Opaque Lucidity

For PC, Just Stay On The Line

Derek Broes sums it up pretty nicely:

Today, PC attacks are the foundation of the left’s approach to politics and policy. Examples are everywhere. If you didn’t vote for Obama you’re racist, if you oppose gay marriage you’re homophobic, and if you voted for Bush or McCain — according to Janeane Garofalo — you’re an anti-intellectual a**hole (and she said this in such an intellectual way, too).

In Praise Of The Perro

You've probably seen those lists with titles like, "Everything Good I've Learned I Learned From My Dog". I was thinking about that this morning as our dog, Molly, stared at me while I was getting dressed. I'm probably biased, but she's a very smart animal; God knows she has taught me to wait on her hand and foot. Anyway, here's a few things she has taught me. She is, by the way, the first dog I've ever owned:

1. Be glad when your family comes home, even if you were taking a nap in the sunbeam.
2. Don't waste food.
3. Be persistent. You may not get your way, but you will be noticed.
4. Be patient. The door will open and let you in sooner or later.
5. Always be ready to go explore.
6. Be excited about the little things.
7. Get plenty of sleep, even if it's in short naps.
8. If you're afraid, don't be ashamed to let other people know. Fear and cowardice are not the same thing.
9. Learn that you don't know the limits of your authority until you exceed them.
10. Never turn down a belly rub.

1989

The ball is rolling on our 20-year high school reunion. It's going to be in July, so that gives me a little over four months to talk myself into going. Were I not married to another 1989 Providence graduate, I would not go at all.

The why behind that last sentence is complicated. I did OK in high school. I made average grades, which is pretty good for someone who rarely cracked a textbook. That's not to say I didn't read; I always had a book with me. The problem is that it was often completely unrelated to my course of study. As you can imagine, I read a lot of history. Our history teacher was also one of the football coaches and, to be kind, his grasp of the subject was tenuous at best. I was Stephen Ambrose compared to that guy.

Anyway, I was miserable for most of high school. By the beginning of my junior year, my circle of friends was pretty large, but I always felt alone. There were socio-economic differences, but there was also this constant nagging in the back of my head which told me that the entire "high school experience" was bullshit---it was just immature prattling by kids who were as insecure as I was but did a better job of hiding it. Even though I was in it, I was beyond it by the time I was 16.

I won't discuss the relationship problems I had in school except to say that dating created more problems for me than you can imagine. Looking back, I should never have gone on a date with anyone. I would have been happier and I probably would have studied harder. But try explaining that to a 17-year old boy. Breakup and the repercussions it brought made the last two years of high school miserable ones for me.

And there's something else. Most of my classmates went to college, which extends the high school life into young adulthood. Yes, the responsibilities are greater, but those who go to school out of town with mom and dad footing the bill have more freedom than most people ever will. I joined the Navy, a place where, at 18, I was treated like a grown man. I didn't help fight a war or do anything heroic, but it was deadly serious work and there was little tolerance for those who failed to give 100 percent every day. In comparison to that, the college experience, while important in an educational sense, seemed a little quaint. I have no "college years" to share.

So you can see why I'm not eager to re-visit the late 80's. I wish everyone well; from what I've seen on Facebook, most of my classmates seem to have become pretty good people. But I have little in common with most of them other than the fact we worked in the same building for four years when I was a teenager.

Stick With Just Robert

Those of you who live in the Kentuckiana area know the story of Robert Dattilo, the man who shot two Jeffersonville police officers and then shot himself as the Louisville Police Department closed in on him. I was sort of avoiding the story until today because Dattilo is my surname. This morning I found out the truth: Robert Dattilo was a cousin of mine.

You may wonder how I could not know one of my cousins. Robert was a second cousin, the son of my oldest cousin, who is now in his 60's. My cousin's father, Uncle Tony, was my dad's oldest brother. He passed away in 2000. Tony's son, the father of Robert, was always called Tony Boy to distinguish him from the other members of the family named Tony. I have not seen Tony Boy since 1996 when my grandfather died; we both served as pallbearers. I don't remember ever seeing him before then. He is old enough to be my father, so we didn't have much in common.

It's strange, but I'm a little embarrassed about this because people will, for a time, associate my family name with a guy who shot two cops. He's not the first Dattilo to get into legal trouble, but he's the first one to become frontpage news because of his crimes. That's who gets remembered, the members of my family like my father who worked hard most of his life so his five children would have a better life than he knew as a child. But that's what our society has been like for a long time. It's just never hit this close to home before.

If Daddy Ain't Happy...

I want to be clear from the beginning: I am in no way holding myself up as an example of Catholic living. But I grew up in a devoutly Catholic home, attended 12 years of Catholic schools and have read enough about the history of the Church to shock a 13th century monk. So when I talk about what Catholics are supposed to believe and how they are supposed to act, I know whereof I speak.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi likes to say she is Catholic, probably because it gets her a few extra votes every two years. But she's pro-abortion and has voted to keep even partial-birth abortion legal. Anyone who calls themselves Catholic and votes for pro-abortion candidates is conspiring in the commission of an intrinsic evil (this is not just my opinion). It doesn't matter that there are issues you may find more important. I realize millions of Catholics voted for Barack Obama. I'm not here to judge, but I think the truth of the act is obvious on its face.

Pope Benedict met with Nancy Pelosi today and made it clear to her that politicians who represent themselves as Catholics must support pro-life legislation. I have to wonder what Princess Pelosi thought as the representative of Christ on Earth refused to gloss over the abortion issue and talk about "easy" topics like world hunger (who is FOR world hunger? Stalin?). I'm sure she sees him as some old German man who is out of touch. Like most liberals, she probably has zero respect for history, tradition and the truth that comes with two thousand years of prayer and contemplation.

I know nothing the Pope says is going to change Pelosi's thinking or voting record. But I'm glad someone as influential as the Pope is at least making her aware that some of us know the truth.

Mr. Boson

I'm thoroughly geeky. Do you know why I think that? Because I find this funny:

And Pretty Soon You're Talking About Real Money

President Obama's much-vaunted stimulus bill has been approved by both houses of Congress. It's basically a trillion dollars, possibly a little more when everything is sorted out. It represents, without a doubt, the largest federal expansion and one-time expenditure since the end of the Second World War. We don't have the money to pay for it, but that did not seem to be much of a roadblock.

I am amazed when I watch the news and hear people talk about the stimulus as if airplanes are going to fly over and drop barrels full of hundred dollar bills on every town square in the nation. Almost all the money goes to further expand the reach of federal government by creating more and more bureaucracy that will have to be funded forever. The Democrats on the Sunday shows talked about the infrastructure spending in the bill, but when the lights came on, that was less than 10 percent of the total.

Where are the jobs? I don't know. It will be miraculous if anything positive comes of any of this. If left alone, our recession would have lasted less than two years. If it does indeed end in two years, the Dems will claim victory. And even if you know better, you'll keep paying the bill.

The Whisper Channel

Juan Williams is a contributor to the Fox News Channel. He's left of center politically, but he does make valid, well-structured points. He is also a contributor to NPR. These two organizations could not be more different politically. While NPR claims no bias, it leans heavily to the left. Fox News, purporting to be fair and honest, leans to the right. Williams works both side of the fence pretty well. But there are some NPR listeners who want the association between Williams and NPR to be ignored when he is on Fox. Currently, he is identified as an NPR contributor.

This is yet another example of the pass-aggressive behavior of the Left. As long as you agree with the liberal talking points, you are treated with respect and "tolerance". However, if you have a differing opinion, you need to be shut out of any debate and marginalized. Additionally, you will be called a fascist, bigot, homophobe and worse.

As the Obama administration goes on and on into a glorious Socialist future, you are going to hear the keywords of censorship more and more: "balance" and "fairness". If you see or hear a liberal use either of these two words in conjunction with a media outlet, think book burning. Because that's what it leads to. That's some understanding ideology you guys have cooked up over there.

The Worlds Thy Hand Hath Made

I went to Navy boot camp in January. It was the boot camp in Orlando, which has long since been turned into some sort of overpriced McMansion neighborhood. The winters are generally not too cold in Florida, and that January was no exception. Instead of cold, I remember many cloudy mornings with a stiff breeze. We would get up and some ungodly hour long before the sun came up and march to the "grinder", a giant asphalt area where we did push-ups, jumping jacks, etc. and then ran for what seemed like forever (at least it seemed forever at first; after a couple weeks, it seemed like I could run forever, simply because I had been told to).

As we left the barracks to line up on the street each morning, I would steal a glance at the sky. Every once in a while, the stars would be there between the clouds, telling me that life continued even though I was cut off from everything that wasn't dressed in blue or khaki or painted haze gray. I did not hear a radio the entire time, so if a song ran through my head, it would stay there for days. One morning, it was especially windy and the clouds were racing overhead in the darkness. For some reason, the hymn "How Great Thou Art" popped into my head. I probably hadn't heard it for years, but there it was. And it stayed for day after day, until it became part of my morning routine.

Now, 20 years later, I still think of that hymn if I'm outside before dawn and it's windy and cloudy. It was like that this morning in Kentuckiana, and the tune started again. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder.

Time To Go

As I write this, President Obama is holding a primetime news conference. It is apparent to me that a) he should have remained a college professor because he's in love with the idea of talking and b) the questions he is being asked were seen beforehand by he and his staff.

"A" above is an opinion and I have no way to prove "B". However, I think it will become apparent in a very short period of time that most of the press in the White House pool is more than willing to give the new President a pass, at least until he proves to be so far over his head that their obvious bias begins to hurt their credibility (if it's not hurting already).

Helen Thomas just asked a question and used the phrase "so-called terrorists". Helen, are you an American first, or just another cynical "citizen of the world"? There are people in the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan who, if given the chance, would kill Americans by the thousands. That, dearest Helen, makes them terrorists. Thus, they must be destroyed. It's just that simple. The rocking chair is calling, Helen; it's time to move on.

Some Call It Fairness

By now, you've heard of the Fairness Doctrine, the abolishment of which in the 1980's paved the way for the return of talk radio. Conservative, right-wing political types dominate the genre now, and with good reason. Put simply, many people who vote for liberals and Democrats just don't pay attention or don't have the attention span to really learn and debate issues. Something else I've noticed is that liberals just aren't funny because they tend to take themselves too seriously. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, take your job seriously, but don't ever take yourself too seriously; you'll come off looking like an asshole.

Well, the Fairness Doctrine may be on the way back. Of course, there's nothing "Fair" about it. It's simply a means by which liberals can push conservatives off the air. How will they accomplish this? By requiring equal time. Imagine a station running Rush Limbaugh and then running three hours of some washed-up liberal has been. Most stations would simply opt not to run either of them because no one wants to listen to liberal talk radio (Air America, anyone?).

So when you see 'Fairness Doctrine', think 'censorship'. Who's the facsist now?

Good Job, George

Forensic archaeologists have been able to reconstruct what Martha Washington probably looked like in her 20's:

Damn! You may not know this, but Martha was married before George came along. Her husband died, leaving her with four children and a considerable fortune. The next year, she married young, studly and fairly wealthy George Washington. She was 28, so she probably looked a lot like she does in the picture. Yowza!

George and Martha had no children together. There's something magical about the man who is considered the father of our nation leaving no biological children behind. I've always thought there was some divine intervention in that---as if we are all his children through our citizenship. Yeah, corny. Got it.