Mining or Damming...Which is Worse?

Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning is pushing for support for introducing facilities into Kentucky to convert coal to gasoline or a similar product that can be used to power cars and other equipment. There's a huge coal reserve in the state, much, if not most, of what's being mined now shipped out of state primarily to power plants generating electricity. By installing conversion plants in the state, the coal would not only be mined but processed in Kentucky, creating jobs for many more people than just the miners.

Understandably, there are many people who see this matter as creating an even further threat to the mountains of eastern Kentucky and the flatter lands in the western part of the state due to strip-mining, although much of Kentucky coal is still mined underground. Strip-mining has changed the looks of many once-beautiful mountains, as well as created unwanted holding ponds in both the eastern and western areas of the state. Laxity in arranging for emptied deep mines has also caused problems, such as the "blowout" of sludge a few years ago eventuating in the pollution of waterways all the way to the Ohio River.

Fines are assessed and damages awarded in instances in which problems have arisen. These take care of material matters, but those who inveigh most heavily against mining do so for reasons of aesthetics – changing the landscape, sometimes to hideous departures from their once verdant, primitive state. This is regrettable, though it has been amply proven, especially when operators are constrained to obey the law and restore these areas, that, though different in appearance in the short term, these affected areas can be restored to beauty and usefulness in the long term, the latter important in establishing "flat" places for the building of facilities.

Writers and poets, as well as conservationists, have been especially critical of strip-mining, in particular. A strip-mined mountain is not a pretty sight as it's being mined or in the immediate aftermath of this procedure. The mountain is not removed in the process – or at least most of it – but undergoes a significant change. As restoration takes place, its beauty and "different" usage (and not just for golf courses), though different from those of its previous configuration, are advanced.

One wonders, in light of this subject, what the writers, poets, conservationists, and just plain citizens think of this matter as it might be compared to the lakes impounded by dams – lakes that displace beautiful, verdant valleys, not to mention the thousands of people – removing from sight forever once beautiful parts of nature. Actually, those folks don't seem to think anything about exchanging the beauty of the covered lands for huge puddles of water hardly aesthetically striking to the eye. A flat water-surface doesn't engender much attention, at least until it's whipped up a bit by a strong breeze.

Lake Cumberland, backed up behind Wolf Creek Dam, is the largest of Kentucky's lakes, impounding 63,350 acres, or just over 99 square miles at top flood-control level. With much, if not most, of its surface in Kentucky; Lake Barkley impounds 57,920 acres, or 91 square miles, and Kentucky Lake, the largest manmade lake in the eastern United States, with a huge area in Kentucky, covers 160,300 acres, or 250 square miles.

These three huge lakes cover an area of 440 Square miles, the size of Kentucky's Madison County, among the largest in the state. If Interstate 75 had to cross it, instead of just traversing it, the bridge would reach from just south of Lexington nearly to Mt. Vernon. Richmond and Berea would have long since gone beneath its waves, just as much of Burnside, including U.S.-highway 27, the railroad, two bridges, and the business section, did when Lake Cumberland was impounded, even though the town was some 40 miles away from the dam, as the crow flies.

This is not a brief for the coal industry, though the gasification plants would bring in many new jobs, meaning a significant employment and tax-base increase, not to mention the raising of the standard of living for many citizens who now live at the poverty level. It is, rather, a suggestion that folks whose primary interest is in the aesthetics connected to mining also compare them to those of river-control, a necessary enterprise, especially in affording water sources for communities and cities such as Lexington that depend upon dams for impounding water for private and commercial use.

The mountains and flatlands are changed by surface mining, but the changes can be, if not completely reversed, put to good use, even aesthetically. Once they go under water impounded by dams, however, those lands will not be seen again, no matter their beauty, and this is not even to mention that probably most of the former owners were stripped of their land through the "power of eminent domain," whether they liked it or not. Something to think about.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Dr. Holsinger...Latter-Day Hitler?

The president recently announced his nomination of UK Medical School professor and former Kentucky health secretary James Holsinger to the post of U.S. Surgeon General. Holsinger is also a retired Army Reserve Major General and has taught in several medical schools, besides serving as Chancellor of the UK Medical Center. He would seem to be the perfect choice with respect to medical and administrative experience.

Terrible problem: The various gay-lesbian outfits consider Dr. Holsinger a homophobe and therefore unqualified for a job that has nothing to do with sexual preference or orientation or whatever else can be used to describe people who use bodily orifices in strange ways, but only with the health and welfare of the citizens. Actually, these folks should be thankful for someone like Holsinger to look out for them, since they do things with their genitals and other body parts that predispose them to exposure to deadly germs in strategic locations. After all, when a component used to discharge impurities is placed in someone else's mouth or rectum there can be a heap of infection, not least among which are things like syphilis and AIDS.

Liberal newspaper outlets such as the McClatchy-owned Lexington Herald-Leader become terribly exercised when there's a perceived threat to the glorification of homosexuality, such as in its published belief that the University of Kentucky has to do special things in order to attract homosexuals to the faculty, since they are among the "brightest and the best," though one wonders about the lack of brainpower necessary to doing anal/oral sex, if, indeed, these procedures are sex. So, the drumbeat has begun. From June 6 through June 10, the newspaper put Holsinger on the front page three times, twice above the fold, obviously making certain that Holsinger is recognized as the very devil itself, a threat to the national well-being and security, and probably should be in jail or some booby-hatch.

The H-L did the same thing – only to a much greater extent – last year, when it took out its wrath on the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky., because the school, operating on its well-documented code of conduct, expelled a homosexual, not for being such but for advertising it on the Internet, complete with lurid pictures. This is also what happens in the military. As Yogi would say, "Deja Vu all over again."

Always to be expected when venality is to be remarked is the comparison of a culprit with Adolph Hitler, usually in conjunction with the Holocaust. It would seem hard to do that in this case, involving a man who has spent his career in trying to help people, but H-L cartoonist Joel Pett managed to pull it off in the issue of June 10. In his cartoon is a man who has rolled up his shirt-sleeve so that his admirers can see the number or whatever that's tattooed on his arm, a la the tattooed Jews killed by the millions by the Nazis in World War II. The caption: "Actually, I'm gay…see, here's my tattoo of the new surgeon general's warning about me." It doesn't get any lower than this, but keep watching. The H-L will find a way to outdo even this bit of mockery of both Holsinger and the victims of the Holocaust. One remembers when the paper actually editorially compared former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott (R.I.P.) to Hitler some years ago.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

A Muslim by Any Other Name

There was an article in the 10 June Lexington Herald-Leader by Nabeel Jawahir, a Lexington resident who is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Kentucky. His writing was a sort of apologetic for the Muslim community with regard to the claim many make that the community is not vociferous enough in its condemnation of the actions taken by those who participate in jihad, or "holy war," such "war" actually, if not primarily, comprised of acts of murder and terrorism by Muslims on infidels (all non-Muslims), but also if not more so by Muslims upon Muslims.

Jawahir went to some pains to explain that the vast majority of Muslims – certainly those in this country – want no part of the type of jihad that everyone sees played out every day on the TV news programs. He's right about that, and most folks don't blame American Muslims for the atrocities that are routine stuff of Muslims in other parts of the world, such as Sudan, where the Muslim-controlled government has been engaging in genocide of the country's "infidels" for years – up to a couple-hundred-thousand dead numbered most recently, as consensually figured by those who are supposed to know. This is not even to mention Iraq and Lebanon, where Muslims kill indiscriminately – non-Muslims, women, children, anyone who just happens to be in the wrong place at the right time.

In any case, this is how Jawahir finished his column: Kentucky is home to thousands of Muslims who make positive contributions every day. We are part of the fabric of this state. In fact, one of the most prominent Muslims in the world is from Kentucky. If it does not immediately come to mind that I am referring to Muhammad Ali, perhaps this illustrates the extent to which positive imagery has been disassociated from Islam. A worse example to prove his point could not have been imagined by Jawahir.

Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., named for his father who is said to have been named for one of the most famous emancipationists in the South, also a Kentuckian. Insulting his own father, he changed his name. His notoriety and fame accrue to his one-time ability to knock the stuffing out of others – even their lives – if they should be very unlucky. He waged his own jihad for one thing – MONEY – by trying to knock out other men's brains. Surely, Jawahir could have found a better example of a Muslim than that, someone whose legacy is blood dripping from other men's eyes, mouth, ears, and wherever else he tormented them.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Obama, Dodd Incise Surgeon-General Nominee; H-L Happy

Predictably, the Lexington Herald-Leader had as a front-page account in the June 8 issue the positions of two members of the Senate committee that will hold hearings regarding the president's nomination of Dr. James Holsinger of the University of Kentucky Medical School faculty to the position of U.S. Surgeon General. Senators Obama and Dodd, both members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chaired by Massachusetts democrat Ted Kennedy, are already on the record as looking with a jaundiced eye at the nomination. Their beef, ostensibly: Holsinger just might be anti-homosexual, thus an absolute violator of political correctness, the ruling ideology of the day. So, a deep incision into Holsinger is appropriate.

Coincidentally, Obama and Dodd are also running for the democrat nomination vis-à-vis the presidential sweepstakes next year, as is fellow democrat Senator Hillary Clinton, who is also a member of Kennedy's committee. It will be interesting to see if or how she responds to this nomination, especially in light of the fact that Obama is reputed, according to polls, to be gaining on her. The candidates made much of their religion in the last debate, so one wonders if Hillary, taking into account the aversion to homosexuality held in the community of evangelicals and her unique unpopularity in the South, stronghold of the evangelicals, will join Obama and Dodd, keep quiet, or actually look with favor upon the nomination, consequently putting space between her and Obama. Dodd doesn't register, at least yet, as being a serious contender.

Holsinger, just as does everyone else, undoubtedly has personal views regarding homosexuality, but the surgeon general's responsibility has nothing to do with religion, but only with the health and well-being of the society. Obama said in a statement, "I have serious reservations about nominating someone who would inject his own anti-gay ideology into critical decisions about the health and well-being of our nation. ... This administration must know that the United States Surgeon General's office is no place for bigotry or ideology that would trump sound science and good judgment."

Dodd said in his statement, "I fear that Dr. Holsinger's previous comments and actions will prevent him from representing each and every individual." So…these two politicians have apparently already made up their minds about Holsinger and found him unacceptable. In a paper prepared for a United Methodist study of homosexuality in 1991, Holsinger, using documentation, remarked the physical damages related to participation in homosexual behavior, as well as the fact that such behavior is unnatural, though this is readily understood by anyone with walking-around sense. His statement had to do with the science and obvious nature of the matter, which would be his only concern as S-G.

As a church matter, according to the Herald-Leader, Holsinger is on the record as officially ruling with others, that a practicing lesbian could not continue to be a minister and that a pastor could withhold church membership from a gay man. This has nothing to do with the science regarding homosexuality or with the medical ramifications of homosexual behavior, the parameters of the surgeon general's responsibility. Ironically, Senator Dodd is a Catholic, in whose denomination homosexuality is not acceptable and considered immoral.

The Lexington Herald-Leader sort of declared war on the Baptists (Holsinger is Methodist) just over a year ago. It began about 08 April at which time the paper started a run of seven front-page-above-the-fold articles out of nine front pages (six consecutively), complete with huge pictorial displays and equally huge interior sections of the (A) section, devoted to the expulsion by the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky., of a student who “outed” himself as homosexual on two Web sites (including details about his “dating life” and pictures of young men kissing each other). The editorialists also had a field day(s) in excoriating the school.

In the regulations governing the student body and spelled out in the student’s handbook was the school policy making homosexual behavior cause for expulsion, as well as fornication, adultery, drinking on campus, etc. In this regard, it is noteworthy that homosexuals are routinely discharged from the military, as well. In a statement made in March, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace said this, "I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts." One wonders if Obama or Dodd will call for Pace's resignation before his retirement later this year.

Also in the H-L Op-Ed section of 24 April 2006 was a column by Christina Gilgor, the executive director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, headquartered in the state capital to advance the homosexual agenda. Citing Kinsey’s statistics, Gilgor claimed 10 percent, or some 400,000 Kentuckians, are homosexual, a claim so absurd as to be laughable. There will be more front-page stuff about Holsinger and homosexuality, all of it as unflattering as possible. Stay tuned.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

A Scalpel for Dr. Holsinger (or a scalp)

The country needs a surgeon-general and President Bush picked one a few days ago, nominating a prominent cardiologist, James W. Holsinger, a member of the faculty at the Lexington, Ky., University of Kentucky Medical School, a seminary graduate, a member of the United Methodist Judicial Council since 2000 and its president since 2004. Dr. Holsinger also served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services for two years, returning to the university in 2005. He has taught at several medical schools and spent more than three decades in the Army Reserve, retiring in 1993 as a major general.

There's a problem, to wit, the homosexuals are out for his scalp-(el). He comes before Senator Kennedy's committee, on which also sit senators Clinton, Obama, and Dodd, all president wannabes and therefore anxious for all possible votes, meaning a huge pandering to the homosexual community. This will be a humdinger of a hearing, also taking into account that anything goes – even the weird concept of men marrying men – in Massachusetts, Kennedy's state, as well as that of Congressman Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and the highest-profile homosexual in the nation.

The "gay and lesbian" groups are having a hissy-fit over the appointment, primarily because of a paper prepared by Holsinger in 1991 for a United Methodist Church committee studying homosexuality. Holsinger said this: "When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur." Obviously, he merely stated the obvious, but he also produced studies showing higher rates of sexually transmitted disease in gay men and the likelihood of injury from anal sex to argue that homosexuality isn't natural, according to a Lexington Herald-Leader article that also noted that Holsinger's nomination is opposed by the groups Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and AIDS Action.

A further fly in the ointment is occasioned by the fact that Holsinger helped found a Lexington, Ky., church, Hope Springs Community Church, that has a ministry dedicated to helping gay people who want to become heterosexual. The homosexual community insists that its perversion is not correctable since it's not a disease, something Holsinger apparently doesn't accept.

The question, of course, has to do with whether or not Holsinger will be able to separate what many feel to be his religious beliefs from his secular duties in the high-profile surgeon-general job that has to do with purely scientific/medical/health matters. The question is moot, however, since Holsinger is already on the record as having outlined the physical damage caused by homosexual behavior. His religion, whatever his beliefs, does not intersect with the cold, hard, physical facts of the matter. In any case, the brains of a genius are not needed for one to understand that homosexual behavior is unnatural, and just the publicity given to the AIDS epidemic in the last 25 years is proof of the horrific damage it causes.

Dr. Joel Ginsberg, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association based in (where else) San Francisco, said, "He's (Holsinger's) pathologizing homosexual practices to make a point, and we think that's inappropriate scientifically." If Ginsberg considers the "point" to be religious in nature, he, of all people – a medical doctor – needs to understand that Holsinger's religious convictions (Golden Rule) should impel him to level with the public about the physical problems associated with homosexual behavior, and that's a purely scientific approach with religion an issue only as it relates to one's being his "brother's keeper," a spiritual concept that also can be held without benefit of any religious conviction.

If Ginsberg considers the "point" to be that Holsinger's position is that people are not "born that way," meaning they can't change, the point is still moot in that, regardless of the origin of homosexuality (genetic or not), Holsinger must deal with the facts on the ground and let the "experts" continue the never-ending discussion of whether or not people are "born that way." Holsinger obviously feels that change is possible, regardless of the circumstances, and shouldn't be faulted for it. Indeed, his approach should be welcome for the very reason that the "converts" become much less susceptible to the physical damage that the studies – not to mention just plain common sense – indicate accrue to homosexual behavior.

According to the Herald-Leader, Holsinger's colleagues insist that his "personal objections to homosexuality -- if he had any -- would not affect policy decisions as surgeon general." He is, indeed, a highly respected citizen and profoundly well-qualified in both medicine and administration, so Kennedy's committee – Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – should have no trouble with this nomination. Kennedy also serves on the Judiciary Committee and on the Armed Services Committee, the latter particularly germane to the hearing and the job, since known homosexuals are not allowed in the military.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Kentucky Education Reform Act Gone Amok...Again

The intersection of the Kentucky Education reform Act of 1990 with some of the consequent stupidity it entailed can be seen in the recent firing of the most successful public-school basketball coach in Lexington. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader of 06 June, Champ Ligon, coach of the boys basketball team at Bryan Station High School during the last five years said he was informed a couple days before by school principal Gladys Peoples that he was not to be rehired, another way of indicating that he was fired, since teachers/coaches sign contracts.

This is what Ligon said, "(Peoples) told me I had done a great job bringing the program back to a high level, but she felt it was time to give somebody else a chance to take it to an even higher level." The problem with that statement lies in the fact that Ligon's teams have won more games in the last three years than any other Fayette-system high school. The records, respectively, are 20-8; 20-10; and 24-8. In fact, he took a team that had won only two games the year before he took the job and in two years managed to compile this 3-year record. Especially considering the fact that at one time during the season Bryan Station was rated second in the state, one wonders to what level Ms. Peoples wanted the team to aspire. It's already at the top, obviously, unless Peoples thinks it is allowed to play on the college level.

Now to the connection with the Education Reform Act! Where is Fayette school superintendent Stu Silberman in all of this? He's paid about a quarter of a million a year to see to things such as personnel…or is he? According to KERA, the school-based council (principal, three teachers, two parents) can hire and fire its principal, so it certainly can hire and fire its coach. The Bryan Station council was not mentioned in the H-L article, nor was Mr. Silberman. Indeed, a ruling came down to the Fayette system from the Kentucky Supreme Court a few years ago stating flatly that, pursuant to KERA, the elected system superintendent had no say in the hiring of a principal, nor does the elected board of education. Much of KERA has been rescinded, but the school-based council provision, by far the worst aspect of the statute, is still in place.

Ms. Peoples apparently has not commented other than in the way Ligon explained. If she has a genuine reason, she should explain. Is moral turpitude, for instance, involved? Ligon said he was shocked and that he expected to finish his career at Bryan Station, so he seems not to be afraid of any sort of scandal. His record, sports-wise, speaks for itself. Did Ms. Peoples act on her own, or did she have authority from her school council? She needs to explain this.

Is the element of race a factor? A look at a Web-site photograph taken of the Bryan Station team at its banquet earlier this year reveals that the team (at least the ten players in the picture) is made up of virtually all African Americans, but Ligon is white. The school has a large African-American population. Is Peoples playing the race card? Does she have a friend or acquaintance she wants to have the job? Does she have any other incentive for doing what is obviously off-the-wall, by any standard? There has to be a better reason than "getting someone to take the team to a higher level." She needs to level with the public.

This is not to say Peoples doesn't have a valid reason for her action. It is to say that – unless she knows absolutely nothing about basketball – the reason Ligon said she gave doesn't signify. The end of this episode is not in sight, but it serves as another wake-up call on the damage KERA has done to Kentucky education.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Preemption & Beheading - Right & Wrong

The vagaries attendant upon the existence of mankind are called to mind during this week because of both past and current events. June 5 marks the 40^th anniversary of the Seven-Day War between the Israelis and the surrounding Arab nations. It was not the first war by any means since the founding of Israel and its acceptance in the United Nations in 1948. War started, indeed, as soon as Israel became a nation and continued through the 50s, though the Arabs (aka Muslims, for the most part) could never quite get it together, and the Israelis, tired of the constant harassment that had gone on for years, pulled off what some might call the first preemptive strike in modern history in 1967, literally changing the map in the region.

For their part, the Palestinians refused to organize a nation in 1948, claiming that all of the area called Palestine belonged to them, though one-third of the population at that time was Israeli, and despite the fact that much (nearly half or so) of the territory allotted to Israel was the Negev Desert, the dwelling place of Bedouins and their herds and virtually useless for any productive purpose. This means that the people called Palestinians chose to be refugees in their own region, did virtually nothing to establish productivity, and have lived largely off the largesse of their Arab neighbors. This is the case today. They live in poverty, with no hope in sight, since the two major parties, Fatah and Hamas, the former the descendent group of Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organization and the latter a radical Islamic fundamentalist movement, can't even live with each other, much less form a government and join the community of nations.

This segues into a circumstance noted in an Associated Press account recently having to do with the alarming increase in the number of beheadings (a "weapon" of choice among Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East) in Asia. The article had to do particularly with this increase in Thailand and gave as an example a beheading of a 72-year-old man by a 23-year-old Thai Muslim, who plainly said he was told to carry out the gory deed and did not dare to disobey. His words: "I knew they would come after me if I did not do what I was told." The irony is that folks in this country complain about the un-injurious interrogation method called "water-boarding," while the orders a young man receives in his Mosque (religious fiat, therefore) call for something too heinous to contemplate.

The article went on to enumerate the number of known beheadings (one can only wonder at the actual number) in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. There have been 25 in Thailand alone since 2004, a nation with no past history of this gory and senseless practice. The problem area is in the southern part of the nation, which is heavily Islamic and where 2,200 killings have been carried out in an Islamic-inspired insurgency since 2004. This calls to mind the beheadings and other brutalities carried out at the behest of the late Zarqawi, Muslim-al Qaeda honcho in Iraq.

It also calls to mind the fact that Muslims – particularly young Muslim men – are brainwashed by their imams and other Muslim clerics into believing that jihad (holy war) is absolutely required in the ongoing effort to expand Muslim territory at the expense of territory owned by the "infidel," anyone who isn't Muslim, and that such actions as blowing up women and children in their own country as well as other countries and thus fomenting terror as a weapon of choice, is perfectly acceptable. This is unspeakably cowardly, but speaks to the bloodthirstiness of jihad, as well as to the intolerable sanguinary nature of Islam. The Koran (Islamic holy book manufactured by Mohammed 1400 or so years ago) mandates the killing of the infidel at every opportunity.

The intertwining of Islam with the intransigence of the Palestinians with respect to their refusal to form a viable government and their penchant for homicide/suicide bombing of innocent people in the marketplace or in a restaurant in Israel with the beheading activity in Thailand and throughout the Far East now is well-documented and intolerable. Perhaps the time has come for civilized people (including out the beheaders and homicide/suicide murderers) to make a distinction between Islam and all other faiths, with respect to religion. Hitler indoctrinated German youth with the "Aryan superiority" claptrap, and they helped him kill millions…before being killed. The ayatollahs are indoctrinating their youth with the "Muslim superiority" claptrap, and they will help these old men kill untold multitudes (200,000 in Sudan at last count)…until they are killed, as they must be, if civilization is to endure.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

The Hillary & John Circus

It's almost funny to watch the Clinton/Edwards circus all these months before the first primary is held, much less the actual election in 2008. The circus features a clown-race by the duo to see who can get to "George Soros Country" first, initially being crowned as the champion of the lunatic-fringe left and secondly, getting a chance at all the money to be had…under, over, behind the table – whatever. It may be that before the dust settles, the two will be cast in a Michael Moore movie rivaling those of the Three Stooges…maybe something called the "Two Mad Peas in a Pod."

Clown John has endeared himself to the Hollywood crowd by ordering up haircuts at $400 apiece (more expensive than a clown-wig) in California and manicures at a fashionable (where else) salon in New England. He's ingratiated himself with all professional hangers-on by collecting a cool $55,000 for a speech at the Davis branch of the California university system, referencing the "poverty problem." Not to worry, though, since the taxpayers paid for admission to that circus…or is it true that students had to pay $17 to hear the dulcet tones and Carolina drawl?

Clown John's plan for Iraq, laid out earlier this year, would (among other provisions) "cap funding for the troops in Iraq at 100,000 troops to stop the surge [too late for that] and implement an immediate drawdown of 40-50,000 combat troops. Any troops beyond that level should be redeployed immediately." He didn't indicate the redeployment destination…or even how the remaining troops would protect each other once their numbers are drastically diminished. One can see the big wink Edwards the clown is giving the public. He also winks at this further move he would make: After withdrawal, "sufficient forces should remain in the region to contain the conflict [what conflict?] and ensure that instability in Iraq does not spillover and create a regional war, a terrorist haven, or spark a genocide." In other words, head back and re-invade Iraq. Where would that Middle East army bivouac, in the first place, and with its depleted strength what could it do? He didn't say.

Clown Hillary has flapped her size-28 clown-shoe in amongst her tonsils with a gem accruing to her philosophy that it takes a village to raise a child. She says she will see to it that the government takes over the education of the four-year-olds, the better to prepare them for…well…whatever she has in mind. She hasn't caught on yet that the trouble with the education system does not lie with the lack of educating the four-year-olds, but with educating the middle- and high-schoolers. It has been amply proven that reading ability among head-start and non-head-start students is at the same level very early in elementary school. Indeed, kindergartens weren't even mandated in the days when this country led the world in everything from scholarship to consequent productivity.

Clown Hillary has been blinded by her faux spectacles atop her faux grandiose nose – beyond the bridge of which she can't see – to the fact that the Russians decided to take over the raising of the children so they could be indoctrinated while their parents did more productive work, with the result being…well…utter catastrophe and the dissolution of the USSR, not to mention a nation of drunks. She doesn't understand that after Hitler came to power all other youth movements were abolished and as a result the Hitler Youth grew quickly. In 1936, the figure stood at 4 million members. In 1936, it became all but compulsory to join the Hitler Youth. Youths could avoid doing any active service if they paid their subscription but this became all but impossible after 1939. The Hitler Youth (age 14?) finally wound up in the hopeless Battle of the Bulge, there to be used as cannon fodder and something over which German tanks could run while in retreat and mash them to pulp.

So, in light of her special ignorance of the social structure that has made this country great (parents, not villages, raising children), not to mention pedagogy, Clown Hillary winks at the crowd, does a low bow, and falls on her face…or will by next year when the public may be paying attention and discovering that she is a profound socialist and would turn this country over to an oligarchy among which she would be top oligarchic, leading the country down the paths established in Olde Europe.

The most profound thing Clown John said when he ran with John Kerry in 2004 for the oval office was that they had better hair than George Bush and Dick Cheney. At 400 bucks a pop, it doesn't make him look much better than his opponents today, but to each his own. Clown Hillary ran her own circus soon after hubby Bill was elected in 1992 – called Universal Health Care. The consensus was pretty much that it would bankrupt the country, and it was laughed to scorn. The current presumption is that of the two clowns Hillary is ahead in the race to win over and be embraced by MoveOn.org, recognizing (perhaps mistakenly) that the base of the Democrat Party is heading toward la-la-land, where the crazies watch the circus and o-o-h and a-a-h.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

UPDATE: Jimmy/Bill & the Baptists

Earlier this year, former presidents Carter and Clinton, along with some other folks, announced the forming of something called the New Baptist Covenant and also announced that there would be a convention of sorts in Atlanta in January 2008 sponsored by the NBC. The NBC is to be made up of Baptists throughout the nation, and it is hoped that 20,000 Baptists will take part in Atlanta. Coincidentally, it is scheduled in the same time-frame and in the same city as a meeting of the three large African-American Baptist denominations, thus perhaps capitalizing on a large crowd already on the scene – if, of course, the black Baptists see fit to attend.

Notwithstanding its spiritual/religious nature, the movers and shakers of the NBC are both politicians by trade and neither is a trained theologian or ordained minister. Other main players are to be Al Gore and Bill Moyers, also from the field of politics and also democrats. A few days ago, possibly being struck by the rather partisan appearance of the thing, Baptist republican senators Graham and Grassley, along with president wannabe Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and also a Baptist and ordained minister, were invited to participate and accepted.

Then came last weekend and former president Carter's remarks, one of which was made to an Arkansas newspaper and was in part this: "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

That was too much for Huckabee, who decided to opt out with these words: "While I continue to have great respect for President Carter as a fellow Christian believer and Baptist, I’m deeply disappointed by the unusually harsh comments made in my state this past weekend regarding President Bush, and feel that it represents an unprecedented personal attack on a sitting president by a former president which is unbecoming the office as well as unbecoming to one whose conference is supposed to be about civility and bringing people together. … I feel it would be best for me to decline the invitation and to not appear to be giving approval to what could be a political, rather than spiritual agenda." The remark was made to the Florida Baptist Witness. Conclusion: Huckabee realizes the NBC to be a political entity, notwithstanding its high-flown rhetoric.

In addition to the above, to get a perspective on the possible reason Carter has for starting up this NBC clambake, notice this remark he made in London on 19 May with reference to outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient." In other words, Carter can be malicious in spewing vitriol, insulting one of the most important men in the world…right in that man's own country.

Until a few years ago, Carter was a high-profiler (perhaps the highest) in the Southern Baptist Convention, by far the largest group of Baptists in the country, numbering some 16 million and fielding 10,000 missionaries throughout the world. He didn't approve of the doctrinal changes taking place in the denomination among its leaders but could do nothing about it, except whine. He finally sort of broke with the SBC, like some thousands of others did over the doctrinal questions, though they moved on. Apparently, Carter hasn't.

In the initial confabs leading to the NBC, there were no participants from the Southern Baptist Convention. They were not invited. Lately, Carter, perhaps realizing how bad that looks, has been talking with Southern Baptist preachers who are bloggers, hoping obviously for some sort of SBC participation, but in a very unofficial way. The pertinent questions: Is he just "getting even" with the SBC leadership/membership with this new organization. What is its purpose, notwithstanding some five goals outlined in the propaganda? Is it to be a new super-denomination of some sort? Huckabee was thinking about civility and "bringing people together." Carter automatically negates those things with just a few remarks.

In a meeting last April, according to Associated Baptist press, Carter said, "The most common opinion about Baptists is we cannot get along. … I have been grieved by the divisions of my own convention." He obviously referred to the Southern Baptist Convention, though the ABP categorized him as a "former Southern Baptist." What neither Carter nor the ABP mentioned is the fact that Baptists frequently disagree on everything from church polity to theology, and, in this case, Carter’s view has not prevailed in his denomination, ergo, his denomination is excoriated as negative. Cheap shot, in other words.

It remains to be seen how this scenario plays out. One wonders how long it will take for the spiritual leaders of the denominations to begin wondering if they're being snookered by the former presidents. The conclave will take place in the same month as the 2008 presidential primaries start rolling, and Clinton's wife, Senator Clinton, needs all the help she can get in the South. What better way than to have Baptist hubby Bill hobnobbing with fellow Baptists in Atlanta!

Van Gower, writing for Southern Voice in December 2004: "Former President Jimmy Carter confirmed this week that he supports state-sanctioned civil unions for gay couples, in response to a letter from two veteran Atlanta gay rights activists and questions from Southern Voice." Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act in September 1996, which states categorically that neither the federal government nor any state must recognize a civil union (same-sex marriage). This is mentioned to indicate that the harmoniousness of the NBC may be wrecked once the details and discussions are underway. Most Baptists view homosexual behavior as condemned out of hand in the scriptures, and marriages between men so off-the-wall as to be laughable, not to mention sinful.

And then there's the matter of financing the New Baptist Covenant. How? Only the shadow knows, unless the C-twins have decided.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

HERALD-LEADER Defines "just barely!"

Wonders never cease when it comes to editorialists who must have something to say about everything when it's obvious that they have a hard time having something sensible to say about the simplest things. Here's the opening of the lead editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader of 23 May (the day after the Primary): "This morning, it's fair to start with congratulations to Gov. Ernie Fletcher. He managed to survive his own party's primary -- just barely."

Well…okay. The republican governor won only 104 of the state's 120 counties, with a plurality well over 50%. So…one has to conclude that the editorialist has a strange definition for the term "just barely." The democrat winner managed only a 41% plurality, so the term "just barely" defies description in his case. Maybe "just barely barely" would do. The paper's view is that half of the republicans voted against a sitting guv, but didn't take the view that nearly 60% of democrats voted against their standard-bearer in November. Editorialists have a hard time, especially when their agenda is being chopped-up into little pieces.

It could be that an important contributing factor to Fletcher's win was the presence of Attorney General Greg Stumbo's name on the ballot in the lieutenant governor slot of the losing democrat team that won a measly 21% of democrat voters. Stumbo said years ago that he would consider running for governor (not lieutenant governor) if Fletcher became "wildly unpopular." He then attempted make the guv wildly unpopular by running an investigation out of his office that properly belonged elsewhere – for instance, before an ethics committee. He racked up a raft of misdemeanors, mostly, and the guv just pardoned the accused, not allowing the obvious witch-hunt to hurt governing and bankrupt bureaucrats hung with huge attorney-fees trying to fight simple misdemeanors. Stumbo even charged the guv, but made nothing stick and dropped everything.

The governor's two republican opponents entered the primary advancing the proposition that Fletcher was too mortally wounded by the faux charges that were obvious to any reasonable person as politically motivated – especially in Kentucky, where the politics surely are the damnedest. For his trouble, Stumbo has been let out to pasture. In his portion of the concession speech, he vowed to try the governor on every street-corner and in every barbershop in Kentucky between now and November, admitting, though obviously unintentionally, that he wasn't able to trap him in the only place that mattered – the court.

The biggest losers financially were the ones who largely – if not almost altogether – bankrolled their own campaigns. Republican Billy Harper spent mega-millions to get 13% of the vote. Democrat Bruce Lunsford (Stumbo's running mate) also spent mega-millions to get 21% of the democrat vote. A few days ago, republican contender Anne Northup shot another $500,000 into her campaign that garnered 37% of the republican vote. Democrat Steve Henry also "loaned" his campaign a cool million in April, and collected 17.5% of the democratic vote for his investment. The biggest loser, of course, was Lunsford, who wasted another $8 million four years ago trying for the office, then dropped out and actually supported republican Fletcher in his successful race against Ben Chandler, who kissed the whole crowd goodbye by going off to Congress the next year and avoiding the current gubernatorial mishmash altogether.

The editorialist one more time: "No matter your campaign rhetoric, people will still know that they don't have affordable health care, that good jobs are hard to find, that their kids aren't learning enough in the early grades and that college is too expensive." These are the exact words rumbling through the editorial pages during every election cycle for decades…so what else is new?

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Mainstream Media & Misspeaking

Imagine what would have happened if President Bush announced last week that 2,750,000 people (one-tenth of the nation’s population) had died in the fighting in Iraq in one day during the war on terrorism. That extent of carnage when extrapolated over the four years since the invasion in 2003 would surely mean that there was no one left. The president, who is always vilified in the mainstream media for mispronouncing “nuclear” (probably on purpose by now just to stiff his nemeses), would be excoriated by the pundits and talking-heads for being too ignorant to hold office and therefore would call on Congress for immediate impeachment and conviction…then consignment to the nearest booby-hatch.

Consider: President wannabe Senator Barack Obama said in a stirring speech in Richmond, Virginia, the other day that 10,000 people died in a tornado that hit Greensburg, Kansas the day before. At that time, only 12 had been confirmed dead in a town of some 1,500 people. Folks would have had to reserve every bus in the state in order to transport enough people to Greensburg for 10,000 of them to be blown away…that is, if anyone had known the tornado was to happen. At least a couple days notice would have been necessary to make all the arrangements. If Obama had been president last week and his calculations (or miscalculations) had been used, he would have said that 2,750,000 people had died in Iraq in one day.

Okay…Obama was nowhere near Kansas, has to depend on gofers to get both information and misinformation – both needed at various times for different reasons determined by a necessary spin on a specific subject – hadn’t bothered to check something that a high school sophomore would have suspected to be erroneous, and probably didn’t even realize the mistake, much less the enormity of it. According to the NOAA National Weather Service, during the 50-year period 1950-1999 a total of 4,460 people died because of tornados in this entire country, but Obama thought and said 10,000 died in one day. What price has he paid – zilch? Of course. Anyone who makes a mistake that outrageous about something happening in his own country, especially in this day of instant communication, is just considered by the media as having a bad day…especially if he happens to be a democrat.

Or, take the case of Senator Clinton. In conjunction with her current effort as a prez wannabe, her book It Takes a Village came out in a myriad of reprints. Imagine what would happen if a republican wannabe expressed the idea that it actually does take a village to raise a child. He/she would immediately be branded as a socialist or a communist since in those ideologies is the insistence that the state should raise the children while the parents do more useful work. This was Hitler’s idea, too, so throw in the anarchist or fascist – or whatever Hitler was, besides crazy – as the republican’s model. Does the mainstream media consider Senator Clinton to be a devotee to those un-American concepts of government responsibilities? Of course not! Like Obama, she’s a darling of the Michael Moore gang and the freaks that run MoveOn.org for Soros…the Hollywood crowd that lives in la-la-land, the land of make-believe.

What would happen if the president’s press honcho Tony Snow should inform the gang of reporters/pundits/talking-heads and other propagandists of the media at his next news conference that the president of CBS lied on his resume and that he actually didn’t get beyond the sixth-grade, in which he spent five years at that? Snow’s head would have been demanded by the mainstreamers (hopefully not on a platter, like that of John the Baptist) and he would have been accused of the worst sort of slander…and justifiably. He would have been laughed to scorn, blackballed throughout the information industry, and never heard from again.

Flash back to 2004 in the final months just before the presidential election. Dan Rather, the golden boy at CBS, announced to the world that George Bush had been given favors by Texas Air National Guard honchos and that his military record was somehow not complete or erroneous and that the president was therefore not truthful and certainly not up to being president of the nation. He even produced documents to prove these charges, thus making CBS’s democrat-driven agenda rock-solid-hard in insisting that Bush was a liar and worse. The problem: lies and forgeries. Rather didn’t produce news. He produced a hoax of immense proportions.

What happened to Rather at CBS? Nothing, for quite a long time. A few heads rolled, but not his…at least not until it was abundantly obvious to CBS, thoroughly discredited by the whole sordid affair, that he had to go. Has Rather disappeared from sight for having produced a lie as outrageous as can be imagined? Of course not…at least not in the mainstream media, in which he continues to do interviews and, if memory serves, is still on the CBS payroll to do things of a special nature. He is still considered an expert and palmed off on the public as reliable. Not surprising…but weird!

Of course, there’s Howard Fineman of Newsweek. He managed to lie that American GIs had flushed Korans down toilets at Guantanamo a couple years or so ago, causing a bunch of Muslims around the world to commit hara-kiri in protest. Where’s Fineman today? He’s Newsweek’s chief political analyst. Fineman regularly offers his political analysis on various NBC franchises. Notwithstanding his contriving an incredible hoax, Fineman remains a darling of the mainstream media. Is it any wonder that this media has virtually no credibility?

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Iraqi Vacations = U.S. Departure Time

This country, led most of the time against the current by President Bush, has gone the proverbial “last mile” in Iraq, taking casualties now trying to keep the peace among people hell-bent not to live in peace – at least as far as their leaders are concerned, which is all that matters in a population of which more than half are functionally illiterate and therefore led around by the nose by the butchers who recognize no sanctity of life. The people voted three times in 2005, often, if not always, at great personal risk to secure a democratic government.

Since the last vote, December 2005, this country has stayed the course, watching elected Iraqi leaders act along multi-partisan lines (though mostly sectarian) to defeat the will of the people and install themselves or their parties/tribes/sects/whatever in positions of advantage, leaving the common people worse off then they were under the supreme butcher, Saddam. Even worse, their surrogates in the streets kill indiscriminately, strapping on bombs and blowing women and children to bits in the marketplace or installing IEDs to kill American GIs.

The crowning insult to the Bush administration is the recent announcement by the Iraqi government that it intends to take two months off soon for vacation, as if it hasn’t seemingly been somewhere off the planet for a year and a half already. In this corner, which has always steadily supported the Iraqi action, this announcement should be taken by President Bush as an invitation by the Iraqis to depart. If Iraqi lawmakers and bureaucrats don’t intend to be serious about their commitment, this country certainly should not carry their water any longer. No American life or limb has been wasted in the effort, since the world is now on notice that this country has both the power and the will to move military resources around the world and overcome any enemy.

Nation-building, however, is possible only among people who are both willing to participate and unwilling to shed each other’s blood in the process. George Bush announced when running in 2000 that nation-building was not this country’s business. He felt it necessary to change that concept in both Afghanistan and Iraq probably because this country did a great deal to completely turn those countries upside-down. Enormous amounts of lives and treasure have been spent in the process in both places, but in neither place does there seem any actual hope that democracy will take hold.

The literacy rate in Afghanistan is 28.1%, an unbelievable statistic in this country. Two things are necessary for a republic to exist – integrity, especially among officials, and a reasonably well-educated populace, neither of which obtains in Afghanistan and Iraq. This being the case, it’s time now for serious planning for withdrawal, not because democrats demand it but because there’s no light at the end of the tunnel in either place, not to mention that the U.S. military has been heavily enough burdened. In fact, things might get better – except for women and girls – in both places when the troops leave. Unfortunately, even though this country has virtually freed women and girls in their Islamic hells, American GIs cannot enforce decency upon men who are instinctively indecent and driven to be so by a fanaticism enhanced by fanatic imams, ayatollahs, sheiks, whatever.

The claim that a withdrawal will make this nation appear weak or will allow the terrorists to follow our troops to our shores is without foundation. This would have been true if the nation had not “stayed the course” after engaging the enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq 5.5 and four years ago, respectively. There was hope back then that a people would decide to govern themselves secularly but the hope has long since evaporated. It appears that even the man in the street is determined to live by the Koran, which makes jihad incumbent upon him, whether he likes it or not. Now, even the women are getting into the act, blowing themselves, along with other women as well as children, to smithereens in the name of their god – Allah. This country has made its point in spades and has nothing to fear but – as FDR put it in WWII-terms in1941 – fear itself.

Everything is now changed in light of the fact that Iraqi leaders are perfectly willing to take off a couple months while their land is going to hell in a hand-basket, and after having done nothing for some 18 months, at that. Disgusting. The time to start leaving is now. The war was won four years ago and the Iraqi conception of peace is incomprehensible to Americans. Actual peace will never happen…Muslims hate each other too much for that.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Congressional Adrenalin Overdose

There’s a tendency, especially among the young, to place elected officials on a pedestal and exist in awe of them. With age comes the realization that they’re just like most folks, warts and all, except that sometimes they manage to exhibit conduct not only unbecoming to mature people but downright silly and/or petty…maybe even dumb. The people in all the political parties are subject to this and are most likely to make themselves look bad right after a shakeup in which they secure privileges never experienced (or at least not for a long time) or expected.

Pettiness carried to the quintessential degree was carried out last week by Senate Majority Leader Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when they arranged a TV “signing ceremony” (a la the oval office) for the simple exercise of the authenticating of legislation. They proceeded to compound their juvenile tendencies by delaying the submission of the legislation to the president for four days until 01 May, the fourth anniversary of his “Mission Accomplished” ceremony on the aircraft carrier, apparently not realizing that at that time the combat segment of the operation in Iraq had been accomplished, and the president was right. Pelosi and Reid actually embarrassed themselves, as folks remarked their juvenile behavior

This action can be easily understood by any third-grader on any playground in the land. It’s called SPITE, and it’s endemic to folks at most any age, but particularly during the childhood and adolescent years. Its objective is to embarrass, especially by anyone intent upon gaining revenge upon another, especially as practiced by the one of the two who is in the subordinate position. Example, personal: Because a high-school teacher wouldn’t let me make up a test I missed because I was sick, I looked out the window virtually continually while in class after that but always made it a point to know exactly where the discussion was so that I could quickly answer when called upon. That was SPITE…it didn’t hurt the teacher a bit but made me feel better…also made me pay attention.

The democrats had been out of power in Congress since 1994 and 1996, respectively, in the House and Senate until this year. They’ve celebrated their return to power with endless investigations, hearings, subpoenas of one type or another, ultimatums, and general hanky panky instead of doing anything constructive, mostly to embarrass and remove administration officials from their posts. They’ve been eminently unsuccessful, so they’re trying harder at failing. The only meaningful legislation passed so far has to do with the minimum wage, and even then there was an attempt to exempt its requirement from some businesses in Speaker Pelosi’s California.

Pelosi, Reid and their henchmen have decided to run the war in Iraq by holding spending bills for the military hostage, demanding unrealistic maneuvers that would place the military and the Iraqi government in untenable positions. To make their efforts even more unseemly, they attached huge segments of pork to their supposed military spending bills, meaning that they had to buy votes in order to get anything passed. Imagine the irony noticed by the military…having to buy votes in order to get elected officials to vote “the right way” on something as serious as a war. Democrat Senator Joe Biden, current presidential contender, told a South Carolina voter that Congress should "shove it (the legislation) down his (Bush’s) throat." Presumably, this would come after the pork is guaranteed. Disgusting!

Before she could get her office furniture arranged, Speaker Pelosi was off to Syria to confer with the head of a state that overtly supports terrorism against this country and enables terrorism in Iraq. She was so besotted with her new power that she actually thought she was so important that fraternizing/conferring with the enemy was a prerogative accruing to her eminent position not just in this country but throughout the world. It may be that she had confused her office with that of the secretary of state, but all she did was make herself look silly, as had some senators shortly before her, notably Kerry, presidential candidate last time around who recently remarked upon the intelligence (or lack of it) of GIs, and Dodd, who actually is running for the presidency now, as far-out as that seems.

So…the worm has turned. It will take a while before the democrats realize that virtually nothing has changed. Gridlock is still operative in the Congress. Political jockeying is as much in place as ever, this time with Republican Minority Leader McConnell, maybe the shrewdest politician of all, calling the shots, and he makes the former minority and currently majority leader, Senator Reid, pale in comparison regarding parliamentary skullduggery.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

UK and the "Domestic Partners"

The trustees of the University of Kentucky have just voted to make the “Domestic Partner” benefits available to its employees, including staff along with the faculty and administration. Since the university is a state-authorized and state-supported institution, i.e, licensed and funded in largest part by the taxpayers, it is subject to the laws of the state as derived from the State Constitution. This places it in the same category as all other state agencies, the obvious conclusion to be drawn being that the tens of thousands of employees in those agencies may expect to receive the same treatment, if it is legal.

According to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, a domestic partner is “either one of an unmarried heterosexual or homosexual cohabiting couple especially when considered as to eligibility for spousal benefits.” So, the domestic-partner issue has to do with cadging currently unauthorized perks from a citizen-owned institution/agency those things legally authorized and officially documented only for spouses and families, principally those contingent upon the marriage contract.

On 02 November 2004, Amendment 233A was overwhelmingly (about 3 to 1) approved by Kentucky voters and made a part of the Kentucky Constitution: “Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.” In Kentucky, homosexuals may not legally be married to each other, thus the “partners” are not accorded standing accruing to spouses for consideration(s) provided by the state or institutions regulated or supported by it. The same is true for non-married cohabitating couples, known more familiarly as “shack-ups.”

The constitutional amendment actually was unnecessary since state statute already made the same requirement, but the legislators, acting upon the overwhelming insistence of their constituencies, felt there would be no hassle with regard to the provisions of the statute if it was made incontrovertible through making it constitutionally inviolable. The trustees of both the University of Louisville, which began this perk in January, and the University of Kentucky have chosen to place their institutions above the law, a sort of in-your-face, take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum of arrogance fashioned to let the citizenry (the great unwashed) understand its inferiority vis-à-vis the enlightened elite and its inability to exert its will upon that self-appointed elite.

Perhaps the most egregious reason given for the domestic-partner perk (not counting the overarching one of political correctness) is that its inculcation is necessary to bring UK into research-university top-20 land; in other words, the brightest and the best brains are so overwhelmingly owned by homosexuals or those unwilling to make a marriage commitment that they must be cajoled and pampered into blessing the university with their superior abilities. This is a slap in the face of all those who manage to reach top-echelon status without the “advantage” of engaging in perverted behavior, whether homosexual or heterosexual.

Since the university is striving to become known as a bona fide “research” institution on a par with the best of them, it would naturally look to the data to enforce its position vis-à-vis the “brightest and best.” Thus far, it has produced no data that even addresses the subject of superiority/inferiority with regard to sexual preference or non-marital status as applied to academic/research employee-capabilities. This being the case, it identifies itself as sub-top-twenty in the sense that it makes its regulations without benefit of information, either qualitative or quantitative. The ridiculousness of this is palpable.

Detractors are often accused of a stance involving religion and the Bible’s clear-cut denunciation of homosexual behavior and fornication/adultery. This is not the case. The statements here concern cold, hard facts having nothing to do with religion. This is purely a civil matter addressed legislatively and at the ballot box. It can be said (and should be), however, that the traditional family unit is the backbone of the society, and that the teachers of young people should reflect that obvious, well-documented fact, not destroy it. By any standard, homosexual behavior, besides being aberrant, is also unacceptable as a matter of health, emotional and physical. Couples unwilling to reflect family as worthy of commitment thereby state that mutual manipulation, rather than commitment solidified by the marriage contract, present the wrong model. In any case, the citizens should not condone their antisocial behavior and reward them in any way, especially with taxpayer funds already categorized constitutionally.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

The Facing of Death

One wonders why today’s generation has such a problem with death, especially death of one considered “too young” or “too good” or “too anything.” The recent deaths at Virginia Tech bring the subject front and center again as similar instances of massacres in the past are replayed in the media, with the same exasperation regarding the necessity to bring about “closure,” usually by finding someone or some institution to blame.

This is not to disparage the grief expressed by a whole nation’s citizens in the VT matter, not to mention those directly affected such as parents and other relatives of the dead, but to remark that the notion that death and unhappiness seem unacceptable to the “now” generation. This is graphically seen every night in the newscasts as the media keeps count of the ones who have fallen in the war on terror and talk-show hosts such as John McLaughlin present a morbid accounting every Friday night, complete with humongous fatality-estimates regarding Iraqi civilians, the intention apparently being to account this nation as one big murderer.

A young man – probably deranged, though no one will ever know – took the lives of 32 people for no reason, since no reason for what he did is possible. He did it because he decided to do it. That explanation doesn’t bring comfort to parents, just as parents are not comforted when a drunk driver – for no reason – kills their child. Those killed happened to be in a killing field, whether at a university or on a highway, through no fault of their own. Some years ago, a drunk in northern Kentucky driving the wrong way on a four-lane highway slammed head-on into a church bus returning youngsters from a day at an amusement park and managed to kill 27 people and horribly burn others, while he was hardly affected. They happened to be in a killing field that night…no reason to die…but they did.

In 1982, there were 26,173 people killed in traffic deaths caused by drunk-drivers. That was 72 per day or well over twice the number killed at VT. In 2005, the traffic-deaths caused by drunks totaled 16,885, or 46 per day. Strangely, there was no outpouring of grief over drunks-induced traffic deaths on any day, and John McLaughlin did not bother to keep score, though they were caused by insensitive people with absolutely no reason to kill, the same as the circumstance at VT. Yet, there is an ongoing reaction in Blacksburg, Virginia, that will go on for weeks and then be revisited for years, just as the Columbine killings a few years ago.

The religious fundamentalist will say that death occurs just the way and at just the time God decided before he created the world, yet cautions people against doing bad things that could lead to their deaths. That’s his way of not taking any responsibility for anything that happens, without understanding the obvious contradiction. The atheist says, “no God, no reason, no reality, no nothing,” but rails against Christians for believing something, as if that should make a difference to them since it changes nothing. Others, whether religious or not, state the obvious, namely, that mankind has free will and has a lot to say about death, taxes, and everything else. These people mourn with a reason, but realize that answers will not be found to the killing fields anywhere this side of death itself, assuming another opportunity on the other side to discover the answers.

None of this is to say that there shouldn’t be grief when a loved one dies, or that there will ever be “closure” in the sense of understanding the mystical, the unknowable. During the1,642 actual days of combat in World Wars I and II (4.5 years), an average of 320 Americans died every day…10 times the number at VT on just one day out of decades in Blacksburg. Back home, people understood as well as they could. The deaths resulted from actions taken by German leaders who were unbelievably wicked or crazy or both…no reason for the killing fields, just as at Blacksburg, assuming the young killer was mad, seemingly the case as proven posthumously by his own account, or just plain evil.

During the Korean Conflict in 1950-53, an average of 35 Americans died every day for 1,095 days. In the long nightmare of Vietnam (7.5 years), 21 GIs died every day…2,737 days. Think of the Civil War – 340 dead per day for 1,460 days. The deaths happened to people from all over the country and were the results of madness and evil, but there was no racking, continuing vigil or ceremony in the capital, Washington, D.C., on those days…just the facing of the fact.

The counselors descended on VT in Blacksburg, as they do in any town at a high school when a student has been killed in a car wreck, an accident. This didn’t used to happen. The notion seems operative that young people or all people just have to have help in “getting through it,” as if death isn’t as much a part of life as life itself – an absolute even more certain than life. Surely this generation is not so fragile that its members cannot accept death – no matter the horrific circumstances and lack of reason – as a matter of course and, without a lot of folks weeping, hugging, and encouraging them to be upset, just dry their tears, attend or tend to the rites, and get on with their lives.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

The Democrat Debate

The democrat “debate,” actually a bit of campaigning, just as was the republican “debate” a week before, that took place on KET-TV 16 April featured seven candidates questioned by two newsman for two hours. I listened to the first hour but very little of the second, figuring, on the basis of the repetition already displayed, that it would be mostly a rehash, though I did get in on some of the gasoline-tax discussion. Gatewood Galbraith made his pitch to the common folks – the moms and pops – and promised leadership to rescue the party. He had the guts and the gumption to expose KERA for the sham that it is, blasted “no child left behind,” and insisted that education must be better funded, citing a decrease of eight points from a few years ago.

House Speaker Jody Richards promised to bring vision, plan, leadership, and integrity to the office. He decried the system of hiring and firing every four years that has been in place as a matter of course, apparently not realizing that he was slamming his own party in no uncertain terms. He didn’t explain why a “merit bill” was not passed this year, but slammed Senate President Williams in the pension matter. He spoke of importing drugs from Canada for seniors and lavished praise upon KERA while slamming NCLB. He was not for differentials in teachers’ pay but claimed they should all get a raise. His strangest suggestion had to do with establishing a “Principal Academy,” apparently not familiar with what principals went through in both classes and huge notebooks soon after the passage of KERA in 1990.

Otis Hensley didn’t say much, but made it clear that he is against legalizing any more gambling enterprises, that the legislature should get rid of KERA, and that teachers should be paid uniformly.

Bruce Lunsford did for this session what fellow millionaire Billy Harper did in the republican session, namely, extol the value of having a businessman in the governor’s chair. He made no opening speech, preferring a moment of silence for those in the Virginia Tech tragedy. Strange. Gatewood accused him of not knowing which party he’s in, and that was the best line of the evening. Lunsford promised to make jobs, said he is not against raising cigarette taxes, praised KERA and slammed the legislature for hurting it.

Steve Beshear acknowledged the administration as the “amateur hour” or something like that and extolled his experience as legislator, attorney general, and lieutenant governor. He said he would surround himself with the best people and strengthen the merit system. He slammed the pardons, mentioning four years, which was strange, since that took in part of the Patton era, in which a democrat governor pardoned four men charged with felonies. Maybe he meant to do that. He was for no new taxes, but expressed support for more gambling. He said gaming proceeds are needed for funding education, but did not mention that this was supposed, at one time at least, to be the purpose of the lottery. That didn’t happen, of course.

Jonathan Miller was the self-appointed pit bull, making much of his opportunities, a la Northup a week earlier, to hurl invective at Governor Fletcher. He said there needed to be less conversation and more action. He accused Fletcher of criminally assaulting the merit system, made the strongest outcry for more gambling (in this case, in behalf of funds for health care), and declared that KERA must be changed, including installing all-day kindergarten.

Steve Henry was the best speaker and called attention to himself as a husband, father, and physician. He made pitches for help for the veterans and mentioned that Governor Patton’s great cabinet was 40% republican, probably not realizing the boost he was giving the wrong side. He seemed to be making the point that he could manage a non-partisan government. He spoke of health-saving-plans and favored all-day kindergarten.

Probably all but Hensley would like to see increased gambling come to the state. The consensus was that education is in bad shape, and some of the candidates actually put their fingers on the problem – KERA, probably the worst legislation of the last century. The consensus was that more money needs to be thrown at education, the usual fix-all whenever the problem is mentioned. One hopes that some day a candidate will simply declare that a disciplined, standardized, structured statewide program of education must be brought on line and that not even that will solve the problem until parents consider realistically the importance of education and discipline their children in behalf of their accomplishing learning.

Imus - "Send in the Clowns!"

Americans usually respond to adverse circumstances by going overboard, such as in the cases of death, wounding (both physically and verbally administered), or even in routine events such as winning an important game or election. Upon reflection, people often realize just how “overboard” they’ve been in their reactions to a given circumstance but understand that emotions/actions cannot be reconfigured, no matter how silly they sometimes make people appear.

As the dust settles with regard to the recent “Imus debacle,” there’s reason to take a look at some of the circumstances surrounding it. At the outset, it needs saying that what Imus said (referencing a small group of women athletes as “nappy-headed hos”) was beyond the pale. The fact that it was no surprise coming from an entertainer whose milieu is that of a “shock-jock” doesn’t mitigate the fact that Imus went too far, but he’s paid to insult, does it quite routinely no matter the objects of his attention, ranging all the way from the unknown to the highest-profile folks in the world. The head honchos at NBC/CBS have been a part of his gig for many years and reaped mega-millions on his back. Only those without an understanding of his genre would pay his remark a second thought.

Actually, the highest-profile people seek out the Imus-attack, especially if they’re in the entertainment field, peddling a book, or running for election. Senator Chris Dodd, for instance, announced his presidential candidacy on the Imus show earlier this year, genially accepting any barbs, no doubt realizing them to be worth their weight in gold – free publicity at a time when presidential politics is a mega-million-dollar industry. That’s called manipulation.

The Imus show has not been watched in this corner, the total time spent on it probably not more than an hour in total, but a revisit of the speech Imus gave at the Radio/TV Correspondents annual clambake in March 1996 indicates just how crude, vulgar, and obscene he can be. Notwithstanding that, the very people he lambasted at that meeting are the types who gladly visit his program, coming back for more of the same. They enjoy the world of the “shock-jock” and don’t mind being a part of it. Some of them – politicians especially – think nothing of Imus’s barbs, since they think nothing of publicly calling the president or anyone else a liar whenever it suits their fancy…a sort of “no-guilt-by-association” thing.

Leading the pack of wolves after Imus’s carcass are The Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev Jesse Jackson, each of whom has a syndicated radio program, Sharpton’s handled by some of the same outfits that handle the Imus thing. If he had said about a group of white women athletes that they are “honky whores,” nothing much would have been said about it. He might have experienced a bit of criticism, but most folks would have said that he was “just being old Rev. Al” – just another “shock-jock” doing his thing. The truth is, however, that in the politically correct climate of today, racist remarks are considered racist only if they are uttered by white people. This is the lesson to be learned from the Imus thing.

The Rev. Sharpton, a well-documented liar, has castigated Imus to a fare-thee-well, but he libeled more than one law/justice department worker in the Tawana Brawley dustup in 1987-88, then actually ran for president after that, notwithstanding having to pony up cash for his vicious attack on those folks that emanated from a complete hoax. His remarks/actions at any time, no matter how inflammatory, are not racist because he isn’t white.

According to NBC5/WMAQTV, Chicago, 09 April: "NBC must choose between Imus and the rest of us," said The Rev. Jesse Jackson as he protested with 50 others outside Chicago's NBC Tower Monday. "The rest of us are going to organize a boycott until they make a choice." The Rev. Jackson is well documented as having made one of his female workers into a “nappy-headed ho” himself, then used funds from his tax-exempt Rainbow Coalition treasure-trove of cash to buy her and their illegitimate child (determined by DNA, of course), as reported in FrontPageMagazine.com, January 24, 2001, a $365,000 house; and for her somewhere between $3,000 and $10,000 a month to live on; $20,000 for moving expenses; and $15,000 in advance for “consulting.” Jackson can call Imus anything he likes or attempt to have him fired because, not being white, he is never being racist, not even when he called Jews “hymies” and New York “Hymietown.” He has run for president twice – beats working.

Imus’s fellow entrepreneurs and handlers are deserting him now, shutting down his TV show on MSNBC and his radio show on CBS – actually putting him out of business. His friends – though acceding to his “shock-jock” antics for many years and happily being a part of them – are deserting him in droves. Some might call this sort of going overboard. It is…and particularly so because his high-profile detractors – the revolting reverends, Sharpton and Jackson – are so slathered in sleaze themselves that they should crawl back under the rocks and shut up now. Those high-profile politicians and celebs who have used Imus through the years to advance their endeavors surely see themselves as the hypocrites they are.

Here is the delicious irony, as noted on MSNBC on 12 April: The news came down in the middle of Imus’ Radiothon, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990. The Radiothon had raised more than $1.3 million Thursday before Imus learned that he lost his job. The event benefited Tomorrows Children’s Fund, the CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch. Disgusting!

And so it goes.

Jim Clark

Republicans Debate/Campaign

The debate – not actually, just more campaigning – that took place on KET among the republican gubernatorial hopefuls on 09 April was not an exercise that would “captivate” an audience, certainly, but it served a useful purpose in that it provided the vehicle for allowing a voter to remark the differences in the candidates. Latitude was taken with the facts in some instances by Governor Fletcher and former Congresswoman Anne Northup, but this is always expected. Businessman Billy Harper played it pretty straight. The interrogators were Bill Bartleman of the Paducah Sun and Patrick Crowley of the Kentucky Enquirer.

As expected, there probably are few differences among the three with respect to the issues. None approved of casino gambling and made that plain. All three spoke at length about education but produced little more than clichés about the need to make it better. The issue that should have been discussed was the suggestion made recently by some entity and endorsed strongly by the Lexington Herald-Leader that math and science teachers should be paid more than other teachers, since Kentucky students lag behind those in most other states in these study-areas. None seemed to have an answer to the “testing” problem.

None of the three saw fit to mention that Kentucky lags behind in education after 16 years of being operated under the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, a nightmarish mixture of pork with pedagogy all tied up in the largest tax increase in the state’s history at that time. None even mentioned that legislatures through the years have rescinded much of the act but have done nothing to improve education. None of the candidates had anything new to say regarding the subject, but all agreed that something has to be done.

The loaded question came early in the evening when the question was asked as to whether or not the candidates believed any fellow-candidate had misbehaved. This was the cue for Ms. Northup to lash out at the governor in no uncertain terms, citing the particulars of the “merit scandal,” noting that blanket pardons had been granted, and lamenting that the facts would never be known since no trials had been or would ever be held.

Governor Fletcher insisted, as he has all along, that the effort by Attorney General Greg Stumbo in that matter was a “witch-hunt,” proven by the fact that Stumbo has entered the gubernatorial sweepstakes as the number-two guy on a democrat ticket. Stumbo, of course, long ago stated publicly that he would consider a candidacy if Fletcher became “wildly unpopular.” He was probably wise in going the lieutenant governor route to get the top job, since he hasn’t looked all that good in the merit thing himself. Also, he can ride on millionaire Bruce Lunsford’s financial coattails, thus dodging the pesky business of fund-raising.

Northup brought up the usual “blacktop gimmick” used in every race by a wannabe to color the incumbent as a con man bribing voters by building roads in their sections during election times. Using the golden opportunity she handed him, Fletcher listed some of those projects, even emphasizing one in deep-democrat country in the western end of the state. Harper is a contractor, part of whose business is building roads, so he predictably didn’t harp on the subject. In fact, he stayed away from mudslinging, leaving that up to Northup, who made a pretty good effort at it.

Crowley, strangely, seemed to try to make the case for casino gambling, throwing out the suggestion that the revenue it would generate would be worth going that route. The numbers batted around differed by the hundreds of millions. Northup and Harper turned him aside completely, though Fletcher repeated his position that if the legislature enacted a casino amendment-proposition to be put on the ballot, he would not stand in the way, letting the citizens decide. He made it plain he would not be for it.

The most grating thing in the nearly hour-long program was Northup’s constant use of the terms “leadership” and “plan.” She used these terms sort of as a mantra, no matter the subject, making it plain that Fletcher had damaged the party and, at least inferentially, could not hope to be elected, and that he is a man without a plan, apparently for most everything. Harper played it cool on the subject, though, if memory serves, Fletcher’s “not-a-chance” was perhaps the primary reason he gave last year for his getting in the race.

Stridency best describes Northup’s performance. The target of her barbs was Fletcher, though she presented no “plans” in the process. Harper was kind of laid back and harped constantly that his being a businessman was the reason he should be elected. Fletcher was upbeat and able to tick off a number of accomplishments during his administration, not the least of which has been turning a sizeable deficit into a sizeable surplus in three years time. He also made it a point to mention how he has helped Louisville, Northup’s home-base.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark