Monday, December 31, 2012

The classless ‘Culture of Kardashian’ strikes yet again



Few other cultural stories than the ongoing saga of television personality Kim Kardashian demonstrate more aptly the biblical principle: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)

The media, fueled by a paying public and gossip hounding society, have chronicled Kardashian’s rise from somewhat sheltered biological daughter of Robert Kardashian -- who served as defense counsel to O.J. Simpson during his 1994 murder trial -- to internationally known celebrity by 2007.

Her biological mother, Kris, has been remarried to U.S. Olympics champion and darling of the 1970s Wheaties box, Bruce Jenner, since 1991.

By 2004, Kim was serving as a stylist to celebrities. A short two years later, she launched a luxury California clothing business, D-A-S-H, with sisters Khloe and Kourtney.

But Kardashian’s true rocket to fame? Huffington Post puts it best.

“Kim Kardashian owes a large part of her fame to the release of her sex tape with then-boyfriend Ray J,” the site reports, in a Nov. 2 story.

In 2007, Kardashian won a $5 million settlement from the company that released her sex video. That same year, the entire family cashed in with a television reality series, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Fast-forward to 2012, and the series has entered its seventh season.

We’ve been treated to play-by-play coverage of NBA’s Kris Humphries’ courting of Kim, his posh, multi-million dollar wedding to Kim – and his subsequent, and nearly immediate, separation from Kim. And in between, Kim and her sisters have been treated like royalty by a complimentary press. Even family-friendly Fox host Gretchen Carlson, normally sensitive to equality issues between men and women, appeared to fawn during a morning visit with the three Kardashian sisters to discuss their entrepreneurial achievements in Nov. 2010, and again with an interview with Khloe and Kourtney in July of 2011. Following the latter, social media sites exploded with gossip of Khloe’s tactless display of body parts.

And now the latest: The still married Kardashian is now pregnant with rapper Kanye West’s baby.

Once again, Huffington Post provides some much needed perspective:

“Kardashian’s first sex tape with Ray J was shot in 2003 and released in 2007. Since then, the brunette beauty and her family have gone on to dominate the world of reality TV and beyond. Most recently, there have been reports that the singer’s boyfriend Kanye West had a couple of his own sex tapes being shopped around – one of which was said to feature a Kardashian look alike,” the Nov. 2 story continues.

The culture of Kardashian: Selfish, self-centered, materialistic, adulterous, voyeuristic, immoral, petty, self-indulgent.

And yet -- revered, respected, held in high esteem by press and public alike. How far we have strayed from our Judeo-Christian roots.





Thursday, December 27, 2012

Lisa Jackson's legacy: A love of radical Rachel Carson



Lisa Jackson, Environmental Protection Agency head, announced Thursday she was leaving her post, “confident the [EPA] ship is sailing in the right direction,” according to published media statements.

The question is -- the right direction for whom?

In a Sept. 28 statement posted on her official government blog, Jackson marked the 50th anniversary year of ecologist Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, with glowing commentary. Carson, of course, was the crusading environmentalist who is largely credited with launching the modern day green movement. She wrote in her 1962 book of the effects of pesticides and DDT on the environment – the supposed silent killer of the bald eagle. The EPA, much to the delight of malaria-carrying mosquitos everywhere, subsequently banned the use of DDT. As a curious sidebar, even the very liberal New York Times questioned the sensibility of banning DDT in a 2004 article entitled, What the World Needs Now is DDT. Yet Carson’s claim to fame – as a caring and trusted advocate for the environment – remains intact in the world of leftists. This, from Jackson, on Sept. 28:

“One of my priorities as administrator of EPA has been to continue what Rachel began by working to expand the conversation on environmentalism. Bringing people together around environmental issues is essential. We want mothers and fathers to know how important clean air, water and land are to their health and the health of their children. We want to continue to engage African Americans and Latinos and expand the conversation on environmental challenges, so we can address health disparities resulting from pollution that affects low-income and minority communities. Environmental justice will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards. … Though we’ve made a great deal of progress since Silent Spring, we still have much work to do. Heart disease, cancer and respiratory illnesses are three of the top four most fatal health threats in American … and all three have been linked to environmental causes. … [Carson’s] message remains as true and as critical today as it was 50 years ago.”

If only Carson’s messages were truthful.

“History has proven Carson’s claims wrong,” wrote Angela Logamasini, a senior fellow for the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in November. “Contrary to her admonitions, a chemically caused cancer epidemic never came to pass.”

Rather, Carson used “harsh and unscientific rhetoric” to sell her anti-chemical message. Logamasini found. Scientists have since rebuked Carson’s supposed findings – but the damage is done. Not only are farmers and producers subjected to costly impositions and regulations aimed at furthering “organic” practices – unnecessary costs that are then passed along to the consumer. But the public relations battle of environmentalism has stubbornly stayed in the Carson camp among bureaucratic leaders. Witness Jackson, who in her tenure has overseen the implementation of historic fuel economy standards (guaranteed to boost the cost of cars and transportation on the American consumer), as well as first-ever mercury pollution standards. Can you say, ‘Goodbye, coal-fired plants?’

Carson would be proud. But for the average American, facing tough financial times and household budget crunches, the price of EPA’s leftist environmental justice programs, and radical regulatory controls, are too steep to pay. Let’s hope Jackson’s replacement adopts a more reasonable environmental approach.











Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Constitution takes hit in fight ‘for the children’




Friday, Dec. 14, the tragic killing of six adults and 20 elementary age children in Newtown, Conn., will go down in history as a game-changer in American culture and politics. Not only is the loss of innocent life nearly too great to bear -- Death stole God's littlest, and in that respect, the pain will linger a bit longer, dig a tiny deeper -- but the ensuing talk among politicians has struck a different tone.

It's almost as if the debate on gun control has come to an end. Suddenly, senators with solid pro-Second Amendment views, like West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Virginia's Mark Warner, are back-peddling and softening, suggesting opened minds to stricter laws. The National Rife Association shut down its Facebook page and halted its daily tweets, as hateful anti-gun comments spewed. And mainstream media pounced, led by CNN's leftist Piers Morgan who, just hours after the shooting, shrilly demanded America "get angry" and give up the guns.

By Monday, Dec. 17, White House spokesman Jay Carney had this to say, in response to a reporter's questions about Obama's policy plans for gun control: "As you know, the president has taken positions on common sense measures that he believes should be taken to help address this problem. But he made clear that more needs to be done. That we as a nation have not done enough, clearly, to fulfill our number one obligation, which is to protect our children."

What's significant about Carney's comments is the last statement -- that part where he slides in the top role of the administration he represents is to protect children. It's not. It's to uphold the Constitution. That is, after all, what the president takes an oath to defend, not the children.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," which comes directly from Article 2, Section One, of the Constitution.

That may be an unpopular view in this day and age of government entitlements, and especially harsh in the emotional wake of Friday's killings, when the nation is clamoring for answers and understanding and politicians from both parties are struggling to provide the solutions. But the simple facts are: Our government is not a parent. Our government is not a family guardian. Our government is not God. And as a matter of fact, for the president, constitutionally awarded powers are surprisingly slight. He's commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, and the National Guard; he can make treaties, with the aid of the Senate; he can appoint Supreme Court judges, ambassadors and executive officers; he can fill vacancies by granting commissions for a certain period of time. He's supposed to be constrained; the Founding Fathers did not want a king.

Demanding a clamp-down on constitutionally protected gun rights just hours after tragedy is not only morally weak, as it takes advantage of an emotionally charged atmosphere to advance a political agenda better left to logical minds and rule of law. But it's also political cowardice. Politicians should have the strength of character to be true leaders -- and that means standing by principles in good times and in bad, against gale-force winds just as in balmy breeze. True leaders don't try to take advantage of others; true leaders stand strong against the storm, wait for calm to prevail, and trust in the principles that put them in that position.

Leaders of character wouldn't piggyback legislation on Newtown's children. That Obama's administration is fueling the drive with a "for the children" argument is a dangerous act that only threatens to chip even more from our block of constitutional freedoms and degrade even further from our American core: Rights come from God, not government.

In July, the White House stance on gun control, according to Carney was this: "There are things that we can do, short of legislation and short of gun laws, as the president said, that can reduce violence in our society. We do need to take a broader look at what we can do to reduce violence in America. And that's not just legislative, and it's not about gun laws."

Where's that viewpoint now?

Let the mourning go forth, unfettered by politics. Anything else is only agenda-driven hysterics, perpetrated by either well-meaning, heart-broken observers who simply don't have the facts, or worse, by all-understanding political activists and leaders who hate to let a crisis go to waste.

                                                                                              


Monday, December 17, 2012

The Socialist take-over of today's college campuses



Here’s a question for you. When the Democratic-Socialists of America want to tap writers to fill the pages of the group’s quarterly magazine publication, Democratic Left, where do you think they go?

Answer: The nation’s colleges and universities. And boy-oh-boy. It’s a wellspring out there.

From the Fall 2012 issue of Democratic Left, the self-described “publication of the Democratic Socialists of America,” comes all this:

* An essay entitled, Can the Unions Survive? Can the Left Have a Voice? By Nelson Lichtenstein, whose biography at the end of the article lists him as a history teacher at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

* An article, Triple Jeopardy: Women Lose Public Sector Services, Jobs and Union Rights, by Mimi Abramovitz, a professor of social policy at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, CUNY.

* A book review on John Nichols’ Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Wisconsin to Wall Street, by Maurice Isserman. Isserman teaches American history at Hamilton College.

* Another book review on Frank Nardacke’s Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers, by Duane Campbell, who is a professor of bilingual and multicultural education at California State University-Sacramento. Campbell’s a favored DSA author; he has another book review published in the Democratic Left’s Spring 2012 edition, as well as an essay opposing education cuts in California in the Spring 2010 edition.

Move to the Summer 2012 edition:

Joseph M. Schwartz, national vice-chair of DSA and political science teacher at Temple University, writes on the 2012 elections: Tragic Dilemmas, Left Possibilities. And Frances Fox Piven and Cornell West – the former, a political science professor at The Graduate Center at City College of New York, and the latter, a professor of African American studies at Princeton and of Christian studies at Union Theological Seminary – publish their remarks from The Left Forum in New York City in March.

The previous edition, Spring 2012, featured Norman Birnbaum, professor emeritus at Georgetown University Law School, writing an article, Asocial Europe, along with two student contributions: Beth Cozzolino wrote on the occupy movement as an activist for Temple University; Phillip Logan wrote on the growing acceptance of socialism among the younger generation as an activist voice for Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

In Spring 2010, came a piece from Stephen Shalom, political science professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey, on the death of Howard Zinn – a socialist-minded professor himself, who taught at Spelman College and Boston University. In Summer 2006 was piece from Ralph Lewis, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, on controlling the direction of America’s immigration policy. And go as far back to Fall 2001, and there’s a piece from Alice Kessler-Harris, professor of history at Columbia University, called Economic Citizenship: The Next Battle?

That’s all just a quick and random sampling. Doubtless one could go through each edition, as posted online, and uncover even greater socialist injection into America’s higher places of learning. The point is this: You won’t find a free-market argument written by the likes of Ann Coulter or Mark Stein or Cal Thomas within the pages of this magazine. The pages of the Democratic Left are reserved for those writers who only put forth an agenda touted by the Democratic-Socialists – the largest group of admitted Socialist Party true believers in the nation. The fact that the magazine’s written to a great degree by our country’s college professors only gives further evidence to what conservatives have argued for years: Our institutions of higher learning have been usurped by radical leftists with unpatriotic political leanings.

Parents take note. Today’s college experience, along with its promise of opening eyes and expanding minds, may mean something entirely unexpected, unwanted -- even downright dangerous.

But see for yourself : http://www.dsausa.org/dl/index.html