It's Can We All Behave Thing

Dear America,

so Colin (and a teammate Eric Reid) kneeled during the national anthem last night, here in San Diego; which is far better than sitting on the bench, right?  Either somebody got to him to straighten out a wee bit -- or -- something deep down inside him made him tweek his stance in order to meet America half way.  And this girl considers that, a good start. 

Not only did he kneel, but he also said this after the game:

 "I'm not anti-American. I love America," said Kaepernick, who stayed on the field long after the game to sign autographs for enthusiastic fans. "I love people. That's why I'm doing this. I want to help make America better, and I think having these conversations helps everybody have a better understanding of where everybody is coming from."

Speaking of the American Huddle of yesterday's blog, we can all appreciate that, right; for surely we didn't get this love of country message upon his first anthem protest.

So let's then continue the conversation.  It's what Colin is asking for and that's easy enough...to talk about it, right?

If we look to having "a better understanding of where everybody is coming from," then everybody is everybody.  So props to Colin for giving us all permission to discuss it.

And considering Colin voluntarily became a catalyst of this new found freedom of expression against oppression of our time  -- a time when  grassroots activism called "Black Lives Matter" has become all the rage, raising awareness of police brutality against people of color, highlighting how many in the black community consider this an illustration of the continued oppression against blacks in America -- leading many, like Colin, to outright disrespect the flag for which she stands until
such change comes.

And it makes me wonder -- what does that change really look like, how do we get there from here, given the facts surrounding the whole truth about this alleged oppression by police within the black community?  At what point will Colin believe we have reached resolution?

As Heather Mac Donald pointed out -- in the Hillsdale publication, Imprimis, April 2016  (See  my early summer blogs on this in particular....here and here; might I add, this issue of Imprimis is gaining alot of mileage on the old gthing...we can't seem to stop bringing it up....funny how a little truth goes far, but I digress.) --

"We have been here before.  In the 1960's and early 1970's, black and white radicals directed hatred and occasional violence against the police.  The difference today is that anti-cop ideology is embraced at the highest reaches of the establishment:  by the President, by his Attorney General, by college presidents, by foundation heads, and by the press."

As Heather illuminated with statistic after statistic, we have reached a new age for modern America, and it just so happens to take us backwards --  having reached a time where violence against the police has doubled during the first three months of 2016, and in it's more minute expression, an age of sitting during the national anthem on the sidelines of America's favorite past time.

More Heather:

"Given the history of racism in this country and the complicity of the police in that history, police shootings of black men are particularly and understandably fraught. That history informs how many people view the police. But however intolerable and inexcusable every act of police brutality is, and while we need to make sure that the police are properly trained in the Constitution and in courtesy, there is a larger reality behind the issue of policing, crime, and race that remains a taboo topic. The problem of black-on-black crime is an uncomfortable truth, but unless we acknowledge it, we won’t get very far in understanding patterns of policing."

You know, Colin -- if you care about understanding the larger reality of black on black crime -- you should consider reading what Heather Mac Donald has to say; matter of fact, I wish you had, back in April, perhaps then this whole phase might look a whole lot different by now, right?

And shocking! --  and surely, Colin,  you will concur -- is the truth of violent crime committed in America's 75 largest counties...From data compiled in 2009, Heather notes:  "blacks constituted 62 percent of all robbery defendants, 57 percent of all murder defendants, 45 percent of all assault defendants—but only 15 percent of the population."

and while this isn't a statistic anyone in the black community wants to talk about, the ugly truth of what's happening within the black community must also understand what the black community does to itself:

"Every year, approximately 6,000 blacks are murdered. This is a number greater than white and Hispanic homicide victims combined, even though blacks are only 13 percent of the national population. Blacks are killed at six times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined. In Los Angeles, blacks between the ages of 20 and 24 die at a rate 20 to 30 times the national mean. Who is killing them? Not the police, and not white civilians, but other blacks. The astronomical black death-by-homicide rate is a function of the black crime rate. Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of white and Hispanic male teens combined. Blacks of all ages commit homicide at eight times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined, and at eleven times the rate of whites alone."

So when Colin wants to have this conversation, can we include this reality hiding in the shadows on the field?

It is interesting that Colin -- with tats of Bible verses up and down his hot bod -- wasn't so vocal until he met his new girl.  A year of indoctrination by dating later,  the influence of a beautiful Muslim activist upon this all American football heavyweight  heart is showing. Ahhh yes, love, that explains it -- for the love of pete; Colin's love of country is all asunder, dying a slow death under the fog of real love, impressing upon him a certain and rampant oppression undermining the general welfare of blacks in America...all for no reason at all and totally unwarranted, it would seem.

And let's veer another direction, shall we?  It's just popular to hate the flag altogether.  When did that start?   hummm

indeed

circa 2008.  What I see is the president (then, merely a senator) being the only one not crossing his heart.  Can we talk about that?

With regard to the popular email chain that depicts the President speaking to the press without a flag anywhere close by, let alone right behind him, as customary (circa 2010)-- Snopes gives cover like so:

"Although it is typical practice that U.S. flags are present as a backdrop whenever the President of the United States speaks to the press or engages in other types of public appearances, such displays are not always present. Due to other factors (e.g., an event's nature, or its being impromptu, its being held at an unusual location) an opportunity to set up U.S. flag backdrops may be missed or skipped, or flags may be present but simply not visible in the camera angles used by photographers, so it's not hard to turn up photographs of the other recent Presidents referenced above addressing the press with no U.S. flags visible anywhere..."

and then proceeds to show some pictures to back them up.

Only problem is, in this scenario -- and any other press conference inside the White House -- there really is no excuse not to have a flag stationed behind the President.  I mean, how hard is that?  Why would the flag ever have to move from behind such a podium?

And then we have, from more recent days, what happened in New York, in the small town of Poughkeepsie -- fire department told to take the flags down, until the public outcry!  How is this even possible in America today?

And here's a fascinating change of allegiance....see infowars on PS75.  OR how about this new Florida law...here.

Something is afoot, America.

And looking high and low, it seems to be the American flag.

If working from the premise that dissing/removing all flags, from all countries guilty of oppression and wrong doing against its people, and perhaps casting a wider net to include all countries fraught with government abuses, deception, corruption against the general welfare -- starting with America --  is not only appropriate, but a mandate for political and cultural retribution  especially on behalf have racial injustices and inequalities -- then what flag in all the world would be left flying?  What flag would be left worthy of any salute?

In light of what is actually happening on the streets in America, where is the logic behind allowing the current strife within desecrate the flag as if it stands for nothing good at all?  Isn't that extreme?

When it gets down to it, isn't Colin capable of having this conversation, while he says he "loves America" and still salute the flag?  Why does he opt to go all in with showing his disgust, his disrespect, rather than his love?   Especially now -- now that's it's done, now that he's made his point, now that the conversations are happening all over the world -- why does he continue to hold out until he sees the change?

And NOW, folks,  we are back to where we began.

The thing is, just how do we get to resolution when we begin with the actual truth, the facts and stats, clearly conflicting with personal bias?

What does the change that Colin so badly wants to see look like, act like, if it's not the outright demand that all Americans behave themselves, no matter the color of their skin or station in life, whether wearing a badge or not?  Behave!

Wouldn't that be the answer?

Forget about the meme contemplating can we all just get along -- how about we all behave ourselves and go about our days simply doing the right thing for the right reasons with the right attitude.

Is that asking too much?

....that all of us in America just follow the fricken law and stay out of trouble from the start....to go to school and get an education...to stay out of gang life....to honor our mother and our father...to honor our children and be good parents...to only use our guns for self-defense, and only at the last resort, and keep our guns under lock and key and away from our babies...
don't drink and drive...don't steal...don't kill...don't lie -- and that goes especially to yourself...

yeah, let's begin by looking at the whole truth --  for the fact remains, the whole duty and responsibility to behave lies upon each and every one of us, to God and to country, every single day.

When we tackle that, we all win.

And then there is this parting thought....
This girl would have to believe that if Colin had trouble at his million dollar home, he would call the police, right?  But would they hurry or take their time now that he wears pigs wearing police hats on his socks?  hummmm


Well well well we have talked and talked today.  And what a conversation, right?
Thank you, Colin -- for if not for your actions, this little snap chat would have been about something else this week.  spring up, oh well!

happy friday, everybody

Make it a Good Day, G

It's a Thankless Job Thing

Dear America,

With the so-called man-made "War on Women" going on around us -- this week may just be all about mom-ism.

As a mom, my Monday has already been flooded with things to do that have pretty much nothing to do with me really......oh ...and lookie there, it's now Tuesday. waaaaahhhhh

But this is what happens in a mom-pom world, isn't it.  Sometimes, the very thing you want to do most gets set aside for another day because you are in need somewhere else.  And so it begins; the day bounces from one thing to another in a rhythm we can play in our sleep.  ughhhhhhhhh

And how that's for immediately running off with the wrong impression -- foot, mouth, have you met?  

In motherhood -- in all of it's gloriousness, in all of it's messiness, in all of it's self-less loving acts of kindness -- we become defined by what we do for our family and how they, in turn, turn-out (whether it be for a family of one or within the higher realm of '19&Counting').  And in reality, it's beautiful -- even on really bad days, the days when "you want to eat them and not because they are yummy."  (just a quote and a nod to a cuz there...go B!)

Indeed.   It's a thankless job; no really, it is.

Especially if you go by how the Left wants us all to think about full-time moms -- and especially if they be filthy rich.

Hilary Rosen, you're up:

"Guess what, his wife [Mitt's] has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and how do we — why do we worry about their future.”

right, rosen.  and we have no idea just how much money we have in the check book either.  Is this envy talking again or just the all too familiar all-round feminist disrespect run amuck?  Which is it, the money, or the lack of ambition outside the home?

And if you care for more fabulous feedback on this left-winged narrative that keeps on giving back to motherhood far and wide -- all the way back to the middle ages, like the fifties -- read this from Redstate...it's really good.

So speaking of moms, I had to call mine over the weekend...to vent...to chat....to hear her laugh about something silly... when something that she said continued to sit with me for the rest of the day (which is often the case).

She was simply tired of all of us getting "chopped up" --  you know --  sorted and sub-divided by demographics, predominately by the democrats -- pretty much getting us down to a process 'by color' or 'by special care'.   As if we all come with a different set of needs.

and yes, dirty laundry does come to mind, doesn't it.


In a Politico article, Rosen and Romney were tweeting apparently -- when Rosen summed it up, going something like this:

"I admire Ann for getting in the mix," Rosen told me tonight, via email. "But she didn't answer my follow up tweet to her! Which I thought was respectful and sincere."

Rosen's tweet read as follows: "I am raising children too. But u do know that most young american women have to earn a living AND raise their kids don't u?"

this is Rosen with respect?  seriously?

ah Rosen, you do know that the Romney's finished their undergraduate work at BYU while living in a basement apartment -- at around 75 bucks a month -- when their first born son joined the family.

and Romney worked up the ladder, as they say -- he didn't just create Bain Capital out of thin air and all of a sudden they were on easy street making millions of dollars a year.

and you know, it's not like the little mrs. just gave up getting her degree -- she went back to school after the couple moved to Boston, attending night school (Harvard, thank you), and ultimately graduated with a Liberal Arts Degree.

and while we're on the subject -- it wasn't like Ann had it easy, what with having Multiple Sclerosis and Breast Cancer get in the way AND all the while raising FIVE boys. honestly...anyone who raises five boys, and turns out boys like that! should get an award, hardly a diss.

Where is the respect of the path that simply says, I CHOOSE to be a full-time mom?   Does Rosen have any idea how many women choose this path no matter how much money the husband makes?

Because a budget is a budget is a budget.  Home Economics 101 plus 2.0.

So Ann Romney can't relate to real economics because she has money now?   really? how old-fashioned is that?!

You would think the opposite would be true.  She has seen days without.  She has lived through the days of watching the pennies, feeding the family, clothing the kids, going to the emergency room, tithing to the church, giving to charity, keeping the family spending within a budget -- and moreover, has successfully managed those days with a bank account and five beautiful boys to show for it.

How is it possible in this day and age, that someone like a Rosen can dismiss any intelligence behind the apron whatsoever?   I am just so disgusted by this kind of continuing knee-jerk reaction!  Hello, feminists, you do know you share the planet with other kinds of moms, right?

As a woman -- is my value to society only defined by my career outside the home now?  Is that it?

Because maybe that is our problem.

Is there no longer a value  in putting our whole heart and soul and good energy into raising good children?   Because if you look around, our children define America's future outlook....and ah, from what I see...we seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties. but  maybe that's just me.  [feminists never want to talk about the stark ugly realities of the traditional family roles a'changin', do they...they never want to look at how it has changed the early childhood experience -- the lack of security, the latch-key kid traumas, the abundant and unchaperoned free time...shall I go on....]

And what about other kinds of moms -- what about "moms who have never worked a day in their life" on the dole?  If you go to one extreme, Rosen, then it is only fair to swing the other way.   So is the welfare mom's understanding of home economics better or worse than that of Ann Romney?   For again, a budget is a budget is a budget.   [Not to mention, what about night school?  for there are all kinds of ways, with free tuition and all...of course, provided by the government, childcare included...but I digress]

From the way you tell it, I would gather from your argument that you believe these women -- those not working outside the home and getting something for nothing and surviving by simply receiving federal funding from tax contributions from those of us who work  -- have a clearer understanding based upon their economic needs -- or that you just can't bring yourself to honestly talk about it.

It's a different kind of dependence, isn't it  -- based not upon a husband and built up around the traditional family unit, per se -- it's Dependence 2.0...upon the government.  Is it because they generally "need" more, they know more than Ann?

The question is:  isn't that an attribute equally as loathsome to you?  Women bearing children and becoming moms when they are in no position to care for them?

And even -- do I dare say -- doing so enthusiastically, as if it was their business?

And doing so -- do I dare add -- while paying very little attention to whether their kids even attend school, or get good grades, or understand right from wrong, and thereby missing the very opportunity of giving them the gift to life -- the very foundation required to grow up into adulthood and be a productive partner in society.

You see, Rosen, if you can generalize about the filthy rich, with emphasis upon the women who have "never worked outside the home", then we can surely do the same for the filthy poor.  And therein lies the rub.  Ouch.  [hold up -- let me get you a band-aid]

oh that's right. you're a mom, too.  you probably have your own.

I guess the thing is -- where is the respect, Rosen?

As a conservative mom -- I RESPECT your right, even as a lefty, to raise your children anyway you want to -- whether or not it's in union with a husband (or partner), whether or not you choose to work in your own career or not, whether or not you and your partner make thousands, to hundreds of thousands, to millions, to billions.  It's a free world and a free market, and you are entitled to support your family anyway you wish.

AS AM I.  I have a right -- just as Ann has a right -- to be a mom anyway we want to and to do so with the full respect of others.

SO I ask you again -- is it  the ENVY talking or just the all-round feminist diss beating the shaman drum?

so just what is your problem, Rosen...I just don't get you at all.  you think you know better than Ann because you are a mom with a career?

just because -- as Bill Maher put it -- you know how to show up and answer to a boss?

you take away from all of Ann's life and work experiences --  at home and in charity, as First Lady of Massachusetts before and after, in sickness and in health, five accomplished boys later, and glean absolutely no use for her?

I would bet you have no idea how much it costs to feed five big boys...tweet Ann again...bet she can tell you, as I would only be guessing.

table for one.. ms. narrow-mindedness, right this way...

I have no problem with who works, and who doesn't, in the home AS LONG AS it doesn't adversely affect me, my neighbor, my community, and my country.  As long as we are all moms to the very best of our abilities and choose to do so with our best intentions, for not only our own but for our whole community, we should not have any issues with each other. And I would think  -- as a fellow mom, as a family with TWO moms, as a woman -- that you would agree and we would meet at the heart. [how lucky are you really...getting the extra mom to help you...but again, we quickly digress don't we]

We can learn a lot from moms -- especially from our own; and that's my point.

And thus this brings us face to face with our country's first intentions.  America was consummated in union with our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Our founders created a government out of all things INDEPENDENT -- all things SELF-RELIANT -- all things FUNDAMENTAL beginning with the power of one and ending with our personal power to duplicate our success.

One Nation Under God, Indivisible.

Being chopped and sorted by color, by need, by extenuating circumstances or disadvantage is tearing us apart.

America was made to come together as one body -- with the sum of it's parts creating a better, stronger, more resilient, tolerant, fully assimilated whole.

Man, Woman, child, adult, black, white, brown, old, young, gay and straight -- our duties and responsibilities, our rights and privileges, were designed to be all the same.  Over time, we've worn the instructions so thin, it's faded, and we have lost all sight of even the basics.

that's my story today, on behalf of  the Monday lost and the Tuesday found -- and I'm stickin' to it.

Make it a Good Day, G


if you ask me, hilary, me thinks it's the traditional family unit -- with traditional roles -- that you hate.  so let's get real, shall we...or then again, maybe it's the money....the coveting...the envy...that stands in your own way.  hard to tell, really.  but keep talking and maybe we can all learn a thing or two in the end.

if you have any more time: this is a funny.  8 Things You Should Never Say to a Mom...