PROGRESSIVE REDUX

You may have noticed lately that I often describe people of liberal taint as progressives. I use this term as a gesture of deference to our left leaning brethren who seem to come apart emotionally nowadays when they are referred to as liberal. I am fascinated by the negative reaction I get when using the term liberal in a conversation with someone who is by all manner of description a liberal. I recently asked a few left leaning folks how they would describe themselves. All but one said they were progressive. None of them used the word liberal.

The use of the word liberal has definitely taken on a negative connotation. Liberals now prefer to be described as progressive because it sounds modern, powerful and forward looking. I have “progressives” in my life that are hard working, tax paying, generous, loving, supportive and genuine people. I wouldn’t trade them for the world but when I throw out the word liberal in the course of a conversation things always get tense. They act repulsed at the use of the term. For some reason they don’t care for “that word” anymore nor do they want to be labeled as one. I can understand their animosity toward the word so I use progressive more and more where appropriate. I’m a softy cone.

I am also a pillar of objectivity so I would be doing them a disservice if I did not let progressives know that they have already tried this word long ago and ditched it. In the early 20^th century people of liberal ideologies proudly proclaimed themselves as progressives. But when their racist/fascist agenda was soundly rejected by the American people they threw the word out, changed clothes, combed their hair and proudly declared themselves liberal.

I have no particular heartache with allowing liberals to rebrand themselves as progressives so that they may shed the baggage and animosity that liberalism has so rightly earned. Polls have shown that “liberal” is unpopular, so there is hope that people won’t feel the same way about “progressive”. Will it fly?

Progressives are in love with the idea of a powerful and controlling federal government. Progressives want the individual to be subjugated to the collective will of this almighty government. Progressive = good. The distortions and lies from the progressives of the 1930’s were nothing short of fascist. They worked feverishly toward establishing a biased media and socialist controlled educational systems. Yikes.  How ironic that the progressives today seem to be riding that same pony. Do you think they would have balked at this name change had they studied this countries history a little? Does history matter to them or are they positioning themselves to pick up where the communists left off?  

Indeed history has flushed leftists, liberals, progressives, or whatever they wish to call themselves down the drain each and every time their agenda is exposed for what it really is, and sooner or later, America rejects them. The emperor got elected by coining the phrase, “Hope and Change”; a true progressive feel good phrase that warms like a good cognac. Picture an aging Hollywood actor (progressives love to get their motivation and marching orders from them. It feels good) sitting in a leather chair in front of a roaring fire, wearing a cardigan sweater, emotionally promoting the virtues of Hope and Change. I think I feel a tear welling up. But would Barry have been elected into office if he used a phrase like, “I will spend us into financial ruin, eliminate your freedoms, rape the constitution and turn all ya all into welfare automatons”? I doubt it. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue right. Not even Leonardo Decaprio would touch that role.

Hope and Change ended up as a series of bumper sticker jokes shortly after it served its purpose for the emperor. The word liberal has been similarly relegated to junk bond status, hence the re-birth of the word progressive.

The Repubs are having a tough time putting a presidential candidate out there that doesn’t make half the conservative population grimace. They all seem to be dead set however on convincing potential voters they are the more conservative candidate. And make no mistake; conservatism is a word no one has ever seen a need to change. The word conservative has never taken on a shameful connotation or been declared anti-American and it has never been rebuked as an ideology, just pushed around here and there by the politically vitriolic left. You will see few if any conservatives get bent out of shape and spew forth ad hominem attacks at people when they are called conservative. But walk up and call someone a liberal and see what happens. They get mean and nasty. When was the last time you heard Democratic politicians proudly proclaiming themselves the most liberal?

I have this strange sense that the term progressive will eventually (d) evolve into something synonymous with radical leftist ideologies which may just result in the return of the term liberal as a mainstream description for those who are more moderate. The emperor is scaring the begeezus out of a lot of people and moderate liberals who are in favor of honoring our constitution and maintaining some levels of personal and religious freedoms are getting sweaty palms. Maybe someday the word liberal will experience resurgence in respect and credibility and liberal people will again embrace its meaning. How’s that for progressive.

BEAR NECESSITIES

Last summer I rode my bike up to Bullard’s Bar Lake to meet up with a group of friends for a camping trip. The 85 mile jaunt took less time then anticipated and I arrived at the campground before anyone else. I had no food to eat and nothing to do but wait for others to show up. After a while I got bored and walked over to the campsite entrance and began reading the camping instructions and rules posted by park rangers on a large wooden billboard. The very first rule of the campground read;

“Please do not feed the Bears. If you give food to the bears, they will come to expect it and become aggressive. You will be putting future campers at risk.”

I thought about this for a minute. If campers regularly give food to the bears, then the bears don’t have to work for their meals and have no need to hunt. They simply show up at the campsite and partake of the garbage du jour and whatever else is offered them. They are satisfied and happy. They come to expect the free food and grow accustomed to the routine. They have no need to learn how to hunt or fight for their food; it’s simply given to them. They aren’t going to go out and wonder the hillsides and valleys looking for sustainable nutrients when it’s readily available with little to no effort at the local campground. Ask Yogi.

Now why do you think the park rangers are so concerned about campers feeding the bears? The campers most likely have more food then they can eat and so it seems reasonable that they offer their picanic basket leftovers to the friendly neighborhood bear population. What can possibly be wrong with that? It’s an act of generosity and compassion. It shows we care. If feeding bears is wrong, I don’t want to be right!

Could it be the park rangers know more then we do? They must know from experience that bears become accustomed to getting their food free. They must also know that when bears regularly get their food free, they come to expect it with the same regularity. When that regularity is interrupted, they become divas and turn all grouchy. Grouchy bears can tear campgrounds apart and rip faces off. That can be problem for a stingy camper with no food.

A problem that the union representing the bear population claims is the campers fault. Some campers refuse to provide food that the bear union claims rightfully belongs to the bears. The bears have been told that they are entitled to the food. They feel strongly that humans have too much food and should hand it out to those bears who failed to learn how to hunt for their own. After all, they should not be expected to hunt because their food has always been given to them and hunting is hard! It also stigmatizes bears as manual laborers and second class animals. Anyone who demands that bears find their own food is obviously a heartless Bear hater!

Of course the rangers know what the bears believe, but every time they try to convince the bears that they would be better off in the long term learning to procure their own food, the bears get together and occupy the ranger station, leave bear scat everywhere and tear garbage dumpsters apart while eating hallucinogenic berries.

Eventually, the park rangers probably came to the conclusion that the bears simply didn’t care to survive on their own and felt entitled to free food forever. They had no choice but to make the tough but crucial decision to post the no feeding signs at all campgrounds and enforce it. The rangers installed bear proof food containers and maintained a tenacious vigilance in enforcing the rules…………...

****So how would you like this to end? In order to show some sensitivity toward your personal feelings and preferences, I will provide you with two different conclusions to this episode and you can decide for yourself which one you prefer! *******

1. The bears grew frustrated that their free food was gone. They howled and yelped with cries of unfairness and they grew hungry. They met with the leader of the animal kingdom, an arrogant self centered Lion who hated campers. This lion took got great satisfaction knowing that the bears would become dependent upon him. He gave them meat and comforted them. He told them he would make things fair and feed them all forever as long as they were devoted to him. The bears were happy and their bellies were full!  The lion sent his pack of hyenas to pester and harass the campers as punishment for their selfishness and greed. The campers eventually stopped coming and the campground withered and died. The bears soon realized that they were now totally dependent on the arrogant lion. The lion told them great stories about valleys full of free food and sweet honey; he convinced them he had their best interests in his heart but nothing he said ever actually came true. He had lied to them all. Then the day came when the meat was gone. The bears discovered that the meat they received from the lion for their devotion this whole time had been stolen from the very campers he chased away with his hyenas! No campers meant no meat! Hungry and betrayed, the bears had no choice but to eat the lion.

Or

2. The bears grew frustrated that their free food was gone. They knew that their young cubs had to eat and they could not afford to expend any more energy damaging property and whining about the rules. They sent their strongest and fastest bears to cross the great forest in search of other bear who knew how to hunt and survive on their own.  They learned the great hunting and foraging skills they lacked and returned to their bear community where they shared the knowledge they had obtained. Over time, and after significant effort, the bears were able to feed themselves and their cubs. The ensuing generations prospered greatly and over time the campers returned to the campgrounds. The bears told their cubs about the great food starvation of their ancestors so that they would never again make the mistake of becoming dependent on handouts for their survival. The arrogant lion despised the bears, who did not seem to want or need his free meat. The arrogant lion tried to send his hyenas to steal meat from the bears for his other followers but the hyenas had grown lazy and fat. Without meat the arrogant Lion and his dependents grew hungry and weak. The lion swallowed his pride and asked the bears for food. The bears agreed to help the lion and the others, but required that they participate in the hunting and foraging. The lion and his hyenas took on responsibilities and became skilled hunters. They had meat for themselves and meat to trade for lettuce and fresh nuts. They realized that the work was hard but rewarding and they developed a sense of self worth and respect for others. The lion had learned a great lesson about the animals in his kingdom.

                                                               I love a happy ending.

THIRTY MORE MINUTES

I have had many friends, family and co-workers ask me what it is like to compete in an Ironman Triathlon. My friends in the Ironman Tri community have expressed frustration with their inability to effectively express to others what goes on in the mind and body during such an event. I’m not sure it’s even possible. I would imagine most Ultra distance athletic events are like that. How does one describe running 100 miles?

I wrote a prior posting called Five Minutes and got a tremendous response from many readers who wanted to know more about the event itself. I initially did not want to write about such a personal experience but changed my mind. I will do my best to intermittently write about this event in a manner that is hopefully somewhat interesting to you and attempt to do so in such a way that you get some idea about how the experience was perceived by me personally and how it affects other aspects of life. Its not however a venue of writing that I am comfortable with so be patient with me and if gets really crappy…find the delete button! Enjoy…….

         

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Relax you mind for a moment and close your eyes. Picture yourself in the temperate waters of the Gulf of Mexico. You’re wearing a full body wetsuit, a tight neoprene cap is snapped over you head and ears and you are wearing swimming goggles that cover your eyes and restrict your field of vision. You’re treading water, bunched together with more then 2,700 other people. Feel it. It is cramped quarters; you feel restricted and a little claustrophobic. You can’t see anything around or over the other bobbing heads. The wetsuit you’re wearing feels constricting and you’re not sure if you can expand your chest fully to take a breath. Imagine at that point in time, with all that is running through your mind, somebody in the water next to you screams, SHARK!

Everyone in the water panics. Two thousand eight hundred swimmers convulse all at once and take off in a frenzied life or death water stampede! You are all desperately trying to swim in the same direction to get to the same spot. Bodies all around you punching and kicking each other, grabbing and pulling; some literally on top of others in what looks like a scene from the movie Titanic. But wasn’t it just a few moments earlier you spoke with these very same people? These highly conditioned, highly driven Ironman Triathletes? They were all courteous and respectful. Well wishes going out all around. There appeared to be a mutual respect for each from each as a token of admiration for the sacrifices and determination each put forth. Just moments earlier we were all members of the same fraternity. We shared a special bond; a bond forged into our souls by the months of training and discipline. To a person there was mutual awareness, there was a mutual calling and there was a mutual understanding of why we were there. It was all surreal and at the same time comforting. And then someone yelled shark.

Ok, so maybe nobody really yelled shark, but the canon explosion that signaled the race start produced the same result and mayhem broke out. I darted out with the first major pack of swimmers in the Florida Ironman Triathlon. My swimming skills had significantly improved over the past year thanks to a local Masters Swim Team and 10,000 to 12,000 yards of training each week in the months leading up to the race. I prepared further by competing in two chilly open water swim events earlier in the year; racing from Alcatraz Island to Crissy Field as part of a triathlon, and from Angel Island to Tiburon in the waters of the San Francisco Bay. I felt like I had fully prepared for this swim. What I had not prepared for however was the UFC cage fight that came with it!

For the first 10 minutes I did not take a stroke that didn’t hit somebody in the arms, feet, back or face. I was the recipient of the same assault. Weren’t we all racing buddies a minute ago? A swimmer behind me attempted repeatedly to grab my ankle every time his arm came forward. At his fourth attempt he got a hold of it and tried to pull himself forward by using me as a counterweight. I was left with no choice but to introduce his face to the heel of my left foot. Problem solved. Just moments later, another swimmer on my right and slightly behind me was trying to grab my shoulder with his/her hand and pull me back. When attempt number five arrived, I aborted my right arm rotation, slowed slightly, tucked the elbow in close to my torso and used it as a battering ram, driving it into the offending party’s shoulder. I think that one hurt.

We turned left at the first buoy a half a mile off shore. I encountered a male swimmer next to me on my left going precisely the same speed with the same stroke count. We did our best synchronized swimming imitation but something was not right. Neither one of us could swim straight! Our synchronized swimming debut quickly deteriorated into game of bumper cars. Fortunately he was a right turn swimmer and I was a left turn swimmer so we kept each other on a straight course to the next buoy. I believe he realized this about the same time I did and so we shared an unspoken moment of understanding and patience. We bumped each other all the way the next buoy and turned left to head for shore.

My bumper buddy disappeared somewhere after the second buoy, but I had other issues to deal with. I had just swum into a group of Jelly Fish, known by the locals as the “Pink Meanies”. Yes, they were pinkish and their sting was notoriously unpleasant. I swam through the group of pink meanies like a submarine navigates itself through depth charges. Fortunately for me most of them were just below the surface and I went right over the top of them, careful to keep my hands shallow. Unlike many others, I made it through unscathed and picked up the pace as the shore exit came into clear view. I could hear the announcer’s voice now and the thousands of spectators lining the shore provided me with a burst of adrenaline and an easily identifiable exit point. As I drew closer the ocean bottom came into view as the water grew shallow. After almost exactly 30 minutes, I stood up for the first time and ran out of the surf onto the beach. Gravity pulling blood away from my upper extremities caused a mild lightheaded sensation. The screaming from the spectators was deafening and the announcer was broadcasting our times.

I ran through the official timing chute, turned left and ran back down the beach for a short distance. I took a deep breathe and jumped right back in the water. Time for Lap two.

 

SNAP OUT OF IT

Since the emperor took over the White House, the number of Americans on food stamps has risen by a jaw dropping 14 million. Good for him, more government dependents = more voters. Latest figures show that one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps. That comes out to about 46 million people. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the federal program that dispenses tax payer money to these 46 million recipients, most often through banks who contract with the government to issue EBT cards to be used in a manner similar to credit cards. JP Morgan and Bank of America to name two.

The emperor needs a lot of votes this November in order to remain perched upon his lofty throne so he went to the dependency trough again this week by announcing $75,000 grants to groups who come up with new and novel methods to get more people on the food stamp program. You heard me correctly; your emperor is actively soliciting groups to get more people dependent on government entitlements and then rewards them by handing out your tax dollars as a thank you! I never seriously thought I would be writing this very paragraph in my lifetime.

If it is possible to add stupidity to this injury, the emperor’s Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave it a shot by making the following statement:

           

“I should point out, when you talk about the SNAP program or the food stamp program; you have to recognize that it’s also an economic stimulus. Every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity. If people are able to buy a little more in the grocery store, someone has to stock it, package it, shelve it, process it and ship it. All of those are jobs. It’s the most direct stimulus you can get in the economy during these tough times.”

If you remember not to far back, the emperor’s Spokesperson Jay Carney told the citizens of this country that unemployment checks were the most direct stimulus the government can provide. Well gentleman….which one is it?

Using Vilsack’s logic, the government should just give every citizen in this country about $3,000 worth of food stamps, which by his math would create about $1.6 trillion in economic activity! Obamanomics 101. Get used to it. How does one unemployed person create 1.84 jobs? I don’t know either, but according to the emperor’s spokesperson and Secretary of Agriculture, this economy will only reach its full recovery when we get everybody on unemployment and food stamps. I’m kicking myself for not figuring this out on my own! If this advanced economic theory confuses you, let me help…..It’s the same mathematical calculation that supports the science of fuel consumption (In the Twilight Zone). That being if you have a half a tank of gas and drive 200 miles to your Aunt Gertrude’s house, you will have a full tank after you get there! Isn’t that great!

To be serious, the emperor knows that by seizing control of your livelihood, he has a good chance of keeping it forever. What he is really after is your self respect and dignity. Once you resign to being a recipient and stop trying, it’s over. Look at government supported facilities and housing projects. They’re garbage dumpsters. When you become dependent on the government for everything, you lose all respect for anything, including yourself. 

The ever expanding sphere of increased entitlement living is moving across the social landscape of this country like a fungus. Welfare recipients can already obtain free cell phones and service and you’re paying for that in your monthly bill. Check the universal fee next time your bill arrives. Metro PCS hands them out with pre authorized minutes to all those who fill out the indigence form (drug traffickers thank you). Several other carriers like Safelink Wireless and Assurance Wireless offer similar programs for welfare recipients.

Comcast bought NBC earlier this year and the FCC threw in a mandate requiring them to provide internet access to low income households for a drastically reduced price, usually $9.95 a month. I pay $65.00 for the same service. In some parts of the country it’s altogether free.

Medical and Medicare will take care of medical problems. An emergency room physician recently gave a radio interview on a national afternoon talk show. He picked one day at his job site as an example. 29 patients came into the emergency room. Of the 29, 27 were on medical. Of the 27 medical patients, only 2 needed to see a doctor at all. The two who did could have made an appointment with their doctor but did not want the inconvenience of making one, so they came to the ER where it is free for them either way. Only a few spoke English.

Want someone else to fill your gas tank? Get on welfare. A bill has been introduced in congress that would give eligible households money for gas. It’s called the “Low-income Gasoline Assistance program Act”.

So if the federal government can provide you a free place to live, a free phone, free internet, money for food and gas and free medical coverage,why go to work for 40 to 50 hours a week for a low to moderate paying job when you can live the same lifestyle by just letting the emperor provide your needs? As long as you’re “eligible” there is almost nothing that cannot be purchased for you or subsidized by the federal government.

I am not insinuating that we do not help people that need it. We will always need programs to help take care of the poor but this has gotten completely out of control. It has become not only an industry unto itself but a major tool for the Democratic Party and the emperor as they work to transform a once free country into an Orwellian nightmare.

The emperor is currently attacking the Catholic Church and freedom of religion (unless you’re Muslim). He has made it clear that he does not endorse the free market or capitalism. He wants to redistribute wealth and advocates Marxist/Leninist principles. He has put his support behind the looters and poopers of the occupation movement. He has stoked the flames of class warfare at every opportunity. He has invested your money and lost it all to failing energy corporations that were backed by his friends. He is considering giving our missile technology to Russians in defiance of congress. He divides us when he should be unifying us. He is a great orator who has no personal attachment to the truth what so ever. He is a disease with support from the diseased. I think Stephen King is behind all this.

The emperor is calling for complete and total surrender of your individualism and self worth. He wants your soul to. He can’t succeed without it. He can’t have mine. You?