Big Dogs House

SPIN, LIES, LEADERSHIP? AND IGNORANCE (OURS)

Jul 14, 2011 Political

Spin
More misuse of our language (an addition to Fictionary July 10 post). The oft-used word invest. When it is uttered by a politician, you can be sure it has nothing to do with what we typically attribute it to. Their invest is a red herring for a big government program that is (probably) a repeat of an already instituted, failed and wasteful spending program that didn’t work the other times, is now repackaged and renamed for the same negative results from the same dumb premise. (I know, a long description, but oh so true.) Perk up your ears when they say invest; is government investing our money? Au contraire!

Where in our country are housing prices still rising, and where is there no unemployment problem? You guessed it! These staffers are in our world? And, this is the place from which often emanates that all-too-common D.C.-ism: We must invest in our children’s education. Really? Is the American public still falling for that worn out mantra?

News flash! You can’t fix a social problem by throwing money at it. Other countries have more students per classroom and a whole lot less money spent per child and get much better results. Their children are there to learn! Their parents demand it…their culture demands it…their teachers and administrators demand it. We (taxpayers) can feed kids breakfast and lunch and send them to the best school in their vicinity. But, if these same kids go home to an unfit guardian or adults who are terrible character examples, our money that our government spent is wasted. You can’t make life fair for some kids by feeding them, bussing them to a good school and sending them back home to non-parenting. That waste is multiplied when that unproductive, untamed and disrespectful child is an adult on welfare or in prison.

As long as we have no expectations of our children, guess what we get?

Give ’em the two “L’s” — love and limits. Yes, the limits are just as important as the love!

Lies (just two blatant examples)
Your government’s definition of transparent, independent and accountable by Secretary Sebelius, at the 5th bullet point. Do you believe her?

Your government’s Department of Homeland Security and another whopper from Janet Napolitano. Do you believe her? Did you believe her when she said our borders are safer than ever?

Leadership?
The Obama administration and many economists have warned of economic catastrophe if the United States does not raise the amount it is legally allowed to borrow by August 2. The last time we believed scare tactics by the Drama Queens they bailed out the big banks and corporations and then, to add insult to injury, they stimulated our debt and unemployment with our money on a credit card!

Ignorance
Apparently we Americans don’t know much about America. Pitiful! But, then who hasn’t seen those incredible Jay Walking bits? (This video: Your reward for reading this far!) Maybe we got where we are today because we don’t know what, when and how this country became so great. We don’t know our own American History! Maybe we ought to start getting smart, paying attention, and becoming responsible citizens. No point in waiting for or expecting those in charge to change their ways!

My Personal Desire – time to get back to the basics. More reading and learning for me. It really is quite easy today with answers to everything literally and figuratively at my fingertips! What excuse do I have?

If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.
- Aristotle

Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
- Winston S. Churchill

A country without a memory is a country of madmen.
- George Santayana

Some historians hold that history is just one damned thing after another.
- Arnold Toynbee

CoolCat

Tags: Commentary, history, housing prices, Jay Walking, leadership, lies, spin

Rewriting History, Good Thing Palin Is Around

Sep 2, 2010 Political

Barack Obama and his handlers are having a few issues because the surge he and Joe Biden opposed is responsible for the victory we achieved (and a victory Obama has not acknowledged). The so called smartest guys in the country got it wrong and if they had gotten their way we would be discussing a defeat (and Obama would be blaming it on Bush).

Here is an interesting point of view on the surge given to us by Robert Gibbs:

”What is certainly not up for question is that President Obama, then-candidate Obama, said that adding those 20,000 troops into Iraq would, indeed, improve the security situation, and it did.”

This is interesting indeed. First of all, when anyone in this regime says that something is not up for question it means that it is and that they are likely lying. This is a variation of Obama saying “let me be clear” or “I have always said” which are preludes to a lie that follows. It is Obama trying to play Jedi mind tricks on people. It works on the Kool Aid drinkers who lap it up and ask for more. The rest of us can see the lie a mile away.

Or as I like to put it, Stevie Wonder could see it.

While Gibbs thinks it is certainly not up for question the record is different:

“I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq are going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

Obama was clearly not in favor of the surge and he clearly indicated that he was not persuaded that the additional troops would make things better (like improve security) and he clearly stated that he believes it will do the opposite, and create more sectarian violance (and therefore, less security).

Gibbs is playing the game because he has to tell the lies for the Socialist in the White House but the rest of us, those not under the influence of the Force, can see it.

Thanks to Sarah Palin we can all see it in writing. She jumped all over it because she knows Obama is a liar and that he will say or do anything to advance his agenda and to keep from admitting that he backed the wrong horse.

Maybe a trip to Iowa is in order.

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: history, lies, Obama, robert gibbs, sarah palin, surge, troops

The Resident’s Speech

Sep 8, 2009 Political

Well, I have read the text of the speech that BHO will be giving to America’s schoolchildren, and on the face of it, it seems innocent enough- but I still have reservations about it, simply because many of the students will not understand it.

This is because the Resident is still in campaign mode (has he ever stopped?), and the words he uses may or may not be understood by those who are in junior high or high school, but they will not be understood by very many others who are younger, simply because he uses words they might not have encountered yet. This may, at least for an English teacher, be the true lesson here, but otherwise, for many students, it’s time to doodle in their notebooks. Here’s an example. Also note the subtle propaganda- that is to be expected.

“You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.”

Now, I don’t know where he gets his facts, but the sad fact is that very little real history is taught in schools these days- one day on the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, and about one to two days on the Revolutionary or Civil wars.

Instead, all the emphasis is on the civil rights era- which is important, but without the teaching of prior history to lay the foundation, is kind of a “floating”, aimless history with no anchors in the past. 

If a person wants to be effective in the future, he or she must know what mistakes were made in the past. That way, they are not repeated. The Resident’s foray into economics should be a good lesson in the mistakes of the past for all economics courses.

“No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.”

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.”

 

The speech is OK- I believe it is short of inspirational, but then I think he should actually think of the words he is saying- perhaps they could help him also- particularly the last paragraph there. His problem in his life has been the adults he has trusted- I wouldn’t put Rahm Emanuel, John Holdren, Cass Sunstein, or many of the others he has surrounded himself with to be shining examples of good company- you are known by the company you keep, and this company is the kind your parents warned you about- they are like Eddie Haskell- they are bound to get a person in trouble.

And in the end, that may be the lesson these students end up learning from the Resident.

Tags: hard work, history, speech, students

Ignoring History Leads to Ignorance

Jul 6, 2008 General

George Santayana is credited with saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This goes along the lines of the thinking that people learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately, there are segments of any society (and some individuals within) that would prefer to ignore the past, thus guaranteeing a repeat performance of history, bad and good.

People like Bill Clinton write books that are supposed to be an accounting of thier lives and public years but those books leave out the bad things that happened and they gloss over or spin things that cannot be avoided. This is dangerous because people who read those accounts believe that is the way things happened and the accounting of history is changed. We see this every day with people repeating falsehoods in order to make them part of the collective psyche so they will be accepted as true. The repetition and gullibility of people is why a site like Snopes exist.

The Germans have a sordid history in the last century. They had a maniacal leader who exterminated millions of people, most of whom were Jews. Adolph Hitler was on a quest for power and was hell bent on taking other county’s land by force. He wanted to rule the world. He was, by all accounts, a certifiable nut though I am sure there are instances in his life where he did good things. However, ignoring him and failing to display his life before the public does no one any good. For if we hope to never repeat his mistakes then we must know them and learn from them.

Madame Tussauds’ Berlin affiliate had a wax statue of Hitler displayed in a bunker. The look was sullen and it was obvious that this was supposed to be the way Hitler looked near the end, when defeat was all but certain. There was a big ruckus about the display. People complained that it should not even exist and that it was wrong. Only moments after the doors opened a maniac (someone no less maniacal than Hitler) ran in and ripped the head off the statue. He was arrested but people in Berlin are hailing him as a hero. The saddest part of the story is that people think that his actions were appropriate.

In Pearl Harbor there is a museum and the Arizona rests at the bottom of the Harbor. There are pictures of Japanese airplanes and the people who were in command of them. We do not slash them with knives or destroy them because they are a part of history. Those displays do not honor the people who attacked us, they show the history of how it happened.

There are plenty of items of history that are displayed everyday and people don’t run around destroying them. The people of Germany need to get over this idea that the mention of Hitler is taboo and tantamount to treason. He was a part of their history and they should acknowledge it. By recognizing the danger that just one person can inspire the Germans, and the rest of the world, will be less likely to repeat the mistake of blindly following a charismatic lunatic to destruction.

We have museums that demonstrate the horrors of the slavery that once was a legal part of this nation and we have plenty of memorials to the people who fought for state’s rights and those who fought against them. Somewhere along the way slavery was ended and that was a good thing. Of course, we have our deniers as well. There are those who refuse to allow a Confederate Flag, who refuse statues to Confederate soldiers and who refuse to allow anything that demonstrates the struggles of that time in our history. They refuse by erroneously calling it racist when the Civil War was not about race or slavery. It was about state’s rights and slavery was one of the issues.

Whether it is Germany, the US or somewhere in between, people must be willing to face the ugly chapters in history in order to keep from repeating them.

Source:
TimesOnline UK

Tags: history, Hitler, vandalism, wax museum