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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

One Remarkable Woman

Written : Feb. 9, 2010

Like Elizabeth Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Dina Matos (McGreevey), Silda Spitzer, and others before her, Jenny Sanford endured a public sex scandal involving her famous husband. Unlike the others, who appeared in public with their husbands, she didn’t attend Gov. Mark Sanford’s (R-SC) news conference last year, when he admitted he had an affair with a reporter from Argentina. After trying to make her marriage work, Jenny Sanford finally booted the Governor out of the family home. Jenny wrote a book, a memoir detailing the affair entitled, “Staying True”. She’s now making the rounds on TV. Barbara Walters interviewed Mrs. Sanford on the Feb. 5, 2010 edition of 20/20, the ABC news magazine show.

Jenny Sanford is not your typical whiner or weeper. She held her head high - while withstanding multiple attempts by Walters to get her to bash her soon-to-be former husband. Jenny Sanford is someone to be admired. She kept her composure while saying she’s seeking a divorce, and was correct to blame Mark Sanford for making the choices he made. She wished he hadn’t made them, but he did.

I expected Barbara Walters to give a few feminist “atta-girls” to Sanford, but to my surprise she took a more conservative tack. Walters unfairly and repeatedly chastised Jenny for not “standing by her man”. But I think Jenny was right to stay away from the governor’s news conference, don’t you? One can imagine how hard it is for anyone to withstand a spouse’s affair, but she told her story while showing she still respects Mark Sanford. She certainly earned my respect!

When Walters asked why she’s filing for divorce, Jenny said, ”I decided I needed to remain strong … and be the best I could be for our children and that Mark needs to resolve a lot of his issues on his own.” This is the epitome of a strong, liberated woman; one with her own mind, but for some reason Walters ignored the fact. She turned instead to a Democratic strategist, Bob Schrum, for commentary. – But, why? - Schrum naturally was quite critical of the South Carolina governor. I also wondered why Barbara Walters, with a pained look, asked if Jenny wanted to know if Mark is still seeing his mistress. Jenny Sanford honestly said she didn’t want to know. Walters, obviously frustrated, asked, “Why not?” Jenny explained with grace she just wants to move on. Who wouldn’t?

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

A Success Story

Written : Feb. 2, 2010

Charles Payne was the star, but Black conservatives were the focus on Glenn Beck’s Jan. 10, 2010 special, “Time to Be Heard”. This was a unique look at a unique subject. Try as you may, you won’t see anything like that on CNN! Recorded before an audience of Blacks who see themselves as conservative, it began with Payne showing Beck where he grew up in Harlem, in New York City. Payne, who can be seen on various FOX networks, said things have improved since he lived there, but described decrepit conditions where his mother, two brothers, and he lived. His brothers and he “shared a room”. Poverty was comfortable for many, but Charles wanted out. He longed to be a business man.

Charles Payne wanted to own a briefcase when he was little. One Christmas, his mom provided one in the form of a present. “When I opened it up, there was a calculator in there, too”, Payne told Beck. His glee was short lived, as you can imagine. The briefcase was left in a classroom one day, and Payne said, “I come back and it’s cracked open…it just blew me away because my mother worked so hard. I worked hard.” Payne was beaten for wanting to excel; beaten for “talking white”, as Beck put it. Payne said he was picked on for “being different.”

There are two ways of looking at Payne’s early situation. Either you want a father, or father-like figure to step in and fix everything for Charles and force it to be better – or, you want Charles to tough it out, do the best he can; succeed on his own merits. Beck likened it to a situation where there are two brothers. One is a hard worker and succeeds, while the other doesn’t. Their father keeps taking from the successful brother and transfers it to the other. “What does it teach?”, Glenn asked. With a second question he answered, “…at some point, don't both brothers give up?” One because it’s all taken away, the other because he doesn’t have to work. Beck calmly connected this thought with the government providing for middle class people while taking from the successful in our society.

Lisa Fritch, a talk show host herself said, “What socialism does is it kills the spirit of the individual, your right to dream, your right to say, ‘This is who I am!’ And so, now, we are being challenged with speaking out and saying, ‘I'm going to fight for my right to have a briefcase. I'm going to fight for my right to be a chef. I don't want to be a rapper. I don't want to be a football player. My dream might be...’" So, think about your dreams and future successes. No one should ever tell you what they should be - or ever take them away from you!

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The American Report Card

Written : Jan. 26, 2010

”It’s not about me!”, President Obama says. All right, then let’s give America his “one year report card”. How did we do after the first quarter of his administration?

The U.S. is seen the way the rest of the world wants us to be seen. We are weak, apologetic, and pathetic. We cower to world leaders instead of being the world leader. I think the president succeeded in what he sought to accomplish, but as a country we should get an “F” for his efforts. We shut out opposition when we try to force bills through the legislature. We ignored the tea party folks, we don’t hear the people’s voices. We know better than anyone, we’ll pass health care legislation, no matter what anyone says. We make back room deals to buy Senators’ votes such as “The Louisiana Purchase” and “The Cornhusker Kickback“; ahem, we get another “F”, we failed.

Our President got a Nobel Peace prize for doing nothing. He failed to get the Olympic games to come to Chicago in 2016. President Obama campaigned for incumbent Governor Corzine of New Jersey, Creigh Deeds in Virginia, and Martha Coakley in Massachusetts and all three lost their races. His administration dismissed the term, “terrorism”, and replaced it with “man-made disaster” and favors reading terrorists their Miranda Rights. The president hinted at prosecuting Bush administration people for using advanced interrogation techniques - information from which saved American lives. He pledged to close Gitmo (fail) within a year (fail), promised to confront special interest groups, predicted unemployment wouldn’t go above 8 percent and that we’d save money, told us he’d televise the health care debate on CSPAN, and said he’d have the most transparent administration - ever. None of those things happened, but he’s right, it’s not about him! We get another “F”.

Why did the health care bill not have any conservative ideas? Not because the Republicans didn’t propose any; they did. They were shut out of the process. That’s an “F” we must receive for the “works well with others” category! Unemployment is at ten percent, fail. We’re bringing Kalid Sheik Mohammed to NYC to try him as a criminal and not an enemy combatant, fail. According to CBS News on Jan. 25, 2010, we sent 21 congressmen to Copenhagen’s Global Warming Summit where they spent $2,200 per day each – just on the hotel! Read all about it, here: CBS Story The entire trip cost America over $1 million! America, you failed again!

All is not lost. President Obama’s just over a quarter of the way through his first term. I admit it, there’s a possibility he’ll make things right. I’ll be listening to the State of the Union speech on Wed., the 27th. I hope he eats some humble pie and becomes more moderate, and turns our out-of-control ship around, but I don’t expect it.

I’m not one sided, I generously give the president one “A” - for “spreading the wealth”, success! - But it’s really an “F” in my book!

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Mr. Awad’s Take

Written : Jan. 19, 2010

”It’s in our best interests… We have to do all we can to assure the Muslim world that the War on Terror is not a war on Islam.” Who said it? The quote can be attributed to Nihad Awad, the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. While I don’t agree with everything he says, Awad carefully walks a tightrope during his public appearances. He’s an astute politician, and he’s one of the world's best modern diplomats. He avoids being a target of the extremists while stoically explaining moderate American Muslim thought. For the most part, I admire his approach. And, I admire him - while maintaining a healthy skepticism.

It’s interesting to hear Awad’s analysis of America’s reaction to the Christmas Day "underwear bomber" on the international flight bound for Detroit. He says we (and he means “we”, as in we Americans) overreacted, giving Al Qaeda what it wanted; a sort of panic. This came in the form of scrambling in the ensuing week when the Obama Administration made up ridiculous, impossible rules to follow and then rescinded them. Some of us on the right called – metaphorically, of course - for heads to roll, and Mr. Awad explained the terrorists liked that reaction, too. But, should we really care what the terrorists like or don’t like? Wouldn’t such empathy, cowering, and/or catering also appear to the terrorists as a victory they should savor?

Mr. Awad said we should profile, but not by race. Behavior is the key, I agree, but as several callers on the CSPAN show on Jan. 9, 2010 pointed out, most recent terrorists have been young Muslim men. Awad countered by saying it was mainly Caucasians who gunned down abortion doctors. I didn’t like his answer, but if you think about it, aren’t the results of such behaviors similar in nature to terrorism? Don’t they terrorize, too? Think of Columbine and church shootings and mall massacres. Still, Awad’s example was out of context, and doesn’t apply to the “War on Terror”.

Muslims are not heard condemning terrorism and terrorist groups enough in our media. I want to hear more of it, don’t you? Perhaps it would put them at some moderate risk, but speaking out against terror would also embody bravery, heroism, and express the right message. Regardless of how you feel about Islam or religion in general, it’s important to hear and consider the opinions of many.

You can read about Mr. Awad’s group at the home page of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In addition, a link to the very CSPAN segment with Mr. Awad I watched can still be found there. Just below the video area, click a few times on the pair of right-carets (>>) at the top-middle of the page at: CAIR

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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Citizens of the World, Beware!

Written : Jan. 11-12, 2010

Why would anyone want to make their own country weaker? You can take any nation in the world and hold it up as an example. Would a citizen of Saudi Arabia say they have too much oil? Would a Canadian or a Russian claim his or her country has too much territory and should give some away? Would a Chinese person say China is growing too fast? No, of course not!

Yet, many U.S. citizens and home-grown groups oppose America’s strengths. One such group is the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). You can check them out at: IPS

At first glance, IPS appears to have a noble goal. They state, “Ideas into Action for Peace, Justice, and the Environment.” It sounds nice, but if you listen to their personnel speak, you may think there’s more to it than a noble idea. Phyllis Bennis, the director of IPS’ “New Internationalism Project”, appeared on Washington Journal on CSPAN this past Christmas Day. She began by saying America has about 1.1 million troops around the world on about 865 bases. Ms. Bennis clarified the definition of “bases” to be very broad – they can include golf courses and storage facilities! However, unlike most of the world’s people she spoke against her own country’s power and said the cost in dollars is too high, we are wasting resources, and it doesn’t make us safer by being in so many countries. She may have a point about the money; it’s a massive amount. However, she and other U.S. detractors overlook what might happen if we don't maintain a global presence. While others may specialize in fashion, oil, or plastics, one of our specialties is security. You can’t argue against 20th Century history, we’ve kept and still keep the world safe.

What is internationalism, anyway? It sounds like a concerted effort to dissolve or at least dilute the power of all the countries in the world. The stronger and more powerful a country is, the more it has to lose - in theory. We are the top nation on the globe. We would give up the most - and, to whom? What would happen to us if the U.S. went away and was run by a world government? Who would lead us? Who would protect the innocent from global tyrants such as Germany’s Kaiser (WWI), Hitler, Moussolini, Hirohito, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Ghadafi, Saddam Hussein, or Ahmadinejad? And, I’ve only named a few. These thoughts scare me. As an American I don’t like the sound of internationalism very much, do you?

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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Drilling for Civility

Written : Jan. 05, 2010

Watching Washington Journal on C-SPAN this past week, I was struck by the opinions expressed by some callers on the Democrats’ line. One bemoaned America’s dependence on oil. She said it was the reason for our involvement in the Middle East. The viewer was partially correct. We are dependent on oil because there currently is no alternative fuel with the same, vast infrastructure available. As President Clinton (D-AR) has said, the reason we do not have electric cars yet is because there are few recharging stations we could conveniently pull up to. However, there are seemingly gas stations on every corner!

We are dependent upon foreign oil because there isn’t enough yanked out of the ground and refined here. While we invest in research to find the next generation’s fuel supply and infrastructure, we could and should drill, extract, and process our own oil here. There’s plenty, and it would reduce our cost. To ease the mind - all of us - and especially poor people would not have to spend as much money on gasoline and heating fuel. It seems the right thing to do, but it’s not being done yet. I can’t wait, can you?

Another caller called FOX News’ Catherine Herridge a feminine FOX fascist. How nice! On the radio this morning on The Ed Schultz Show, I heard Katrina Vanden Heuvel speaking about the “tea baggers”, which is a derogatory term. She said multiple times they, and those on the right were mostly haters and racists. In the first place, the Tea Party attendees did not display any hatred or racism. They were expressing their opinions and were frustrated their leaders were not listening to them. Why do so many people descend to the level of name-calling and use such negative and insulting comments? I think we need a little more civility in our society and in the media, don’t you? It’s time for a resurgence of intellect over rhetoric.

Calmly listen to both sides - with an open mind – even if you think you’ve already made up your mind. Try a personal experiment to see which side of the aisle more often uses an angry tone and hateful language. You may be surprised.

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