Letter to a Grieving Mother

I learned, after the fact, the a childhood friend of mine died recently.  Although I had not seen him for decades, my memories of our friendship are still vivid and I feel a (strange?) connection to him.  I wrote this letter to his mother, a widow.

 

 

Monday, March 19, 2007

 

Dear Mrs. K,

 

Please forgive me for writing you rather than personally expressing my condolences on the occasion of your son Rick’s death.  It has been many years since I have seen any of the K’s and I regret that I did not see Rick in any of these past thirty some years.

 

But I have reflected on my memories of Rick as a childhood friend and look upon these memories with great satisfaction.  If my memory serves me well, I met Rick at Annunciation School, perhaps on the long bus ride to and from Akron.  I know that we developed a friendship rather quickly and we spent a fair amount of time outside of school together.  Rick was the first kid that I knew who spoke a language other than English.  At first I thought he was telling me a tall tale.  I remember asking him, “how do you say ‘My name is Ricky K and Richard is my friend?’ ” He responded, “Mein Name ist Ricky K, und Richard ist mein Freund.”  Well, for a kid like me who knew nothing of the German language, this sounded suspiciously like another kid just pretending to speak German!  Meeting you and Mr. K finally validated Rick’s claim in my mind.

 

I remember our chess games, both at your home and mine.  I preferred to play at Rick’s home since it always seemed much more quiet and peaceful than my own rather hectic (but loving) home.  But I must now confess there was another reason for preferring your house.  I remember that you always seemed to have wonderful cakes and baked goods.  If memory serves me, Sunday was the best time for these tasty treats.  I thank you for your hospitality.  You were always very kind to me.

 

And I remember going to some of Rick’s soccer games and on at least several occasions being a K family guest at the German American Club.  Soccer seemed like such a “typical European thing” at that time in my life.  For some odd reason, the high socks that Rick wore remain clearly with my memory.  I would never have guessed then that all of my five sons would play soccer in grade school!

 

I cannot think of even one unhappy memory of my times with Rick and the K family.  Not one.  I think that this speaks to the kind of friend that Rick was to me and the generosity of the K family.

 

I know that his death is painful to you and his wife and children.  I hope that your pain will be relieved with the passing of time and with pleasant memories of his life.  I will remember him (and you all) in my daily prayers.

 

 

In paradisum 

In paradisum deducant te angeli: in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.	May the Angels conduct you to Paradise: And at your coming may the Martyrs receive you. May they lead you to the holy City of Jerusalem.
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem.	May a choir of Angels receive you. And may you, with Larzarus – once a poor man – Possess eternal peace.

 

This is one of my favorite prayers for the dead.  I pray that the martyrs, all the saints, Mr. K and all Rick’s family and friends were there to welcome him home.  I hope that he may be there to greet me when I too leave this life for the next (although he may have some problem recognizing me after all these years!)

May God bless you, Rick’s wife and sons and console your loss.

 

Sincerely, 

 

 

One Third in DC Illiterate.

From the AP wire:

WASHINGTON (AP) – About one-third of the people living in the national’s capital are functionally illiterate, compared with about one-fifth nationally, according to a report on the District of Columbia.
Adults are considered functionally illiterate if they have trouble doing such things as comprehending bus schedules, reading maps and filling out job applications.

The study by the State Education Agency, a quasi-governmental office created by the U.S. Department of Education to distribute federal funds for literacy services, was ordered by Mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2003 as part of his four-year, $4 million adult literacy initiative.

The growing number of Hispanic and Ethiopian immigrants who aren’t proficient in English contributed to the city’s high functional illiteracy level, which translated to 170,000 people, said Connie Spinner, director of the State Education Agency. The report says the district’s functional illiteracy rate is 36 percent and the nation’s 21 percent.

Adults age 65 and older had the lowest literacy score of any group, the report found.

Two comments. 1.) How much higher is the illiteracy rate among the elected officials? 2.) How can we return the government education system and universities back about 60 years?

Obama the “Magic Negro?”

How can it be that the LA Times could publish such rubbish?  As if the label is not offensive enough, David Ehrenstein has published an opinion piece about Sen. Barack Obama which goes on to offend other famous “negros” including Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and Don Cheadle.

The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. “He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist,” reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.-wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro .

He’s there to assuage white “guilt” (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.

Just for the record, I think that Ehrenstein is right in the second paragraph, but he forgot to elaborate on the “white guilt” being a liberal (oh, sorry, “progressive”) guilt which has resulted in failed after failed program designed by liberals to “help” black citizens.  The “highly sexualized” crap is just … crap.  (The Wikipedia reference is clearly an appeal to the Black Studies scholars that might be reading the piece.)

And what does the white man get out of the bargain? That’s a question asked by John Guare in “Six Degrees of Separation,” his brilliant retelling of the true saga of David Hampton — a young, personable gay con man who in the 1980s passed himself off as the son of none other than the real Sidney Poitier. Though he started small, using the ruse to get into Studio 54, Hampton discovered that countless gullible, well-heeled New Yorkers, vulnerable to the Magic Negro myth, were only too eager to believe in his baroque fantasy. (One of the few who wasn’t fooled was Andy Warhol, who was astonished his underlings believed Hampton’s whoppers. Clearly Warhol had no need for the accouterment of interracial “goodwill.”)

But the same can’t be said of most white Americans, whose desire for a noble, healing Negro hasn’t faded. That’s where Obama comes in: as Poitier’s “real” fake son.

Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn’t project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.

When I read a piece like this, it’s like a liberal again pulling the curtain back just a bit more exposing what Hollywood types and those of like mind really think.   David Ehrenstein is describing the average liberal mindset and not the average American’s attitude.  I’m not sure that a conservative has entertained the notion of “Magical Negros” in such a public venue, but you can be sure that he would have a tough time getting such notions published in the MSM.  The reactions to Ehrenstein will be at least as educating as the piece itself.

Pete Stark an Atheist

Here’s an interesting bit from the LA Times online edition.  Seems that Democrat Pete Stark has revealed that he is an atheist.  But in the usual liberal double-speak, such individuals may prefer to be called “nontheists.” 

THERE ARE A gazillion ways to get into trouble in Washington, but Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) has picked one of the rarest: He has come out of the closet and acknowledged that he does not believe in God.

Stark outed himself in a questionnaire from the Secular Coalition for America, which searched for elected officials willing to identify themselves as nonbelievers. It found only four, including Stark, and it claims that he is “the first open nontheist in the history of the Congress.”

“Nontheist,” by the way, is the latest secularist term of art for folks “without a god-belief,” replacing the traditional terms “atheist” and “agnostic.” (The former believes there is no God; the latter isn’t sure.) But the American Humanist Assn. — and who’s not a humanist? — prefers nontheist because most Americans wrongly think that atheists are anti-theists: people who not only don’t believe but also object to others’ belief in God(s). The association took out an ad in the Washington Post on Tuesday to congratulate Stark for his “courageous decision.”

Wonderful

Subpoenas For Rove And Miers?

Well can you imagine?  Democrats are upset about the firing of US Attorneys on Bush’s watch.  This is precious:

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote Thursday on whether to issue subpoenas to 14 current and former administration officials, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, John Bresnahan reports.

Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the panel’s ranking Republican, are expected to convene the committee Thursday to vote on the subpoenas for Rove, Miers and William Kelly, a former top aide to Miers.

The committee will also vote subpoena six of the fired U.S. Attorneys and five Justice Department officials, including Kyle Sampson, the recently fired chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Since Rove, Miers and Kelly were just added to the schedule for Thursday’s committee meeting, panel rules allow any member to postpone consideration of the subpoenas for one week.

Hey guys don’t forget to subpoenas for Bill Clinton and Janet Reno.  Recall the Clinton in 1993 fired 93 US Attorneys including those investigating the Clintons’ involvement in Whitewater and Webster Hubbell (still in jail?) and replacing the Attorney in Arkansas with a former student of Clinton.  I think that Dan Rostenkowski (served jail time) was being investigated at that time as well.

In 1993, shortly after she was installed as attorney general, Janet Reno sent an unmistakable signal that her Justice Department would primarily serve the political ends of Bill Clinton rather than the ends of justice. At once, she fired all 93 of the country’s United States attorneys. According to no less an authority than Ted Olson, President George Bush’s chief post-election attorney, Reno’s move was extreme and unprecedented. “In order to maintain continuity in thousands of pending prosecutions, and as a statement to the public that elections do not influence routine law enforcement, the nation’s top prosecutors are traditionally replaced only after their successors have been located, appointed, and confirmed by the Senate. On instructions from the White House (she claimed it was a ‘joint’ decision; no one believes that), Reno ordered all 93 to leave in ten days. There could not have been a clearer signal that the Clinton campaign war room had taken over law enforcement in America.”

Bill knows something about politicizing the US Attorney’s office for goodness sake!

Strickland To Dismantle Education Options For The Poor

Putting politics and teachers unions ahead of poor and disadvantaged students, Ted (“Walking Humbly With God”) Strickland gave the first indications of how far to the left he will try to lead the State of Ohio.  We’ve now seen early payback to teachers’ unions which control education in Ohio and we have seen how Ted intends to take choice away from poor parents and students of this state.  Here’s the warm-up:

But we must be open to new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking. The strategies and ideologies of the 20th Century will not make us strong in the 21st Century. As a writer once observed, “The things that got us here will not get us there.”

Here’s the translation:  “I intend to dismantle anything which does not move us toward a socialistic society beholden to special liberal interest groups.”

He goes on:

Consequently, I’m proposing that the Department of Job and Family Services develop a grant program to encourage job training and job creation for young people in low income communities.

Participating employers will receive funds to support the training and wages of a young employee.

Here’s the translation: “I intend to expand government and make job creation a function of the state.  I intend to funnel millions to those industries, unions and special interest groups which have a liberal ideology and support me politically.”

And yet more:

So as we ask for sacrifice, we must demonstrate responsibility. Wastefulness and giveaways can no longer be tolerated.

That’s why my budget eliminates the Ed Choice voucher program.

It limits the Student Choice Grant for students attending private colleges to those with a financial need.

It eliminates financial aid for students in proprietary for-profit schools not in the Board of Regents system.

I’ll translate again: “I will not permit impoverished families with children to escape a system which destines them for failure and lifetime poverty.  Allowing these families to escape the public school system will weaken the union’s grip on funding and ideology and this will not be permitted.  We must all make sacrifices for the union and the state and I intend not only to soak the rich, but also to screw the poor.  ‘Choice’ has to do with unlimited abortion (which I as a Methodist minister support wholeheartedly) and not with education for the poor.”

And it goes on and on to expand the scope and power of the state so as to make the recipients of all these handouts dependent on those in power.  This could be a long governorship.

MIT Courses Now Online

I found mention at a web site (sorry forgot the exact attribution) noting that many of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) courses are online for your (re)viewing.  Many areas are available, both in the hard and “soft” sciences.  Here’s the link and a listing of departments available.

Aeronautics and Astronautics
Anthropology
Architecture
Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation
Biological Engineering
Biology
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Comparative Media Studies
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Economics
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Engineering Systems Division
Experimental Study Group
Foreign Languages and Literatures
Health Sciences and Technology
History
Linguistics and Philosophy
Literature
Materials Science and Engineering
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Media Arts and Sciences
Music and Theater Arts
Nuclear Science and Engineering
Physics
Political Science
Science, Technology, and Society
Sloan School of Management
Special Programs
Urban Studies and Planning
Women’s Studies
Writing and Humanistic Studies

I love this stuff.  This should keep me busy for a long time.

Sean Hannity vs. Catholic Priest

Here’s the YouTube video of a recent encounter that Sean Hannity had with a Catholic priest, a Father Euteneuer, regarding some statements that Hannity had made recently.  As you may know, Hannity is a Catholic, but on this occasion, my view is that he is mistaken.

 

 Here’s an email that I fired off to Sean after viewing the video.

Subject:  Fr. Euteneuer Encounter

To: ‘hannity@foxnews.com’

Sean,

I’m a big fan and regular listener of your radio show (and occasionally watch H&C on Fox) but the good Father was correct.  You, as a high profile Catholic, have a particular responsibility to speak correctly and clearly on Catholic doctrine if you are going to discuss such issues at all.  It is not a matter of “imposing” your religion on someone else, but rather “proposing” the truth as professed by the Church. The fact that many (most?) may reject the truth of the Church’s teaching should not dissuade us from speaking it clearly and consistently.  

Your comments regarding “judge not” to the padre were, well…just pathetic.  And your argument regarding contraception as a means to prevent abortion seems to indicate limited understanding regarding the Catholic teaching regarding sexual issues.  And for goodness sake why would you suggest (as you seemed to) that the good Father was in some way responsible for the priest/sexual abuse issue?  Why should he be more responsible for these sins than you (or me)?  The fact that such disgusting acts and crimes were perpetrated by clergy does nothing to diminish the truth of the Church’s teaching in such matters.

You’re a busy guy.  I’m busy.  We’re all busy.  But for goodness sake take some time to read what JPII and Mother Church teach us regarding the nature of human sexuality and our bodies.  It is really quite beautiful.

Have a great day.

REW 

Global Warmer Deniers Series

The National Post (Canadian) has a series on global warming deniers.  The latest defector from the “the science is settled” ghetto is Claude Allegre, a leading French scientist.  Here’s a bit from the article:

Claude Allegre, one of France’s leading socialists and among her most celebrated scientists, was among the first to sound the alarm about the dangers of global warming.

“By burning fossil fuels, man increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which, for example, has raised the global mean temperature by half a degree in the last century,” Dr. Allegre, a renowned geochemist, wrote 20 years ago in Cles pour la geologie..” Fifteen years ago, Dr. Allegre was among the 1500 prominent scientists who signed “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity,” a highly publicized letter stressing that global warming’s “potential risks are very great” and demanding a new caring ethic that recognizes the globe’s fragility in order to stave off “spirals of environmental decline, poverty, and unrest, leading to social, economic and environmental collapse.”

With a wealth of data now in, Dr. Allegre has recanted his views. To his surprise, the many climate models and studies failed dismally in establishing a man-made cause of catastrophic global warming. Meanwhile, increasing evidence indicates that most of the warming comes of natural phenomena. Dr. Allegre now sees global warming as over-hyped and an environmental concern of second rank.

Dr. Allegre, please don’t expect Al Gore to send his private jet to wisk you to this year’s Global Warming Alert (and Oscar Winning) BarBQ.

Check out the entire series:

The full Deniers series

Statistics needed — The Deniers Part I
Warming is real — and has benefits — The Deniers Part II
The hurricane expert who stood up to UN junk science — The Deniers Part III
Polar scientists on thin ice — The Deniers Part IV
The original denier: into the cold — The Deniers Part V
The sun moves climate change — The Deniers Part VI
Will the sun cool us? — The Deniers Part VII
The limits of predictability — The Deniers Part VIII
Look to Mars for the truth on global warming — The Deniers Part IX
Limited role for C02 — the Deniers Part X
End the chill — The Deniers Part XI
Clouded research — The Deniers Part XII
Allegre’s second thoughts — The Deniers XIII

CO2 is Good For You!

Another bunch of right-wing nut case scientists have been uncovered and will be exposed here.  Seems that after the time of the Kyoto talks, a petition was created to encourage President Bush NOT to sign the Kyoto Protocols which call for a decrease of atmospheric CO2 levels.  Here is a summary of the study that the scientists endorsed:

World leaders gathered in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997 to consider a world treaty restricting emissions of ”greenhouse gases,” chiefly carbon dioxide (CO2), that are thought to cause ”global warming” severe increases in Earth’s atmospheric and surface temperatures, with disastrous environmental consequences. Predictions of global warming are based on computer climate modeling, a branch of science still in its infancy. The empirical evidence actual measurements of Earth’s temperature shows no man-made warming trend. Indeed, over the past two decades, when CO2 levels have been at their highest, global average temperatures have actually cooled slightly.

To be sure, CO2 levels have increased substantially since the Industrial Revolution, and are expected to continue doing so. It is reasonable to believe that humans have been responsible for much of this increase. But the effect on the environment is likely to be benign. Greenhouse gases cause plant life, and the animal life that depends upon it, to thrive. What mankind is doing is liberating carbon from beneath the Earth’s surface and putting it into the atmosphere, where it is available for conversion into living organisms.

How many signed the petition?  Just a few.  The site lists the names of almost 20,000 individuals.

During the past 2 years, more than 17,100 basic and applied American scientists, two-thirds with advanced degrees, have signed the Global Warming Petition.

Signers of this petition so far include 2,660 physicists, geophysicists, climatologists, meteorologists, oceanographers, and environmental scientists (select this link for a listing of these individuals) who are especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate.

Signers of this petition also include 5,017 scientists whose fields of specialization in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and other life sciences (select this link for a listing of these individuals) make them especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide upon the Earth’s plant and animal life.

Nearly all of the initial 17,100 scientist signers have technical training suitable for the evaluation of the relevant research data, and many are trained in related fields. In addition to these 17,100, approximately 2,400 individuals have signed the petition who are trained in fields other than science or whose field of specialization was not specified on their returned petition.

Of the 19,700 signatures that the project has received in total so far, 17,800 have been independently verified and the other 1,900 have not yet been independently verified. Of those signers holding the degree of PhD, 95% have now been independently verified.

Of course the debate is over when it comes to global warming, CO2 levels and man’s effect in destroying this great planet Earth.