Category Uncategorized

Feb 9 2017

License To Hate

 

We have become such an “in-the-moment” society always searching for that singular rush, craving that fleeting buzz of pleasure. The concepts of forethought, responsibility, and repercussions in relation to our actions are nearly non-existent and are at best viewed as arcane, irrelevant in a licentious world. In a pleasure oriented society, the goal becomes feelings.

Each bump against convention is replaced with a deepening revolt against the norm as the heady flush of rebellion is dulled in turn demanding some new outrage to fulfill the ever burgeoning need to feel. Guilty pleasures are no longer enough so tantrums become the vehicle to supply the sensory demands. Violence is mixed in to create the greater escalation until finally layered with the ultimate payback. When the moment or even moments pass in the quest to feel, the king of the mountain surveys the wreckage upon which he or she stands  only to once again face the expanse of emptiness.

In times past, this pattern of self-destruction would be attributed to youthful waywardness and/or a individual’s propensity to learn things the hard way. Sadly now it seems the insatiable quest for feelings has rubbed the natural sensors so raw that we are dulled witless beyond even the natural cycle of lessons learned. Like the punch drunk pugilist, we are simply flailing against shadows and blurred images as the brain’s cognitive abilities shut down and the boxer falls unconscious.

No where was this better exemplified than the outrageous behavior at the campus of U.C. Berkeley. In an insane battle of anarchist versus anarchists, the most violent prevailed as the cowards in leadership of the school quailed in the face toddler-like tantrums. The First Amendment suffered another loss.

Across the broad spectrum of leadership in our Nation, from parenting to government, leadership has failed its society by accepting the childish excuse of “He made me do it!” as reasons for pathetic behavior instead of responding with the time proven principle of “I’m not dealing with him, I’m dealing with you!”, which forces said childish perpetrator to embrace the edicts of personal responsibility. The First Amendment allows for Milo Yiannopoulos’ despicable speech. It affords for students to protest his speech. It does not allow for violence to shut down the aforementioned despicable speech.

I don’t know much about Milo and this new alt-right, which is hijacking the conservative movement. What little I have read is repulsive to me and violates my core beliefs. But free speech is not free unless it is free for everyone and if my beliefs are so fragile that I cannot hear other beliefs contrary to mine, then my beliefs are fragile indeed and not worthy of my trust.

I watch now the vicious swing of the political pendulum and the punch back that is becoming the norm wondering if it will ever stop. Both sides keep pointing and saying “They made me do it!” I agree with Senator Marco Rubio when he warns we are flirting with a complete destruction of the treasure of civil debate. We cannot critique the President from either side, in the last eight years or with this new President, without a barrage of attacks and hate.

Yes, it is true that for eight years the left protected the President with blind loyalty and fealty that was appalling at best. Yet now it seems the strike back for this President is the same fealty that precludes him from any criticism without backlash. The mistakes of the last regime are not a license for the hate and retribution that I see from so-called conservatives as of late. If we truly want to make America Great Again we must remember that decency and civility was once the hallmark of this great Nation and avoid the shortsighted desire for the fleeting pleasure of payback, power, and to be king of the mountain.1

Feb 1 2017

Weekend at Public School

 

A comedy movie, Weekend at Bernie’s, gained popularity with moviegoers for its combination of dark situational humor and slapstick sequences. The story chronicles the unfortunate series of events of two young men who are invited to wealthy man’s home for the weekend. The two boys arrive only to find Bernie has been the victim of a mob hit. Hilarity ensues as the young duo, fearing they will blamed, spend the whole weekend dragging a corpse around trying to pretend the lifeless is indeed very alive.

American citizens, parents and students, concerned with the education of now and tomorrow, are being to treated to reenactment of this cult classic, yet the ridiculous animated contortions are strangely divested of any humor. The public school system of the United States has been a dead and rotting corpse for some time. Still, the growing outcry of those trapped in the stench of its lifeless hulk seems to fall on tin ears.

If it were not for the fact that the educational freedom of the future generations is at stake, there might possibly be some humor to wrench from today’s news. This news that Senator Collins is one of two Republican Senators who plan to oppose Betsy Devos appointment to Education Secretary, while frustrating at best for conservatives here in Maine, can be filed once again under the “Par for the Course” header of the litany betrayals of Maine conservatives. At the very least, this is the exclamation point on the inability of entrenched politicians to accept that Americans want change and choice not the status quo.

Democrats and their Republicrat allies are willing to go to any lengths to prop the corpse of public education. The almost ludicrous attempts by establishment to defend the lifeless against the vitality of new life would be comical if not for the repercussions. Why not except the truth?

Americans are tired of failed bureaucracy, but more so, they are at wits end to why our leaders continue to protect those failed institutions at the detriment of society at large. Betsy Devos may not be the perfect appointee but thankfully she is not establishment as usual. Senator should rethink what is an obvious protection of special interest and support the Nation as it moves toward the future of Education, which is choice.

Jan 24 2017

The Rise of the Republicrats

I recently listened to an interview with a gay activist who was recounting his shock and horror over the behavior of his leftist allies in recent events. He made an interesting observation that perhaps the recent “blurring of the lines” that we have seen this election cycle would have a positive effect because we would find out who we really are. Once I got past my negative reaction to the “blurring of the lines”, I think I understood and agreed with the premise he proposed.

While I may be misinterpreting his intent, for me this election has exposed what many citizens have been suspicious of for some time: Republicans and most “conservative” pundits don’t believe in anything. At the core of the Republican Party, the only consistency is the desire to change their stripes with every election cycle. While Republicans are gloating and reveling in this victory as vindication of their conversion from conviction to duplicity, the price of managing Good Trump/Bad Trump may find the GOP in the end far over-leveraged and bankrupt politically.

Yes, I am, with many true conservatives thus far, thrilled with the turn of events and to be, for the most part, proven wrong. I am a citizen of the United States and, therefore, Donald Trump is my President. But as I must maintain my mantle of my own Party’s harshest critic, Andy Torment, I do have some nagging questions.

Didn’t we just spend 8 years obliterating the Obama Administration for adding trillions to our national debt? I’ll help you. Yes, We did. Then how is it that our Republicans in Congress just voted in another 9.7 trillion in debt? Why all the silence now?

Oh, the media is silent as usual too. Why? They want it. We are all on the same team now. We are all Republicrats now. Isn’t wonderful? The Republicans finally brought some unity to Washington. We can all go down on this fiscal Titanic together. Strike up the band!

Now help me with this one. Didn’t we stamp, shout, and scream for 8 years against Obamacare? So why the silence on President Trump’s insistence that everyone must have healthcare and his plan is going to be even bigger and better, yes, “yuger”. So the reason Republicans are repealing the ACA is to put a bigger universal healthcare in its place? So if its Republican socialized medicine its OK? I see. Then no need to warn you about that iceberg….then? Right?

Here in Maine we have our own founding member of the Republicrats, Senator Roger Katz. He has introduced a Physician Assisted Suicide Bill into the legislature. Senator Katz is one of the many Republicans who are constantly trying to remove the traditional family from family values in the Republican Party platform. Yes, this is as much removed from common sense as the idea that social conservative values cause us to lose elections except for all the elections they help us win like this past one.

I know I’m putting myself out on a limb. I’ve been here before a few times; in fact, there’s a worn spot from my posterior out here. I’m fully willing to take my lumps and bruises if the limp snaps off with me on it, but if the Republican Party doesn’t find its conservative mooring and develop a spine now, they will never be able to manage the cyclical tumble-storm of Good Trump/Bad Trump that awaits them for the next four years. I can assure my fellow Republicans that a big smelly mush of Republicrats is not what the populace had in mind when it elected them this past November.

Jan 16 2017

Dribble Much?

Once again the Bangor Daily News has allowed itself to be the platform for anti-American dribble from the alt-left. Khalil Gibran Muhammed teaches that racism is the bedrock of US history and he’s come to Maine to inform us of this “truth”. No where in the BDN’s glowing coverage of Mr. Muhammad’s speech is there a slightest attempt to check the validity of his claims. To the contrary, a nominal perusal through historical fact would debunk Mr. Muhammad’s claims and the self-same nominal perusal through the religion Mr. Muhammad embraces, Islam, would expose the hypocrisy of accusing Americans of perpetrating slavery, when Islam is the overwhelming greatest perpetrator of slavery throughout history, its atrocities ongoing.

These flaming epitomes in the mind numbing study of the intellectual duplicitous standardizing of selective amnesia have become nauseatingly predictable but no less repulsive to those who strive to be objective thinkers. What is far more morally repugnant to any decent American on this day is that Mr. Muhammad speaks as a representative of the MLK Foundation. For it was Martin Luther King who understood the “bedrock” of this society, our Constitution, better than perhaps any of the great leaders of this Nation when he said these words:

“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.”

Reverend King understood that in the bedrock of this civilization our Founders had placed the “promissory note” in the Founding Documents with the intent and belief that good people of this Nation, in the light of their faith in God and their love of freedom, would in time eradicate the stain of slavery from this Nation.

And they did so, spilling the blood of their own sons to cleanse this land. No other nation has accomplished what our nation has in fight against racial injustice. So I ask, if slavery is the bedrock of this society, how is it that so many have fought from its very inception and laid the groundwork step by step to destroy slavery? Does Mr. Muhammad think that if the foundational bedrock of this nation was slavery and racism that the slaves would have been freed and the Nation would have heeded the calls of Martin Luther King to follow the words of its own Constitution with all men? If slavery is the very fabric of our society, as Mr. Muhammad intimates, than how is it a majority of Americans abhor slavery and racism? In no other nation could King have voiced his concerns much less mount the call for equality with out being crushed. Why? because its in the bedrock of who we are, freedom for all. 

Martin Luther King understood the unique opportunity afforded to him in the true fabric of this nation. It was Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Mr. Muhammad disdains the very thing, the very hope, that was the bedrock of Dr. King’s hope and the bedrock of this Nation, that “all men are created equal and our endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”. On this day, let us remember the truth that Martin Luther King believed and not the lies that Mr. Muhammad imagines.