What Did June Wreak? And What Does the Future Hold, if Anything.

There is so much unpleasantry going on in these United States this summer. The Son's 18-year marriage dissipated into thin air yesterday with the stroke of a Judge's pen on a Divorce Decree. The Supreme Court has become decidedly and unashamedly activist. (I particularly like one post that I stole and shared on Facebook: "My feed looks like the Confederacy has declared war on a Skittles factory.")

Reparations for Antebellum slavery are going on nationwide, although they're not being identified as such. Donald Trump and Chris Christie have announced campaigns for the presidency. TV Land has canceled re-runs of The Dukes of Hazzard, for crying out loud, and NASCAR is backing off displays of the Confederate Battle Flag!  NASCAR!!!!

And on June 30, there was a convergence of Jupiter and Venus that made them the brightest objects in the night sky.

One blog notes that the last time this happened was a little over 2,000 years ago while three Kings were en route to Bethlehem to welcome our Saviour.

It kinda makes a body wonder. And to get one's affairs in order.

Feed the Children?

First authorized in 2010 by President Barack Obama, financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and administered by the Louisiana Department of Education, a new program has been initiated in New Orleans that provides evening meals to local school children from low-income families. The balanced meals are prepared by Second Harvest and served at seven sites, including three after-school programs, in "at risk" areas at a cost of $2.72 per meal.  A recent article in the Times-Picayune describes the program which hopes to serve 1,200 children by the end of the school year.

The article also recounts a few troubling things, some of which concern me a little bit, too.

Don't get me wrong -- I have no problem contributing to the nutrition of children and families in need.  The private sector does a pretty good job of addressing the problem -- Second Harvest is among that number, and we have regularly contributed to help it stay afloat.  We did the same for Potluck while living in Little Rock.  Public schools have done fairly well with breakfast and lunch programs, too, with glaring exceptions such as the recent North Carolina Nazi Food Police, and the ketchup-as-vegetable debacle, among other things. And, I understand and recognize that there is genuine hunger out there, even in these United States.  But . . . .

But.  One of the children featured in the article, 9 year-old Lawrence, is said to have a full belly at 6:00 when his mother picks him up now from his after-school program instead of a growling one.  An active 9 year-old boy could be hungry at 6:00 in the evening?  Well, duh!

Did Lawrence's family not have enough money to buy food and prepare it at home?  The article suggests that the family was perfectly capable of feeding itself:

Sometimes his dad would be cooking a pot of something at home.  If his father was working late at Lowe's, they might grab fast food.

But, now there's no nightly rush to feed Lawrence.  Between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m., he and the 50 other children at the North Rampart Community Center sit down and eat a healthy meal, complete with fresh fruit.

There's no need to tend to one's child's needs.  The government will see to that.  And, the government will determine what, where, and when the children will eat.

And, what about the impact of this program on families?  Even a principal at one of the schools was concerned about detracting from family time around the dinner table engendered by the program.  She abandoned that concern, however, when she realized that few families at her school actually shared evening meals at home together, "recounting overheard conversations between students and parents, debating whether to stop at McDonald's or Burger King on the way home."

What?!? They couldn't sit down together at a fast food joint and have a family meal?  Or take the fast food home and share it along with conversation about their day?  Fast food every day isn't the best way to eat, but it's certainly a way when time is short.

So, it appears that the overarching concern here is not actual, debilitating hunger, or the significance of the nuclear family -- it  appears to be all about what goes into the family's mouth.  And government needs to make that decision.  And the taxpayer needs to foot the bill.

Not only does the government have an aching need to tell us what to eat, this program also models to children that they can rely on the government to tend to their "needs," wherever.  That same concerned principal who was won over to the feeding program noticed that at least one-third of the students take the meals home.  There is speculation that maybe the meal is taken home to eat with the family, or to give to Grandma, or for Dad's lunch at work the next day. 

Huh?!?

The meals are intended for children, to help them be better prepared to learn by not suffering from the effects of poor nutrition.  And those children see those meals going to adults elsewhere?  What does this teach them?  How are they being conditioned to rely on the government as they age?

What does it teach them about following rules?  Or about gaming the system.

Another well-intentioned Progressive plan gone awry.

I'm beyond angry -- I'm afraid. I'm just afraid.

Random, Unconnected Sunday Thoughts

The second of three Mardi Gras balls is in the rear view. Of course, I actually had to work during this last one instead of simply revelling, so I'm pretty worthless today. I don't remember the last time I spent all day Sunday on the couch without hopping up from time to time to attend to one chore or another. My most noteworthy accomplishment today has probably been to change out rolls of toilet paper and paper towels. I have yet to warm the leftovers for dinner, however, so there may be more strenuous activity in the next few hours. Even though there was no hangover to contend with, I guess I just can't party like it's 1999 anymore.

I already miss football.

For some unbeknownst reason, when I awoke this morning (to let a pushy dog out to attend to his bladder) my voice had dropped at least two octaves. I guess the crud might be returning, just in time for company. So, for the immediate future, just call me Lauren "Moogie" Bacall.

Yeah. We need a few more months of football.

Having two "Mother of the Bride" dresses in the closet from out-of-state weddings does wonders for the Ball wardrobe budget.

Have I mentioned that I miss football?

Our Young President, in my worthy and accurate opinion, is little more than a petulant, arrogant, petty tyrant intent on expanding the reach of a centralized federal government to the point where a representative Republic and separation of powers, as contemplated by the Founders, will fall by the wayside. I just hope it's not too late because we can't wait!

Football. *sigh*

History Repeating . . . ?

I wish I had received the email earlier this month that today sent me searching for something I found at PatriotThoughts.com.

We commemorated the 66th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific and the end of WWII earlier this month.  August 6th or 10th would probably have been more appropriate dates to ruminate on the decision to use nuclear weapons against a civilian population in order to save that civilian population.

The photographs and narrative on Patriot Thoughts are indeed thought provoking.  The Enola Gay, Bockscar, Little Boy and Fat Man; Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Saipan and the Banzai Cliff. 

The incomprehensible mindset of the Japanese people of the mid-Twentieth Century.

Tiny Tinian Island, is described as "a flat green dot in the vastness of Pacific blue."  The very idea that a place that today looks like this:

was the starting block for this:

and this:

is, in itself, a stunning notion that sends the mind into a self-examining do-loop.

What the science of History has been able to extrapolate from an unbiased, dispassionate distance is this: the utter and total destruction of Japan's major cities led to the metamorphosis of her culture; led to a nation that today is capable of creating this:

We've seen the rise and fall of great peoples -- and great cities -- throughout human recollection.  Even recently, and very close to home. 

When New Orleans drowned, her rotten-to-the-core, inadequate public education system crumbled along with her.  Today, that education system is among the fastest-improving systems in the state.  Perhaps, wiping the slate clean and having little to build upon save that which is buried beneath our feet, is what gives rise to legitimate human progress.  Civilizations are built upon civilizations.

What does that truth suggest about our Nation during the first term of Barack Hussein Obama?  Are we crumbling as a people, looking to rise from our own ashes?  Will it take that to get us back on track to being the world's Superpower?  Or, are we sliding toward a penniless and wretched decline as just another cog in the global machine?  Is that really what the Progressive movement desires?  Can it possibly be?

Perhaps August 21st is just as good a day as the 6th or 10th to wax philosophical on the destruction of a once great nation -- whether, as Rome, caused by rotting from within like a gangrene, or as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by nuclear holocaust.  

Would that I had some answers.

Venezuela Kills Off Its Next-to-Last Functioning Brain Cell

Today I have offered up a genuine prayer of thanksgiving.  I am truly thankful that I do not live in Venezuela.

What are they thinking?!?!  Who among the Venezuelan citizenry cannot appreciate that by giving him another decree power the Congress has set Chavez up as a despot -- a dictator with royalty envy -- before the opposition gains a foothold in January.  And who in his right mind could possibly want to achieve such a thing?!?! 

Next they'll change his title to Emperor.  We'll just have to call him Napoleon "Dynamite" Chavez.

Seriously.  He has declared the banking industry to be a "public service," has expropriated private property without compensation, and is now turning his eye toward regulation of the internet.  AP reports:

The law to grant Chavez decree powers, the fourth such legislation of his nearly 12-year presidenccy [sic], also will allow him to unilaterally enact measures involving telecommunications, the banking system, information technology, the military, rural and urban land use, and the country's "socio-economic system."




Among the planned decrees already announced, Chavez intends to increase the value-added tax, now 12 percent, to raise funds for coping with the disaster caused by weeks of heavy rains. The government is erecting tents to house thousands left homeless and is accelerating public housing construction.

But, NappyDyn doesn't view this latest power grab as setting himself up as a Cuban-style dictator.  He just wants benevolent control of Venezuela's entire "socio-economic system."  More details at Fausta's Blog.

I guess the denizens of the Star Wars saga didn't see it that way at first, either.

We'd better watch our backs until 2012.  I can think of someone else who might like to add a laurel wreath headpiece to his Nobel medal via appropriation of the banking industry, the energy industry, the healthcare system, the . . . .

Oops.

A Halloween Scary!!!

AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Resurgent Royalty and Declining Socialism on the International Front

Interesting developments in the international arena.  Venezuela and North Korea have held elections! 

Sort of.

While Venezuela's fashion-plate "president" Chavez is trying to spin the results of last weekend's legislative elections, it looks like the good people of Venezuela (at least, those without government jobs and those who have their own food sources)  have grown weary of living under a virtual dictatorship.  I suspect that they have grown wearier still of socialism and government-run everything, including media outlets and golf courses.  Hugo sported a snazzy track suit as he cast his ballot, but I expect he'll be shifting  to "statesman" attire PDQ as he strains to re-position the stranglehold he has held on the good people of his oil-rich nation -- you know, the ones who have no control over their own lives.

North Korea, on the other hand, apparently having come to like living in poverty under a multi-generational dictatorship, has tacitly approved turning its government into a modern monarchy.  "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il has revealed his heir-apparent, a 28-ish, newly frocked 4-star General and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission: youngest son, Kim Jong Un the Unknown.  Daddy Kim's sister and her husband will serve as "regents" until the backsides of Baby Kim's ears dry out.  If it walks like a monarchy and quacks like a monarchy, I'd say that it's a fat royal duck.  Even feudal, maybe.

I told Pepper that he obviously had the wrong bloodline -- his military career could've been so much easier if his father could've just signed off on a pay grade quantum leap like Daddy Dear Leader did for Baby Unknown.

I can't say that I'm terribly comfortable with the Korean Nukes being under the control of a twenty-something egomaniac NorK.


You gotta wonder what Japan and China are thinking.  Especially Japan.

Obama Understands the Tea Party Movement! Sort Of . . . .

Last year, On April 15th, then-Young President Obama's spokesman stated that the president was "unaware" of any tea parties, much less a whole political movement. What a difference a year of Tea Parties, Town Hall meetings, and throngs surrounding the Capitol makes.

This just in from the AP:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says he believes the Tea Party is built around a "core group" of people who question whether he is a U.S. citizen and believe he is a socialist.

But beyond that, Obama tells NBC he recognizes the movement involves "folks who have legitimate concerns" about the national debt and whether the government is taking on too many difficult issues simultaneously.

In an interview broadcast Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show, Obama said he feels "there's still going to be a group at their core that question my legitimacy." But he said he didn't want to paint Tea Party activists "in broad brushes" and he hopes to win over members who have "mainstream, legitimate concerns."

Do you suppose he's really going to turn on the massive "suck up to the Tea Partiers" machine? Time will tell.

As to his change of heart in acknowledging us, I have these thoughts --

While intriguing, the birther thing doesn't really hold water for me without a whole lot of conspiracy theory.

But, as to the whole socialism issue, I have just one question: Mr. President, will you please waddle and quack for us?

Hail to the Duck!

I don't think he's winning me over any time soon on that issue.

Socialism 101

I received this email today, and the simplicity of its application just screamed to be shared. And, I couldn't resist adding a photo of "Old Main" on the campus of my old Alma Mater, the University of Arkansas:

As the late Adrian Rogers said, "you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)

And, remember, there is a mid-term election in 2010!

The Cat's Out of the Bag!

This is absolutely erudite, profound, and downright funny. I wondered what Victoria Jackson had been up to since her Saturday Night Live days!

I also wonder how many black helicopters and guys in dark glasses with squiggly things coming out of their ears are monitoring her movements these days.