Wright - Again?

National Press Club Washington DC

Even the liberal media is having a hard time spinning this:

"You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you.  Those are biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic, divisive principles".- Wright, Apr. 29, 22008


"Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy.  He did not put me in chains. He did not put me in slavery.  And he didn’t make me this color."- Wright Apr. 29, 2008

"And I said to Barack Obama, last year, “If you get elected, November the 5th, I’m coming after you, because you’ll be representing a government whose policies grind under people.”  All right?  It’s about policy, not the American people."- Wright,. Apr. 29, 2008

"So any time a government can put together biological warfare to kill people, and then get angry when those people use what we sold them, yes, I believe we are capable."- Wright, Apr.29, 2008

And the best saved for last: "Jesus also said, 'Other sheep have I who are not of this fold.'"  Let us finish the rest of this statement. "That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."

Jesus also said in Mark:  "This people honouteth me with their lips but their heart is far from me."

I don’t think white people have a lock on this. Seems to me Mr. Wright has pointed out that people of African descent are on that speeding train along with the rest of the world.

I read his speech to the press club and while I found it decidedly one sided he did not really get into trouble until he started fielding questions. Once he left the arena of faith, his real thoughts and feelings about the “demon whites” began to reveal itself.

I wish I could say I was surprised but I’m not. According to this leader of the “African” community, they are not responsible for anything bad that has ever happened to them. They are not responsible for the crisis in the black community, for rampant crime, unemployment, under-education, physical assaults including sexual assaults on children and the impregnation of young girls by adult man. Of course they aren’t. How can they be held to the same standards as other races when they are enslaved, held against their will, shut out of schools and universities, refused jobs, all on the basis of only the color of their skins.

It a good thing we have the Reverend Wright, Jackson, and Sharpton around to expose the hatred, greed, bigotry and racism that permeates America. After all if not for them, people like me, who believe in treating others as they would like to be treated, who pay taxes, work hard, value family, God and Freedom would never know how evil, racist and blind we are.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, America is the only country where 15% of the population can control 85% of the dialogue about race. If life were "fair" than each company in the US would have in their the employ the same percentage of minorities as there actually are. The government would employ minorities in direct proportion to their percent of the population. The NBA, NFL and other sports would be forced to change their hiring practices from those who have the talent to those who’s skin is the appropriate hue. 

Instead of the color blind America Dr. King looked forward to we’d have “coloration”. Instead of the person best fit for the job, we’d have the person the right color for the job. Instead of people judging others by what is in their hearts we’d have judgment of pigmentation.

As far as the past treatment of minorities goes there is not ONE group who have come to this country with out being mistreated somewhere. The Pilgrims left to pursue religious freedom, as did Catholics, Mennonite and others. Irish, Poles, Scandinavians, Hispanics, Germans, Russians and many, many more came here from bad situations to, in some ways, worse situations. The Slums of New York have been around for at least 2 centuries and have no color coding. The idea is that one rises above that morass by hard work, education and faith. Sometimes it takes a generation sometimes it takes 10 generations.

The ONLY way out is to assimilate. To let go of the past and move into the future. If one can’t let go they are doomed to continue repeat the mistakes and be imprisoned by issues that may never go away.  Look at Russia if you need an example, even freedom hasn’t liberated them from the mistakes of their past.

It would seem to me that if one does not like the way a country or people treat them, if they reject the mores and ideals those in their country espouses, if they have lost faith and hope that without violence and death things will NEVER change, the best thing to to is leave.  Go. Decamp.  Escape.  I personally will pay for the good Reverends plane ticket.  I am sure there are countries who will appreciate his passion and reward his fire in ways that are more to his taste.  Uganda comes to mind, or  maybe Rwanda.  They seem like they are in need of a spiritual advisor.

Music, music, music

I am a music lover. My taste is eclectic. I like most music (point of order, I'm sorry I don't think rap is music. It may be entertainment but it is not music).

One day just for fun I sat down and figured out, approximately how many music/ school programs I'd been to in the last 23 years. It came out to be somewhere in the 150 range. Yes, I personally have sat through more than 150 programs. All of my children so far have been in either band or orchestra and all have been in choir. Some have been in multiple music programs and I'm not counting musicals, either. Most of the ones that have graduated (4) have lettered in music.

Why is this a topic today? Because it is the end of the year and the Christmas season is not as busy school program wise as is the end of the school year. This year I will only have to attend 3 school programs. I actually don't know what I will do with all the left over time I will have. Usually there are at least 5 performances to attend.

Don't get me wrong, I love to go to the programs. As a matter of fact there is one song that is popular, in this area, with choir teachers that I although I have never seen the music I can sing the soprano line. As far as I know 5 of the 6 children have all sung this song and number 6 is just starting out in choir this year.

The busyness of the school year may impact the speed at which I blog (which is slow anyway). As will the cooing and gooing over the new little darling in our family. So if I'm missing in action sometimes be assured "I'll be back". I'm not sure if that's a promise or a threat but there it is. Sometimes life is just like that.

The Vote - dazed and confused

I don't know. Somebody educate me. I'm not playing the race card here. Really. But I want to know.

If Obama's counting on the black vote to put him in the White House does anyone realize that 86% of the rest of us have to stay home. Yes, yes I know some of the other minorities will vote for him and there are a passel of white folks, liberal in nature, who are on the Hange, Chope bandwagon. My point is, people of African decent make up roughly 15% of the population. How exactly do they become the agents of swing voting. The Hispanics are creeping up right behind them, which explains the tensions in both communities. They are competing for the same jobs, housing, government resources. That tends to make folks testy.

Now I'm the first person to champion the rights granted to all Americans under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. These are essential and important and NO one should be allowed to take them away or to interfere with them. I must ask how it is fair though to give preference in hiring, firing, housing, schooling et al to any group. If everyone has the same opportunities to go to government supported schools, and it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender and age, there should be no need or use for quotas, as they have at many colleges.

I guess my real question is; with all the safe guard built into our system of government, all the watchdogs in the media and even outside the media, all the special interest groups (NAACP, ACLU et al), why to we spend 80% of our time talking about"race", agonizing about "race", dealing with "race". I don't dislike Obama because he's black, I don't like him because he's a liar and he and his wife are whiners as well as borderline traitors. I don't dislike Ophra because she's black. I dislike her because she's not "all that and a bag of chips". She is a panderer. She is a enabler. She has ridden the white guilt train all the way to the top and that makes me want to hurl. She is no more talented than anyone else in her field but because people think she "cares" she is given a pass on things other people are criticized for. Celebrities fawn over her because she encourages the publics appetite for voyeurism. I don't like Katie Curic either, or Katie Holms but race, ethnicity, class or even religion don't play a part in it. I just don't like them.

The fact is some people don't like some other people. This has always been so and will always be so. In many cases it is due to the action of those who reinforce stereotypes, white, black, male, female, young, old, rich or poor. Do I want to do business with someone who walks into my store covered in dirt, smelling like last weeks garbage, and who can't speak (or write) without using foul language? No I don't. I don't care what color he is, where he comes from or anything else.


Am I afraid of large black men? Sure am. I'm also afraid of large white men or large men of any color. Since I'm a small woman (in height not width) I'm afraid of large anythings, except anythings made with chocolate. I think I could take a large chocolate bunny. I'd obliterate it.

Local and Personal- Part 2

Our local paper printed a new article about our local history museum. If you missed the previous post, read it first, then this.

//Here are the most telling quotations yet on the Old Cowtown Museum debacle.

//...." especially if we can take advantage of that river view."//Susan Feary. Please remember she was on the board when the incompetent director was fired, and had been on the board for a while before.

//...." People have said there is an 18-month wait list for a space if you want to have a wedding on the river. This would be an opportunity for a great view of the river."// Sue Schlapp not one of Cowtown's most stalwart supporters.

D'Angelo said the building could also be used for other types of concerts -- such as bluegrass, blues and jazz -- when the Wranglers aren't performing. - This is the man who has single handedly gutted the staff and volunteer ranks of anyone who is unwilling to kiss his ring, turning a once "living history museum" into a bunch of buildings with static displays.

While I realize that some in Wichita have no understanding of the importance of retaining our history, nor do they have any desire to see anything supported from taxes except their own personal projects, the sad fact is that our children and grandchildren will suffer from the destruction of museums.

We can not move into the future without understanding our past. Our city, state, country and world will continue to make the same stupid mistakes it has been making because no one is willing to learn from the mistakes of the past, because no one is willing tell the stories that need to be told.

Communities have thrown away their souls in the muleheaded rush to have Starbucks, Eddie Bauer and Abercrombie and Fitch. A $150 pair of jeans is just peachy, a $4,000 TV is an essential, and a $70,000 SUV is a necessity, but a museum and our history isn't worth the paper the eviction notice is printed on.

May y'all are right. We (the people) aren't worth the bother.//

I wish I could say I lived in a community of people who thought more of the future and their children than they do the next championship "what ever" game, but I don't. As long as there is beer in the fridge, an R rated movie on the TV, or even better some kind of sporting event to go to, they don't give a flying fig about anything else.

It's sad but by no means unusual. We really are ripening for destruction.

Bang, bang BOOM

While I have always been a 2nd Amendment advocate with six small and then later teenage children I was less than enthusiastic about owning a fire arm. We didn't really need one for protection and the hubby didn't hunt, so in reality there was no pressing need for a boom-boom stick.

That changed last year when my spouse a few of his good friends encouraged him to go pheasant hunting with them. They'd even loan him a gun. First it was pheasant, then deer, and now the man is well and truly hooked. (this is not a bad thing, don't get me wrong) Of course he would like to not borrow from his friends, so he has purchased a real live firearm, and ammunition, and a gun case, bag and other accouterments.

Am I complaining.  Absolutely NOT.  However,  I did  have a epiphany today as the hubster, the children and I went "shooting" with one of our friends. I wondered if when I saw the damage done to the targets and the power of the weapons I would be more afraid of them, that, heaven forbid, I might be more in favor of "gun control". I found the opposite to be true. 

I certainly have respect for firearms, but I always have had that. I'm now more in favor of "Concealed Carry".   Why is that, one might ask? I guess it's because the bad guys aren't going to buy and register their guns and yet those guns will blow a hole in someone I love just the same. I would rather someone at the mall have a gun to kill the crazies than cower in the dressing rooms waiting for someone to kill them.

Maybe I'm a reactionary but as a student of history I realize that two of the main reasons we won the Revolutionary War were due to the existence and persistence of "citizen soldiers". I think that is exactly what may save us now.

Welcome, welcome

I am not always consistent on this blog. Well, my opinions are consistent but I don't always bog daily. This week I have reasons. Really! Really good reasons.  I promise.

Last Friday the good ol' desktop computer started turning itself off independently. That is not a good thing. After several hours on the phone with some of the most truly patient people on this planet ( I really wouldn't have their job) it was suggested we take the baby into the shop. 

It is amazing to me, someone who didn't grow up with computer in the home, yes I am that old, how attached to these inanimate object we are. Blogging on the laptop (Lappie) is not near as comfy nor as satisfying. That said having the computer quit in the middle of a battleground is really bad form, makes one look like a newb.

Anyway, I'm usually really busy on the weekend so I don't blog much, family comes by, we sometimes go out, it's just busy. Monday was just messy and then came Tuesday.

Tuesday began with a call at 6:30 am to announce that #3 daughter had entered the Birth Care Center and was resting comfortably as possible. At the moment she was feeling little pain but was moving along in the process, that began some three hours earlier. By 2:00 pm the actual pushing had begun and at 4:30 grandson # 3 had arrived. His head was a little coned and there was a bruise on his forehead, from arriving face up, but other wise he was a perfect little bundle of cooing, screaming, not sleeping joy. First babies are complex. The daughter and son in law seem to be cowboying up but look a little ragged around the edges.

Since Tuesday lots of time is spent calling or visiting. No time for the idiot, nut job, crazy loony toon, denizens of the world. Babies have the blessed ability to make the world a better place, at least for a while. It may be just a fantasy but I'll take it, at least while it lasts.

Local and Personal

Once my youngest went to school I went back to school and finished my degree in History. Along with that I took a part time job at a "living history museum". Over the next three years I learned all kinds of things. How to cook on a cast iron stove, sew with a treadle sewing machine, make butter, feed the chickens, cows, pigs and horses. I taught school programs about life in town, life on the farm, school life in December. I made taffy, bread, beans and ham, cake, corn bread, stew, duck and more. I was there in the cold, 30 degree spring and fall weather as well as the hot (110 degree). I worked a tent saloon, the town saloon, the farm, the immigrant cabin, and residential areas.

Several years ago the Museum came upon some hard times, mostly due to lack of support from the city and county, who were supposed to be helping, and a incompetent director (who was hired even though she had a degree in RADIO). The saga continues as the city has taken over the museum, put someone whose only opinion of what to do is, close it, close it and close it faster in charge. The following was in the local newspaper (the largest in the state) today.



Cowtown's decline

Exhaustion has set in on the Old Cowtown Museum situation. Some of us who supported the museum by giving our time and resources have begun to see that the community as a whole does not care.

When this whole debacle came to light, all ?? County and the city of ?? were asked to do was grant Cowtown $150,000 to finish its season. In the preceding years, the support from both of those entities had decreased while expenses increased. The city, which owns the buildings, did not worry about their upkeep. Most Wichita City Council members, at least in the five years I was there, never set foot on the property unless it was to attend a meeting.

If an effort had been made to find an experienced and competent director, the museum would not be in the situation it finds itself now. The museum could have been a vibrant part of the museums on the river.

Now, apparently, we have "rude cowboys," static displays and no special events. After purging the staff and chasing away volunteers, the city will have what many of us believe it's wanted from the beginning: land on which to build condos, townhomes, strip malls or whatever new white elephant the members of the City Council can come up with.


With my name attached. They printed it go figure.

Olympics a disaster looking for a place to happen?

I have had a love/hate relationship going with the Olympics for several decades. As a young person it didn't take me long to see that the playing field was not level. Established countries athletes had better training facilities, food and coaches. Developing countries didn't. Communist countries had paid competitors, who didn't have to spend half their time working to put food on the table. Non communist countries insisted that Olympic athletes be amateurs.

Then there was the debacle that was Salt Lake. The only reason that came to light is that most Mormons are honest. They are offended by people acting as if bribery and threats are business as usual. Mitt Romney saved the day there and even managed to eek out a profit, which in itself is astounding. Now we have China. As bad as Russian communism was it had nothing on China. An already fiercely autocratic culture, communism has created a truly slavish situation. They, as most communist do, seek to spread the darkness until it covers the world.

With the human rights violations already on record, with the brutal experiences of Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and now those in Tibet, the international Olympic committee should have said "No thank you, keep your money and your products. Call us when you really, truly clean up you act. Of course given the greedy, liberal, naive people on the committee I'm sure that wasn't an option.

What to do now? Some athletes have prepared their entire lives for this opportunity. Hence my other problem with this event. No one should spend their lives preparing for one 4 minute contest. It's sports, a game, a contest, like bowling, base ball, soccer et al. Playing or watching won't cure cancer, won't feed the poor, wont' fight the terrorists or anything lasting. It will entertain and I guess there is value in that. I just don't think the entertainment value outweighs the sleaze factor. If I could I would purge my home of Chinese made things and I do try not to buy things made there but it is almost impossible to do. Watching them and the Tibetans try to rip each others throats out is nauseating. I'm beginning to think China is where the real danger lies. They are under the radar and undercover. We had best watch out.

With 6 you get what?

Today in an article at the Washington Post a columnist describes the showiness of having more than two children.  Partly this attitude can be attributed to the liberal left that infests both coasts and almost all major cites. Life in these areas are both expensive and stressful. Having children at all in the pressure cooker of, say, New York City or Los Angles is less show off more bravery. However, it causes me to ponder: Is it ever fiscally responsible to have children?

As soon as one becomes pregnant the chaos begins. Ones body is invaded by another being. It is no longer your own nor does it respond as it has for the last 20-30 years. It can't be counted on not to wake up exhausted, constipated, achy, depressed or just plain cranky. The pregnant body becomes bloated with a large belly that precedes one into the room, cankles (swollen ankles), due to swelling rings need to be removed and shoes (which one can't reach to tie) become magically smaller. This is just physical pregnancy. There are the doctor visits, the cost of delivery, post partum care and then of course there's the pediatrician. Clothes, food and equipment all add to the cost of having and raising a child, not to mention the cost of schooling through college.

On the surface it would seem that there isn't much to do but agree that it is fiscally irresponsible to have more than one or two children. Maybe I was just born at the wrong time or maybe I'm a throwback to an earlier era. I didn't have six children because I could afford them. 

We sacrificed to have our little brood. No clothes from the mall for my children, at least not until they could by them themselves. No cable TV, no X box 360, no new car every four years, no vacations to Disney World, or second honeymoons to Maui. Trips to the theater to see a movie were saved for blockbusters like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, instead we waited so what patiently for the movies we wanted to see to come out on video/ DVD.  Landscaping was done by the fam as was the finishing of the basement to provide a family room, two bedrooms and a bath for our growing family. We lived in a modest home in a small town in flyover county in order to maximize our dollar stretching ability. We went out to dinner sparingly especially when the first four were young because if we paid for a baby sitter we couldn't afford the movie. All this and more did we gratefully sacrifice because we wanted our six children more than we wanted "the other" things in life.

This is not a decision for everyone. There are even some people who probably shouldn't procreate, although most of them live in Hollyweird. But if one is putting off children until they can afford them, the sad fact is you can NEVER afford them. You have to decide how much you want them and WHY. Those are the most important issues. Well those and how much you're willing to give up, because once you're a parent you are always a parent. In this life and in the next. 

That my friends frightened me more than anything else. It still does.

Caution- Religion

This beautifully bright spring morning as I was getting ready to go to church (my faith has a twice yearly conference which we are all encouraged to listen to) I heard a song that I'd heard many times before. Maybe it was because I was in a spiritual mindset anyway, but I began to ponder.

Why would I want to go to heaven and be with a god who would encourage his children to kill each other? What kind of kind Heavenly Father would allow half of his children to be abused and neglected, their spirits starved and brutalized? What kind of Supreme Being would encourage his children to wallow in disease and filth, literally and figuratively and accept obedience because of fear and coersion?

The fact is a God would not. A man would. A religion like that would be man (human being) centered. Choice and thus democracy would be poison to a religion which functions like this. Freedom and thus liberty are not compatable with force and enslavement.

I thought of this while getting ready to listen to men who are going to talk to me about the Love of my Savior, and His Father. They'll tell me to love everyone, turn the other cheek, help the needy, the sick, the afflicted, the widow and orphan. Obedience due to choice to the Commandments (not suggestions), given by a God who loves me and wants the best for me, will help me to be happy and will help me bring that happiness to others.

So thanks fanatical terrorist blind men, but no thanks. I think I'll pass on your delightful invitation to "convert or die".

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

Cynical, Really?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain thinks Americana have become too cynical;

Standing in front of an empty football stadium as a brisk, chilly wind had U.S. flags behind him flapping, McCain told a small crowd that many Americans had become cynical about government and urged them to take up the cause of public service.

Really John, I wonder why?
Maybe because of things and people likethis
and this
and this
and then there's this

Let's see, our politicians can't campaign on the issues they have to attack each other personally. The media focus' on how someone looks, what religion they are or aren't, what their hair looks like and what new stupid inane remark is make by their spouse, daughter, mother, uncles sons cousins brothers sisters red headed step child (no offense to red headed step children).

The entertainment industry presents voyeuristic reality shows, containing the most self absorbed, self centered, parasitic, sorry excuses for human beings than can be found. They claim these programs cost millions. How is this possible? The contestants aren't paid are they? Which part of reality does that fall under? There are no writers, after all these programs are unscripted, right? Then they spend millions of dollars on films and programs so brutal, offensive, stupendously stupid few will pay to se them,instead of making films that families and people with some grasp of humanity and civil behavior would go to see.

Not to mention that constant barrage of human on human violence perpetuated every day throughout the world. Is this new? Unfortunately not. If you were to read newspapers from the 1800's you would probably find the same percent of violence, graft, scandal and abuse per capita as today, factoring in that most people did not talk about such things in polite company or in public. We just hear about it today from TV, radio, internet, blogs and other medium. After two centuries you'd think we could do better.

We have got to take back our children. We've got to take back our communities. We've got to take back our country. Who do we have to take them back from? From the panderer, the pimps of entertainment and government programs, atheistic teachers and politicians, progressive, activist hysterics, and those who support them. It is time for all parents to wake up and take control. As an Atlanta, Georgia judge said in talking to defendants he chided in his courtroom 'You've (substitute we've) got to do better.'"

Tired-Sorry

Today I'm tired. I'm too tired to wade through the miasma that is the world we live in. I'm tired of people hurting people just because they can. I'm tired of people shurking their responsibilities and expecting everyone else to "pitch in, help out and make it all better". I'm tired of watching friends and families work 10 or more hour days just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. I'm tired of being one of the responsible ones, one of the civilized ones, one of the nice ones. I'm really tired today.

It might have something to do with getting up at 5:30 to take my child to Seminary (a one hour church class, every school day) or spending the rest of my day with two adorable but active boys one 23 months old one 18 months old (I blog to the soundtrack and voices of animated movies, todays feature the Incredibles). Then there are the many and varied chores cleaning, cooking, washing ect. that millions of Mommy's do day in and day out. After 30 years it gets a little stale.

Since the spouse works second shift I am home with the teenagers at night, which is fun but sometimes exhausting. Getting to bed early is always a joke so at 11:30 I usually welcome the spouse with a "hearty...yawn, hello". Finally managing to get to sleep sometime after that, to start all over again in the morning.

Now I know there are others out there with harder lives, and that I am richly blessed, but sometimes I get tired. So I apologize. I'll do better tomorrow.


Especially if I get a nap today!

Redistribution of GPA

This is so good. The spouse forwarded this email to me. Don't know where it's from or I would give them ALL the credit:

Father-daughter talk....

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her profes sors h ad t o be the truth and she indicated so to her father.
Her father responded by asking how she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, 'How is your friend Audrey doing?'
She replied, 'Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.'
Her wise father asked his daughter, 'Why don't you go to the Dean's office and as k him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.'
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, 'That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!'
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, 'Welcome to the Republican party.'