Fluid socialism
How disturbing, how truly discouraging, to read “Board members question curriculum” (Dec. 5).
The modern-day tea-party definition of “socialism” is fluid enough to make it a great boogieman for conservatives like Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school-board member Jeannie Metcalf. It essentially means “anything I don’t understand.” Never mind that classic socialism shares and echoes principles taught by the Bible and by capitalism, if you want to poison something for no good reason, just call it “socialism” and you’ll have all kinds of nuts running around screaming that the sky is falling.
Metcalf crying “socialism” about the Systems Thinking curriculum — without even suggesting what, specifically, it may teach that may be objectionable — is like Sen. Joseph McCarthy screaming “communist” anytime he saw his own shadow. For her to object to the curriculum because its developer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty member Peter Senge, is a Buddhist, to even bring that into the discussion, reveals a prejudice — nay, a bigotry — that is not needed anywhere near our children.
Our own school board, apparently, is in dire need of education. Perhaps each member should be required to take the critical-thinking course themselves. It sounds like they could use the skills.
PHIL RONALD TURNER
Winston-Salem
Giving Israel a pass
Whenever President Obama criticizes or disagrees with Israel, conservatives claim that he’s “thrown Israel under the bus.” He doesn’t break treaties with them, he doesn’t side with Iran and say Israel should be destroyed — he might just say that Israel needs to think twice about its settlements and conservatives start to howl.
After all, in Genesis 12:3, God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” That’s the proof text, right?
So is Israel supposed to get a pass no matter what it does? I’m not saying it does, but if Israel commits atrocities against Palestinians — and it’s perfectly capable of doing so, its leaders are imperfect human beings — are we still supposed to side with it? No matter what?
Of course, this leads to more questions. What about the notion that if you truly love someone, you should be willing to correct him? And do conservatives really think it’s wrong to criticize Israel, no matter what, or is this just another opportunity to beat up on President Obama? What if what Israel wants is opposite to the best interests of the United States?
For all the conservative howling about the president of the United States “bowing down” to foreign dignitaries, they apparently expect him to bow down to Israel every chance he gets.
This “biblical morality” I hear so much about — if this is a prime example, it leaves much to be desired.
PERRY MITCHELL
Winston-Salem
Pun away
As a lover of puns I have to come to the defense of your headline “Holy Roller” (Nov. 30) about the moving of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. Although I have been a Moravian for a long time now, I was raised an Episcopalian and if memory serves me right, Episcopalians have a sense of humor and I am sure some of them were “rolling their eyes” over the letter saying, “Making jokes about a church's sacred space is very disrespectful” (“Sacred space,” Dec. 4).
DENIS JACKSON
Pfafftown
Sum It Up
Are you satisfied with Gov.-elect Pat McCrory's preparations to lead the state?
The state of North Carolina has many things to be proud of and a few that we are not so proud of. One that comes to mind is the forced sterilization of mental patients for several decades.
Now I read that many mental-health patients will be turned out on the streets on Jan. 1 because our General Assembly chose to discontinue the funding for group homes for the mentally ill (“Tillis calls for special session,” Dec. 1). Not only am I disappointed in my state government, but I am saddened by the silence of my brother and sister Christians who were so vocal over public prayer, flag flying in cemeteries, gay marriage and birth control.
I know everyone is busy shopping and partying for Christmas, but if our legislators could just take a couple of days to reconvene and appropriate funds for these less fortunate individuals, they would surely experience a more realistic feeling of Christmas.
FRED OVERSTREET
Pfafftown
LTE #1: The sad part is that those that use all those "-isms" (socialism, communism, Marxism, fascism) aren't REALLY saying they don't understand. Like lemmings, they use these terms SIMPLY because others have used it, without thought to what they mean and in what context they are used. Ironically, the use of the word 'fascism' to describe the 'liberal' ideology in reality sounds MORE like the 'conservative' ideology.
ReplyDeleteSocialism, Capitalism Most Looked-Up Words of 2012
DeleteCase in point, Wordly. These terms are all easy look-ups. If everyone were to at least look up the meaning of these terms they would be able to distinguish that these are extremely broad generalizations based more on emotional knee-jerk reactions to what America is experiencing than to any political ideologies be it 'liberal' OR 'conservative'; IMO, 'conservatives' tend to use the terms more than 'liberals'.
DeleteA few socialist items that have made America:
Delete1. Military and war
2. Highways and bridges - and street and highway signs and directions
3. Public schools - K-12, community colleges and universities
4. Public libraries
5. Police and fire service
6. Postal service
7. Student loans and grants
8. Public utilities - water, sewer, trash collection, landfills, street lights, traffic signals
9. Farm subsidies
10. CIA/FBI/NSA/Secret Service/US Marshal's Service
11. Congress folks are covered by taxpayer-funded, government-run health insurance
12. Polio vaccine - Dr. Salk gave his vaccine to the government, which administered the program to stop the polio epidemic in the 50s
13. Social Security
14. Medicaid and Medicaire
15. Museums - Smithsonian, NC Museum of Art, etc
16. Courts
17. Prisons
18. Corporate subsidies - think petroleum, banking, etc
19. Veteran's Administration
20. Public parks
21. All elected and appointed officials
22. Food stamps
23. Bird flu
24. Dams
25. Railroads
26. Airports, train, bus and subway stations
27. GI Bill
28. Zoos
29. IRS
20. Free breakfast/lunch programs
21. FDA
22. Swine flu
23. Disability insurance
24. Beaches and hunting and fishing areas
25. Unemployment insurance
26. Local and national transit systems
27. Snow removal - let's hear the tax whiners scream without that
28. PBS and NPR
29. CDC
30. FEMA
31. Department of Homeland Security
32. OSHA
33. State and national monuments
34. USDA
35. DHHS
36. Census bureau
37. Department of Energy - a favorite whipping boy of the Tea party…hey I agree, I don't see any need to regulate nuclear power plants, much less the disposal of nuclear wastes…what idiots!
38. Customs enforcement
39. Peace Corps
40. National Weather Service
The 41st is civilization. Without the other 40, we don't have it.
And the loudest tax whiner in the bunch uses most of these services every day. Just take some of them away and hear the whine turn into a scream.
I'm on my way today to buy some Duluth Trading Company 'Buck' Naked underwear.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to particularly like the 'no stink' advertised feature.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcjlYyAPw88
Will you model it for the forum Bucky?
DeleteHe does that every day.
DeleteHe may be gone for a while because the nearest Duluth store is about 850 miles away.
DeleteSince it is Sunday and all the CFAs are closed, hope he takes some of his CFA popsicles with him for sustenance.
Death can be cruel, but it can also be beneficial. Looks like President Chavez of Venezuela will soon be history.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57558075/venezuelas-chavez-says-cancer-back-plans-surgery/
LTE #1 - An excellent LTE. Mr. Turner might be surprised at some of the other things that Jeannie Metcalf believes:
ReplyDeleteShe believes that the earth is about 5,000 years old; that it and everything on it was created in six days by a sky wizard; that humans owned dinosaurs and rode them to work and to the grocery store; that science, except in the case of the internal combustion engine in her car, is mostly bogus and that we're just going through a hot spell; that humans have no effect on the environment; and most of all, that Mr. Turner and all the rest of us who don't believe her superstitions are going straight to hell.
How did a loony like Metcalf get on the board? The people elected her. How do we get her off the board? We must elect someone else. But that won't happen until the word is widely spread that Metcalf, and her sidekick Jane Goines, are flat out crazy people.
Goines daughter, a former beauty queen and current true believer, came close to joining her mom on the board last time. She will be back. People better wake up.
LTE #2 - Another good LTE.
Since its establishment, Israel has been the cause of more international conflict than all other nations combined.
The problem is not the people of Israel. A recent poll shows that 70% of Israelis are willing to accept a Palestinian state. The problem is the government, which in the wake of the recent UN decision, behaved like a bunch of juveniles and promised to escalate the current conflict in retaliation.
Israel was founded as a democracy, but democracy has been eroding for many years to the point that the government no longer answers to the people. Several times in the past few years, the government has come to the brink of attacking Iran, only to back down because they do not have the capability to do the job unless we come in and do it for them.
LTE #3 - Too many people take themselves far too seriously. It would be much better for their health and welfare to do a lot more laughing. That is why we have a forum fool…to give us a break from the weight of the world.
Sum It Up - Silly question. I doubt if anyone outside McCrory's closest circle has any idea what he has done or is doing, if anything, to prepare.
Correspondent of the Week - I guess Mr. Overstreet is unaware that there are at least two kinds of Christians. The lower case ones are a bunch of superstitious savages who like the blood and guts of the OT better than the love thy neighbor of the NT. They are christians in name only.
The upper case ones almost certainly agree with Mr. Overstreet, but they are the ones who were characterized by President Nixon as "the silent majority". The ones who responded to Nixon's call are no longer silent…they are the superstitious savages mentioned above. The vast majority of the upper case Christians have remained silent.
Pun away. I saw that story but took no offense at the headline. Puns, especially religious ones, have always been some of the best. Between church news letters and church billboards, a great deal of humor can be found.
ReplyDeleteThe church's Low Self Esteem group will hold its weekly meeting on Wednesday. Please use the small door at the rear of the building.
Recently, as a sign of the times, it has been noticed that Baptists are beginning to recognize one another at the ABC store.
;D)
DeleteHa, ha! I had a cousin who taught at Campbell College in Buies Creek back in the 60s. Harnett County was, of course, dry, so you had to drive about 35 miles to the nearest ABC store.
DeleteOne Friday, my cousin and a couple of his colleagues walked into the store to find three other colleagues already there. Moments later, the dean walked in. He looked around and said "Maybe we should just start holding our faculty meetings here...kill two birds with one stone."
35 miles is a long drive for a booze buzz!
DeleteYep...and frequent runs, too, because the ABC stores used to seriously enforce the one gallon limit.
DeleteSecurity Overhaul
ReplyDeleteA senior State Department official described the move as part of an "ongoing effort to deal with a world that is constantly changing" and denied that it was a direct reaction to recent events in Benghazi, Libya.
_______
Hee Hee...these liberal NWs like to think all of us are like Rush. Too stupid to see through their BS.
Bucky December 8, 2012 3:50 PM
DeleteMeanwhile, we're all celebrating the announcement that Washington Perk will open a downtown location on Fourth Street, right across from our favorite hangout, Camino Bakery. [sic]
Newt on Hillary:
ReplyDelete"We're not capable of competing"
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regularly brushes off the idea of a 2016 presidential bid. But if she were to run, at least one prominent Republican thinks his party would be completely outmatched.
"The Republican party is incapable of competing at that level," Gingrich said during an appearance on NBC's "Meet The Press."
"First of all, she's very formidable as a person," he said. "She's a very competent person. She's married to the most popular Democrat in the country; they both think [it] would be good for her to be president. It makes it virtually impossible to stop her for the nomination."
In addition to having Bill Clinton's support, Hillary Clinton would also have the backing of President Barack Obama, who will still be a "relatively popular president," Gingrich added. "Trying to win that will be truly the Super Bowl."
Most people agree with Gingrich's assessment. A recent Washington Post poll found that 57 percent of people would support Clinton as a 2016 presidential candidate.
University of California at Berkeley
ReplyDelete“Allowing the Salvation Army to collect donations on campus is a passive form of financial assistance, that empowers the organization to spend the money it raises here in order to discriminate and advocate discrimination against queer people,” the resolution reads.
++++++++
You gotta love liberals. They're always up to something stupid.
Bucky December 8, 2012 3:50 PM
DeleteMeanwhile, we're all celebrating the announcement that Washington Perk will open a downtown location on Fourth Street, right across from our favorite hangout, Camino Bakery. [sic]