My post on the war against the poor will be postponed until next week.
Posts Tagged ‘Single Steps’
Special Post
Posted in Single Steps, tagged Single Steps, Special post on August 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Heads Up—Special Post
Posted in Single Steps, tagged CEO, congress, DADT, Lesbian Liberal Party, Military pension, retirement, Single Steps, Starbucks on August 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I saw two segments on the evening news last night worthy of our consideration.
Starbucks CEO is getting up a campaign to block campaign donations in order (he claims) to teach Congress a lesson in responsible government. This is a lie and a move by the Lesbian Liberal Party to re-elect Barack Insane Obeyme in 2012. These women want him in there because he is basically, a fool. Remember how much press was given to the fact that the chief reason Obeyme was “elected” was the super spending provided by some mysterious backers? The LLP is running scared right now and the Starbucks ploy is an attempt to keep their campaign spending edge by getting unthinking conservative voters and backers to vent their anger at the system at the expense of their objectives which are getting rid of this posturing idiot.
Next item–
With the so-called repeal of the DADT legislation, it seems that now the Lesbian Liberal Party feels in a position to increase its efforts to castrate the american military, and has introduced legislation to reduce the military pension program to the level of corporate america’s thieving and controlling policies. This is the home nest of these vicious and unnatural women so it is not wonderful they feel more comfortable trying to reduce fighting men to that level. We would not be even hearing rumors of this obscenity if the LLP had not first made such noise about DADT in the name of “patriotism.” Now you can all see where the patriotism of these women is leading.
What we need now are conservative members of congress to introduce, instead of the military pension garbage, legislation that targets the retirement program of congress itself. Now would be a good time to point out that these people retire at full salary and benefits after a career of doing nothing but talk. Our military veterans do a real job for us. Start talking this up people. Believe me it will help.
Counted Blessings
Posted in Single Steps, tagged blessings, Canada, conservative commentary,, drug traffic, Mexico, Single Steps, vested interest on July 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Let’s take a moment to bring in good things. Of course we cannot fix what is wrong with America if we don’t realize where we went off the tracks but for this post we will forget wrong things and count our blessings.
We still voice our opinions fairly freely, without fear of reprisal, mostly. At least I do. I hope I am not alone in this. I see people who are still afraid to do so, and I hope my example will lend them some courage.
We are not under some super secret military regime. In spite of what you might see in the X-File episodes. Our military intelligence people are doing a job that the average civilian will never be able to appreciate. This is not because they are power mad megalomaniacs, it is because it is not possible to distill eighty years of expertise into the twenty-five words or less answers that the average citizen expects.
The land itself is beautiful. From sea to shining sea. I have traveled a bit in North America and I can say this with some personal truth. It is also productive. We have the best farm land on the planet. We have precious and semi precious gems, gold, silver, minerals, wood and abundant water. We have a population that is free-born. This means a great deal even two hundred years after the death of feudalism.
We have some very nice neighbors. Canada and Mexico. Can you appreciate what it means to live in a ‘nice’ neighborhood?
We coöperate more with these neighbors governments than many other countries could or would have. Personally, I think that our government should make a point of praising these people for this effort instead of letting all the news headlines focus on bones of contention like immigration or drug traffic. I am sure that the Canadian and Mexican governments have a few bones to pick with us, all is not sweetness and light but still, we are on speaking terms. I am grateful for that and count it a great blessing.
Today is a beautiful summer day here in Maine. Highs near 80, a slight breeze, sunny, and peaceful. I plan to have a cold one(or two) under the trees. I am very, very, grateful for being able to do this. I am thankful to everyone who has in any way contributed to my ability to do this without fear. I am not in fevered expectation of being overrun by Canadian forces intent on a military coup. Thank you Canada. Same for Mexico, thank you Mexico. I certainly hope that you both feel the same about America, although I am admitting that you may have more cause for concern than we do if you rely on the media for information.
One of the reasons I decided to publish this blog is to help stave off the assualt of the mindless, media fed yowling that is currently passing for politics in the U.S. I am an American citizen and I acknowledge the efforts and restraint of both our neighbors to the north and the south. I apologize for our media and their superficial coverage of certain story angles. I don’t believe everything I see or read in the media and I am sure that I am not alone in America in so doing. So I am casting my bread upon the waters of the internet today.
To listen to the American media we would think that every citizen in either country is parked at the border waiting to cross illegally, probably with masses of cocaine or grass for a grub stake. The highest ambition of these illegals is to live in idleness forever on the bliss of American welfare.
The truth is, the majority of Canadian and Mexican citizens stay home and mind their own business, as do we. The average citizens of all three countries are neighbors.
The media of all three countries are also neighbors after a fashion and it is this. They have the same vested interest — selling their product. Which is emotionally contentious stories that will guarantee readership. I am posting this blog to offset the nonsense they generate in their money-making frenzy.
The title of todays post is counted blessings. Canada and Mexico are right up there at the top of my list. They have been good neighbors to us. Have we been as good to them?
To all my neighbors near and far, who live in peace and mind their own business—–
May you enjoy the summer days and count your blessings in peace.
I have a dream too
Posted in Single Steps, tagged American Dream, American government, conservative commentary,, full-time moms, media ethics, public sexuality, Single Steps, special interest groups, teen idols on July 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I am going to digress in this post from our discussion of the American Dream. In this post, I am going to share my own personal dream. This dream will naturally involve America because I live here, but it is my own. You see, I have a dream too.
I dream that our media, both electronic and printed, returns to the era of responsible journalism when facts were reported instead of rumors because it was (rightly) assumed that the reading public would form their own opinions from the facts presented. I dream that we can once again respect the owners, editors, and journalists who perform this function.
I dream that we return our educational “system” to the private sector. That any child will have a school close enough to walk to, run by a private individual or group thereof that the parents have personally vetted and approved. That these schools will be small enough to avoid overwhelming the small minds that attend them with too many personalities to deal with. Todays schools are much too large and people send their babies to spend most of their day dealing with strangers. You might as well take your little ones and your young adolescents to the mall and leave them there for eight or ten hours and expect them to return edified, instructed, and socially well-adjusted. I dream that Americans give up the notion that healthy, stable citizens will be easily produced by mass production methods.
I dream that parents will no longer allow their young daughters to assume that it is acceptable and really cool to dress and behave like street whores. Even if the latest hot teen idol appears to be getting rich from such behavior. I dream that the moms and dads of America will return to the time when protecting the innocence of their daughters and the vulnerabilities of their young sons was more important than so-called freedom of expression. I dream that Americans become so secure within themselves that they no longer apologize for banding together and stopping the wholesale sexual molestation of our children in the name of “freedom”. I dream that we, as a country, refuse to cower at the wails of “censorship” from such molesters. I dream that our young men and growing boys will be given the opportunity to treat women with respect instead of having to fight off the visual assaults of over exposed female flesh that today amount to the rape of entire generations of our sons. I dream that parents will privately talk to their growing girls and explain to them that covering themselves in public is not prudish, inhibited or puritan, but is a mark of respect for the needs of our men and is necessary if they as women wish to receive the same. And I dream that not a single popular television show, which the producers know that young people are watching, finds it necessary to show couples literally having sex in prime time. I dream that such things return to the privacy of the bedroom where they belong.
And lastly, I dream that America survives long enough to grow up. I have partially covered the topic of the infantile and adolescent tendencies in our political outlook. It is not perverted or even necessarily morally wrong for young people to lack foresight, tolerance, or fiscal maturity and America is still very, very young in the sociopolitical scheme of things on this world. I dream that Americans will learn to cut themselves just a little slack right now. Every growing youngster will make a few bad decisions and perhaps take up with one or two friends not really desirable. Young people and young countries have to learn from their mistakes. They have to learn that their own good intentions may be used against them by a less than honest person or friend. I dream that we are now mature enough to recognize special interest grand standing and the legislative immorality sponsored by special interest press releases, as such less than honest friends. I dream that Americans take the media groups to task for their blatant misrepresentation of the facts. I dream that government by, for, and of the people is never destroyed by the loud noises of the few amongst the people and that this government, our government, shall stand.
Independence Day
Posted in Single Steps, tagged adolescent issues, conservative commentary,, history, Independence Day, oppression, politics, Single Steps, the American Dream, tyranny on July 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Happy Independence Day everyone! In celebration of the holiday this post will be very short and sweet.
On this day Americans celebrate their hard-won independence from ‘tyranny and oppression’. These were the catch phrases used during our war for independence from Britain. I am still hearing these phrases today. So for this post I am asking if todays’ definition of ‘tyranny and oppression’ is real or imagined. Has it evolved from the original of 220 years ago? The war for independence lasted about seven years and it was in the process of fomenting for at least fifteen years before that so we are talking a history of about 220 years. Quite a life span for a political catch phrase.
I have been monitoring the media for over forty years now and I have noticed that the people who yell the loudest about tyranny and oppression do so from a most superficial level. These people are the politically thin-skinned. Anyone who disagrees with them about the slightest thing in the slightest degree is an oppressive tyrant. If you are going to contribute on a public level this behavior is unacceptable. On a public level you can expect to be disagreed with quite frequently and if this notion devastates your ego, you need to step out of the public arena. You are not grown up enough to be a player.
On a personal level, I expect to be disagreed with. I also expect to have the dissenter back up their view-point with logic and comprehensive, factual data, not selective facts, or rhetoric designed to inflame the ignorant and play on their emotional immaturity. I am neither ignorant nor immature and when these tactics are used on me and don’t work I am called a—-
1.) tyrant
2.) dictator
3.) judgemental bigot
These are only the more polite names. I will leave out the others.
And yes, this does relate to the American Dream that we have been examining here. Evidently we have two distinct types of dreamers in this country, the adult, and the adolescent. When adolescents are confronted with the notion that their personal feelings have now to be integrated with those of the rest of society, they are very apt to whine— ‘but you don’t understand!’ (for this read–‘oppression’) For most in this age group, tough love tactics are the only effective ones. “Suck it up!” is the only answer to this whining and only time will provide the experience needed to ameliorate the sting of their newly awakened sensibilities.
Adolescents are extremely sensitive about independence yet they still expect the authority figures in their immediate spheres to provide for all their physical, financial needs and as individual children with parents, this is acceptable expectation. Politically and publicly, we can no longer afford to baby these “teenagers.” It is not up to “The Government” to assure them that they will run no risks in life, that they will suffer no financial setbacks and that some one else will provide for all their medical needs as well as their old age retirement. As adults, these things are our very own personal responsibility.
As an adult, my American Dream is that I will be able to do all these things by my own honest efforts without government interference.
For the annual crop of political adolescents we are currently raising in America, the “UncleSamisobligedtoprovideformeDream” is the one we need a wake up call from. The adult American Dream is the one we seem to have started out with. What we need to examine now is how this has changed over time into the adolescent version currently causing us so much financial and social disharmony.
So for my next post, we will still be roaming in the American Dream world.
Great Expectations!
Posted in Single Steps, tagged history, opinion, politics, Single Steps, social issues on June 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »
So. Let’s talk about “The American Dream”. Ours is a land where all men are created equal, a land with a government of, by, and for the people. A land of opportunity where everyone will have the freedom to dissent in their opinions openly and without fear of reprisal. The only land where just anyone at all can become PRESIDENT! Just think of it! No matter who they are (or even where they were born?) the electorate of America can put them in charge. How’s that for freedom for the huddled masses, eh?
Of course this also means that just anyone at all will automatically have the specialized knowledge of such highly complex issues as international finance, foreign policy, military intelligence, corporate and civil law, ecology, medicine, agriculture, national and local banking etc., etc. to make informed decisions. Whew! Not only that but they will have an entire four years to cure every perceived ill not only in this country but in the rest of the world as well. We certainly are the ‘land of opportunity!’
And of course all the rest of our elected law makers are voted into office using the same strict criteria for fitness for public office that we apply to all our presidents, that is–just anyone at all can do this.
The basic tenets of the American Dream I have in bold letters above were actually taught to me in grade and high school. Taught me by teachers, if you can believe it, people who went to college for at least four years. And they were so proud to do it. And what is more, it is continuing to be so taught to this very day. Even as a very young American I had enough native good sense to be amazed at the obtuseness of my teachers on these particular subjects and I was by no means alone. Every last bit of the anti-establishment mentality that came into its flower power heyday in the sixties was seeded by the type of injudicious rantings you see above.
When you tell a group of growing youngsters that just any old body can be a senator, or a congressman, or best of all–The President!, this will not be perceived by them as a great freedom of opportunity. Children have no such life experience as to make this association. What they will think is — ‘can’t be much of a job if just any one can do it.’ I know this was the impression my classmates and I were given. We had some lively discussions when the teacher wasn’t around. And I still see this reaction in a good portion of students today. As I said in my first blog, I don’t think young people are stupid. They do not suffer this type of thing gladly. It brands the most important of our public offices with a minimum wage job mentality and all american school children are taught to despise minimum wage jobs and the substandard shmucks who perform them. ‘Anyone can grow up to be president’ is equal to ‘do you want to flip burgers the rest of your life?’ This is the attitude we convey to our young people by not choosing our words more carefully. The American Dream is being slowly poisoned by uninspired semantics.
We have heard a lot of rhetoric about the declining quality of education these past few years. And just as much about resuscitating the American family and its’ values in order to keep the American Dream alive and healthy. Education and the American Dream are solidly linked together in our minds. Most of this rhetoric has come from the conservative right in our political system. These are the same people who for several generations now have regurgitated the kind of kant that produced much of our malaise in the first place. So now it is time not for dreams, but for a reality check. Our current crop of young people are providing us with one by dropping out of our schools because dreaming is an adult pass time. Growing children are not interested in dreams, they want to know what is real and useful in the world around them. It is our job as a society to teach them these things. They will form their own dreams when they’re ready to do so. The American Dream is being systematically poisoned by succeeding generations of conservative but self-centered adults.
It is not true that just any
one can be president. Or a senator. Or a representative. We need to stop selling this fallacy to our future voting population— it makes them bilious when they grow up. Being elected a leader by your peers is a great honor and only certain personality types will be able to lead well and with grace. It also requires more than just an average type of education and better than average brains. Not just anyone can do this. We need to start teaching this in our school systems. It will provide some backbone to the American Dream if our children are taught to recognize and honor real leadership qualities. It will be a valid litmus test for our “values” as a whole if they as individuals have enough self-respect and self-confidence to do so.
By indoctrinating our young people with political hyperbole, by devaluing the many in preference to the publicly chosen few, and by focusing all accolades on these few we have not created a population of stable, intelligent citizens. We have by our own lack of perception destroyed the self-esteem of the average children who will constitute the bulk of our working population. Until we moderate the ranting of imbeciles in pursuit of the Great Expectations of the American Dream, until we begin to give ample respect to the average citizen in our scholastic rhetoric, we will never do such simple things as balance our national budget or wipe out the deficit. It is vital that we stop giving our children the idea that life not lived on the mountain tops of personal wealth or public acclaim is not worth while. That a moderate income is something to be despised. That simple everyday things are to be continually passed over in the expectation that something more exalted lays in the future.
It is more than high time that we stop abusing our children with totally unrealistic Great Expectations that the greatest majority of them will never, never realize. They will still be good people, good Americans, and good parents if they never do get to be president. Or a movie star, or a neurosurgeon, or a rock star. Or have a six figure or over yearly income. If we don’t start reversing this ideological rubbish that came out of the slums of Old Europe in our public schools where it is taught, we will not survive for another two generations.
We have a great deal more ground to cover on the subject of
dreams so the next post will be entitled—–
Dream On.
The Longest Journey Begins... 
The War Against Men
Posted in War Stories, tagged Africa, Arab slave trade, caucasian, China, conservative commentary,, history, Oriental cultural, Single Steps, slave trade, Western culture on July 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »
This post will be about something that has been sticking in my craw for a long time —— the war against men. Maybe I should amend that to the war against white men. For the last thirty years or so there has been a lot of public comment on racial and gender prejudice against women, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, all directed at the ruling class which in the western world has been composed of caucasian males. The dissidents have had a valid argument in some cases, at least on the surface of things, so I am going to play devil’s advocate as it were and show some support for the other side.
An awareness has been raised on some valid issues and I respect that. On the other hand, some crucial facts about the basis of the “white mans’ burden” mentality have been overlooked in the immediacy of hurt feelings. If you are going to discuss this issue with me you will have had to do at least some superficial reading on western history. If you got through high school you should be all set, none of this stuff is going to be PhD. level.
Two points are particularly salient (that is, they stick out) when studying the last two thousand years of history. I will explain.
First point. The verbal grandstanding about democracy, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States has been ubiquitous(everywhere) in the media, in our jurisprudence, and our legislative bodies. They are traced back to Magna Charta in merry old England. ‘They are the basis for all our freedoms’ is what we were taught in school and what they are still teaching. This is not true. These three world shaking documents are pieces of paper. (or more probably, pieces of parchment, which was more widely used at least in the time of the Magna Charta) Pieces of paper I say, nothing more. We do not owe our modern liberties to pieces of paper. We owe them to the men of both the “ruling” and the yeoman class that went into the field of battle and put their lives on the line in defense or what they thought was right. It is a matter of public record that these men were all of the caucasian race.
Second point. If you study the history of Africa and the Orient during this same time slot you will not find any such collective efforts in the name of freedom for the average joe, male or female. I have found no such notions as justice for the common people in my general reading of the histories involved. The internecine conflicts of both these areas are about one king/chieftain/warlord trying to oust the other. With very few exceptions, both Oriental and African histories show a universal contempt for their women. Because they were not as physically strong as men they were regarded as cattle and field hands and used to provide their master with a useful slave population. In China especially, women were regarded as slaves, even the well-born. Both geographical areas also evinced a casual acceptance of the institution of slavery.
The slave trade from Africa so deplored by the American civil war activists was generated and sustained by individual ruling black men in Africa. The Arabs were famous slave hunters during this time. During the time of the civil war between the states there were a few black men(whose names escape me at the moment–do your own research here) the white activists towed around to their meetings to speak on the subject of slavery and it’s evils. I have not been able to discover that any of these black males covered the historical precedent for slavery established by their own past treatment of their women and prisoners of war in their public addresses. As their black male descendents in the hood say today —– what goes around, comes around. Any one with more precise information, feel free to comment here.
The break up of the African slave trade was not accomplished by the black men in Africa uniting in a common cause of freedom as was the case with the caucasian Magna Charta effort. White men in the western world(women were not allowed the vote at this time) passed legislation that smothered the blacks foreign market. Again, anyone with information that refutes this please leave a comment. Also, I note here that although women in the western societies could not vote, they were instrumental in bringing anti-slavery legislation to the public awareness. Kudos to them all.
All this stuff is a matter of public record which I have not found reason to disbelieve. Always remembering that the winner writes the histories, it is still reasonable of belief. All this modern-day howling by the so-called “minorities” was enabled by the sole efforts of the white men they cavil about so much in their speeches. This is not just. And if you desire justice and equity to be given you, you must first practise some of it.
As regards women’s liberation, there were plenty of women in England during the time of the Magna Charta. There is no record of them congregating in an armed militia to aid their men in the field of battle. They could have. Don’t whine at me that the times did not allow women to do such things, the times did not allow the average yeoman any rights either. The men got sick of it and went anyway. I am not going to tolerate any crap about women in combat today either. They are not as individuals, physically strong enough to defend our country en mass. And our men are tender-hearted where we are concerned. In a combat situation, they will not be able to focus on the enemy for worrying about the girl next to them. This is race memory with white men and it cannot, and should not be changed. I digress a little here but I can’t help it. Combat is hard enough for our soldiers without adding this.
In conclusion, I am proud of my white men. In spite of some behaviors, they are the group that has spear-headed the move for the recognition of the worth of the individual. For this I support them and I respect them. No, they do not have a flawless track record this is true, but I will back it against the record of any other male racial group. Do I despise blacks, Hispanics, and Asians? Don’t be a fool. If someone is worthless it is a private choice not a genetic defect. The question of collective genetic choices must be left for a different blog.
The word of the devil’s advocate —– let’s give the devil his due, in this case. I am just recommending a little quid pro quo.
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