Ding Dong the Bill is Dead!

Now it's time to craft a real immigration solution.

Apparently the little people got to be bit too annoying. They became so annoying that men, hardened by privilege and their distance from reality, couldn't ignore the cries of the masses and even their minuscule consciences pricked at their evil little hearts.

Either that or they were worried about re-election.


Anyway, now that we have their attention, I have a few ideas of where an immigration policy really needs to go.

1. Remember the fence that millions were allocated to construct? Build the darn thing!

2. Stop sending illegals who commit crimes to jail. Send them home with a tracking device on/in them so we know when they come back. Also, demand that their home country reimburse us for any expenses their illegality caused.

3. Stop issuing visas to anyone from any country as long as there is someone in that country who hasn't "checked out" yet. For example: "You want a visa to visit America, Mr. Smith? Well, as soon as Mr. Jones gets out, then it will be your turn."

4. Stop issuing ANY visas to people from countries known to export terrorism. So sorry, but the bad guys have ruined it for all of you. We don't need any more students celebrating the next 9/11 from the comfy confines of our university libraries. Flight school would also be out of the question.

5. We should see people who have overstayed their visas on America's Most Wanted. Since Senator Kennedy can't think of a way to export them, we could put ordinary citizens on the case. The ship/train leaves once a week for their homeland.

I'm going to stop right there. There are many sensible and obvious things we could do if we really wanted to put a dent in the problem, but I am just focusing on the visa-flouters and the criminals. It is a start.

Indoctrination, Hollywood style

I just witnessed the most obvious attempt at brainwashing I have ever seen out of Hollywood.

In tonight's episode of "Law and Order", the anti-American bias was none too subtle; it was heavy-handed, stunning in its obscenity, sickening in its hatred of America.

Did I mention that its portrayals were wildly inaccurate too? As I count the ways, I will tell you what they showed, and why it is so ridiculous:

1. An angry band of Orthodox Jews are attacking an illegal alien with a chain saw as revenge "for taking our jobs" and for accidentally running over a Jewish mother with a baby in a stroller.

Hollywood can make up some pretty unbelievable stuff, huh? Jews who are upset that Mexicans are taking their jobs? Yeah, I hear that a lot of illegals are becoming bankers and lawyers? I know, I know, that's a stereotype, but a heck of a lot more plausible than what the show suggested.

2. When detectives approach the Mexican day laborers for questioning, they all run because they are illegal and don't want to be caught standing on a street corner looking for work.

Mexicans running away because they are worried about being illegal? I wish. They make it like the police actually care that they're illegal. Most departments aren't even allowed to ask a person about his immigration status. Sheesh.

3. When a Muslim woman is found murdered and "4 9/11" is scrawled in blood near her body, the detectives remark, "Fourth hate crime against Muslims this month." The Muslim family of the murdered girl used to have a nice restaurant, "but after 9/11 nobody came anymore" and they had to shut the door. Now they are poor and destitute.

Maybe, maybe there were some attacks against Muslims in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but years later? This is pure fiction, of course, but fiction that NBC wants us to think is true because in their twisted world, it is Americans who are dangerous aggressors in an otherwise peaceful world.

Well, I promise you there was more, I just need to wrap this up. The entire show was so utterly slanted that I wonder whether it was meant as a farce, but that is giving Hollywood way too much credit.

Silly Hippies!

I just had to laugh as I read this L.A. Times article about how things have changed at ground zero for the counterculture movement of The Sixties, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury.

Actually, things haven't changed that much at all, but the article mentions the disgust that old-time flower children have for what is going on there today.

Arthur Evans has lived at Haight-Ashbury for 34 years, but he is not happy with the current group of "gutter punks" that he sees roaming the streets.

"I used to be a hippie. I wore beads and grew my hair long," he said. "But my generation had something these kids do not: a standard of civilized behavior."

Hah! He doesn't get it! He is reaping exactly what he has sown! You don't tell people to "tune in, turn on, and drop out" and expect the slide down the slippery slope to stop at long hair and colorful clothing.

Evans' very own "standard of civilized behavior" was decidedly uncivilized in the 60's.

What people in this article are complaining about is the exact byproduct that we expect: out of disorder you get more disorder.

Instead of criticizing, Mr. Evans should do as Dr. Frankenstein before him: look down upon his creation and bellow, "What have I done?!"

As much as we hate them, rules exist for a purpose. Actions have consequences. Right and wrong used to have a meaning; you can't marginalize those meanings and expect things to run well any more than you could plant crabgrass and expect to gain a rosebush.

Silly hippies. They got exactly what they bargained for while infecting the rest of society with the same plague!

Now that is not something that makes me laugh.

Nothing Means Anything Anymore

It's springtime and love is in the air--too much love if you ask me.

I think people say "I love you" way too much. I think I tell my kids that I love them way too often. (Bet you never heard someone say that before.)

Back in the day, parents were a lot more stingy with the "L" word and I think the pendulum has swung waaaay over to the opposite side. I am seriously beginning to wonder if there is so much love talk being tossed around that we have de-valued what was once a strong currency.

It seems to me that kids were better citizens, more polite, and more respectful when there was at least a smidgen of a doubt whether they were loved.

Maybe that's not it. Actually, I don't think I ever had a doubt that I was loved, but it's not because I heard it all the time; I knew for some other reason. I knew even though I rarely heard it, though my parents rarely bought me anything, though I was yelled at constantly for minor missteps, though I was spanked often.

These days people don't spank, don't yell, and don't hold back on the gifts. Somehow it doesn't seem like this works as well as the old way.

But it isn't just parents and their children: teens are expressing their love for one another before they have any idea what love really means. It seems like everybody loves everybody.

People didn't toss the four-letter word around so lightly when I was coming up. It meant something to tell someone you loved them. My son is constantly telling girls that he loves them and they tell him the same.

What is he going to tell the one he really loves? Do we have a new word that I haven't been told about?

Bad student, great kid

The bad news with schools is that they aren't good places for kids who are different.

The really bad news is that everybody is different.

My student Nolan is one of 161 differences I encounter five days a week.

Nolan is in the eighth grade and he does a number of things that drive teachers and his parents crazy:

He can't seem to leave his neighbors alone with his incessant talking. He often blurts things out in the middle of my lessons. He turns in work that looks like hieroglyphics--that is, when he can find the work in his backpack or remembers to turn it in. He struggles to earn higher than an F.

In spite of this, I insist that Nolan is a GREAT, GREAT kid who is unfortunately stuck in an institution that wasn't made for him.

The words, "Individually tailored to your specifications, to meet your unique needs," is not the mantra of institutional schooling, public or private.

Don't get me wrong: I place great value on learning to follow directions, figuring out how to work within a system and adapting to situations that aren't exactly a natural fit. We need to know how to get along in various life situations.

What I am not so sure of is whether there is much value in learning how to fit into such a system as we currently offer. Let me tell you what distresses me most about the Nolan situation:

Like I said before, Nolan is a handful. This means that his parents continually hear what a pain he is from his teachers, and they always have to be cajoling him, threatening him, and begging him to be different.

By the sound of his voice over the phone and in the tone of his e-mails, Dad is none too pleased with this continual struggle. It is clear to me that this puts a strain on the father/son relationship.

What if Dad focused on something else? What if he thought more about how lucky he is to have an adolescent son who genuinely looks up to him, enjoys being with him, talks about his day to him, brags to his teachers about him?

What if he measured his son by something besides his school performance? Is that what we reduce our kids to, a GPA and a citizenship mark?

It really saddens me that Nolan's dad is missing out on some precious time spent with his son because he has to constantly ride him about being something he is not.

Nolan is a friendly, caring kid. He is one of just a handful of my students who doesn't act as though talking to the teacher is the most uncool thing a 13-year-old could do. Also, I would be willing to bet he is among the top students as far as IQ.

I think this kid will go far. I think he is way too smart for the state-mandated pablum we have to shove at him year after year. He needs something different.

He needs to be an apprentice and do some work of some kind; he needs to go out into the forest and run around, exploring nature; he needs to build something side-by-side with someone who can guide him and teach him; he needs to go to the library and find something he is interested in and become a 13-year-old expert at it; he needs to build a rocket, a race car, a computer...

He does not need to sit in a chair for six periods a day, straining to sit still and be quiet. Someday he must be able to master this, but now is not the time for him.

The time is different for everybody. That's why school sucks.

Talking out of both sides of their mouth

The illegal immigration mongers can't even get their stories straight.

According to a Modesto Bee article last month, there will be tremendous shortages in farm workers this summer because immigrants have recently found better-paying jobs in construction. The article says that sixty percent of the one million jobs in the housing market went to immigrants.

Today, in the same California newspaper, farmers say the shortages are due to the fact that Congress hasn't passed a new immigration bill yet.

So which one is it guys?

When Bush pondered an amnesty bill in 2004, some experts estimated that illegal immigration increased twenty-five percent. That makes sense.

But it doesn't make sense for them to wait until the bill is passed; wouldn't they want to get here before the bill goes through since it only benefits those who are here at that point? Duh.

I am sure that right now people are pouring across the border since this goofy "Z" immigration thingy will only help people who came across before January 1st.

What the heck? Are they somehow time stamped when they come across? Otherwise, how do we know who was here before January 1st and who came yesterday?. (I know, the bill says they have to "prove" they were here by then, big whoop.)

All this is pretty interesting, but perhaps the most telling development is that we have so many illegals now that they are taking over the construction business too.

Now not only is farmwork something that Americans won't do, Mexicans won't do it either!

Larry Flynt Proves my Point

Talk about your support coming from unlikely places.

Earlier this week I wrote about Reverend Jerry Falwell's death and how the man was being judged and reviled for the opinions he held rather than how he lived his life and actually treated people. I said that his life--who he really was--was taken out of context like the quotes the media used to build him into a monster.

Noted pornographer and long-time Falwell adversary Larry Flynt wrote an opinion piece in today's L.A. Times that essentially validates what I said:

"My mother always told me that no matter how repugnant you find a person, when you meet them face to face you will always find something about them to like. The more I got to know Falwell, the more I began to see that his public portrayals were caricatures of himself. There was a dichotomy between the real Falwell and the one he showed the public."

I say again: it is not the opinions people hold that dictate what type of person they are. It is whether in spite of their views they still treat people with respect and kindness.

Larry Flynt figured this out and clearly will not be celebrating the death of a man he called, friend.

Love that Cheap Gas!

The guy on TV said that gas is not too expensive.

I'm so glad to hear that because I was about to get worried.

That's right, some dude from Allstate Insurance (this is not a paid post, so they owe me) said that gas is very clearly NOT too expensive. This is because--get this--we are still buying it!

The smart guy went on to explain that if gas were too expensive, we would be buying less of it. What he didn't explain is how exactly one goes about buying less gas.

I can use less gas about as easily as I can use less air!

I thought gas was too expensive as soon as it cost me a buck fifty! Now that it is approaching four bucks, I can't figure out how I can use less. What do I cut out?

Do I tell my 14- and 16-year-old boys that I can't take them and pick them up from Bible study?

Do I stop going to church to sing and serve in various capacities four times a week?

Do I figure out a way to teach from home?

Do I stop taking my kids to music lessons?

Believe me, as cheap as I am, EVERY trip we have to take has me seeing dollar signs!

Maybe I just ought to relax and listen to the guy on TV. Fill 'er up!

Noooooooooooooooooo!

When are we going to have our rally?

Maybe if legal residents of this country take to the streets in protest, our representatives (huh?) will get the message. I am surely not the only one who is disgusted that we are going to have yet another round of amnesty.

Sorry Mr. Bush, but I vote for animosity.

Every time we give years worth of illegals a new get-out-of-jail-free card, we are ensuring we will be pressured to do it again in ten more years. Do our laws mean nothing?

And every time we give millions who already cheated a pass, we are giving it to every relative not yet here too.

It's kind of like a buy one get ten free sale.

Even the tough-sounding aspects of this provision won't be enforced--how can they when there isn't a law enforcement agency around who is even allowed to ask people for proof of citizenship!

I've had enough! Canadians go home!

The Purple Teletubbie is Gay

The Reverend Jerry Falwell is dead today at the age of 73. So far as I know, at least one celebration is planned to mark the occasion, while media from the national news to the blogger down the street will be telling us what he was all about.

Too bad they will get it mostly wrong.

Like most public figures on both sides of the political spectrum, Falwell was often taken out of context.

I want to suggest that his was a life taken out of context as well.

We have all heard how he said homosexuality and abortion were immoral. Many know that he suggested 9/11 was partly attributable to America's moral decline. Everyone remembers the Teletubbie thing, even though he never actually said what is attributed to him.

Those things aren't The Reverend Jerry Falwell anymore than the things we think and occasionally verbalize is any one of us. We all believe and think things that can be used by our enemies to make us look dumb or evil.

I don't know Falwell either, but it is my guess that America is all the poorer because we don't know the full context of the man's life.

There are many people who are grieving today because they do.

I am so glad that there is something higher than the media that is the ultimate arbiter of a person's legacy.

Not Inappropriate??????

Somebody is out of their mind and I don't think it is me.

Has our society become so base that the once intolerable has not only become tolerable, but no one even understands why anyone would object?

I gave my eighth-graders an assignment where they were to find a poem and read it in front of the class. The first instance of cluelessness occurred when I was explaining the task and a student asked:

"Can we choose a poem that is inappropriate?"

Just ponder that question for a moment.

This would be one reason why I never tell people that there is no such thing as a dumb question.

I think my response was something like, "Exactly which part of inappropriate do you not understand?"

That was a few days ago. Today was the day when the reading would be done. Get a load of the poem that I pulled the plug on (and my advanced class didn't understand why):

My First Time

The sky was dark,
The moon was high,
All alone, just her and I.

Her hair so soft,
Her eyes so blue,
I knew just what she wanted to do.

Her skin so soft,
Her legs so fine,
I ran my fingers down her spine.

I didn’t know how,
But I tried my best,
I placed my hands on her soft sweet breast.

I remember my fear,
My fast beating heart,
But slowly she spread her legs apart.

And when I did it,
I felt no shame,
All at once the white stuff came.

At last I finished,
It’s all over now,
my first time to milk a cow!

When I shut it down, all of my students were laughing and telling me, "It's about a cow, it's about a cow; it's not what you think!"

How is it that they didn't understand that it doesn't matter what it ends up being about? And don't they know that cows don't have blue eyes?

But wait, the most disturbing thing is that I later found out the math teacher loved it and read it to his own class of 13-year-olds!

Do you ever get the feeling that you are the only sane person left on earth?

Learned while surfing

It is amazing what you can learn if you spend an hour mindlessly surfing on blogexplosion while while watching TV (also mindlessly):

A surprising number of people blog about their cats.

There is a guy out there who said that the discovery of that new planet this week is the the most important story in history.

Speaking of planets, many people are very worried about ours. Come on guys, earth is a big boy who can take care of himself.

Apparently being a geek is a big selling point if you have a blog because a lot of people are touting their geekdom in their title or blurb thingy.

I had no idea there were so many blogs out there taking pot shots at Christianity.

Why do blogs focusing on technology and web development look so unattractive?

Downside of digital photography: I saw at least three blogs made up mostly of pictures taken around the blog owner's house (snack boxes on the couch, socks on the stairs, etc.).

Blogs with a more liberal leaning have a lot more cuss words on them.

Blogger really needs to work on adding some new templates; there are too many McBlogs.

Favorite name: My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

Most people make their paragraphs way too long, discouraging me from reading.

Ninety-nine percent of the time I don't bother watching videos that many bloggers are so fond of posting.

I'm a bad, bad man

While watching 20/20's Earth Day Special, I found out just how horrible I am:

I use paper towels. 20/20 just told me about the obscene amount of paper towels I will use in my lifetime. It's a big number.

I am a bad, bad man.

Diane Sawyer also said I use too many of those plastic grocery bags. Well, I do have a whole cupboard full of them. They are just waiting there in a big clump for their turn to go walk the dog with me and be turned inside out to pick up poop. After I throw them away, the bags last thousands of years, but the poop doesn't. Poop is good.

I am a bad, bad man.

I like cheap stuff and that's bad. I should desire to spend much more money on my stuff, but since I am so darn cheap, I am forcing China to make my stuff. When China makes my stuff, they pollute the world. If only I didn't want cheap stuff.

I am a bad, bad man.

I occasionally take a shower. Diane says (I feel like she talks to us like we're kindergartners) that if I (and everyone else) lop one minute off my shower, than the state of Texas can have drinking water for a month. I sometimes just bask in the warmness of the shower for my own selfish satisfaction--it feels good.

I'm a bad, bad man.

Turns out I use electricity too. Now I thought Diane liked electricity better than gas, not enough for me to stop worrying about using it. I felt real bad when Diane took me on a tour around the world and showed me how they turned the lights out on all the landmarks. It's not as pretty with the lights out.

I am a bad, bad man.

In China they have a lot of bicycles. They are good people. I have a bicycle and I even considered riding it to work, but I found out it would take me a whole 20 minutes and I'd arrive all sweaty. I like cars.

I am a bad, bad man.

Sorry.

Sharpton Calls for Santa Claus' Firing!

Maybe in his ignoble departure Don Imus will have finally accomplished something worthwhile.

If his firing means that all media will now be scrubbed clean of the filthy, rude, and vulgar, then he will have died a hero. A brave warrior fallen on his microphone. A sacrifice to give us all a better life.

Riiiiight...and Sanjaya will get voted off American Idol before the bald guy.

Unless the father, son, and holy spirit of political correctness--the mainstream media, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton--put their clout behind getting folks fired for flouting foul and faulty speech, it just ain't gonna happen.

Not that there aren't plenty of people who need their mouths washed out with soap.

Just google lyrics and ho and you will get an eyeful of the earful our youth are getting.

On my first try I got hits with those who are doing the most ho, ho, ho-ing (among other things): Ludacris, Trick Daddy, Kurupt, Nappy Roots, Poison Clan, and, finally, Don Ho (psych).

Since it is obviously not difficult to find offensive speech in the public sphere, it is mysterious as to why Al Sharpton and friends haven't taken care of this "ho"rrible problem already, since these artists all get airplay on the same channel as Sharpton's own radio program! Shocking!

A cynical person would think that Al Sharpton has some other agenda. But that's just really cynical people. I don't know anybody like that.

Blast from the past: Read my old post about the Bay Area sports radio personality who got the Imus Treatment before it became all the rage.

Global Warming: Who you gonna call?

Kudo's to Laura's Miscellaneous Musings and guest blogger Gategirl for pointing out a new hysterical over-reaction to the completely natural and cyclical changes in worldwide climate, otherwise known as Y2K, er, Global Warming.

It turns out that a new bill is being introduced requiring the CIA and the Pentagon to assess national security issues that will elevate Global Warming to a national defense issue.

The Washington Post reports: "The measure also would order the Pentagon to undertake a series of war games to determine how global climate change could affect US security, including 'direct physical threats to the United States posed by extreme weather events such as hurricanes."'

That's right, folks: they want the military to be ready to fight the weather. And you thought finding Osama Bin Laden was tough.

There is no word yet on the type of weaponry that might be required in such a battle, but I would like to suggest we look into the "unliscensed nuclear accelerators" that Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray used in Ghostbusters.

As I recall, the Ghostbusters had a whole arsenal of weapons that were effective against make-believe menaces.

Let's see, there was an ectoplasmic trap which might prove useful for sucking hurricanes right out of the sky (or hot air from a room full of politicians), and the proton pack, which took pretty good care of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

Hey, if the proton pack works on giant product spokes-cartoons, maybe we can make Global Warming take a hike just by using the weapon on Al Gore, AKA, The Pillsbury Doughboy!

So, I Guess I'm a Racist

Today's protests over a new proposal to manage illegal immigration caused me to reflect on my own racist tendencies and those of my family.

As I write this, my wife and son are spending their Easter holiday in Mexico working with impoverished children, but I'm for much tighter border control so I must be a racist.

Our family is looking forward to the attending the quincinera (kind of a Mexican sweet 16 party for 15-year-olds) of our neighbors' daughter, but I am a racist because I think businesses who hire illegal aliens should be fined.

One of the coolest things I have done at my church is worship in the Spanish service--it's awesome to see the passion in their singing and praying--but I'm a racist because I think babies born to illegals should not be U.S. citizens.

The same next-door neighbors have had a series of undocumented brothers live in a trailer in a side yard right next to our house. We have had nothing but pleasant dealings with these hard-working young men who often help me when they see me working outside, but I am a racist because I think illegals shouldn't be allowed in our public schools.

My wife reached out to my Mexican neighbors on the other side of us and has met with the wife on a regular basis to help her learn English, but I am a racist because I don't think illegals should be granted drivers licenses.

My son has a "band" which practices in our house, meaning we often feed dinner to his friends Fernando and Panda (a nickname), but I am a racist because I think proof of citizenship should be required at polling places.

I could go on, but I think by now it is abundantly clear that I harbor deep hatred toward an entire people group. You probably shouldn't be caught reading anything I have written if you have a shred a decency in your soul.

The Curtain Incident: A Study in Prejudice.

I was very close to a recent situation that helped me get a small glimpse into what it might be like to experience discrimination.

The situation involves a gay man acting in community theater with what is otherwise a group of straight actors. By all accounts, everyone got along fine and the cast really gelled as the production moved along. Also involved were several evangelical Christians, including the producer and the director.

You have an idea of what is coming next, don't you?

It was the final showing of opening weekend when The Curtain Incident occurred.

Actually, it wasn't a curtain, but an old blanket. By pure oversight, the production team had neglected to factor in that there would be middle-aged men changing their clothes backstage in the vicinity of 10- to 13-year-old prop girls. By the third show, the producer and director decided to pin up an old blanket behind which the men could strip to their skivies in relative private.

The mere hanging of this curtain/blanket caused an uproar when the gay man refused to go behind it and said that he was personally offended that a curtain would be put up.

After two or three confrontations over the curtain raised concerns for the show's future, the producer took the man aside to see what was bothering him. The conversation went something like this:

Producer: "I hope there isn't anything we have done to offend you, but if there is, I hope we could talk about it."

Actor: "There is. I am personally offended by that curtain. This is theater, you don't bring religion into it."

Producer(apologetic): I am sorry, I am confused; what does religion have to do with this?"

Actor: "Look, I am not an idiot; I know that you go to that (name deleted) church where everybody is in the same little box and you have to be a Christian. This is theater, you don't need to teach kids that there is anything about the human body to be ashamed of. This is theater, this is theater, this is theater..."

So what do you think about my little story? Did it turn out the way you expected?

Bad education memories

I was reminded today of a very unpleasant experience that I had to endure in order to change careers and become a teacher: the state-required brainwashing otherwise known as a credential program.

The vast majority of a teacher's training in California is pure B.S. that in no way prepares one for the real world of the classroom teacher, but I digress. What really got my dander up today was a co-worker's recollection of one particular professor.

I am going to tell you her name because the rot she preaches simply can't go unpublicized: Dr. Mary Salisbury at Cal State Stanislaus. This lady is so left wing that my left wing friends were stunned at her comments.

Ms. Salisbury had some interesting things to say in order to prepare us as educators. My co-worker recalled how much of her required training consisted of telling the class how the U.S. deserved 9/11.

And I guess that while she ranted about the big bad evil U.S., she practically worshiped at the feet of a Middle Eastern student in the class who was also very vocal that we had it coming to us.

By the time I had to take the class, she had moved on from the subject of 9/11, but the America bashing continued. I mostly remember how she talked incessently about her recent trip to Uganda and condoms--that's right, Uganda and condoms.

I remember the overall message went something like this: "Uganda good, U.S. bad; condoms good, U.S. bad." It was pretty heady stuff, as you can see.

Oh, how I wish I had the time to go back and take another class from her now that I don't need her approval to get my credential. It would be so much fun to say all the things that I couldn't say then for fear of retribution.

I did actually disagree a lot compared to other classes where I kept my mouth shut and toed the company line.

I remember her going off on evil corporations--again, what this has to do with teaching 8th graders I will never know--who operate "sweat shops" in third world countries.

She never had any answer for me when I pointed out that the people in those countries are ecstatic about those jobs and communities actually lobby to have the opportunity to host such shops. (Logic is not a required subject in the credential program.)

Oh, how I wish I had a blog back then. You wouldn't believe the stuff they try to pass off as education these days.

Diversity: gotta love it

So my local school district is looking to hire a new superintendent and the local paper has an the rundown on the fantastic possibilities that await as the interview process begins.

I read the article anxiously to see what marvelous qualities they must possess. Maybe they have experienced success turning around under-performing districts; maybe they have some innovative ideas to boost student achievement; maybe they are financial wizards with plans to better allocate taxpayer money.

Maybe not.

It turns out that the main thing the newspaper seemed to be touting was that half of the candidates "represent minority ethnic groups" and "one woman was chosen."

How exciting.

No mention of accomplishments, no trumpeting of their superior abilities, no glowing testimonials of effective leadership.

Imagine if your favorite sports team operated on such a silly system (fake quote coming):

"The Yankees announced today that they are looking for the pieces to build their next championship team. Owner George Steinbrenner has ordered GM Brian Cashman to pull out all the stops to find a Pacific Islander and perhaps a Norwegian or two in order to improve team chemistry."

We live in a crazy, crazy world.

A few questions

I am probably going to catch flack just for asking the questions, but here goes:

1. Why does nearly everybody leave out the fact that Joint Chief's of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace called adultery immoral before he said homosexuality was immoral?

2. Why doesn't an organized group of adulterers rise up and demand an apology and Pace's dismissal?

3. Why does America care more about what people think--and occasionally say--more than they care about what they actually do?

In case you are not sure what I am talking about, a quick recap: This past week Gen. Pace discussed the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the armed forces with the Chicago Tribune. In the course of that interview he said he believed homosexuality was immoral. Here is the entire quote:

"My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things,
certain types of conduct, that are immoral. I believe that military members who
sleep with other military members wives are immoral in their conduct and that we
should not tolerate that. I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are
immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts."

So that is what he said. I have my opinions--of course--concerning the questions I posed above, but I will probably wait until a later post to address them.