The Tom Reid View of the World ...

Updates from June, 2009

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  You Are Many Things, M'am, and a Senator is Just One of Them

  Tom 2:38 am on June 26, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  

  On Tuesday June 23 Dennis Praeger posted an editorial on TownHall.com about how Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) chastised a military general for calling her M ‘am. She insisted that she be referred to as “Senator.” Once again we are using a double standard, and lowering it for those who just can’t measure up. Praeger made what I fell is a very astute observation. Noting that if BHO ever insisted that he be referred to as “president” rather than “Sir” we would have thought him a bit daft. Why, Praeger wondered didn’t Boxer understand that? He said:

  The answer is not only because she happens to act foolishly and childishly. The reason is deeper. Liberalism has lowered expectations of behavior for everyone in America except white Christian heterosexual males. They are the only Americans from whom dignified and mature conduct is always expected. Liberals treat women, blacks, Hispanics, gays, and many non-Christians, with what is known as the soft bigotry of low expectations. Many liberal women, blacks, Hispanics, and gays know that and use it to get away with conduct and speech that no WASP heterosexual male could. People rise or descend to the level of behavior expected of them.

  I posted a comment to his editorial where I said: (Reply #157!)

  The Media is Acting Like Racists
  Your penultimate paragraph makes an excellent point – one I recently brought out in my blog. (http://www.tom-reid.com). When we do not hold people, and especially our elected leaders to the highest standards we do ourselves a terrible disservice. And when we do not uphold those high standards of everyone we are acting in an insidiously racists way. Pogo taught us something the liberal press has not yet realized, we have met the enemy and they is us. By giving President Obama so much slack, they are in fact, acting in the most racist of ways.

  And as to Ms. Boxer, m’am, you have worked hard to earn a few other titles by which you are referred so perhaps we should start using them towards you as well.

  Now we learn that the Re[publican Governor of South Carolina has been cheating on his wife. Sadly, that in itself is not news. But recall that Sanford was the governor who attempted to refuse any stimulus money, saying that it would ultimately hurt the state. He was hailed as a hero just weeks before. Now he is a disgrace.
  And let’s not forget Sotomayer. [I wonder if we can call her m‘am?] who believes that the “richness” of an Hispanic woman’s experiences make her a better judge than any white male. While she attends her segregated country club.
  Look, I don’t begrudge people their right of association, and we are all entitled to our opinions and bigotries. What I object to is the consistent inconsistency where different standards are applied. Those who have lost their moral compass cannot tell right from wrong. We all stray; we all make mistakes. But the true leader steps up, admits their failures, and vows to do better. They do not wallow in their depravity and sanctimoniously moralize to the rest of us.
  I’ve said before that America is going through a mid-life crisis. Time to grow up. Time to reassert our moral compass. Time to hold ALL public officials to a VERY high standard. And if they don’t measure up – vote them out. So far, the last I checked, we are still a republic that protects the secret ballot.

  
   

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• 

  The Racist Media

  Tom 2:38 am on June 24, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  It is in the nature of man to achieve, to strive, to excel. When you steal that from him, directly or indirectly, you rob him of the one critical feature of his humanity

  When people are measured by the character of their hearts rather than the color of their skin, society as a whole is improved. Somebody smart said that; I take no credit for it, but it is something I believe with my whole heart.

  While historically everyone has not been given an equal opportunity, the fact remains that life is not fair. When and where those who have not had the same opportunity, it is appropriate to enhance opportunity for them. Giving them opportunity expresses the height of empathy. Giving them things for free with no effort devalues what you have given them, and it devalues them as a human being. Even so, opportunity is no guarantee for success. Smart people will often fail and other people will sometimes get lucky. It happens. What is shameful is when we give people a pass rather than an opportunity. Rather than hold everyone to a high standard and enhance their desire to succeed, we lower the bar, and lower it yet again, until the limbo bar is nothing more than an incidental speed bump. When we do this exclusively for a particular race, BECAUSE of their race, then we all lose and it becomes the most insidious form of racism there is. Why try at all? If I convince others that I am not capable of rising to a challenge, then their empathy will kick in and they will give me far more than I could ever earn, and far more than those who do work hard to earn their way in life. All because of my race.

  The mainstream media is displaying this most insidious form of racism against our president. It is not holding him accountable for anything. If any prior president, Republican or Democrat, said or did the things the current president and his administration are doing, they would have been called to task. When the first George Bush raised taxes, his “read my lips” speech was on every telecast. When Bill Clinton said he “did not have sex with that woman” we were treated to a grand dissertation on “what ‘is’ is” and an entire generation of preschoolers learned about oral sex. When any president has gone back on ANY campaign promise, that fact is paraded across our newspapers and TV screens ad nauseum. The politician usually gets away with it, but not without some serious explanation of what had changed. We have not lowered the standard – until now.

  When we fail to hold any elected official to a high standard it can only be because they deserve a “pass” or even a “do over.” It means that we cannot hold them to the same standard as the rest of us because they are not capable of meeting that standard. We must lower those standards so as to not embarrass them. Out of empathy we are to look the other way and accept that fact that because they were not given the same opportunity, the standard for them must be different. It must be lower. We must take affirmative action to correct the past discrimination. We must treat them differently because of their race.

  Racism is quite simple. It is the belief that the inherent differences among the races automatically determine cultural and individual achievement. The underlying assumption is that the racist’s race is superior to all others. It is the creation of a different standard for someone due to their race, because they just can’t “measure up.” Not because of their merits, education, moral underpinnings, or social theory of justice and economics –but due to their race. The current main stream media treatment of President Obama is racist. It is insidiously racist. He is not a stupid man. He is in over his head due to his lack of experience and his warped sense of righteousness and justice from his exposure to the corrupt Chicago political machinery and his choice of houses of worship. So he makes some stupid choices. No race or individual is immune to that. But he is not a stupid or uneducated man. But the press does not hold him to the highest of American standards as the person who sits in the highest elected position in the free world should be. He gets a pass. Is it because the main stream media does not believe that he can meet a higher standard? Is it because they don’t think that a few painful lessons in maturity will not help him build stronger character? Instead he whines that Fox News is being mean to him. No parent in their right mind believes that you can train your children by protecting them completely from every one of life’s tough lessons. Why should this man escape the tough lessons of life – those the rest of us learn in our personal sphere and our business experience? It is because of his race. And that is racist. And among all the other reasons that the main stream media should be ashamed (and there are many), their racist treatment of our president should not go unnoticed. Nor unpunished.

  
   
• 

  A God?

  Tom 1:28 am on June 23, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  Some of you have asked about where a news person called Obama God. Actually he said “a god” which suggests a fair dose of polytheism among the MSM (no surprise). One version of the video is here:

  http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=ydaG6UprkU

  
   
• 

  Teddy Roosevelt

  Tom 1:27 am on June 20, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  

  Today I call to mind a very interesting quote from this past president.

   

  “In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
  — Theodore Roosevelt

   

  While there are many things he did with which I do NOT agree, there is much to be said for his stint leading the Rough Riders, and this quote is particularly revealing. Yes, America is the great melting pot, and there is no question that we have chosen to discriminate against various social segments throughout our history. We could point to the Native Americans who have a rich culture upon which we trampled, and we could carry that through all of the Orientals and the Irish who built our railroads; the blacks who were slaves; and the women who had no right to vote for a very long time. Our concept that all men are created equal (and there are two more blogs hiding in there – one about the use of the word “men” to mean “mankind” and the choice of the word “equal” rather than “equally”, but I digress) has struggled to assert itself. But its truth is undeniable. Interesting to me that of all the groups I mentioned there, each one is entitled to a “preference” because of past discrimination – except the Irish. (And that is yet another blog to be written).

   

  So what exactly does it mean to be an “American”? I think Teddy had it just about right. You have to be all in, or it just doesn’t work. One flag, one language, and loyalty to one people – the American people. Seems to me we have a president right now who hasn’t figured this all out just yet. Is he Christian or Muslim? American or Kenyen? Hard to tell. We seem to intentionally divide ourselves and then when others recognize that self-imposed division, they are called racist. Doesn’t seem to make sense to me. We have Afro-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Native-Americans, and about two dozen other hyphenated Americans. What about us “pure” Americans?

   

  Think about all the times you have been asked to complete a form that includes the ubiquitous “ethnic” question. (Recall when it used to just say “Race:” and then you checked the box.) I have this bad habit of rebelling against standard forms. For example on the line that says “In emergency call:” I complete the line with “911.” After all, that is who you should call first. Anyone else who needs to know will find out, eventually. And quite honestly, I’m not sure I WANT anyone else to know. Let the doctors do what they need to, and then we can sort it out. In that racial question I always check “Other” and then I write in “Human.” Some may say that I’m just trying to be funny, but I’m quite serious. We are going to have racial problems in this country until we do two things. First, we finally start treating everyone equal as Americans under the law (and yes, that is ANOTHER blog on this ridiculous “empathy” standard popular in the MSM as a judicial criterion) and when we stop the self-imposed racial segregation and consider ourselves all part of the human race.

   

  But that’s just my view of the world.

  
   
• 

  David Letterman

  Tom 2:29 am on June 19, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  I used to watch Letterman every night. After Carson, Leno just wasn’t funny. Dave was more cutting edge, but funny. I liked Greg after Dave, but I REALLY like Craig Ferguson. He is now the best late night host.

  Dave started losing his edge several years ago. As he got older, he got more cynical, and he stopped being funny. He became much like the later SNL casts – pretty irrelevant. His little pranks like Will it Float?, and Is this Anything? Were funny the first few times. Then just dumb. I’d tune in if there was an interesting guest, but more often I was watching Futurama and South Park on the Comedy network while waiting for Furguson to start. (Another show owned by Letterman, BTW.)

  Now I’ll be the first to admit that John McCain made a grave tactical error when he stiffed Dave and rather than going to DC, as he had told Dave, he showed up at the same time on a news show just up the street from the Ed Sullivan Studio. But Dave’s complete vilification of him was simply inexcusable. Dave’s elitist liberal slant was no longer hidden (if it ever really was). It was certainly made more blatant and vicious. Still not funny.

  When Sarah was named to the ticket, Dave tried hard to be funny, but it was clear that he was trying too hard. He wasn’t funny at all. He was again – nasty and vicious. Meanwhile he was living with his long-time girl friend who he refused to marry until he got her “knocked-up” to use his own favorite word.

  And then there was June 9, 2009. Dave went way over the line and became downright obscene. Suggesting in a pre-written, well rehearsed, comment that an infamous sport athlete was in the stands raping a 14 year old girl. Sarah Palin’s 14 year old daughter Willow. “OH,” Dave protested. “I meant the OTHER daughter who had gotten herself ‘knocked-up’ before,” as if the rape of an 18 year old is OK. Liberal. Elite. Wrong.

  When Don Imus repeated a comment extemporaneously at a college football game, he was vilified. And what Don said was equally inexcusable. And he was fired. So why not Dave? He turned his first so-called apology into a joke. His complete lack of sincerity was patently obvious. Only after the viewers like us started to complain and sponsors started abandoning the sinking ship, in other words when Dave who owns the rights to his show was starting to get hit in the pocketbook, he went back and made a somewhat more contrite apology. And Sarah accepted it. She is a great and gracious lady. She did the right thing. She also did the right thing by NOT giving in to appear on that show and give Dave a ratings boost. But I don’t forgive him. What he said was absolutely obscene and FAR worse than the exposed nipple at the Superbowl for a brief second. Any kids who saw that simply thought, “AH…LUNCH!” But the rape of a woman of any age? Forgive me, but I do not find that funny in any aspect. How would Dave react if some so-called comedian suggested the sodomy of his son? He would be outraged, as we are about his comment.

  So here’s what I did, and I encourage you to do the same. Visit the site http://www.firedavidletterman.com. Do the things listed on that site. We’ve already gotten Olive Garden to cancel its sponsorship and others are following. Send a note to your local CBS affiliate and express your outrage. Courteous and factual, but outrage none the less. I did and got a note back that they had forwarded it to NY. And lastly, go to the FCC website and file a complaint with the FCC, but do this ONLY if you actually saw they show where he made the comment. I did that am the proud owner of FCC complaint 09-WB14252386. The website to file a complaint with the FCC is at: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgb/fcc475B.cfm

  As the owner of his show, Dave is not likely to fire himself. We need to get the FCC and the CBS network to do so. Yeah, they are part of the liberal media/drive-by media/US Pravda or whatever you want to call it. But like the capitalists that they are all trying to destroy, you can get their attention when you hit the pocketbook. We MUST make a statement that such comments are inexcusable. An offhand slip I understand, but not a malicious, pre-arranged, rehearsed suggestion that raping a woman or girl has ANY place on the airwaves. We still own those airwaves. We need to protect them just like all of our rights, or we will lose them.

  
   
• 

  Another Branch of the Conservative Underground

  Tom 5:44 pm on June 18, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  

  Welcome!  After much effort I now have a second blog to take up my time! But this one is different. It is linked ONLY to my personal website and is devoted primarily to conservative political issues. So please invite your friends to join. While active and lively debate is welcome, I will immediately delete any profanity, visciousness, or other unacceptable behavior.

  So please sign in, comment to this opening, and send me suggestions on topics.