Separate yet separate??? ... Vox Blogoli 05-1

While many (if not most) of the facts, figures and statistics cited by Jonathan Rauch in his article "State of the Union - Bi-polar Disorder" are accurate it is the small details which belie the split personality not the grand overview.

For example he states that "If the country is split into culturally and politically distinct camps, they ought to be fairly easy to locate. Yet scholars investigating the phenomenon have often come back empty-handed." While that is on the surface a statement one would think is easy to track and substantiate it is in its very vagueness leading to an inaccurate view of the actual situation.

As an example i believe that if a poll question was sent out asking the question "should America fight poverty?" i believe that you would get no difference of opinion or much opposition from anyone no matter what their ideological bent. As a nation (generally speaking) that is a core belief and value we all hold ... where the split comes is in the details of precisely what form and functionality that "fight" will take on.

It is in the details of the how, where, when, what , why, and who that Americans become fractured into the so-called red and blue factions. Anyone who can think structurally and critically knows this and understands that this is the "crux" of all political, moral, social and ethical situations we face.

Those who believe that government should handle and fix the poverty question are going to differ in their approach and recommended "solutions" very much greatly from the approaches and "solutions" of those who believe that fixing or eliminating poverty is a function better suited to an individualized approach.

The split personality is in the micro-system not the macro-system Jonathan .... and strangely enough you almost nailed it when you quoted Alan Wolfe's comments found in his book One Nation, After All .... "The two sides presumed to be fighting the culture war do not so much represent a divide between one group of Americans and another as a divide between sets of values important to everyone." but then you seemed to just pass right on by without ever noticing that THAT ONE POINT is THE POINT.

The difference that divides us will always be in the details .... and it is that factor of life and living within America that makes us as great a nation as we are. While there are BIG issues with BIG DIFFERENCES as well, the greatest splits will always come and be most noticed (to individual people if not the MSM), within the details of the issues and the proposals for their resolution. This to me is what makes America ... America; ... the freedom of the individual citizen to hold and act upon the CONVICTIONS of THEIR CONSCIENCE. While i must admit that i cannot find much personally in common with those on the left of the spectrum, i would rather that they be given the opportunity to voice those views than risk having my freedom of "expressiveness" be halted. Disagreement in details is not, in and of itself, a bad thing ... but rather should be looked upon as an opportunity to more fully explain ones own views better and reflect on any commonality found between the two divergences.

I am reminded of the adage (and the country song) "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything" ... It is the courage of convictions that makes America ... America .... not the courage of appeasement.

Speaking of courage .... today's thanks to our courageous men and women of the Armed Services goes not to specified units but rather to all of the family members, friends, acquaintances and neighbors of the 31 Marines killed in the helicopter crash in Iraq this morning .... the sacrifices of our men and women fighting for freedom and liberty will never be forgotten ... God Bless you all.....

we hold these truths ....

without doubt some of the greatest writings ever are those which American citizens have come to know as love as part of our National Heritage .... The Mayflower Compact, the declaration of Independence, out Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's second inaugural Address, JFK's inaugural Address, FDR's Declaration of War against Japan, Martin Luther King Junior's Mountaintop and I have a Dream speeches, Ronald Reagan's Tear Down this Wall .... those of us who love and study history have been priviledged to read and in some cases experience for ourselves the stirring calls to action, the pleas for restraint, hope for our future, and remembrances of our roots ....

this week i was priviledged again to hear what i believe future historians will call one of the greatest ever given .. the vision of freedom and liberty encompassed in President Bush's second inaugural Address .... the call to action on the part of every man woman and child who lives in freedom to help others achieve that goal for themselves .... because as Mister Lincoln noted so long ago ... and Mister Jefferson before him ... freedom and liberty as a right are granted not by other men but by Man's Creator .... the life liberty AND the pursuit of happiness are among those things that all possess that no one can ever take away ...

and after hearing that speech i was shocked to hear so many of the liberal and democratic party complain that they did not understand it ... which made me wonder if they do not understand life ... liberty ... pursuit of happiness and the establishment of that right for ALL NATIONS and ALL PEOPLES how can they understand anything?

Is life and liberty such a difficult concept? IS the dream of freedom for EVERY HUMAN so complex as to only be understood by those of the Genius caliber?

Being a Simple concept does not mean the concept is stupid or will not work ... after all ... the dream of manned flight was a simple concept .... a more complex solution to achieve but as a concept it was a brilliant yet simple idea .... one that has transformed our universe.

The wisest man who ever walked this earth had a simple solution for the problems he encountered in his daily journey .... in one of his most famous talks he stated it thusly:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

and further on he gives this conclusion to life ....

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Centuries later the greatest being who walked the face of the earth told his followers simply... "you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." He also gave them a simple rule to to follow for happiness ... "You shall love The Lord Your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might and your neighbor as yourself."

Since that time .... the world over every religious leader, every philosopher, every wise man has echoed those words ... the universality of what is known as the Golden Rule is unmistakable ....

Christianity
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:1

Confucianism
Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state. Analects 12:2

Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5,1

Hinduism
This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam
No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. Sunnah

Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism
Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien

Zoroastrianism
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself. Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5

The Golden Rule ... simple, yet indestructible ... concise and invincible ....

Upon such simple things as this rest the entire foundation of humanity and life itself. So also is the vision of freedom and liberty and justice for ALL a simple concept ... simple, yet unmistakably grand and glorious ... and worth much more than gold ... silver ... diamonds ... and all the material wealth one could ever gain.

Only of liberty and freedom is it said:

Patrick Henry - "Give me LIBERTY or give me death"

Albert Einstein - "Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in FREEDOM."

Aristotle -"The basis of a democratic state is LIBERTY."

Carl Schurz - "If you want to be free, there is but one way, it is to guarantee an equally full measure of LIBERTY to all your neighbors. There is no other."

Lord Acton - "LIBERTY is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end."

William Hazlitt - "The love of LIBERTY is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves."

Richard Baxter - "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, LIBERTY; in all things, charity."

John Milton - "Give me the LIBERTY to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all LIBERTIES."

Jean Jacques Rousseau - "To renounce LIBERTY is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties .. to remove all LIBERTY from his will is to remove all morality from his acts."

Cicero - "LIBERTY is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude."

Woodrow Wilson - "The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political LIBERTY."

George W. Bush - "Americans are a free people, who know that FREEDOM is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The LIBERTY we prize is not America's give to the world; it is God's gift to humanity."

John Stuart Mill - "Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit."

John Adams - "LIBERTY, once lost, is lost forever."

Nothing on earth is more valuable, more needed, more desired, and more important than LIBERTY and FREEDOM.

We, as the freedom loving, freedom aspiring, freedom granted people of America "hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY and the pursuit of HAPPINESS"

not just for the select few but for ALL the WORLD .... now and forever.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., and as expanded upon by former Oklahoma Representative J. C. Watts Jr; we all as Americans should have a dream that everyone rich or poor, American or citizen of other countries should be afforded the freedom and liberty to be accepted or not accepted; judged rightly, due not to skin color, national origin, ideology of our convictions, but rather and only on the CONTENT of our INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER.

and since we are talking about LIBERTY here is a special thank you to the men and women of our armed services who daily preserve, protect, and defend our liberty and freedom ... sometimes at the very price of theirs ... and their lives.

Today's Roll of Honor:

US Air Force - 100th Communications Squadron, RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom

US Army - Detatchment C, 38th Personnel Services Battalion, Bamberg, Germany

US Navy - USS The Sullivans, DDG 68, Mayport, Florida

US Marine Corps - Marine Wing Support Group 17, Okinawa, Japan

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Bollard, New Haven , Connecticut

Boxing Day

wow .... and what a lovely conversation that was too! (heavy sarcasm intended) ...

just got off the phone with Senator boxer's Sacramento area office where strangely they believe that what the Senator said was that Dr. Rice's feelings and quotations about the war were only about WMD period.

when informed that the Senator's direct quote was "the bill that was voted on was about WMD PERIOD" and that as a constituent i was wondering when the Senator was planning to submit a public apology for lying regarding this i was informed that she probably would not be making one but that her office would be glad to pass on my request for one to the senator.

isnt there something we can do to make a rule about stupidity being a disqualification factor and recall her?

shouldn't vitriolic hatred be an impeachable offence???

Better than the Governments 5-star rating ...

had the pleasure of taking in the Movie "in Good Company" (PG-13 for brief nudity, secual content and language) as a member of the press corp this Thursday ....

The movie stars Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johannson .... this is a movie that both MANLY MEN and CHICKS alike will like. if i had a five-star rating system like the government does for its crash tests this movie would get a 6... it is both funny and poignent; cute and serious; thought-provoking and hilarious ... and all during the same scene. It will make you re-evaluate what it is to be a success but at the same time you will walk away uplifted and happy. The only dowside is the brief but unnecessary "ba" shot of Dennis Quaid when his character crashes his own surprise party unbeknownst to the guests and one additional "annotomically correct" reference during the obligatory "old guy-young pup" advice session but other than those two very minor points definitely a worthwhile move to see ....

RatherGate III - The Aftermath

It pains me to start this blog by saying that i EMPHATICALLY MUST strenuously disagree with my esteemed colleague and fellow blogger Hugh Hewitt .... but i must be true to a higher cause and calling even than agreement with one of the LEARNED ONES.

To call what the Independent investigators of what i call RatherGate III put out in their final report a WHITEWASH is an injustice of the most egregious sort.

As any good student of literature will tell you a Whitewash is a rather inept rendering of a paint job put on by the likes of Tom Sawyer ...

This report on the other hand is a brilliantly executed forgery of a prized Picasso or Faberge by comparison.

First the report would have us believe that while the CBS Gold Standard is "Fairness and accuracy" and further that while this was "not the case in this instance" there was no bias or evidence that inaccuracy was planned .... HOW DARE THEY!!!!

In the Webster's New World Dictionary of American English (Third College Edition - Deluxe Color Edition) under the word fair is found the following meaning ... # 6 "just and honest; impartial" and immediately followed in the antonym section are seen the following opposites "prejudiced and biased" ...

Also in the same dictionary under the word accurate (accuracy) is found the following meaning ... "Precise, free from mistakes and errors" ... with accuracy specifically being a "quality or state of being exact or accurate"...

How then do the perpetrators of this report justify that while there was an absence of fairness and accuracy (for this read a "presence of prejudice and bias") as well as a state of being or quality of inaccuracy (read error-filled and full of mistakes) .. that they could find no proof of bias??????

In the famous words of Gary Coleman ... "WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT WILLIS? ...

The only and i do mean only reason for hope i have that this will be stalked until dead is that i believe most Americans will read it and split a gut with laughter at the very thought that the MSM actually think we the people will buy this insipid garbage disguised as "truth in reporting".

A Whitewash Hugh? no .... what they hope is to sell us a wrecked junk-yard residing AMC Pacer by advertising it as a mint-condition brand new BMW 320i and hoping against hope we won't notice the difference when we see it or drive it.

and i know ... Why RatherGate III you ask??? .. why yes ... Rathergate I was the now infamously discredited "THE WALL WITHIN" (which of course both he and CBS still stand by as true, accurate and historical but which has been shown many times to be precisely the OPPOSITE ... false, mistake-filled and hysterical) and RatherGate II his illustrious walk-off empty mike event (and the famous G. H. W. Bush tete-a-tete follow up).


and now on to more pleasing tasks .... a thanks to some special people in our military ...


US Air Force - 95th Air Base Wing, Edwards AFB, California

US Army - 155th Brigade Combat Team, Camp Shelby, Mississippi

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Alex Haley, Kodiak, Alaska

US Marine Corps - Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, MCB Lejeune, North Carolina

US Navy - Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40, Okinawa, Japan

Its not the land of Fruits, Nuts and Flakes for nothing ...

California is a wonderful place ... lets face it where else can you go snow-skiing in the morning, mountain climbing in the afternoon and take a moonlit walk on the beach in the evening after eating at a cozy little hide-away ... no other state has as much to offer as California does in art, entertainment, sports, culture, luxury, natural beauty and the truly great life. Like Achilles we have only one flaw (but it truly is fatal) ... we have more than our share of truly out of touch people ... those we used to call the granola people when i was a young man.... and unfortunately we still have at least ONE too many .... and so i offer as Visual Exhibit #1 ... the Queen of Granola ... US Senator Barbara Boxer ...

On behalf of the millions who did not vote for her i apologize to my fellow citizens ... please do not think ill of ALL Californians because of her ....

But i do have to say i think the best line came from the Ohio Representative who said that she had constituents who lamented:

"'Stephanie, I did not get my vote counted. My vote did not count. I was denied the opportunity to vote.'"

my question to them and to Representative Jones and Senator Boxer is: How do you know your vote was not counted? Did you see someone tear your ballot up? Did you see the machine shut off just as you were casting your vote?

Ms. Jones may i ask for substantiated proof of these allegations? It is all together too easy to make such blanket statements ... the proof is in the pudding, though, as they say ... so Ms Jones ... name names .... show tallys ... PROVE IT WITH FACTS .... not rhetoric. Heck i can say my vote wasn't counted too especially since the people i voted for didn't win ... but i know better ... i know that my vote went in but the person i voted for JUST DIDN'T WIN ....

PS .. No it was not you MS. Boxer .... just in case you MISSED it earlier ....

The unfortunate thing for America is that we have gone from a society where you played by the rules and were mannamimous in victory and gracious in defeat into a society where "its not my fault" "they cheated" "how can 35 million people be so stupid" and "I'm suing" are the watchwords of the day .... when supposed Liberal thinking minds can and do say with all candor that the only reason the "RED" counties and states voted that way is because they are ignorant and bigoted.

Friends it does not have to be this way either ... but then again just as i wrote that .. i realized that unfortunately YES IT DOES ... because you see until personal responsibility is brought back into the fabric of American values and American lifestyles we will continue on the slippery downward path of always blaming others for our mistakes. our actions (or inactions), blaming them for our difficulties, for our inability to succeed.... so long as WE as AMERICANS continue to look away from personal responsibility we will continue to be pulled further and further into the abyss leading to anarchy.

and it begins with each of us ... as individuals who determine to be responsible for our own actions and activities and then by our votes to insist theta our representatives are also accountable for theirs .... It will take much bravery on the part of many who will not survive the political battles ahead ... MANY sacrifices MUST be made and WILL be made ... Or if not we are doomed to being even more irrelevant on the world stage than is Benin or even France.


and now a big thank you to those daring and resourceful men and women of our ARMED SERVICES ... who by the way continue to serve and fight and die yet who are in a lot of cases too unimportant to have their votes counted too ... or am i asking too much Senator Boxer or Representative Jones?


U S Air Force - the men, women, Cadets, faculty and staff of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado ... Aiming High .... into the Wild Blue Yonder

U S Marine Corps - 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, Marine Corps Base Hiwaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii

U S Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Wyaconda (WLR-75403), Dubuque, Iowa

U S Army - 254th Base Support Battalion, Schinnen, The Netherlands

U S Navy - the men,women, Midshipmen, faculty and staff of the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.

My continued thanks to all of you and your families for your service, your dedication, devotion to duty, honor and country and your sacrifice....

Sherlock Holmes, feline investigator extraordinaire, peruses the latest "Hugh"-done-it bestseller. 

where in the blog is BLOG?  

a little traveling music please ...

first of all let me say that i have missed blogging since Christmas mostly because of recurrent back pain that has caused me GREAT discomfort.... however like Gene, and Roy and Tom .. i'm back in the saddle again ... out where a friend is a friend ... and so to business ... so much has gone on since i last posted and since a new year has come since then let me give out a few awards for outrageous behavior at the beginning of the new one ...

The I CANT BELIEVE ITS NOT BUTTER award goes to the Archbishop of Canterbury ... who in his remarks regarding the Tsunami said that it made it hard for him to believe in God ... why is it that everything that goes wrong is God's fault ... even among religious leaders?? Come on people ... in the words of the CHURCH LADY can you SAY SATAN????? He must be having a field day getting God to take the blame for the worlds troubles while he goes on about his business of causing destruction completely untouched. Note to the Anglicans ... is belief in an evil power too much to ask??? How do you think we got in this mess in the first place??

The LET THEM EAT CAKE (I MEAN CROW) award goes to Mr. Hugh Hewitt .... say what you want about USC ... they can definitely play a little football .... as opposed to those "wait until next year" Ohio teams he's always promoting ....

The WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG award goes to the Democratic Congressional Caucus ... who despite the will of the people still insist that their guys won ... again .... I guess its all that new math they are paying for with our educational funding (you know the billions that are paying for US students to test worse then almost EVERYONE ELSE) .... i guess if you need to find an additional three million votes you should invite everyone to vote by using the county elections office as your address like some did in Washington .... (Dis) Honorable mention in this category goes to the Democratic Senatorial Caucus which is bound and determined to thwart the will of the people and the election results by continuing to REFUSE to allow judicial nominations to come to a floor vote .... and to think i used to want to be a senator once upon a time in my life (i would have been a republican one) ..thank God i grew out of it ....

The (SOUR) GRAPES OF WRATH award goes to Norm Coleman ... who using every ounce of wit and repartee at his disposal gleaned from years in school studying journalism and years as a practicing journalist and columnist ... had to resort to innuendo, name-calling and veiled sexual references in lieu of a logical rebuttal to the folks at POWERLINE .....

ok enough of that .... on to bigger and better things like the BLOG contest .....

I have sent in my nominations .... also posted here above ....



Military units of the Blog .....


U S Air Force - 182nd Airlift Wing, Greater Peoria Airport, Peoria. Illinois

U S Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Polar Sea (WAGB-11), Seattle Washington

U S Marine Corps - 2nd Force Service Support Group, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

U S Army - 4th Finance Battalion, Fort Carson, Colorado

U S Navy - USS John S McCain (DDG 56), Tokyo, Japan

A great BIG HAPPY NEW YEAR and wishes for a successful and peaceful 2005 to all of you.