The victim is always guilty

There seems to be an outbreak of contrary opinions being posted on various internet forums. People are logging into various sites and posting opposing conservative opinions without any support or evidence to their statement. When other refute their statements, they merely say the others are wrong and they are correct—end of discussion. Ignoring all evidence to the contrary, they continue condemning opposing ideas, claiming the opposition is just unwilling to educate themselves as to the truth and are being misled by ungodly liberals. Perhaps they feel that by not listing their evidence and calling for others to present theirs, will persuade others that those who fight, or can be made to sound angry, have to be wrong. After all, a logical and rational person with science on their side has little need to argue. We as a society have been exposed to training to prepare us to accept the illogical based simply on form of argument. Common sense has been given a bad name. We are being molded to accept the strength of a debate simply by the presenter’s attitude and poise? Redaction has been presented as necessary for security and as a tool for clarification. We are led to believe those in power know best and others are not able to share the same space with the mighty minds oppression. The fact that the oppressed are viewed as the oppressors and tyrants should be a red flag. The oppressors have been successful in making the oppressed look like they have the power? That it is actually the capitalist (oppressors) fighting for the dreams of the working class. The capitalists’ success in destroying the unions has been phenomenal. Having convinced the working class that the unions have prevented them from their birthright is nothing short of heresy and really should be applauded. While it is true some of the allegations lean towards the truth, the unions and the wage-slaves have allowed the image to be perpetuated. By allowing incompetence to reign with in the rank and file in favor of perks, the union has provided a foundation on which all other corpses have been laid. Which raises the all too obvious question— ARE WE ACTUALLY PREPARED TO ACCEPT THOSE WHO WRITE HISTORY TO BE OBJECTIVE AND FORTHCOMING WITH THE TRUTH?

Historical insight

So I picked up a book I have been hauling around the country for the past 4 years. I acquired the book at Boysville when we were cleaning out closets. The title is DETROIT IS MY OWN HOMETOWN written by Malcolm Bingay. This is the 1st edition published in 1946. Misspellings and grammar issues galore. Malcolm was a writer for the Detroit News from 1921 as a reporter at 17 until 1928 when he was fired as managing editor. After a year of doing other work, Malcolm found a position at the Detroit Free Press in 1930. Malcolm's book tells the industrial history of Detroit. The time when Detroit could and would do anything better than anyplace in the world. As I read the history thus far (I am at the point in history when Walter Chrysler has taken control of Dodge) I am feeling both awe and frustration for a city that now sits solidly at the bottom of US cities in every category except crime. To read how John Dodge told the secretary of defense to sit down and shut up, just let Detroit do what it does best is inspiring to say the least. In those days Detroit just needed a blueprint of something and their engineers and craftsman could reproduce a identical copy. Now the city can barely create a viable economy. It is caught up in political infighting, playing the race card and sharing the wealth amongst a select few in politics and business cronies at the expense of the citizens who so badly need to believe in someone.

Just another Brick in the Wall...

I suppose it is the thing to do during Christmas. We all learned our lesson after watching Dickens A Christmas Carol and being a Scrooge, we all get uppity about helping others during the holiday season.
We all run out to stuff the Salvation Army kettles, drop a few dollars on St. Jude, and even manage to send in a contribution to a rescue shelter or two. We sit around watching TV shows that make us feel warm and fuzzy, and may be even a tear or two. My wife and I watched the Mitch Albom made for TV show Have a Little Faith on the Lifetime Channel. It is a real tear-jerker about learing the meaning of who is our neighbor. It ends with a lesson learned, the passing of an icon, and finding that something within our hearts to forgive and accept people can and want to change. Then the holiday season ends like it usually does--there are still thousands of people who need help and we get on with our everyday living.
I have been posting on the City Data forum lately on the education board. I have been discussing the impact poverty has on the education of our children. I say "our" because whatever community you live in, the children are indeed OUR responsibility--at least so far as watching over them and keeping them safe by providing for their education and having services /programs available to assist them in the transition from adolescence towards adulthood.
As a teacher, I have seen severe deficiencies in bother services to and programs for children living in less than stellar conditions. All these children live in an environment that is beyond their control. Many no longer have parents around and are being raised by relatives; typically a grandmother serves as the single parent. The last thing children who are living for the moment want to do is school. Especially a school where they are less a person because they come from a home where there is no support or encouragement. The schools and their communities all too quickly adopt the attitude if mom and dad do not care, why should we or anyone else?
Children from lower income settings tend to perform lower than their peers academically and socially. Not that this is a surprise—if it is YOU need to get out of your cave more often—but what is a surprise is that these children are slowly and systematically being denied educational opportunities. But you say:
They are going to school!
They are in the classroom!
They even get FREE breakfast and food!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ARE BEING DENIED? They get more than my kids do…
While most of these points may be true, the poverty class student still lags behind their peer. Sure some of the blame belongs to their domestic situation. But an even larger part of the blame belongs to the educational system. The system has realigned itself to create a world where the poor / poverty child will be left behind.

We will not cry

You don't miss what you had, until it is taken from you. Yada, yada, yada...we hear this from such an early age and it is repeated throughout our life. We allow ourselves to become callus so that the pain cannot touch us. It starts with our first experience with death. If we have any thing in common, it is our first taste of death. This is usually when our pet dies.

Until that moment, we really have no concept of dying. We find ourselves crying for our pet, but never really knowing why. If we were to completely understand the situation, we cry because we no longer possess the beloved pet. Which in itself is a from of loss, but death itself remains an abstract notion for years to come. In the mean time, it was just a stupid animal afterall.

It is then that we begin to demonize other life forms to justify our callousness. We erect the wall around our heart. We fear the pain associated with loss. To better avoid this fear, we justify our cruelty by making everything an inanimate object. When anything is stripped of its value, we are able to dispose of it without a second though or a moment of regret.

Declarations of my secret deeds.

A while back I wrote about addiction in the Blue Road Publishing blog. The controlling force of our desire. So strong that we are all but powerless. We fear domination, so we in turn create excuses for our behavior. Our choices are protected by our need to be seen as influential to the public.

That concept--choice--is in and of itself misuderstood. Try explaining the idea to someone who has never seen any decison as a choice, rather it is and will always be survival. Choice seems to conjure the image of having the ability to pick between two or more scenarios. Choice is the ability to consider possiblities; to have the foresight to determine the best play. Saying we have a choice leads us to believe all outcomes are acceptable.

But what would everyone else have done? I have no choice except to confess the transgressions of my past. For too long I have refused to accept the consequences while enjoying the benefits of my sinful desires which have driven my choices...

I can only pray...

So this is Christmas...

It is the holidays and John Lennon is on my mind. Not the person, but the attitude. Looking back I can see where Lennon has been a driving force in my thinking. It started with the proverbial fixation with the Beatles back in 1971. I was ii years old and just starting junior high school (7th grade). Well before the idiots created the middle school concept and education started on the descent into Dante's 7th circle.
I am not sure what made the Beatles resonate with me. I had been an ardent country music fan. I suppose the Beatles were my gateway into heavy metal a few years later and my man crush on Robert Plant and Roger Waters. But I remember I took rather quickly to John and Paul's writing. Though each of the Fab 4 had a distinct style, John's always held my attention. Paul's was alright, but I was the kid that never thought of love as something to be experienced, rather it was just a feeling to empathize with.
John's writing always took you some place. Though I must admit when he set out on his solo career, I was less than enthusiastic. Double Fantasy was a mixed bag of worries for me. But over the years, I have realized the importance of this album and why Johns felt he had to record it. Now I find myself longing to hear more Lennon songs. To hear that idealistic soul, reaching out to the world, just trying to get us some peace.

So I started with the Christmas theme and digressed to Lennonology. My original point was being here in North Carolina, on December 11, 2011 and it is 55 degrees outside. The Christmas spirit is not moving me. Mary commented the other night how there is a blantant lack of holiday lighting throughout the area. We are just south west of Raleigh near Ft. Bragg and folks here just aren't lighting up.
There are select places that do the Chevy Chase Christmas light explosion, but they are overtly commercial. There is Meadows Lights that require a train ride to see all the lights clearly and another place just east of Raleigh in someone's front yard. But very few private residences light up.


I just expected a little more participation from the Bible belt.

SO Herman Cain's faux presidential run is DOA. I thought he was always just a tail wagger for the republickins. I believe that the real republickin candidate is yet to be revealed. I expect the person to be candidate will arise from the pyre just before New Hampshire primaries. The media will conveniently fail to vet the candidate and he will be hoisted on high as the new GOP saviour. I say "he" because I truly doubt the republickins will not put a woman up against an incumbent. I want to say he will be old, but the GOP just might pull a rabbit out of their ass and hold up a 40 something guy with moderate leanings in the public eye, but he will in turn choose an ultra conservative VP. The GOP is still trying to find a way to discredit a black man who happens to be president without being overtly racist. And the black man is trying to be president without being overtly black?
Time for President Obama to step up and be the leader this country needs. He was elected on a mandate. If King George II could say this with a straight face after the 2004 elections, then Barack can say it with sincerity. This country needs to get over the race barrier and accepot the fact President Obama has to do what a president does; that is to manipulate and coherse others into getting the job done. I for one am tired of this avoidance of the "Angry Black Man" appearance. President Obama was elected by the majority to GET ANGRY and correct the ills of this country.