For Your Consideration

Stealing Christmas

I am a bit disgusted with all the recent crap about Christmas.  For several years there have been repeated attacks on the Christmas Holiday, most have resulted in little more than radio jocks having a ball making fun of the whole issue and making cutesy songs and revised politically correct carols.  All of which I can easily stomach and I generally enjoy the sport of poking fun at those who harbor such a hatred for Christmas and anything resembling a Christian holiday.

This year is different.  Instead of the usual whining about the separation of Church and State (which I agree with), stores and schools are getting into the act.  Some are even barring any mention of Christmas, substituting some generic seasonal greeting.  They are not doing this because it reflects their beliefs, but because they fear being sued by somebody.  The employees should be allowed to express good wishes of whatever faith they happen to believe in and not muzzled by some idiotic store policy.

The groups generally advocating or generating this kind of crap hide behind separation of church and state or the all-encompassing trump card of “tolerance”.  Yet, they are the ones being intolerant.  They are acting just like the fascists they claim to be fighting.  How bloody ignorant can they possible be?

My mother is Catholic, my father is an Atheist, my wife is LDS, and my brother converted to Judaism.  Me?  I lack faith, but I have never been insulted by it.  I have never felt left out, or discriminated against by someone practicing his or her faith.  Nor have I ever been offended by somebody offering good wishes from a faith not my own.  Heck, I am generally very complimented when somebody wishes good things for my family or me.  If someone prays to God or some other deity to watch over me, I am thrilled and will generally return his or her blessing.

I do this out of RESPECT.  I don’t get my knickers all in a bunch and call a lawyer or the ACLU to bash their heads in or to bring them to the very brink of bankruptcy so they will shut up, bow to my will and stop reminding me I lack faith or belief, or that my faith is different.

I am certain if these same people traveled the world, out of respect, they would shake hands, bow or embrace someone to whom they were introduced (whichever is appropriate for the country they are visiting), they also would probably remove their shoes before entering a home in an Oriental country.  It is about respect.  Yet in our own country, these same people feel it is somehow justified to attack, denigrate and destroy many aspects of our culture and traditions.  Why, and to what end?

Like it or not we are a country of many faiths, if we ever hope to get along, we had better learn to respect each other’s religious beliefs.  So in that spirit…I’ll respect your seething, misguided hatred if you’ll respect my right to celebrate what I see fit. 

So if by chance I pass you on the street over the holidays and smile and wish you a Merry Christmas, my intent is to include you, not exclude you.  My wishes for you and your family are kind and generous, so call off your attack dog lawyer, will ya?

Securing the U.S. Border With Mexico?

Rumblings to close the US border with Mexico are deafening, and getting loader every day.  Those with the most strident voices should be careful what they wish for.

My problem with the whole issue lies with my sympathies.  I sympathize with U.S. residents living on the border and with U.S. residents living in neighborhoods, which have changed to resemble cities in Mexico.  On the other hand, I also sympathize with any poor soul trying to better themselves or their lives through hard work.  If the circumstances were reversed I am quite certain I would illegally cross the border…Hell, I know I would.  In my book, immigrants are the least of the problem; it is the criminal element and terrorists who would hide among hard working Mexican citizens trying to eek out a better life.

As former Governor of Texas, President Bush has a very real grasp of the problem.  Yet, the problem is allowed to continue.  I think because his sympathies closely resemble mine.  But, we could close the border.  We could close it in very short order.  It has been done before.  In Berlin, there was “The Wall”, in Korea, the DMZ.  In order to be effective, the protectors of those divides have very specific orders.  In the worst-case scenario, those orders are to shot to kill.  Why?  Because to deter illegal crossing, the threat of crossing must be greater than staying in your own little corner of the world.

We could try that.  We could patrol our border with AC-130 Gunships, armed patrols, with satellite technology.  We could scatter a few hundred thousand landmines from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific.  But still we’d still have people trying to cross.  They did it crossing from East to West Germany.  A number died trying, but a few were successful.  I can think of nothing that will stop a person from trying, when they are desperate enough to risk being gunned down or to make  “Hail Mary” sprints through a minefield.

So they will continue to defy our borders.  So don’t buy into the fact that the military is going to put a stop to the whole problem.  The military is a last resort.  The military simply lacks the finesse to deal with all the issues involved.

The solution lies not in U.S. border policy but within Mexico itself.  Until Mexico is able to provide a stable government and get a handle on crime and corruption, they will not be able to attract the industries and manufacturers who will spur economic change.  Without that change, illegal aliens will continue to defy U.S. border policy.

In the meanwhile, I suppose we should enforce our countries laws.  If caught, “illegals” should be rapidly deported and while awaiting return should be detained, instead of being released only to disappear into the fabric of our cities. 

But that is about as far as I am willing to go.  I cannot condone unleashing our military on migrant workers and people trying to escape poverty and despair.  Nor do I wish to imagine our country without the wonderful influences of Mexico on our culture, architecture, language, music, art and cuisine.  We owe a great deal of the feel and flavor of our unique American Southwest to Mexican and Hispanic influences, and I, for one, am unwilling to lose that.

Cheney, CNN and the X-Factor

A fairly large stink is being made over the fact that CNN News apparently broadcast an “X” which flashed rapidly and repeatedly over Vice President Cheney’s face during a press conference.

The “X” it seems flashed so rapidly that the incident went unnoticed by most viewers.  A couple still frames are included on the Drudge Report website.  One frame shows a black “X” and the second shows a white “X”.

Of course my initial reaction was to go to the site and see it for myself.  After viewing the photos it seems clear that there is other smaller text included with the “X”.  This smaller text is difficult to see and read due to its placement over the scrolling news bar under the face of Vice President Cheney.

CNN claims it was a control room error, the Drudge Report quotes a source within CNN as saying there was giggling in the control room.

So the tempest in the teapot has started.  Was it intentional?  Was it intended to be some sort of subliminal message?  Is this a case of liberal media rogues running amok in CNN’s Atlanta control room?  What the heck does the other smaller text say?

All valid questions I suppose.  Even I would like to know what the smaller text says, but the real question is “Who cares?”

If it was an accident, so be it.  If it was intentional, would that really surprise anyone?  I wouldn’t be surprised.  Vice President Cheney has been subjected to intense criticism from day one.  Reporters and political opponents have hounded him for his not serving in Viet Nam, his connections to the Halliburton Corporation and investments in the company that manufactures the TamiFlu vaccine.

Cheney has done pretty well at either withstanding or deflecting it all.  So well in fact that, during the campaign, Presidential Candidate John Kerry chose to reference the fact that Cheney’s daughter was a lesbian.  Hey, if you’re not successful in attacking the man, attack his family and kids, right?

So even if the broadcast of the mystery “X” was intentional, it is the least of Cheney’s concerns.  He has bigger issues to deal with.  So we get to deal with this.

Whatever the cause, CNN has certainly provided those who attack CNN as “liberal media” all the ammunition they need for the next few months.

Me?  I couldn’t care less.  I’m going to the In-Laws for Thanksgiving, where broadband Internet is a rarity.  So I’ll leave you to it.  Maybe I’ll care more when I get back, but I doubt it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Texas Sues Sony Over Spyware

Sony is in a heap o’ trouble and in my opinion they should be.  It seems a “copyright protection” program was hidden in Sony BMG music CDs.  This program was intended to limit the number of times a CD could be copied.  This program installed on an owner’s computer without the owner’s knowledge or consent.  That’s right, I said owner.  You bought it and should be able to copy it for your PERSONAL use.  While this program may have worked to limit copying, it also left a gapping security breech in people’s computers.

Regardless of your opinion of copyright infringement, Sony goofed.  “Two wrongs don’t make a right”.  So in order to prevent piracy, Sony exposed innocent people’s computers to hacking and viruses.

Sony and other music and movie companies have aggressively sought to prosecute people who violated copyright laws. In fact they even have the resources of the FBI on their side, just check your CD’s jacket or the annoying FBI warning at the beginning of the next DVD you sit down to watch if you don’t believe me.

Turn around is fair play and we should pursue Sony equally as aggressively.  Texas is.

The Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, is reported to have advised the press that the Texas spyware law allows the state to recover damages of up to $100,000 in damages for each violation.  Abbott alleged that there were thousands of violations.

Yep, Sony is in trouble.  It would be a big mistake for Sony not to take Texas seriously.  Especially since Texas, takes Texas so seriously.  In a state that has, since 1977, executed three times as many death row inmates as any other state and has at least one town (Temple, TX), which supposedly has an ordinance allowing a cattle thief to be hung on the spot, the law is a serious business.  “Don’t Mess With Texas”.

I just hope Sony didn’t include any nasty hidden program when I installed their software for my new camera.

Recruiters on Campus (Proposition I)

I have had some time now to digest the fact that voters, in the city of San Francisco, voted to oppose military recruiters on public school grounds, college and university campuses.  I admit my first reaction was highly negative.  After reviewing the text of the proposition and carefully considering the issue…my opinion remains negative.

The whole issue seems pretty much symbolic as it merely outlines the city’s policy.  Truthfully I didn’t expect voters in San Francisco to vote any differently, the citizens there simply tend to vote on the far left of most issues.

I have seen the author of the proposition defend his position, claiming it was about the war in Iraq.  While the bill does outline feelings about the war in Iraq and what amounts to an “economic draft”, it is just an anti-military slap in the face.

I don’t care if you are anti-military, anti-war, and simply wish for nothing more than world peace.  Like Rodney King, I too, sometimes can’t help but wonder, “Why we all just can’t get along”.  Despite my concerns, this proposition and its passage is a bad idea.

Times are changing, our enemies are changing, and tactics and warfare are changing.  The military needs to change to effectively deal with these threats.  Old dogs, like me, are not the best choice to make these changes.  Our military needs intelligent, concerned young citizens to make those changes.  They need to do so from within the military, from the ground wherever we are involved in conflict.

Denying recruiters the ability to discuss options with students not only restricts free speech and career options, it will also only ensure that we continue down the very path these voters claim to oppose.

Despite their vote, the war has not gone away.  Terrorists still plan, prepare and kill innocent people.  Old school warriors like my friends, still in the military, and I will still stand up on behalf of our citizens and country.  We will die doing so if we have to.  If you are an intelligent, concerned citizen we need you to help.  We need help finding a better way.  Protesting and ignoring the issue isn’t working, nor is your ineffectual proposition.

Better you should stand with us, use your brains and help us make the changes necessary to improve this mess we find ourselves in, or get the hell out of the way and allow the military onto campuses to recruit people who will do what it takes to make things better, instead of just bitching about it.

The Great American Smokeout

I was on my second cup of coffee and second cigarette of the day when I stumbled onto the fact that today is “The Great American Smokeout”.  Oops!

Believe it or not, it made me feel guilty.  Not guilty enough to stub out the cigarette in my hand, but guilty nonetheless.  I would like to quit, but I admit I am pretty well addicted.

I am fully aware of the negative health effects of smoking.  I know it is a dirty and smelly habit.  As a result, I am frequently annoyed at the anti-smoking crowd that takes such pleasure in beating me over the head with the plainly obvious.

“Smoking causes cancer you know?”

“Thanks for the bulletin Einstein, but I already read it on the side of the FREAKING BOX!”

Jeez!  It’s like some ass telling you it’s not a good idea to stick your hand into moving lawnmower blades (or refrigerator fans).  Still we do it.  We puff away until we get sick or die, and every year doctors try to reattach fingers.

We smokers know of the obvious risks and still we do it.  We are addicted idiots, plain and simple. Knowing this, those of you who are so smart that you feel the need to educate us at every opportunity are equally as dimwitted.

All we need now is a national day to remind us all of how stupid we all are. Oh, that’s right, we have one…Happy Great American Smokeout Day!

The Cell Phone Bank Robber

I suppose I am falling behind the times.  There are indicators of it everywhere.  The music I listened to as a teenager is now being used in commercials to sell cars.   I am now eligible for Purple Shield funeral insurance and, like my father before me; I hate my son’s choice in music.

I believe I am fairly well in tune with life, yet there are things happening I just don’t understand.  A 19-year-old woman robbing banks while on a cell phone is one of them.

I have a cell phone and am capable of programming it.  I even use it while driving, if only to piss off the other guy with his bumper sticker telling me to “hang up and drive”.  I have yet to rob a bank while yakking on one though.

When I first saw the surveillance video of this woman, I wondered if she was possibly being forced to rob the bank.  I wondered if she was talking to a kidnapper who was holding someone hostage, someone who was directing her to rob the bank.  But she seemed too nonchalant and calm for that to be the case.

So now that she has been arrested, I find I am eagerly awaiting her trial and its press coverage.  What I really want to hear is the recordings or transcripts of her conversations while she was robbing the banks.  I can imagine them now…

“Hi, Candice.  Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“Uh…No, I was just going to get a Latte, but had to stop at the bank first.”

“Do you want to meet me later for some Chinese food?”

“Sure, that’d be great.  I’ll take out a few extra bucks and we could go buy a Lexus or two afterwards, maybe even get them with a kicking set of Dubs. My treat.”

“Can you hear me now?”

Maybe I am way off base, but we’ll just have to wait and see.  Somehow this woman blabbing into a cell phone lacks the credibility and menace of John Dillinger.  I am sure he would either roll over in his grave or wonder why the hell he never thought of it.

I for one am anxious to see the next twist in bank robbery, perhaps an idiot with an MP3 player and ear buds, gyrating like the spastic dancers in an Ipod commercial.  It would make for interesting viewing.  Maybe U2 could use it in their next music video.

I can hardly wait.

Chicken Little and the Avian Flu

I have to admit, all the recent news coverage of the Avian Flu and fears of a global pandemic have got me worried.

It is darkly amusing to watch the news crews interviewing someone from the CDC outlining a bleak forecast about the spread of the Avian Flu, only to take a commercial break to advertise Disney’s animated “Chicken Little”, it is like getting a double dose of “the sky is falling”.

Mother nature has always found a way to prune her dead wood and to return balance; I just don’t want it to happen in my lifetime or the lifetimes of my children.  But Mother Nature thinks very little of my opinion.

It is not the fact that these viruses exist that frightens me; it’s the news coverage and the doomsayers in the government and medical communities that seem to eagerly spew predictions of mass death on a global scale.  It all seems plausible, species jump, mutation, and insufficient anti-viral vaccines resulting in a pandemic that rivals the Black Plague.

I suppose it is only a matter of time before we end up wearing surgical masks out in public like many of the Japanese do.  At least we would benefit from food handlers being a little more concerned about washing their hands.  That is about the only benefit I can see from all the hype.

One of two things is happening, either we are listening intently to Chicken Little or the news, government and medical communities are scared stiff and playing out a major case of “cover your ass”.  In any case, we (the public) are left with little we can do except worry.

Not that worrying is going to change anything…I have just decided not to wait.  I’m not going to hesitate a moment longer.  I’m going to start worrying right now, that way if the flu doesn’t get me, the ulcers and elevated blood pressure will.

So if you’ll excuse me, I feel the need to go wash my hands.

My Son the Gang Member and The Zero Tolerance Policy

Last night my 12-year-old son informed my wife that several children out of a group of kids in his class were pulled aside by the teachers and told, in no uncertain terms, that they could not hang out with each other.

My ears perked up, I could not help but overhear the conversation, but I said nothing.

It seems they have a group of kids who sit around at recess joking around with each other.  They wear no “colors”, don’t get involved in any criminal activity, anyone is invited to join them and they spend recess trading jokes and laughing.  They thought it was fun.  School officials on the other hand do not.  In fact they told the children not to hang out together, talk with each other and not to even have eye contact.  The teachers had singled out children they believed were leaders and even removed their recess privileges until the “gang” is broken up.

It seems the kids have run afoul of the schools zero tolerance policy for gangs.

Now I spoke up, despite my child rolling his eyes and sighing loudly.  I could not help it; it triggered some thing deep in my core that is always ready to fight back against being repressed.

I despise criminal gangs and their activities just as badly as I despise the current practice of assuming a posture of zero tolerance.  In a previous post I came down on the misuse of “tolerance”.  Zero Tolerance is the polar opposite and just as bad in my opinion and I told him so.

Instead of observing what was actually going on with these children, instead of intelligently examining the facts, instead of making a common sense judgment call, school officials are taking the “safe” road and crushing the kid’s freedom.

Our Constitution covers our right to peacefully assemble, and schools used to teach children how to work together in teams to accomplish large and difficult tasks.  We should be teaching children how to work together and to gather and evaluate facts and come to an educated decision.  Instead we are setting a poor example by refusing to use our brains, we rely on an unthinking and uncaring policy to govern our actions.  It is foolish and destructive and our kids are learning it.

I try desperately to teach my children to learn everything they can about an issue and to consider both side of argument and to come to their own opinion.  I want them to be able to think clearly and to be able to make a good and wise decision based on all the facts.  I have always hoped our educators would do the same.  But instead of observing these children, determining that they pose no disciplinary problem or threat to the safety of other students and finding out that they were not excluding anyone from joining in their fun and laughter, teachers have elected to forcibly disband this group and label them a “Gang”.

Instead they should have worked with the kids, guided the children’s natural leaders and helped to direct the activities into something more than hanging out and joking around.  It could have been a wonderful teaching experience for both the kids and the educators.  They could actually have accomplished something positive.

Of course that would have required the teachers to use common sense and to assume liability for their decision and that, my friends, just isn’t going to happen.

Under a zero tolerance policy I suppose if you are affiliated with a political party, a trade union, or even the school’s PTA you could be considered a gang member.

It is another fine example of good intentions taken too far.

I just wonder if being a member in a 6^th grade “gang” will go down on his permanent record?

Big Oil Companies, Gasoline and Price Gouging ?

I’m a stubborn guy, but not so stubborn that I won’t apologize when I’m wrong.  So it looks like I owe the big oil companies an apology.

Soaring gasoline prices have hit us all pretty hard and rumors of price gouging and record high profits for oil companies make us all angry.

Every time I filled my car at pump and the dollar portion of the digital display began to rack up money so fast, the display merely flicked, I got mad.  I am ashamed to admit I cursed not only the current big oil companies and their executives but the next 10 generations of big oil executives as well.  I wished all manner of painful afflictions and death upon those guys.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge anyone making a fair profit and getting ahead in life.  Hell, I’d like to get a little bit farther ahead in life myself.  But taking advantage of natural disasters and our current situation is not fair profit.  It is robbery.  Or so I thought.

Fox News reported that during yesterday’s Senate Hearing, Lee Raymond, chairman of Exxon Mobil Corp. said that ExxonMobil had issued a directive in response to the storm disruptions "to minimize the increase in price while at the same time recognizing if we kept the price too low we would quickly run out (of fuel) at the service stations."

"It was a tough balancing act," said Raymond, who said it was not price gouging.

That single statement made the entire mess clear to me and changed my whole way of thinking.  Here I sat cursing this man’s very existence, when in reality he and his cronies were just trying to help.  They were actually saving me the trouble of waiting in line for gasoline only to be turned away when it ran out.  They knew that lowering the retail price, in line with wholesale prices, would have induced me to fill up my entire fleet of vehicles, my lawnmower, weed whacker and every empty milk jug I could lay my hands on.  They know me better than I know myself.

So I apologize.  In fact, any of you who really want to help out your country or the poor, should reconsider your thoughts of joining the Peace Corp, or other charitable organization and go into the Petrochemical business instead.  It seems you can make a good salary while saving us from ourselves.