War on Christmas Dangerous Consequences

 War on Christmas Dangerous Consequences

By Chris Freind

 

 

“This is the way the world ends … Not with a bang but a
whimper.

Does that famous quote aptly describe America’s future?  Time will tell, but indications are that this nation, the most powerful, benevolent and fair in the world, is crumbling before our very eyes.

Like Rome, it isn’t falling from outside invasion, but within.


And one of the biggest culprits is political correctness.


It’s all around us, but especially this time of year, as the assault
on “Merry Christmas” accelerates. It used to be a standard greeting, and people would reciprocate with a smile. Your religious denomination, or
whether you even had one, didn’t matter. It was simply a friendly expression in a nation where the vast majority celebrated Christmas.
Those who didn’t returned the sentiment anyway because it was just a nice thing to do during the jovial season.


But all that changed as Americans’ sense of entitlement exploded. And
yes, that included being entitled not to feel “offended” because
something may not be to your exact liking.


“Merry Christmas? Well, I celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or am an atheist, so how dare you presume to wish me your holiday? How offensive and rude!”


But it doesn’t stop there. Hypocritical retail stores woo Christmas
shoppers—you know, the 95 percent who do celebrate Christmas and spend a
half-trillion dollars doing so—but won’t put the word “Christmas” in
their ads or on their displays.


Nativity scenes are increasingly barred from public places. Residents call the ACLU because a development hangs simple white lights on its trees. Office Christmas parties are replaced by generic “holiday” events. And there are mayors like Michael Nutter, who last year deliberately removed the word “Christmas” from the holiday retail complex near City Hall (but subsequently was forced to replace it).


All of this is a brazen attempt to make America a more secular society through political correctness; those who dare question it are labeled “bigots.”


Several important points need to be addressed:


1) The push to make all things politically correct has been successful, as it is now entrenched in all aspects of society. Everyone gets a trophy in most youth sports leagues. We don’t keep accurate score when one team is winning over another, and all things must be racially, culturally and ethnically homogenous.


The problem is that’s not how the real world works. And it’s the basic principle that the Occupy movement doesn’t understand. You have to
work hard and fight for things you want, but when they are bestowed
upon us—without merit—from those who worship at the altar of political
correctness, things go downhill fast. Need proof? Just look at those who
engage in PC the most: Europe and the United States. Enough said.


2) This is a not call for “Thought Police” to mandate that everyone say “Merry Christmas.”
Quite the opposite. It’s a call for the silent majority to wake up and
shove it right back at the small but extremely loud minority who shout
“I’m offended” at every single thing. Saying “Merry Christmas” behind
closed doors doesn’t take guts. Saying it because you truly believe it
and not worrying that such an innocuous greeting will offend does—insane
as that is.


3) Most important, Americans need to remember that actions have consequences. And until we connect the dots and see the error of being so PC, those consequences can, and will, have devastating results.


When good folks start looking over their shoulders before uttering
“Merry Christmas” for fear of “offending,” it all begins to unravel.


Think the PC stops at that? Well, think about the fact that the next time you step foot on an airplane, it may be your last day on Earth because your government—we the people—absolutely refuse to non-invasively profile the very folks who openly state their intentions to blow up said aircraft. And it gets better, as the Transportation Security Administration just announced that children under 12 don’t have to take off their shoes for screening, and will not be subject to routine pat-downs like everyone else


Here’s the $64,000 question: What do we think al-Qaeda will do now?
Here’s a wild guess: start flying a lot more with children? What’s next?
Not screening foreign children at all?


So when your wife gets incinerated two minutes after takeoff, and the
wreckage of a jumbo jet falls on your child’s school because a
terrorist put the bomb in his 11-year-old’s shoe, courtesy of the red
carpet we provided, perhaps we shouldn’t wonder why it happened.


Or when your son gets his skull sliced in half by a bullet that
emanates from a mosque in Afghanistan that is “off limits” for
retaliation for fear of offending the very people who don’t like us
anyway, maybe we should think about where it all started coming apart.


Did it start from the reluctance to say Merry Christmas, or the
refusal to put a Christmas tree on a courthouse plaza? Did it originate
from the refusal to acknowledge Christmas on a public school calendar
while other religions’ holidays are clearly labeled as such? It’s
impossible to pinpoint, but it really doesn’t matter. That mentality is
here, and has in large part led to the Great Decline.


So when the inevitable tragedy happens again—one that could have been
prevented—and dumbfounded Americans stand around asking “How and why
did this happen?,” well, you’ll know why. The ’40s and ’50s were
certainly not perfect, but people spoke their minds, were respectful,
and America was a powerhouse. That attitude put a man on the moon a mere
60 years after the Wright brothers took flight, but is now a fleeting
memory—which is what happens when you bow to the wrong principles.


When Rome was at its zenith, it adhered to the simple principle that the well-being of its citizens was paramount. All of them.In
fact, so fervent was that belief that the Romans would literally go to
the ends of the Earth to hunt down any thug that violated the rights of
just a single Roman. They didn’t let political correctness rule the day,
and the Republic thrived. But when it abandoned that principle, it all
came crashing down.


They said Rome would never fall, but it did. Many say the same about America. Yet the whimper is at our door.


So if we are to ever return to our former glory, perhaps the path begins with good folks jettisoning political correctness and saying two small but incredibly joyous words without reservation:


Merry Christmas!

 

 

My Christmas List

The Roar

My Christmas List

With Christmas right around the corner, my list needs is now for publication.  For openers, John Boehner is an establishment stooge.  Do not be fooled ladies and gentlemen.  Whether it be “the establishment,” “the Republican establishment,” the Democrat establishment” or even the “Insiders,” this influence and control stymies any hope for productive leadership.  As we all begin to anticipate the November Presidential sweepstakes, it is this shadowy influence  which requires our focus leading to its eradication.

Secondly, I am sick and tired of all this bellicose punditry.  Number one, who appointed these misfits to channel my thinking?  I think the answer comes down to the one doing the listening, me.  If we can stand back and disassociate for a time, isn’t it a bit overbearing that all these shallow voices churn our book after book and have totally overtaken the NY Times book list?  Do we really need, in all probability, the ghost writing efforts of a Dick (he was a Clintonite but now he’s a conservative) Morris, or the likes of a Karl (I’ll take down any conservative) Rove or the boisterous Bill (I can scream louder than you) O’Reilly?  In the coming new year, such viewing would be best served by downplaying their nightly discourse to our own “need to know” level.

With due emphasis upon my first two list makers, I am becoming well versed upon this recently concluded Congressional budget stalemate.  Listening to and reading of all the pros and cons, democrat verses republican and two months verses one year insistence, I now focus upon the reaction from my fellow hard working and patriotic Americans.  Echoing the sum of $19.23 per week, are we to believe that our President now beats the drums of concern for middle class working  Americans; the same class which his campaign strategists have publicly written off as being a wasted voter effort?  Or more to the point, could it be a re-electing campaign asset with the American worker caught in the middle?

The media’s coverage of this political football has fed the animosity between a differing of economic situations.  The heightened publicity surrounding this “class warfare” tactic also undresses the media’s blind support of a President who is the exact opposite from his 2008 “uniter” appeal.

My Christmas list for a better New Year centers not just upon the President but with my fellow Americans.  I’m aware that for many, on both sides of the aisle, the party comes first.  Having said this, the recent cave-in by Boehner has opened the Democrat flood gates.  Politicians being politicians, any and all want to get their jabs in while the carcass is still warm. When that $19.23 cents is combined with party support, it becomes a public no-brainer.  Further justification is fueled by the media’s incessant detailing of the Republican’s devilish support for the greedy rich.

A step back in time reveals a bargaining session, that dwarfs this current year long span of bickering and one upmanship.  Our Forefather’s creation required a compromise so that their newly written Constitution could be ratified.  Such a weighty subject as equal representation for both small and large States threatened its enactment.  However, the one difference with those negotiations verses the impasses of today is that our Founding Fathers all had the betterment of the Country as their number one goal.  And why would that be?  Simply because that they were the ones who sacrificed so much to attain what current day Americans take for granted.

So, my Christmas list ends with a hope that both sides of the aisle can find that humble respect and appreciation for what has been bequeathed.  The coming Supreme Court session, which will decide whether our Constitution includes socialism or not, characterizes just how far we’ve strayed from those founding principles.  America has but one path for her journey back to independent prosperity.  That would be a return to those constitutional limits that once keyed our prosperous growth.  Merry Christmas to all.

Jim Bowman, Author of,
This Roar of Ours

Save Philly Refineries? Get Pols Out Of The Way

 

 

Part 1 of a series on saving refinery jobs and getting America working again

For the tens of thousands whose livelihoods depend on the Sunoco and
ConocoPhillips oil refineries in Philadelphia, Marcus Hook and Trainer,
the Grinch arrived early this Christmas, announcing that all three
facilities would be closing in the near future.

But unlike the Grinch who delighted in causing misery for the sake of misery, the oil
companies seemed to have no choice. Their hand was forced by a
combination of market forces that saw them losing millions every single
day.

And now, short of the companies finding buyers, those
workers will be thrown out into the cold, unemployed in an America that
is plunging farther into the abyss. An America that doesn’t make a
bloody thing anymore. An America with the highest corporate taxes in the
world. And an America with trade policies that sell out its own
citizens.

Making matters worse, most of the workers will be
seeking new jobs in Pennsylvania, one of the least competitive states in
the nation when it comes to attracting new companies.

Doom and
gloom? No, just the hard truth. And here’s another one. Short of packing
up and moving to refinery-laden Louisiana, most of the laid off workers
will never find a job in this region close to the pay scale and skill
level that they are leaving.

Welcome to The New America, one that
too often puts the interests of its competitors – and even its
adversaries – ahead of its own citizens.

Compounding the problem
even further (if that’s possible) is the unwanted involvement of those
who caused our economic mess in the first place – the politicians. And,
as they continue to demonstrate, they don’t have the slightest clue as
to how to right the ship.

Politicians need to be taken out of the equation. Pandering for votes by holding pointless meetings with
refinery and union officials isn’t solving anything. It only gives false
hope (while providing them with 30-second sound bites).

But
here’s the good news. There is hope, more than can be imagined. Those
refinery workers could not be sitting on a better spot on Earth to reap
the rewards of a massive opportunity –  the correct utilization of the
Marcellus Shale natural gas bonanza. If the politicians do their most
important job –  and the only one they should be doing – of cutting
bureaucratic red tape and slashing stifling regulations, the free market
will take hold, creating jobs and wealth of unprecedented proportions.

But that’s a tall order.

Former
Gov. Ed Rendell, while certainly an affable chap, was never mistaken
for a genius, especially when it came to getting Pennsylvanians working
again. His mentality was that a paternalistic government knows best,
derived no doubt from the fact that he virtually never held a private
sector job in his life. Thus, he was wholly incapable of understanding
the difficult decisions that businesses must make to maintain
profitability.

So it was no surprise when, in 2009, Rendell
inserted his nose where it didn’t belong, publicly excoriating Sunoco
for its decision to lay off some of its salaried workforce. Sunoco
officials had stated the move was geared toward remaining competitive,
as the company was anticipating a “more difficult economic reality”
moving forward.

Taking his criticism even further, Rendell flatly
rejected the decision-making of Sunoco’s Chairman and CEO Lynn
Elsenhans, arrogantly saying he couldn’t take her at her word.
Incredibly, he went so far as to state the “real” reason for the
layoffs: “They are solely intended to make a profitable company more
profitable and helping pad the dividends paid to shareholders.”

So
if Ed was correct (which is always the case – just ask him), Sunoco’s
recent decision to shut down its refineries – permanently – must be
because it’s just making too much money.

Or…

Maybe the
folks at Sunoco had a slightly better idea than Ed Rendell of the
deteriorating market conditions coming down the pike, and maneuvered
accordingly to keep their head above water. Despite their best efforts
though, Sunoco did not meet with success, as the closures clearly
indicate.

Now the big questions loom – can the refineries be
saved, will a buyer be found, can they be converted to refine natural
gas, and, of course, what will be the fate of the thousands of families
whose livelihoods depend on the refineries?

While Rendell is out of the picture, the involvement of other elected officials still leaves a lot to be desired.

Earlier
this week, members of Congress emerged, extremely frustrated, from a
meeting with refinery officials, complaining that the company wouldn’t
reveal details about highly confidential strategic negotiations with
potential buyers.

Earth to Congress: Have We Met? Who
do these guys think they are that Sunoco owes them an explanation for
anything, let alone sharing privileged information of the highest
magnitude? And do we even have to mention that Congress hasn’t been able
to keep anything secret in 200 years?

And last month, a
bipartisan congressional delegation called on the U.S. Energy
Information Administration (along with the U.S. Department of Energy and
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) to conduct an impact analysis
on the potential of the refineries’ closure.

Uh, here’s a not-so-humble message to each member of that delegation: your proctologist called. He found your head.

Are they serious? Another Blue-Ribbon study to tell us what any sixth-grader already knows?

It
will be bad. Very, very bad. Jobs will be lost, families thrown into
chaos, houses foreclosed, businesses shuttered. The refining capacity
for the East Coast will suffer tremendously (not helped, of course, by
the fact that we haven’t built a new refinery in America since 1976).
Prices will increase. Volatility will spike. And America will, yet
again, find itself bent over the barrel, spending billions more petro
dollars buying oil from hostile nations because we (READ: Congress) will
not do the obvious – implement a policy of energy independence.

So
let’s save the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on an absolutely
meaningless study, and do something novel: solve the problem!

And
to reiterate Step One, the politicians woefully short on private sector
experience and who lack the necessary vision to turn an unfortunate
situation into a positive one need to get out of the way and let
business-savvy entrepreneurs do what they do best: Create opportunity.

Energy
is the single most important industry in getting America back on her
feet again. And retooling the refineries here in our backyard – the
right way, for the right product, to fulfill the right vision – is the
blueprint to make that a reality.

And what a Christmas present that would be!

World War Z Looms

World War Z Looms — It’s not the walking dead that we must fear, but the talking dead.

Dutch television presenters Valerio Zeno and Dennis Storm are scheduled to be seen eating each others’ flesh tonight, Dec. 21, on Guinea Pigs, a “science program” that airs in that nation.

The program has been pre-recorded so the meal has already taken place.  The men are dressed before a table covered with white linen on which is placed a candelabra and wine. A chef cooks the flesh — a piece of Storm’s buttock and a chunk of Zeno’s abdomen — in sunflower oil, which the men eat.

World War Z looms. Keep your powder dry and your cellar stocked.