Yes, I'm still around

I've been investing my time in many other places, and as I have oppportunity, I'll share with you. By all means, keep the discussion going; I'll be along presently.

--Mike

Condolences to my friends in Memphis

I read this morning that Willie Herenton was re-elected for a fifth term as Memphis mayor. Only bad things can come from that, and I'm sorry to see it happened. Before moving from the area, we refused to live inside the Memphis city limits, in great part because of the lack of positive leadership from Willie Herenton. Had Herenton had but one strong contender, rather than two, he would not be mayor today. (Of course, had a recount been requested by Dick Hackett in 1991, Herenton probably wouldn't have been mayor in the first place.) A runoff provision is looking better and better for Memphis mayor's races of the future.

And if Herenton or any of his supporters are reading this, I'd like to pass a message along to him: Winning an election with a plurality isn't necessarily an expression of God's favor; as a matter of fact, it might be an example of God's punishment that the city is reaping divisive, pugilistic "leadership" as a result of unwise voting decisions.

He quoted Proverbs 12:2 in his acceptance speech, but only part of it. The verse in its entirety: "A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn."

--Mike

Words Mean Things II: Peeling Back The Curtain

In response to my previous article, I've gotten several e-mails that ask, in different ways, the same thoughtful questions: Aren't actions more important than words? Aren't words just so much insubstantial fluff until they're supported by behavior?

Well, that depends on the words--and how they're used.

Words spoken, published, or otherwise disseminated thoughtlessly, in the heat of a given moment, can serve as snapshots of their author's mind at a given moment, but not much more than that. However, words that are planned, calculated, and repeated in an organized manner by (even loosely) organized individuals are much more substantial, being far more revelatory, and must be taken much more seriously.

Let's take, as an example, something that I frankly expected to get far more press coverage than it has. Recently, U.S. Senators Harry Reid and Tom Harkin used the Senate floor (and its insulation against debate) to launch planned, calculated, and organized attacks against a private citizen--not against another legislator or government official, mind you, but against someone who's never run for elected office, much less been either elected or appointed to one. Reid and Harkin (and you know, if you've followed this blog for any length of time, what it means when I refuse to refer to a man even as "Mr.") told lies about this private citizen from the floor of the United States Senate, slung insults at him from the floor of the United States Senate, and used the floor of the United States Senate to insist that this private citizen made "unpatriotic remarks."

Problem is, the private citizen in question is Rush Limbaugh, and Mr. Limbaugh didn't say what Reid, Harkin, and their fellow Democrats would like people to think he said. The Senators and other high-profile Democrats had all sorts of opportunity to get the facts of the matter straight, but that would've meant forgoing their move to personally attack someone who has made their professional lives uncomfortable for many years. And rather than get it straight, they chose to (in the words of former boxing referee Mills Lane) "git it on!" Democrats make it a way of life to do things to help their party in lieu of helping the country as a whole, so these unfounded verbal attacks against Mr. Limbaugh should come as no surprise.

So, yes, their words do mean a great deal. The Democrats' words, repeated ad infinitum, demonstrate more clearly than any Republican or otherwise-conservative response just how dangerous the Democrat Party is. Yet there are well-meaning but misguided people who just don't get it: witness Barack Obama's recent hand-holding stint with Rick Warren, Tony Campolo's infatuation with the Democrat Party as a whole, and... well, I can't consider Jimmy Carter "well-meaning," so let's move forward.

Over time, and with organized repetition, words become powerful tools. They are meaningful, even when that meaning gets twisted; both Lenin and Goebbels understood how to torque language into useful shapes, how to use the power of the lie. Whatever the scale, words that are repeatedly employed reveal the character of their employer.

In the episode of Rush Limbaugh vs. the Senate Democrats, Mr. Limbaugh has been very careful over the years to indicate that, on issues of war and national security, he doesn't question the patriotism of those with whom he disagrees, but rather their particular choices on particular issues. Well, Rush (since I'm certain you're a regular reader, I hope you don't mind if I call you by your first name... heh heh...), the time has passed for being overly generous; when faced with a critical mass of evidence, there's no shame in admitting an inexorable conclusion.

And in the larger case to which this issue speaks, the conclusion is painful, but obvious: The Democrat Party in the United States is anti-American. It is interested in the consolidation of is own power base to the exclusion of the health and prosperity both of the country and its general population. It is invested in the failure of the United States military, and of traditional American institutions. Yes, theirs is a myopic worldview, but the evidence of it is overwhelming.

And it is no crime--indeed, only right and proper--to identify a spade as a gardening implement.

--Mike

EDITED TO ADD: If you think the attacks on Mr. Limbaugh aren't coordinated to at least some degree, get this latest bit of nonsense: Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democrat presidential contender John "The Breck Girl" Edwards, is now insisting Mr. Limbaugh's draft deferment wasn't legitimate--while, in the same breath, perpetuating the Democrat talking-point of a lie regarding Mr. Limbaugh's statements about our armed forces. As with Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Edwards couple has produced a critical mass of statements that can only lead people to believe they're far more interested in personal political power than with the good of the country.