Good AM, folks!
Thank you to OT and Bob for the cruising route packages. I will retain those for a time when I am competent enough to navigate them.
I really haven't had time to comment on current events, but Romney's picking Ryan for VP gives me a bit of pause. Romney may be shoring up the conservative R base but I do not see this as encouraging independents. I also see this as discouraging to older voters as well, and I'm not simply talking about Ryan sounding like a middle schooler running for student government office.
I want to see Obama out of office in January, but this pick encourages me not.
Being looked after
ReplyDeleteA recent CBS poll showed women voters were favoring President Obama in key swing states. The reason given by many of the women interviewed was that Obama "cared" more than Mitt Romney. It is appalling and embarrassing to me that so many women appear to be basing their vote on the idea that the best government is the one that looks after you the most.
Our country was founded on the principles of freedom and individual responsibility. The Obama regime wants to create a nanny state, and it appears that many women are swallowing the bait; sacrificing their children's future; saddling them with debt and stifling the work ethic that made this country so exceptional.
This election is about preserving the United States of America and the Constitution that has served us well since the birth of our great nation. The government that gives you everything has the power to control every aspect of your life. Citizens beware!
BRENDA DALTON
Winston-Salem
"Up the hill"
Crack of the bat! It's spring! First snow — get out the sleds and cross-country skis! In the 29 years we have lived just up the hill from Hanes Park, it has been crucial to our health and happiness. Our kids walked to and from school along Peters Creek, swishing willow branches, looking for crayfish. We had baseball and Olympics birthday parties. We practiced hitting and fielding, Frisbee, soccer, volleyball, tennis. And we walked, around and through it, every day, rain or shine, protected by the shady canopy.
Now that my son's balance is impaired by brain injury, the soft track at Hanes Park is the only place within walking distance where we can let him walk independently, albeit hovering close to him. We can get out early in the morning to beat the heat.
Our experience is just one of thousands. Hanes Park is a resource for all kinds of activities and people of all ages and abilities, and it is also beautiful. A high-school football stadium will not serve everyone in Winston-Salem all day every day, and it will create parking and noise problems for local residents. Save Hanes Park!
JULIE EDELSON
Winston-Salem
Just to make sure
DeleteTo all my friends in Equality Winston Salem and to everyone else who had their shorts in a knot over Chick-fil-A: Thank you for the clarification on my First Amendment rights.
Just to make sure I have this correct, I am free to say anything I want; however I do not have the right to support causes they don't like with my money.
I have to admit I am still struggling with this redistribution-of-wealth thing and the surrendering of power to Washington. I am an old guy and may be slow on the uptake, but I certainly don't want to break any politically correct laws.
I mean, I did not build my business, other people did, and who am I to act as if I were an individual with a functioning mind?
KEN HOGLUND
Clemmons
"The real point"
According to the letter "Distribution of wealth" (Aug. 6), President Obama made a valid point when he told entrepreneurs: "You didn't build that."
The letter states: "Henry Ford didn't (personally) attach motors to the Model T" and "Nobody does it on his or her own." These are both obvious and irrelevant points. Henry Ford's claim to have built Ford Motor Co. is not undermined by the fact that he engaged in capitalist acts with consenting adults (employees, vendors, customers). He was claiming to be an entrepreneur, not a hermit.
So what point would someone really be trying to make when he says, "You didn't build that"? The point is to de-legitimize free-market success. Even after the business transactions are complete — after wages have been paid, vendors have been paid, and customer goods have been delivered — redistributionists want to impose some lingering, un-negotiated debt on the business owner.
The point of "you didn't build that" is to lay the groundwork for robbing the ant to pay the grasshopper. Nothing more, nothing less.
KATHERINE WATSON
Advance
Second the motion
DeleteI would like to second the motion to have "Doonesbury" moved to the editorial page or the Op-Ed page of the Journal. "Doonesbury" has long been recognized by other papers as being more of an editorial item than the other comics that accompany it on the comics pages. Even "the most liberal newspaper in the known universe" — The News & Observer of Raleigh — long ago put "Doonesbury" on its Op-Ed page, rather than the comics pages.
It is long past time that "Doonesbury" be relocated with the other editorial commentary in the Journal.
C. RAY McCRARY JR.
Elkin
Being looked after. The appeal of socialism and all its paternalistic cousins has always had a stong appeal to a very large segment of women. The illusion of the "great caregiver" is powerful and the offer of still more "care" will guarantee votes. However, this double edge sword cuts again when the children and grandchildren of the smitten women have to pick up the tab. We are at that point. On our present course, we will be the declining nation of France in about 6 to eight years.
ReplyDeleteUp the hill. I too still have fond memories of Hanes Park. Of the few houses that face the park on West End Blvd, my grandparents built one of them in the mid 1920s. My parents and I lived upstairs for several years and my Mother would escort me straight across the not too bust street to play in the park. For me and my friends it contained all we needed. Good memories for me. Leave the park as is.
ReplyDeleteJust to make sure. Whew! I thought it was going to be all chicken sandwiches for a second there. There is no struggle to redistribute wealth, but a full on assault to redistribute income. Two different things.
ReplyDeleteThe real point. The groundwork is being laid for our new system of bureaucratic despotism. This is the only way bad ideas can be spread and then reinforced and ultimately forced. Good ideas spread naturally and easily. This is a threat to the new system and so we are going to have to watch everything implode before we can rebuild.
ReplyDeleteLTE #1 – Ms. Dalton uses the same tactics as our own Dunce. Lie, lie, then lie some more.
ReplyDelete1. The principal reason that most women support the President is that his policies recognize women’s rights, while those of the other party are just the opposite. The fact that there are women who support the GOP tells us that there are many non-thinking women out there.
2. The nanny state crap is just that, crap…parroted from the pathetic talking heads who today pass for journalists.
3. “This election is about preserving the United States of America and the Constitution that has served us well since the birth of our great nation.”
I get really tired of hearing this stupid phrase over and over. Every election is about preserving the USA and the Constitution. Perhaps some of the fools who say it could point out an election that was not about preserving the USA and the Constitution.
LTE #2 – Agree wholeheartedly.
LTE #3 – As always, Mr. Hoglund’s missive is on the bare edge of being understandable.
Either he is stupid, or he is pretending not to understand basic facts. If the former, I feel sorry for him; if the latter, he’s not fooling anyone except himself.
What he and other dunces seem to be incapable of understanding is that no one is saying that Dunce Cathy does not have the right to say what he wants, nor is anyone saying that he does not have the right to support bigot groups. But everyone certainly has the right to boycott his business if they disagree with what he does.
Free speech is not a free pass…you can say what you want, but you must be willing to pay the price, whatever that may be.
LTE #4 – Sometimes, the President is too smart for his own good. This is one of them. Educated people (which does not necessarily have anything to do with college degrees) and intelligent business owners know what he meant by his statement. The rest do not.
I own or have owned several very successful businesses. In each case, I get credit for two things:
1. The business concept.
2. Hiring outstanding employees to execute the concept.
So I start the business…the employees build it. That is true of Ford; it was true of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company; it is true of Apple and Microsoft and Google and Chrysler and any other company that is still growing today.
LTE #5 – I make a motion that all of the wannabe newspaper editors out there either start their own newspaper or shut up.
I might ad re. Hny. Ford...he is just about the worst example that the people who cite him could choose.
ReplyDeleteHe was an out and out NAZI, who made millions serving Hitler, who kept a life sized portrait of Ford near his desk. He even published books and newspaper articles about why we should hate Jews.
Of course, maybe it isn't an accident that those folks chose Ford as their example.
Re the new Trader Joe's: this store will have one feature that the CA stores do not: adequate/ample parking. Every TJ's I patronized in CA had a microscopic parking lot.
ReplyDeleteSame can be said for the Quail Hollow location in Charlotte...in addition, parking spaces are too small...lots of scrapes...and you are in dire danger of getting run over walking to the store. Park in the back and hug the wall on your way in.
DeleteArthur mentioned "two buck Chuck" last night, which has always been "three buck Chuck" in NC because, as part of the United States of Baptists, we have a higher sin tax than Cali. It is actually not bad wine, but all TJs have a resident wine expert and some truly outstanding wine bargains in the $4-8 range.
The TJ's in Scottsdale, AZ shared a common area with an excellent steak restaurant and a few other retail outlets, so parking wasn't an issue. There was an upscale shopping center just inside the Phoenix city limits that had a Japanese restaurant I frequented which had a parking lot designed for people of Kate Moss size to get in and out of their cars. Then again, every female in that shopping center (customer and employee) did resemble a super model.
DeleteChuck's Cabernet isn't bad at all, but I've also had the best luck in the 6 - 10 dollar range.
DeleteI just re-read yesterday's posts about motorcycle adventures and such. Good ones. A little further west on US 64 and you come to where some of my long departed inlaws are buried. Easy Riders of the 1960s are today's Easy Geezers?
ReplyDeleteBut still riding.
DeleteBut not as easy...
DeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Talk radio parroting. The US could do away with SS, Medicare, unemployment benefits and all other programs associated with welfare, but after listening to folks who have visited places like Mexico and India, I'm not sure the US is prepared to see squalor conditions in every city like they have in 3rd world countries.
LTE 2: Another one opposed to the school stadium. I can definitely see how Fri. nights during the fall would be a headache for the local residents should the stadium be built.
LTE 3: Actually, Mr. Hoglund has it incorrect. A person does have FoS, and is free to donate to any cause within reason. I would imagine donating to groups identified by the govt as being associated with al_Qaida might draw some attention from the FBI. If a person does decide to make public the fact of one's support both verbally and financially for a particular position, then that person should expect others who disagree to also make known their disagreement both verbally as well as financially via a boycott or other means. The First Amendment applies to everyone, including those who disagree with your position.
LTE 4: Pres. Obama's words seem to have struck a nerve in the individual vs. group debate. If you look at the entire context of Obama's speech , he is clearly referencing the infrastructure including the skills training that enables a business to be created. I could start up a business building mobile apps using my own capital, computer and software, however that business wouldn't even be possible if it weren't for the people at Apple and Samsung who made the technology that allows a mobile app business to exist in the first place. Apple and Samsung in turn wouldn't exist without the technological innovations such as the transistor and silicon chip that were created by others.
LTE 5: What's up with the Doonesbury letters lately? If you don't like it, then don't read it. Why is that so hard?
As an adjunct to LTE 4, both Windows and Mac owe their existence to Xerox which developed the graphical user interface, mouse and ethernet..basically the backbone of the entire IT industry, only to let people such as Gates, Jobs and others create billion dollar fortunes off their work because the Xerox management was clueless.
DeleteNot to mention UNIX, which was developed by AT&T's extraordinary Bell Labs in the late 1960s, which in its many variations has enabled all kinds of good things.
DeleteOne variation, Darwin, is the core of Apple's sophisticated X operating system.
To me, having a place like Bell Labs made the AT&T monopoly worth having. They had total freedom plus any and all resources to pursue whatever their imaginations could spin out. What I would give to have worked in an environment like that. It's no wonder they won Nobel Prizes and received a zillion patents including the aforementioned transistor which made all things digital possible.
DeleteGleick, James. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood.
DeleteExtraordinary. Among the many things that I had no idea about is that Ada Byron, Lord Byron's daughter, worked with Babbage on his mysterious machine that no one could figure out a use for until many decades after his death.
The section on how alphabetization was invented is worth the price of the book.
Bell Lab scientists also first detected the cosmic microwave background radiation, an echo of the Recombination event that occurred about 379K years after the Big Bang 13.7B years ago. They inadvertently beat some Princeton researchers who had been searching for this radiation, which had once been visible light, now stretched to microwave lengths by the expansion of space.
ReplyDeleteBell Labs has so far produced 13 Nobel Prize winners. Among the accomplishments not already mentioned are the invention or discovery of the laser; information theory; the C and C++ programming languages; Phonofilm (sound film technology, 1926); the one-time pad cipher, still the most unbreakable code; the statistical control process, which led to Six Sigma; "Johnson noise"; high fidelity, LP and stereophonic recording (1931-32); "Vocoder", the 1st electronic speech synthesizer (1937); electron diffraction, which led to solid-state electronics; the photovoltaic cell; SIGSALY, the 1st digital scrambled speech transmission system (WW II); many extensions of Charles Babbage's "Difference Engine"; and on and on.
DeleteIn 1927 Bell scientists transmitted the first 128 line TV signal from Washington to NY. In 1947 Richard Hamming invented the Hamming codes for error detection.
But the most important moments came that same year, with the introduction of the transistor, and the next year, 1948, when Claude Shannon published his "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", the basis of modern information theory.
Unfortunately, Bell Labs now belongs to a French company, Alcatel-Lucent, symbolic of the replacement of national interest with love of money by US corporations.
During WW II, the National Carbon Company manufactured parts for submarine batteries at their plant on Northwest Boulevard in W-S. After the war, the NCC was absorbed by Western Electric, which opened a new plant at the old NCC site which eventually made the guidance system for the Nike missile. That had the effect of bringing a whole new classification of people, scientists and engineers, to our city, thus upgrading the whole community.
In the early 1950s, WE opened a grand new plant on Old Lexington Road. Thousands attended the open house at which they demonstrated a computer that played Tic-Tac-Toe. The machine easily defeated most of the adults, but a bunch of wise-ass boys and girls from Ardmore School brought it to its knees.
Later, WE's parent, AT&T, opened a second facility on Reynolda Road. Over the years, those AT&T facilities provided good paying jobs for thousands of local folks. All that has now been outsourced to foreign countries.