Who needs YOUR peace?

Two articles struck me today. Both are about the so-called peace movement. One comes from a blog that is local and is actually the second time I've read of such behavior by "peaceniks". It's entitled, "Ridgewood Resident gets harassed by Teaneck cops for thanking the troops." The second is from the AP and is entitled, "Vermont Town Seeks Bush, Cheney Arrests." The common thread through both of them is the fact that those who are against the war in Iraq seem to be almost fascist in their hatred of anyone who disagrees with them.

How is the arrest of the US President and Vice-President going to serve any practical purpose other than to show complete disregard and respect for the elected leader of the country? It will not stop a military action. It is not even legal. It is merely contemptuous and stupid. It certainly argumentative and not very peaceful.

The behavior reported in the blog's story is reprehensible. Once you read the story, check out the comments to see further input from the original victim. A similar story of poor behavior on the part of anti-war protestors was carried in the local paper a couple of months ago. If this is representative of the "peace" these people want, I'll have none of it thank you. It sounds like their way or the highway, certainly not what our Constitution is all about.

Thoughts anyone?

Melting pot?

A comment on an earlier post got me to thinking about what it means to become an American. I work with a young man who comes from the African country of Ghana and I am always impressed about how interested he is in learning about "our ways." This is quite different from the immigrant rights people who have marched demanding "fair" treatment for those who have illegally entered our country.

In researching, I have come across a book entitled, "Reinventing the Melting Pot" which seems to be an in depth look at the idea of integrating immigrants into modern American society. According to the review, the consensus is that it is unrealistic to believe that we can (or should) achieve the sort of homogeneous integration that was prevalent in the 1950's but that we should strive for integration nonetheless.

I know that many of my more conservative friends are adament that anyone coming to this country should be expected to adopt all of our ways. They seem to forget that many of "our ways" come from the practices of previous immigrants that brought them into our collective practices.

Bottom line, I think there must be some middle ground between those who would grant all rights to illegal immigrants (otherwise, what's the purpose of citizenry?) and those who would require every immigrant to become an English-speaking, Republican, WASP.

Thoughts anyone?

Space...the final frontier

A news article caught my eye. It was entitled, "New Orleans gets a boost from NASA" and it details how the next generation of rockets are scheduled to be built in the New Orleans area which will bring some very high income jobs to New Orleans for many years to come. It talked about the Constellation Project which is the US' next big project to put men on the moon by 2020 at the latest. Have you heard of it?

I vaguely recall hearing about it as part of a budget report or some other barely covered report from NASA. This is a huge shame!! It's a very exciting project to not only put men on the moon (been there, done that....I saw it on TV), but to keep them there in a regular outpost. This is a huge step for humanity and no one seems to notice. For the first time, we are going to become extra-terrestrials!!

For those of us who regularly read science fiction, we can tell you that this will open up a vast array of socio-economic and political issues. Who owns the base? Who taxes it? Who governs it? (Think of England dealing with the colonies in the "New World". We all know how that turned out) Are we ready for an independent planet to keep up with? Anyone for the Mars v. Earth Solar Series in October? The implications are staggering. Keep watching at http://www.nasa.gov/ or http://www.spacefoundation.org/.

Thoughts anyone?

Parable of the Birds

My friend, Dr Rev Jim Higgins, has once again published a thoughtful and moving story on his blog. Please read his story "Dr. Jim's Blog: A Christmas Parable"

Merry Christmas whether you like it or not

Much has been said about saying (or not saying) "Merry Christmas". Here are my thoughts. As my pastor said last Sunday, Christmas is about JOY. It is about receiving a message that makes you so happy that you cannot contain it and you just have to exude that happiness. It's like getting THE present that you've been dying for and wanting to share it with everyone you see.

That's a great feeling and it's what generates a greeting like "Merry Christmas". Now I ask, what difference does it make whether you believe that Christ was the Messiah if you understand the meaning behind the greeting? The fact that I'm a Christian does not diminish the sincere feeling behind the greetings of "Mazel Tov" from my Jewish in-laws when my wife and I married. I was able to accept the heart-felt wishes of joy and happiness without being Jewish and without feeling that it threatened my Christianity. I would also be able to accept the greeting of "God is Great" from a Muslim friend in a similar situation.

I have been married for over 3 years so I have gone through the Jewish New Year three times now and have genuinely appreciated the wishes of "Happy New Year" even though it came in September. I have also always returned the greeting of "Good Shabbos" on Friday night even though my Sabbath has always been celebrated on Sundays.

It is important to understand the significance and meaning of the greeting....to the greeter. If I wish you a Merry Christmas, I'm sharing with you the joy and peace that the holiday brings to me. I am hoping that you, through your understanding of God (Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, Buddhist, Confusionist, Zoroastrian, whatever), may receive the peace that I get during this religious celebration. I'm not trying to insult or convert you. I'm also not going to denigrate my celebration by telling you "Happy Holidays" because that means nothing.

So, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

Thoughts anyone?

Follow up on LED streetlight article

In a previous post, I talked about Ann Arbor, MI's intention to convert all of its streetlights to LED lights in an effort to save money and reduce global warming emissions. A copy of my post was put on a local blog since the town was considering replacing its streetlights. The idea was immediately dismissed a untenable, too expensive, silly, etc. In researching further, I found this article on a major city that has already installed them and they work. It just shows that all towns, villages, and cities across the world should follow this lead and install them immediately.

Thoughts anyone?

Get to work

I read with much interest the comments by union president, Rae Roeder, moaning about the fact that New Jersey's state employees had to actually go to work on the Friday after Thanksgiving. In addition, Assemblyman Greenwald makes the ridiculous statement, "New Jersey should join the growing number of other states that recognize the Thanksgiving weekend as a time to spend with family and close friends." Is he kidding?

If he's that concerned about spending time with family and friends, why doesn't he propose it as a mandatory state holiday requiring the closing of all places of business......including retail? Doesn't he think all of those people at Macy's, Sears, and all of the other places he and his family were shopping at deserve the weekend "spending time with family and friends"? Why are Ms. Roeder's consituents more important than those non-unionized employees of the retailers across the state? Could it be that they are NON-unionized and therefore less likely to vote the party line?

I say, state workers have no more right to have a special day off than any other industry. Their time with family and friends is no more important that the thousands of others who have to work that day. Sorry Ms. Roeder, but be quiet and get back to work like the state employees of the majority of states in the US (26 out of 50).

Thoughts anyone?

Barak and the National Anthem

Well, I've been watching Barak Obama with some interest (especially since I consider Clinton to be evil incarnate) but here is a clip that has eliminated him from consideration for me.




There is an e-mail rant that goes with this and there is a snopes.com article that discusses it, but I'm just concerned about the fact that someone who is running for the President of the US doesn't have the political sense (or even survival instinct) to follow protocol. If he can't participate in such a basic act as respect for the National Anthem, what other basic things will he disregard?

Thoughts anyone?