The 50 Foot Cat

litigation v. justice

2006-09-10T05:46:00.000-07:00

For many years I've heard how "justice is denied to the poor." I've always dismissed this as emotional horse-hockey designed for consumption by left leaning wealthy do-gooders who are having a conscience attack. I've also generally rejected the premise that right-leaning causes operated under the corollary of "justice is served by wealth," and the resulting "golden-rule" conclusion that "those who have the gold make the rules." In America, a land of laws, all citizens were supposed to be equal under the law. No one was supposed to be able to force another to give up their freedoms without due process and justice. Hence, all citizens would be able to obtain justice regardless of their class and the size of their bank account.

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Pithy sayings and idealistic attitudes aside, I'd never really run into a situation where my own freedoms and the freedoms of others would be badly mangled without true justice. I had also naively assumed that justice would be free in the "home of the free and the land of the brave."

Yesterday, I learned otherwise. Yesterday, an entrepreneur (we'll call him Mike) with a wife and a new baby was forced to close down the business that he and his wife had been running for about 1-2 years. Why were they forced to close it? No customers? - No. This business generally had about 100 customers every weekend. Inadequate cashflow? - No. The business seemed to net about $1000 (My own personal guess here) per weekend. Government regulation? - No. Mike was, to the best of our knowledge, complying with all applicable laws and regulations.

The reason Mike had to close his business was because he could not afford to seek justice. You see Mike ran a shooting range. He had a five year lease on the land where the range was located. The landowner had agreed to its use, to the improvements Mike had already made, and to the improvements Mike planned on making. Whenever the landowner requested that Mike modify or change something in the operation, Mike seemed to have found a way to work with the landowner. The shooters who showed up each weekend were high caliber citizens. There were doctors, law enforcement officers, teachers, military personnel, and people with more vocations that I never got the chance to meet. As with most shooting events, the general atmosphere was one of courtesy and friendliness sprinkled with a healthy dose of competitiveness.

So what happened? The landowner died about three months ago. I remember that Mike, in deference to the landowner's family and their loss, canceled the matches that weekend. He was not required to show that courtesy, but he did because that is who Mike is. Last week, Mike received a letter from the county telling him that because he had an unauthorized septic system, he would have to cease operations until it came into compliance. This was strange, as Mike had porta-potties. The porta-potties were adequately maintained (as testified to by the Queen who also shoots with me sometimes). The conclusion that most of the shooting community arrived at was that a neighbor was upset and was trying to close us down by making multiple baseless complaints to the government. The government was then obligated to investigate the allegations and Mike was obligated to defend his business. However, the defense of his business would necessarily cost significant amounts of money and time.

According to Mike,

"The attacks are coming from Hayes County, the neighbors, and the new landowner... They are using everything within (and outside)their power to shut us down. After discussing our situation with several people including legal counsel. It has become apparent that this range is no longer viable for our use. Legal counsel has advised me that a big part of their plan is burying us in litigation....legitimate or not.

After spending one of the worst weeks in my life agonizing over this. With much regret, we have decided to shut the range down. We think it is the best thing for us and all of our friends and shooters."

I'm stunned by how easy it was to shut down this range. I've tried to "see other peoples points of view," but I find that I really can't. The new landowner is not, in good faith, honoring the lease that he inherited/bought with the land. I wonder whether he is trying to develop the land, so he needs to end the lease?

As any range designer knows, the impact area is one of the most important parts of a range. Based upon what I've seen of the range, I believe the impact area is not an issue. There is increased traffic on the county road that accesses the range. I could see neighbors being unhappy about that. But if the new landowner is trying to develop the land, then this will be a moot issue and will probably get even worse for neighbors. Are the neighbors worried about having "so many people with guns around?" I think that this should be a non-issue in a rural community, especially in Texas.

But why would Hayes County officials be trying to close down a business? Do they believe that more tax revenue could be generated from developed property rather than from a shooting range? If so, the county is signing on as a willing party to close the range down in order to aid development and boost tax revenues. There are many ways for the government to take one's property. This is apparently the most legal, even if it is the most illegitimate.

In the end, I understand Mike's reasoning. Rather than spend time, effort, and treasure to fight an injustice that has so many players stacked against him, it is more expeditious to pick up your chips and move to a new table where the dealer is not cheating. But it does gall me that a man has had to close down a going business because of the high probability that the neighbors will bankrupt him with litigation. This is not right in Texas. This is not right in America.

Labor Day Weekend

2006-09-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ah! The Labor Day Weekend is finally here!!

The Queen has a pleasant smile on her face because she will be home for an extra day this weekend. The kittens are mewing about playing Diablo against each other this weekend. Myself, I'm ~~stuck~~ celebrating this Labor Day in a boot for the next three weeks.

Every now and then crazy thoughts pop into my head. I asked myself, "Gee I wonder what the origins of Labor Day are"? So I G**gled it and came up with this site at the Department of Labor. To say the least, I was shocked at this quote from the first paragraph of the site.

"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

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Ok, besides the obvious bile I am currently feeling for old Samuel ~~Bonkers~~ Gompers. I decided to actually check his facts to see whether this Communist propoganda bears any resemblance to truth or not. Here is what I found.

According to the US Office of Personnel Management (The Human resources department of the US Government, if you will.), There are 10 federal holidays as listed below for 2006:

Monday, January 2	New Year's Day
Monday, January 16	Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 20	Washington's Birthday
Monday, May 29	Memorial Day
Tuesday, July 4	Independence Day
Monday, September 4	Labor Day
Monday, October 9	Columbus Day
Friday, November 10	Veterans Day
Thursday, November 23	Thanksgiving Day
Monday, December 25	Christmas Day

If we categorize these according to Mr. ~~Bonkers~~ Gompers:
Holidays connected with conflict, battles...

Monday, May 29	Memorial Day
Tuesday, July 4	Independence Day
Friday, November 10	Veterans Day

Holidays connected to a single man...

Monday, January 16	Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 20	Washington's Birthday
Monday, October 9	Columbus Day

The other Holidays...

Monday, January 2	New Year's Day
Monday, September 4	Labor Day
Thursday, November 23	Thanksgiving Day
Monday, December 25	Christmas Day

So then, in order for Mr. ~~Bonkers~~ Gompers statement to be correct All of the other holidays must be connected to some person, sect, race, or nation.

Christmas is the obvious standout. It literally is a celebration of Christ. So I might grudgingly grant his point. Though the way Americans and the rest of the Western world think about Christmas it is questionable whether this really is the case.

New Year's Day? Hhhm. Devoted to a man? - No. A sect? - No. A race? - No. A Nation? - No. Uh oh, looks like Sam falls on his face here.

What about Thanksgiving? Well it is clearly an American holiday. Truthfully, one would have to stretch pretty far to say that Thankgiving is devoted to a sect, race or nation (except the USA of course.).

According to the DoL, "Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers." I'm left scratching my head here. So I thought I might digress to the origins of the holiday.

Labor Day started in New York in the 1880's and was institutionalized by 1894. This was the time when unions were coming into power. As a result, I believe that the unions were trying to make a point to the industrialists of the period and were flexing their muscles politically. As evidenced from the quote from the DoL,

"[T]he Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic...[The] workingmen's holiday [idea]... spread with the growth of labor organizations..."

Demonstration. This pretty clearly classifies it as a political move, and spreading with the growth of labor organizations is the last nail in the coffin. Labor Day occurred because labor unions gained political and economic power.

The DoL site's thinly veiled attempt to glorify "the worker" is somewhat perplexing. The reality is not that the worker made America great. It is and always will be that the entrepreneurs and the innovators made America great. The unions had a place in checking overbearing business practices. But it was the spirit of the entrepreneurs that gave the worker a place to work and transformed the nation into the powerhouse that it is today. Unfortunately, though, I believe that the unions have long outlived their usefulness and should be disbanded. They are now a drag on our country. But alas, they have too much power and will be incredibly difficult to disband with the state of American politics.

I have always believed that market forces are the proper determiners of supply and demand equilibrium. Any interference by government and unions should be avoided. All employment should be "at will". But again, this requires massive changes in our political system, changes that are not likely to come anytime soon.

Anyhow, this is a pretty large digression from Labor Day. But the long and the short of it is that I like having a 3-day weekend at the start of September. Though I don't really care if we call it Labor Day, Entrepreneur's Day, or even Big Sale Day. It is still very nice to just relax with my family.

Krazyfornians at it Again

2006-08-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

Lawdog had a good article on Californian idiocy (as if that was ever in question). But I especially loved morningglory's comment:

Do you know what happened this week back in 1850, in California?

California became a state.

The State had no electricity.

The State had no money.

Almost everyone spoke Spanish.

There were gun fights in the streets.

So basically, it was just like California today except the women had real breasts and men didn't hold hands.

The only thing I really have to add is that despite their politics, Crazyfornians still have an amazingly beautiful state. (God did a wonderful job making it, even though they've been doing their best to goof it up).

Begging Entitlement

2006-08-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Read a post over on Lawdog today regarding the entitlement attitude. Loved the comments too. But I thought that I would throw my 2 cents in on my own blog.

Austin is rife with the street-corner "Please help me" beggars. Today I saw one of the guys that I've seen off and on for the past several years. He had three signs. The first said, "Road Rage? Yell at me for 50 cents". The second said, "My wife has a pistol, so I've got to bring home the bacon". The third said, "Why live in a $200,000 house when you can live under a $20,000,000 bridge."

There went an Hour!

2006-08-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

This is a rant!

I HATE it when they upgrade the system - BUT FORGET TO UPLOAD THE OLD EMAIL ADDRESSES!!

Ok granted, it is my fault when I don't have a written record of my own blogger log in. But when I tried to find my username and password by having the system use my email address to track me down, it told me that it couldn't find me. I went through multiple revolutions for nearly an hour before I finally tried one of my lesser used usernames. Even so, after 5 minutes, I am still waiting for the email system to get it to me.

Here's a clue guys, if you are going to upgrade your system, make sure that all the old stuff works when you are done.

A War Worth Winning

2006-04-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

(Warning: This paper is satirical. However, with satire, it should be remembered that the truth is there – just buried beneath the surface).

When I walked into my first class 8 months ago, I was confident that:

the students wanted to be there,
they knew how to behave respectfully to adults
they would be as impressed with my background as I was
and they would give me full effort because they loved math, school and learning as much as I did.

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Oh BOY! I was wrong; for expecting kids to act as adults, for expecting kids coming from generational poverty to act like middle-class kids coming from homes where success is the norm, for expecting kids to think I was “all that”, and for thinking that I was “all that”. It took nearly two months before I came to grips with being wrong, another month for me to decide whether I was willing to let them drive me from teaching, and another month to re-invent who I was as a teacher. I realized that my failure was never about “them” - it was about me. It was about my attitude and my expectations. It was necessary to decide whether the “war” for my students future was noble and worth winning. Once I had decided that the “war” was worth winning, I began the planning and implementation necessary to win.

As with any proper military campaign, I first had to figure out who my enemy was, how he thought, how he played, how he worked, what he valued, and above all else, how his heart and mind could be won from the depths of a culture where academic achievement is scorned. I don't have the space to delineate and explore every nuance of my enemy and his world in this paper. “My enemy” values his time out of school and his time with friends. Hence, this is what all confrontations must deny him. The strategy is simple - make the pain of staying the same so unbearable, that the pain of conforming to what I require is minimal – and that in conforming, he achieves what is valuable to him. “My enemy” values clear and escalating consequences that allow him to choose how much pain he is willing to accept on a given day. I remove this choice and make the consequence more painful than he will accept. The idea is to cut off all traditional escape routes and leave only one path unobstructed - that of cooperation. “My enemy” perceives negotiation as a means of escape from undesired consequences and as a weakness in his enemy – so I do not accept excuses and do not “negotiate” with him except as it involves progress along the path to learning that I have left unobstructed. Any attempts to move away from that path involve severe enough consequences to bring him back to the path.

As with any insurgency, the ringleaders must be eliminated or converted in order for peace to exist. My classroom was no different. Some ringleaders were eliminated and sent to ALC. Some ringleaders left the class and joined an insurgency in another classroom. Some ringleaders stayed but ceased fighting, biding their time. Some gave over their hearts and minds. But in all classes, the environment is now conducive to learning. Students can now work freely in groups and individually without fear of reprisals from the ringleaders. Real learning is taking place. But no insurgency is ever completely eliminated. It is only put down for a time. As the insurgency rears its head trying to destroy the classroom environment, I viciously and ruthlessly crush its head under my heel. Those that suffered under the poverty of the insurgency, are prospering in a new environment with a potentially bright future. Those that were “my enemy” are now my friends.

As with any plan, the proof will be in the pudding. In two weeks, my students will take the TAKS. Did I take decisive action soon enough for my students to be able to pass? My biggest fear is that I did not, and that my delay in taking control of my classroom will cost them. But having fought the good fight this year, next year there will be no delay on my part. I have been reinvented into a lean, mean, “teaching machine” that will win the War Worth Winning.

Black Steele

2006-03-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

Here is an outstanding Interview with Shelby Steele, a black that defines what is really wrong with black America. My comments appear below.

Halfway Through

2005-12-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

For those that didn't know, I've been teaching 8th grade math at a local Title 1 middle school in Austin, TX. I would like to throw out my thoughts now that we are halfway through the school year.

Introducing The Queen in Spain

2005-06-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hello all. As many of you know, my Queen (Did you know that a queen is a a female cat?) has been galavanting around Spain for the past week with five of her high school students. She sent an email about her wanderings that I found interesting and which I am reproducing in part here for your edification and enjoyment. Thanks Sweetie.

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This weekend I went to Ronda with a new friend(Lorenza) who is from the Italian part of Switzerland. Ronda is around 2 hours by train and is located high on a cliff overlooking one of the most verdant valleys you have ever seen in your life.

The city has an old and new part to it. Both are separated by a deep gorge and yet connected by two impressive bridges which rise up from this canyon: the only way to approach the old part of the city and hence one of the last strongholds of Moorish Rule in Spain. The old part of the city is all cobblestone streets which rise and fall with the contours of this secluded hill. Houses are built right to the edge and some appear to be carved into the side of the hill. One wonders how any of this was accomplished since a lot of it was built before the 1400´s.

The "new" bridge which currently stands was built around 1750. From a distance one can see a door in the upper middle part of the bridge. Apparently there is also another one on the other side. I overheard a tour guide say that this was the old alcatraz of Ronda since the only escape was to leave through these doors which, of course, lead no where but to the deep gorge below.

Ronda is also known for its famous bull-fighting arena. Here, modern bull fighting was born. The man who made bull fighting on foot popular was a man from Ronda by the name of Pedro Romero. Before, gentlemen considered "bull-fighting" a sport, and like their English fox-hunting counterparts, executed this sport on horseback. Pedro Romero however made bull-fighting on foot popular and certainly a lot more dangerous and exciting to watch.

Apparently the bull is one of the only animals who will continue to attack its aggressor despite being wounded (or at least "the best" of the species are.) They have extremely strong necks capable of lifting and entire horse and its rider up and over itself. A "torero" who is caught by one of these beast can be flung 20-40 feet up into the air. In yesteryear before the invention of penicillin, a torero who was gored by a bull, if he didn´t die on the spot, often died of the infection which resulted. Toreros in Ronda erected a monument to Ian Flemming, the inventor of penicillin, due to the prolonged life span a torero now enjoys.

To be the doctor of a bull-fighting arena today is a great honor. The pay, 1 Euro a year, is mere ceremony since the honor itself is pay enough.

Young men can begin their training as young as 4 years old, but they may not fight in the arena until they are 14. Still way too young, if you ask me!

Another thing I learned is that a bull fight always continues even despite the death of a matador. The other matadors continue the
fight. If a matador does a good job he receives as price one of the ears of the bull. If he does really, really well, he will receive both ears and will be carried on the peoples shoulders around the arena and out into the streets. Once in a while, the specatators will ask the arena president to spare the life of the bull, if he is an exceptional beast. The matador must also agree, in which case the bull is cured of its wounds by the "bandorilleros" and the "picador" and is used as stud
for future generations.

In Ronda we got to see the entire arena. Not just the round arena
where the bull fight happens but also the "behind-the-scenes areas." There is an intricate laberynth of doors and narrow passage ways that leads the bulls to where they are to be kept and from there to the arena. Each door can be lifted from up above while the bull passes safely down below. Before arriving at the arena the bulls are kept in a field away from people. They are completely free and wild. After their capture and arrival at the arena they are allowed to rest a few days before the actual bull fight so that they are in top condition. It is said that a bull that is raised to become a bull in a bull fight is the best kept animal in the world.

Newsweek doesn't really care

2005-05-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to FirePower Forward, an Army Major in the thick of it in Iraq. The MSM does us a terrible disservice by not fully reporting on what a "riot" entails in this part of the world. Many people in the U.S. think a riot is just a bunch of people waving political placards, behaving rudely, spray painting buildings, and occasionally breaking windows. So what really happens when 16 people die in a riot? Click on the link above to get a little better flavor for it.

I am tremendously annoyed at Newsweek, especially their international division. Follow this link to learn more about The Day America Died. I wasn't really aware how Newsweek (and, I suppose, other international news magazines) tailor their content to influence the foreign audience. I'm also a little miffed that they would think Americans are so stupid that they can only be served fluff rather than the tripe they serve to other nationalities. But, given theirfar left leanings, I suppose I shouldn't really be terribly surprised.

Every service member is sworn to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Our constitution guarantees free speech. Free Speech, though, also carries responsibilities; Responsibilities that I believe Newsweek has failed to observe and carry out. Can or would I keep Newsweek from publishing? NO. So how does one force a non-natural person (such as Newsweek) to observe their responsibilities in addition to exercising their rights? This is the real question.

Honor Students

2005-05-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

This was a quick Bumper Sticker idea that I saw over at Geek With A .45

Apparently they were "Inspired by plummeting standards, and a fifth grade 'honor student' I met who couldn't add 17+7:"

"Can your "honor student" actually read?"

"Can your "honor student" actually do math?"

I have to admit that I wonder the same thing after scoring the New Mexico 5th grade math test.

The Cinco de Mayo real history

2005-05-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

For those of you hadn't guessed yet, I have a moderate libertarian leaning. So sometimes I read Coyote Blog, written by a business owner from Phoenix. He has many interesting insights. Though I don't find myself agreeing with him in entirety, I enjoy his well reasoned posts. Anyhow, I ran across a link to this Cinco de Mayo posting concerning the real history of Cinco de Mayo. You might enjoy it too.

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The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.

It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?

In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.

Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. VIVA! el CINCO DE MAYO!!

New Mexico Math Musings

2005-05-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Any of you who follow my blog will have figured out that I haven't been nearly as prolific as I used to be. Well, I've been ~~grading~~ scoring New Mexico's standardized math test for fifth grade. Here are some of the more interesting observations:

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Test questions ranged from fairly simple pattern recognition to multipart reasoning and basic set theory type questions. To my knowledge, students did not use calculators. I scored only the written/short answer questions, which had a maximum of 26 points available. All questions were to be scored holistically - meaning trying to look at student process to determine whether the student understood the concept being tested.

1) None of the student tests that I scored earned more than 24 points, with the bulk of students earning in the 9-12 point range. Note: I scored about 6,000 separate tests. This was a highly discouraging result for me to see. I've always assumed that most kids can perform basic tasks in mathematics. Simple ordering of 4 numbers from greatest to least also left about 25% of these 5th graders banging their heads against a wall. Stating the range of those same 4 numbers left almost 90% of NM students lost beyond all hope.

2) I was also disappointed at the universally poor spelling. For instance it was not uncommon for a student to spell either "right" or "write" as "rit". Nor did it end with just poor spelling. Grammer and linear thought processes were lacking in about 50% of students.

3) The other scorers on my team were trying to figure out what the root cause of the dismal performance might have been. The usual culprits were trotted out - poor school districts, Native American disconnect, poor socio-economics in the communities, etc., etc., etc. I wonder about a slightly different cause, namely teachers not holding students responsible for basic levels of performance before they are passed onto the next grade. With so many different districts having such low scores, I believe there must be something systemic to NM's education system that prevents so many students from performing basic competencies. I have no idea what the true cause might be.

I sincerely hope that NM students can get their act together some day. But in the meantime, "No Child Left Behind" has blatently pointed out the failure of NM schools to the children and their communities.

Godspeed Specialist Francisco G. Martinez

2005-03-31T03:36:00.000-08:00

I urge you to read Gina Cavallaro's article and BlackFive's note regarding Spc Martinez.

It's easy to demonize the military. It's easy to be an armchair commander. It's easy to miss the humanity of each individual soldier. But it's not easy to see a friend die.

Paco's Final Farewell is a dignified look at a man's grief for his son.

Maundy - What You Didn't Know

2005-03-24T06:09:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share an article by Dr. James C. Denison, Senior Pastor, Park Cities Baptist Church. I had no idea until I read the article, what "Maundy Thursday" was about.

To make a long story short, maundy is derived from the Latin word for mandated. So "Maundy Thursday" is "Thursday of the Mandate." But what mandate are we talking about? This was the night of the last supper. This night began with Jesus doing something so menial that no Jewish slave would ever be required to do it - washing someone else's feet.

Black History Month Flap

2005-03-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a little tidbit that I saw over on Tongue Tied. Seems a student at a Chicago high school has started to wonder why Black History Month is shoved down her throat every year (for an entire month). The student even went so far as to wonder if it is racism against whites? As the school newspaper printed the article as an opinion piece, the journalism teacher is now in hot water. The administration is doing its best to tell everyone who will listen that the author is "misguided" and that "all students need diversity and sensitivity training."

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Remember, the Cat is pretty much color-blind. My roommate for 2 1/2 years at the Naval Academy was black. During my time in the Marine Corps, I served with both "light green" and "dark green" Marines. The emphasis is on GREEN. Two of my roommates on one float were "dark green", and I enjoyed their company temendously. The Best Man at my wedding was black, as was the pastor who married Haydee and myself. (So with my background out in the open, on with my comments.)

My belief is that the racism card is way overused. If a black doesn't like the criticism he is receiving, then he plays the racism card and everyone is supposed to immediately proclaim the criticizer in need of "sensitivity training". In this particular case, a student wrote an OPINION suggesting that Black History Month created a reverse racism - racism against whites - ostensibly because "whites were slave owners and hence must have been cruel masters who took advantage of the hapless black man", therefore, any speech suggesting that whites are getting the short end of the stick is racist. This student's OPINION is counter to the accepted, politically correct norms. Hence, it is decried by the powers that be as being racist and insensitive.

In a nation that guarantees free speech, one can neither ban a person's opinion nor their free expression of that opinion. To allow one group to bully another group with a differing opinion is counter to what this nation stands for. I find it interesting that anyone in this country thinks they have a right NOT to be offended. In a free society - one in which ideas are not penalized, one man's free speech IS GOING TO OFFEND another man. Yet to denounce the first man's right to express his thoughts in a public setting without fear is tantamount to slavery.

So, I conclude with these parting thoughts. First, that in order to be taken seriously, quit playing your racism card, not everyone who criticizes you is a racist. Second, Black History Month is a silly, politically correct institution that only causes other races to resent blacks because it is getting shoved down their throats. Third, you have a right to speak freely, but your right not to be offended is nonexistent. Get over it.

Women and "Influencers"

2005-03-16T20:05:00.000-08:00

I want to point out three interesting articles and I've written a short piece on the last one.

Here's a link to a very interesting article that completely debunks the whole "Women aren't paid the same as men" theme so prevalent in the feminist mantra.

I've also been reading a very real young author, trying to grok, she puts down in words what young military wives have felt for centuries as their men go off to war, and more importantly, as their men come home.

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Interesting article about military recruitment and blacks. The number of black recruits has fallen from 23.5% to 13.9%. I won't even suggest that blacks are chicken. However, the article asserts that,

"...the propensity of black youth to enlist is impacted by the war and increasingly by views of parents, teachers, coaches, clergy and other "influencers."...Fear of being killed or injured was the top reason to avoid service for 26 percent of youth in 2004, almost double the 14 percent reported in 2000..."

However, all other racial group percentages have increased - including whites. It sort of debunks the myth that "America goes to war on the Black man's blood." Bear in mind that this is a California newspaper from Northern San Diego and Southwest Riverside county.

According to the article, poll data also indicates "...more black parents, particularly mothers, worry that their children could be killed or injured in the war..." Are black mothers the only mothers concerned about their sons' welfare? Clearly this can not be the case.

Though the article did not clarify why black "influencers" have arrived at their current negativity towards the military, my own experience in the Austin public schools indicates that black youth are being force-fed the whole "fear and unjust war" mantra that liberal democrats have been spouting since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom(OIF). My own observations indicate that predominately white/hispanic schools in Austin escape this force-feeding, though the democratic message exists just below the surface. Yet the black schools are inundated with the message.

Through my conversations with black, white, and hispanic students - trying to probe their thought processes to determine why they believe what they believe - I've noticed that most white/hispanic students will describe the military action in Iraq within the moral context of "liberation of people and protection of life." However, most black students tend to express their position in the moral context of, "I don't want to die for any other country", "Iraq is not a just war", or "Bush lied to us about WMD".

My conclusion is that the black students' "influencers" are promoting an attitude of internalism, whereas white and hispanic students' "influencers" are speaking of duty to a cause outside of themselves - a greater cause. In support of this, I'm going to offer up a recent interview Time conducted with Sgt Bozik and other injured service members. Even with their wounds and incredibly different lives, each is moving forward. To my knowledge, none of the three are black. (I was not able to verify the ethnicity of Jim Batchelor) The key quote is one from Sgt. Boznik, "Even knowing that I would lose three limbs, I would sign up again." Read the article.

Humans are by nature afraid of the unknown, and the generic warning of slaughter in war seems to carry more moral weight than suggesting that there is, on occasion, even a utility or morality in the use of arms to stop evil. So why is this lost on black "influencers"? For the life of me, I suspect I will never be able to answer this question.

AISD Liberal Teachers and their Students

2005-02-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a NYPost article about the teachers who are using their positions to shape the political opinions of their students. Although it would be easy to say that this is an isolated incident. I refer you back to an article I wrote on Feb 11, 2005 regarding the same type of thing here in Austin, TX.

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Additionally, on Feb 18, I was in Austin's LBJ High School. Under the guise of Black History Month, all seniors were required(?) to attend a talk by Texas Senator Barrientos. Though about 70% of his message dealt with a "stay away from drugs, stay in school" message, his talk was littered with comments such as "right-wing nutjobs" and how "whites" needed to recognize that within the next five years, blacks and hispanics would make up over 50% of the TX population.

During the course of my duties, I encountered two boys in the classroom who were doing a history assignment on the computer. One of the questions centered around why the US won the Revolutionary War? The correct answer (according to the computer) was that the French provided loans and troops. Though this seems somewhat subjective, here is a fairly concise history of French involvement in the revolutionary war (centering on Lafayette rather than Rochambeau) that I found interesting. Since it sounded a bit like revisionist history to me, I asked what they knew about Iraq and their fight for freedom?

It was as if I had opened a door and unleashed every liberal idea that has ever been thought of. I heard comments like, "I don't see how Bush can send people to war when he was hiding out in the National Guard". "I don't think we should go around the world killing people". "Under Saddam the people might be imprisoned for speaking their mind, but now they are shot for going outside their homes."

Truthfully, I was floored!(again) You know, I really don't mind it if these kids make up their own mind after getting ALL the facts, but it really rankles me when they either don't explore all the facts, aren't exposed to all the facts, or have liberal facts shoved down their throats.

I'm betting that no Senator besides Barrientos is invited into Austin Schools. Since this is the second school in Austin, and the second incidence of deep liberal bias, I'm betting that the whole school District (AISD) is tainted.

Virginians struggling over religious beliefs and constitutional change

2005-02-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it appears to me that Virginians are about to wrestle with a huge issue that they don't really understand. As usual, I did a little digging and found the full text of the proposed Virginia constitutional amendment as well as the full text of The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 16 January 1786

As I see it, here are the major issues:

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Christian Viewpoint
1. Christians, especially teachers, have been very afraid to even hint at their beliefs because parents(and kids) have learned that school administrators will not stand up to a parent, but rather will bow and scrape to even the most idiotic complaints.
2. Teachers and school districts fear lawsuits from disgruntled parents and students who are "offended" by words and/or deed.
3. Teachers (and even administrators) have effectively been muzzled over matters of religion/belief.

Status Quo
1. Children(k-12) are highly influenced by their teachers. Therefore any mention of religion or religious principles is essentially the same as proselytizing.
2. Proselytizing in a public school violates the supposed "separation of church and state" clause of the constitution.

The Cat's idea
1. After reading the Washington Post article, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the proposed amendment, the only possible reaction is that nothing in the proposed amendment is counter to the US Constitution.
2. The proposed amendment strengthens the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom(1786), by explicitely stating that "...the people’s right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including public schools, shall not be infringed;..."
3. The amendment also prevents the state from forcing anyone to participate in religious activity. "The Commonwealth and... public school divisions, shall not compose school prayers, nor require any person to join in prayer or other religious activity."

I wish that those who believe there is a separation between church and state would read the constitution. IT'S NOT THERE! So anyone bringing that up just doesn't have a clue. Now let's talk about reality.

The status quo points are interesting in that teachers do exert an immense influence over kids for both "good" and "bad". What would be the consequences of allowing a Hindu teacher to express her beliefs to her students? Are they the same for a Wickan? or what about any of 100 other "religions"?

Knowing that this could very easily open the floodgates, I expect the Virginia Senate will kill this bill rapidly. The risk is enormous, and the benefit is illusory. An amendment intended to allow the Christian message to be heard in schools would instead expose children to far-out and wild belief systems. With no foundational principle to fall back on, what will the children believe?

That being said, I believe that Christians have been muzzled either out of fear or ignorance. My wife, not an ignorant woman, has been fearful that the music (Christian praise songs) she listens to during her off periods at the local high school would get her in trouble. It is important to protect the civil liberties of Christians in this country who have been muzzled. After all, it was christian beliefs that provided for the freedoms that Americans enjoy.

Service Academies and McCallum High School

2005-02-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I must be older than I thought! today I substituted at McCallum High School in Austin. I was teaching the AP pre-calculus class which is primarily college bound juniors. So I began asking them where they were planning on going to school. After hearing schools like UT, MIT, Brown, etc. I asked whether they had considered any of the service academies.

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I was truly unprepared for the violent reactions and negativism towards any thought of attending a military academy. At first, I was stunned, but figured that they were just being teenagers. They were still young and trying to figure out what they really thought by adopting and experimenting with the extremes of various positions.

I remember when I was a junior in high school, it was not considered abnormal for teachers to offer advice about their alma maters. If one in particular had not sent my name in nomination to the Air Force Academy, I would never have even known about any of the service academies, and never would have attended Annapolis.

Boy was I taken back when, as I was checking out for the day, the head of the substitutes for McCallum asked whether one of the vice principals had found me because some of the students had complained that I was "recruiting" for the military during class time.

While I stood there dumbfounded, this administrator explained that, "You know, with this whole unjust war, it just doesn't take much to get students and parents upset." As I took as closer look around her office, I noticed that this administrator had a Michael Moore poster hanging in her office. If I had looked a little closer, I'm sure I would have found other evidence of her bias.

I am still mildly shell-shocked that things have changed so much. I feel very wounded that teenagers are being allowed to demonize our country's military with administrator support. It was interesting that some of the students barely stopped short of calling the troops murderers and the like, while others said they supported the troops but felt that "the war was wrong." I looked several students in the eye and told them, "As an American you are allowed to dissent. However, our country elected our leaders and then elected them again. As such, it is important for us as Americans to give our loyalty to our leaders."

Predictably, some of the students replied with the, "Well I didn't elect him." line. I responded that, "As Americans, you enjoy the fruits of this country and the blood of her soldiers keeps you free. It is really important that any person of conscience have truly and deeply considered this state of affairs. Otherwise, they haven't truly considered what even allows them to enjoy their lives in this nation."

These comments, which truly belong in a high school setting, but are to often absent, are probably what led to the complaints by the students.

Oh well, how things change. I don't think that I'm going to like it when this generation comes of age.

Salute to the Heroes

2005-02-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

Since it's been a while since I posted, I thought this was the most appropriate pointer I could place out there. Take a look.

Salute to the Heroes

Thanks Budweiser.

Meet the Mad Ghosts

2005-01-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

For those who have read my blog for a while, you know that I have a great deal of respect for BlackFive, an outstanding military blogger with many connections to US service members in Iraq. Today I'm linking to his post that includes a letter sent by USMC LtCol Mark Smith, the Battalion Commander of 2/24. I urge you to read the letter and watch the video at the end of the letter. I can add nothing else.

Meet the Mad Ghosts

Offensive Information over Email

2005-01-21T21:10:00.000-08:00

Interesting article about someone who forwarded an email and ended up almost losing her job over it (hat trick: Toungue Tied)
Metro worker forwards anti-Muslim e-mail

It seems to me that this worker was forced to apologize to the world - or lose her job. Apparently, the Nashville Metro policy prohibits forwarding "offensive information". But I think the person who complained was located in another state! Unless the worker forwarded it to him directly (highly unlikely), then she forwarded it to people who were not offended. Once it was forwarded to another individual beyond her initial group, her liability should end. Why? Because the city's email system was not used to send it to the person who was ultimately offended!

Therefore, even though it is dumb to use city email to forward off-color emails, by the city's own policy, it is not prohibited, unless the person sent to is offended.

Who'll care for the orphans?

2005-01-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Now that the shock of the Dec 26 tsunami has begun to wear off, the Indonesian government is faced with the reality of hundreds, if not thousands, of orphans. The immediate need is to place the affected children in orphanages and begin the process of adoption placement. I was taken back initially at two stories on Wired concerning this.
>>First Story<<
>>Second Story<<

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Curious, I did a little more digging and have pretty much figured out the following:

There is a difference in the definition and concept of adoption between Christian and Muslim religions. Specifically, the western concept is that the child who is adopted becomes the official child of that family and has all the rights that a natural child in the marriage would have. In Muslim society, the Muslim personal law (Sharia) prohibits this type of adoption and specifies that the adoptive parent becomes the guardian and the child the ward. Additionally, the Muslim inheritance law (Hanafi fiqh) prevents the adopted child from inheriting the parent's estate (unless he would have inherited based upon a different relationship than that of child).

Hence, from the outside looking in, it appears to me that a Christian adoption is based upon love for the child, whereas a Muslim adoption caries more of a flavor of duty. I think that the Muslim law was attempting to protect the natural born children of a parent from losing their inheritance to a brother adopted out of duty. For instance, if the father of two natural born sons (ages 14 and 12) adopted a son (age 15), then the adopted son would have an equal share with them according to Christian tradition, but the natural born sons' inheritance would be protected under Islamic law.
This article deals well with this issue.

There also seems to be another aspect with regard to allowing ANY children to live in a Christian orphanage.

The Prophet Muhammad said, "No babe is born but upon Fitra (as a Muslim). It is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Polytheist."(Sahih Muslim, Book 033, Number 6426)

Though this has broader application, it would be an effective impediment to any serious Muslim in allowing a child to live in a home where he could be influenced away from Islam.

There are many Christians with a similar viewpoint, though I remind all that the Christian viewpoint is simply that, "All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God." Rom 3:23 This means that children are sinners too. In essence, no one is born a Christian, each must accept Christ as their savior. God already knows who will and will not come to Him, but it is a choice that each of us will make. Regardless of circumstances, a person will either choose or reject Christ.

In light of this, I found one quote in the Wired article particularly interesting.

"This confirms some of our worst fears that certain missionary groups would exploit the tragedy and the earthquake to enter into these areas and convert people through use of a disproportionate power relationship," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.(CAIR)

One last interesting point, I visited muslim.adoption.com which redirected me to Parent Profiles, a site listing parents willing to adopt children - any children - and ran 2 queries using religion as the sole criteria. When I ran the query for "Baptist", I recieved 16 hits. When I ran it for "Muslim", I received, you guessed it, 0 hits. You can draw your own conclusions.

So the Islamic Hijab isn't really required?

2005-01-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

Well this was a bit of a surprise! Little Green Footballs pointed out that CAIR is being mildly underhanded and is lying through their teeth to school employees in order to advance their agenda. Big Surprise huh?

Zero Tolerance

2004-12-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

These zero tolerance rules are absolutely ridiculous! It allows human beings to act like morons rather than the thinking individuals that they were meant to be.

Scissors found in 4^th graders backpack

My goodness, when I was in elementary school, everyone understood that scissors were tools, not weapons. In fact, it wasn't unusual for little boys to have a small pocket knife (a boy scout one usually). Now this little 10 year old girl is being suspended and possibly expelled for a pair of scissors that were never even brought out of her backpack, but were found in an unrelated search! Worse was that the little girl was hauled off to jail in handcuffs! - Literally! Truthfully, where is the crime here?

Fugate - Chapter 4

2004-12-15T12:22:00.000-08:00

Chapter 4: The Effects of Matriarchy on Boys

In Chapter 4, Fugate expands on the effects of boys being raised by women. The crux of his thinking is that boys without strong biblical male influences tend to gravitate towards two extremes on the masculinity scale - specifically “macho” and “effeminate”.

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Boys with naturally strong masculine egos tend to become little macho maniacs. In many cases this behavior develops from a resentment or anger of women in general throughout the years spent in a matriarchal “prison”. They generally tended to be the boys that were loud, rowdy, and/or clumsy. When boys hit the 10-13 year old range, the hormones flowing through their bodies cause them to act even more macho- “like a boss over all women.” This is natural and it is God preparing then to be the leaders, providers, and protectors for their eventual wives and families.

Now that they have the urge to step into the role that God is preparing them for, the role of the father becomes critical. He must redirect the boy's natural aggression into activities that reinforce what God intends for the boy to become in manhood – the provider, protector, and leader of his family. Fugate suggests that strongly masculine boy's aggression be shaped by a father into self-discipline through strenuous work (chopping wood, painting the house, or digging mom a flower/vegetable garden- something worthy of a man-in-training). Athletic activity can also channel excess aggression away from the normal feminine influences in his life. Fugate is adamant that these activities should be supervised and directed by fathers specifically – not mothers or other female caregivers. The father must be responsible for correcting unacceptable macho behavior quickly and efficiently.

A huge danger for macho boys is to see or perceive his father “cowering” before the aggressive, noncompliant attitude of his mother. The boy knows that this should not be the natural order of things. Fugate believes that in an adolescent boy, this will translate into further aggressiveness towards females for their humiliation of males and a deep resentment of those females that he will encounter in later life. The untrained boy becomes the undeveloped man, who knows neither his role in a family, nor the balance in his own life necessary for biblical manhood. These undeveloped overly macho men can become almost violent when a wife (or other female) questions them -about anything.

The alternate side of the spectrum are the boys that react to the matriarchy by becoming emasculated or effeminate. “These are the compliant little boys who always try to please their mothers and other female caregivers. They are generally nice and socialize well with girls and other similarly disposed boys... Mothers and teachers love this kind of boy because he is no trouble, is helpful around the house, generally does well in academics, and doesn't even get dirty very often... [A female] easily manipulates these boys by withholding approval, telling them they have disappointed her, or telling him that she is so ashamed of him.”

This is where a father must step in to provide the role model necessary for the boy to transition into the role that God has prepared for him. This requires a LOT of time and a variety of circumstances with the father. Trips to the auto parts store, to the hardware store, etc. - everywhere that provides an example of how a biblical man deals with life, other men, and women. Fugate mentions that, “some monitoring of the mother/son relationship may also be needed if the mother has been overly protective or controlling.”

The Cat's Comments:

My gut reaction is that Fugate draws some very broad strokes in his generalizations. However, I do see the shards of truth embedded throughout this chapter.

After writing the previous sentence, I just sat for a few minutes thinking about where I have fallen on Fugate's spectrum through different times in my life. I think about my Dad and where he falls. I think about David and where I perceive him to be. Since I know there are a few people who read this that I love, I have decided not to be totally blunt over events that are long past or that would cause pain to those I love. (Yes I know – where's my journalistic disregard for the feelings of others.)

But since I have been serving as one of the leaders in the RA's at our church for the past few months, I will comment about what I see among the boys in our group. For those who don't know about RA's, Wed night at about 6:30 is when we convene. About 12 boys come in and we generally have a game or activity that allows them to burn off some energy in a competitive environment where teamwork is usually required, but not necessarily an activity where the more athletic boys have any advantage. The lesson is broken into one for older boys and one for younger boys. It generally involves reading about 2-3 pages out of a workbook and doing a quick reinforcing activity over what has been read. They are then brought back into the main group to reinforce the high points of the lesson, followed by prayer and dismissal around 7:30.

Since joining the leadership, I have experienced a range of emotions as I have dealt with each boy's particular idiosyncrasies. First was shock that few of the boys can read at anywhere near grade level. Second was anger at the disrespect shown to myself and the other leaders. My natural reaction if these boys were mine would have been immediate spankings for the disrespect shown to myself and the other adults.

However, a turning point occurred when I decided that since most of the boys were not used to strong leadership at home or especially at church, I was going to be the strong leader/male influence that the boys are missing. Mostly, it involved “intimidation” of several of the ringleaders. A 230 pound former Marine 3 inches from your nose, boring straight into your eyes, and speaking in a low deadpan tone about what he finds unacceptable about your behavior (with a few twitching snarls thrown in) is enough to grab most boys' attention. It seems to have worked. Now I can generally speak a command, and the boys respond to it with little if any back-talk. Praise and encouragement is never far behind for a job well done. When they end up getting a little rowdy during the wrap-up and prayer, I announce that if they wanted to act like little girls instead of men, then I was going to hold their hands just like I would hold a little girls hand. I do follow through with the threat, and when I do, the nonsense seems to stop immediately. As near as I can figure, we've lost 1 boy on account of it. But the rest seem to be responding well. I haven't felt the need to get into anyone's face in nearly two months.

So in view of Fugate, what is happening? I think that about 1/3 of the boys tend towards the macho end of the scale - Loud, rowdy, trying to prove they are the “King of the Mountain”. This crew definitely needs some strong male presence in their lives, willing to channel and redirect their young energies to appropriate man-in-training activities. The strong, in your face, I am the King of the Mountain tactic works well to get and hold their attention.

1/4 are on the effeminate end. Some of these are younger kids that still haven't cut away from mama. If they can find a skirt to hide behind they will. But one in particular, wants to rough-house, and could hold his own if he had the courage to stay in the fray. But the other boys have sensed that he doesn't like to get hurt and so most of their effort is spent provoking him because he doesn't know how to handle himself socially yet. They think it is fun to get a rise out of him. In a female centered environment, he could count on having someone step in for him. But with no females in RA's, he is being forced to fend for himself for at least 20 minutes a week.

So far, my efforts with him have been to pull him aside when he's gotten himself pretty deep in it with the other boys and let him know why they are picking on him and what he can do to stop it. I can tell that its going to be a long uphill battle for this kid. Interestingly, this boy's dad does a lot of traveling. His mom is a woman with a strong personality and a tendency to either dote on him or browbeat him. He is home schooled so he spends a ton of time with her and a much older sister.

BBC Coverage of USMC attack on Fallujah

2004-12-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

Here's some video that you won't find on American TV. I recommend watching this 20 minute BBC documentary of the attack on Fallujah. It was originally linked to by BlackFive.

BBC video by Paul Wood covering U.S. Marines during the attack on Fallujah

I don't know how the mainstream media(MSM) can live with themselves. They have never been interested in showing the real story.

Rifle v. Tank Maingun

2004-12-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

This video is supposedly of an Iraqi insurgent and an unidentifed anti-tank weapon (TOW, Dragon, or LAAW). I'm guessing that its a LAAW or a Tank Maingun.

I had to snicker a little when I saw this video. Seems the guy brought a rifle to a Tank fight. (Ouch!)

Rifle v. Tank Maingun

Until Then...Tribute to Military Families

2004-12-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

Little Green Footballs had a link to this tribute to American military families. It is a terrific link!

Until Then

Fugate - Chapter 3

2004-12-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

Chapter 3: When Fathers Abandon Their Sons

This chapter explores the emasculation of boys and men in our society.

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According to Fugate, after WWII, America entered into a time of tremendous prosperity. Men, in pursuit of this prosperity, were gone long hours from the home. Women were now running the homes and schools. Behavioral psychology (child-centered parenting) was influencing these mothers, as per Dr. Spock. From about 1950, boys were brought up in a women-dominated environment. “Fathers were often absent from the home and unable to influence their boys properly... They had mothers at home, female teachers at school, and even women Sunday school teachers in most cases.”

“In general, men of this period avoided active roles in their marriages and parenting. They spent themselves in the areas they could handle: making money and pursuing self-interests. .. They did not spend much time character training their sons in such necessary qualities as: loyalty, honesty, trustworthiness, honor, courage, bravery, self-discipline, self-sacrifice, compassion, respect for women etc. As a result, these boys were denied essential training in being a man.”

After setting the stage, Fugate then springs the natural result, that the women in their lives attempted to train out or tether everything that makes a boy a male. For instance, “...male aggression, often uncleanness, risk-taking, academic laziness, and general uncouthness are not very ladylike.” Being female, women really knew very little about how to help boys develop their masculinity correctly. With proper male influence now nearly non-existent, “boys began to be raised more like women than men.” E.g. “King of the Mountain has been changed from a game where each boy's bravery, courage, and leadership was tested; to a girl's game where everyone holds hands and circles the mountain like it was a fairy castle... with boys being told not to push or pull in line.”

No one seemed to realize that when aggression is completely trained out (or shamed out) of a boy, it can produce a man who won't fight to provide for or protect his wife and family. E.g. “A sensitivity training game for children was developed by psychologists called, The Un-game. It was popular with psychologists, Christian teachers, and mothers because there was no competition – no winners or losers; and because it dealt with mostly feminine interests.... men who have been taught that all competitiveness is wrong will not likely strive for leadership positions in business, military, or government (or even in their own homes).” Leadership requires moral courage and the willingness to stand accountable for one's actions, even when wrong.

Fugate then turns to the question, “Where did all our character go?” In answering this, he defines civilized nations as “those who are governed by a system of just laws... where male citizens in particular are trained to conduct themselves with honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty, bravery, and courage.” Those nations that instead produce a mob of ignorant and selfish humans are savages. Fugate continues by providing evidence of a society slipping further and further into savagery. “Civilized people provide for their own welfare; savages demand to be fed, housed, and taken care of medically by others,

Ultimately, Fugate claims, “fathers must take total responsibility for any lack of training of their son's masculinity. It would not have happened without their avoidance of fatherhood.”

The Cat's Comments:

I remember when I was a boy, we played football(tackle), dodgeball, tag, and “smear the queer” at school during each of the two recesses and lunchtime every day at school. Our lunchtime lasted one hour, so if you were quick about it, boys had over an hour every day at school to play aggressive games. Girls were generally excluded, by their own desire.

At home, the boys in the neighborhood would get together, take play guns, and form teams that would “hunt down” and “shoot” the other team. We played this game for hours on end for several years. As none of us have become homicidal maniacs (that I know of), I think the aggressive play we engaged in was for the better.

Today, the boys are not allowed to play any of those games except tag. All the others are “outlawed” because they are too “violent” and “someone might get hurt”. In fact, bruises and skinned knees and elbows were extremely common. But the boys that played, were better for it.

I remember in 2^nd grade, the schools introduced a counselor into the curriculum. All the kids were required to sit around in a circle and listen to her tell us stories with the help of “DuSo” the dolphin. DuSo was supposed to help all the kids talk about good and bad behavior. He was supposed to be encourage kids to see others feelings and to “respect others for who they were.” I also remember that I got in trouble (in 2^nd grade) for beating another kid in a chess game – not so much because I beat him, but because he felt bad when I beat him.

In 4^th grade, the school introduced the “Values Clarification” curriculum. This curriculum was designed to teach us how to be sensitive to others and their feelings. As I remember it, it was highly centered around what I identify as female sensitivities. I've also read several other books about how boys are being systematically emasculated. I tend to agree with the claims that boys are not being taught how to be truly masculine men. They are not being taught the values that are important for success as men.

Fugate - Chapter 2

2004-12-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Chapter 2: History's Effect on the American Family

Chapter 2 is primarily a continuation of the introduction in Chapter 1. Fugate concentrates on the period after WWII until the present. He breaks the generations into 4 major groupings and then compares the generalized ideologies of each of them. Fugate has, in his own mind at least, cataloged the entire problem, and provides only the accusation and anecdotal evidence of the nosedive America has taken.

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The G.I. and “Silent Generation” are the two generations that Fugate pins the downfall on. These Generations were those born prior to 1945 and that lived through/survived WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII. The key outward characteristics were toughness and frugalness. Yet they also harbored insecurity about their future. According to Fugate, their own trials caused these generations to want to,

“ensure that their children would never have to experience war and deprivation. These survivors supported almost any politicians promise to eliminate the risks and dangers from life. They allowed the establishment of a world government(UN)
and the implementation of Roosevelt's master plan to socialize America.”...”They threw themselves into hard work and protected their children from any hardships... they did not stand up against the evils in society. They were silent about our government's increasing move toward socialism... They quietly
allowed the public schools to move away from educational basics, the Church to move away from teaching the Bible, and the media to move away from any common decency.”

Fugate charges that the 1950's began the decades of totally missing fathers. Men became so engrossed in their work and providing for their families, that they were never at home, and had no time for child training, camping, sporting events, school activities, Church, or anything else with their children. Instead they showered their kids with prosperity, seemingly unaware of the role hardship had played in forging their own characters. The children of the 1940's and 1950's became the young adults of the 1960's and 1970's. They were the kids abandoned by their fathers and their working mothers. They grew up hating materialism. Starved for family and “belonging”, they accepted few Biblical standards for right and wrong and embraced the immoral sexual and drug revolutions. They became known as the “Me” generation.

Fugate categorizes Gen X as essentially,

“The latchkey kids of the 1970's that became adults in the 1980's with little idea whom they were or what they were supposed to do... Their understanding of reality was shaped by their peers and the ever-present media... [they] had been
brainwashed into accepting the lie of evolution... Lacking self-discipline, they expected immediate results for anything they endeavored. And of course they expected the government to pay all of their bills as Mom and Dad had always done.”

It seems that the jury is still out on the Millenial Generation (born 1982-2000). Though Fugate purports that they, “are said to be disrespectful, self-centered, materialistic, and technologically savvy. They have had virtually no positive role models.”

The Cat's Comments:

Fugate is sixty something. This makes him one of the Boomers, probably born in the early 1940's. I understand his premise in this chapter, essentially, that the sins of the father are visited on the sons. Since I am none of the earliest generations he speaks about (G.I. and Silent), I can only look at those men from that generation that I knew.

I look at my Grandfather McLain, part of the G.I. Generation. I knew him as a child and also as a young man, though only within the context of the grandfather-grandson relationship. The stories I heard about him and my own experience suggest that Fugate is right on the money about this generation. Specifically, that this generation was “moral, God-fearing, industrious, financially frugal, self-reliant, and authoritarian in child training.” I remember the stories of how he would pick up pieces of old barbed wire, because “he might need it someday”, or how he would give a nickel to his daughters so they could go to the Saturday matinee and tell them “not to spend it all in one place”. I have also heard that he had multiple unrelated business ventures going at one time, so that if one was experiencing a slump, it wouldn't wipe him out. I also remember that he rarely showed up at a grandkid's house without some new toy or puzzle for them. Truthfully, I believe Fugate did hit the nail on the head with this generation.

My Dad would be classified as part of the Silent Generation. Fugate says characteristically, they are strong but silent, they don't make waves, independent, self-sufficient, and private. He implies, though never states, that they were living under the shadow of the previous generation. Most of this generation knew the sacrifices that the earlier generation had made. But this generation was too young to fight in WWII, so they had no claim to glory in their own minds. As a generation, they were always the kids of the “Greatest Generation Ever”. They had nothing to compare, so they were silent. Looking at my Dad, I tend to agree. While I was being raised, I remember several instances where rather than “make waves”, he kept his mouth shut and just went around obstacles. The effort to grow his estate shows the self-sufficiency and independence inherent in his generation. I admire that independence and self-sufficiency.

Though technically I'm a Boomer, I self-identify more with the GenXers. When I became an adult, I had very little idea who I was or what I was supposed to do. According to Fugate, I lack self-discipline(This is true) and expect immediate results for everything I do(This is also true). Even to this day, I wonder what in the world I'm supposed to do with myself and how I really fit into God's plan. My biggest fear is that I will never accomplish anything because I don't have the self-discipline to stick out a long arduous journey where the results aren't readily apparent.

I started out expecting to slam Fugate for this chapter of “blaming the fathers”. I still think that he is blaming prior generations. I reject his blame game. I will set the blame squarely where it belongs. I am a man and I am accountable for myself and my actions. I will not blame prior generations. I can wish that they had trained me better in my duties and taught me self-discipline, but ultimately, I must be responsible - even for my own training. I feel that this is where I am headed. As I stated in the first post , I am seeking more practical insight into who God intends me to be as a man and what He intends for me to do as the man I am.

Compassion From Killers - Marine Commander Speaks Out

2004-12-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

This is a link to an interesting letter from LtCol Smith 2/24 in Iraq. Compassion From Killers - Marine Commander Speaks Out
LtCol Smith understands his mission and its true timing.

Fugate - Chapter 1

2004-12-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: What is a Man? Having finished Fugate's book, I've decided to go back and give a chapter by chapter review of his main points and my thoughts on each.

Chapter 1: How Historical Events have Affected the American Male

Fugate begins with the 105 settlers at Jamestown(1607) - all Male - and walks through to the 1820s. Men were the leaders, providers, and protectors of their families. There were relatively few changes in society during this time period. Around 1840, the industrial revolution began. The American family began to restructure itself.

"Fathers began to leave the homestead and work in cities and the men/father influence in society began to decrease. Most home functions(growing food, making clothes, building furniture, training the children) had to be abandoned. It was
during this time that women/mothers, instead of men/fathers gradually became the moral leaders of the home, family, school, Church, and social reform."

As men grappled with the industrial revolution, women began to see themselves as the moral leaders of society - as the champions of justice and crusaders for the downtrodden and disadvantaged. Men began deserting the classrooms and Sunday schools of the 1850's. By 1890, 67% of public school teaching positions were held by women and over 90% of children's Sunday school teachers were women. Throughout this period women also began to exercise their new social consciences outside the home. E.g. In 1874, The Women's Christian Temperance Union (an offshoot of the 1826 temperance movement to combat drunkenness and promote temperance). In 1849, women took over and renamed the American Anti-Slavery Society to the Women's Abolitionist Movement. The Suffrage movement began in 1849 and joined forces with the Women's Christian Temperance Union in 1890.

The culmination of these movements were the 15th Amendment (ratified 1870) giving black men the right to vote, the 18th Amendment (ratified 1920) initiating prohibition, and the 19th Amendment (ratified 1920) giving women the vote. Winning the right to vote meant that now women could legally negate men's vote on any political issue. Women's votes have been the determining factor in electing every social-issues politician since the 1920s. These social issues include protecting children(orphanages and work prohibitions); relieving poverty(food and clothing for the destitute); preventing harsh justice(prison reform and abolition of capitol punishment); providing cradle-to-grave education; preventing private gun ownership; and preventing national preparations for war. From their new position of power, women have been trying to eliminate mankind's suffering through legislation for the past eighty years.

Unfortunately, women's extraordinary efforts in the areas of health, education, and welfare have led to vast government programs that have nearly bankrupted the nation. Yet, our public education system now produces the lowest results in our nations history, our social security/retirement system is in severe trouble, and our welfare system has become a windfall for swindlers. Women's right to vote has not solved mankind's ills.

The Cat's Comments

An interesting note is that prohibition was a major contributor to the rise of organized crime. It also contributed to political and law enforcement corruption.

Although it is easy to blame women, I think we need to remember that men left their post. Men were in charge. Men were the leaders. Men abdicated their roles and responsibilities. Women just stepped up to the table. Once at the table, they decided they liked the new found power. Its obvious that the genie can't be put back in the bottle. Men are going to have to step back up to the table and re-establish their leadership. In some cases there will be loud cries of foul (and foul cries) by women. In others, there will be grateful acquiescence by women. But it is ludicrous to expect women to willingly give up the power they have without viable men to turn it back over to.

Tomorrow, I will comment on Chapter 2.

David says the darndest things

2004-12-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

This is a true story that happened a few years ago.

Our family was watching the Miami - St. Louis game. In order to promote a bit of good natured rivalry, our common practice is to flip for a team to root for. My wife got Miami and I got St. Louis. With my wife hooting and hollering for Miami, my five year old son was getting very excited and started hollering for Miami too. When the final gun sounded and realizing that Miami had just won, he bounded over to my wife and exclaimed, "Mommy, Mommy, R-ami won!!"

And another one.

Recently, my mother and I had a disagreement over the phone. After an hour, I decided I didn't want to continue fighting with her, so I told my son, David, that we were going over to grammy's to "unruffle some feathers". As soon as we arrived at Grammy's house, David ran up to her and breathlessly exclaimed, "Grammy, we're here to straighten out your feathers!"

I Love this kid!

Reporter's Notebook: Dying for Fallujah

2004-11-29T23:27:00.000-08:00

This is a very good article from an embedded Fox reporter.

Reporter's Notebook: Dying for Fallujah

The Top 10 Things We'd Put On al-Queda's Website If We Hacked It

2004-11-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

by John Hawkins And Laurence Simon

10) I've just converted to Judaism. It's now your duty as a loyal al-Queda member to defend Israel from the Palestinians. -- OBL

9) You know that big valley down by the Afghanistan/Pakistan border that there's no easy way out of? I want all of you to meet there next Friday at 5 PM Eastern Standard Time. Don't worry, there's no way the Americans will ever find out about this...

8) We've finally gotten that suicide bomber retirement fund we've been talking about. Please post your name, address, and next of kin for our records....

7) I have just seen a secret report from the CIA. One of our members named Muhammad has been compromised. Therefore, please terminate every member of al-Queda you know of with that name. It's the only way we can keep our operations secure...

6) From now on Friday is casual Day. Short-sleeve fatigues and handguns instead of full gear and rifles are allowed.

5) I regret to inform you that I have to resign as your leader. Yasser Arafat and I have fallen madly in love and are running away to a tropical island together. -- OBL

4) We are still appealing the recent ruling that a hijacker's frequent flier miles are invalid for the flights that they hijack...

3) Ok enough kidding around, which one of you jokers painted a huge bullseye above the cave we were hiding in at Tora Bora? My ears are STILL ringing from all the bombs.

2) Here's the new plan...everyone blow up France!

1) The latest al-Queda apparel is online featuring our new slogan, 'The United States kicked my ass in Afghanistan and all I got was this lousy T-shirt'

Email from Iraq

2004-11-29T12:10:00.000-08:00

This email was received from The USNAAA Austin Chapter President. I am republishing it here because of my trust of the source. That said, I do have 1 or 2 doubts as to the veracity of one of the acts of heroism. Specifically, I wonder whether the act atributed to Cpl Yeager was actually performed by Cpl Yeager (I truly have no idea). Yet nevertheless, I tend to believe the "meat" of the following account.

The Austin Chapter received this letter from our Area Trustee, Len Wass, who has a direct line into the doings of the USMC in Iraq. We thought the members would like to get some first hand info on how our guys are doing over there.

Quote

Subj: A Son Reports From Fallujah

Email from Dave - Nov 19, 04

Dear Dad -

Just came out of the city and I honestly do not know where to start. I am afraid that whatever I send you will not do sufficient honor to the men who fought and took Fallujah.

Shortly before the attack, Task Force Fallujah was built. It consisted of Regimental Combat Team 1 built around 1st Marine Regiment and Regimental Combat Team 7 built around 7th Marine Regiment. Each Regiment consisted of two Marine Rifle Battalions reinforced and one Army mechanized infantry battalion.

Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT-1) consisted of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (3rd LAR), 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5); 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1)and 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7). RCT-7 was slightly less weighted but still a formidable for ce. Cutting a swath around the city was an Army Brigade known as Blackjack. The Marine RCT's were to assault the city while Blackjack kept the enemy off of the backs of the assault force.

The night prior to the actual invasion, we all moved out into the desert just north of the city. It was something to see. You could just feel the intensity in the Marines and Soldiers. It was all business. As the day cleared, the Task Force began striking targets and moving into final attack positions. As the invasion force commenced its movement into attack positions, 3rd LAR led off RCT-1's offensive with an attack up a peninsula formed by the Euphrates River on the west side of the city. Their mission was to secure the Fallujah Hospital and the two bridges leading out of the city. They executed there tasks like clockwork and smashed the enemy resistance holding the bridges. Simultaneous to all of this, Blackjack sealed the escape routes to the south of the city. As invasion day dawned, the net was around the city and the Marines and Soldiers knew that the enemy that failed to escape was now sealed.

3/5 began the actual attack on the city by taking an apartment complex on the northwest corner of the city. It was key terrain as the elevated positions allowed the command to look down into the attack lanes. The Marines took the apartments quickly and moved to the rooftops and began engaging enemy that were trying to move into their fighting positions. The scene on the rooftop was surreal. Machine gun teams were running boxes of ammo up 8 flights of stairs in full body armor and carrying up machine guns while snipers engaged enemy shooters. The whole time the enemy was firing mortars and rockets at the apartments. Honest to God, I don't think I saw a single Marine even distracted by the enemy fire. Their squad leaders, and platoon commanders had them prepared and they were executing their assigned tasks.

As mentioned, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry joined the Regiment just prior to the fight. In fact, they started showing up for planning a couple of weeks in advance. There is always a professional rivalry between the Army and the Marine Corps but it was obvious from the outset that these guys were the real deal. They had fought in Najaf and were eager to fight with the Regiment in Fallujah. They are exceptionally well led and supremely confident.

2/7 became our wedge. In short, they worked with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. We were limited in the amount of prep fires that we were allowed to fire on the city prior to the invasion. This was a point of some consternation to the forces actually taking the city. Our compensation was to turn to 2/7 and ask them to slash into the city and create as much turbulence as possible for 3/1 to follow. Because of the political reality, the Marine Corps was also under pressure to "get it done quickly." For this reason, 2/7 and 3/1 became the penetration force into the city.

Immediately following 3/5's attack on the apartment buildings, 3/1 took the train station on the north end of the city. While the engineers blew a breach through the train trestle, the Cavalry soldiers poured through with their tanks and Bradley's and chewed an opening in the enemy defense. 3/1 followed them through until they reached a phaseline deep in to the northern half of the city. The Marine infantry along with a few tanks then turned to the right and attacked the heart of the enemy defense. The fighting was tough as the enemy had the area dialed in with mortars. 3/5 then attacked into the northwest corner of the city. This fight continued as both Marine rifle battalions clawed their way into the city on different axis.

There is an image burned into my brain that I hope I never forget. We came up behind 3/5 one day as the lead squads were working down the Byzantine streets of the Jolan area. An assault team of two Marines ran out from behind cover and put a rocket into a wall of an enemy strongpoint. Before the smoke cleared the squad behind them was up and moving through the hole and clearing the house. Just down the block another squad was doing the same thing. The house was cleared quickly and the Marines were running down the street to the next contact. Even in the midst of that mayhem, it was an awesome site.

The fighting has been incredibly close inside the city. The enemy is willing to die and is literally waiting until they see the whites of the eyes of the Marines before they open up. Just two days ago, as a firefight raged in close quarters, one of the interpreters yelled for the enemy in the house to surrender. The enemy yelled back that it was better to die and go to heaven than to surrender to infidels. This exchange is a graphic window into the world that the Marines and Soldiers have been fighting in theselast 10 days.

I could go on and on about how the city was taken but one of the most amazing aspects to the fighting was that we saw virtually no civilians during the battle. Only after the fighting had passed did a few come out of their homes. They were provided food and water and most were evacuated out of the city. At least 90-95% of the people were gone from the city when we attacked.

I will end with a couple of stories of individual heroism that you may not have heard yet. I was told about both of these incidents shortly after they occurred. No doubt some of the facts will change slightly but I am confident that the meat is correct.

The first is a Marine from 3/5. His name is Corporal Yeager (Chuck Yeager's grandson). As the Marines cleared and apartment building, they got to the top floor and the point man kicked in the door. As he did so, an enemy grenade and a burst of gunfire came out. The explosion and enemy fire took off the point man's leg. He was then immediately shot in the arm as he lay in the doorway. Corporal Yeager tossed a grenade in the room and ran into the doorway and into the enemy fire in order to pull his buddy back to cover. As he was dragging the wounded Marine to cover, his own grenade came back through the doorway. Without pausing, he reached down and threw the grenade back through the door while he heaved his buddy to safety. The grenade went off inside the room and Cpl Yeager threw another in. He immediately entered the room following the second explosion. He gunned down three enemy all within three feet of where he stood and then let fly a third grenade as he backed out of the room to complete the evacuation of the wounded Marine. You have to understand that a grenade goes off within 5 seconds of having the pin pulled. Marines usually let them "cook off" for a second or two before tossing them in. Therefore, this entire episode took place in less than 30 seconds.

The second example comes from 3/1. Cpl Mitchell is a squad leader. He was wounded as his squad was clearing a house when some enemy threw pineapple grenades down on top of them. As he was getting triaged, the doctor told him that he had been shot through the arm. Cpl Mitchell told the doctor that he had actually been shot "a couple of days ago" and had given himself self aide on the wound. When the doctor got on him about not coming off the line, he firmly told the doctor that he was a squad leader and did not have time to get treated as his men were still fighting. There are a number of Marines who have been wounded multiple times but refuse to leave their fellow Marines.

It is incredibly humbling to walk among such men. They fought as hard as any Marines in history and deserve to be remembered as such. The enemy they fought burrowed into houses and fired through mouse holes cut in walls, lured them into houses rigged with explosives and detonated the houses on pursuing Marines, and actually hid behind surrender flags only to engage the Marines with small arms fire once they perceived that the Marines had let their guard down. I know of several instances where near dead enemy rolled grenades out on Marines who were preparing to render them aid. It was a fight to the finish in every sense and the Marines delivered.

I have called the enemy cowards many times in the past because they have never really held their ground and fought but these guys in the city did. We can call them many things but they were not cowards.

My whole life I have read about the greatest generation and sat in wonder at their accomplishments. For the first time, as I watch these Marines and Soldiers, I am eager for the future as this is just the beginning for them. Perhaps the most amazing characteristic of all is that the morale of the men is sky high. They hurt for the wounded and the dead but they are eager to continue to attack. Further, not one of them would be comfortable with being called a hero even though they clearly are.

By now the Marines and Soldiers have killed well over a thousand enemy. These were not peasants or rabble. They were reasonably well trained and entirely fanatical. Most of the enemy we have seen have chest rigs full of ammunition and are well armed are willing to fight to the death. The Marines and Soldiers are eager to close with them and the fighting at the end is inevitably close.

I will write you more the next time I come in about what we have found inside the city. All I can say is that even with everything that I knew and expected from the last nine months, the brutality and fanaticism of the enemy surprised me. The beheadings were even more common place than we thought but so were torture and summary executions. Even though it is an exaggeration, it seems as though every block in the northern part of the city has a torture chamber or execution site. There are hundreds of tons of munitions and tens of thousands of weapons that our Regiment alone has recovered. The Marines and Soldiers of the Regiment have also found over 400 IEDs already wired and ready to detonate. No doubt these numbers will grow in the days ahead.

In closing, I want to share with you a vignette about when the Marines secured the Old Bridge (the one where the Americans were mutilated and hung on March 31) this week. After the Marines had done all the work and secured the bridge, we walked across to meet up with 3rd LAR on the other side. On the Fallujah side of the bridge where the Americans were hung there is some Arabic writing on the bridge. An interpreter translated it for me as we walked through. It read: "Long Live the Mujahadeen. Fallujah is the Graveyard for Americans and the end of the Marine Corps."

As I came back across the bridge there was a squad sitting in their Amtrac smoking and watching the show. The Marines had written their own message below the enemy's. It is not something that Mom would appreciate but it fit the moment to a T. Not far from the vehicle were two dead enemy laying where they died. The Marines were sick of watching the "Dog and Pony show" and wanted to get back to work.

Dave

The Wounded Trooper

2004-11-18T23:28:00.000-08:00

I relate this true story. None of the names are changed, but the events are heavily editorialized.

A couple of days ago one of David's friends fell on top of David's prized 16 inch robot. Me - being the ever confident fixer of everything broke - made the cursory inspection. The visible damage was a dangling arm (hanging by the wires that supplied power to the laser blaster clutched in the robot's now useless hand). Well that didn't look to hard, so David and I launched into the repair this afternoon.

The plastic collar around the arm had been snapped - So we had to glue it. Super glue seemed to be the only variety that could be found in any of the kitchen's various junk drawers. But, despite its name, the only thing super about this glue was that it didn't hold super well. Eventually, this poor trooper will need some old fashioned model glue.

After we completed our delicate shoulder surgery, David powered it up and we soon discovered that our trooper had suffered heinous injuries that now prevented him from "walking". I contemplated this new sad state of affairs as the trooper's torso spun round and round over his bottom half. All the MASH Doctors would've been proud that I rushed him immediately into the operating room and - as happens more often than not - this now crippled and dying toy became my toy and would claim the next 2 hours in a valiant attempt to resuscitate him.

After removing his lower extremities from his torso, David's poor trooper looked more like the android from Aliens after doing battle with the mother Alien. Sans legs, I switched on his power and saw first-hand the chewed up gears and bent shafts that had thus far enabled this valiant trooper to fight all of David's imaginary battles. Removal of his gearbox left me somewhat queasy and I wondered whether Dr. Frankenstien had felt this way.

The gearbox came apart easily - too easily, I feared. Now came the task of straightening out the bent and twisted shafts (soft metal) and realigning the gear meshings so that this gentle giant warrior would not walk with a limp. As the gearbox came back together - to my genuine glee, I began to have visions that I might actually have accomplished that which no dad in history had ever accomplished - Successfully raising a trash-bound toy and restoring it to perfect operating health (without the leftover parts!)

But then - horror of horrors! the one simple worm gear no larger than a pencil eraser had a split in it. The split destroyed the possibility of this courageous trooper from ever walking again-as the worm gear could not hold onto the shaft without spinning. My hopes were completely dashed. I saw no way out - David's comrade would either need a wheelchair, or a rocking chair.

My gentle daughter, seeing my utter hopelessness, placed her hand on my shoulder to comfort me, "Why don't you try some JB Weld, Daddy?"

Instantly, new hope coursed through my body and I began to feel the warmth of new life and confidence that would allow me, a mere mortal, to give this trooper another chance to be all he could be. A true "Army of One"!

Today, the brave and battle scarred trooper walks - albeit with a limp. But he walks! Thanks to the young girl's insight into the vagaries of broken robots.

Government Knows What's Best for Your Kids

2004-11-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

Well, what else would we expect from Canada? The problem is that Canadian ideas tend to drift South...

Muslim children attending public schools in Toronto are being forced to watch videos promoting tolerance of homosexuality even though their parents object, reports the Canadian Press service.

The controversy erupted after students at Market Lane Public School in Toronto were shown videos as part of what the local school board calls “anti-homophobia education.”

Angry Muslim parents complained about the curriculum, however, saying their religious beliefs were getting less respect from the board than gay rights and demanded that their children be excluded on religious grounds from similar presentations in the future.

The board rejected their request on the grounds that allowing some students to be excluded from discussions about gay families would violate the rights of those children with same-sex parents.

''I don't think there's any harm done to parents who find their children exposed to ideas that are different than the ones they teach at home,'' Education Minister Gerard Kennedy said.

Here's the reference to the above story.

Province urges Muslims not to remove kids from 'anti-homophobia' classes

Given the socialist nature of Canada, its not surprising that this mindset seems totally natural to them.

Marines and Boy Scouts

2004-11-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

I can't vouch for the veracity of this one, but got a kick out of it anyway.

The Interview Marine Corp.'s General Reinwald was interviewed on the radio the other day, and you have to read his reply to the lady who interviewed him concerning guns and children.
It is a portion of National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Marine Corps General Reinwald who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?

GENERAL REINWALD:
We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?

GENERAL REINWALD:
I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?

GENERAL REINWALD:
I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
But you're equipping them to become violent killers.

GENERAL REINWALD:
Well, Ma'am, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?

The radio went silent and the interview ended.

You gotta love the Marines!

LAWYERS, GUNS, AND BURGLARS

2004-11-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Very good, but long article on gun ownership and burglaries.

LAWYERS, GUNS, AND BURGLARS

This article is a well reasoned article whose basic premise is, US burglary rates are low because burglars must accept extra risk to enter a US home, because approximately 1/3 of homes in the US have guns available specifically for the defense of the home.

I tend to doubt that this number bears an accurate representation of homes where a weapon is actually available for that purpose. Specifically, 1) is a weapon either loaded or is the ammunition readily available for loading such that the weapon could be loaded in under 15 seconds? 2) have adult members of the household (those likely to be home) been trained to use the weapon?(Does mom know how to take the safety off of dad's shotgun?)

I suspect the true number of homes meeting the above criteria is closer to 10%. (This is completely anecdotal, and a SWAG on my part). Still, that's a 1 in 10 chance of a burglar coming face to face with a resident (provided that the resident is home at the time).

This leads to an interesting statistic that the author noted, in Europe, where gun ownership is nearly non-existent, burglars WANT the resident to be home, as wallets and purses are more likely to be pilferable. Note that this does not imply a European burglar wants to come face-to-face with the resident, rather only that the burglar does not fear bodily harm from the resident. In contrast, US burglars do not want to come face-to-face with the resident and hence most burglaries occur during times when residents are not home. The risk of bodily harm from a US resident is sufficient to cause a burglar to actively avoid a confrontation where he feels he will likely lose his life.

Altogether an interesting read if you have 20 extra minutes.

Zombies and Phishing

2004-11-17T07:27:00.000-08:00

There was a story on the local Austin news about a woman who was duped by email fraud. The fraud she was victim to is known as "phishing". Here is a link to an article for those of you who want to know a bit more.

Term of the Week: Zombies and Phishing

Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values

2004-11-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

I just loved this post. It takes about 5 minutes to read but is hilarious.

Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values

Hope you get an opportunity to read it.

Silica lawsuits: castles from sand

2004-11-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

You know, its these kind of stories where I just shake my head.

Silica lawsuits: castles from sand

I wonder why we allow such ridiculous mockeries of our justice system? I guess the answer is that we do nothing to prevent it. So we deserve to be preyed upon.

Bye-Bye Blockbuster!

2004-11-11T08:55:00.000-08:00

About a month ago we started a 2-wk trial of Netflix. I was finally tired of paying blockbuster $4 per movie(since we watch DVDs almost exclusively), and don't even mention the late-fees!!

Now after 1 month, we've watched about 18 movies (Many of them were the old Walt Disney movies). That means we are spending $1 per movie or about 25 cents per person! Not bad at all!

I am now cutting up my Blockbuster card!!

I hate it when technology wears out!

2004-11-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm more than mildly miffed at my dumb laptop computer!

Its a Dell Latitude CPxJ. I had Win2K running on it for about 8 months. Then suddenly, the dumb thing started blue screening on me. I was able to salvage most of my files, then tried a new fresh install (including reformatting the disk) - but to no avail. I next tried to install linux, but everytime I try to boot, the kernel panics! I'm afraid that it means either a hard disk failure or memory problem. It may even be on the motherboard.

Either way, I'm terribly unhappy about it, because now I need to spend $35 for a diagnostic test over at Discount Electronics that is only going to tell me to spend a lot of money to fix it.

On top of all this, my SMC Barricade router is beginning to get a little flakey. It continues to let the Lan work correctly, but it loses its connectivity to the internet, and has to have a warm reset done on it in order to regain connectivity. I hate it when technology wears out!

Marines Provide News from Iraq

2004-11-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

The following email was received from the President of the Austin Chapter of the USNA Alumni Association. I am posting it here because I know and trust the source.

Shipmates! We received this letter from our Central Area Trustee. The Col.'s letter gives some detailed information many of us can understand and appreciate about the combat activities in Iraq.

Quote

Subject: Letter from the Commanding Officer, Col. C. A. Tucker - Regimental Combat Team 7

From the Commanding Officer, Col. C. A. Tucker
- Regimental Combat Team 7 (RCT-7) - Letter to Families

Hello again, after a long hiatus.

Last 6 weeks or so have been busy as we worked to establish the new battalions in their areas of operations and worked to get the "old' battalions home. 3/7, 2/7, and 1st LAR are all safely home and on their block leave period. 1/7, 1/23, and 3d LAR have assumed their battle space and continue to perform superbly.

The enemy, as we expected, is surging as we approach the U. S. and Iraqi election period and enter Ramadan. Enemy activity in this AO has picked up, to the enemy's detriment. They are not very smart, and when they decide to come out and fight, are easily killed.

His patterns remain the same as we saw in April: move 50-150 terrorists into a city or community, use terror and intimidation to assume control, kill and maim local citizens, get his picture taken with his RPG and AK-47, then wait to see himself on the evening news. Interesting side note: ask how often you see pictures of these guys posturing and how often you see pictures of them fighting. Then compare that to how often you see pictures of U. S. servicemen fighting and how often you see pictures of them posturing. Provides a good metric for who is winning this thing: the enemy postures when the cameraman is present, but when it comes to fighting he is the most base of cowards.

You don't see many images of these guys fighting because they're too busy hiding or running once the fighting starts. They're much more comfortable beheading innocents. The Side note also demonstrates how, with the best of intentions and within the rightful bounds of our constitution, the press becomes unwitting collaborators in the enemy's information operations campaign. This is a fight for the will of the American and the Iraqi people. He targets the Iraqis through murder and intimidation; he targets you through the images.

Anyway, we have fought him well in a number of engagements over the past week or so. TF 1/23, 1/8 and 2d Force Recon Co performed magnificently in an operation in the city of Hit that killed 30 of the terrorists without harming any innocent Iraqis. We restored both security and governance to a city taken over by the bastards for a 72 hour period last week.

Of greater significance, the 503d Iraqi National Guard Bn fought as the RCT-7 main effort, were the first ones into the city, and remains there today providing security for the HIT community. The enemy chased out of Hit moved into the city of Rawah about 50 miles west, TF 1/8 and an Iraqi Army Unit hunted them down there, killed 15 more and restored that community to its citizens.

In other parts of the AO, Iraqi police and National Guard and Border Police have fought off numerous attacks on their own... in my mind the most striking example of the progress we continue to make across the AO. The enemy cannot maintain this surge for long: even the most hardened of the remaining anti-US Iraqi people are rapidly tiring of him, the Iraqi Security Forces are fighting back, and we are killing them with stunning regularity. He surges in order to influence the American and Iraqi elections; when both proceed as planned, his efforts will begin to crumble.

We now have 2 police academies, 2 ING training academies, and 2 Iraqi Border Police Training Academies operational. We continue to see the fruits of these efforts in the increasing professionalism, confidence, and competence of the Iraqi Security Forces.

Firefights are dramatic and make the news; but where we are going to win this is through the establishment of viable Iraqi Security Forces. It is a challenging road, fraught with friction, but every day we see progress. Training ISF remains our main effort and will continue to be both our main effort and our ultimate ticket home with victory.

The civil effort continues apace also. Our most significant current effort is the construction of the hospital in Ar Rutbah, a $1M effort that will provide medical services to a community currently 4 hours away from the closest medical care.

America, your Marines, Sailors and Soldiers continue to perform with courage and intellect in this most complex and ambiguous of conflicts. We are anxiously awaiting election day in the hopes that the media picture and national dialogue will transition from the subjectivity of politics to the objectivity of national interest. Building a democracy is a dirty business-has been throughout the history of democracy from ancient Greece through the present day. Regard our national effort here through the prism of that reality.

RCT-7 remembers the sacrifices of LCpls A. R. Boyles and R. Mateo, KIA 24 Sep 2004 vic Fallujah; Cpl. I. T. Zook, KIA 12 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; Cpl W. I. Salazar KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; Sgt Owen, U. S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; SPC J. Santos, U. S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah. Please remember their families in your prayers.

Share your Courage. And stand fast.

Semper Fidelis,
C. A. Tucker
Colonel,
U. S. Marine Corps
CO, RCT-7.

What is a Man?

2004-11-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

For the past several years I've been noticing an increasing body of writings about "being a man". About 2 years ago, I read "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge.

This was really my first look at Christianity outside of the matriarchal structure that has shaped the way men are supposed to be and "tamed" them. Under the matriarchal structure, men become pets that can be fed and watered and shown off to your friends when they are "behaving" well. I immediately identified with many of the tenets of the book. But at the end of the book, I didn't feel I was any better prepared to be a real man than when I had first started.

Since then, I have been looking off and on for another book/study that might offer more practical insight into who God intends me to be as a man. Today, I think I may have found a study that will provide this direction, "What the Bible says about... Being a Man" by Richard Fugate.

Some comments from the back go like this:

"...Christian books on manhood today tend to mimic the world's unbalanced view of masculinity. Instead of teaching men how to understand and overcome their macho, emasculated, or effeminate distortions, they encourage men to become more womanlike..."
"...It explains systematically why real manhood has practically disappeared in our country,..."

Anyway, I look forward to beginning my study of this material tomorrow. I hope that in the ensuing weeks, my reports will show growth in answering the question, "What is a Man?"

Why "The 50 Foot Cat"

2004-11-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

As this is the first post, I thought I might go ahead and make a few comments about my BLOG's name, "The 50 Foot Cat".

In 1991, Haydee and I made a trip to Thailand. Having been on temporary duty there several weeks earlier, I had arranged for a charter on a 50 foot catamaran, complete with a captain and his boat boy/cook. Though we were only on board for a week, this week marks the most relaxing vacation I have ever had.

There is also a small double entendre in the name. I think of myself as a very stable guy with big ideas, who runs fast before the wind if handled properly - just like a large catamaran.

One day, I would like to retire to the sea with Haydee and cruise the oceans on - you guessed it - a 50 Foot Cat!

The 50 Foot Cat

litigation v. justice

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Labor Day Weekend

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Krazyfornians at it Again

Begging Entitlement

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There went an Hour!

A War Worth Winning

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Black Steele

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Halfway Through

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Introducing The Queen in Spain

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Newsweek doesn't really care

Honor Students

The Cinco de Mayo real history

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New Mexico Math Musings

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Godspeed Specialist Francisco G. Martinez

Maundy - What You Didn't Know

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Black History Month Flap

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Women and "Influencers"

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AISD Liberal Teachers and their Students

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Virginians struggling over religious beliefs and constitutional change

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Service Academies and McCallum High School

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Salute to the Heroes

Meet the Mad Ghosts

Offensive Information over Email

Who'll care for the orphans?

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So the Islamic Hijab isn't really required?

Zero Tolerance

Fugate - Chapter 4

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BBC Coverage of USMC attack on Fallujah