Blacks and Hispanics Get Free Advice

Former Governor Dick Lamm is back in the news (today's Rocky Mountain News) in an article by Myung Oak Kim. Lamm's hair is now whitish/grey, with a matching beard, so he is no longer talking about elderly people having "a duty to die," in order to keep down health care costs, as he did in a 1984 speech. Now he is telling blacks and Hispanics they should be more like Jewish and Japanese Americans, so their kids will do better in school and be more economically successful. His remarks have evoked anger from some black and Hispanic persons contacted by the writer of the Rocky article, but Lamm is not surprised, because, as he modestly asserts, "All great truths begin as heresies." Lamm has written a book on the subject, and will profit, even if blacks and Hispanics don't. Isn't that the point? Even if Lamm's criticisms are valid, it is the individual black and Hispanic who must choose which road to take.

Andrea Yates Not Guilty: "Boomer Narcissism Knows No Bounds"

The brilliant columnist Mark Steyn reprises a column he wrote five years ago, just a few days after Mrs. Yates methodically murdered each of her five children, then phoned her husband to come home and have a look. Quoting Steyn: Five years on from this column, we now have a new verdict on Andrea Yates: "not guilty". Yes, she killed them, in the sense that they are dead at her hands. But no, she's not "guilty" of their deaths because she's "psychotic". Which means she's too ill to know enough not to kill her children but not too ill not to know how to find a legal strategy to get her out of jail. What a pathetic comment on the "justice" system. I can't wait for the first Islamist terrorist to try this defense. Read the whole thing!

As Dr. Helen Smith states in her blog post at www.drhelen.blogspot.com, My bet is she will be out within seven to nine years--wish her five children could have been so lucky.

Where are the Best Writers?

Almost any guy will tell you that the best writers in the old media are on the sports pages. A case in point is the superb column today in the Rocky Mountain News by Bernie Lincicome. Lincicome writes about phenomenal golfer Tiger Woods.

What if, instead of writing about sports, wonderful writers like Lincicome were the ones we were reading on the front pages, writing about national and international politics? Would more men become involved in the affairs of the nation that really matter?

Decline of Old Media Spreads to Colorado

The E.W.Scripps Co. announced yesterday that The Rocky Mountain News lost $8 million dollars in the first six months of 2006. The Rocky and The Denver Post "share profits" from the Denver Newspaper Agency, but the Post does not disclose their financial results. I don't know how much longer Denver will have the luxury of two competing daily papers. Hugh Hewitt has more on the loss of classified ad revenue for the "old" papers.

Saying What You Mean, and Meaning What You Say

One of my favorite bloggers, Dr.Sanity, has a post today in which she mentions the importance of parents saying what they mean and meaning what they say! I made the same point yesterday, and Dr. Sanity is making it additionally with regard to terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Well, if children are not given the limits they need, they become terrorists, too, maybe with a small t!

I also love Dr. Sanity's emphasis on the power of victimhood, and the need for the world not to buy into that manipulative technique. Children are experts in playing the victim, if parents allow it!

Parental Authority

A few months ago I wrote about our family's decision to put our house up for sale and look for more land with animals. We were unable to sell our house, but we actually reached a win-win solution (I had not wanted to move, especially to the prairie east of Denver). Now I get to stay in beautiful Golden, Colorado, and my wife has found a wonderful ranch fifteen minutes from our home. This ranch allows people to board all kinds of animals. We have bought two horses, and two cute goats are also in the fold. Our children work off the monthly boarding charges, and have been spending big chunks of their days at the ranch.

My wife, a very astute psychologist, has made an observation about parental authority in the ranch setting versus the non-ranch suburban setting. In the ranch setting, obedience is more likely to mean the difference between life and death. If we say, "Stay here," "Don't run" or "Stay next to me" and they choose to ignore the parental command, they could be run over by a tractor, two horses who are fighting over some grain, or a charging ram. If they mindlessly scream or yell, they are likely to spook the horses, with dangerous consequences. In the park in Golden, or at the mall, if we say, "It's time to go," there is no life and death issue, so the kids are more likely to ignore the statement, and the parents are less likely to demand obedience.

The whole concept of the necessity for someone to be in control is not really a construct we think about that much in our modern families. In fact, it is politically incorrect to think of control as a good thing! We do not discipline like we mean it. The result is that parents no longer say what they mean, or mean what they say, and children don't take very seriously the need to obey. Ask anyone who works in a school setting, and they will tell you that establishing control, especially with boys, is more and more difficult each year.

"Too Close To God?"

The Anchoress links to a story in the New York Times about embryonic stem cell research in which the cells were implanted into the brains of some patients who have Parkinson's Disease. The results were nightmarish. The chief researcher stated that there should be no more research done on humans. The Anchoress wonders if the embryos are just "too close to God," as the cells caused terrible uncontrolled twitching of various body parts. There is no date on the New York Times story. The Denver Post regularly carries articles from the New York Times, but somehow missed this one. But its July 21 editorial page did not fail to throw this in the face of President Bush when he came to Denver today.

More Clarification on Reagan Versus Bush

Fred Barnes has an editorial in today's Opinion Journal (I am sorry, I was unable to link to it) on how President Reagan's record is being distorted by those who want to make President Bush look bad. Unfortunately, some Republicans are falling for the distortions, as I have mentioned in an earlier post.

Reagan's greatest accomplishment was standing up to the Communists. His feelings about Communists were deeply personal. His dislike for them stemmed from the days in which he was President of the Screen Actors Guild. Communists were feverishly trying to infiltrate Hollywood. He experienced their evil first hand. He knew what they were about. Standing up to the Commies was just being true to his own experience.

Maybe that is why so many of us are able to stand up to today's "liberals." We have experienced first hand how they operate, how they distort the views of people who disagree with them, how they personally attack when they cannot persuade on the merits of the argument, how vicious they can be when they have power, and, most importantly, how the programs they advocate have been dismal failures. Mona Charen has written a great book detailing the importance of that last point. It is called "Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim To Help (And The Rest Of Us!)"

Victor Davis Hansen Answers My Question!

In my last post I asked why President Reagan deserves praise for his inaction when the U.S. Marines were slaughtered in Lebanon. Victor Davis Hansen has the answer: President Reagan does not deserve the praise he has been getting! Here is what Hansen has to say: "And when Americans are butchered, are we to skedaddle, as both Presidents Reagan and Clinton did, from Lebanon and Somalia respectively?

Our present muscular policy - and we also hear this all too infrequently - grew out of just such past bipartisan inaction that led to 3,000 murdered Americans. The truth is that the old way of doing business, rightly or wrongly, was seen by jihadists as encouragement to up the ante with Sept. 11." Dr. Hansen's full article can be found here.

Hezbollah and Other Terrorists

In recent days I have heard people I greatly respect, Hugh Hewitt, Sean Hannity, and Ed Morrisey, extol the virtues of Ronald Reagan regarding his dealings with terrorst groups. However, my memory of the 1983 suicide bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, is that Reagan did nothing. Can anyone explain to me why President Reagan should be remembered fondly for doing nothing, when over 200 U.S, Marines were murdered?

Intelligence, Memory, and Mental Health Epithets

Our adopted daughter, Sara Jane Agard, is now two and one-half. We were told that her birth mother was bi-polar, oppositional and defiant, severely retarded, schizophrenic, borderline personality disorder, and on and on and on. Because she was so defiant, the mental health professionals gave her every mental health diagnosis (epithet) that they could think of.

Sarah has been with us for all but the first sixteen days of her life. We have been told that she will be seriously delayed and have a severely low I.Q. We have seen none of that!

Let me give an example from today. A few weeks ago I bought her a bunch of books from the annual library sale. Because, unfortunately, there are not many blacks living in our county, many of the children's books on sale were books featuring black children. I bought seventeen such books. After the first read, my favorite book was Asana and the Animals, by Grace Nichols, with wonderful illustrations by Sarah Adams. I read it to Sarah a few weeks ago, along with the other sixteen books.

Today we read it for the second time. I got to the page where on the left side was the poem Grasshopper One. I started to read it, but Sarah started saying, "Don't Cry, Caterpillar!" that was the title of the poem on the right-hand side of the page! Even more startling to me was her comment later on in the book, when we were reading about elephants at the zoo. Again Sara interrupted me to say, "I want to read about the alligator!" Sure enough, I turned the page, where the next poem was entitled, Lying Still In Muddy River!

If Sara is severely retarded, what does that make me? I surely did not remember the Don't Cry Caterpillar story about a caterpillar who worries if she will still be herself when she has wings, and I did not remember that the alligator story followed the elephant story! We will just keep on loving Sara, and keep her as far away from the mental health professionals as we possibly can!

Forgiveness

Forgiveness seems to be an odd topic to write about this week. With all of the violence in the Middle East, forgiveness seems to be the farthest thing from anyone's mind. But Boinkie's Blog has a post that is one of the best I have ever seen on the topic.

Some of the topics she addresses are: Why forgive? So we can be "healed?" So we can get a "get out of jail free card?" To make ourselves "feel good and superior?" What is forgiveness? Does forgiveness equal "being a doormat?" Is forgiveness being passive-aggressive, "smiling and saying you forgive, while inside you hold a terrible anger?" Is forgiveness presented as a way for "the one harming to be free of blame?"

Thankfully, Boinke's Blog emphasizes the need "to correct the abuser." As she says, "A murderer may be forgiven because of Christ's love, but unless he lives his life in reparation, such forgiveness will be meaningless." I am glad that she also addresses the issue of "giving in to hatred," and what that leads to. For the answer to forgiveness, go here.

"Integrity and Courage Have Fled Washington"

Yesterday Ralph Peters wrote an oped in the New York Post that makes sense to me. Unfortunately, Washington is not the only place where integrity and courage have fled. We will only get leadership in Washington if Washington hears clear, unified messages from the rest of the country. When was the last time that happened?

Peters wrote that the rules of the battlefield should be clear: if you are in civilian clothes and you throw a grenade, detonate a bomb, or pull a trigger against our troops, you will be killed, not captured. Peters correctly points out that we will never win the hearts and minds of terrorists. Is there any doubt of the truth of that observation, after the recent episode in which terrorists beheaded and gouged the eyes out of two United States of America soldiers?

But, as Peters implied, political correctness rules the day in America, in Washington, in the dinosaur media, and even with some in our military. All of the restraints are placed against our brave soldiers, and none against the terrorist Islamic thugs. Things will change only when the American people let their politicians know that we want to win this war!

A Beautiful Eulogy

What a wonderful woman. What a beautiful love.

The Source of the World's Problems Has Been Identified!

The Anchoress has identified the source of the world's problems. Warning: within thirty minutes after clicking here you will go straight to your refrigerator, freezer, and/or blender!

Did God Make You That Way?

Four-year-old Greg today noted to his mother: You are tan in some places and white in other places. Did God make you that way?

How to Rise to the Top of the Child Welfare Bureaucracy: Badmouth Foster Care!

The bureaucrats love to badmouth foster care. Roxanne White, who is the director of the Denver Department of Human Services is quoted in today's Rocky Mountain News saying, "The government doesn't do a very good job of raising kids." Now isn't that clever? One problem, though: it is not the goverment who is raising kids in foster care. It is foster families. And, we do a damn good job!

White then goes on to say that foster children grow up "deeply scarred," because "their ties to birth parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and teachers and ministers were permanently severed by the government." Hogwash! If there are scars, it is because of the abuse and neglect they suffered at the hands of those who were closest to them, before the system finally intervened to protect the child. And if there are more scars, it is because the system returned them to unsafe situations, to save foster care dollars and promote "family preservation," instead of child protection.

White wants to recruit foster families from neighborhoods where the children were living before they were removed from their homes. Nine months ago the program was initiated. Guess how many people in those neighborhoods have stepped forward ready to enter training? ZERO! And yet, Denver is considered to be in the forefront of a national movement to change the nation's foster care system. The key to the Denver program is to keep children in their neighborhoods. Have we forgotten the words of Martin Luther King, who asked us to "judge my children by the content of their character"? Character, not skin color, not neighborhood culture, is what matters most.

White is further quoted, "We always knew that if we took the children away, in the short term we could keep them safe, but in the long run, they were horribly unsafe!" Yes, because the system returned the children to unsafe situations and did no follow up! The system failed to follow the law and file for legal protection, asking courts to find children dependent and neglected. The system failed to make permanent plans for the children. The system failed to recruit adoptive families. The time these children spent in foster care was the time when they were safe!

What the article did not point out is that Colorado law specifies certain situations that require child protection agencies (Colorado's counties) to file for legal protection of children who meet the law's definition of dependence and neglect. The article did not say how many cases are being filed now, versus how many were filed before White took over as director. Is the Department ignoring the law? Who is letting them get by with this? Who is looking after the best interest of the child? Let's face it folks: foster families are convenient scapegoats for bureaucrats who want to hide the ugly truth of their failure to protect abused and neglected children.

Is She Eating Well?

Today I took our new foster baby in for a visit with her mom and grandma. It is obvious, as we had been told by the caseworker, mom is severely "developmentally disabled." Mom also has a big obesity problem. I mention that because, so does her baby! This eight-month-old child is wearing size three toddler clothes! Instead of being taught to self-soothe, she wants to be held all of the time, and is used to having food all of the time. Incredibly, the caseworker asks me, "Is she eating well?" Then the grandma informs me that her favorite food is Hawaiian Delight. Am I surprised that they give her mostly a high sugar content food? NO! Oh well, not to worry, the caseworker informs me that they have located a relative, and if she passes the criminal background check, the baby will be going there early next week.

Now the bureaucrats can be proud. They have found a relative who might pass a criminal background check! No one is making any plans for this baby's permanency. Yes, be kind to the mom and her family. But if they are not able to care for the baby without breaking her leg or cruelly forcing her to use food to soothe herself, then have the guts to recognize that truth and make plans for adopting this baby. There are so many families who want to adopt, but in order not to deal with the politically correct multicultural diversity liberals, they go all the way to Communist China to adopt a baby because that bureaucracy is easier to deal with!

Meanwhile, the bureaucrats will be sacrificing a child's future and saving taxpayer dollars on foster care. And their future within the bureaucracy will remain secure.
In fact, they will be held out by the liberal multicultural diversity crowd nationally as innovative and pioneers in reforming the foster care system. On the backs of children who need to be protected!

Meth, Babies, and Breast Implants

On May 18, 2006 I wrote a post here about one of our foster babies. The suspicion was that she was a meth baby. Today we learned that the baby's mom has admitted using meth. However, she says she has not used meth in the last four years, since she got her breast implants. They cost her $4000.00, and she can't afford to replace them right now. She has heard that meth does strange things to breast implants.