SamSaid!

NUMBERS AND STATS

Nowadays, there is plenty to read. Lots of authors on every subject at hand, and they all refer to statistics or numbers to buttress their views and authorship. It seems that when it comes to opposing views, each writer has his/her own set of numbers to prove they they are right. Thus, I generally few these “numbers” with a bit of skepticism. But sometimes, a number just jumps out — begging to be challenged or explained. Here are a few, for example.

. I70,000 Americans killed in auto accidents in the past 4 years. US Military deaths in Iraq during the same period 3500.
Who is protesting what?

. In 3rd generation homes of Latin immigrants, English is the preferred language by a marguin of 96%. As far as assimilation is concerned, maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. Long tunnel, but light!

As far as immigration and English are concerned, I attended secondary school with kids whose parents couldn't speak english. But the kids, while trailing for 2-3 years, came on strong and did very well for themselves in this english speaking society. One of my former Macedonian classmates is now my stockbroker.

His familty got here legally!

A THOROUGHLY DISGUSTING FOUL-MOUTHED BROAD

The caption is not simply a statement nor a comment. It is the answer to a question — i.e., what (who) is Rosie O'Donnell? If there is a time to question the validity of the First Amendment, it is now. We'll never have a better example of what excess can to to good intentions. Viewed from the front, her mouth is twisted into a gross configuration suggesting a rooftop gargoyle eagerly anticipating a thunderstorm, and from the rear it looks like two cats fighting in a gunny sack. She knows about as much in public affairs as a pig knows about Sunday.

But trust the left wing liberals — nary a critical word from any of them. Barbara Walters sitting there in stony silence that refects the shallowness of her well rehearsed words on TV. Sure, Babara. Come June, RO'D will be TV history, and what better place to consign her. Too bad she can't take Barbara Boxer with her.

SECULAR PROGRESSIVES

Religion has played a major role in our country since the days of our Founding Fathers, and evidence of it can be seen in our buildings, monuments, codes, oaths, currency, and sacred documents. But that doesn't deter the Secularists who are bound and determined to eradicate religion from our public life. I thought about all this a few weeks back while watching the formal ceremonies associated with the burial of former President Gerald Ford. The trappimgs of religion were visibly displayed for the whole country to see — references to the Deity, God, Our Father, Jesus Christ, the Bible, Scripture readings, and prayers from several religious figures.
While watching all of this, and thinking about this holy war over separation of Church and State, how can we justify and honor this kind of religious based ceremony over 2-3-4 days, and at the same time ban prayers by a group of football players before the kickoff? Or gut the pledge of allegiance to delete a reference to God. What kind of devious judicial opinion has gotten us to this point. Where is our compass, when these aberrant individuals say in effect, “Yeah, we know all about your laws and customs, and beliefs, but we are here now — so change them. And compliant secular judges say “Sure, buddy!” The SPs (Secular Progressives) say that nothing is sacred, and religious based belief has no foundation in our society. Translated, that means there is no such thing as right and wrong, and the days of silly moralizing are long gone.
They will never try to amend the Constitution — rather, they will simply find Judges to do their dirty work and decent people will see their world of beliefs crumble. It is happeneing every day.
I am no religious zealot, but I'm not at all sure that our universe and its myriad of life forms came about through evolution alone. And I'm less sure that a prayer before kickoff will damage someone's life.

NON-BINDING RESOLUTION

The new Democrats are foundering on their own shoals or hanging on their own petards when it comes to the Iraqi War. They voted for it and funded it. Now they are saying that it isn't going well, we don't like it, we don't support it, we don't like what you are doing,but we don't have any better ideas or plans. A simple translation seems to be, “We don't care what happens afterwards, just withdraw, retreat, or surrender”. What a truly sad state of affairs. And what an incomparable sense of history coupled with political myopia. Nancy Pelosi is probably hoping that Nicole Smith will stay on the front page for another month.

They are so enamored with the prospect of winning the White House in 2008, that they are incapable of eny cogent thinking about what we shoud do or not do about Iraq. Above all, avoid risky votes!

No doubt, their primary agenda is to reverse the Bush Tax Cuts, protect earmarks for loyal Ds to dispense, and pursue fund raising.

Was it Nero who fiddled while Rome burned??

There are between 20-30 Muslim Principalities, KINGDOMs or Countries in the world,spreading across Northern Africa and Southern Asia from Morocco to Indonesia. They may have their individuial differences, but all of them to one extent or another have one thing in common — i.e., a Bi-Polar power structure. One is secular, the other is religious. In some cases their relationship can be chummy and cooperative; other cases they may be strongly combative and downright hostile to each other.

The secular power base is the Government, the Military, the Professional class, the Treasury, Economic control, Industrialists, Traders etc. The other is comprised of the Mullahs, the Ayatollahs and other leaders of Islam, the Educators, etc. The Secular leaders manage the country; the clerics control the culture and the minds of the citizens. But as differences arise between religious and secular leaders,it is the Koran that controls. Rather than square off in combat, the relationship between the Muslim secular and religious leaders comes down to Operation Back Scratch. They respect each other's turf, but when push comes to shove, the Ayatollas of Islam prevail.

Many westerners are willing to look other way when it comes to giving Islam the benefit of the doubt in qualifying as a great religion, but should they? Just ask yourself this simple question: While Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds, Iranians, and Kuwaitis, what did the mullahs have to say? While he mass murdered Iraqi citizens my the thousands upon thousands, what did the Ayatollahs have to say? While he and his satraps milked the oil revenues for their own bank accounts as well as those of friends, military officers and political partners, what the the leaders of Islam have to say? Answer to all of the preceding?

Nothing. Nada. Just what kind of religion is it that allows and even praises this kind of behavior? And Saddam was not alone as a beneficiary of Islam riches and indulgence. And that is why the Iraqi war is such a mess. We can conquer the secular half of the equation with our military might. But what about the religious side of the populace? In my view, this war will go on and on until the Ayatollahs and Mullahs decided to call a halt to the killing. That is the very tough part of this struggle.

Rush Limbaugh may be scorned by the left wingers, but he is right, “Make no mistake, we are in a religious war” Saddams may come and go, but the Koran zealots remain. Generals can surrender; Ayatollahs do not.

SQUANDERED

I can clearly recall that heady evening in November 1994 when the Republicand swept the board and gained control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in decades. Mainly, I recall the disbelief on the faces of the shocked Democrats as they watched the results being reported. Now I know how they felt — at least in part. As the old saying goes,”it was a Day at Black Rock” on November 8,2006.

The sweep by the Rs back in 1994 led to very high expectations, especially on court decisions that were negating many “traditional values” for the majority of Americans. The Ds and other Liberals were clevely by-passing the electorate to achieve change (their way) via ideologically sympathetic Judges, and stretching the Constitution to effectuate significant change that could never be attained through the ballot box. To a given degree, the liberal march was stopped or at least slowed dow, and the Supreme Court has been re-staffed to (hopefully) counter the silly rulings of left wing Judges catering to the liberal side. But for sure, the great expectations of 1994 are gone.

So what happened and what can we expect? First of all, Lord Acton was right, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Bill Clintom remains the champion when it comes to corruption and disreputable behavior at the highest level, but in the past few years, the R leadership has taken a real beating in the House and Senate, and they paid the price for public disclosure. In the current vernacular, the Rs simpy shot themselves in the foot.

When a major change such as 2006 occurs,there are numerous reasons that contribute to the demise of a political party in the eyes of voters — and no matter what the transgressions might be, the largely hostile press and media effectively exaggerate them by two or three fold. Any game plan for the Rs means learning how to swim upstream.

How do we describe the 1994-2006 period of Republican control of the Federal Government? Failure? Wasted? Under achievement? True, the big margins in the House and Senate were not veto-proof, but the real power base of the Rs was not pushed to the maximum degree. In retrospect, the opportunity was there, the voting strength was there, and the popular issues were there. Yet the opportunity was — my word — squandered. It could be a long time before such an opportunity comes again.

As issues go, the Iraq war stands alone. It occupied center stage, but there were a lot of other matters that seem to get lost in the clutter. Too bad.

FRAUD

The November 2006 elections are now history. The echoes of gleeful chortling still can be heard among the winning Democrats, and the somber Republucans are left to wonder what happened while they lick their wounds. Many of the election issues remain to be confronted by the Ds, while many others just slide off the end of the table where they will rest until 2008 or later. There is one particular issue in this latter category that is a sensitive matter —- at least with me.

In every election that I can recall (and that adds up to a fair number) there has been a hue and cry about election fraud; that is, thousands and thousands of votes cast by people who are not eligible to vote, people who are “dead”, non-citizens, phony IDs, voting more than once, illegal aliens, and the list goes on. All of these practices have been used in the Big City machines of both parties, going back into the 1800s,1900s, and 2000s. The practices may have changed, but not the objective which is to elect the candidate of choice, no matter how it is done.

You would think that election fraud would be a hot issue nowadays in view of the narrow margins in many elections. Every time I vote I wonder if my vote will be cancelled by some non registered derelict, or a phony ID or a vote bought for a six pack and a couple of cigars. Way back, there was a story about a controversial office holder who had openly been labelled a “crook”. In response to that Republican accusation,a Democrat replied, “He may be a crook, but he is our crook”. When it comes to election fraud, perhaps the analogous statement would be “Election fraud isn't all bad as long as our guy wins”.

The tragic thing about election fraud is that most people are not riled up about it and just don't seem to care. But I do. I keep asking, “will my vote really count?” Don't hold your breath waiting for meaningful reform. It is not on Ms Pelosi's long agenda.

300 MILLION

     It is hard to imagine that our country has grown to 300 million people  –  and much of it in the past 50-75 years. Yet we are small potatoes when compared to China and India which have 1.2 billion and 900,000 respectively. Those figures are approximate and an error factor of plus or minus 100,000 or 200,000 is reasonable. I'm not sure how anyone could even think about conducting a census of that many people.

     My concern is not so much the absolute numbers of Americans; rather it is whether the glue that holds us together is beginning to fail. I refer of course to yhe basic values that were the linch pins of our country when it was formed. Month by month they are being eroded in a senseless manner. Now we have a mentality that says  “You may have your values, but I am here now, so change them”. It is true with religion, the schools, patriotism, laws, rights etc etc. The foundation of our society is being eroded by this kind of mentality. It would be foolish to deny change over time, but there is a big difference between change and dismantling the status quo. Many Americans hate to let go of quality values and replace them with existential convenience.

     How to you plan for a future without anchors or a place to hang you hat? How do you raise children when the noise-making radicals do not concede that there is such a thing as “right” or “wrong”. How to you instill a sense of decency in kids when they are bombarded with filth and obscenity at every turn. Is the 1st Amendment our salvation, or our Achilles heel? A good example is in the area of Art (I am not an artist). No matter what the odious image might be, Art is Art as long as the artist (no matter how deranged) calls it Art.  And most of our bird-brained academicians buy that stuff. Just go to a Gallery and see for youself this highly aclaimed Art (filth).

     The bad part is that these left wing radicals keep labelling this trend as “progressive”, “moving ahead”, or a “new direction”. Nice words, but utterly destructive of time honored standards. So 50 million kids in school cannot engage in prayers or pledge allegiance to the flag (under God) because some clown says “…everyone must change to accommodate me”.. And believe it or not, with a simple brush of the pen, OUR  (the overwhelming majority) right to that kind of education is simply washed away. Obviously, 200 years of history means nothing. Does Judicial activism mean anything to the average American?  Need a better example??

    300 million Americans??   Or 300 million people living in the US who Call themselves Americans?  The death of a culture is not pleasant to watch.

IT'S THE ECONOMY

     During the Clinton years, we heard the campaign issue debate in which the phrase, “It's the economy, stupid” was used. It later became a tongue in cheek quip aimed at the not so swift. Nowadays, the Democrats are more direct in slamming Bush for a sluggish and worrisome economy even though unemployment is at the lowest level in decades, growth in Gross Domestic Product is sustained, the Dow Jones average is at an ALL-TIME high, interest rates are low and inflation is under control. It takes a lot of gall to bad mouth that kind of economic performance  –  especially in the aftermath of the Bush tax cuts enacted a few years back. And for those who want to damn the tax cuts, we might point out that the the additional revenue to the Fed Government after the tax cuts became effective has sliced this year's forcasted budgetary shortfall in half.

     With those kinds of numbers, it takes a lot of misrepresentation or deceit to twist and spin in an effort to bad mouth the President. He has made mistakes (as we all do), but the big ticket economic decisions were right on target. But uderlying all of this data is a bigger question  –  to wit –   why doesn't the mass media  — the big newspapers and TV outlets emphasize the big picture –  the positive picture  — instead of hiding this kind of data on Page 14 and giving free reign to Bush-hating columnists? If you read the NY Times, LA Times  etc, you would get the idea that we are hanging by a thread over an economic cliff.

     Whether it is a recession or a boom, we use the same kinds of statistics to measure the state of the economy. At least, one would think so. Right now, the state of the economy is good  –  strong.  But don't ask the Democrats or the columnists of the NY Times. Fair and honest journalism??

     “It's the economy, stupid”.

LIEBERMAN

     Senator Joe Lieberman is a famous American. For a multi-term Senator, a VP nominee and a frequent guest on TV shows, it is difficult NOT to be well known. But the chances are that by November, Lieberman could become a household word meaning “stab in the back”.  Joe Lieberman committed an unpardonable sin for a Democrat  –  he openly supported  George Bush, The Republican President of the United States. The issue was the Iraqi War. So the Dems decided to kill off Lieberman by supporting a rival in the Democratic primary election in Connecticut. Lieberman lost, but will now run as an Independent.

     Lieberman was beaten (by a very narrow margin) by a wealthy left winger whose military strategy starts and ends with “retreat”. The nicer term is “cut and run”. But the anti-Bush, anti-war Democrats  — Kennedy, Reid, Boxer, Kerry, et. al., got out their stillettos and harpooned Lieberman because of his principled position on the War.  “Stab in the back” is an accurate and proper term, and it may be that in years to come when a back-stabbing incident occures, it may be described as a “Lieberman”.

     Wonder what the left wing Democrats will do when Lieberman wins in November? My guess is that he will win.