The new fence, Mexico and the UN

It is of course a complex issue with no easy solutions - this out-of-control border issue. This and other blogs could argue the pros and cons forever. One point does come to mind that I feel compelled to make. It's about the border fence that will be built. Here's the deal: Mexico's government doesn't want the fence built. And now (shake in our boots!!!!) they've threatened to go to the United Nations to stop this affront!!! Can you possibly guess on how many levels I don't give a tinkers damn about this threat?

Reid to the rescue

So Senator Harry Reid gets caught in a shady land deal, plus he reluctantly admits that he used campaign funds to buy Christmas gifts. There doesn't seem to be much mainstream media furor. What gives?

No doubt about the contrasts

I just watched Charlie Rangel being interviewed on Bill O's nightly Fox News show. My only wish is that all those voters deciding they're going to vote Democrat this election could have heard Charlie so they fully understand where the pillars of the Democrat Party want the country to head.

Here's some hints: Lawyers for all the terrorists ... ACLU oversight or some such outfit to make sure they're all comfortable ... civilian trials for the terrorists ... no coerced information. And think, this guy isn't as nuts as some of the rest of the Democrat stalwarts: Pelosi, Dean, Kennedy, Soros and spawn.

Where's Zell Miller when the Democrats actually need a candidate?

Useful idiots

Bill O' reporting on his nightly Fox News show the other night cited a poll stating that 50%+ of respondents were going to vote Democrat in the upcoming mid-term House elections, boding poorly for Republicans. Now here's the scary part, of these voters saying they were going to do this, almost half didn't know Nancy Pelosi. And I am sure even less know George Soros. Does that scare you as much as it does me?

Paris and Nicole reunite - world saved!

So many mainstream "news sources" were all thithery today with a story about Paris and Nicole reuniting! I guess the fabric of the universe is once again safe from threat, the karma of the cosmos is in order, a cure for cancer and butt boils will surely be forthcoming just any day now, windfall inheritances shall soon lighten every household's burden, tooth decay will cease being a nuisance to western society, and Nancy Pelosi will get a makeover. Hooray for hard news when we need it. 'tis yet again a sterling day in the annals of network and mainstream news histories.

Carter and Chavez side by side at the UN?

I am so sick of Jimmy Carter. Today he's blessed us with his "wisdom" yet again, with an op-ed piece in the NY Times wherein he dutifully assigns all North Korea blame game designations on George Bush, which the Times was more than glad to pass off an accurate portrayal of history. He was particular upset by how Bush screwed up the masterful job he had done on behalf of the Clinton administration ... you remember: Jimmy, Albright, cocktails, autographed sports memorabilia? And we all know what a keeper of his word Kim is.

I wonder what is next with this kook? I can almost see it now: Carter, Chavez ... sponsored by the NY Times with the ACLU being the presenting sponsor ... hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder ... addressing the UN General Assembly and explaining to the world what a terrible country the United States is.

Far fetched? Stay tuned ... elections are near.

Free speech shouted down, threatened at Columbia University

By now, you may have very well seen reports about the Leftist near-riot at Columbia University at the beginning of a speech by a member of the Minuteman Project. At this so-called bastion of free speech, the speaker was shouted down, not allowed to speak and was clearly in harm's way, all while the Columbia "police" stood by, watched and essentially did nothing.

Several issues come to mind, not the least of which is the fact the Far Left in the USA (and in many of the universities where they're groomed and allowed to run free) has been and is crossing a very dangerous line, as they see their influence waning and their causes being defeated by Middle America.

How long will it be before, in their last attempts to have relevancy, they seriously injure or kill someone?

Next issue, when will common sense Americans absolutely put their foots down in the universities that allow these nuts to behave like this, all in the name of so-called "Freedom of Speech," and force these universities to display and teach political balance and civil discourse, or be gone ... lose funding ... be shut down? Some of these schools have become pretty close to our version of the hate-spewing mosques we see in parts of the world. These schools run on public and private funds - funds that can indeed be cut off if the public is willing.

Last, will issues like this finally awaken the vast, sleepy political middle enough that everyone recognizes the threat the Far Left truly brings, who supports them, and with whom they are aligned? What do you see as the answer?

By the way, the link that follows takes you to a press release about the incident:
http://www.minutemanproject.com/default.asp?contentID=193

freeSpeech under debate

The link included in this post takes you to Brian Rohrbough's Monday evening "freeSpeech" segment on CBS evening news. To say it has created a stir would be an understatement. Couric characterized the comment as "repugnant" in response it seems to some of her liberal fans emailing her with how disturbed they were that Rohrbough had been allowed to say such offensive things.

Now the backlash against Couric is proving to be astounding, and the support for Rohrbough's views being best described as tidalwave in nature. If you didn't see, or haven't had a chance to read, what this father who lost a son during the Columbine killings had to say about the current state of public education, you owe it to yourself to do so ... regardless of your political leanings.

You may also find Couric's blog at the CBS News site interesting as she's posting some of the comments coming in. To me, Rohrbough made a case that will resoundingly be supported by much of the "silent" middle.

Or this may very well be the start of the "silent" middle not being so "silent" any more. What's your view?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/02/freespeech/printable2057062.shtml

They were noisey, not just there

While driving to complete an errand today, I found myself thinking about those who had passed on: family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and acquaintances ... why I remembered some and thought so seldom if at all about others. Once again, I found myself lamenting the creeping mediocrity and sameness that I sense in the business world, American society, and quite frankly in many folks with whom I deal on a social level. A flash of "I wonder why?" was soon replaced by another "Aha!" moment.

The people I remember and miss were not necessarily the nicest, or smartest, or kindest, or funniest, or wealthiest. What made me remember them was their ability to illicit strong responses in others. That's right ... they could bring people to anger, or side-splitting laughter, or hot-to-trot debate, or raucous sharing of like's and dislike's, or name-calling debates about politics and religion, or howls of protest, or "Oh my gosh!" moments, or head-shaking realizations about their abilities to think, create, reason, screw up, offend ... whatever.

And do you know why the could do that? Simple. They were not afraid to be themselves, speak their mind, tell someone they loved or disliked them, challenge what they didn't believe, call BS by its name as soon as it reared its ugly head. They also loved taking on the status quo and abusing "sacred cows." They suffered fools not at all, and were totally fearless when something or someone attempted to intimidate them. They were strong, loyal, took big risks, won often and screwed up quite a bit, too. In other words, they lived (not by any stretch of the imagination to be confused with simple existence).

I wonder what would happen in the modern business world, in local and US politics, and in many households today if everyone acted that way? What do you think?

Wasn't it sweet of Hillary?

Wasn't it sweet of Hillary to jump to the defense of her man, Bill, after the mean ol' "right wing press" suggested his blowup during the Chris Wallace interview was nothing more than another of his infamous staged versions of "The Real Truth According To Bill?" Now wait a minute ... haven't I seen that tactic before? Ummm, let me see ... somehow I am getting a vision of a blue dress, but I am not totally sure what I am remembering, are you?

From the land of fruits and nuts, yet another potential ruling

Okay, so now we have another Far Left activist judge out in California about to outlaw the death penalty unless it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the execution method (lethal injection) is painless to the convicted. Wonder if this same kind of concern was shown for the victims of those waiting on death row? My point? I really have not enough moral purity to judge absolutely the rightness or wrongness of the death penalty. I do however have plenty of ability to comment on the Left Wing idiots populating many of the courtrooms out West. Here's what I wonder. What is the population out there doing to undo the travesty these idiots are trying to force on the rest of us?

Does it still exist in the workplace?

Leadership and management are terms often used interchangeably in today's workplace. Nowhere have I ever experienced anything to make me think such use is proper.

Granted, MBA "factories" turn out nice little cloned "managers" ... all polished to high luster, fully up-to-speed on Excel and MS Project, with Blackberries blazing, and their contact matrix on autopilot, turning out possible sources for consultants, agencies, and other foolproof budget drainers whose mission in life is to analyze the heck out of the status quo, give those who hire them a false sense of job security, and otherwise lull all those who fall for this nonsense into the stupor of mediocrity.

Of course, once analyzed, more of the same must be done, because no one from this elite flock knows how to think, how to vision, how to influence and change perceptions, or what generally to do, if anything at all, with the information.

If my observation is correct, the future of American business is less than hopeful. Is it too late? Or will true leaders finally assert themselves and save our way of life?

Falwell & "manufactured" rage

Don't you just have to chuckle about the so-called "rage" of the Lefties about Rev. Falwell's offhand comment stating that if Hilary runs it would do more good to mobilize his constituency than if Satan did? Aside from likely being the truth, it was clearly just a humorous observation - the type often made by party loyalists of either party when blowing off steam about the other party. My question: Is this "manufactured" rage all the Left has to offer? Geez, where have we seen "manufactured" rage before?

Let me see if I understand

So let me see if I have this. The Pope states there is a problem with that faction of Islam that preaches and practices "conversion" by the sword, the knife, the bomb ... whatever. The fanatics who follow and practice that particular strain of the Muslim faith protest to demonstrate what an insult such an observation is to the Muslim faithful ("How dare he suggest our particular strain of religion is violent and destructive!").

And to absolutely prove to the world how off base the Pope is, in calling them on this, they promptly fire bomb numerous Christian churches, murder at least one nun, threaten everyone west of Tehran, and who knows what other atrocities they've committed that have yet to be seen or discovered.

Why am I struggling with their logic?

How would you know?

I hadn't really paid that much attention to the newest Viagra commercial until tonight. Upon careful review, many things about it caused me to chuckle, not the least of which was the litany of warnings the spokesperson has to go through at the end of the commercial to satisfy all the regulatory requirements such products have to deal with if they are advertised on television.

There's the very well known warning about which many jokes have been told, the one about the "four hour" issue. We won't go there, because that road is already well traveled.

No, the warning that cracked me up tonight is the one about, "In the event of a sudden loss of vision, stop taking Viagra immediately!" Well, this caused me to ask, "How would you know?"

Here's why I think that (Now bear with me here and remember this is somewhat of an ol' codger's recollection about such things but ... ). If I have taken this product and have used its magic effects to the utmost of my abilities, sooner or later (Stop it ... don't write your own joke at this point in my ramblings.), something "splendid" will most surely occur. When it does, there's a pretty good chance I've thrown my head back, tilted my head vaguely toward "up", clinched numerous and sundry body parts including most of my face, forehead, etc. and have possibly stretched both my mouth and eyes/eyelids as tightly as I can (known in some circles as contortion), and I can almost assure you my eyes close while all this is going on.

So, once again I ask, how would you know? What do you think?

Well past ridiculous

Does it bother you as much as it bothers me, that with all the important and history altering events going on in the world today, there are still reporters, so-called "news organizations" and various and sundry media outlets who, almost on a daily basis, give us updates on the likes of Paris Hilton, Sean Penn, Madonna, etc.?

Are my fears ungrounded?

I've watched parts of this week's two-night ABC series on 9/11. Despite debates that will no doubt and uselessly occur about the historical accuracy of some parts of the series, it serves as a stark and painful reminder of those terrible events of September 11, 2001. I found watching it to be an emotional experience, those emotions mostly switching back and forth from sadness and loss to extreme anger and apprehension.

The sadness and loss is of course easy for almost anyone to understand. The extreme anger should come as no surprise either. The apprehension might be something one looking in from a distance might misinterpret.

No, I am not concerned about another such attack. One will or will not occur regardless of my thoughts about that. Also I will not let the subhuman slime who plan and conduct such strikes rule my life.

No, what concerns me, what I am apprehensive about is a waning of fear and concern I see in friends and acquaintances. Popular press, short attention spans, pack mentality, lack of comprehensive analysis of the day's events being a given because many just "don't have the time" to keep up with the news, all threaten our country's resolve and our chances for succeeding in what will be a multi-generational war to save our way of life.

I hope my fears are ungrounded. Are they?