Heart...

I've been working out of town for most of the last 18 months.  Sometimes I get home every weekend; sometimes I'm out for 2 weeks at a time.

We've tried to stay close as a family with Skype and hours on hours of phone calls.  We've done everything from family nights to algebra to bed time prayers like that.

Tonight Afton, our 3-year old daughter, said our prayer before dinner.  Her tiny voice came across the speaker phone set on the table.  There were the thanks for the fun and the food, as usual.  Then, without hesitation or taking a breath, she broke my heart.

"And please bless my dad to come home right now.  Because I really, really need him."

What can you say to that? ...

Enough, Already...!

The roof, the roof,
The roof is on fire!
We don't need no water,
Let the ... burn!

I'm so sick of hearing this idiocy from Congress.

Enough with the threats; let's get it on!

Reid warns shutdown is possible - TheHill.com

My Friend Sam...

The first time I walked up to his apartment I was struck by Sam's hat collection.

In the hallway outside his door was a bench, and over that bench was a mirror surrounded by wooden shaker pegs.  Each peg had a hat hanging on it.

"I collect hats," Sam said in that slurred and watery speech of the aged, hunched over his walker and shuffling to his door.

I'm the maintenance manager where Sam lives.  Sam's been here for about 4 years.  If you could stand Sam up straight he'd probably be about five and a half feet tall.  But time has worn him down and now, almost 90 years old, he's stooped and reaches about to the light switch in his entryway.

There were baseball hats with logos of companies and restaurants - obviously each one meant something to him.  And there, hanging on the peg in the top right corner of the mirror was a monstrous gray leather fur lined winter hat.

As we entered his apartment my workers started washing his windows.  That's why we came to Sam's place that day.  It was his turn to have his windows washed.  And I asked, sort of expecting a story but not anticipating Sam's reply, "Where'd you get that gray fur hat, Sam?"

Sam is hard of hearing, so I almost said it in a friendly shout.

Without turning around, still shuffling toward his office telephone desk, Sam's voice was surprisingly firm, "I took that off a dead German tank officer at the Battle of The Bulge."  A pause.  "It used to have a swastika on it."  Another pause.  "I took it off."  Another pause.  "I can't stand those Nazis."

"Were you with Patton's army?" I asked.

"I was with the 75th Infantry Division.  Patton came up from the south.  I don't know where we came from...."

Sam's answer made more sense later when I researched the 75th's history.  They were an American infantry division hastily thrown together in England in the later years of the war.  They were entirely inexperienced in battle.  Even their commanding general was green.

And as the Allies pushed their way back into Europe via the Normandy beaches, the 75th followed along.  Until Christmas, 1944 they didn't see any combat to mention - and then came the critical rescue mission.  The 101st Airborne Division was trapped.  Surrounded by Germans.

The "cherry" 75th was thrown into the thick of the fight.  From house to house and town to town they fought across Belgium.  The division and its men were quickly blooded.  Their determination was proven and the division earned the nickname "Bulge Busters".

Sam was a small, quick young man that winter and he was assigned to a battalion headquarters as a runner.  When artillery or sappers cut the field telephone wires, messages were scribbled on paper and given to guys like Sam.

There were no maps and no one was familiar with the villages they were fighting for.  So when Sam was given a message to run, he delivered it by trial and error.

One day he found a bicycle in town and thought he could travel much faster riding than walking, running and ducking.  As he rode through the battlefield Sam heard the distinctive whistling scream of an incoming mortar round.  He dove off the bike and into a nearby hole.  Just as Sam hit the dirt, the mortar round hit his bike.  It was a total loss and Sam went back to being a foot courier.

Sam talks about the funny things, like that.  He always says, "That was the funny part of it..."  Then his voice trails off and his eyes get a far away look.  When Sam comes back he asks, "So, how long are you going to be here?"  Or, "Where are you from?"  Or some other safe, neutral thing.

Tonight I sat down at a table for two.  I was eating alone and the maitre-de brought Sam over.  The dining room was full and he looked apologetic when he asked, "You don't mind if Sam eats with you, do you?"

Sam has a reputation for being a messy eater.  His hands and his eyes and his mouth don't work so well together anymore.

"Of course not!  Sam's my buddy," was my reply.

Sam sheepishly said, "Forgive me.  My table manners aren't always what they should be anymore."

"Sam, neither are mine," I answered with a sad smile.

And as we sat, Sam told me the stories I've told you here, and some others.

At one point Sam mentioned that his son frequently comes to visit him.  And sometimes his son helps him to eat.  Sam's hands are so weak that he has trouble stabbing a piece of lettuce with his fork.

The waitress knows Sam and she's cut his steak into bite-sized pieces, but Sam still isn't strong enough to stick them.  When he does get a piece on his fork his hand shakes and his lips quiver as the bite makes its tenuous trip across his lap.  Sometimes the bite makes it and he relishes the flavor and texture.

I offer quietly to help him eat.  He ignores me for a few minutes and then says, "You wouldn't mind, would you?"

And I take his fork.

And I think of the honor it is to be able to serve Sam...

Wanting Doesn't Make It So...

Here's some evidence that shows that merely wanting an idea to be a good one doesn't make it a good one.

That's something for us to remember - in all areas of our life!

Best Intentions; Bad Ideas

Power Corrupts; Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely...

This article addresses the courage a certain Air Force general had, and the tremendous pressure he had to resist.

It also exposes a very human element of our president and his administration.  Transparency?  Integrity?  Independence? 

Not so much...

White House Leverage Used to Favor Cronies

Consequences...

This article from Breitbart illustrates the point I was making earlier.  Exercising personal rights and freedoms under the Constitution comes with consequences.  Sometimes they're good consequences; sometimes they're bad.  Always there are consequences.

The article does address some "adult" activities, but is not gratuitous or graphic.

"Goddess Temple" Religious Activities Illegal

A Nice Retrospective In Media Reporting Bias...

I'm not sore or bitter.  I just thought this was a nice way to juxtapose the "tough, direct" questions asked of Michelle Bachmann by Chris Wallace with the unreported gaffes of Candidate and President Obama.

Kind of funny even if you're a fan of the president.

Why Obama Grows Government and Creates Debt

I thought this was an interesting article from The American Thinker. 

A little myopic in its approach to analyzing the president's motives, but because the president is certainly a multi-faceted man with many divergent and convergent influences to his personal philosophy, this is a useful tool in assessing at least one of the reasons for what some of us see as sheer madness.



Why Obama Grows Government and Creates Debt

Tipping Point? Not Yet...

Follow the link below to an insightful editorial found in the Wall Street Journal.

A Rabbi's Thoughts On Civilization