Iraq, global warming, and the new ‘Brown Shirts’ …

In 1920 Munich, Germany, a young and politically aspiring Adolf Hitler created a group of ex-soldiers and beer hall brawlers to stifle any opposition to his own expressed and favored views.

This group became known as the Brown Shirts, because of their brown uniforms, and because of the hallmark strong-arm tactics they used to stifle debate and opposition. One of their maxims was that “all opposition must be stamped into the ground.”

Whether the modern-day topic equivalent is skepticism regarding anthropogenic global warming, or support for the troops and their strategic mission on but one front of a now-global effort to counter and combat direct and explicit threats posed by Islamist jihadists and advocates of an Islamo-fascist world order – it is interesting to note that the credo of the Brown Shirts appears to be alive and well in the halls of American academia, as well as it seems in the editorial offices of our own “free press”.

The rise of Walmart … and the fall of Sears Roebuck

Mega-stores that supply everything from soup-to-nuts are really nothing new.

Not so long ago, the “Wal-Mart” of the era was named …. Sears and Roebuck.

They had everything. From soup to nuts to houses to stoves to plows to … well you name it, they carried and sold it at one time or another.

And don’t think that their catalog offerings didn’t give some local merchants real heartburn.

Multiculturalism – “Anyone but us – anywhere but here”

Regarding debate over the teaching of Hmong history in Wausau public schools:

The Hmong have a long and proud cultural history, and have certainly in many if not most cases quite successfully overcome a significant amount of adversity to become proud contributing members of their adopted country and home.

Whether it is desireable to “teach” a specific cultural heritage in the government schools, either for the benefit of those who trace their heritage to that culture, or for the perceived benefit of those whose own society and culture has been embraced through the act of immigration – ought I think to be considered in the same context as school students are taught the culture and heritage of ANY of the major ethnic and cultural sub-groups who immigrated to central Wisconsin over the past 200 or so years – or those for that matter who were already here when they arrived – Germans, Polish, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Irish, English, French, the Chippewa, the Dakota, the Meshkwa kihig’, the Sauk, the Illinois, the Kickapoo, et al.

Global warming, Foxy Loxy, and the “glowarmers” …

 A reader elsewhere asks regarding the glowarming debate:  – Is it [global warming] real or is it not? What differance does it make?

 Whether the “planet is warming or not” (and the real question, whether human activity is the primary if not the only cause), and “what difference does it make”, is important in this critical respect:

If you are going to propose solutions that require fundamental, if not draconian changes to the status quo, which includes a (nominally at least) economic “system” of captialistic, private-ownership-based, free-market enterprise for establishing the allocation of resources, according to the unlimited needs and desires of individuals to provide for their wants, improve their well-being, and so act in pursuit of their own happiness as they define it – then you had better have a pretty firm and accurate understanding of both the “problems” that you assert, the actual underlying causes of the so-called “problem”, and the likely effects (or lack of effect) of the changes or actions you propose to “fix” the problem.

Reinstating the draft …

Interestingly, many of Rep Rangles stated reasons for reinstating a military draft are the very same reasons that were advanced for doing away with it in the first place – specifically, that “blacks and minorities” (Rangle is color-blind, and clearly not a racist) were disproportionatly being drafted, and were thus disproportionately bearing the burden of war on the front lines.

Aside from an obvious political desire to fan the flames of domestic discontent Vietnam-style by placing the young-and-restless at increased risk of being forced to serve in a manner which they can now easily avoid by choice, a closer look at the Rangle proposal reveals a more fundamental desire to further socialize American society by creating a “requirement” that everyone serve the government in some respect, either militarily, or as an option, in civilian service.

The problem is America …

Making the rounds on the ‘net – attributed to Jay Leno:

The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. 

It must be true though, given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president.  In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain’t happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ”What we are so unhappy about?”

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? 

It’s good to be the king …

DrRent writes (responding to “Speed limits apply to officials too”):
“… a marked patrol car is at a stoplight… and apparantly is not happy with the length of the red light where there is no traffic in the other street (hey, who isn’t). So.. all of a sudden the lights come on.. he runs the red light.. then lights back off. … Must be nice”

Police officers and other government officials are people just like everyone else (loath though some of them may be to admit it to themselves) – which means that they are certainly subject to the same human temptations to “push the envelope” and to get by with whatever they can get away with.

Perhaps more so, since they are generally much less likely to suffer enforcement penalty – who watches the watchers?

The Choice of Addiction …

Like many things, substances that have a positive and legitimately theraputic (or other benign) use, can also be mis-used and abused.

I can use a pen to write a love letter. I can also use a pen to poke your (or my) eye out. I can use modelling cement to build a beautiful model car. I can also “huff” it to get high – and damage my own brain beyond any possibility of normal functioning.

“Addiction” is an interesting term – and one that is often thrown around irresponsibly in an effort to underline (or sometimes exaggerate) the alleged seriousness of a specific issue.

Nappy-headed ho’s and the content of their character …

Charles writes:
“White folks get mighty upset anytime there are words/images – like “nappy-headed ho” – which we perceive to be somehow off-limits to us, while black folks can (theoretically) use them freely, without fear of reprisal. My question is, who *cares*?”

There is a relevant point to be made in this:

Generations of social and legal reformers have rightfully decried the racially-based legal “segregation” that existed for decades after the legal practice of slavery was ended in the United States.

Dr. Martin Luther King spoke with great vision and perception about a culture and a society that would judge people, “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

The Civil Rights “movement” of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s was all about finally realizing the vision promised by the legal abolition of slavery nearly a century before.

Instead of social and cultural integration, however, what some advocates seem to effectively promote is a “new segregation” of language and culture, or a privilege of language reserved only for the members of a certain ethnic sub-grouping.

Going local with the “nappy-headed ho’s”

frd writes:
“…what would happen if a local sports announcer labeled a local girls softball team ‘hos’ – or a local reporter did it in a story. What would happen? Don’t try to generalize this into anything greater than that…”

Since this isn’t NYC, I don’t know what would happen – or if you’d even get on with an Imus-type show in the first place. Why don’t you try it and see?

As to “generalizing the issue” into being something more – perhaps frd hasn’t been paying attention, but the news coverage and commentary has been ALL about the broader ramifications and the “messages” it sends to have a “popular and visible broadcaster” like Imus using such crude language and references.

It’s not about minimizing, it’s about context and perspective. Put down your self-righteous torches and pitchforks for a minute, lay off the rope, and take a deep breath.