Making the Case for Your Opponent, King Flag Version

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You’ve likely heard about the controversy surrounding the flying of a Christian flag at a public veterans memorial in King, NC. It’s been going on for a few months, but the headlines really started when the King City Council voted to stop flying the flag for fear of violating the law over the whole separation of church and state thing. After the decision lots of pro-flag folks started protesting, marching, etc.

The council reconvened and revisited the matter, eventually deciding to pursue a compromise which would have them rotating the Christian flag with other sectarian flags recognized by the military. That decision has ticked off some of the Christian flag folks. Now keep in mind that at least some of them have been saying that they were arguing for the ability to fly any religious flag, not just the Christian flag. Also keep in mind that the folks opposed to the flag were saying all along that they were opposed to any government endorsement of religion because there are Americans who are unaffiliated with any religion and they shouldn’t be made to feel uncomfortable at a public memorial.

All that sets the stage for a story today about a pro-Christian flag group threatening to sue if they don’t like King’s policy. A quote from a group member makes a perfect argument in favor of the flag opponents’ position:

“Now the group, known as “The King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation,” said it plans to see exactly how the City Council’s new plan will work.

“The question we’re raising now is the possibility of having say, the Wiccan flag flown or the Satanic flag flown, which are recognized by the U.S. military — or a Muslim flag flown over a U.S. veterans memorial,” group leader Stephen James said.”

Seriously, can he not see that he’s making the perfect argument for those who are opposed to any sectarian flag flying at a government owned facility? Folks if it’s okay to fly a Christian flag then it also has to be okay to fly a Wiccan, Atheist or Muslim flag.

I have to ask Mr. James one question: If those symbols are good enough for the US military because people with those beliefs have fought and died for our country, why are they not good enough for you and your fellow members of the The King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation?

Here’s a link to the story.

http://www.wxii12.com/news/25682293/detail.html

Fed Speak Translated to English

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Cone pointed to this earlier and I think it's brilliant.  It's a site that translates the Federal Reserve's recent announcement (something to do with $600 billion) into plain English.  Example:

This: "Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September confirms that the pace of recovery in output and employment continues to be slow."

becomes this: "The economy still sucks."

 

Ish Getting Some Minutes

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I stumbled on this article about one of my favorite Wake Forest alums, Ish Smith, who wound up his college career last spring.  He went undrafted, was picked up as a free agent by the Rockets, was third on the depth chart at his position, and now thanks to injuries to the guys in front of him is playing some real significant minutes and handling himself well so far.  That's great news for a guy who proved himself to be a class act during his time at Wake. 

Let Me Tell You How America Works

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Found at the ever interesting local blog The Seventh Sense is this quote from the Washington Post's election coverage:

"Let me tell you how America works," says Foley, who wears a plaid shirt, a mallard-print tie and a woodpecker feather in his fedora. "You have Democrats voting for Democrats and Republicans voting for Republicans and then you have these people down the middle who are — " he lowers his voice " – undereducated, and are trying to make a living and do the best for their children, but they're so busy that they realize two weeks before an election that, 'Gee, I better start watching TV to get some news,' and by then the richest [expletives] in America have shoved their [expletiving] money into attack ads and that's what this middle group of people sees, and they vote accordingly and they're the ones who steer the country."

Losing Steps

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I've played basketball my whole life, and like anyone else over the age of 30 I've lost a step.  To be honest now that I'm midway through my 40s I've lost more than one step, but that doesn't stop me from dragging my old carcass out of bed a couple of times a week to play pre-dawn hoops – something I swore I'd never do before I aged into bladder-induced early morning awakenings.  Of course my mother is aware of this, and like my wife she finds my love of a young man's game rather foolish, which is why she emailed me this poem from Stephen Dunn:

Losing Steps

It's probably a Sunday morning
in a pickup game, and it's clear
you've begun to leave
fewer people behind.

Your fakes are as good as ever,
but when you move
you're like the Southern Pacific
the first time a car kept up with it,

your opponent at your hip,
with you all the way
to the rim. Five years earlier
he'd have been part of the air

that stayed behind you
in your ascendance.
On the sidelines they're saying,
He's lost a step.

You can read the rest here. Truth be told I didn't have much of a step to begin with; one of the advantages of being naturally slow of foot and without the ability to jump over a phone book is that my game has always been predicated on overcoming my lack of athleticism.  Still, getting even slower is no fun.

SSA Gets Punk’d; Average Wages Worse Than Originally Thought

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The Social Security Administration got punk'd by two people who filed wildly inflated W-2s, maybe as some kind of joke.  The result of the SSA finding is that they had to revise their latest wage numbers:

Removing the phony W-2s reduced total compensation by $32.3 billion or 0.55 percent of all the wages, salaries and bonuses earned by Americans. The total number of people with any work was reduced by two to 150,917,733.

As a result of the revisions, the data show that the average wage in 2009 dollars declined by $457 (not $243), a 1.2 percent decline from 2008. The revision shows that since 2000 the average wage, in 2009 dollars, barely changed in real terms, increasing only $347 or 0.9 percent after nine years.

The median wage – half make more, half less — was unchanged at $26,261. The median is $37 lower than in 2000 and $253 lower than in 2008.

So our country's median wage has declined over the last 10 years?! Add that little tidbit of info to the fact that a good chunk of us are living in houses, our single biggest asset, that are worth significantly less than they were two years ago and I think you begin to see why so many folks are ticked off right now.  

Our Strange State of Affairs

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I was in DC last weekend for a wedding, and although I'd totally forgotten about the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, I was quickly reminded that it was being held Saturday when I saw the massive lines of people trying to get into the Vienna Metro station to catch a ride down to the Mall.  What a strange state of affairs these days when the two largest "political" gatherings of the year were staged by media misfits.  First we had the conservative gathering in August organized by an ex-DJ/current cable TV Whack Job and called "Restoring Honor." Then this weekend we had the aforementioned Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" organized by two comedians best known for faux-news. Sheesh. 

Ah well, I guess we just need to roll with it.  Here's a montage of some of the signs at Saturday's rally, many of which are pretty funny:

 

Sign Montage from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear from ekai on Vimeo.

Lewisville Church News

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According to an announcement on his blog Les Puryear, Senior Pastor at Lewisville Baptist, resigned his position as of yesterday.  Also according to his post he's currently in Southeast Asia and upon his return he's going to start working in a secular job.

I've never met Pastor Puryear, but I've read his blog for quite a while so it kind of feels like I have.  Anyway, best of luck to him and best of luck to the folks at Lewisville Baptist as they search for a new leader of their flock.

West Forsyth High School Announcement on Cyberbullying

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Just received the announcement below via email from the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School system. I haven't watched the video yet, but I plan to:

November 1, 2010

Parents and Guardians,

Starting on November 3rd through November 10th, your student will view a video clip titled, "Cyberbullying: You Can't Take it Back" by Netsmartz through their 4th period class. Netsmartz is a site created to educate teens, parents, and educators concerning the use of technology and the Internet. In a continued effort to provide all students a safe and caring environment that enables them to work to their optimum potential, students will watch the video and teachers will hold a class discussion on the topic. The Guidance Department believes in order to be effective in addressing the issue of bullying everyone must be involved – faculty, students, and parents.

We encourage you to watch, "Cyberbullying: You Can't Take it Back." The link is provided below. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Guidance Department at 336-712-4403.

http://www.netsmartz.org/resources/reallife.htm#realcanttake.
"Cyberbullying: You Can't Take It Back" (Part 2 of 3) A teen regrets his participation on a web site created to rate others at his school.

West Forsyth Guidance Department

Xenophobia? Take a Deep Breath People

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Anyone remember when the Japanese were going to own us back in the '80s and early '90s?  Hell, it was such a big fear that it became the plot line for a Michael Crichton book that was made into a movie starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes; a sure sign that the apocalypse was upon us.  So how'd that turn out? Still that doesn't stop us from moving on to the next great Asian boogeyman: China.

People, our problems are huge, our economy is in trouble and times are tough. Sure we have a ton of debt, and that tonnage is increasing, and the Chinese own a good chunk of it.  But if we don't stop hyperventilating and falling for the kind of xenophobic fear mongering the folks at CAGW are peddling this election season (see below) then I fear we just may be up **** creek without a paddle.  When you view this thing just keep in mind a couple of things:

  • The makers of this video toss out a nice red herring with the whole "Empires crumbling due to turning away from core values" thing and then segueing to stimulus spending,  healthcare reform, etc.  Silly me, I thought our core principles included things like freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom from taxation without representation, etc.  From which core principle does healthcare reform turn us away?
  • Our debt with China was a problem long before President Obama or most members of Congress came along, as was our trade imbalance.  It's been a problem as long as I can remember thanks to our true national pastime in America, shopping for crap we don't need and can hardly afford, combined with our brilliant economic policy of letting other people make the crap we don't need but continue to buy and then bitching about it when we realize that, gee we owe all those crap makers a lot of money. 
  • We're really morons if we think the new crop of politicians will do anything much differently.  Why? They're p-o-l-i-t-i-c-i-a-n-s. They'll change their stripes the same day Tony the Tiger does.
  • We have met the enemy and it is us, not the Chinese.  Don't be distracted by the boogeyman of the decade.  They need us as much, if not more, as we need them. Ask yourself this question: why did the banks get in so much trouble with this recession? Because they were owed money by a lot of people, and when a fraction of those people couldn't pay up the banks almost went under (yes that's oversimplified). It is in China's best interest for us to remain a strong, vibrant economy since it doesn't do them any good to own a bunch of debt from a collapsing or weak economy. So just take a deep breath and think clearly about the issues we face and the best way to deal with them. Maybe you'll come to the same conclusion you would have anyway, but at least you're coming to those conclusions via some rational deduction.