Free Speech, Anyone?

"...If you take sides in an argument people really feel passionately about, half of the people will wind up hating you. However, if you try to be objective about it, likely all of them will."

We all want to believe that our college campuses are where freedom of speech reigns. Among faculty members, the concept has been characterized as "academic freedom." By the time a scholar is in college, he has matured to the point where the mere rote learning of facts and equations is not sufficient. In college, the scholar supposedly learns how to solve real world problems, both technical and social. He studies not only the facts, but also proposed solutions, and he weighs the potential outcomes of those solutions in a search for the optimum one. Ideally, the college campus is where all ideas are laid out for academic scrutiny in the pursuit of the real truth.

Two recent incidents at Columbia University demonstrate that freedom of speech and academic freedom are suppressed by political zealots as much on college campuses as anywhere else, or more. In the more recent, the Minutemen founder, Jim Gilchrist, was so violently attacked by members of the Chicano Caucus and the International Socialist Organization that University employees had to escort him from the stage before he could deliver his speech. A few weeks before that, Columbia University cancelled a planned appearance by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. The conservative brains claim that a creep like that should not be given a platform for his hateful views. The Ahmadinejad incident is discussed by Clyde Haberman in the New York times (NYC; Free Speech? )[unfortunately, the Times charges $4.95 for this one]. the Gilchrist incident is mentioned by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal (Sounds of Silencing).

Obviously, Gilchrist and Ahmadinijad have taken sides in their arguments, and some people hate each of them with passion. While Conservatives and Liberals alike speak loudly of the importance of Freedom of Speech, we see those very same conservatives and liberals strive daily to deny that freedom to their opponents. Both the academic pundits and the narcissistic celebrities (Celebrities and Narcissism) suffer from this disease of logical contortion.

Even though I would like to remain balanced on this one, the scales seem to tilt to the left. Both the academic community and the celebrity narcissists seem to abound with liberals. Peggy Noonan's article also points out that celebrities like Barbra Streisand and Rosie O'Donnell shut down those who would disagree with them. For these self-righteous leftists, their beliefs are so self-evident that there's no point in debating them. "I feel so much," these zealots rationalize to themselves, "therefore my views are correct and must prevail." They employ smug bullying, vile name calling, and profanity as they try to intimidate their opponents into silence. They literally shout until they win. And they take full advantage of their celebrity access to public platforms that are unavailable to the less intelligent common masses. No matter how much I appreciate the artistic contributions of these entertainers, I cannot abide them strangling our freedom of speech. Conservatives are not without fault here--President Bush stated recently that some ideas are so vile that no reasonable person should think them, let alone say them.

Passion belongs in political discourse, but not threats, violence, or censorship. Passion drives people forward in the presentation of their beliefs. But in a fair discourse, both sides passionately present the facts, their logical analysis of those facts, and proposed actions to change situations that are deemed faulty. What eventually boils out of this stew of facts, analysis, and solutions, are plans of action to make the country a better place to live in. But that happens only if we are allowed to put ALL of the ingredients in the stew, not just the ones that Barbra and Rosie like. Freedom of speech and the opportunity to exercise it must be extended to everyone.

Bound to your freedom of speech are both the responsiblity to listen and the obligation to evaluate the issue through the eyes of those who disgree with you. That means that we do not suppress or censor one speaker. Instead, we offer at least one other speaker an opportunity to present the contrasting view(s). More speech, not less, is what is needed.

Illegal Immigration--Time to Stop

It's well past time to stop the nonsense on illegal immigration. I just read a post by Rants and Raves that addresses the issue. I'm providing a link to that post here, and I have added his blog to the links in my side bar.

American Exceptionalism

In a more recent post, Rants and Raves also stated: "...If you take sides in an argument people really feel passionately about, half of the people will wind up hating you. However, if you try to be objective about it, likely all of them will."

I must be ready, then to have all of my readers hate me, because I want to try to be objective about illegal immigration.

It's time to stop illegal immigration to the United States of America. It's time to stop all of the rhetoric and name calling. It is time to dispel the myths and lies that supporters of illegal immigration are using in their propaganda.

• Myth No. 1 --Illegal aliens are not illegal; they are just undocumented. The truth: If an alien does not has a proper entry document (green card), he is in the country illegally. If he is not illegal, his presence certainly is. "Politically correct" word manipulations do not change the facts. An immigrant is any person, not a citizen of the United States, who comes here from another nation or region. An illegal alien is an immigrant who entered the country without obeying U.S. immigration law and obtaining proper papers. A legal immigrant has a passport, a visa, and a green card. He has a specific purpose and stays for defined length of time, after which he either leaves or becomes a citizen in accordance with the law.
• Myth No. 2 -- Those who are opposed to illegal immigration hate all immigrants. The truth: Most oppose only illegal immigrants. Many who oppose illegal immigration ARE or WERE immigrants. They are earning, or earned their citizen ship the correct and legal way, and expect others to do the same.
• Myth No. 3--All, or most, opponents of illegal immigration are racists. The truth: There is no recorded evidence to support this statement. While it is possible that we may find more racists among the people who are opposed to illegal immigration than we would find in the general population, it does not matter. Racism is not the issue. The issue is that our immigration laws are being broken, and that situation must be corrected now.
• Myth No. 4 -- Illegal immigrants are "law abiding people." The truth: One hundered per cent of the illegal aliens have broken one law--they have established residence in this country without following the immigration law by obtaining the proper documentation for doing so. Moreover, the portion of illegal aliens who have also broken other laws (those against theft, assault, etc.) is at least the same as it is among citizens and legal aliens.
• Myth No. 5 -- The United States has no right to control its borders and to grant access selectively. The truth: There is no RIGHT, nor is there any supreme world authority to grant such a right. By custom and tradition, all sovereign nations define their own rules regarding who enters their country, who stays, and for how long. Mexico, our strongest critic with respect to this myth, has some of the most stringent immigration laws on earth. There should be no double standard.

It is time to set aside all of the myths, the propaganda, the verbal manipulations, and the name calling. Just stop it altogether.

It is time focus objectively on the solutions of three basic problems:

• First: Can, and should, businesses in the United States bring in large numbers of non-citizens to supplement our labor force? If so, how long should the non-citizens be allowed to stay? What, if any, of the tax funded citizen benefits should be granted to the non-citizens and their families?
• Second: Because the first problem is so complex and controversial, we decided not to solve it, but instead we are just ignoring our existing immigration and labor laws. We have not controlled access at our borders as prescribed by law, and we have not punished the employers who have broken the law against hiring illegal aliens. As a result, millions of illegal aliens have taken residence in our country. Should we keep them all here and make them citizens? Put them in jail? Deport them? Should all of them be treated the same?
• Third: Because of second problem, more people are entering the country every day--thousands of them. The fear that some of these illegal aliens may be terrorists causes some people great concern. More and more people are becoming dissatisfied with the situation

I am not offering my solutions, but rather the process by which the solutions must be developed. We need to solve the third problem FIRST, and allocate some resources to the first and second problems while we do it--

• (While we are devising solutions to the first and second problems,) correct the mistake that caused the third problem. Secure the border and enforce the existing immigration laws. Punish employers who are breaking the law against hiring illegal aliens. Congress should fund and the executive department should carry this out as quickly as possible, to minimize the impact of the other problems.
• Then (while we are devising solutions to the first problem,) Come up with a plan (laws and funding) to deal with the illegal aliens that are already here. A compromise that accounts for the length of time that they have been here is reasonable and probably necessary. The most recent arrivals may be deported, not to return. The most established residents may deserve a "path to citizenship" that in some way acknowledges their positive contributions.
• Finally, present the solutions to the first problem in the form of bills to change or add laws, if necessary, to provide an immigrant work force for some businesses.

The process is necessarily sequential because the more complex problems take more time to solve. Laws are being broken. Our national executives must enforce the existing law while our lawmakers devise new and changed laws to resolve other probems. At the same time, our politicians can assuage our neighbors to the South, North, East, and West by assuring them that we will do our very best find equitable solutions.

But wait--our national executives and lawmakers ARE our politicians!

Do you suppose they have the intelligence, the courage, and the desire to take all that on? Can they stop building and spending their campaign funds long enough to tackle some really important work? Can they stop wading around in the rhetoric, the name calling, the myths, and the emotional shoutings of the idiots and lawbreakers, and work on objective, sequential, fact-based solutions to the problems?

It's All About Price

One more comment about Tower Records (I had to change the title of my earlier post today).

I searched all blogs for items on Tower Records, and came up with over 66,000 entries. I did not read them all, of course. But the few that I read quickly pointed out the simple truth. It goes like this:

• (1) Many folks lament the loss of a retail store with depth and variety of stock. But they can still find depth and variety on the internet.
• (2) Some miss the social interactions in the local record shop. But people will find other places to interact.
• (3) NOBODY WANTS TO PAY FULL RETAIL PRICE FOR A CD, especially if they have to buy gasoline for a 20-mile round trip to do it. Most of us who started patronizing Tower years ago remember the discounted pricing that has virtually vanished in recent years. Now, if you find the $18.99 CD at Amazon.com, you may be able to get it for $6.99 plus shipping.

When I am searching for a very obscure item, I may be prepared to pay full price for it. But before I do, you can bet I check Amazon and eBay to see if I can get it at a discounted price. So, along with you other cheapskates out there, I have probably contributed to the demise of Tower. But we may still ask why Tower could no longer find ways to discount their products the way that other stores do.

'nuff said.

Penultimate Thoughts on the Demise of Tower

Two weeks ago, Tower Records was sold to Great American Group for $134.3 million. Great American, a liquidator will sell off the Tower stock and close the stores.

The action constitutes a small loss to the largest market, fans of popular, rock, and hip-hop music. For them, the latest music is readily available at discounted prices in Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and other stores. The songs are available for download on the internet. Granted, the fidelity of the downloads is not as good as that of CDs, but most folks are not that concerned about fidelity. The music is still generally available.

On the other hand, the demise of Tower is a major loss to many much smaller segments of the music-loving market, specifically classical, medieval and Renaissance, jazz, country, folk, "new age," and "world." In other retail stores, CDs are just one of many products that they sell, and these genres are a necessary appendage. As a result, the stores offer little in either scope or depth for these types of music. Moreover, they do not offer the knowledgeable staff that Tower provided to help the buyers find the specific performances that will bring them the greatest pleasure. Nor do they allow the social dimension of meeting and sharing with other buyers with similar interests.

That this is a major loss is not just my opinion--it is fact. For example, here is a list of some major American cities that do not have a decent classical record store:

• New York City
• Philadelphia
• Cleveland
• Chicago
• Seattle

There are, fortunately for me, a few stores in the Los Angeles area where listeners to classical music and other genres of limited appeal may find some of the CDs that they seek:

• Amoeba Music in Hollywood
• Borders Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Dutton's Books in Brentwood and Beverly Hills

Maybe some of my readers can add to this list.

It is not always convenient, however, for a person to drive 40 or 50 miles to browse CDs in a store. Even in the stores that carry CDs, the space allocated continues to shrink in both scope and depth. For example:

• Borders or Barnes and Noble will offer several different performances of the The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. But how many of the more than 500 other concertos by Vivaldi do they have in stock on CD? How about the hundreds of other Vivaldi compositions? There are probably over 150 different performances of The Four Seasons recorded on CD but will you be able to find more than a handful in your local record store? There is a similar situation for Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, and for other widely known classical works.
• I suspect that, no matter how many stores you visit, you will not be able to find a work by Johannes Verhulst on CD. How many CDs can you find in Best Buy of Hawaiian slack key guitar music, or of Portuguese fados? Sure, you may not be interested in these works, but some people are.

The 2.5% of us who listen regularly to classical music are turning to on-line sources. They do not provide the social dimension of CD collecting, but they help us access those hard-to-find disks. The most prominent on-line source is Amazon.com, which offers a reasonably large variety and good value. I have listed a few sources that I frequent in my side bar. Maybe someone out there can suggest a few more.

Much important music has already been lost for all time. Some was lost to fires in libraries and monastaries. Some was just discarded, or lost. I am reminded of the anecdote about how the composer, Felix Mendelsohnn, noted one day that the fish he bought in the local market was wrapped in paper with musical notations on it. Closer inspection showed that the music was manuscript written by J.S. Bach. Mendelsohnn went back to the market, not to buy fish, but to buy the rest of the wrapping paper. As a result, several important Bach works were rescued from total loss, but we do not know how much more is gone forever.

Both Classical music and CDs as a medium for storing and listening to it are gradually disappearing from our lives. The sale of Tower records is just another part of the process. Some of this music is truly great art, and exceptionally beautiful to listen to. I hope we can do something soon to reverse the trend.

Political Correctness Strikes Again!

The Headline in the Los Angeles Times proclaims: "Only Men Can Be Flashers, Judge Says." (Click the link to see the whole article)

Robert W. Armstrong, a Superior Court judge in Riverside, California, dismissed charges of indecent exposure against a woman who exposed herself to a 14-year-old boy. The judge claims that the law against indecent exposure applies only to a person who "...exposes his person..." The judge goes on to say that "Usually when a section proscribes conduct, it's 'his or her.' This one is not. It's gender specific."

Either the judge or his grammar teacher was drawn off the correct grammatical path by the idiotic, artificial constructions of the politically correct revisionists. As a result, a man may be prosecuted for flashing, but a woman will not. I respectfully submit that his honor should master grammar as completely as he has the law.

I have already stated that the use of fake pronouns like hu and his/her is not good grammar, but rather a waste of time. Now we can see that it's worse than that. It has actually twisted the administration of the law.

The rule in grammar is fairly straightforward: In the phrase cited above, the pronoun, his, is a reflexive pronoun; it refers back to the non-gender-specific noun, person. In such cases, grammarians explain, his takes on the non-gender-specific nature of person.

Only in the mind of a political correctness idiot is there a need to add the words, or her. If there were, in fact, a requirement to do this, all government bodies would be forced to review every law written before (circa) 1970 and to correct every instance of the non-gender specific his. Of course, the political correctness nuts would much prefer that we waste our time on such an effort rather than simply teach everyone correct grammar. They have already proposed that we re-write the Christian Bible to make God gender-neutral.

I am willing to concede that I learned both grammar and arithmetic in the middle of the last century. Since then we have found it neither desirable nor practical to change rules of arithmetic, such as 2 + 3 = 5. But the political correctness nuts would have us embrace a false belief that we can change people's attitudes by changing the rules of grammar.

Of course, if they really want it that way, all you women out their may expose yourselves whenever you want. I'm happy with that. But I am not allowed to expose myself in public. You will probably be happy with that.

Ozymandias

It has been said that greatness is in the eye of the beholder. I believe that. Some people who achieve great power and wealth become obsessed with the belief that they are great, and insist that we all pay them due homage.

Those who are truly great realize that their greatness only lasts a lifetime, or at most a few generations. They are humble. They can see greatness in the achievements, large and small, of other people. The British poet, Shelley, captured the folly of self-perceived greatness in one of my favorite sonnets:

OZYMANDIAS

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Border Security? -- Not Yet!!

The U.S. border is not secure yet, and if the idiots in Washington get their wishes, it may never be. A posting on the Center for Individual Freedom contained the following:

• At the eleventh hour -- right before they recessed to campaign for your vote -- our elected leaders passed the Secure Fences Act of 2006 to build a 700-mile fence. But they know full well that it cannot become law until someone actually puts it on the President's desk and he signs it [which has not happened yet].
• They appropriated $1.2 billion in funds on a totally different bill [the one that the President signed], which you and I were told would go toward the building of the fence -- but in actuality doesn't have to be used to build that fence.
• Then they went home to campaign hoping you didn't notice the shell game before going to the polls on Election Day!

So, the Secure Fences Act of 2006, which implements the fence, has not gone to the president for signature yet; it's vulnerable to a veto, or a pocket veto by George W. (bring those illegals in) Bush.

I would support some form of Bush's 'path to citizenship' for the illegals that are already here, but only after the border is secure and the influx is stopped.

************Maybe we should let our senators, our representatives, and the President know that we really want border enforcement.******************

In an additional insult, a judge has overturned Ken Lay's conviction because Lay's death deprived him of an opportunity to appeal it. I guess our only consolation is that, if there is a Hell, Ken Lay is in it.

Justice is running a little thin this week.

Justice?

"My object all sublime

I shall achieve in time

To let the punishment fit the crime,

The punishment fit the crime..."

William S. Gilbert, The Mikado

Here are some facts from an editorial by Tom Lutz in the Los Angeles Times for October 17th:

Convicted: Dale Sisson--Stole $400 from Spicy N Hot Liquor in Sealy, Texas. He had a pellet gun, but did not fire it. Sentence : 40 years in jail.

Convicted: Monica Bennet--Drove the getaway car for Dale Sisson. Sentence: 8 years in jail.

Convicted: Andrew S. Fastow--Received roughly $45,000,000 for his role in the scheme that caused the loss of thousands of jobs and millions of investor dollars at Enron. He did not use a gun, but his manipulation of numbers on paper contributed to the energy crisis in California that killed three people . Sentence: 6 years in prison.

How's that for a slap on the wrist?

Tom Lutz attributes the inequity to the fact that Fastow has a college degree, while Sisson and Bennet do not.

I think it goes beyond that. Fastow is extremely wealthy. He has friends and influence in high places. He is one of the good-looking guys in suits that are members of the local country club. And he probably donates to the campaigns of politicians.

Most of us would agree that corporate executives are over-compensated, just as professional athletes and rock stars are. They get bonuses when they close factories, initiate layoffs, and cut employee benefits, even if their company continues to lose money.

Maybe executives consider their compensation reasonable reward for the magnitude and complexity of the decisions they make. But when they commit a crime that has large and complex impacts, the sentence should also be proportionately large. If we really want to send the right message to executives, Sisson's and Fastow's sentences should be interchanged.

A Strange Day

Nothing happened the way I planned it today. I got up, had breakfast, made the bed, and took Bogie and Lucy for a walk [that's Lucy on the left, Bogie on the right]. So far, so good.

Then I booted the computer to read my email.

First, the Norton Antivirus did not seem to boot correctly. The icon for on-line monitoring did not appear. A call to Norton support revealed that a file was probably corrupted, or inadvertantly deleted. I would have to uninstall Norton and re-install it. That would have been the second time this year. I really have not been happy with Norton. It puts files and logs all over my computer in strange places. And it runs sooooo slowly. So I uninstalled the Norton. But instead of re-installing it, I took Leo LaPorte's advice and downloaded Eset's NOD32 Antivirus. It's a more compact program and it runs faster. My first in-depth scan revealed about 20 infected files that Norton had not found. It's running now, and so far I am pleased. You windows users out there may want to get up the courage to make the change.

Then I went to check my email, and I could not connect to my cable internet provider to receive mail. A call to their support number revealed that they are having server problems in my area. Even their web home page would not come up in a reasonable time. So I am without email today.

Fortunately, my browser is able to connect with other web sites just fine, so here I am, blogging away.

Of course the swivel chair in my office is broken. A couple of the casters broke, and they are a weird type that screws in, so the hardware replacements won't work. I went to a used office furniture store today and found a replacement. It has a wood base and wood arms, and is well-cushioned. Only $40.00, it seems sturdily built; and it's very comfortable.

Things took a better turn when Bonnie got home from work. We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant for dinner. Bonnie got filet mignon and I got scallops--dee-licious!

Well, the email still doesn't work, so I'm going to join Bonnie and watch some television.

SEA-FEVER

by John Masefield

I MUST down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I originally posted this poem without comment. The poem is one of my favorites. It must be one of the best-loved poems in the English language. My blog search produced over 200 postings that quote the poem, or discuss it.

Sea-Fever is also one of the poems that are most frequently quoted incorrectly. When the poem was first published (1902) in Salt-Water Ballads, the first line read (as Masefield intended) " I MUST down to the seas again..."

Some people felt compelled to read or say, "I must go down to the seas again (the rhythm seems more natural, but it puts equal emphasis on the words must and down). John Masefield intentionally omitted the word, "go." He also used capital letters for the word, "MUST." The missing beat in the rhythm and the capitalization tell the reader to give the word "must" more emphasis--"I MUST down to the seas again..." When someone adds the word, "go," and changes the capitalization, he takes away the imperative.

The erroneous "go" has found its way in to some later printings of the poem. In 78 blogs I found that quote the poem, slightly over half (43) include the erroneous "go." Also in the original, the title, Sea-Fever, is hyphenated.

Even with the errors, the poem remains beautiful and compelling. But if you truly love the poem, quote it correctly.

Personal Accountability

In an editorial in the Los Angeles Times, Juan Williams, a black man, takes the so-called 'black leaders' to task for attacking him instead of dealing directly with the problems of the black community. (see my link entitled Williams on Accountability). Williams believes that these so-called leaders are accountable for serious problems among blacks, and wrote a book on the subect.

Bill Cosby was criticized by 'black leaders' for voicing similar opinions. Both Williams and Cosby maintain that blacks can break the chain of poverty by making good choices, e.g. graduate high school, get a job and keep it, marry before you have children, and stay in the family to parent the children properly.

The 'black leaders,' according to Williams, blame the situation on racism. They call for more government programs to solve the problems. They play on the white man's guilt to extort big handouts from him. That, of course, is the easy and profitable way out. It says, in effect, "I don't want to solve my own problems. The government should solve them for me." This is not to say that racism was not, or is not, a problem. But there are government regulations that prohibit discrimination. According to Williams, 75% of black Americans are taking advantage of those laws and, by making the right choices, are becoming successful.

Black people are capable of helping themselves. They can stop their own self-defeating behavior. They can embrace success and hard work instead of failure and frustration. As I said in a previous post, good choices have good consequences.

The real black leaders today are not Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Maxine Waters. The real leaders are Juan Williams and Bill Cosby. Their prescription is a difficult one: take a good look in the mirror and change your behavior. If you see a victim who blames others for his problems, don't just complain and wait for the next government program; start making the right choices. Sure, it's hard work, but that's how successful people get that way. According to Mr. Williams, a Pew Research Center poll indicates that many blacks agree.

Our Half-hearted Ally

In my first post I stated that Pakistan is at best a half-hearted supporter in our war on terrorism. We cannot count on them to capture Osama Bin Laden, because they view the Taliban and the terrorists more favorably than Hussein's Iraq did.

An article in The Week magazine this week pretty much confirms my opinion (see the Musharraf link in my side bar). No doubt Musharraf believes that if he is too hard on the Taliban he risks a coup that would put his nuclear weapons in the hands of the terrorists. He is probably right. So there he is, doing just enough to convince President Bush that he is helping us against Al Qaida, but just little enough not to enrage the Taliban hard liners.

This is typical of Middle East leaders--they offer only half of a solution. We saw the same thing in Jordan with Palestinian terrorists, and in Lebanon with Hezbollah. Dictatorship or democracy, the governments pretend to be everyone's friend and nobody's enemy. Yet they cannot understand why Westerners do not trust them.

Musharraf has put President Bush in exactly the same position. Bush stated that a nation who harbors terrorists is just as much our enemy as the terrorists are. But he has allied with Musharraf's Pakistan, which harbors terrorists. It's very little consolation that Pakistan is a democracy and Iraq was a dictatorship. There does not seem to be a better alternative.

Archimedes Secrets

Lost manuscripts of Archimedes have been rediscovered! A genuinely fascinating article about how this was done is found on the link I have added to the side bar. I think that blogger is worth visiting again.

See the enemy and his motivations clearly and do not dismiss them.

Here is a book review that is worth reading:
Victor Hanson on Thornton

The reviewer, Victor Davis Hanson is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University , a Professor Emeritus at California University , Fresno , and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services.

I should point out that if you are a flaming liberal, Hanson's writings may arouse your passionate anger. It appears that Bruce Thornton, the author of the book, is a conservative as well. They seem to expose the kind of facts that make liberals cringe.

But don't make the mistake of dismissing Professor Hanson as a "right-wing fanatic." Close examination will show he is nearer to the middle road than your first impressions may indicate. For example, he advocates "some sort of earned citizenship for most hardworking illegal aliens," and objects, on both practical and ethical grounds, to mass deportations.

Talk about conservative...

I recently found a link to an editorial that claims we are on the brink of a war with Mexican terrorists. I have added it to the links in the sidebar.

I found the link in another blog, which also has some interesting items:
jillosophy

I won't comment any further--you can read, and judge for yourself.

I Read It in the Paper

Unlike many of you seasoned bloggers out there, I still read a printed newspaper almost every day. One reason is that the writing is done by professionals, and accordingly, is generally higher quality in terms of grammar and style. Additionally, editors filter the content to eliminate, or at least to reduce, the tedious, the boring, the idiotic, and the frivolous.
Finally, old habits are the hardest to break; I know that I could get the same material from the newspaper's web site, but I can read the paper in places where I don't generally take my desktop computer.

One of my favorite sections is the editorial pages. They are a good mix of professional writing and amateur writing (in the letters to the editor). I see a reasonably broad spectrum of opinion, and I am occasionally treated to a fine example of irony.

When I read the editiorials, I first look for a title that 'grabs' me. Then I read the editorial itself. Finally I look to see who wrote the item. On several occasions, I have found myself reading an exceptionally fine editorial in the Los Angeles Times Opinion section. The writer would examine a situation from several different points of view, and try to see how those views relate to the situation of the persons who may hold them. He would suggest the possible outcomes of different alternative actions, and weigh the potential benefits or consequences of the actions. Several of these exceptionally fine editorials were authored by an editor named Michael Kinsley.

It turns out that Mr. Kinsley was the editor of the Opinion section of the Times for a little over a year, until he was let go about a year ago. He is now the American Editor of The Guardian in London. His departure was a direct result of the purchase of the LA Times from the Chandler family by the Tribune Company of Chicago. His editorial in this Sunday's Opinion section was the first of his to appear since he left.

The editorial I refer to is entitled 'Where does the Times go?' But it is not the bitter vituperation of a disgruntled ex-employee. Sure, Kinsley speculates about the possible reason for his dismissal, but he is able to see the event as it relates to the takeover by the Tribune Co. He even points out the logic of the company in making the staff cuts. The real thrust of Kinsley's article is expressed in the title. He proposes that a paper of the quality of the Times should become a national newspaper, of equal or greater influence than the New York Times, the Washington Post, or USA Today. And he suggests some steps that the Tribune Co. should take to accomplish that. The editorial is a fine example of high quality writing.

For those of you who do not bother with printed newspapers, I have posted a link to his most recent piece in the LA Times on line. Check it out for yourself, and you will see what I mean.

The Tower Tumbles

It's final--the company that bought Tower Records announced its plan to sell all of the Tower retail stores. That's the end of another institution, and one less source for lovers of classical music.

That's all right, I guess. It's easier for me to find what I want on the internet. I just have to wait a few days before I can listen to my purchase. That will work for my classical music interests, since I can usually count on the American Record Guide to announce and review most of the exciting classical releases. But for all of the other genres that interest me, I will be limited to what I can find on the shelves of the local Borders book store.

The Tower Stumbles

I do love classical music--and some pop, and some rock, and some folk, and some jazz, and some new age, and some world. I listen a lot, almost daily. I have a small (by some standards at least) collection of about 500 compact disks. And I have some vinyl long playing records, and some reel-to-reel magnetic tapes. I have reached the stage where I have recordings of almost all of my favorite classical compositions. In some cases, I have several recordings of a work, by different performers. Every so often I 'discover' something that I have not heard before, and the collection continues to grow.

If the ratings of local radio stations are any indication, I share this love with only about 2.5% of the population.

For years, a primary source of recordings for me has been the local record shop. Have you noticed that they are getting harder and harder to find? Many of the chain stores have folded--Music Plus, and The Wherehouse, to name a couple. They are falling victim to discount stores like Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. Those competitors lack both the depth and scope of offering that a serious collector of classical music needs. The popular music side has suffered too, primarily because of the availability of mp3 downloads on line.

Even the dedicated record shops go through a predictable cycle. When they first open, the classical music section is a garden of delights. There are works by the major composers, of course, often with a choice of performers. And the lesser known composers are represented as well. As time goes on, however, the classical section diminishes in size and variety. Before long, all that appears are some Strauss Waltzes, Mozart for breakfast, the Best of Beethoven, or Favorite Adagios. So, by limiting itself to the "best sellers," the record shop drives away the classical music collector who is exploring an obscure work or composer.

One of my favorite haunts has been Tower Records. The different branches vary, but in general they have kept a large and varied selection of classical disks available. The Los Angeles store has a separate building for the classical music lovers.

But, alas, Tower Records has filed for bankruptcy a second time, and is now up for sale. Only time will tell who will purchase the stores and what will become of them.

One of my closest friends lives in Cleveland Ohio. There is no Tower Records there. In fact, there is no good record store in the city. The same will be true soon for southern California.

Fortunately, we have the internet. So far, I have had excellent results with Amazon.com, H&B Recordings Direct, ArkivMusic, mvdaily, and Sonyclassical.co.uk. And I know there are others as well. But it's just not as much fun as a visit to the local record shop.

Border Security--A Step in the Right Direction

Today, President Bush signed the Homeland Security Appropriations act. At last, with some pressure from the public, and the work of the House of Representatives, our President has taken a step in the right direction. This positive action by our Government on one of the nation's largest problems is long overdue.

The act authorizes several actions to improve security on our southern border (summarized from the Presidents speech at the signing):

• $30.8 billion in discretionary funding for Homeland Security in fiscal year 2006, an increase of $1.8 billion over the 2005 levels. This bill will help us identify terrorists seeking to enter our country, safeguard our cities against weapons of mass destruction, and better prepare the federal government to respond to catastrophic attack.
• $2.3 billion for the Border Patrol so we can expand the number of agents.
• $139 million to improve our technology and intelligence capabilities, including portable imaging machines, and cameras and sensors and automated targeting systems that focus on high-risk travelers and goods.
• $70 million to install and improve fencing, lighting, vehicle barriers and roads.
• $3.7 billion for immigration and customs enforcement, so we can find and return the illegal immigrants who are here. This bill will fund the hiring of 100 new immigration enforcement agents and 250 criminal investigators.
• 2,000 new beds for our detention facilities. That will bring the number of beds up to nearly 20,000. Our goal is to return every single illegal entrant, with no exceptions.
• For Mexicans who cross into America illegally, we have a program called "interior repatriation," where we fly or bus Mexican illegal immigrants all the way back to their hometowns. The farther away from the border we send them, the more difficult it will be for them to turn around and cross right back into America.

President Bush also said: "To deal with employers who violate our immigration law, this bill strengthens our enforcement capabilities by adding new agents and doubling their resources. We've got to crack down on employers who flout our laws. And we will give honest employers the tools they need to spot fake documents and ensure that their workers are respecting our laws. America is a country of laws, and we're going to uphold our laws for the good of the citizens of this country"

I have also been told that this measure makes the construction of a tunnel under the border a felony.

These are all things that need to be done. The Homeland Security Appropriations act is one of the most important accomplishments of the year. But the 4 or 5 news sources I checked on the internet all printed the same, much briefer, release about the act. Only by leaving the news area and searching all of google did I find the above information--at the White House web page. So the news media do not share the same sense of importance about this legislation that I and a majority of our population have. We must stop the invasion, and this is an essential step in doing so.

Of course, the President still wants a guest worker program to be put into place, and some kind of path to citizenship for temporary workers. We probably need those things, too, but only after the provisions of the present act are carried out.

It remains to be seen if the administration will implement quickly.

My Superhero Name

I just obtained my superhero name. It is:

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Super Fire Your Superpower is Cybernetics Your Weakness is Ice Your Weapon is Your Poison Blaster Your Mode of Transportation is Clown Car

What's your Superhero Name?

There seems to be a whole bunch of crazy things like this that you can add to a blog. I may try some more.

Campaign Item

I thought I would take a break from the heavy stuff and share something from my hobby. This is a picture of one of my favorite campaign badges.

It's pretty rare--I am aware of only two or three like it. It is 7/8 inch in diameter. A 1.25-inch version also exists. The carpenter's square symbolizes Theodore Roosevelt's promise of a "square deal" for everyone.

Very few items from the 1912 campaign have the date on them. Theodore Roosevelt ran on the Progressive Party ticket that year, after being deprived by incumbant President Taft of the nomination from the Republican Party. A reporter asked T.R. if he were healthy enough to endure the rigors of a presidential campaign. T.R. replied, "I am as fit as a bull moose." The bull moose became the mascot of the Progressive Party.

I have a strong admiration for Theodore Roosevelt. That's why I decided to call my blog the Bullmoose Journal.

A Waste of Time and Energy

Today's Los Angeles Times had an editorial about a scholar named D. N. DeLuna. She invented a new pronoun, hu (pronounced with a short u, as in huh), to be used in lieu of his/her to replace the gender-specific pronouns, his and her.

The editor asks, "Is sensitivity to feminists and grammarians reason enough to reprogram our spell-check programs?"

To me, the answer is obvious: Don't use hu, or his/her, or any other silly concoction. Say and write things the way we have for the last 200 years or so. These machinations are the epitome of 'political correctness' gone awry. Besides looking absurd in print, these machinations are a waste of time and energy.

People who have big inferiority compexes and small minds somehow believe that a sentence such as "Sometimes a writer is his own worst enemy," causes a reader to be biased against women. They claim that readers will lose their gender bias if instead we write, "Sometimes a writer is hu own worst enemy."

See, we all feel better already! What total hogwash that is.

The 'politically correct' fanatics are incapable of solving large and complex problems, such as eliminating bigotry, abolishing world hunger, or ending terrorism. Instead, they nibble away at the edges of a problem by proposing fixes to the minor nits that their petty minds can grapple with. It's bad enough that they waste their time this way; but then they try to convince you and me to waste ours too.

With the proper techniques, parents can teach their children to have no gender bias, regardless of what words are on the printed pages that they read. But that would require us all to learn and practice good parenting techniques. Many people have demonstrated over the last 10,000 years or so that they are not willing to do that. Instead, they waste their time and energy contorting our language, which is apparently much easier.

No huperson being in hu right mind should make hu children believe that 'political correctness' really fixes anything.