April 4th - News and Comments

John Hawkins has a column in Townhall.com titled Six Uncomfortable Truths About Race in America. Never an easy subject to discuss publicly. His opening paragraph explains why it is an uncomfortable subject to discuss:

Everyone always says that they want a national dialogue about race, but what they really seem to want is a national lecture where a liberal mouths politically correct platitudes -- and everyone else is welcome to either nod along or shut up out of fear that they'll be called a racist for daring to have an opinion contrary to left-wing doctrine.

Speaking of race, here is an example of a predictable problem resulting from race based politics:

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have promised Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that they will try to block a Native American housing assistance bill if the measure does not include language that prevents the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma from receiving any of the benefits.

The House included such a prohibition in its Indian housing assistance bill passed in September. But the Senate version does not include similar language.

Why do we even have an "Indian housing assistance bill?"

A society says a lot about their values when choosing what to honor. Consider the fine folks inhabiting the northern California city of San Francisco. They have tried to keep military recruiter out of their schools and protested outside recruiting offices and refused to be home to the USS IOWA. However, they are now erecting a statute as a tribute to a military unit?

The city honored American Communists and their fellow travelers who fought in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. The $400,000 monument, donated from private funds but hosted on public land, extends 40-feet long and eight feet high.

Daniel Flynn's column in the Spectator gives some interesting historical perspective to the unit being honored and those behind them.

A while back I thought it was odd for Larry King (of CNN's Larry King Barely Alive show) to decide to become a father at the age of 65. Turns out it gets worse as he hasn't developed the maturity to go along with his age. Now, 74 years old and he was recently thrown out of his 9 year old sons little league game for arguing with the umpire. Hey, I enjoy sports and have coached my son's teams for years so I understand the frustration of seeing a call go the wrong way. Doesn't matter. The adults need to remember they are setting an example for the players. I tell the team and their parents prior to each season that the umpires, just like the rest of us, are not perfect so don't be too surprised if they blow a call - it happens.

I have to wonder if Tom of BizzyBlog fame is behind this movement: McCain warned against naming Romney.