Two Thoughts

Where to start? Let's open with the filibuster. Unless I have this completely wrong, the Democrats' insistence to eliminate it in the US Senate is the ultimate in hypocrisy. Long a part of Senate rules(since 1789), in the course of the recent past it has been supported by, surprise, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In fact, I read that in 2020, it was used more than 300 times to try to block legislation--all 300 times by, surprise, the Democrats. Now that they are in the majority (or close to it with the 50-50 split and the Harris tie-breaker), they want to handcuff the minority (Republicans). When the Democrats were in the minority, they sure didn't favor handcuffing themselves! It is almost as if the Democrats are saying, "We're for the filibuster, except when we're against it." Huh? Why, in the media coverage of this issue, aren't these things pointed out? I think I can guess why. I'm not sure if this is true, but I don't doubt it. Gayle Manchin has been nominated by Biden for a federal position that pays $165,000 a year. Who is Gayle Manchin? I don't know her qualifications for whateve the job is, but have little reason to doubt she's qualified. She might be; she might not be. But she is also the wife of US Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from WV. He has been a holdout on supporting the Democrats' efforts to get rid of the filibuster. So far it seems he has resisted all the Democrat leadership arm-twisting. Now? Hmmm. I don't think nominating his wife to a lucrative government position, regardless of her qualifications, passes the smell test, at least not under these circumstances. Again I ask, where is the media coverage on this? For Biden and others to invoke "Jim Crow" is out-and-out inflammatory. If the use of the filibuster is a reflection of the anti-civil rights Jim Crow years (and in many ways it was, right up to the 1950s and 1960s), where does that leave the Democrats and their repeated use of it in 2020? So, the Democrats now want to allow transgenders to compete in girls' sports. Hmmmm. If a biological male, who now self-identifies (I hate that term.) as a female, he can run in races, etc. against biological girls who self-identify as girls. That has happened in Connecticut high school sports, maybe in other states, too. I don't know. Not only did a couple transgenders (males who now call themselves females) win Connecticut state championships in several track events, they obliterated the state girls' records in those events. I'm not sure what one of Biden's executive orders explicity mandates, but even if it doesn't specifically state that transgenders can compete in girls'/women's events, it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to guess where that might go. Remember when the 16th Amendment was enacted in 1913, Americans were promised this would be "the fairest and cheapest of all taxes." Incomes under $4000 were not taxed at all and those up to $20,000 paid 1%. Graduation led to a 3% tax on incomes over $50,000. Hmmm..... Look where we are now--and where we've been. The Noble Experiment," Prohibition, ended up with federal chief Wayne Wheeler ordering poisons like arsenic and strychnine to be put in rubbing alcohol, car anti-freeze, and embalming fluid when people started drinking them to get their alcohol. When informed the poisons could kill Americans (and in fact more than 5,000 did so die), it was aloofly defended with "They shouldn't be drinking anyway." When FDR pushed the Social Security Act through Congress, Americans were assured that their SS numbers would not be used for identifcation other than SS. We know where that promise ended up. What do these and many other instances have to do with Biden's transgender executive order? We can't and shouldn't trust these people. Even when the intent is well-meaning, sooner or later the good intentions are forgotten. I think I read that 400+ US high school boys in recent years posted track times in the 100 (or was it 200 or both?) meters that were faster than that of the NCAA women's champion. In 2017, the best time by the 2016 women's Olympic 100 meter champion was bettered by 5,000 men/boys world-wide. (I was assured the number of zeroes, three of them, was correct.) I know of no pernicious attempts to fraudulently take advantage of this, but is it unreasonable to assume that's just a matter of time? Think about college athletic scholarships for "females." Think about the money in women's professional sports, be they basketball, golf, soccer, or tennis. Again, I remember reading about the Australian national women's soccer team being drubbed, 7-1 (in soccer!) by an elite team of 15-year old (I think it was; regardless, they were still in high school.) boys--and the game was called at halftime. Every time I hear this I am reminded of the movie Billy Madison. An adult Adam Sandler just annihilated some grade school kids (six-year olds?) in a game of beano/dodge ball. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hShxpYG_ql0 (Cut and paste if necessary.) Like my proposal for bathrooms for transgenders, why don't we have sports divisions each for men/boys, women/girls, and transgenders? It's seems just a matter of time before the lure of money will lead to unintended consequences if we don't.

True or False?

In this day and age, it's hard to know what to believe. We get fed opinions posing as reality, lies posing as facts. If something suppoorts what I believe, it's true; if it supports the other guy, it's false. The ends justify the means, I guess. It is very frustrating. I know I have peddled inaccuracies and now am almost paranoid that I'll repeat some untrue "news." That said, President Biden's choice to head HHS said this in a recent interview. "“We have two very different cultures, and we have two very different perspectives on the world,” [Xavier] Becerra told NPR. “That’s not to say one perspective is better than the other.” He was talking about the Chinese Communists' treatment of their people. Such treatmet involves not just persecution of minorities, but genocide! If true, I really hope this quote was taken out of context, although I can't imagine how it can be spun any differently. If not, what an idiotic thing for a leader of American government, a potential Cabinet officer, to think, let alone say. Genocide is merely dismissed as a "different culture...a very different perspective on the world?" So, a "culture" that abhors and resists genocide does not have "better...perspective" than one which practices it? And some people of this guy's own political party are more concerned that some Dr. Seuss books in the past included the word "Chinaman?" Regardless of the context, there seems to be a disconnect here. A while back I blogged about the practice of giving equal weight to all opinions or, in this case, "perspectives." Such a practice is ignorant and involves not only sloppy thinking, but cowardice. Back in another lifetime, when I taught in the high school, there was a push to add a course, one called "Accept and Respect." Its course description included "Students will learn that all cultures are worth of acceptance and respect" or something real close to that. How stupid! In opposing this, I asked "What about Nazis? Should we 'accept and respect" them? How about the Taliban or even the KKK?" Of course, what followed was the patronizing, "Now Ron....." So if you don't waht to include Nazis, the KKK, the Communist regimes, the taliban, why use the word "all?" Words have meanings. And knowing the academic shortcomings of many teachers, who can trust them with this? I will, as usual, write to my two US Senators about this confirmation. It will be a waste of time and effort. Both are bobble heads, blindly following the lead of their Democratic leaders. Do they ever think for themselves? If I get any response at all to my e-mails, most likely, as is usual, it will be a vanilla statement that has little to do with my concern. It's as if the replies to me are based on others' letters. How do such people get elected over and over again????? Back to Becerra. (BTW, didn't Biden butcher Becerra's name in announcing his nomination?) What could lead any American to think like this? Maybe he is echoing his President, who seemed to suggest a few weeks ago that the genocide of the Uighurs was merely the result of "a different cultural norm." Granted, during the campaign he was more critical, actually referring to "genocide." Why isn't this blasted across the headlines of our newspapers and television news? Isn't it important that Americas know this is how and what their administration thinks? Oh, I have forgotten. "All people and all cultures are deserving of acceptance and respect." Of course, it might not make any difference. Who cares how the Chinese Communist government treats its people when there is money to be made? Do I really need to name/list the US politicians and corporations who speak of "our friends the Chinese?" I could start right here in Michigan. No, spare me the thought that these pols and businesses were talking about the general Chinese population. The people are not the face of China and make no decisions. It's the Commies. But that's OK because we can make a lot of money dealing with "our friends the Chinese."

Random Thoughts on the Cancel Culture

Canceling? Let's see. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. Dr. Seuss. The Jeep Cherokee. Abraham Lincoln and George Washingto, among others. Who knows what or who is next? Is Planter's Mr. Peanut next? Will one of my neighbors be required to get rid of her vanity license plate which reads, "Mrs. Peanut?" I'm struck by several things in all of this. The people doing the canceling seem very ignorant. They don't know what they are doing. They have little or no capacity to think, at least not for themeselves. I am reminded of lemmings, although I call most of them bobble heads. Do they really know what they are doing? I think not. I wonder if any of the cancel crowd has ever heard of Krystalnacht? I'd wager not. I'm equally certain they are unaware of the "canceling" done by authoritarian/totalitarian governments. The first step toward controling people is controling their ideas or at least the ideas to which they are exposed. Books burned or banned; the same with newspapers and other media. Authors banish, imprisoned, or worse. I'd like to confront one of the cancel crowd and ask how he/she is different from Robespierre (who?), Hitler, Lenin/Stalin, Mao, etc. I think I know the response. "But that's different." It always is, isn't it? I realize no books have been banned by the government; there is no government censorship. But having corporations bend their knees to a small, but vocal minority doesn't seem too far from it. Why is so much of corporate American falling in line with the cancel culture? It can't really be that those leading US businesses really believe this garbage, e.g., that there is something wrong with a Mr. Potato Head, can it? Are they that cowardly, fearful of the mob, especially considering the mob is very small percentage of the population? For that matter, look at the professional sports organizations, particularly the NFL and NBA. I'm sure there are some good people among the players. But isn't their superficial pandering to the mob apparent? If Mrs. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss, the Jeep Cherokee, etc. are so offensive, why can we still find retailers, such as Amazon, that continue to sell tee shirts with the likenesses of Mao Zedong and Che Guevara on them? It's not OK to reflect "Mr." or "Mrs.," but it's all right to display the images of mass murderers? How long until we are done with this? One of my buddies, speaking of us, cynically suggested "until we die." I wonder. How long will it be before we no longer allow the stupid people to dictate the rules, how we live? I'm not confident that it will end any time soon. Look at how our schools hve been run, ridiculous program after ridiculous program for decades now. Will the majority finally have had enough and say "Stop!"? Again, I'm not encouraged. Look how easily they have been manipulated by the hypocrisy and inconsistencies of our government officials, so-called "experts," and the sycophantic media during the CoVid year. They are being bought off, "bread and circuses," again with "CoVid Relief" bills. "Follow the science," they are told, when most people don't understand the essence of "science."