Friday, August 31, 2012

Condi's Comments


I really don’t like political convention speeches.  They are filled with crowd-pleasing comments calculated to get applause and obfuscate the hard truths of reality.  Where oratory is concerned, everyone wants to deliver the speech of the century…but in order to do that they typically paint the other party as all wrong and their own without sin.

In other words…pure spin.

For example, Condoleezza Rice gave a rousing speech about the need for a strong defense and a clear message to the world about our foreign policy.  It was a good speech calculated to show Obama’s weaknesses and highlight the vast differences between the GOP and the Dems on these critical issues.

She was short on details but spoke from her expertise as a former Secretary of State.

But then she wandered into the immigration debate with code words calculated to woo Latinos.  (Hers were the words of Bush-Rove, delivered by a black woman to make them more palatable.)

Here’s what she said:
    “More than at any other time in history, greatness is built
on mobilizing human potential and ambition.  We have always done
that better than any country in the world.  People have come
here from all over because they have believed our creed of
opportunity and limitless horizons.
    “They have come here from the world's most impoverished
nations just to make a decent wage.  And they have come here
from advanced societies as engineers and scientists that fuel
the knowledge-based revolution in the Silicon Valley of
California, in the Research Triangle of North Carolina, along
Route 128 in Massachusetts, in Austin, Texas, and across this
great land.
     “We must continue to welcome the world's most ambitious
people to be a part of us.  In that way, we stay young and
optimistic and determined.  We need immigration laws that
protect our borders, meet our economic needs, and yet show that
we are a compassionate nation of immigrants.”


Such flowery words.  Might those “impoverished” ones be the people we call illegal aliens?  Is she suggesting we legalize them?  Is she suggesting that one million green cards a year isn’t enough?

The last line of the quote gives us the GWB slant: “…show that we are a compassionate nation of immigrants.”  One is surprised that the podium didn’t collapse from the weight of all that baggage.

It is an interesting irony that Rice talks about our need to import engineers and scientists and later in the speech talks about poor domestic education in certain zip codes.  Why not address the defects in college curricula and get some jobs for the hundreds of thousands of college grads who are unemployed?  (Short answer: She’d rather pander to illegals and get cheap labor for her Chamber pals than dis her fellow professors.)

While we’re on the subject of minorities, surely Rice is an intelligent woman.  It seems unlikely that she fails to make the connection between illegal aliens coming here “just to make a decent wage,” and our own citizens who have few skills competing with them for the same jobs.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The TSA is consistent...

...ly inept!

Another trip, another horror story with TSA.

At O'Hare on August 10th:  I went through the body x-rated machine.  They instructed me to empty my pockets.  I went in the box and assumed the position.  They decided to pat down my left leg.  And he checked me from crotch to ankle.  Then they let me go.

After I left the screening area I discovered a plastic comb...in my RIGHT, front pocket.  So...does that mean these experts don't know their left from their right?

Eight days later, the Salt Lake airport.  Big signs in line inform you that you can choose the x-rated machine or the traditional magnetometer.  So I line up next to the mag machine.  Guess what?  They sent me to the box.  I told him I had a choice and he flatly told me if I didn't get in the box they would do a pat down.  Those were my two choices.

Several people before me went through the mag arch.  The machine was turned on and staffed.  But I didn't have that option.

I really dislike the TSA.  They employ knee-jerk tactics and punish the innocent while the terrorists are making other plans.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Huh?


There was a Chick-fil-A article in the LA Times on August 3rd.  The headline read: “Chick-fil-A Kiss-In: LAPD called to Hollywood store over media mob”

Source link:

The byline was - Richard Winton, Ruben Vives in Torrance and Rosanna Xia in Los Angeles

I’m not sure which of them wrote this phrase, but it makes no sense to me.  It reads:
Some held anti-gay marriage signs that read "Jesus is the only answer."

I just don’t get the intent of the reporter. 

Missing the Point - Again


The AP sent around a news story yesterday about ICE detention facilities.  The takeaway message included:
  • Private companies are housing most of the illegal aliens awaiting trial/deportation
  • This incarceration is expensive
  • The government hasn’t really compared actual costs
  • These private prison companies donate to politicians

Source link:

But the illegal alien incarceration problem is merely a symptom of the bigger problem, one the AP failed to report on.  At issue are the following politically-motivated factors:

1)     Our government chose to use private prisons rather than build or use government facilities.  For example, the Thomson Illinois prison has had capacity for years, yet it has become a Senator Dick Durbin football.  Washington has chosen not to build new federal detention centers for illegal aliens.
2)     Sharing the load is rented space from county jails around the country, making them dependent on the federal gravy train.
3)     The immigration court system is a protracted mess, working harder at granting amnesty than quickly deporting people who are unlawfully present.  This all takes time and appeals...and bed space for long periods of time.
4)     Obama in particular has championed the cause of comfort for these prisoners.  Dance lessons, cooking classes and family visits all add to the cost of incarceration.  And they have free medical care.  I don’t.
5)     Private industry has learned not to warehouse parts for the factory.  The Just-in-time concept of managing the factory has become a necessary science.  Somehow government just doesn’t get it. 

In short, we need more beds, swifter deportation, a tougher immigration court and stronger interior enforcement.  Our current “strategies” will not solve the detention bed problem.

It is clear from this problem that government does not understand the concept of opportunity costs.

How NOT to Protest Traditional Marriage


Yesterday was the Kiss-in protest, a photo op showing gay pride vs. traditional marriage.

On higher ground, it is a demonstration of the right to protest vs. the right of an individual to speak out about God and marriage.

But setting aside content, let’s talk about technique here.  On August 1st those who happen to agree with CEO Cathy that traditional marriage is ordained of God chose to visit Chick-fil-A and buy a sandwich from the local restaurant.  It was a show of strength and resulted in record sales of chicken sandwiches.

Contrast that to the GBLT people who are planning a kiss-in at Chick-fil-A today.  The plan is simple.  Two (or more, I suppose) same-sex people will enter the store and give each other a passionate kiss in front of all the paying customers.

That’ll show ‘em.  NOT!

Why would anyone think this PDA would somehow help their cause?  It seems to me that even moderates who are warming up to the idea of gay rights will be turned-off by such displays.  After all, same-sex intimacy is the toughest sell when it comes to accepting gays as normal.  Two men living together and enjoying travel and conversation is fine; grown men playing tummy sticks or having anal sex…not so much.

Their parades with the bump-and-grind actions, leather outfits and chains, only serve to reinforce the stereotype of the GBLT lifestyle.  Kiss-in protests are just more of the same.

Chalk it up as just another difference between Liberals and Conservatives.  Occupy Wall Street is an entirely different game than a Tea Party rally.