Vipers In Our Midst: Islam in the U.S.

Read this article

Then, Read this article (Okay, I know its from PBS, but that doesn't make it any less alarming)

For those who persist in saying that Fox News is simply a mouthpiece for the current administration, please note that one of these articles is from the Associated Press and the other is an excerpt from a PBS related program. The letter below is one that was sent to the DMN blog from a Muslim student at SMU. There is no question that there are elements in the world who through their delusional religious or cultural tendencies seek to destroy what is loosely labeled as "The West" but which is in reality, the United States. Too many ignorant people in this country have what amounts to a very silly and dangerous conciliatory attitude. Forgiveness and negotiation are western concepts. They are the foundations of Judeo-Christian religious texts and filter through our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and our daily lives. These precepts aren't accepted in the East and especially not accepted by those who follow the most violent and dangerous versions of Islam.

In reading an assessment on the relative lack of security surrounding such features as our railways, our water supplies and chemical storage facilities, I have to admit I am worried. Add to that porous borders where it is estimated on 15% of the incursions are stopped. I look at my community with a mosque in an industrial area near a railroad and another across from the water treatment plant-where chlorine and other chemicals are stocked by the train car, and I become very concerned that in our western attitude of bending over backwards to accommodate those of other cultures and other faiths we are slitting our own throats. I am not a naturally suspicious person, but when we admitted Atta and his merry band, they came to learn to fly. They used that knowledge to kill our citizens. Are we currently teaching the very people who will turn and kill our own children? Too many "students" are coming to America on visa, getting grants to do so, and returning to foment war against us. Is our hubris, our fatal flaw, to be our openness to diversity allows vipers in our midst?

Driving and Cell Phones

Today, during what is laughingly known as Rush Hour, I had to take my husband to DFW airport. Now I expect traffic. I even expect delays. What I didn't expect was the cast of seemingly thousands of idiots on the road going out of their way to force other innocent drivers to the brink of Road Rage. Here's just a sampling:

-To the young lady driving the white Nissan Murano (although after watching you drive we began calling it a Morono...) Did you realize that THERE ARE OTHER CARS ON THE ROAD? I ask this because you whipped in and out of lanes without a signal, without a clue and pretty darned near no space. And you didn't do it just once, but numerous times as you headed down Geo. Bush towards I-35.

-To the lady in the blue Taurus, who at the north exit of the airport simply drove totally in front o me without warning. It would have been bad enough if you did that just to get in my lane, BUT YOU DID THE SAME THING THREE TIMES TO GET TWO LANES OVER TO THE EXIT! Clue to the Clueless-if you miss an exit-THERE'S ANOTHER ONE DOWN THE ROAD! YOU CAN GO BACK!!!

-To the guy with the grossly overloaded Giant Toyota Truck and Trailer-going slower than the speed limit doesn't insure that the overloaded trailer hitch won't snap off in traffic. Next time make TWO loads and try going the minimum speed limit rather than virtually parking in the middle of 121.

-To the snazzy dude in the black BMW-it is NOT ACCEPTABLE for you to wave after nearly shearing off my front bumper. Merge means MERGE-not speed up to the front of thenext lane and cut off everyone else. AND YOU DID IT TWICE!!!!

While I was noticing the manners and consideration or lack thereof of Dallas drivers, I noticed something else-every single driver that was doing something dangerous or stupid was ON THEIR CELL PHONE. When you are in a car or truck you are driving what can be a two ton weapon of death. Is that one message, or that one phone call really worth someone's life. Many states are taking a stand and making severe penalties for those who text and drive. But we can also set insurance standards where drivers who are in accidents while on their cell phones are fully financially liable for damages. I am tired of seeing ditzy people wandering around the road taking other people's lives and safety for granted just so they can stay connected.

NOBODY IS THAT IMPORTANT.

(Once again, the exception would be if you are transplant recipient in waiting or the surgeon performing the transplant. Other than that you calls can wait until you stop the car.)

These selfish, distracted people are costing us in lives, in money and in time. Pay attention. Stop being so self-centered and realize that there are a whole world of things that you can impact by your dangerous behavior. Below are some links to current stories that played out due to cell phone use while driving.

Distractions Can Be Deadly

It Causes Accidents

Lives Are Destroyed

Families and Communities are Ripped Apart

Why Are Muslim Men So Weak?

I am confused that a society that hides its women away from view considers itself morally strong. What kind of culture cannot withstand the view of a woman's arm or leg or face or hair without trembling? Are Islamic men so morally weak that they cannot control their lust? Are they so easily swayed that they insist on imposing virtual invisibility upon their mothers, wives and daughters? I am not advocating immodest behavior or dress, but for every female advocate that claims the hajib and veiling "protects" her dignity, there are crowds of other women silent because the society doesn't permit them the freedom to speak their mind. They are jailed for petty crimes of nail polish, makeup and "westernized values". They are allowed to seek education as second class citizens, forced to enter back doors to mosques, schools and colleges and made to submit to daily inspections worthy of the most austere Catholic grade school. What kind of society thinks so little of its citizens personal control that they have to clamp down with a heavy vise of fatwas and edits on the people that DO follow the Quran? And then they have the gall to try to impose that will on other nations, because make no mistake about it, this is the patient hundred year plan of the Islamists. Already English towns have been approached about being permitted to apply sharia law over and above British common law. And yet the leftists and the liberals want us to believe this is a war of greed. If holding onto freedom, if keeping a war out of the American and European nations is greedy, then count me as such. Instead we are seeing the type of vindictive behavior that has been an earmark of The Partition between India and Pakistan. Half a century later, this is still a shooting war where the hostilities run deep. If you think the Israelis are wary of Muslims, ask the Hindus and Buddhists forced to leave Pakistan of their views. This returns us to the topic, what kind of people are enforcing this hateful and suspicious type of rule? They are tribal warlords who have used treachery and guile to win their way to public support. They hold a viselike grip on their own people and seek to control the rest of us whether through oil price manipulation or outright terror. And make no mistake, the new friendship between Iran and Venzuela is one of convenience. How better to create madrassas within close striking distance to the American mainland? Leftist refuse to see, but this is far more serious than the Cuban Missle Crisis. And with porous borders and blind and self-serving politicians, we are in a heap of trouble.

And Now....A Candidate for All Seasons

Here's a candidate we can all support because like all good candidates, he stands for everything and says nothing of substance.

After The Love Has Gone: Global Warming After Live Earth

After the crowds have gone home. After the celebrities have boarded their individual private jets and headed to Gstaad for a toddy. After the approximately one third of the trash from Wembley stadium that can be recycled has been carted away-what then. Well here's an idea. How about some truth? Al Gore and his band of merry men and women have ridden this big wave quite long enough. As stated before in this blog, the sampling for such far reaching conjecture was far too small. And now that celebrities have gotten on board, our mindless star worship has led too many people to believe that The End is imminent. Hogwash. Sure maybe Iran will nuke us, but the possibility of the seas rising in tidal wave proportions and swallowing Los Angeles and Nueva York ( a bow to the multiculturalism that is becoming not just accepted but required in my part of the world...) Previously people who have questioned the validity of the theories presented by the quasi religion that is Global Warming have met with serious consequences. Jobs have been lost, tenure denied, elections lost. And now we are looking at a wildly liberal Democrat party that has for all intents and purposes been hijacked by the European Green Party. Go ahead, look at the Green platform and compare it to the Democrat proposals. It is socialism. And one of its key planks is ecology and environmentalism. Those are not bad things necessarily, but when you have to make up facts to panic a population in order to gain power, I am not sure that you are playing the game within the rules. So now this Doubting front has traveled the steering currents to become a serious storm of backpedaling. And the more the scientists start looking at facts rather than junk science, the shriller the religionists of the Global Warming church will become.
(The link is in the headline....)

Liberal Canonizations and other Perils of Modern Education

The education hierarchy, in its ever changing position as arbiters of what is Right and what is Wrong with American society, was once again fooled. Linked in the headline above is an article discussing the misleading fabrication of the book I, Rigoberta Menchu, a tome that is hailed by some womens' studies and Hispanic studies programs as an prime example of the exploitation of native peoples by the "evil" Europeans. Let me stop here and note that there was unbelieveable cruelty on both side of the issue. The superiority of European technology and weapons is what permitted Europeans to dominate the much larger, but poorer equipped native tribes. However, in this day and time we are bombarded by repeated leftist assaults via what is called literature, and much of it is foisted upon our college students as FACT over FICTION. I am tired of people using their ethnicity, their gender or whatever human frailty they possess to manipulate society and to be pushed by professors who have an agenda to sell.

Liar, Rigobert Menchu

"Private Jets for Climate Change"

The headline above is a quote from some of the bands who saw through this little political escapade disguised as benefit and did not participate. It is estimated that the one day at Wembley used as much energy as 3000 Britons FOR A YEAR!!! Live Earth is probably one of the most delusional, self-serving bits of propaganda to come along in awhile. While the likes of Madonna and The Pussycat Dolls pat themselves on the back, only one third of the trash generated is recyclable.

LONDON, July 7 -- "If you want to save the planet, I want you to start jumping up and down!" Thus Madonna revealed her plan to combat global warming.

In fact, Madonna's estimated personal carbon footprint is estimated to be 300 times the average British family. Not all groups were persuaded to closing rank. In fact, none other than The Who, refused to participate noting that the travel of celebrities to the event was more disastrous than the average workaday world. The timing itself could have been better, as it was on the anniversary of the British bus bombing. Below are a few quotes.

"It's an inconvenient truth, but mixing rock with recycling is awkward. In a TV interview earlier this week, Matt Bellamy of the band Muse mocked the event as "private jets for climate change."

Go here for a really scary image of Madonna

"John Buckley of Carbon Footprint, an organization that helps companies reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, said Saturday that Live Earth will produce about 74,500 tons of the gas.

"We would have to plant 100,000 trees to offset the effect of Live Earth," he said, speaking by telephone. But, he added, "if you can reach 2 billion people and raise awareness that's pretty fantastic."

Want to find out your carbon impact? http://www.earthlab.com/carbonProfile/LiveEarth.htm,

On National Health Care

If the Democrats are to be believed, the biggest issue in the next presidential campaign after the Iraq War is national health care. While I agree that due to the lack of tort reform and the sometimes ridiculous payouts garnered by the likes of John Edwards and his fellow trial lawyers, they are shutting the barn door after the horse has run away. The problem with our public health system is not simply the precipitous rise in costs, but the very reason that clinics, hospitals and healthcare providers have had to raise the prices on those of us who pay through the nose for health insurance. And that reason is the illegal immigrants who are accessing our public clinics and hospitals for medical care, including the birth of "anchor babies" that will help insure their residency. Advocates for those here illegally like to say that via sales taxes and property taxes derived via rent, that immigrants pay their "fair share". But exactly how fair is that? If they are being paid off the books, as so many are who work in day labor, then no income taxes, no medicare, no disability payments are removed. Yet when they enter into most public hospitals, they can claim a full amount of service and since many of them use false identities via fraudulent documents or matricula consulare-which are virtually untraceable-they can walk out of the hospital and never pay. Try that if you have insurance. And healthcare is just the tip of the iceberg. It's no secret that schools are struggling to stay ahead of their budgets, largely because of federal programs such as ESL, free lunch, free breakfast, etc. Nobody wants to see a child go hungry. I don't want a child to go hungry. But I also think charity begins at home. Are there not enough poor folks born and raised here that need such services? Would more of the working poor and their employers be able to afford health insurance if the burden of paying for those who use public medical services but DO NOT PAY were out of the system? It is a simple fact of supply and demand that when additional costs are added into the system, in order to survive, the system MUST pass along those costs to those individuals and companies that CAN PAY. So when you get a bill for that three dollar Tylenol or that twelve dollar ice pack, it is because of the six or seven other people who simply will not pay. When we talk about mandates there is a certain amount of personal ethics that has to ensue. While we should take care of our poor and needy, we are not mandated to care for the poor and needy of all other nations.

From the Dallas Morning News(excerpt from link on the title)

"In 2004, the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering 15,938 babies but ended the year with a $7.9 million surplus in obstetrics.

The positive bottom line resulted from a hefty infusion of Medicaid funds, about $34.5 million, to cover the delivery costs for the undocumented women. Dallas County taxpayers also kicked in $31.3 million, or about 40 percent of the total obstetrics costs, and the federal government paid an additional $9.5 million to make up for the hospital's high percentage of patients on Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program for the poor."

Here's the math:
(from Insurance .com.)
"Typical costs: According to Dr.Spock.com the cost of having a baby depends on where you live. The average ranges from $6,000 to $8,000 for a normal vaginal delivery and $10,000 to $12,000 for a cesarean birth (in some parts of the country, the costs can reach $14,000). Care with a nurse-midwife may cost less; a complicated pregnancy will cost more; and some practitioners and hospitals offer a sliding scale based on family income."

(from Fastcompany.com)
"Look instead to the bursting-with-life corridors of Parkland Memorial Hospital, a remarkable place that delivers more than 16,000 babies per year -- more babies than any other hospital in the country. That's more babies, in fact, than are born in 10 of America's states."

So let's do a little simple math based on the lowest numbers. Please realize that these are rounded numbers for the last year available, 2006, which means that the number are probably higher NOW.

16,000 total births at Parkland Hospital x 70% of the births to illegal immigrants=
11,200 deliveries to illegal immigrants at Parkland Hospital

11,200 deliveries to illegal immigrants x $6000 per for vaginal birth
(I figured that there were a few good souls that did pay and there were some women who had ceasarians or complications that were higher and that would somewhat account for the general ballpark figure)
=$67,200,000

Yes folks you read that right-Sixty Seven MILLION dollars and some change. And that is just at one hospital. I hesitate to even think exponentially how that balloons when you consider ALL the public hospitals across the nation. So those of you who blindly follow the Clintonian concept of free health care for all, please remember why we can't afford health care now. And it's not greedy Big Pharma-that's due to lack of tort reform, and it's not the Doctors because they are snafu'd in their own medical liability insurance hell, and it's not the hospitals which are paring down services and rapidly becoming specialty hospitals to accommodate special needs-it's the number of people here who use our medical system as a social stopgap for the problems they have left behind in their home countries.

Fish or Cut Bait, Gore

From Wikipedia:

"Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of Washington realtor Raymond Howar; and Sally Nevius, wife of Washington City Council Chairman John Nevius. They were known as the "Washington wives" — a reference to their husbands' connections with the federal government. The Center eventually grew to include 22 directors.

The PMRC claimed that popular music, and especially rock and heavy metal music, was partially responsible for the contemporary increase in rape, teenage pregnancy, and teen suicide. The group's mission was "to educate and inform parents" about "the growing trend in music towards lyrics that are sexually explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol," and to seek the censorship and rating of music."

Look at this weekend's slate of performers and ask yourself, at what point does the end justify the means? Either Tipper was wrong in attacking rock music and setting up parameters to free speech OR the whole Global Warming crowd is bowing down to an appeal from those who should be squelched. I would assume Mrs. Gore would want the religion of Global Warming widely spread, but if we condemn ministers for using questionable material to lure new converts to the fold, then is this any different? Does an internationally televised series of venues not "glorify" rock lyrics and concepts that should be otherwise condemned? You really want people to believe that the "family centered music" of Madonna, Pussycat Dolls and some group called Rip Slyme is a positive musical statement? Don't get me wrong, personally I like many of the performers on the slate, but when you look at the condemnation of rock music by Mrs. Gore and then see this magic flip to using the same type of music to push a political agenda, then there's something fishy.

PS. I think that this series of broadcasts should be labeled for the political programming that it is. And as such, I think that equal time needs to be enforced.

Why Marriage Matters

For too long, marriage has been considered optional. We see celebrities and average people pop out babies without any sort of commitment at all. And for some people, a minority of them, it works. But for too many young people, they see this as an option and it ends up being an anchor that weighs them down economically and educationally for the rest of their lives. If, as stated by The Smartest Woman in the World, it takes a village to raise a child, then perhaps we should get all of our villages to restate the standards of behavior, such as not getting pregnant when you haven't the will or means to take care of a child. I have kids in my school who see getting pregnant and living on public dole as a viable career path. And I teach in an upper middle class school. Movie stars notwithstanding, most single women who have children without the benefit of a spouse wind up on welfare. They remain poor and their children remain poor. Shouldn't we want more for our kids? And why aren't more people within the community outraged at the media that promoted promiscuity to kids without fully disclosing the possible outcome?

From the Economist magazine) There is a widening gulf between how the best- and least-educated Americans approach marriage and child-rearing. Among the elite (excluding film stars), the nuclear family is holding up quite well. Only 4% of the children of mothers with college degrees are born out of wedlock. And the divorce rate among college-educated women has plummeted. Of those who first tied the knot between 1975 and 1979, 29% were divorced within ten years. Among those who first married between 1990 and 1994, only 16.5% were. At the bottom of the education scale, the picture is reversed. Among high-school dropouts, the divorce rate rose from 38% for those who first married in 1975-79 to 46% for those who first married in 1990-94. Among those with a high school diploma but no college, it rose from 35% to 38%. And these figures are only part of the story. Many mothers avoid divorce by never marrying in the first place. The out-of-wedlock birth rate among women who drop out of high school is 15%. Among African-Americans, it is a staggering 67%. Does this matter? Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think-tank, says it does. In her book "Marriage and Caste in America", she argues that the "marriage gap" is the chief source of the country's notorious and widening inequality. Middle-class kids growing up with two biological parents are "socialised for success". They do better in school, get better jobs and go on to create intact families of their own. Children of single parents or broken families do worse in school, get worse jobs and go on to have children out of wedlock. This makes it more likely that those born near the top or the bottom will stay where they started. America, argues Ms Hymowitz, is turning into "a nation of separate and unequal families".

Judge One President, Judge Them All

While I don't fall in lockstep with some of the decisions made by President Bush, I am sick to death of the way the media whips him on every move. Look at the list and compare the pardons and commutations made by other presidents. Some will surprise you.

PARDONS AND COMMUTATIONS

George W. Bush (2001 - )
Pardons -- 13
Commutations -- 4

Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
Pardons -- 396
Commutations -- 61

George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
Pardons -- 74
Commutations: 3

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
Pardons -- 393
Commutations -- 13

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Pardons -- 534
Commutations -- 29

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
Pardons -- 382
Commutations -- 22

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Pardons -- 863
Commutations -- 60

Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969)
Pardons -- 960
Commutations -- 226

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
Pardons -- 472
Commutations -- 100

Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Pardons -- 1,110
Commutations -- 47

Harry Truman (1945-1953)
Pardons -- 1,913
Commutations -- 118

Tony Blair/Terrorism & Tiny Minds

Tony Blair seems like a decent enough chap. He has a nice family, he's polite and he's articulate. But the British press pilloried him for allying with the United States in what is truly a War Against Terror. Blair had read the insider information and seen what the potential was for violence spreading outside of the Middle East and into Europe and the US. And even though Mr. Blair is what is known as a liberal, he cared more about doing the right thing, than doing the politically expedient thing. The British press hounded him. The spread rumors, lies and disinformation with their goal, as with most western press, to pry another ally away from the United States and gain control over whatever political puppet was put in place. Today there were three open attempts at terror on British soil. Two car bombs, thankfully detected and defused, in London and another in Glasgow. The changeover from Blair to the new PM was today. I talking to experienced terror experts, all were agreed that the attitude of appeasement has made it easier for terrorists to infiltrate British mosques and recruit British subjects to attack their own country. Is this not EXACTLY what President Bush said would happen if we appease terrorists by giving in? And yet our press is doing to President Bush exactly what the British press did to Tony Blair. What do you think will happen if someone whose appeasement attitudes such as Hilary, or John Edwards or Barak Obama get in office? How long do you think it would be until we had a serious attack on American soil? Wasn't 9/11 enough? If I were Tony Blair, a man far more gracious than I am, I would hire out a series of prominently displayed billboards with these words:

I TOLD YOU SO!

I'm With Fred

I should probably have a tee shirt or something that says this. I am coming in early with support for the candidate I think has the most to offer the American public. And that candidate is Fred Thompson. I have read a great deal from his site and other sources, and he appears to be the antithesis of what we have seen in politics the last few years. He appears to be smart, deliberate and doesn't make stupid comments just to provide sound bites. Sure, he's not Mr. Goodhair, but then again, I doubt his wife will call Ann Coulter to make her stop picking on him. Good Luck!

Motherland or Fatherland?

The other day on the news, I happened to see the ceremony for burial for a member of the military killed in Iraq. As his father took the podium I braced myself for the tears and the outrage and the typical sort of imagery that the media usually shows from such events. Instead, the father said, "I was proud of my son when he joined. I was proud of my son as he served. And now, I am so proud of his service." Brave words. When you counter that with Sheehan and her disrespectful and often virulent protests after her son died, it made me stop and wonder what our nation has become, and why.
It made me think of how we have changed as a people and think whether much of this is because so many of our young men are being raised without fathers. When you look into the general population, although there are still some conventional families, the norm is the blended family or the single parent family. Back in the day-and by that I mean the Paleolithic times-mates were based on the ability to create life, provide services and the honor of the tribe was in continuing those necessary roles such as hunter, shaman, cook, and so on. Many of these roles were based on gender, mostly due to the role of women as nurturers. It is a traditional role, one that many feminists disallow, but one that continued unabated through many civilizations. There had to be a reason for that. And I think that the Greeks were closest in the spiritual plane of explaining the psychology of the sexes. They believed that the gods created four-legged, four-armed creatures that were complete in every way. And because they were complete and balanced, they were happy. Balance was the key to the Greeks, at least in theory. But the gods became jealous of the creations' happiness, so they cut them in half, leaving them to forever seek their missing half, their balance. Although graphic, I think there is some wisdom here.
Like it or not, when a child is raised in a single parent home, they are going to get a less balanced view of the world and a method of deciphering the world that is biased in favor of one gender over another. There's a good reason that children need both mothers and fathers. Mothers, generally, are more nurturing, more in touch with emotions, more responsive to emotional needs. Fathers, generally, are more goal oriented, more aimed at structure and discipline and more focused on such things as responsibility and follow-though. That's not to say these things are exclusive to one parent over the other, but when any child gets so absorbed by just their feelings, and their reactions, and their goals over the larger goals in life, it makes for some very selfish and self-serving adults.
When we fought in WWII, we were a Fatherland, a land that sought the goals of the "higher good" for a wider swath of humanity. While parents hated the idea of losing their children to war, there was a unified concept of national need. Today, our nation is divided by race, by sex, by religion, by education, by status, by wealth. The goals that were seen as national are now seen as marginal. We have become a nation of individuals that can only see the goal in the light of how it betters their situation. There is no adherence to the idea of a "higher good" that sometimes is served through the ultimate sacrifice. As I see it, we are now a Motherland, more dismissive of the societal goals unless they directly impact the individual. In a way, as our towns got larger, our personal focus became smaller.
And when you see confrontations over the war, or culture or any other aspect of the political realm, I think what we are seeing more of is Motherland vs. Fatherland. I don't think you can be both and successfully complete any mission. The Fatherland only hesitated slightly to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Motherland flinches when collateral damage occurs even if it prevents bloodshed down the line. It's a difference in long term goals and short term memory. And in terms of success, we need a Fatherland attitude to win wars and a Motherland attitude to keep domestic peace. We need to be able to make the hard decisions for the goal. And we need to have compassion and help after the goal has been achieved. Perhaps I am crazy, but it was something that struck me as interesting.

It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland.

Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Odes

Listen, before you Look and Vote

There are people out there who are so unbalanced, so needy, that they seek a spiritual mentor or belief in order to bring their lives into what they perceive as "balance." This happens quite a lot with religions, much more than I think most mainstream believers care to admit. Too often the minister is more important than the message. Which is why we end up hearing these sordid stories about men and women who claim to be "of God" when in reality they are out to acquire their own pleasures and privileges.

I am afraid, given the rumor mongering nature of the internet, that our political intentions are going the same way. Voters see a pretty face, hear of other appealing people who support this candidate and fail to concern themselves with the real meat of their agenda. As the political season heats up and the Labor Day starting gate of the primaries come into view, be very circumspect in which candidates you choose. Try listening to them on radio in addition to TV. Sometimes the pretty face and slick delivery can mitigate flaws in their direction. It's like in the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy discovers that the Wizard is just a bald, fat man behind a curtain. This next election will be one of change. I think the mainstreams of both parties are disgusted with the self-serving attitude of the people who pretend to represent us. And this is why you must look into the voting records, the public statements and the personal agendas BEFORE you select a candidate to support.

Below is a link dealing with cults. The reason that I have included this is because I think some political extremism borders on the same type of frenzy as that created by religious cults. Think about things going on in this state, nation and world and ask yourself if issues are being driven by fact or by personality. At any rate, it's an interesting review of the mindset of those who manipulate reality for their own gain.

The Church of Global Warming-New Religion of the Left

The Church of Global Warming sounds like a joke, but it has all the earmarks of a cult.
1. There's a somewhat charismatic leader (If Gore could be called that...)
2. Celebrities are friends and supporters of said charismatic leader.
3. The code of belief brooks no doubts-you either accept every word, or you are an infidel.
4. The "church" and its leaders believe they are the only holders of "the truth".
5. The "church" believes that unnamed conspirators are acting behind the scenes to discredit them.
6. Secrets from within the "church" are believed to give the faithful access to the truth.
7. Initiation in the way of restraint, recycling, regression from technology and other isolation results in adherents blindly following the leaders.
8. A belief that endless supplies of money, all of which is to be turned over without question (by the taxpayers?) is to be spent on "special programs" to alleviate or appease the climate gods.
9. The belief that questioning any of these goals, any of the programs or any of the methods of obtaining money is equal to apostasy.
10. The belief that the "little people" should suffer deprivation for the good of the "special people" (See Barbara Streisand's house and ask yourself if this is a balanced use of resources according to the opinions of the Church of Global Warming)

Global Warming: The Cult, an update

Global Warming has all the earmarks of a religious cult. The link connected to the heading discusses this more specifically. I encourage you to read through the website and ask yourself if your friendly neighboring environmental nut isn't carrying on just a bit too much.

• The cult claims that they have the only way -- the only way to Heaven, or to salvation, or spirituality, or eternal bliss, or higher knowledge, or sanity, or mental powers, or recovery, or whatever it is that the cult promises to deliver...

• And then there is Denigration of competing sects, cults, or religions. A corollary to cults' claims of having The Only Way is the assertion that "the other people" do not have The Way. "They" are all misguided and missing the boat, and "they" won't be going to Heaven.

• Thus the cult encourages an isolationist "us versus them" mindset, which naturally seques into an attitude that

• The cult members are special -- they are morally and spiritually superior to the common rabble who haven't been "saved" and who don't have The Big Answer....

• Another common cult characteristic the we have seen is the demand for Surrender to the Cult. You can't just join the group; you have to surrender to the cult and give it everything -- your life, your mind, your heart, your loyalty, your obedience, and even your soul. (And all of your money will be welcome too.) An Oxford theologian observed that the students who became involved with Buchmanism were obsessed with it:

  The Groupers are unable to give their heart and soul to any other organization whatever: for his heart and soul is given to the group, whose sole immediate task is to attack sin.
  C. R. Morris, page 85, writing in
  Oxford and the Groups; The Influence of the Groups considered by Rev. Geoffrey F. Allen, John Maud, Miss B. E. Gwyer, C. R. Morris, W. H. Auden, R. H. S. Crossman, Dr. L. P. Jacks, Rev. E. R. Micklem, Rev. J. W. C. Wand, Rev. M. C. D'Arcy, S.J., Professor L. W. Grensted. Edited by R. H. S. Crossman. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1934.

• Then there are the constant put-downs -- the cult characteristic of You Are Always Wrong: "You have been defeated by sin", "You are so sinful that you are insane", and "You are hiding some giant sin that keeps you separated from God".

• The constant put-downs also reveal the the mind-bending technique of Guilt Induction, and the use of guilt to manipulate cult members.

• Channeled or occult sources of 'wisdom', like 'Guidance' psychically received during a 'Quiet Time', is common in cult religions.

• A hierarchical, authoritarian system of control of members is very typical of cults.
  

• So is Pseudo-democracy. The Oxford Groups supposedly offered people "true democracy", where nobody voted and everybody followed orders without question. Curiously, Frank Buchman simultaneously declared that he was giving people "the true dictatorship of the living God", and "the dictatorship of the spirit of God". It takes some fancy semantic tap-dancing to reconcile "true democracy" and "true dictatorship".

• The doctrine that you cannot trust your own mind or your own thoughts, and must turn to the cult's mentors or elders for guidance is anther standard cult practice.

• And thus, so is a system of mentors.

• As is Intrusiveness -- they want to hear about every sin you ever committed, and they claim the right to tell you how to live, what to do, and what to believe.

• And so is the attitude that newcomers can't think right.
  

• And so is the deceit that "we have no structure or system", when in fact they have a very despotic system of control.

• And then there is Deceptive Recruiting.

• The End Justifies The Means.

• And You must change your beliefs to conform to the group's beliefs.

• Thought-Stopping Language. Thought-terminating clichés and slogans.

• Inability To Tolerate Criticism, and Personal Attacks On Critics.

• Dishonesty, deceit, and wild exaggeration of successes and praise, accompanied by minimization and denial of faults and criticism.

• The Cult is Money-Grubbing.

• The cult leader is not held accountable for his actions.

• The Guru Is Extra-Special.

• Everybody else needs the guru to boss him around, but nobody bosses the guru around.

• The guru criticizes everybody else, but nobody criticizes the guru.

• And the problems of Disturbed Guru, Mentally Ill Leader,

• New Identity -- Redefinition of Self -- Revision of Personal History

• The cult wants to own you.

• Demands For Compliance With The Group

• Grandiose existence. Bombastic, Grandiose Claims.

. Below

This Time, It's Serious-Immigration

Here's a copy of an open letter I sent to Diane Feinstein. I don't expect her to read it. Actually what I expect is for some third level political flunky to either delete it, or to send me a snarky form letter. While I have held these views for awhile, they came to a head when I read the series from San Antonio that is linked in the headline. Please read it. Please. This is important for our safety, for our security and for our future. I hate to sound so dramatic, but these are dangerous times. And this could be our last chance to change things.

"I know that I am not a constituent, but as a Congressional representative, you do have the obligation to hear opposing thoughts on the issues of the day. Texas is on the front lines in this dispute and as a teacher I can assure you, we are suffering due to the sporous condition of our borders. I would invite you to read the series in the San Antonio newspaper regarding the infiltration of OTM's under the guise of Mexican immigrants. It is a very scary situation and I think it is a time bomb waiting to go off.

I am a native Texan and I am VERY concerned about Congress negligence and lack of foresight on the illegal immigration issue. First and foremost, we have lost our national security since it is documented that the designation "other than Mexican" is one that includes known activists in terrorism and that some have crossed our borders with impunity.

Domestically, we have an erosion of local economies, such as is happening in Farmers Branch, wherein absentee landlords rent to people without even knowing how many people live in that house. Where the taxes on one single family house provides roads, water, sewage, education and health benefits, it is not equitable when two, three or four families live in the same house or apartment. Landlords have few tools to control this. Schools and social/welfare offices are swamped with giving aide and special programs for these illegal immigrants. In addition, if they are working on the books, they have to be using fraudulent ID's and that is IDENTITY THEFT, which could seriously ruin someone's retirement.

Finally, I think that there are some members of Congress who are intent on making it possible for illegal immigrants to vote. It is already happening on a local level, although it should be denied by the Supreme court. How can we be sure that people are voting legally when we can't even ask for a valid ID? If we can do criminal background checks on PTSA moms, soccer coach dads and Sunday School teachers, then we should be able to LEGALLY expect identification for something as serious as voting. I am very concerned and I am NOT ALONE. I will be watching to see what is done in regards to this issue.

As I said before, I know I am not your specific constiguent, but I am a voter. And I am a blogger. And I do as much as I can to get information into the hands of those who will vote. While you may be able to wrap up California for your candidate on this issue, I promise you that in Texas, it won't be that easy, because we are running out of money, out of time, and out of patience.

Define ExtraCurricular

Extracurricular-Adj. That which is outside the normal curriculum.

What happened to the idea of extracurricular activities. Athletics, band, cheerleading were all things that you elected to do as something BEYOND the basic realm of classes. Yet now we have actual classes, with, I assume, actual curriculums, syllabi and standards. Why is this? Is it that we have caved in to the parents who want their children's every breath given credit weight? Or have administrators become so dazzled by the reflected glory on the ball field that they throw huge amounts of money for staffing, equipment and facilities toward these non-academic pastimes. And that is what they are. Like it or not, cheerleading is NOT a class. It's an activity. Like it or not football and baseball and basketball are all activities-not classes. Sure, you can learn to block, or learn to hit, or learn to throw a layup-but it's still not intellectually stimulating. Now I know many kids think this is the only way for them to get a college education. And that is the fault of a society which is so enamored with celebrities that we now have celebrities that are famous for such things as behaving badly, going to rehab and wrecking cars. This worshipful attitude towards those who are seen as talented has got to change. People often wonder where these young athletes and stars develop such horrible personalities. Maybe it's because rather than teaching them to read and think, all their schools and parents concentrated on what how cute they were, how talented they were or how good they were at athletics. Some kids are really good at working this type of minor fame into excuses for dismissing ignorance, stupidity and out and out self-centered behavior. If they are talented enough they work their ways through college being coddled for their fame until they either graduate or move onto some major league or field of work where such hubris is appreciated. What are we teaching them when we value those superficial things over the real meat of education? When was the last time your school had a pep rally for the Debate team? Or the Math Club? Or the Academic Decathalon team? I know my school hasn't and probably never will since almost all of the administrators in my district are ex-coaches. I am not saying athletics and such aren't important, but as the Greeks said, in all things "balance". And we are dreadfully unbalanced right now.

If They Can't Drive, Should They Have This Power?

Our state, Texas, is currently being lobbied via radio ads to support a bill that claims to "support good teachers." That is a bit of a misdirection. What the bill intends to do is pay a stipend to teachers based on their students' achievement. On paper that may seem harmless or even beneficial. But in reality what it will do is leave many teachers at the mercy of their students. In some cases, that isn't a bad thing, but let's face it, out there in lala land, there are parents that think it's no big deal for a kid to take a day off from school. I have had parents write excuses ranging from as serious as a death in the family to as assinine as "getting a tan before prom." Now there are reasons to be absent. As I have posted before, I don't like kids coming to my classroom sick. It isn't healthy, it spreads viruses and I am always the first one to catch anything coming down the pike. In addition, AYP is based on total students in attendance. When kids start taking off for silly reasons, our rating suffers. The final blow with the tie in between testing and income is that there are kids who do not care what they make on the test. They could be brilliant, but they stall and sleep and do everything they can to drag out the test and avoid going to class. TAKS week is a nightmare because I don't see half my classes at all. And that includes my AP classes. Should we really base pay and compensation on the whim of someone who will take an unnamed pill or sneak out to a party? Parents say we must, but those are quite often the same parents who write totally lame and unfounded excuses for everything from absences to missing homework. At what point are the adults going to take charge again? More and more teachers are leaving education due to burn out. Thank God my class isn't a core class, and I would rather cut off my right arm than ever teach a Language Arts class again. What was begun as an experiment to produce drones for H. Ross Perot's little Metropolis, have become the Golem of Doom that stomps and slaughters without rhyme or reason. This type of bill, that would set compensation based on test scores will make teaching even more remote, push those with marginal students to cheat, and lead to scores of lawsuits. I just don't see this as being worthwhile. But then again, according to these same folks teachers should be facilitators and all our technology should be geared to do the teaching. RIIIIIIIIIGGGGHHHHHHHHT.

Back to Reality?

So how soon will the public forget? How long after OKC or 9/11 did we sink back into the sticky goo of complacency and reality TV? I wish I could forget. I was talking to another teacher today and she said, "wow, do you realize all the events we have seen together in the past six years? 9/11, Challenger crash, so many tragedies. I wish I could right of everyday things. I wish things would return to normal. I am not even sure what normal consists of anymore.

Forgotten Hero at Virginia Tech

I think one of the most overlooked factors in the Virginia Tech tragedy is that in many college dorms student employees such as Resident Assistants are often the first line of security. One of the first victims of this madman was a popular student who happened to be a resident assistant. It's an avenue of employment that is sought by many college students because it mostly pays for the most costly aspect of college life, housing. These kids work like crazy. They have to be outgoing, smart, organized and willing to enforce rules. In short, they play parents to the entire resident population under their control. A good RA can help students bond with the school, make friends and feel part of the action.

It hit close to home, because for two years one of my own kids was an RA and knowing how those student employees are trained, I could see her trying to intervene and defend a resident and getting hurt in the process just like the second victim in this tragedy. I don't think that parents sending their kids off to school appreciate the huge load carried by these student employees. RA's are the first faces they see when they move kids in. They are the ones who organize events, who lend a shoulder to cry on and who advise students and refer them to the offices where they can get academic or personal assistance. In short, they are the face of any university housing department.

Resident Assistants have to be the eyes and ears of administrative staff in regards to everything from code violations to criminal offenses. I know my daughter had to deal with fires, drug busts, assaults, theft and vandalism as a 19 year old. There was even one time that she had to deal with a student who threatened to kill his roomate. She called the police, security, the locksmith and then gave the offender a tongue lashing as the police cuffed him. These young people are given an inordinate amount of personal responsibility. And quite often they rise to the occasion. In this sad case, I am sure the RA tried to prevent the initiation of this tragedy. How sad that the messages conveyed by the perpetrators writings were ignored. Sometimes it is wise to trust gut instinct and to choose on the side of error or doubt rather than adhere to the motto of polictically correct blind acceptance.

In many universities it is campus policy that students who were suicidal or violent were told to leaving housing due to the potential for injury of student employees. In some schools there are teams to evaluate seriously sick and disturbed students. But in too many cases abhorrent thoughts and erratic behavior is dismissed as being normal, because too many times the odd is seen as normal in the light of college life. To attend a party where you know no one is "exciting" to take drugs or drink drinks that you have no idea of the contents is seen to be a rite of passage by some. Our schools, in seeking intellectual freedom have forgotten that it must be tempered with caution and responsible behavior. When the system fails, as it did in this case, there needs to be change. Maybe there needs to be a more authoritative presence in college dorms to avoid such events. In decade past a dorm mother would control the activities of the house. In the past, curfews were enforced for reasons of student security.

Too much freedom can be just as scary as too little. We could simply eliminate student employees to take them out of harm's way, but then we end up depriving students of much needed campus employment. Perhaps in the end we should consider dissolving some of the research programs and providing enough money for scholarships so that students won't end up having to work to attend college and for adults on site with the authority to provide a safer environment for all students on campus.

Cocoons and Why They Can Be Deadly-Va. Tech

There is no question in my mind that the actions today at Virginia Tech were the actions of a madman. In many ways your average preschool class is far more wary of strangers than the average college student. We spend all our time and effort pressing kids to ignore differences and embrace diversity. This attitude has made is an anti-social act to declare someone unbalanced or just plain nuts. We have conditioned an entire generation to the Sesame Street philosophy that everyone is "okay". Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth.

Our society's insulation of this generation of children from the dangerous, the stupid and the outright deadly has made them believe that they are made of titanium and cannot be destroyed. Your average teenager already has the idea that they are invincible, but our overprotective culture has fostered the idea that there is always someone else to blame-some corporation, some political party, some faceless group. But most serious crimes are perpetrated by individuals. It's much easier for an individual nut to cause serious harm than a group, because like your average rodent, they are harder to catch individually. That's why suicide bombers are so deadly. And so rightly feared.

But when it comes back to how we have raised kids dually to think that their every whim is to be fulfilled and that nobody can harm them, we set up a situation where the common sense ideas of personal security and personal responsibility become secondary to personal wants over needs. I am not in any way saying that these victims deserved this fate because no innocent person deserves to die like this. When I have students who have never seen the towers fall from 9/11 or who have no concept that doors are locked and curfews imposed for their own safety, then we have a problem.

There is no cocoon more complacent than a college campus. People leave doors unlocked to sneak in and out playing the eternal games of boy meets girl. People loan books, keys, laptops, apartments and cars to those that they barely know. Parties are thrown where even the host has no idea who most of the people attending are, or where they came from. This makes for good film footage on MTV Spring Break, but unless we start expecting our young people to use basic common sense on a daily basis, we are going to end up with a generation that runs cars into walls expecting insurance companies and lawyers to run to the rescue. Our nation was founded on the ideal of personal responsibility. When pioneers moved west they lived on their own, miles away from others. To fail was to die.

Today, failure is seen as a process, often one to be encouraged. And while I don't think failure should be met with death, sometimes in the real world, that is what happens. When you fail to alert an administrator or a boss that someone is acting odd or when you allow someone to enter without knowing who they are, or when you fail to use the instincts with which we are all blessed and allow bad things to happen through absentminded neglect, you are setting into motion situations that don't need to occur. There is no doubt that this is a tragedy. And it's one that people will talk about for awhile. That's good, but unless everyone is willing to take the steps necessary to make sure our kids are taking responsibility for their own safety, then it will someday happen again.

Breaking the Social Contract

Part of what has kept our nation together is a shared vision of what is acceptable and unacceptable within our society. For a long time there were social taboos such as cursing, nudity and such that were not part of the fabric of everyday life. There was this mutual agreement between total strangers that such things weren't part of what our society considered "normal". Fast forward to today and you find that even the word "normal" is seen as suspicious and even derogatory. At what point did we as a group decide to allow our society to be co-opted by the seamy underbelly of life? I recall refusing to let my elementary aged children access to The Simpsons. Their friends made sure that they felt left out and backward, but in truth, I have never thought that The Simpsons, no matter how funny, were meant as a show for kids. Similar words and concepts that would never have been mentioned in polite society are now part of everyday conversation. I really can't believe that everyone is comfortable with this. I still squirm when I watch some shows and my now 18 and 21 year old sons are in the room. It's not a false sense of modesty, instead it's sense that there are some things that the average person doesn't need to make public. I personally don't give a damn about what people do in their private lives so long as it doesn't impact me or my family. Marry a hamster for all I care, but dont' tell me the gory details of the wedding night.

The social contract goes beyond matters of taste. Just the idea that we all stop at a four way stop sign is something based on mutual trust. But do you really trust that stranger across the road? More and more the answer should probably be no, because red lights, speed and roadrage are all acceptable behavior in our shredded social fabric. Even those things that are against the law have armies of apologists waiting to make nice when someone drives under the influence and kills someone else's kid. This is one of the big reasons I would never support legalization of pot-we already have parents willing to buy their kids' popularity with an unsupervised house and a keg of beer, I can't even imagine the carnage if kid start getting into their parents stash. And what about the way that children and infants are seen more as money sources than as people. Just this week a nine month old was killed when his psycho mom stole an SUV on a test drive and got into a police chase. The baby was lying in the front seat when the Mom flipped the car. Other mothers keep quiet when their live in boyfriends or sometimes husbands abuse their kids physically, mentally and sexually. And the mothers stand by and watch. Are we so desperate to fit into this illusion of life that we sacrifice innocents? Where is the outrage in the community, because this is far more devastating than any remote racism or perceived slight? Where are the protests over stupid mothers that sacrifice their kids? And when did it become okay to do anything you please? Are we a nation of three year olds, incapable of deferring our pleasures for even a moment? We seem to need to be tied into a web of communication and honestly, I don't think anyone is really saying anything important. That's probably a good thing, because I dont' think anyone is really listening.

All of these precedents are filtering down to our kids. While their are great kids out there, there are also kid who think the Bill of Rights includes a new car on your sixteenth birthday. Some kids think that school and work and anything else is only worth as much as it gives you pleasure or money. They are becoming shallow and vain and very very spoiled. And this isn't just the rich kids, but all of the kids. Their parents either simply do not pay attention to them and shove money instead OR they are too busy trying to be their buddies. This isn't the way to build a nation. We need some rules. And some shared values. And some serious talk about deferring immediate gratification for higher, bigger and better life goals. We need to do this soon or we are going to end up with kids that live their lives as if they are on a reality show=except nobody is there to rescue you if you fall.

Our "Exceptional" Society

ex·cep·tion·al - ɪkˈsɛpʃənl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ik-sep-shuh-nl] –adjective

1.	forming an exception or rare instance; unusual; extraordinary: The warm weather was exceptional for January.

2.	unusually excellent; superior: an exceptional violinist.

3.	Education. (of a child) a. being intellectually gifted. b. being physically or esp. mentally handicapped to an extent that special schooling is required.

Once upon a time, being exceptional was not the norm. It meant you did incredibly better than your peers. You were to be admired and respected. Such was the past of exceptionality.

Fast forward to today and now EVERYONE is exceptional. But today it doesn't mean that you are necessarily good at anything. Or perhaps you are good at one thing. And that would be avoiding the rules, restrictions and laws that control everyone else. These days it isn't a rare occurence for a schoolday fight to be countered with the excuse "but he's on the.....team" or for a drinking binge to be excused by the comment "but she's a cheerleader." What follows is amazing and will probably result in the child's destruction somewhere down the road. Because what follows is the parental expectation that the oh so strict rules they desire in place will be applied to every child but their own. Our courts, our school yards, our dormitories and our offices are filling up with a generation that thinks they can do no wrong and that their very words are golden. Every sniffle, every small milestone is puffed up into an event status. And those true rights of passage events like prom and graduation take on the trappings of a coronation. It is frightening to see seventh graders arrive for their first day of school in a limo. It is equally terrifying to overhear supposedly concerned moms talk about providing "safe places to drink" for after prom. What happened to the rules?

If you listen to the media, there's public outcry and demand for harder rules and strict and swift punishment. But what actually happens is that when an incident occurs-whether as simple as a kid getting a zero for not working or as serious as drug use or weapons on campus, there's always a parent there with a ready excuse. Sometimes these excuses go so far as to exemplify the young person as a "wronged" individual. Something like this happened in a city north of Dallas, where a fourteen year old shoved a teachers' aide, breaking her arm. She was sent to court and offered probation if her mother would supervise her better and make sure she got counseling. The mother refused. And the girl ended up in juvenile custody for over a year. But the story doesn't stop there. The student is African American. Since she is a minor, her record is sealed-but while her mother claims the girls was an innocent victim, others in the community cite the girl as a problem child. The mother gets a local hiphop station to protest. The girl is ultimately released, but only because of overcrowding. Now I ask you, what would you do with a student, and this girl isn't a petite thing, who shoves and breaks the arm of a school employee? Do you look the other way? And what of the mother? Why would she rather her daughter spend time in juvey than accept probation and serve it out? Doesn't that smack of dependent neglect?

This is just a small example of what our society is becoming. And if doesn't end there. As these big babies move into employment, the seem to think they can jet off from work with impunity. Imagine their shock when they get fired. And it happens over and over again. Have sex, make a baby, oops too much stress, run away. That's the pattern. Someone is always there to make the excuse. You can almost hear the parents chanting "he's too pressured, she's too stressed, he's an athlete, AEP will ruin her life, she's a cheerleader, he's on student council....." How long do they keep up the chant? I know of students who in college got pregnant. Now in most stories this would cause them to mature and take their lives into control. But not these kids. Nope, their parents pay for a luxury apartment, with a washer and dryer and cable and all the amenities. The pay for their car and car insurance. And the reason is "we want them to finish school ." Well, what was once four years has morphed into seven. The kids still count on that check from mom and dad every month. And as their parents retirement accounts dwindle and their parents keep working into their mid 60's and 70's-at some point the parents will either become too old to work or drop dead trying to support these Big Babies and their insatiable, intolerable narcissism. And the parents support these activities.

Please understand, I am a parent. There are times you support your kids. But there are also times you allow them to learn that they can support themselves. To constantly run interference for every bad decision insulates kids from the consequences. If they don't learn when they are nine or ten that bad decision sometimes created bad results, then we end up with adults who don't understand that they can't cook the books, or steal the profits or insider trade. While much is made of the ravages of street crime and white collar crime, not very much is said about the situations that create criminals. Most experienced teachers can tell you who the scam artists are. They know which kids have parents who offer structure and accountability, because those kids are usually well behaved, responsible and independent. Only those that have serious developmental or disability issues will have parents going to bat. Teachers can also tell which kids have parents too busy trying to be friends rather than enforcing rules. They come to school dressed as a gangster or a thug, or wearing peekaboo blouses and slashed jeans. When parents are called about any violation, the parent either doesn't show up, or starts demanding for teachers to be fired. Kids learn early on how to play people. And when the adult in their lives takes on the people who are demanding accountability, then they learn that rules can be broken and that they can get away with doing so by pouting, appearing remorseful or simply lying through their teeth. And that is just with small things. Locally we have had numerous incidents with cheerleaders drinking and performing aerial stunts, baseball players using steroids and wrestlers charged with hazing and sexual abuse. At what point do these activities stop being "high school hijinks" and become serious repetitive criminal behavior. Are we raising a generation of sociopaths?

Ultimately this creates an Ethic Vacuum where the kid assumes ANY behavior is excuseable. We had this demonstrated locally by the son of a locally placed DA. At age 16, the son was charged with shooting at girls at a local playground with a pellet gun. The result was a case tied up in court for over two years. At age 17, the same boy shot a shotgun at his fence, scaring workers nextdoor half to death. Once again, a case held up in court. Finally, at age 18, he tried to buy beer with a fake ID and when the clerk tried to stop him, the boy punched him and stole a case of beer. NOW he's in jail. But if his issues with authority and behavior had been addressed earlier, he wouldn't have an adult record. Now it becomes a permanent part of his history, one that employers and others can refer to when they need to make decisions about personnel. I do not think our society can endure with an entire generation of self-serving quasi-criminals. At some point someone is going to have to step in and say "enough". Right now these kids are young adults-I shudder to think what havoc they will generate as they age. And I wonder what further exploits the good kids of this generation are going to have to pay for via higher taxes, more laws and further invasion of privacy.

This Is What Fraud Looks Like-

I came across this little film clip from Australian news outlets. It tells about a man who has two wives, claims the right under religious freedom, and then proceeds to pick the pockets of taxpayers via public support. It's not unlike what many are doing here in the US by entering illegally then demanding education,health and social services, for which they do not pay. How long is it going to take for the people of the free world to realize that there is a flock of human locusts whose sole selfish intent is their own welfare-no matter how much it exploits the rights of others.