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What They've Thought
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What They Thought April 17, 2005 R.A.
Hawkins Click here for columnist bios |
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R.A.
Hawkins The recent spate of "state approved" protests in China has been well received by our liberal media. They are doing what they usually do, taking what has been handed to them rather than look into the issues at hand. I often wonder if they are really liberal or simply lazy. Not that there would be a noticeable difference. The affect would be the same. (Inadequate reporting and stupid assumptions.) But the protests are definitely aimed at getting the liberal American media on their side. I doubt China will be disappointed by the media in this country. Our media reported on the money that Haley Barbour got in trouble over, but they sort of kept quiet about the money that got the Dems in trouble. Now that it appears that the wife of their man in the White House (as the Chinese called Bill Clinton) is getting ready to make a run we are hearing a lot about DeLay and his money problems. DeLay should have been suspicious when the name of the company that handled the travel arrangements that got him in trouble was Chelsea something. But we all know it is one standard for "them" and one standard for us conservatives. It is no wonder that the Chinese would expect our media to cover for the Chinese internal problems, or shall I say the "dragons' indigestion?" We have seen the Chinese raise up the specter of the World War 2 acts that the Japanese committed with Chinese citizens going nuts in front of the Japanese Embassy. They have even taken to throwing things at people who are working in Japanese restaurants. Never mind the fact that the people they are throwing things at are Chinese citizens working in Japanese cuisine restaurants. They are all demanding that the Japanese own up to the war crimes that they committed during that war. Keep in mind that this is a state approved activity. Whenever we see this type of thing occurring in a communist run nation-state we need to remember to look away from it and try to see why they are doing it. There are several reasons they are allowing and or creating these protests. There is a huge financial gap growing between the rural population, which feeds them, and the people who live in the cities. At the same time we have seen these protests there have been some full-fledged riots that would make the liberals here proud if they weren’t protesting the communists. They have completely run the local police out of several areas and the local governments are getting stomped. At the heart of the issue is the tendency of the local governments to lie about how things really are going in order to maintain control of their little plot of power in the grand scheme of things. But there is actually more to this problem than just the internal problems. The Japanese are starting to see where North Korea and China are about to take the world. And now the Japanese are preparing to militarize again. I found several commentaries in the Asian areas of the web regarding the War Time Law System. Many of them are Chinese-based websites, even if they don’t admit it; and they are doing their usual fear mongering in order to scare the Japanese citizens and other Asian countries into protesting the Japanese. As one might expect at the same time the Chinese have initiated their publicity campaign to dumb down the locals they have also clamped down on their Internet filters. Censorship is the primary tool of tyrants. If one can control the flow of information, one can control the attitudes of the populace. There is another issue at the heart of all of this. It is the oil that both nations lay claim to in the vicinity of Taiwan and the disputed Senkaku Islands. This is an old dispute that will continue to grow as China continues to grow in its need for oil. Japan has asked the Chinese to state where their claim ends and China has been unwilling to answer that question. These are but some of the issues that trouble the dragon. It is time for our companies to quit dealing with them. We are making a sworn enemy stronger and we will regret it in the long run. Let’s not forget that the Chinese were celebrating the 9/11 attacks just as much as the Palestinians were. We all need to watch the FEC public records for donations to the Democrats in the upcoming election cycles again. You can bet they want the wife of their man in the White House back in there again. They now have a lot of front companies they can hide behind over here. Watch those donations. R.A. Hawkins Web Site Contact Back to Top |
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The citizens (natural born and legally adopted) of the United States have had their fill of deceitful political volleying over border issues. We are tired of paying the heavy price for border control, education of illegals, emergency room and hospital freebies to illegal aliens, and the monstrous costs of fighting drug runners from south of the border. The bottom of our southern border is bleeding heavily. We’ve never had a political party in office care enough to administer the tourniquet of pressure to stop the draining of our dollars nor the guts to apply the anti-law breaking ointment to stop the infection of lawbreakers from crossing over. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but one does start wondering what payola has been shoved under the table over the years between the US government and the Mexican Government. Has Washington been blind, dishonest or just stupid…or perhaps all of the above? Our ever-revolving back door of illegal aliens entering the U.S. has been a problem for years. This hasn’t just become a recent festering boil on the butt of the United States. Our lack of border control began long before the tragedy of 9/11. We have tried dressing up our illegal alien crisis to be nothing more than an inconvenience…just a trifle bothersome, really. Then we played the card of, well no one else wants these low paying jobs so we need illegal aliens in here to take what the legal citizens won’t do…bunk! We have played the innocent madam here in America for too long because in reality, we are to blame for this mess. Our government hasn’t done its job. It is way past time to take care of this ever-progressing vast quandary. We certainly cannot continue to lay the blame on Mexico and keep wagging our fingers at them for not controlling their borders. There comes a time when a country must be responsible for itself and step up to the plate of responsibility. America’s border issues have been distressing us daily, and if we don’t take action now, tomorrow isn’t going to take care of itself. With over 4,000 illegal aliens crossing the 375 mile border between Mexico and Arizona each and every day, we are in the midst of a crisis beyond anything we could have imagined. What has gone awry? Why do Americans who board planes and cross checkpoints have to endure the hassles of showing their photo ID, of removing their shoes, taking off their belts, emptying out their pockets, getting wand waved, answering questions and worse yet, having their 75 year old grandmothers patted down? While we are put through humiliation at the airport and at times detained for incredulous amounts of time, over 15 million illegals have crossed our border.When was the last time the illegal aliens were searched for fingernail clippers, an I.D., or a passport? When we do bother to round up the one out of four illegal aliens who cross our border, they are picked up given water and a sack lunch, and transported back across the border. How convenient for them. In a couple of hours, they begin their illegal trip again. What drives these people to continually break our laws? How about word of mouth? The fastest way to spread news is by mouth…The United States has been loud and clear in saying we’ll prosecute but then do nothing. We are like the parent who continually threatens their child with punishment for breaking the house rules, but that’s all we do…threaten. How seriously is anyone — whether from Mexico or from a terrorist nation — going to take the U.S. government? Our laws have become a joke to the world. American corporations that continually support illegal immigrates are supposed to be fined up to $10,000 and serve prison time for hiring an illegal. It’s a federal crime… yeah, right… It’s the almighty dollar again. Our lack of law and our greed is going to be our own undoing. 9/11 will look like a walk in the park compared to the threat we are under now. The latest statistics show that, from the month of October through August 25, 2004, 55,890 illegal aliens were caught…these were not Mexican illegals. The people who were caught as they crossed the border were from Middle Eastern countries hostile to the USA and that number doesn’t represent all those who made it through undetected into your hometown. Moreover, Washington really wants us to believe that we are safer prior to the date of 9/11… explain to the American people, President Bush: How are we safer? When you and President Fox want nothing more than to allow those who are breaking our laws an open invitation to continue the abuse, the wolf is in the hen house, and the wolf is devouring our children’s future. I was wondering: When the United States in 1853 negotiated with Mexico to resolve the boundary dispute which resulted in the termination of the Mexican War and we purchased the land in question, did we sell ourselves too short? I am being a bit facetious here, but let’s just solve all our problems with Mexico and have it become a part of the United States. Now, don’t get all upset…think about it. We would solve at least a part of this situation. If the United States just went ahead and redrew the boundary lines, think of all the prime real estate that would become ours immediately. We’d have tropical ocean front properties on both sides of our land mass and condominiums, restaurants and hotels galore! The tax gain would be phenomenal. We’d have more tax money coming in to pay off our ever-growing national debt. Think of the untapped oil reserves. No more dependence on the Middle East… Lest we forge,t think of all the mining of precious gems and minerals we could garner from absorbing Mexico. By letting our illegal children who’ve continually sucked us dry become a part of the United States, they can begin to repay what they’ve so selfishly stolen for years. Then not all the fat pompous politicians sitting in Washington will have to play the innocent game of, "I just don’t know what to do with our border problems," and they won’t have to slander the good names of the Minutemen who are doing nothing but the job of being good watchful citizens. Hey, Washington… those Minutemen have your knickers in a bit of a twist don’t they? They are within the confines of the laws of our land, but they are actually active in helping protect your homes, your cities, your states, your country and your political jobs, all because you haven’t the fortitude to do anything about it yourself. There hasn’t been one sitting president or Congressional team from either side of the political ping-pong table that has ever had the nerve to stand up and do what is right. Sure, I know the purchase of Mexico to become a part of los Estados Unidos — I mean the United States — will never happen. It is just my way of saying, hey, Washington you cannot seem to solve anything, so why not go ahead and meld Mexico into the United States…isn’t that what you’re really trying to do through our back door anyway? There isn’t a valiant person of character left in Washington who believes in the rule of law. The corporations have the politicians wrapped up tightly and stuffed down their back pockets, and the almighty dollar to be gained by cheap labor is all that matters. The exploitation of our system is nothing but an irrelevant point. Sometimes it would seem our interpretation of freedom is taken too far and abused. Our Constitution was written for the citizens of these United States. Within its framework comes many privileges under law, but there seem to be those who want to continue to denigrate what our Founding Fathers so carefully penned. “We have a Republic, if we can keep it,” said Benjamin Franklin in response to a woman named Mrs. Powell. Mrs. Powell had asked Dr. Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" It would seem though our Republic hasn’t the respect of its politicians any longer, so ultimately have we already lost it by not applying our rules of entry into our country? Perhaps we have… Knowing that a democracy is a government of men in which the tyranny of the majority rules, America’s Founding Fathers wisely created a republic — a government ruled by law. |
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Occasionally I put a damper on a column. What I mean is, sometimes I pick a topic because I think I’ll have fun writing about it, but then I write about it and turn it into a sermon with a compulsive need to mention “the government.” I hate when I do this. I found it hard to make fun of last year’s election, for instance, without thinking: “Oh, if only this were a laughing matter.” The problem is, I’m supposed to make a point every time I write an article. And it’s hard to make a point without reading into things. Just once, I’d like to write about something important without trying to say something important about it. Just once. Just for fun. The reason I’m telling you this isn’t because you give a damn, or because I’m on some crazy glasnost and perestroika kick, but because the topic I’ve chosen this week is something so incredibly cool that it kills me—kills me—to think I’m going to have to make a point about it. Why? Because its implications are so potentially far-reaching that I fear there’s no way I can make a point without ruining it for both of us. I am talking, of course, about Google Maps. Last week, Google introduced satellite images to its map database. That’s right. Satellite images. So now, when you look up an address, you get an aerial picture of it. I don’t think you understand how groovy this is. It’s so groovy that I whipped out the word “groovy” just to prove it. Granted, we’re not talking live satellite images here. They’re still-shots, and supposedly they’re a year or two old. But still. I don’t even care if this thing has an actual purpose—like looking up directions—anymore. I spent an hour just staring at the top of my house last Wednesday. And as we speak, I’m sitting in my house and looking at my house at the same time. That’s freaking awesome. It’s melting my mind just thinking about it. If you don’t believe me, check out maps.google.com and plug in your own address. Go on. Try it. I’ll be here with Qtips when you get back. Google Maps is now officially the greatest thing since sliced bread. In fact, it’s greater than sliced bread. Sliced bread is overrated. Google Maps is officially the greatest thing ever. Except the bible. And beer. And maybe the theme song to Perfect Strangers. But other than that. This brings me back to the point I was making about making points. There was no question in my mind that I would write about Google Maps this week. How could I write about anything else? (Literally. I was too busy zooming in and out on distant cities to pay attention to the news.) But now that I’ve gone with this story, I find myself facing the inevitable question: Do these satellite images constitute an invasion of privacy? I’ve been dreading this part of the article. It’s just such a bummer. The obvious answer would seem to be “yes” here. There’s a real Big Brother flavor to this technology. In fact, it has CIA ties. And while the images aren’t close up enough to see people walking around naked in their backyards (not that I looked…), there’s still something eerie about it. I mean, this is just the first step. Who knows where this will take us? Eventually, these still-shots will probably evolve into real-time streaming media for the whole world to see. Suddenly you and I will be subject to review by any two-bit punk in Wyoming logging on to find the quickest route to his neighborhood Sears. That’s creepy. Make no mistake. But at the same time, maybe this isn’t an invasion of privacy after all. Maybe it just feels like one. If a guy in Council Bluffs, Iowa, can check out my roof, so what? I don’t love the idea that he’s watching me. I’d certainly kick him off my lawn if he walked up with a camera. But anyone with a plane or a helicopter can see the exact same thing he can see on Google Maps. Granted, not everyone owns a plane or a helicopter. But not everyone’s going to look up my home on Google Maps, either. There’s sort of a balance there. Maybe Google’s new service will lead privacy advocates to think vertically. Maybe it’ll lead property rights advocates to do the same. Maybe, if we’re lucky, it’ll lead us to focus on what’s inside our homes instead of everyone else’s. Or maybe you’ll forget Google Maps altogether after reading this uniquely self-aware article. (Don’t. You should seriously try it out.) Airespace VP Alan Cohen once remarked that, “Google, combined with Wi-Fi, is a little bit like God. God is wireless, God is everywhere, and God sees and knows everything.” If nothing else, these satellite images certainly give us a God’s-eye-view. I’m pretty sure that’ll make some people uncomfortable. Personally, I’m more concerned with traffic cameras, forced mental screenings, military conscription, and Congress’s growing obsession with athletes’ urine than I am with that dude in Council Bluffs. But I can see the other side. So if it’s Big Brother that worries you here, or just somebody’s little sister, look at it like this: At least Google Maps lets you watch them, too. Imagine that: A checks-and-balances system and a fun way to kill an hour staring at your own house. Neat. Jonathan David Morris Web Site Contact Back to Top |
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Why do the public schools have a monopoly on the taxes collected for the education of our children? There are often better education alternatives in which to invest those hard earned dollars. No one is suggesting eliminating publicly funded education. It would make better economic sense, however, to break the present monopoly on available money and force the public schools to compete for students in a free market. If this idea for apportioning money were put into place, our schools would better reflect the values and needs of the constituents; who would earmark where a percentage of their education tax dollars be spent, relative to their home district. Those opting to attend an alternative school would be required to subsidize the remaining tuition cost with their own money or by applying for a tuition scholarship. There are many variations of the tax credit. In one currently being considered in Missouri (Amendments stall school tax credit bill), businesses and individuals could receive a tax credit for donating to scholarship funds that pay for students at low-performing schools to attend private schools. As Kevin Schmiesing suggests in Taxes and Tuition: Families Squeezed by Rising Costs of Religious Education, “Enabling parents to choose schools according to the best interests of their children would probably help keep more Catholic schools in business." When parents choose where the money goes, the government no longer has to concern itself with a secular agenda. (Regulation is too high a price for vouchers) And the reality is the public schools have an agenda which is dominated by special interests and not necessarily reflective of what the parents want for their kids. (Ohio Parents Fight to Protect School Choice) More money, smaller class sizes, and larger numbers of teachers haven’t increased the quality of our schools. (TORMENTING EDUCRATS). Students who transfer into schools of their own choosing improve at a faster rate. Students of public schools that are forced to compete for their students also show improvement. (Don't Change The Subject on School Choice) This is because consumers in a free market demand satisfaction for their money. If disappointed, they are free to apply their purchasing power to alternative products. If people are forced to buy inferior products there is no incentive for producers to improve the quality of the offering. (Teacher certification won't ensure quality instruction). All of our children stand to benefit from breaking the monopoly of public education by offering parental choice and tuition tax scholarships. (School Choice and the Achievement Gap) In Reality Monopoly, players should be able to pick up tuition tax credits in their Community Chest. Nancy Salvato Web Site Contact Back to Top |
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"The world
is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those
who are not behind the scenes." Recognizing that the great bard himself asked this timeless question in another form, why do so many avoid it, today? When Hamlet spoke the famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be, that is the question . . .", he was contemplating suicide. Modern day Shakespeares could update the doubt of personal existence to encompass all of society. Why do the aggregate of masses deny confronting the record of power politics, that shapes and determines the future of our collective reality? The convenient answer really is an excuse. In order to entertain that history is best understood as a study in the conflicts of competing factions for the ability to rule, disturbs most people. Average folks would listen to the likes of Jeff Rense and come away shaking their heads. Others would read about the deaths of Vince Foster and Ron Brown on What Really Happened, and dismiss such accounts as preposterous. Even the infamous 'magic bullet' of Senator Arlene Spector, explains the JFK assassination, so people can maintain confidence in their government. But the main reason that theories and evidential accounts that contest the standard approved versions of events are dismissed out of hand is to prove your loyalty. The acid test clearly is decided upon the degree that you accept the official world view. For those who have legitimate and logical questions, the best way to shut them up is to discredit them as kooks. Viscous attacks are only surpassed by the harshness shown to their examiners. The need to reply, answer or provide evidential explanations, are pushed aside; when the seeker of understanding can be characterized as a crazed loon. Telling the Truth, has never been the strongest trait for any regime. No one should be naive to think any different. The task is left to others to fill in the blanks and between the lines. So why are so many people, intensively uncomfortable in facing facts when government accounts don't pass the laugh quiz? Living dumb, means that you need not answer Hamlet. Escapists into the 'Twilight Zone' of government reality, are balanced and productive citizens. Or so they attempt to convince themselves . . . But who are the real enlightened ones? The collective depression is the product of official lies. Continuous melancholy results when the lies are known to be untrue, and hope is slim to stop the deceit. So why face the facts, just ignore them. Knowing the extent of the charade, might just compel that some direct action would be required. Who wants to risk the wrath of the State and be labeled a nut? You don't need to be a member of good standing in that right-wing crew that HilLAIRy was so intent on smearing, to be grouped with this whacked crowd. RIGHT? Recently the notion that the mainstream media is willing to lift the curtain of suspicion has been suggested by the Mr Left Coast, himself Alexander Cockburn. In an example of courageous reporting by the Communist News Network, that pillar of the establishment; Richard Butler now on the CNN payroll, discusses charges that the Bush administration "slowed down FBI investigators of al Qaeda and terrorism in Afghanistan in order to do a deal with Taliban on oil." How interesting that approved 'conspiracy theories' are acceptable when the interests of the power elites are being served. It is a cardinal error to conclude that any one group of 'Mattoids' are pulling the strings on all world events. But it is suicidal to dismiss the vested interests in the known players, when it comes to shaping political outcomes. If you think the Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission and the CFR are just social clubs, you are drinking too much kool aid. Political decisions are seldom benign to the general welfare, while ubiquitous to the interests of the ruling classes. To conclude this is just coincidental, is psychotic. Conspiracy only means that more than one person agrees to an evil act. When applied to politics, it normally refers to committing an illegal act. The rule makers define their actions as proper. But in fact they cooperate to institutionalize their own illegality under the guise and stamp of a legal process, they enact. As in any era of history, those behind the scenes, play a pivotal role that few of us ever know. Isn't it more probable that their influences direct the design of pupil policy more than the sentiments of the taxpaying voter? Than why do you censure inquiry into the belly of the beast, when you should be condemning their dominion of plunder? Pollyanna populace, betray their own intelligence. Misplaced optimism in a chimera account of current events, only serves the powers that be . . . One need not abandon their rational attributes when seeking answers to serious questions. But if those inquiries are automatically tagged as the province of the extreme, how can their conclusions be disproved, if they are with error? Prudence would demand that open inquiry is desirable. We need not have fear of the unknown, where we should properly dread that which can be understood. The lesson rests in how you answer Hamlet, he continues: "Whether
'tis nobler in the mind to suffer Will you resign yourself to exist in the dark or dare yourselves to uncover the schemes that rule the day? Illusion is more real for the timid, while scorn is the reward for having integrity in the truth. Those who conspire require the consent of those they pillage. Your silence allows the 'perception of deception' to reign, as fact; when the opposite bears more substance. The conspiracy that is discredited with the greatest disdain, might reveal more than what the mind can imagine. The mysteries that must be concealed, just could be the crimes that go unpunished. So what will it be? "To be, or not to be?" The society that is committing self-destruction, just might be your own.
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