Monday Morning Rant 73

I confess! I’m cheating this morning. As you read this, I shall soon be arriving in Douglas, Wyoming and an overdue visit with my eight grandchildren there and their parents. As the week wears on, I shall make my way to Las Vegas to visit the five additional little ones and life-long friends. On the 18th I will travel to Phoenix to watch my daughter’s attempt to run a marathon and then proceed to Tucson for a few days with my son and his family. There I not only get to be with grandchildren but also three great-grand children. Whew! If the weather does not interrupt my schedule, I should be back in the Ozarks in about twelve days. I would certainly appreciate your prayers for a safe trip.

The bottom line is that posting will be spotty for this period but I do hope to be able work in something from a place or two along the line. Thanks in advance for your patience.

Semantics

There is really nothing new here. In forming the language of the pilfering of the US Treasury, we find the oncoming new government leaders turning to their Thesaurus to attempt to alleviate the pain of plunging the nation into huge debt.

To make the process more palatable to the citizenry, they have formed focus groups and panels of “normal” people to evaluate their reaction to the use of every day words. The venerable and accurate words “recession” and “infrastructure” will be replaced with the softer sounding “recovery” and “investment.” Apparently these words are less scary to those involved in the polls and panels assigned to soften the language to ensure the passage of pending legislation.

The word choice attempts to take the best of the progressive and the best of the conservative thought on the matter and achieve a “fusion” of the two for the desired result—redistributing our national wealth to the least deserving. Whether corporation or citizen, those who cannot manage their resources qualify for that description. Those who look to the government as a role model may now dependably reverse each decision made in the hallowed halls of Washington and be on track to a successful outcome.

One of the huge downsides to Gov. Palin was her apparent inability to use this technique and “appear” learned and slick instead of her habit of just blurting out the truth. It is reminiscent of the phrase used by the tough Marine colonel in “A Few Good Men” when he said; “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” Have we grown so soft and touchy-feely that we must be protected constantly from the vile affect of language used accurately?

Mrs. Pelosi (D-San Franfreakshow) reportedly said; “People don’t know the details, but, they like the brand.” In other words, if you obfuscate the message with vocabulary, you may achieve your intended result through deception. Sure sounds like Congress to me. How many times have you gone to the polls to vote and found a series of initiatives listed there of which you really didn’t have prior knowledge? As you read through the scant description were you confused that the title of issue called for the exact opposite of the meat of it?

There is only one conclusion I can draw from all of this. It puts the absolute lie to that old saw that grandpa used so often, “you can’t polish a turd!”

Bad News on Illegitimacy

In the latest posting from the National Review Online we find some remarks by Roger Clegg. To avoid error in the lifting of the information, I am quoting it in its entirety. It pretty much speaks for itself but I had no idea that the numbers were that high.

“As mentioned yesterday, the National Center for Health Statistics came out with its latest numbers yesterday (final data for 2006), and they aren't good. By population subgroup, the percentage of children born out of wedlock is 70.7 percent for non-Hispanic blacks, 64.6 percent for American Indians/Alaska Natives, 49.9 percent for Hispanics, 26.6 percent for non-Hispanic whites, and 16.5 percent for Asians/Pacific Islanders.. Illegitimacy correlates with just about any social problem you can name (poverty, crime, dropping out of school, substance abuse, etc.), and it — not discrimination — is the principal cause of racial disparities in all these areas. But NRO readers know all that.”

It is little wonder that we see in the institution of marriage under constant attack. We are all obviously aware of the assault from the homosexual community but this is a far greater threat. It speaks, in my mind, to the irresponsibility of the fathers. If we have not raised boys to be men I see little hope of altering these numbers.
“Men” is not defined by the ability to father children but rather as a result of character development and discipline. It is a state which is attained through teaching in the home and the example which is established there. Lacking this, I see no clear reason for these numbers to change any time soon.

And finally

As I approach the upcoming reunion with various segments of my family I am constantly amazed by God’s love and mercy in allowing a sinner the joy of repentance. Barring that I seriously doubt I could enjoy the associations I am so looking forward to. There was a time that I looked and heard with some amusement the allegation of committed Christians that; “I am not perfect, just forgiven.” I now fully realize the importance of that statement.

Rejoice with me; I’m out of here.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon