May Day! May Day!

Arizona; I am not sure what my position is on this state’s tough new immigration law. On one hand I agree that immigrants who are here illegally should be sent back to their mother country, especially if they are caught doing any crime. On the other hand, I have a problem with the idea of requiring people to show their papers. It sounds too much like Communist Russia where no one could move around the country without their papers. This is not America.

Arizona’s new law seems to be nothing more than putting a bandaid onto a punctured artery. It will do nothing to stem the tide of Mexicans pouring over our borders. I think what we really need to do is to analyze the underlying reasons regarding our illegal immigration problems. Only then might we find an answer to this growing problem.

For all our talk, over half of the country wants these illegal immigrants here. First there are the businessmen and women who need the cheap labor. Their argument has been that Americans wouldn’t do those jobs although now I wonder about that what with our high unemployment. Nonetheless, as long as employers hire these illegal immigrants then Mexicans will continue to cross our borders. It is as simple as supply and demand.

I’ve mentioned this before but the second reason people dislike Arizona’s new law is that the Democrat party is looking forward to this group voting next fall. Even if the Mexican’s here illegally can’t vote, there is still a huge Hispanic population who can and Democrat’s want and need their votes. Even some Conservatives are backing off from embracing the new Arizona law because they can’t afford to offend the Hispanic community.

Whatever America does, Mexicans will continue to rush our borders as long as their country cannot provide the jobs and economic security which is found in America. It is truly outrageous that the United States is one of the richest countries in the world and yet there is a third world country on our southern border. We have spent millions of dollars to help prop up democracies throughout the world, why can’t we do the same with our own neighbor? Mexico may not want our interference, but too bad. Until they can control their own country and bring economic prosperity to their citizens so that they aren’t forced to come to here then we have every right to butt in.

No laws or walls will stem the tide of Mexicans crossing our borders for jobs and a better life. But if we can help Mexico provide those goals in their own country then there would be no need for Mexicans to come here, legally or illegally. Why aren’t wealthy liberals or groups of Hispanics raising funds to start schools, provide doctors, help Mexicans start their own businesses in their own country? Why can’t we offer loans for new factories and advantageous deals for trading across the border? Yes I know that the reason we can’t do the latter is that Mexico’s government is very corrupt and run by drug cartels. But we have to start somewhere, somehow, to encourage economic growth in Mexico, other than through drugs.

Until Mexicans can obtain jobs, economic security and better health care in their own country then they will continue to walk across the border regardless of our laws. The ultimate benefits in America are simply too tempting.

In the meantime, however, Hispanics will be making a huge mistake with their upcoming May Day protest in cities throughout America. Individual Mexicans cleaning your house or small groups working on your farm or factory don’t seem threatening or problematic. Sure there are parts of town controlled by Hispanics where there are frequent robberies, gun shots and murders, and all signs and conversations are in Spanish as most don’t even speak English. But you ignore that part of town and stay away from those streets after dark. Thus non-Hispanics tolerated the growing influx of Mexicans as long as they didn’t disrupt their life or appear threatening. This will all change come May 1st.

Once again, our big screen TVs will be filled with images of angry Hispanics. Signs in Spanish will be waved along with the Mexican flag. The demonstrations may start of calm buy you know they will eventually deteriorate into angry, perhaps even violent protests. Americans, of every background other than Hispanic, will suddenly feel threatened and upset by this display. I don’t think this protest will help the Hispanic cause at all.
We see ourselves as a good country, a country that helps our neighbors, a country that has basically been willing to look the other way as Mexicans migrate here and flood our schools and hospitals and take menial jobs. We bend over backwards to enable Mexicans with our dual language approach which irritates many Americans. But now? These protests may seem very ungrateful and extremely disrespectful to this country which has done so much for our neighbor. And seeing what amounts to a foreign demonstration in the United States will make Democrats uncomfortable and Republicans downright angry. This is a huge mistake which will only inflame the already volatile situation.

The Idiocy of Youthful Idealism

Lately I’ve been listening to some young people discuss President Obama. They sounded so idealistic and enthusiastic about our President. It makes me want to slap them silly until they get some sense and see what really is happening in our country. Now some of you might say that I am acting like an old grump complaining about the youth of today and forgetting what it was like to be young. Not true. When I was in my 20s I was as politically conservative as I am today and even helped to campaign for Reagan.

As for today’s youngest voters, first, they should be applauded for actually voting. Too many of their generation opt out entirely from the election process. So even if they voted stupidly, er, for Obama, these 20 somethings should at least be proud that they did vote. And yes, I know, if they had stayed at home then that would mean fewer votes for Obama. However, the win margin was so great that even without their votes Obama would have still won so I can afford to be magnanimous and congratulate them for voting. Actually it is this kind of sneaky thinking that doesn’t yet occur to young people. Unfortunately politicians are masters of this type of attitude and behavior and President Obama is the Grand Master of it all.

Obama cloaks himself in secrecy, lies and doubletalk and is surrounded by people almost as good as he in manipulating others; Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel just to name a few. Between them, they are creating a legacy that at first glance appears to be one of helping anyone with middle and lower incomes at the expense of those with higher incomes. They are making his campaign promise come true - to share the wealth, which sounds great to everyone except the wealthy and of course businessmen who make profits and everyone on Wall Street. But these “fat cats” as Obama calls them can afford to be hit up for some money to help others, right? Oh my, there are so many things wrong with this that I get dizzy trying to think where to start. How do you begin to explain to young people who are still enamored with Obama and believe that all capitalists are immoral and making a profit is bad that they are wrong and the path Obama is taking our country is reprehensible?

I might be saved from having to explain anything if I just wait and let them discover it for themselves. In fact, I think they are about to be in for some big shocks. None have seen past the razzle dazzle promoted by President Obama and his team to take the time to understand what he proposes actually means. Take the national health care bill, for example. I heard one young women gush over our President and how this was why she voted for him, because he cares about the poor and those without health care. It was her next sentence that got to me for she then added that she can’t afford to get that health insurance but she feels relieved to know it is there for when she can afford it. Excuse me? Didn’t she read the small print? Didn't she listen to any of the nearly daily speeches the president made about health care? Obviously not.

This woman didn’t have a clue how this national health care was going to work. Yes I agree that it is a nice gesture to now have health care for everyone. But she must not have read the small print – health care insurance will not be an option - it will be a requirement in this country. Once this bill goes into effect, if she still can’t afford the offered health care insurance then she probably won't be able to afford the tax Obama will impose on people without any health insurance. I am sure as hell that she will not be happy when she does her income taxes and realizes that she will be hit with a hefty tax instead. It is infuriating that this young woman and the millions like her can’t see the unfairness of this new bill and it may take our Supreme Court to decide if it is even legal to require our citizens to buy health insurance. And yet until the reality of this bill hits this young adult, they will still think Obama walks on water.

Another young Obama enthusiast recently discussed how the President has kept his taxes down. He was actually referring to Obama’s decision to keep President Bush’s lower taxes but I knew it would be useless to point this out to him. I know that he, too, will be in for a shock come the first tax day after Obama has removed Bush’s lower taxe rates and the young man will see how much he now owes in taxes thanks to our current President. But no one that age would listen to me if I said that the current lower taxes are due to President Bush since they can't see past their hatred of him.

As much as these young people love Obama they despise Bush. I have a theory about that. These young adults were children and teens during 9-11. It was a scary time for everyone and must have been even more upsetting for children. It would be only natural for them to look up to our new president and during those early days President Bush did seem nearly heroic. The image of him standing next to the construction workers at the sight of the fallen towers shouting that we will be heard was exhilarating as were the early days of the Afghanistan war. But then the war dragged on and on and the initial heat of revenge cooled off as we found ourselves in a long drawn out war. Between the war, the 2004 election and the economy Bush went from hero to zero in the eyes of the young. And no one can be as judgmental and cruel as a young person who becomes disillusioned with an adult they had once admired. I should know. I was once a young Republican for Nixon.

For the time being, other than this article, I am going to keep quiet when I hear further outrageous remarks from the young people. Besides, I am not sure there is anything I could say that would change their mind. Only time and experience can make them understand what is really happening. I just hope we have the time for them to get the experience which would open their eyes to what Obama is doing to America.

Happy Earth Day Iceland, Chile, Haiti, China….

I’ve never really cared for Earth Day until this year. I can’t help but laugh at the irony of all these people talking about taking care of “mother earth” when it seems as if “mother earth” is doing her best lately to destroy us. How many tens of thousands of people have died recently in earthquakes occurring from Haiti to China, from Chile to Japan. And I heard that the number of 7.0 or higher magnitude quakes are on par with previous years. The only difference is that they are hitting populous areas and/or areas that are not equipped to handle earthquakes resulting in massive damage. It goes to figure that the more populated the earth than the greater number killed by earthquakes, floods, avalanches, hurricanes etc. So those Club of Rome doomsday sayers concerned about overpopulation shouldn’t be worried since it seems as if earth will easily take care of any overpopulation problems.

Additionally, these Earth Day people who worry and lecture about what damage humans are doing to earth has always struck me as being incredibly arrogant. I truly believe that more damage is done through natural disasters than through anything, short of nuclear war, done by people. The earth is one tough old broad who has been around for millenniums and has survived a lot. All the damage done by people is insignificant to the destruction by a major natural disaster such as a tornado, hurricane or tidal wave.

We typically think of natural disasters as being water based (hurricanes, tornadoes, floods) or earth based (earthquakes, mud slides). So an airborne natural disaster is something that no one was prepared for. How can you not be astounded at the result of a volcanic eruption in Iceland of all places? One unpronounceable volcano has managed to completely shut down all air traffic in Western Europe. It boggles the mind. Who knows what the final cost might be to the airlines and all the disrupted work by the millions who are stranded somewhere. And it appears that this will go on for days and days.

Yet, in all the news stories about the volcano, has anyone heard anybody discuss the effect of the ash currents on the greenhouse effect and our ozone? Nope, I haven’t heard a word. Funny, isn’t it? This is the biggest source of dirty air pollution in decades and no one has discussed its effects on our atmosphere. What kind of cap and trade reprimand will the UN impose on Iceland for its environmentally unsound volcano? How does this equate to the atmosphere mankind is supposed to pollute each year? Somehow I doubt if the mainstream media will ever talk about any of this when they celebrate Earth Day next week. Sure there will be a lot of talk about the horrible human race destroying the earth but discuss how earth is polluting and destroying its own atmosphere or lands or waters? I don't think so...

I have been fascinated by this story and an article by Claire Bates for MailOnline really intrigued me. In 1883, when the volcano erupted, an Icelandic man wrote the following in his diary “I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city - my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.” The diarist was Edvard Munch, the artist who, based on this experience, painted his famous picture “The Scream”.

Over 100 years later, the same volcano erupts again. This time we are able to view it from above and a recent radar image shows the following picture. Scary, isn’t it? Maybe the artist really did hear the earth scream…

Short Retort

That was the dumbest purchase of my life, or at least it seems like it. I just spent $8,995 for something I can’t touch and can’t really see either. The last time I spent that much, excluding buying my townhouse, although come to think of it I’ve bought houses in the past with less down payment than that. Anyway, the only other thing that expensive was a car I bought 25 years ago. At least after spending all that money I got to drive my purchase home. This time, I can’t even kick the tires, so to speak. What was this purchase? A brand new roof for my townhouse as the 19 year old one that I had was starting to leak onto my ceiling. A friend asked how did I like it? How do I kn0w? Come to think of it, I won’t even know if it is a good one or not unless it starts to leak, too. The only thing I can say is that I caught a glimpse of a small corner of my roof when driving up my street and it looked brighter and cleaner than the roofs next to it. And that is the extent of all I can say about this outrageously expensive purchase. Gee.. Just think how much nicer it would have been if I could have spent $9,000 on some bling instead…

Seeing is Not Believing

Everyone knows that the politically correct police have been slowly changing our language to fit their liberal perspective. What you may not realize is that they are also manipulating images to show only what they want us to see. The goal is to make people identify specific images of their choosing with specific topics. As I look for images for my blog I have noticed this disturbing trend as I see more and more biased and politically correct images.

Take for instance last week’s blog about Easter where I googled “Christian images” to find pictures for my blog. Google image results will provide eighteen images, including photographs, cartoons, symbols and there will be multiple pages. The first page of Christian images had four pictures of a cross, one picture of doves and one had hands in prayer. So one-third of the first page of pictures included standard Christian images. Yet there was not one picture of Jesus or even a Bible. There were two pictures of what was supposedly the largest church in America but it looked rather sterile and isolated. The rest of the pictures included various sayings and a couple of images were for something called the Christian café.

Finally on the second page I saw a picture with Jesus in it along with more pictures of crosses, and sayings and pictures about peace and doves. But then there were two cartoons - one about “Christian Taliban” and another entitled “Free Christians”. The worst, though, was the picture titled “Porn Again Christians”. It went downhill as the the third page had a image a naked man being arrested, two more of shirtless muscled men, one of a decapitated man on an exam table and a pie chart titled “Christian Oppression”.

OK you get the point. The 54 pictures shown for Christianity had one, maybe two, pictures of Jesus, none of the bible, one angel and none of any of the other people or stories from the bible. Yet there were multiple pictures of nude or semi nude men, one about porn and many discussing the “oppression” and problems about Christianity. You can’t help but notice how terribly slanted the choices were for Christianity images. But what about Muslims? How would Google treat these images?

A search of Muslim images first resulted in a lot of pictures of women in burkas although in contrast there were a few pictures of Muslim beauty pageant winners. There were also pictures of Muslim symbols and a couple of shots of men in prayer. In the first few pages there were a number of pictures of protesters holding various banners. Were they protesting the strict sharia laws or perhaps all the terrorist attacks on innocent citizens? Of course not. Under the title of “Muslim Outrage” were protester holding banners which read things like “Behead those who insult Islam”. Unlike the search for Christianity which showed multiple negative attacks on the religion I found only one in the first few pages of the Muslim images search. This result was a form with the title of “”Hate Muslims? So do we!” But this turned out to be a joke and not a serious attack on the religion such as the ones on Christianity. In the first few pages I didn’t see any negative cartoons or banners or pictures against Muslims or the religion. I wonder if people are afraid to ridicule or denigrate Islam whereas there is no such restraint against Christianity. Or is it simply politically correct to defend Muslims and Islam while it is equally politically correct to abuse Christianity?

Most of my blogs, however, are about Republicans and Democrats, and I need appropriate pictures to go with these articles. So what images does Google provide for these topics? About a third of the first page for both Republican and Democrat searches showed elephants and donkeys, respectively. But the third picture for Republican is a takeoff of the progress of man from monkey to human called “Some Noted Republican Presidents”. I next saw a picture of a typical American family in which all of them are holding rifles or guns. There was an images included a picture of a Jesus holding a gun with the question “What would Jesus do?” and another of a militant Jesus. Oddly enough, the Democrat first page also contained a picture of Jesus, this one looking sad and was a pitch for a song called “Jesus was a Democrat”.

The stunning difference of the two Google searches became clear with the second page of images. The Democrat page continued with more pictures of donkeys, a number of uplifting pictures of patriotic symbols such as the White House and the flag plus serious pictures of famous Democrats. The first picture on the second page of the Republican search shows a strange cartoon of a man in drag, complete with fishnet stockings and heels and for some unknown reason there was a cat up his ass and he was telling a pollster that he was a Republican. Was that supposed to be funny? The second picture is a real snapshot of a man holding a banner which read “I’m a Republican and Ashamed of the GOP”. The rest of the pictures on this page continued to have derogatory and/or obscene pictures about Republicans with a few scattered pictures of elephants, including a cover of Time magazine showing the rear end of an elephant.

Nice, huh? Can you imagine some twelve year old writing a paper for school on Democrats and Republicans and coming across these images? Are Democrats and liberals so insecure, so fearful of Republicans and conservatives that they have to rig the world to tilt it in their favor? Political correctness and the liberal view of the world has taken over not just the words we say (or can not say) but they are also taking over the images associated with these words. Yet has anyone noticed? Has anyone objected to the unfairness found in these images?

"Seeing is believing" we use to say. But now you can't even trust the images you see. I fear for the day that these politically correct words and images become so commonplace that we can no longer recognize that they are even biased.

Easter Resurrection

This country was founded on Christian-Judeo principles. A lot of people would like to ignore or even deny this fact. Progressives and liberals have been working for decades to eradicate any hint of religion from the daily life of Americans and to a great extent they have been successful. But there is hope…

It is amazing how much has changed in the past fifty years. I suppose to some, 50 years is a long time, but when you’re 52 those years go by quickly. I recall as a young child my mother taking me to see a live nativity scene – in front of city hall. In school we would sing Christmas carols before we were let go for the Christmas break. Christmas decorations, including religious scenes, adorned every store and people easily wished each other Merry Christmas. During Passover there were Jewish symbols out and yes in school we sang Dreidle Dreidle Dreidle right after an older student would tell us the meaning of Passover.

In American history we learned that religion was a major reason why the Pilgrims came to America, a fact that is rarely taught today. We would have Good Friday off and get an Easter break. After school it was just assumed that you went to Sunday School or Hebrew School. No stigma attached, it just is what you did although the non-Jewish kids were rather impressed that the Jewish kids were learning a language written backwards. The Jewish kids also got to have a great party with lots of gifts and money when they turned 13 whereas after my confirmation all I got was my own bible with my name engraved in gold on it. And yet, even though I don’t go to church much anymore, that same bible is still kept in my nightstand all these years later.

So where are we today? Just about all talk of religion has been eliminated from school and city hall. As to how children are being raised today, I really couldn’t say as I have no contact with kids. I can only look within my own family to see how they are raising their children. My oldest sister raised her two boys in the church. They may have gone kicking and screaming at times but it must have stuck. The oldest doesn’t go to the church his parents and grandmother attend. No, he found his own more contemporary church where he now goes with his wife and children. Religion always was important to my sister’s youngest son who is now married and in the navy and I have no doubt that he will also raise his children in the church.

On the other hand, as much as I love my middle sister and her husband, we all know not to discuss religion with them. Actually I still recall the heated discussions about religion they would have with my mother when they were teenagers and had decided they were atheists. And yet, having grown up in a church I think they missed the closeness of the congregation so they found a compromise in the Unitarian Church. As much as I understand it, Unitarians celebrate everything and believe in nothing. But this gives them some place to be Sunday mornings and provides the socializing they missed and contact with others who feel as they do. From what I can tell, both of their adult children are not religious either but might occasionally attending a Unitarian “church”.

Then there is my brother who probably disliked Sunday School more than any of us. My mother finally gave up trying to drag an angry resentful teenage son to a place he had no interest in going. Religion is still not important to him. Our mother would occasionally take his daughters to Sunday School but after she moved to live near my oldest sister I doubt if my brother or his family have stepped foot into a church since then. So there you have it, three children and three different paths when it comes to religion. And what about me, you ask? I am one of those Christians who truly do believe and religioun is important to me and yet I rarely attend church. But that’s a long story for another day.

A hundred years ago, my sisters, brother and I would most likely all be Christians who attended church regularly. Instead, due to exposure in school and college some of my siblings began to question the concept of God and Jesus and ended up walking away from both. So the liberals and progressives have made progress and are slowly moving our country away from our Christian-Judaism faith. But they are about to meet a very large bump in the road.

Everyone agrees that after universal health care the next big issue that President Obama is going to tackle is illegal immigration. The fear is that he will somehow allow for them to quickly become citizens. Yet the liberals and progressives are ignoring one small detail. Most of these Mexicans and Cubans and other Hispanics clamoring to be in our country are Christians. I have a feeling that their faith is strong and enduring and these Catholics will want to continue to worship God once here in the United States. Then there are the Asians who are here legally. The man who owns the nail place I go to has a card on his work area, similar to a baseball card, but instead it has a picture of Mary with information about her. And each of the other Asian workers have either a card or rosary beads or a cross at their work station. Nor are they shy about talking about God and their religion, proselytizing as they do your nails.

Finally there is the story of young man, mid twenties, single and apparently looking for something. He was a good friend of my nephews and became a fixture at my sister’s house when they were in high school. A few months ago my family were all at a wedding and ran into my nepthew's old friend. After talking for a while, he asked my sister about her religion and basically asked if he could go to church with them. And so each Sunday he began to go to church and sat with my sister, her husband and my mother. A few months go by and one Sunday he tells them that he is taking classes to become a member of their church. Last month he officially joined the church and yet he still had never been baptized. And so today, Easter Sunday, this young man who found what he was looking for in God and Christianity, will be baptized.

The moral of this long Easter Sunday sermon is that, no matter what the progressives may try to do, religion and God are not going away. In fact, thanks to the immigrants, legal and illegal, Christianity is once again important to a growing segment in this country. More exciting is the fact that the story of my nephew's friend is not an isolated story. I’ve read that there has been a small swell of interest by men and women in their mid twenties who are interested in learning about Christianity and who end up joining churches.

If you think about it, it is pretty silly for progressives to believe that they can eradicate a religion which has been persecuted for over 2000 years and yet is still here. Not to sound too blasphemous but those who thought that religion was dead and buried will find that just like Jesus, religion can never be totally buried and will always rise up again, stronger and more vibrant than ever. Hallelujia. Have a blessed Easter and Amen.