The Mid-South Philosopher

After a hiatus of several weeks (months, actually), the old Philosopher has taken up his pen once more to elucidate about the idiocies and idiosyncrasies of modern day life.  I do not expect most of my readers to agree with me.  I only hope that my thoughts and ideas, expressed in this little column, may cause my readers to contemplate their own respective situations.

Mine is a personal perspective that is fashioned after over six decades of living.  In my youth, I lived free and less than honorable.  In middle age, I mellowed and became civilized.  Now as I wander into the realm of the senior regions, I realize that life has played the "ultimate joke" on me...that joke that it plays upon most men and women, except those very few who learn very early the futility of existence on the earthly plane.  The joke is that now that I know how to live life, I no longer have the time nor the energy to realize the full extent of my potential.  

Would I be happier had I not come to the realization of the "ultimate joke" of life?  Would I be better off to exercise the processes of my thinking on the great issues of "who will win out on American Idol" or "how will Tiger Woods overcome his latest escapades? Would I be more content to allow my mind to dwell on the economic issues as illustrated at Walmart, and the political questions as debated at the City Cafe?

I think not!

To be shallow is terrible to say the least, but to be bored is catastrophic.  To fail to use one's mind simply through laziness or apathy is, very near, an unpardonable sin.

Consequently, I choose to allow my brain to work.  I choose to allow my thoughts to wander beyond the box...beyond the pale of due bounds... to the nether regions where creativity is born.  I choose to ponder those questions of existence that I certainly have little, if any, control over.  Finally, I choose to control fully those things over which I do have dominion with a vengeance. 

To take this stand assumes an inordinate load of responsibility.  To cut out of the vast herd of humanity and exert individual initiative places one in a precarious and frightening position. But to do less, when one has come to realize that, in the utter weakness of humankind, men and women, in many situations, can exert tremendous power and affect the ultimate outcomes of a myriad assortment of life's incidences, is blasphemous.

So, you are welcome to come on this journey with me, as I roam these regions of thought and speculation, by reading these weekly columns.  You are equally welcome to depart the trip at anytime.
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THE TRUE MEANING OF
THE SCOTT BROWN ELECTION

Sunday, January 31, 2010
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The pundits have really given a lot of consideration to the election of Republican Scott Brown to fill the seat of the late Senator Edward M. "Teddy" Kennedy of Massachusetts.  Coupled with the Republican wins in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections (Bob McConnell and Chris Christie, respectively) last fall, many are assured that the electorate is embracing Republican policies and values.  Moreover, a number of conservative groups are expecting the Republicans to take back one or both of the houses of Congress in the November 2010 elections.

I don't see it quite that way.


While I believe the victories enjoyed by the Republicans thus far have been as a result of rejections by the voters of the left-leaning trends of the Obama Administration, I think the real motive of the electorate has been a broad rejection of "incumbency".  I believe the American people, Republican, Democratic, and especially "independent" voters are coming to the conclusion that “the more things change, the more they stay the same”! 

In large measure, the Congress is made up of people who have been in office for several terms.  It is common knowledge that in any congressional race the "incumbent" is favored provided that:


1. there has not been a scandal,


2. the candidate has not been on the wrong side of some issue uniquely relative to the constituency.


I agree with President Obama when he asserts that the same "voter anger" that propelled him into office in 2008 worked to propel Scott Brown into office in this most recent election.  The Senate seat that Brown will now fill was held by Senator Kennedy for 46 years.  To make the time frame more meaningful...I was 13 years old when Senator Kennedy was first elected to office.  If he had lived, I would have been old enough to draw Social Security before his current term ended!


I believe that over and above all other things the voters of Massachusetts...especially "independent"voters...determined in this most recent election to seize the Senate seat back from a "dynastic" family...in this case the Kennedys...and from a "dynastic party"...in this case the Democrats.


Whether or not this unhappiness with "incumbency" will continue will depend upon the next 8-10 months.  If the economy improves and, most importantly, if the "jobs" market rebounds, perhaps the ire of the voters will wane.  Otherwise, I expect a lot of folks, who are currently officeholders, will be out of jobs come next January.


Among both the Democrats and Republicans, a number have already announced their retirements or decisions not to seek reelection.  Additionally, Harry Reid, the Senate Majority leader is in a tight race for his seat from Nevada.  Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Biden has announced that he will not seek election to his father's old Senate seat from Delaware.  


Lest we think it is all on the Democratic side, none other than the 2008 Republican standard bearer for President, John McCain, is in a tight race to hold on to his Senate seat from Arizona.


While the move to the left by the Obama Administration may account for a lot of unhappy folks, the real revolt may well be against the "life-long officeholder syndrome."  If that be true, it will be a good thing.
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I Remember...
 "Life in Flowertown"


Sunday, January 31, 2010

I remember..."life in Flowertown."
 
I grew up in the “Flowertown” community, just north of Tullahoma, Tennessee, about 140 miles north of where I live today.  Flowertown is just a memory now.  The City of Tullahoma has swallowed it up.  It has largely been covered-up by asphalt and concrete.  The little elementary school that was once the hub of the community was consolidated in the early 1950s.  Calvary Baptist Church, which acquired the old school building and property, built a new sanctuary and flourished there for a decade or so, but it too relocated.  The area surrounding the old school site is covered with strip malls, convenience stores, a plethora of restaurants, a Kroger’s grocery, and a Walmart Super Center.

As a boy, my friend, David, and I explored every nook and cranny of the Flowertown community.  Often, we would carry firearms to shoot the occasional squirrel or the itinerant ground-hog who unluckily wandered across our path.   My Momma would clean and fry squirrel.  She made a sort of gravy that my Daddy and she enjoyed immensely.
 
I didn’t eat squirrel.  Although I was a good Baptist and didn’t believe in “Evolution”, or as the brethren in the Church referred to it…”Evilution”, I felt that those squirrels were just a little too close to the “rats” to suit my taste.

Before any of my “progressively liberal” friends start in on criticizing my Momma and Daddy for their dietary choices, let me tell you something. Both my parents came from “economically challenged” environments.  In other words, their families were “poor as hell”!  Both knew at a very early age that, if they were to survive, they were going to have to work and work hard.  Both were deprived of an education that would have allowed them to have achieved far more than I will ever be able to accomplish. Both of them had experienced the Great Depression up close and personally.  My Daddy had fought in World War II, a light machine-gunner in Company E, 377 Regiment, 95th Infantry Division (the Iron Men of Metz), 3rd Army.  My Momma had waited patiently for him during the war years.  Following the war, both of them became Christians and developed a strong love of GOD, family, country, and community…in that order…, and both of them had great requirements, expectations and hopes for their two boys.

I haven’t killed anything since 1968, save fire ants, snakes, and flies, but if I could do it today, I would knock off a couple of squirrels for my Momma to fry-up.  I wouldn’t eat any of them, but I would do it for her.

My Momma and Daddy were good people, but they were NOT uncommon.  David's parents were the same, so were the parents of Archie, Peggy, Larry, Jimmy, Mike, Doug,  Dale, Stevie, Linda, Chuck, Ronnie, Ann, Johnny, Jimmy Wayne, Spike, Frankie, Freddie, Thomas, Donnie, Eddie, Wayne, Robbie, Gene, and Leonard, and countless other friends and relatives that I could name would time, space, and memory permit.
But back to me and my friend, David...
 
In those years of the early and middle ‘60s, we had a great time wandering around Flowertown.  Often times we would end up on the L & N Railroad track.  Occasionally, trains would come by, and guess what…we would get off the track!  We would stand there holding our rifles or shotguns and wave at the engineers and others in the lead engine of the train.  They would wave back.  We had no notion of pointing one of our weapons at the train.  Our daddies had taught us that firearms were dangerous and that if we wanted to be allowed to carry one, we had to be responsible! We never dreamed of pointing a weapon at one another or at anyone else.

It seems to me that winters were colder back then, and we had more snow.  I can recall that it was not unusual to get good snows as early as November in those days.  Usually school was out no more than a day or two, but it was an exciting time.  David and I would bundle up.  We would wrap plastic bags over our construction boots and go off to explore an entirely new environment under a mantle of white.

Oh, well, so much for the reminiscences of an old man upon his childhood and youth.  

Was it a better time than today?  

Not for my children or grandchildren; for it was not their time!  

Each of us has our own moment, our own unique period when life is new, exciting, and enchanting.  For me it was those magical and glorious days exploring Flowertown with my good friend, David.

I remember..."life in Flowertown."


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"THERE YOU GO AGAIN!": The Latest Attack on Teachers in Georgia's Public Schools
   February 14, 2010 
           
In the waning months of his lackluster administration, one fraught with less than successful “weight loss” initiatives yet ample “austerity reductions” for schools and other public service institutions, our esteemed governor, Sonny Perdue, has focused his attention on leaving a legacy of “pay for performance”  or “merit pay” for Georgia teachers.  

Senate Bill 386, introduced on February 8, 2010, by the following State Senators [Don Balford (R-9), Dan Moody (R-56), Dan Weber (R-40), Bill Heath (R-31), and Bill Cowsert (R-46)] is “Sonny’s” creation and carries his total support.

Among the provisions of this bill is the notion that 50% of a teacher’s annual evaluation will be based upon the “academic gains” of that teacher’s students.  That sounds reasonable until one thinks about it a little.

What if a teacher has an academically challenged class?  What if, despite the “best practices” of good teaching, the class does not make gains…through no fault of the teacher?  Is that teacher’s work going to be punished or, at best, discounted?

On the other hand, what if a teacher has an extremely advanced class…say at the 99th percentile?  Is that teacher going to be punished if that class remains only at the 99th percentile?  After all, it may be argued that there have been no “academic gains." 

In Senate Bill 386, the other 50% of the teacher’s evaluation will be measured on “other things.”  These “other things” along with the “student gains” component are to be developed by the State Board of Education, with the Professional Standards Commission’s concurrence, into a Teacher Effectiveness Measure that will be used for teacher evaluations statewide.  Additionally, a similar instrument, called the Leadership Effectiveness Measure will be used in the evaluation of all assistant principals and principals.  Both of these instruments will have to be developed by July 1, 2011.

Another provision of this bill is to eliminate any pay differential for teachers acquiring advanced degrees, who were not enrolled in an advanced degree program on or before January 27, 2010.  While I am not sure whether or not that this is an ex post facto provision of the law, I am certain that to back date its application is a “lousy” way to draft legislation.

In contemplating this latest assault on the teaching profession and public schools by politicians, I am reminded of the words of President Ronald Reagan, which I would enjoy sharing with Governor Perdue and other folks who have used schools as the “whipping boy” for decades to further their political ends:

“There you go again!” 

Then I would say: 

"You are going to enact legislation that puts into place a system that “sounds good”, has a genuinely “meritorious purpose”, and yet has “controversial elements” that have NOT been thought out.  Additionally, you have given no consideration to the effect this will have on teacher preparation programs for people entering the profession or of the challenges it will create for improvement and enhancement of the veteran teachers.  In fact your legislation encourages future teachers NOT to seek additional or advanced degrees.

Moreover, you are going to allow a "bunch of bureaucrats" (with "token teacher" involvement, of course) to make the final determination as to what the "instruments" and "processes" of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure and the Leadership Effectiveness Measure will be.  

Are you going to fund this program or will it suffer “austerity reductions” from the start?" 

I, of course, will not get the opportunity to tell Governor Perdue what I think or to ask him the hard questions, but I do have the opportunity to share my perceptions with you in this column.  I urge you to contact your local Senators and urge them to oppose this legislation. Later, if it (pardon the pun) “leaks” out of the Senate, contact your member of the Georgia House of Representatives and, again, urge a “NO” vote.

There is no argument that schools can always be improved.  The current CLASS Keys system of teacher evaluation being tested in pilot schools has received very positive reviews from teachers and administrators, but Senate Bill 386 seems to indicate that still something different than the CLASS Keys must be invented.   

Finally, the politicians have been working on “straightening schools out” since I first came to Georgia.  From the Minimum Foundations, to the Adequate Program for Education in Georgia, to the Teacher Performance Assessment Program, to the CRTs, to the Performance Standards with the CRCTs, to No Child Left Behind, government has meddled and meddled and meddled, and, while each time, teachers and administrators have risen to the task and done what was asked of them, the Sonny Perdues and others of the political world have had the audacity to say, “It is not enough."

Well, I have had enough of the politicians.  I will oppose with my time, my effort, my influence, my money, and my VOTE any of my elected representatives supporting this absurdity in its present form.  I urge you to do the same.
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The CRCT Scandal

February 21, 2010

Over the past several weeks we have heard much in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and in the local media concerning the suspicion that 191 schools across the State of Georgia may have been guilty of tampering with and falsifying test documents on the Criterion Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT), the high stakes, standardized test that is used by the Georgia Department of Education to determine whether or not schools have made the infamous “AYP” (i.e., adequate yearly progress) on the academic expectations of the students for the school year as are found in the state curriculum known as the Georgia Performance Standards 

 
The CRCT is a paper and pencil exam consisting of a questions booklet and a separate answer sheet upon which correct answers are bubbled into little round circles or little square boxes.  It is administered to students in grades 1-8.  There are at least two different parts of the CRCT.  All students are tested on English/language arts and math.  Students in grades 3-8 are tested in science and social studies as well. 

 
The CRCT is administered during a window of opportunity established by the state.  This year (2010) the window of opportunity will be from April 5 until May 7.  Generally, school systems set aside several days within that window to administer the test.

Chief among the evidence that something may have been fishy with the test results from some schools last year (2009) has been the revelation that in the suspect schools the number of test papers, containing “excessive” erasures of and changes to answers, have been found also to be “excessive.” It varies from grade to grade, but, as an example, according to the Georgia Department of Education, an average third grader should have only 1.8 erasures (don’t you just love statistics) on her or his test sheet.  A test sheet with four or more erasures would become suspect.

As we all know Governor Sonny Perdue and State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox have called for investigations, both internal and external in the suspected wrong-doing schools.  Other politicians and bureaucrats have called for legislation that would make altering a test answer document a criminal offense.

 
Even our national Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, a man who has NEVER taught a class of children, has weighed in on our dilemma.  He has complimented our state leaders for grasping the problem and moving to achieve a successful resolution.

So in an effort to be of assistance to Sonny and Kathy, I would like to offer some suggestions as to how we might create a more “test secure” environment for our youngsters to demonstrate their proficiency.

1.       If testing is important, then it is important and it is the ONLY thing that should go on during the time allotted for its administration.  The window of opportunity should be reduced to a week and ALL school systems in the state should be required to test during that time.

 
2.       No teacher should ever be responsible for administering the CRCT to his or her own students.  In fact, it might be well for teachers from School A and School B to swap classrooms for the testing, or, best case scenario, teachers from School A in District A swap with Teachers from School A in District B, and vice versa.

3.       State monitors should be trained and be located in all schools to move throughout the building during the testing time to view that no “hanky-panky” is taking place.  They would especially be needed when tests are collected and prepared for submission to the state for grading.

This last suggestion has been discounted by some of my friends because of the cost, but I suggest the following:

A.       Use all appropriate personnel of the Georgia Department of Education.  (They are already on the payroll)

B.       Use all elected or appointed local school board members, but not in their own systems of course. (Make it a responsibility of holding office)

C.       Use all the members of the Georgia General Assembly who are able to read. (A member could opt out by passing the 8th Grade CRCT!)

D.       Use upper-level, undergraduate teacher education majors from colleges and universities. (Make it a part of a teacher education course.)

Given the crisis that everyone feels exists in schools, I am sure that it could be done if our leaders would use a small portion of brain to think creatively!

In conclusion, I am angered that there are teachers and administrators in my chosen profession who would stoop to cheating.  Regardless of how stupid or idiotic the expectations of “lousy” politicians and “inept” bureaucrats, including many who have never taught a day in their lives, are, it is cheating the kids to alter or change answers on tests.  We should be better than the “guano” with which we contend!
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The “Brutal” Truth About Taxes
 
 February 28, 2010
Looming before us all is the specter of that horrendous, yet unavoidable, brutal “truth”…there are tax increases in our future!
This “truth” is evidenced in the fact that in the 2010 fiscal budget (the budget we are now in) 48 of the 50 states have found themselves having to address shortfalls in their tax revenue in the total amount of 196 billion dollars.  If legislative action is not taken there is a projected shortfall in some 42 states of another 103 billion dollars in the fiscal 2011 budgets.
 

Here in Georgia, the gap for fiscal 2010 is 1.4 billion dollars or about 8% of our budget.  The projected gap for fiscal 2011 is…get ready….are you ready, yet… 4 billion dollars or about 23% of the budget!

So, what to do?

Well, the solution is so simple that even an intellect as challenged as that of a “Georgia politician”, especially a governor, ought to be able to understand it.  When you spend more money than you take in, you have two choices.  You REDUCE the amount of money you are spending, or you take in MORE money!

Now, to be fair, the Governor and other state leaders have tried some strategies to reduce spending.  The Governor has mandated “furlough” days for teachers and other state employees, and that has helped to some extent.  He has required state agencies to enact budget cuts, and that has helped out a little bit.  Most of the members of the General ASSembly have taken “furlough” days and that has helped the morale of the working public a little and made the mandated furlough days for state employees and teachers a bit more palatable.

However, there is a point of “diminishing returns”, and we have arrived at the point where there is little left for government to cut and still to be able to provide a modicum of the services that our citizenry has come to expect. 
 

That being true, we come to the realization that we must consider how to generate new or additional sources of revenue.  The question becomes, what taxes are we going to raise and what new taxes are we going to put into effect?

The Governor and many of the members of the General ASSembly, good men and women that they are, always turn to “sin” when taxes are at issue.  In other words, tax increases on liquor, beer, cigarettes, and other tobacco products always leap to mind.

Now, I am not opposed to the “sin” tax.  I have paid it all my life.  I think that “vice” ought to be the object of generating revenue, first for the purpose of acquiring the tax money, and, second, to discourage the “sinful” behavior.  However, maybe we should enlarge the scope.  Perhaps, we should expand the arena of “sin” in order to benefit from its potential filling of the governmental coffers.

For example, one of the major “sins” in the modern day world is “fornication.”  My televangelist friends tell me it is rampant throughout the country.  In particular, “prostitution” is said to be quite a big business.  Is it time to legalize, regulate, and tax this, the world’s oldest profession?!?

Another “sin” that we might consider embracing is drug use.  Just think of the revenue we could generate if we legalized marijuana, cocaine, and heroin.  We could resurrect the old “opium dens”, joints could be sold in modern day liquor stores, and we could have motels specializing in a “fix” and a “female”…cashing in on two sins!  Think of the tax dollars coming in.

This drug thing could have a positive effect on the economy in other ways.  We could reassign all our narcotics officers at all levels of police work to other tasks, saving tremendous amounts of money.  Perhaps, we could assign them to protecting the newly legalized prostitutes from getting beaten up!


We could also create a new industry with new jobs called … “drug drivers.”   In other words, cabbies who drive drug users around from den to den, dive to dive, and then home.  Anyone buying drugs would have to hire a “drug driver”.  These guys could line up at the “opium dens” just like regular cabbies do at the airport now.  Just think of all the money that would be made and how the governmental coffers would overflow.
Another great “sin” is gluttony.  I know a lot about this one, as I have favored the “gut” most of my life.

Perhaps, we need to establish a “Fat” tax.  We could all report to the tax office on our birthday each year and weigh.  Anyone weighing over the established range for a healthy person for our height and age would be assessed a tax. Anyone weighing excessively “less” than the expected range could be taxed as well.  We could call the latter assessment…the “Skinny” tax.

 
“Idleness” and “frivolity” are perceived by some to be “sinful” behaviors.  I am not quite sure how we might tax idleness, but the frivolity should be an easy mark.  We tax theater tickets, sporting event tickets, green fees at golf courses, all video games sales, NASCAR race admission fees, and an assortment of other entertainment venues.

Now, you see, in just the short space of this column, I have solved the financial woes of the State of Georgia.  I have done “Silly” Sonny’s work, not to mention the work of the General ASSembly.  Of course, nothing that I have suggested is going to happen, and I have offered items, largely, that I know are ridiculous.  But here is the “brutal” truth…

…taxes are going to be raised.  It is just a question of what and when!
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Powder for the Persian Flea
March 7, 2010


There are few people in this world who really bother me.  As a general rule, I can endure almost any amount of idiocy, as my toleration of many politicians and most bureaucrats will evidence.  However, occasionally there will come along someone who burrows into my nervous system and irritates me as much as a flea flitting on the skin behind the ear of an old dog.  Such a person is the Persian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.



Ahmadinejad, who is a Shi'a Muslim, has governed largely as a conservative during his political career on the national scene in Iran.  While projecting a "Moe Howard" character, he has actually been quite successful in dealing with a number of Iranian domestic problems. He has been successful in dealing with Iranian inflation and has navigated some social issues to a consensus conclusion.  He has worked with some differing interest groups and has achieved some compromise.  At the same time, with other differing interest groups, he has been brutal and oppressive.



What irritates me about him is erratic pronouncements.  For example, he has said that the Nazi Holocaust never occurred. He has alleged that the story of the extermination camps in Nazi Germany and the areas the Nazis controlled during World War II were fabrications thought up by "Zionists" and their Jewish backers in the west.  In other statements, he has blatantly asserted that the nation Israel should be "wiped off the map."



His most recent pronouncement is that the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States were a "big lie."  Now, this "big fool" does not explain just how the deaths of some 3000 people in New York, at the Pentagon, and in a farm field in Pennsylvania make-up a "big lie", but he glibly makes the assertion.



Our government clearly understands that Iran, under the direction of President Ahmadinejad, is racing to complete a nuclear weapon and to develop the capability to use such a weapon via missile.  While our leaders have talked a good game, I honestly do not know whether there is anything, short of a full thermonuclear attack on Iran, that we can do to stop them.  I fear that through the ineptness of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barrack Obama, we have waited too late.



There is one other thing that irks me about this "Persian nuisance."  Try as he might to hide it, he was one of the student radicals in Iran who was responsible for the seizure of the American Embassy in 1979 and the holding of American hostages for 444 days.  Some folks have forgotten that insult to America, but Dr. Ahmadinejad, I have not forgotten.



Somewhere and sometime soon, I hope someone finds some powder for this Persian flea!


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A Word Concerning Freemasonry


March 14, 2010

It is a fact that the Mid-South Philosopher is a Freemason. For nearly 40 years, I have practiced in the “brotherhood of craftsmen”, employed upon that sincere effort of self-improvement and social development.  It is a never ending task, and one that merits much study and application.

Occasionally, I am asked questions concerning my involvement with this venerable institution and often it is inquired as to how I, an individual professing a faith in our LORD JESUS CHRIST, can be a part of a Satanic or, at best, a pagan rite.  While I often tire of answering such inquiries, I continue to do so out of the knowledge that the vast majority of these inquirers are good individuals, who are just ignorant of the history and purpose of the fraternity.

Another friend having broached the subject with me privately as a result of my posting concerning the DeMolay on my Facebook page, I have decided to answer him publically.  So here goes…

Almost always, the first question is…Freemasonry is a religion, isn’t it?

The allegation that Freemasonry is a religion is grossly false.  Beyond the initial requirements that a petitioner believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, in some revelation of that Supreme Being’s will, and in the immortality of the soul, Freemasonry has NO religious dogma.  Rather, it welcomes men of all religions…Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhists, Hindu, etc.  As Freemasons we are taught to practice our own chosen faith outside of the Lodge.  Within the Lodge, we are to respect the choices of others in that regard.

Generally the second question is…What about those horrible penalties you recite while taking the degrees?

The penalties of the obligations of Freemasonry are symbolic and never intended to be physically inflicted by any person upon another.  Rather, they are designed to impress upon the mind of the Freemason the importance of fidelity to one’s word and the preservation of one’s trustworthiness.


Usually the third question will center on something like this…If Freemasonry is not a religion, why do you have that Holy Altar in the Lodge?

Freemasonry does not teach a plan of salvation.  Indeed, its “altar” is not an “altar of salvation.”  No one “gets saved” at a Masonic altar.  Rather, it is an “altar of fellowship” around which brethren of different faiths can meet and associate with one another, while respecting the right of each other to worship the ALMIGHTY, as each determines by his conscience, in the correct manner.

A fourth question that often arises is…What about that title “worshipful” that you give to your presiding officer; do you “worship” him?

The answer is a resounding no.  This title goes back to the old English of the 15th, 16, and 17th centuries.  Its literal meaning is “worthy of respect.”  It is equivalent of calling a judge…”your honor.”

Question number five is often…Isn’t Freemasonry a secret society plotting to take over the world?

The age old complaint that Freemasonry is a secret society is almost laughable.  With the signs on buildings, the lapel pins, the car emblems, etc., it is ridiculous to assert that our society is secret.  While it is true that the forms and ceremonies of our order are private, most anyone can acquire some version of all the degrees of Freemasonry from the Internet.

While Freemasons are taught to execute all the duties of citizenship, especially the franchise, the Masonic fraternity does not endorse political candidates and no brother is instructed how or for whom he should cast his vote.

In conclusion, as all brethren know, Freemasonry is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbol.  The design of the Masonic institution is to make men wiser, better, and, consequently, happier, and this is accomplished by a series of lessons taught through signs, forms, allegorical figures and lectures.

A lady in south Georgia once asked my wife…“So, is your husband perfect because he is a Freemason?”

Miss Debbie replied, “No, he is by no means perfect. In fact, he has much work to do upon his deportment and character, but I just can’t stop thinking about how far worse he would be if he were not a Freemason!”

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Election Time Is Underway

 March 28, 2010

The 2010 Election season is well underway.

Here in Georgia, we will be electing a new governor, as Sonny Perdue , under the Georgia Constitution, cannot succeed himself…like he had a “snowball’s chance in Hell” of being reelected anyway!

Here in Gordon County, at least a part of us will be electing a new representative to the Georgia House of Representatives, as Tom Graves has resigned to run for Congress.

Those of us in the 9th Congressional District of Georgia will be electing a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as Congressman Nathan Deal has resigned to run for governor.

Change is good!

For legislative offices (i.e., school board, county commission, state legislature, and the Congress), I, RARELY, support a candidate for more than two terms…and, in a lot of cases, only one.  I don’t go as far as my late friend, Rufus, use to say, “If they can’t steal enough in one term, they are too stupid to be in there!” but I just don’t think it is good for “legislative” (i.e. lawmaking or policymaking) body members to make a life’s work of it.

When it comes to executive offices (i.e., sheriff, clerk of the superior court, tax commissioner, etc.), as long as the officeholders are doing a good job, I have no problem with their reelections.

Over the next few months, I am going to be studying the candidates in detail for all the offices that apply to me and to some that may be beyond the influence of my vote.  For example, I intend to make some generous contributions to the opponents of the signers of Georgia State Senate Bill 386.  I, also, plan to contribute to Harry Reid’s coming defeat in Nevada. I would give some to Nancy Pelosi’s opponent, but California’s 8th Congressional District is a lost cause.  It could be rightly renamed...“Liberalland and Progressive Plantations.”

Prior to the primaries and the general election, I plan on issuing endorsements.  I have never done this before, but I have had a number (in excess of 700) requests for this over the last year. So I am going to do it.

My conservative friends, largely reactionary Republicans, keep telling me they are going to “repeal” the Health Reform Act just passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President.  OK, I have a number of differences with that act, and I think it should be drastically changed.  However, I want to know what the Republican alternative is going to be.  And it d*mn sure has to be more than buying expensive health insurance policies from the health insurance companies across state lines and ending frivolous malpractice suits.  What else, boys and girls, what else?!?

My progressive friends, largely liberal Democrats, keep telling me that all this spending is somehow going to reduce the deficit and that all these decisions that they are making for me are for my own good.  How come I don’t feel as though they are for my own good?  And, after you lay on me “cap and trade”, am I ever going to be able to afford air conditioning in the summer anymore?

Yes, I am going to be watching both sides carefully.  The only thing I trust less than a Democrat is a Republican and vice versa!

 ===================================================================================================================


The 2010 Census

April 4, 2010


A number of my conservative friends have taken the position that they should only answer one of the questions on the 2010 U.S. Census form. They feel that the information sought in the other nine questions is too intrusive.  Many have just answered the first question:  “How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?” and sent the form back in.

I answered the first question and eight of the other nine, and I will tell you why.

Question No. 2 asked if there were others living in the domicile not accounted for in Question No. 1.  This is a legitimate question.  One could have a “widowed aunt” or an “itinerant uncle” who might be visiting and who would not be counted any other way.

Question No. 3 asked how the residence was being paid for (i.e. owned out right, being purchased by the resident, being rented, or being provided as a gift).  I can see the national government needing this information for statistical purposes, and the level of specificity in this instance being so general, I can’t see how the feds could misuse it too badly.
 
Question No. 4 asked for the telephone number.  This is the one I did NOT answer!  If the U.S. Census Bureau wants to talk to me they can look me up in the telephone book or, better yet, send me an email!

Questions No. 5, 6, and 7 requested the occupants’ names, genders, and ages, respectively.  This information has been collected by census takers, at least since the 1880 Census, and, as this information is in multiple data bases on all of us already, I don’t see any harm in sharing it again.

I answered Question No. 8, but it struck me as peculiar.  Question No. 8 applied only to the Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish ethnic group.  As an Irish-Welsh-Italian American, shouldn’t I feel discriminated against?

Question No. 9 asked what race I was.  I put down white, but, then in parenthesis, I noted (with brown freckles).

Finally, Question 10, wanted to know if I ever “lived or stayed somewhere else.”  I think I know what the census was trying to get at, but this question must have been drafted by someone with a little more than a sixth grade education!

Of course, I sometimes “live and stay somewhere else.”  Debbie and I visit her mother in Tennessee often…we are “alive and staying” up there when we make our visits.  I go to Grand Lodge every year in Macon.  On those occasions, I am “living and staying” in Macon!  I am even “living and staying” when I make trips to Washington, DC from time to time.


The decennial census (once every ten years) is authorized by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States.  Its primary purpose is to determine the population of the various states of the United States in order to determine how the representation of the citizens of the various states shall be apportioned in the House of Representatives of the Congress. Just as a side note, this is not needed in the Senate as all states have two members in that house.

Since the founding of our nation, there have been various laws passed concerning the census.  In 1954, these laws were codified into Title 13 of the U.S. Code.

Under Title 13, the U.S. Census Bureau must submit the subject of the census questions to the Congress three (3) years before the actual census, and they must submit the actual questions two (2) years before the census. So, if we don’t like the questions, we need to bombard our representatives and senators in the Congress.

Methinks, my conservative friends complain too much.  Of course, my liberal friends want to give more information to the government…right down to color of underwear!

All in all, I don’t think this census form was too intrusive.
=================================================================================================================

Going Anal!


April 11, 2010

I had my “five year” colonoscopy this past Tuesday. Thankfully, I only had one polyp, and my doctor said he did not feel that there was anything to worry about at all, but, to be on the safe side, it would be sent to pathology.  I will get the results in a few days. Unlikely that it is, if there is a problem, I will be able to deal with it, because it will have been caught extremely “early”.  That is good.


The worst thing about a colonoscopy is the preparation.  I have always had to drink the laxative mixture.  It tastes like the bottom of a bird cage!

When Miss Debbie had her colonoscopy a couple of years ago, she got to take the pills!  No drinking the foul tasting liquid.  But when I went to the doctor this time, he told me that it had been discovered that the pills posed a risk to the kidneys.  So, he wasn’t going to take the chance with mine.  As if all that whiskey over the years had not done any damage!

I don’t worry too much about colon cancer, but I do worry a great deal about prostate cancer!

My paternal grandfather died of prostate cancer in 1973 at the age of 77.  My father died of prostate cancer in 1997, also of prostate cancer just short of the age of 77!

I have made myself a promise.  Prostate cancer may get me, but by the ETERNAL, it is going to have to fight like never before to do so!

Both colon cancer and prostate cancer are the two easiest cancers to defeat…if caught EARLY!

But, both colon cancer and prostate cancer have to be gotten at through the “anal” cavity. 
 
While the PSA test is good, the “bony finger” prostate exam will go a long way in diagnosing prostate cancer early!
Let me encourage all my buddies, ages 50 and above, to have the “bony finger” once per year and the PSA once per year.  


Prostate cancer DISCRIMINATES!  It starts earlier in my African-American friends.  Please get those tests starting at age 40 and do it every year!

Now, for you ladies, please get those Pap smears and mammograms every year starting at age 40.
For everyone, get that initial colonoscopy at age 50.

It goes without saying that if your family has a history of any of these kinds of cancer, start earlier with the tests!  Talk to your family doctor to make the correct decisions!

I need all the friends I can get, so, I don’t need to lose any of you!
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Election Reform Needed
April 18, 2010

It is clear that until there is significant election reform in the United States, there will be little chance of restoring any semblance of ethics to either the Congress or to the several state legislatures.  The Georgia General Assembly is a prima facie example of what is wrong with our current system of elections.

As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution <http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/lobbyist-lawmakers-hobnob-days-469285.html>, in the days just prior to the start of the 2010 legislative session, no less a personage than Georgia House Speaker, David Ralston participated in fundraising events that gleaned $131,000 from House lobbyists.  His counterpart in the Georgia State Senate, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, out did him by raising $145,000 from the same pool of special interest specialists.

Now, neither Ralston’s nor Cagle’s behavior was illegal or even unethical, but I wonder how many of you…the common citizens of Georgia…were visited by these two politicians to see what your legislative concerns were?!?

It all comes down to the “Golden Rule”:  “Those, who have the gold, make the rules!”

Two things need to happen, relative to the Congress and the Georgia General Assembly.  

In the first instance, the U.S. Constitution needs to be amended to provide that the term for a member of the House of Representatives shall be four years, the term for a Senator shall be six years, and that no person may be elected to more than two terms to either house of the Congress.

In the second instance, the Georgia State Constitution should be amended to provide that terms for state senators and representatives shall be four years in length and that no person may be elected to the General Assembly more than two terms.

Such action would greatly reduce the influence of lobbyists and the money interests both in Washington and Atlanta.  More attention would be paid by politicians to their “legacies” as opposed to their “length of service.”

Failing to achieve these two initiatives, the next best thing would be to provide public financing for all political races and ban private monies for campaigning.

Likely neither of my solutions will be enacted and we will keep wondering why we can’t seem to get our legislators to embrace ethical behavior.
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How to Save the Georgia CRCT
April 25, 2010


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that another 17 public school systems in Georgia have turned in reports indicating possible cheating on last year’s Criterion Referenced Competency Tests…the high stakes, standardized tests that are used to measure students' academic gains and teacher accountability in Georgia Public Schools.
 

The CRCT, as it is commonly known, which, to my knowledge, has NEVER been passed by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue or any member of the Georgia General ASSembly, is tied to the Georgia Performance Standards, except in those areas where the test-makers screwed-up and didn’t tie the test to the curriculum.  The Georgia Performance Standards, in simple terms, is the curriculum in English/language arts, math, science, and social studies that the state says all public school students should master in Grades 1-12. Pre-k and kindergarten students have their own curriculums and assessment instruments and processes.
 

I have been arguing for some time that if “Silly Sonny and the Gold Dome Dunces” really wanted to “fix” testing, they would take the following steps:

 
1.      The tests should be administered of a cadre of “test administrators.”  The teachers, who are being evaluated on the basis of the tests, should not be involved and, consequently, not provided the temptation to cheat.  

 
Where would the money come from to hire and train the “test administrators”?

 
That is really “Silly Sonny and the Gold Dome Dunces” problem.  They ought to do something to earn the salaries we pay them. However, in the interest of fairness, I will offer the following suggestions:


I think every “certificated” employee of the Georgia Department of Education should serve in the capacity of a “test administrator”. “Classy” Kathy, herself, could pull a stint in some class.  Every member of the Georgia General ASSembly, who can “read”, ought to serve.  

 
All board of education members throughout the state should be mandated to help (though NOT in their own school systems). 

Finally, additional “test administrators” could be gleaned from the undergraduate teacher education students enrolled in the many state colleges and universities, both public and private.
 

All test administrators should work for free, except the undergraduate teacher education students, who should receive academic credit for their service.  The colleges, universities, and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission could work out the details.
 

I wouldn’t ask Governor Perdue to administer tests to a class.  We really need to shield our kids from less than desirable influences!  
  

2.      The tests should be administered in all school systems during the same two week period in April of each year. Student absences should NOT be permitted without a medical doctor’s verification!  No other excuses would be accepted and parents/child care givers would be fined $1000 per day if the child was absent.
 

I am sorry if dear Aunt Mitilda died!  This is testing week and NO, you can’t go to the funeral in Maine.  It was clearly rude of her to die at such a time!

 
3.      Teachers would be “furloughed” (we have to find some way to insult them) on the tests days. Furthermore, they would be banned from the school campuses during this period.  We don’t need potential “test felons” around!


Some of these suggestions are in jest, of course, as a result of my frustration with government and bureaucracy.  Being retired, I have the ability to be a bit harsher with politicians, bureaucrats, and other totally unnecessary examples of human waste than practicing teachers do.

 
But the fact remains that if we are serious about continuing the use of high stakes, standardized testing as a part of teacher accountability, we need to find a better way of doing it.  The first step in that process is to find a better class of politician and bureaucrat!

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An Ecologically Friendly Solution to Border Security

May 2, 2010

The Arizona Immigration; Law enforcement; Safe neighborhoods Act of 2010has beenthe object of much discussion over the past few days.  Allegations have been made that the legislation is designed to allow Arizona law enforcement to use, at the very least, some quasi-profiling tactics in their effort to identify illegal aliens. Others have declared the law an act of outright racism.

I watched Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, as she made her remarks before and after signing the controversial act into law.  I saw clearly that she was struggling to justify, what is at its best, a questionable effort to deal with the growing problem for local governmental officials along the 1969 mile border between the United States and Mexico. 

I have read the law, and I can see how it could be perverted into a form of profiling. Simply put, the legislation provides that any “officer” of the government of the state or local authority in Arizona having “lawful contact” with a person who the officer might think to be an illegal alien should endeavor, “if possible”, to determine the status of such an individual.

Now, if a carload of individuals goes up the highway at 85 mph out of Tucson toward Phoenix and a law enforcement officer stops the vehicle and find that there are 12 people in the car, we understand that said law enforcement officer is “having lawful contact” with those folks and, under the law, would be correct to inquire about the citizenship.

 
But, consider this scenario.  Suppose a Hispanic couple appears before a justice of the peace.  That is “lawful contact.” Should the justice of the peace demand to see their papers before marrying them?

There are many scenarios in which the law could be abused.

What galls me is the fact that Arizona has had to revert to this.

Immigration is a national concern.  The protection of our nation and the security of our borders is the responsibility of the national government.  President Billy Clinton, Georgie W. Bush, and Barry Obama have ALL “violated” their oaths of office by FAILING to protect the southern border of the United States from massive illegal entries.

The social Democratic Party favors more immigration and amnesty so that they can gain vote from the newly admitted aliens.  The corporatist Republican Party favors immigration and, while they give lip service to border security, they do little to stop the flow of illegal immigrants because they want that large pool of low wage workers.

What to do?

I suggest that we take an “ecologically friendly” approach to border security.  Along the 1969 miles from Brownsville, Texas to Tijuana, Mexico, on the U.S. side of the border, there are 22 counties. The vast majority of this area is wilderness and it is through this wilderness that many illegal aliens make their pilgrimage to the United States.  

Why don’t we create a national park in these areas and stock the landscape with “lions and tigers and bears”, snakes and other poisonous reptiles and spiders of all kinds, and allergy stimulating plants of all species.  I don’t know whether or not wolves would flourish there, but it might be worth a try.

Such an action would provide a large safe area (1000 miles) for many wild creatures to roam and “hunt” and “eat” off the land, so to speak.  PETA should be delighted with this idea!

In the cities and towns along this area, the border patrol and the local law enforcement could concentrate their efforts, leaving the wilderness to the wild.  

Now, I am sure that many of you can think of many reasons why my suggestion will not work.  Some of the predatory animals I have mentioned may not be able to live in this area.  But I ask you…is my suggestion any less valid that the total and complete incompetence of the American government (through the administrations of at least three Presidents) to deal with this problem!
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Mothers Day 2010

May 9, 2010 

Once again it is Mother’s Day, and we pause to honor or to memorialize the “first” woman who impacted our lives.  No doubt millions of words have been written about mothers, and I suppose it is conceited of me to expect to be able to contribute anything new to the volume of perspectives on that subject. However, perhaps it is necessary that we repeat what has been previously written from time to time so that it will not escape the collective psyche of humankind.

As a male, when thinking about mothers and motherhood, I can only write from the perspective of one who has been “mothered.”  There is no way for me to truly understand the feelings and emotions that mothers experience.  I can only report the manner in which I have witnessed those feelings and emotions expressed first toward me by my mother and toward others by mothers that I have witnessed in my life.

My mother was a strong and loving woman.  Born the eldest of 10 children in northeast Alabama, she lost her own mother when she was 13 and, in effect, had to assume the role of “mother” over her, then, six younger brothers and sisters until her father (my grandfather) remarried a couple of years later and expanded the family by four additional kids.  

Throughout my Momma’s early childhood, my grandfather moved around a great deal seeking work as a carpenter and in other assorted labor jobs.  As best she could remember, the third grade was about the extent of my mother’s formal schooling.

As the oldest child, my mother had to go to work when she was 16.  My grandfather “got her a job” in nearby hosiery mill and he took charge of her wages each pay period.  The bulk of her earnings were contributed to the maintenance of the family.  She enjoyed little personal reward for her own labor.

My Momma married the first time at the age of 21.  She never said, but I suspect she was looking for a way out from the drab and oppressive existence that she was enduring.  She had a little girl, Harriet Ann, who was a joy to her, but a year later the childhood disease of “whooping cough”, coupled with double pneumonia, claimed the life of my sister.

In time my grandfather sent his two youngest daughters to live with my mother.  Suddenly, in her mid-twenties, Momma was mothering teenagers!  Still, she persevered and in time my two aunts married, albeit at a young age, the two men with whom they would spend their adult lives.  It was not to be the same with Momma.  Her first marriage was to end in the mid-1940s.

Momma and my Dad married in 1947.

Dad was an interesting character.  A combat infantry veteran of the European Theater of Operations in World War II, he would later become a Baptist evangelist.  He was a man of sound principles, and nothing was more important to him on the earthly plane than serving his GOD and loving and caring for his wife and family.

Momma thrived with Daddy, and the two of them produced my brother and me.

Although her formal education had been meager at best, somewhere along the line, my Momma had learned to read and read well.  She enjoyed crossword puzzles and was ever expanding her vocabulary.  When I was a child, Momma would read to me, and, by so doing, she instilled in me a love for reading.  Momma’s math skills in basic arithmetic were second to none, but she was lost when it came to algebra, geometry, and higher math.

Both my mother and father stressed education.  It was a given that my brother and I were going to finish high school.  Beyond that, we were assured that, whatever course we chose, we would have our parents’ encouragement and support.

Just as I suspect each reader could do the same for his or her mother, I could enumerate instance after instance when my Momma impacted and influenced my life for the good.   But what I would like to note on “Mothers Day 2010” is this.  Due to the events in my mother’s childhood and young adulthood, due to the stresses and challenges she faced, due to the unfairness she endured, my Momma could have been an angry and miserable woman, prone to revenge and continually seeking to “one-up” those around her.  She chose, instead, to live her life in the positive effort of loving and nurturing not only her children but all those who came in contact with her.  When we laid her to rest in 2005, just days short of her 91st birthday, we could honestly celebrate a life well-spent.

On this “Mothers Day”, if your Momma is alive, go visit her or call her.  Tell her you love and appreciate her.  I sure wish I could tell mine!
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It Changed the World!
May 16, 2010

On the Facebook last week, I posed the question... “What product, technical advance, social upheaval, or life reform do you believe has brought about the most "change" in our lives during the past 50 years?”  

I received a number of answers, some of which are listed here:

Kenn Ussery – the speed of information

 
Ralph Owen Dennis and Randell Hendrix – the personal computer


Michael Chandler, Anne Judah, and Lew Puckett – the two income family (women having to work outside the home)

 
Caleb Chitwood – Nixon ending Bretton Woods in 1971
   

Jennifer Greeson – the decline of reliance on GOD
   

Lavonda Gentry – people’s attitudes, morals, ways of thinking, and ways of living
   

Bill Byrd – liberally biased press


Peggy Bennett – technology (computers and cell phones)


Jim Bard – space program (innovations)


Colin William – mobile phone

 
David Herman – the mental shift, whereby, people do work they are not proud of that is accepted and expected


Archie Bennett -- the cell phone, viagra, McDonald's and the pill
 

Margie Weddington Powell – the Vietnam War…if it feels good, do it…other considerations.

Robert Martin – the thermos
 

Calvin Watts – the Interstate Highway System

 
My good friend and Masonic brother, E. Ray Knittel turned out to be the only one to choose the thing that I had chosen, but I must confess that it had not been original with me.  My sweet lady, Miss Debbie, actually brought it to my attention, so it was really her thought that caused me to propound the question in the beginning.


The thing that Debbie, Ray, and I feel has changed our lives the most over the past 50 years, especially in the south, has been the widespread use of home air conditioning!

I toyed all week with how I might argue that position, but I think that Ray’s response to my question on the Facebook is about as rational and candid answer as could be developed to address the assertion.  Consequently, I am reprinting it here.

Said, Brother Ray… 

I would sure hate to do without it (air conditioning) now that I am used to it but growing up in a much more simple time, we sat on the porch, waved at the neighbors, invited them to come sit "a spell", chased lightning bugs, enjoyed the comfort of a shade tree on a hot day. We now come home, shut the doors and windows tight and there we stay until it is time to get in our air conditioned cars or trucks. We roll the windows on these up tight and if we wave to the folks passing by, it is unlikely that they see us through the windows - they more than likely wave because they recognize the vehicle rather than see the wave. I have fond memories of those "porch settings", listening to the "old folks" telling stories. Good times and good memories of times gone by.
 

While I, like Ray, would not want to do without it nowadays, there is no doubt that the great benefit to our comfort provided by the massive implementation of home air conditioning has been mitigated by the loss of community and alienation from neighbors and friends that the necessary closed-in environment has mandated.

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Don’t Elect a Liar

By GARY D. LEMMONS
Published: May 23, 2010

 
There are just some things that one does not forget. Your first kiss, your first job, your first car, your wedding day, the day when your children were born, whether or not you fought in a war…all of these are incidents that leave an indelible stain on the recesses of the mind that can only be erased by the ravages of Alzheimer’s, dementia, or some other brain injury or disease.

Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut attorney-general, forgot…or, rather, he “misspoke”, as he would like to rationalize it, in 2003 and, again, in 2008, when, in separate speeches, he characterized himself as having served in the Vietnam War.

Now, if Blumenthal was “Joe Q. Public” down at the bar somewhere, his false assertion of service in the war would be bad enough and disrespectful of the men who sacrificed, sweated, slogged, and survived the ordeal, not to mention a dishonor to the 58,261 Americans who gave their lives in that endeavor.  But Blumenthal is the chief law enforcement officer of the State of Connecticut and would like to be the next United States Senator from the “Constitution State.” 

I guess one can argue that most people, at sometime in their lives, tell lies.  In fact, many of us do it every day.  There is no telling how many times someone has asked me, “How are you, today?”  And, my reply was, “Fine, oh, just fine.” When the truth of the matter was that I felt as though the entire North Korean Army had been marching across my head.  If my wife asks me if a particular dress looks good or if she has gained weight, depending upon the circumstances surrounding the question, there is a good chance that my response may be a lie.

Most of us believe that politicians, especially officeholders, lie. We have classic examples just in my own lifetime:

“…the United States intends no military intervention in Cuba.”…John F. Kennedy.

"As President and Commander in Chief it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply."…Lyndon Baines Johnson.

“I am not a crook!”…Richard Nixon.

 “Read my lips…no new taxes.”…George Herbert Walker Bush.

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”…Bill Clinton.

“We know where they are. (Talking about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction) They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.”…Donald Rumsfeld (former Sec. of Defense)

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”…Nancy Pelosi.

 
It is a reasonable assumption to make that most officeholders lie to us.  Those very few who do not often do not tell us the whole truth.  That just may be the nature of the “office holding beast.”  But we should not, knowingly, elect a liar.

To allow candidates for office to blatantly lie about something as important as military service and then to elect them to regulate that service on the part of others is distasteful.  

I trust that the voters in Connecticut will do what is right and retire Richard Blumenthal to private life come November.
==============================================================

Memorial Day -- 2010

By Dr. GARY D. LEMMONS
Published: May 30, 2010

Another Memorial Day… and another year that American soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen/air-women are far from home in the defense of liberty and freedom.

Numerous ceremonies will be held in many cities and towns across America.  There will be parades and pomp and circumstance, although the boisterousness of the celebrations will not be quite as rambunctious as the Fourth of July or, even, Veterans’ Day. 

That is as it should be, for Memorial Day ought to be a time of quiet reflection and meditation about the sacrifices given by so many Americans throughout our history in the defense of our liberty and freedom.

In recent years, it has become a tradition that the President of the United States be present at and lay a wreath at the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” in Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, DC.  President Obama will not observe that tradition this year, opting instead to attend ceremonies at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois.  Vice President Biden will attend the ceremonies at Arlington.

I have no problem with the President not being at Arlington.  Indeed, I applaud his choosing to attend ceremonies at a lesser known cemetery.  Wherever an American veteran, especially a combat veteran, sleeps, in my humble opinion, is “sacred ground.”  Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery was dedicated on October 3, 1999.  When fully developed, it will be able to serve 400,000 interments.

Throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, we have 131 national cemeteries.  It is altogether fitting and proper that the service people buried in those resting places have the opportunity to be honored by having a President come and spend time with them on any given Memorial Day.  While that would take a long time (almost a century and a half) to accomplish, it might not be a bad project for the current Commander-in-Chief and future Presidents to implement for decades to come.

There are other “sacred grounds” that we should remember.  The American Battle Monuments Commission administers, operates, and maintains 24 burial grounds on foreign soil.  124,909 Americans are at rest in these cemeteries:  30,921 from World War I in Europe; 93, 238 from World War II, in Europe, North Africa, and the Philippines; 750 from the Mexican War in the Mexico City National Cemetery; and 5,364 in the Corozal American Cemetery and Memorial in Panama.

If Arlington National Cemetery is the best known national cemetery in the United States, the best known of those overseas likely is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial on the heights above the Omaha Beach.  Here rest 9,387 of our honored dead.  Additionally, on a decorative semi-circle wall outlining a garden are 1557 names of those identified as missing in action. Each resting place is marked simply with a Christian Cross or a Jewish Star of David.  I am told that the graves are situated so that the bodies are laid “feet toward the West”, which seems contradictory toward both Christian and Jewish customs of “feet toward the East.”  However, it, allegedly, is explained that the slain heroes are “looking homeward.”

For a brief tour of the Normandy American Cemetery, go here:

http://media.oaktreesys.com/abmc/video/cemeteries/no.wmv


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Thank You, Veterans of D-Day, 1944

By Dr. GARY D. LEMMONS

Published: June 6, 2010

It was from the sea they came.  Suddenly and with a due admixture of passion and fear, they swarmed ashore. Out of the landing crafts, they emerged into the hail of bullets and amid the shower of shrapnel all along the beaches of Normandy.  Dropping, one by one, they stormed ahead.  With the sacrifice of sweat, urine, and blood, they forged forward, across the beachhead and into the cliffs that lay within their grasp. As one died, another took his place, and, collectively, they gained ground and within a matter of hours decided the fate of the world.

For years they had waited for this.  For years, the dream of when a second front on the main continent of Europe would be opened to challenge the German Army was not only the faint misty subject of Churchill’s nocturnal dosing, but the bright and cheerful scenes of the Stalin’s nightly naps.  Now, it was to become a reality.

The storming of Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold, and Juno beaches, however, was not to come without a price.  The cost of opening that all important second front was to be in excess of 10,000 Allied casualties on that one day. Yet, that was just the beginning.  In the eleven months to come after the Operation Overlord Invasion of June 6, 1944, until the capitulation of the German forces in May of 1945, some 184,000 Americans gave up their lives. They were joined by some 200,000 British deaths.  I do not have the figures of other nationalities that suffered in that global conflict, but they were significant.

I don’t want to take anything away from those who have fought in Korea, Vietnam, the Granada Incident, the Panama Incident, the Nicaraguan Episode, the First Gulf War, the Second Gulf (Iraq) War, the Afghanistan War, or any number of our other “police actions” in which our nation has been engage, but if the men, who waded ashore at Normandy on June 6, 1944, had not been successful, you and I would NOT be living as we are this day.  We would not be enjoying the level of freedom and liberty that we are blessed with in this nation, which, despite the errant failures of its national government, is still the best place in the world to live.

We are losing more and more of our World War II veterans.  It is reported that we lose about 1000 each day! The very youngest of these men and women (even the ones who lied about their ages) are now, easily, in their mid-80s.  Soon they will be all gone.

Before that happens, let at least one “baby boomer”, from the extremely early “post-war” era, say to them, “THANK YOU, and may GOD bless!” 
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“Hello, there, buddy boy”

By Dr. Gary D. Lemmons   (June 13, 2010)

 
I spent a lot of time at the home of my great uncle and great aunt, Sam and Elizabeth (Uncle Sam and Aunt Lizzie) Tyler when I was growing up.  The Flowertown community was fast being overtaken by the city limits of the town of Tullahoma, but there was still enough “country” left to make that little area special.

My relationship with Uncle Sam and Aunt Lizzie was unique.  Uncle Sam was a brother to my paternal grandmother, Cecil Mae Tyler Lemmons.  My Aunt Lizzie was the youngest sister of my maternal grandmother, Willie Bell Arnold Matthews.  To say that I was close to them is an understatement.  They were very much like grandparents to me, and that fact was intensified by the fact that both my maternal grandparents died before I was born.

Uncle Sam had been a railroad worker on the L &N Railroad, and he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis.  As a side, he was one of the most bow-legged men I have ever seen.  In the mid-1950s a proliferated ulcer almost killed him and by the early 1960s he was retired.  That did not mean, however, that he did not work.  Each year he had one of the most prolific gardens in all of the community.  He and Aunt Lizzie, not to mention several families, including my own, made it through the winter on vegetables raised by him and canned by my aunt and my Momma.

As soon as school was out in the spring in the early 1960s, I spent most of my summer days “down at Uncle Sam’s.”  Our house was less than a thousand yards up the road from his.  Many were the summer days I spent helping him, although more often I suppose I was in his way.

Uncle Sam was one of those individuals that never seemed to be out of sorts, even when he should have been.  I know there must have been many times when he would see me coming into his yard and he, doubtless, didn’t feel like company, but he would always grin and say, “Hello, there, buddy boy.”  The term “buddy boy” was his universal name for every male with whom he dealt.  The girls, he would call “honey.”

We had some hot summer days in those years.  Looking back now, it didn’t seem that they were that warm back then, but they were.  We never worked in the garden in the heat of the day, but in the morning and evening, we many times toiled on many chores.

Uncle Sam was an adult with whom a young teenage boy could talk.  It was easy to talk to him.  It wasn’t like talking to your Daddy.  I can’t explain why, but it might have been because Uncle Sam didn’t have to be the disciplinarian.  When you got out of line, your Daddy had to jerk you back to the straight and narrow.  Uncle Sam could coax you with questions or stories about his own shortcomings as a boy.

Uncle Sam and I had a lot of talks.  Thinking back, I believe he listened more than he talked, and in that there may be an important lesson.  We did a lot of work too.  I remember the summer we picked over 20 bushels of green beans off his vines.  Now that was a job.

Uncle Sam was a religious gentleman.  But he had not always been so.  In fact, he did not come to CHRIST until he was 54 years old.  However, in the 12 years he lived after he had the “change of heart”, he lived an example before me that was impressive and enduring.

Uncle Sam has been gone a long, long time, but his memory remains with me today fresh and crisp.  GOD willing, I look forward to a “summer day” sometime in the great beyond and to hearing his voice and those thrilling words, “Hello, there, buddy boy.”
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Creative Thinking Needed in Georgia

Dr. Gary D. Lemmons © June 20, 2010

As I listen to the Georgia gubernatorial candidates (and there are a bunch of them this year), I am amazed that, in the throes of “the Great Recession”, we have such a lack of creativity and critical thinking in dealing with the challenges that face our state.  In fact, if one removes the Power Point presentations and some of the other bells and whistles, the campaign could sound like a “golden oldie” from the 1970s…tight budget, shortfall in revenue, and expanding needs.

The situation, of course, is dire.  Georgia’s projected 2011 budget is some $ 2.5 billion dollars less than the 2010 budget and it is balanced on a projected growth in state revenue funds of 8.5%.  In recent years, Georgia’s revenues have decreased substantially due to the economic decline both in state and nationally.

The next governor of Georgia is going to have to “hit the ground running.”  The legacy of Sonny Perdue will prove quite a challenge to overcome.  The new governor will need to be able to “think out of the box”, to be creative in her or his approach to grappling with the difficulties that confront our state, and, most importantly, to not be afraid to try new and radical solutions to the problems that face our citizens.

Some examples and suggestions for our future state chief executive, whoever he or she may be are as follows:

1.       Consider a total renovation of our state tax system basing the foundation on a consumer theme as opposed to the producer theme.  

2.      Consider a total renovation the state’s public education system.  For example, do we really need 189 separate school districts? How much in revenue could be saved if we consolidated a number of the smaller “fiefdoms” and managed the business side of public school (the school boards and central offices, NOT the classrooms) like a business?

3.      Consider the total renovation and streamlining of state government.  How many agencies and bureaucracies could be reduced or totally done away with, if we set our mind to it.

As I give ear to the politicians, who are vying to move into 391 West Paces Ferry Road NW, I hear a lot of the typical rhetoric…“foster and create jobs, encourage business, support families,  improve education, and (as the King of Siam would say in the musical “My Fair Lady”,  “etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”

What is lacking among the tribe running for governor is a clear plan with specifics to accomplish the admirable goals of meeting challenges and solving the problems of our state.  There is “lots of sound, but not much fury.”


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Political “Lawn Litter”

By Dr. Gary D. Lemmons   (June 27, 2010)

Ah, the primary election season is upon us once again as can be evidenced by the explosion of political “lawn litter” throughout the various neighborhoods around our state.  Every two years or so, this phenomena appears when candidates attempt to saturate the countryside and the city streets, as well, with signs advocating their elections to the various offices for which they are vying.

Most politicians and their campaign supporters start out with their respective bases…friends, neighbors, and relatives.  From there they venture out into less familiar communities within the district or post from which they are running and attempt to distribute as much of their advertising as possible.

Some of the signs can be quite large. These, for the most part, are designed to be placed at strategically located sites where a lot of other candidate signs are allowed to be congregated…at major intersections, on large open, neutrally located lots along well-traveled thoroughfares, and near liquor stores.  However, occasionally, a relative or good friend of a candidate will allow one of the giant signs to be placed on a front lawn or in a field abutting a major highway.

Over the years, I have known a few candidates who have had the resources to afford the large billboard signs.  Now that is where real money can be spent.  In this day and age of technology, the animated billboards are extremely expensive, but equally effective.  The face of a candidate suddenly appearing on a billboard on the side of a large building as one drives into the downtown business area of one’s city can exact a lasting response.

Of course, the massive amount of political “lawn litter” continues to be the small signs that are placed on wire braces in the front yards of the candidate’s supporters.  It is generally believed by the candidate that if a person puts up the candidate’s sign, that person will support said candidate.  Also, it is a commonly held belief that the more signs a candidate can get displayed, the more support the candidate has. 

Sometimes these beliefs are true, but not always.

I do not display political “lawn litter” in my yard, even for good friends.  There are two good reasons for this. 

First, political “lawn litter”, in my aesthetic opinion, just looks bad.  It reminds me of those less than attractive “Yard Sale, Today” signs that one sees as one travels around the country on Saturday mornings.  I don’t want my lawn looking like that.

Second and most important, I am never really totally committed to any candidate until the instant that I mark the ballot for that person.  At any moment during the campaign, if the candidate veers from what I feel is my position or (as in most cases) close to my position, I reserve the right to change sides.  Consequently, I would not feel comfortable putting up a candidate’s sign until right after I vote on Election Day and by that time it is too late to do any good.

I mentioned earlier in this column that the belief, the more political “lawn litter” a candidate has displayed the more support the candidate can count upon, is not always true.  To illustrate this, consider the fellow I knew who ran for sheriff in one of our north Georgia counties several years ago.  He had a massive campaign and I would not be exaggerating to say that he had displayed throughout the modest-sized county in excess of 5,000 signs.  He came in third!

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We Hold These Truths

© Dr. Gary D. Lemmons, July 4, 2010

 

On this day 234 years ago the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence. That magnificent document, which arguably may be described as the “birth certificate” of this nation, is, in the opinions of many, the greatest and most comprehensive explication of freedom and liberty ever put on paper.

There are many sentences and sections of the Declaration of Independence that stir the hearts of humankind with the thrill of the promise of the endeavor that the men, who drafted it, were about to engage upon. However, the soul of the declaration, I believe, can be found in these lines:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.


That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

In the world in which we live, there are many who have come to believe that, once again, government may have come to be destructive of the ends for which it was founded and set-up following this declaration and the Revolutionary War that followed.  Some of our more radical citizens have even spoken of taking up arms against lawful authority.

For those who would advocate a more radical approach, I would point-out that we have a mechanism to insure the preservation of our liberty that was not available to our forbearers in 1776…the ballot!  Periodically, we have the opportunity to go and cast our votes to ratify or reject the actions of those we select to govern us.  So long as we enjoy and exercise the franchise, our liberty and our freedom is safe from the usurpations of those who would limit it.

Happy Fourth of July, and I will see you at the polls!

Got a Light?

© Dr. Gary D. Lemmons, July 11, 2011

Recently, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s column, “Get Schooled,” was a disturbing report that smoking among the teenage population appears to be growing again. In 1995 it was estimated that 34.8% of high school students smoked.  That number dropped to 21.9% in 2003, but, then, reports “Get Schooled,” the rate of decline stalled.

In a recent study issued by the Center for Disease Control, researchers found that 19.5% of high school students take a puff on a regular basis.  Further, the number of addicts among high school girls seems to be increasing.  This is due to the weight loss benefits (perceived or otherwise) that the use of tobacco, especially cigarettes, can provide.

Strange, but on T.V. today one rarely hears any public service announcements about the dangers of tobacco, especially smoke-related dangers.  It seems that our anti-smoking educational effort, like most everything else of value has been left to the realms of the public schools, and I doubt that there is a question on the CRCT or the Georgia High School Graduation Tests about the dangers of smoking!

When I was a boy, my father was a smoker.  For the entire time I lived at home, I was exposed to the influence of second hand smoke.  As a teenager, without my Dad’s permission, of course, I tried smoking, but never on a regular basis so I never became addicted.  

At Tullahoma Senior High School, where I attended classes, smoking was permitted.  One had to have a “smoking permit” and that involved bringing a note from parents, and my Dad, although quite the nicotine addict himself, was determined that  my brother and I were not going to become such.

In college, I took it smoking a pipe for a while.  After all, one had to attempt to look studious, but I was too lazy to keep up with all the utensils that smoking a pipe entailed and so I gave that up too. For close to 30 years I have not had a puff of anything.

In the early 1980s, school rules regarding smoking and other tobacco products changed.  As a school administrator responsible for discipline, I, for many years, was called upon to deal with students, who violated the school rules against tobacco of any kind on campus. During those episodes, I came to realize just how much of an addiction the use of tobacco is.  For many, it is just as compelling as cocaine or heroin!

I do not know what the solution to reducing teenage use of tobacco is.  Punitive measures have only a cursory effect.  Educational efforts are expensive and have only marginal influences at best.  Certainly, parental behavior plays a role, but I am not sure of just how much.

There is some evidence to suggest that if the society can sell the movers and shakers of the teenage generations on the idea that tobacco use, in general, and smoking, in particular, is not cool…the “peer pressure” effect might lead to a decrease in the practice.  The problem with the “peer pressure” effect, especially among teenagers, is that it is so fickle.

What I do know is that one-third of high school smokers will die prematurely of tobacco-related diseases.  What I do know is that the cost to society in health care dollars, whether in the private sector or under some new socialist medical services delivery model, will be enormous.  What I do know is that the lousy politicians and heartless bureaucrats will continue to do little to really combat this malady.

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The Georgia Primary

© Dr. Gary Lemmons, July 18, 2010

 

Philadelphia, PA…Come Tuesday, July 20, the voters of Georgia, in each of the two major political parties, will be asked to go to the polls in an effort to select the candidates who will bear their respective party’s standard for the various offices up for choice in the General Election in November.  Georgia’s primary is an open primary. That means that when voters go to the polls on Tuesday, they will be asked to declare in which party’s primary they wish to vote.  If a voter chooses to vote in the Republican primary then only Republican candidates for the various offices will be on the ballot.  Likewise, if the voter chooses to vote in the Democratic primary, only Democrats will be on that ballot.

The reason it is called an “open” primary is that in some states, when one registers to vote, one has to declare herself or himself a Democrat or a Republican.  In Georgia, we do not…until the day of the primary.  Of course, in the General Election in November, all candidates are on the ballot and no one knows, except the individual voter, how he or she votes…unless they wish to reveal it.

I voted early, a process which is authorized by law, because I knew that I, along with my grand children and some other members of my family, would be in Philadelphia on primary election day.  I have brought my grand children here during this week to introduce them to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Valley Forge in particular, as well as to some other interesting sites throughout the State of Pennsylvania in general.

Long after I am but a memory in their minds, I want my grand children to recall the day they stood with their grandfather in Independence Hall and heard how our nation was founded.  I want them to be impressed with the importance of the events which happened here.  I want them to digest the symbolism of the Liberty Bell and to know that it still rings out the tone of “liberty” and the chorus of “freedom” wherever men and women struggle to maintain them.  And, too, I want them to come to understand something of the sacrifice that is always required to maintain “liberty” and “freedom” from the snares, both overt and covert, of the oppressors, who would love to wrest them from us. Valley Forge is a great place to learn that lesson.

Now, as to the election; I voted in the Republican Primary…not on account of being a Republican, which I am NOT.  Rather, I voted in the Republican Primary because there were some candidates on that slate that I could vote “for” (e.g. Johnny Isakson, Becky Hood, Nan Barnette, Dick Gordon, Tom Graves) as opposed to the Democratic Primary slate on which I would have found myself voting “against” various candidates more than I would have been voting “for” their opponents.  The fact that I voted Republican in the primary election DOES NOT assure that I will push the Republican button in the General Election in the fall.  I am, at heart, a Samuel Adams Federalist, and there are very, very few of us around today.

If you have not already voted, as is authorized under the law, I hope that you will go to the polls come Tuesday, July 20, and perform that duty.  Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, whether you are a liberal or conservative, whether you are a progressive or a reactionary, whether you are a lousy politician, an idiot bureaucrat, or an honorable citizen, too many good men and women have given their life’s  blood for us to enjoy the franchise.  We must not insult their sacrifice by ignoring the awesome duty of casting our ballots!

I hope “you” are seen at the polls!
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