DADvocate

Black protesters in Los Angeles succeeded in getting Paramount studios into removing billboards promoting 50 Cent's new movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin."

Gun violence is one of the leading causes of death for young black males in South Central Los Angeles and across urban America." -organizer Najee Ali of Project Islamic HOPE

I'm not sure what or who Project Islamic HOPE is but in this case they're doing the right thing.

We need more black leaders, black organizations and black citizens of all sorts to speak out against gun violence and other crime that is ravaging young black men. It is understandable that black youth are less inclined to listen to people of other ethnicities. For the rapid change most needed, blacks themselves need to spread the message.

Speaking to a panel at Howard University Law School, Dr. Kamua Kamdon promoted the solutions to the problems of blacks to be to exterminate white people. Dr. Kamau Kambon taught Africana Studies 241 in the Spring 2005 semester at North Carolina State University. He is a bookstore owner and political activitist in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Whites who visit the bookstore be warned, please stay in groups of three or more and do not follow the proprietor's suggestion when he says you might want to check the back room.

The old Flinstones TV show always ended with Fred locked out of the house, beating on the door, shouting "Wiiilllmaaa!"

Read this at CNN.com the other day:

"We've lived here 37 years and we've never had a hurricane like this," Broward County resident Paul Kramer, 71, told The Associated Press. "We didn't expect this. This one got our attention."

Wow! After 37 years in Florida, Katrina, Rita and other hurricanes earlier this year, these people were surprised by a hurricane that was so slow moving that they had about a weeks notice that it was coming. Talk about slow learners.

Just to help the few of you who ever read this blog please note:

• California is prone to earthquakes, especially along the San Andreas fault line.
• Nearly the entire east coast and Gulf coast is subject to hurricanes.
• The further north you go and at the higher altitudes, especially in winter, large amounts of snow may fall.
• Rip currents along beaches will pull you out to sea and increase the chances of you drowning.
• Rapid currents in rivers and streams may cause you to drown.
• Wild animals are not like the cartoon characters you see in Disney movies. Many of the big ones (lions, tigers, and bears, oh no) will kill you.
• Smoking tobacco products causes lung cancer and heart disease
• Eating lots of burgers, french fries, etc. will raise your cholesterol.
• Hot coffee will burn you.

Ya'll take care now.

Cruising thru the local Kroger's last night for milk and orange juice, I noticed whole chickens on sale for .25 per pound. Since this was a discount of 75% or better, I grabbed a couple. As I was loading the chickens into my cart, a lady came up and said, "I'll take a couple too. I'm not afraid." Avian flu. She believed the chickens were on sale due to avian flu. Maybe so.

If avian flu is driving down the price of chicken, why hasn't mad cow disease driven down the price of beef? Maybe people aren't afraid of going insane and dying. But I digress.

With avian flu much fowl will be unfit for consumption, mad cow disease may do the same to beef. Fish and other seafood commonly has high levels of mercury that limit the amount that can be safely consumed unless you wish to become like the Mad Hatter.

What's left? Pork. This would be a major blow to the Jewish and Muslim religions. How would they reconcile their religious beliefs and the fact that the most readily available source of protein is a forbidden food. Will millions of Jews and Muslims starve or suffer from malnourishment?

Let us hope that we all prepared to handle this emergency. Remember, the federal government will help but mostly when it is too late. :-)

Some how I made the incredible discovery that Instapundit's wife is a psychologist and a blogger. She covers issues regarding males quite well.

In a post, Monday, October 25, DrHelen brings up an American Psychologist (the Journal of the American Psychological Association) article from 1992 named "Where's Poppa? The Relative Lack of Attention to the Role of Fathers in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology." DrHelen points out this as the emphasis of the article:

When dissertations were reviewed, it was found that fathers were neglected significantly in research that focused on developmental psychology and developmental psychopathology. Sixty percent of the dissertations explored mothers only, 30% studied "parents," and 10% explored fathers only.

As a psychologist DrHelen feels this is important "Because the role of fathers in the development of their children is crucial in understanding adolescent pathology..."

Her final message is - "We need men in higher education, though, for the same reasons that gender-diversity advocates have said we need women -- because we miss out on an important perspective without them."

It is no surprise that there is so little research regarding fathers. Go to the APA website and you'll find program areas covering

• Aging Issues
• AIDS Issues
• Children, Youth, and Family Issues
• Disability Issues
• Ethnic Minority Issues
• Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns
• Public Interest Initiatives
• Public Interest Policy Issues
• Urban Initiatives
• Women's Issues

but nothing specific to men, boys or fathering.

DrHelen regarding:
The shortage of men in college
Men, Depression and Suicide
Boys and Low Self-Esteem

Observation: I have had much luck finding women promoting men's issues. There are men's and fathers' rights sites on the net but, outside of Cathy Young, I have found no other bloggers that seem deeply interested in the challenges facing males in our current society. Where are you guys?

One of the most common arguments I hear in support of illegal immigrants is that the illegal immigrants take the jobs that real Americans don't want. The truth is that illegal immigrants take jobs that real Americans want but at sub par wages.

I have had this thought for quite a while but it was reinforced the other day while listening to a radio talk show. A farmer from Kentucky called in and described using illegal Mexicans to work his tobacco. During the conversation he stated he paid the Mexicans $6 per hour. Having lived in the northern Kentucky, southern Ohio area, I know this to be 25 to 40% less than the going rate for tobacco work.

In the late summer, tobacco farmers cut and hang tobacco for it to age, i.e. get "in case." This is hot, dirty, hard, and potentially dangerous work. I've done it several times. Tobacco is cut by hand using a tobacco knife which looks like a tomahawk with a thin metal head. The knife edge is sharp and can easily cut you. A tobacco stick is forced through the stalks of 5-6 plants in order to hang in the barn.

Hanging tobacco in the barn involves at 3-4 people climbing into the rafters of the barn. (I've never seen one with a ladder or steps, so this is tricky.) The highest person may be 30 feet off the ground and standing with each foot on wooden "rails" that support the ends of the sticks laden with tobacco. The rails are often not permanently fastened and only held in place by the weight of the person and the tobacco. One could easily slip and have a catastrophic fall.

Whenever, I worked tobacco everyone was paid $8 per hour or better, up to $10 per hour. When illegal Mexicans started arriving, farmers realized they could get good quality work at 25% to 40% less cost. Illegal Mexicans don't complain because it is still better that what they would earn in Mexico and because they are in the country illegally.

This is the heart of why the federal government does very little to stem the tide of illegal immigration. Businesses of all types, farmers, etc. want the illegal immigrants available for cheap, non-taxed labor. Businesses don't pay worker's compensation, Social Security, etc. on illegal labor.

Many like to lambast Americans as fat and lazy. If this is so then why is this true:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2002 the United States led the world in worker productivity: U.S. workers averaged $71,600 in output each (in 1999 dollars). The next highest country was Belgium, where each worker averaged $64,100.

And U.S. worker productivity continues to climb.

The bottom line on illegal immigrant workers is that they are fleeing their home countries in search of a better opportunity much like most of our ancestors. In the process greedy farmers and businesses misuse and abuse them. Where is John Steinbeck when we need him?

 

Above left: A view of Serpentine Mound from a 30 foot viewing tower. The mound is about one quarter of a mile long.
Above right: The coiled tail of Serpentine Mound.

This past weekend, I camped with my son's Scout troop at Serpentine Mound in Adams County, Ohio. This is a mound made by the Fort Ancient Indians about one thousand years ago. The mound is not a burial mound although there are some burial mounds in the area. Mostly the mound is a mystery. No one knows what the purpose of the mound was or what it symbolized. This is one of the most unique mounds in the United States. If you are traveling across the south-central portion of Ohio this mound is near Peebles, Ohio, less than 10 miles off of Hwy. 32.

As of October 16, Cincinnati's murder total for 2005,64, surpassed the total for 2004.
The figures from the Cincinnati Police Department:

• Murders YTD '05 62 (as of end of September)
  
• Murders YTD '04 58
  
• % CHNG 6.9% Increase
  
• Murders YTD '03 46
  
• 2005 vs 2003 34.8% Increase
  
• Murders YTD '02 44
  
• 2005 vs 2002 40.9% Increase

The record for murders in Cincinnati is 81, set in 1971. Cincinnati probably won't reach that milestone. What's especially bothersome about this, other than the increased risk of being murdered, is that in most cities murder rates are decreasing.

The national murder rate for 2004 was 5.5 per 100,000 persons. For the city of Cincinnati for 2004 the murder rate was 20.1 per 100,000 persons.

The numbers are hard to find for just Cincinnati on the race of the victim (I couldn't find them). But, nationally blacks are six times more likely to be a murder victim than whites. This would mean that approximately 54 of these murders were of blacks. And, since 94% of black victims are killed by blacks, this is mostly blacks killing blacks.
Dept. of Justice Statistics

Yet, little seems to be being done about this. Since the riots in 2001 and the Dept. of Justice investigating the Cincinnati Police for alleged racially motivated actions, police enforcement seems to have slacked off. The riots were touched off by the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old black male, Timothy Thomas, by police following a long foot pursuit at the end of which a policeman thought Thomas was reaching into his pants to pull out a gun. They were in a dark alley.

During the time of the riots, many protested the police actions formed groups such as the Black United Front headed by Rev. Damon Lynch III. Riots, protests, investigations, etc. Yet now no one seems concerned when blacks kill blacks at wholesale rates. Here is an example of the reaction of some of the black community to the recent arrest of a black murderer. They accuse the media of racism for publishing his mug shot.

Murder is now more common in Cincinnati than some other famous "dangerous" cities, such as Detroit. I wonder what it will take for someone to actually start doing something about it.

Several years ago, a local radio talk show host conducted an interview with a black woman who was a cultural and diversity sensitivity trainer for a large corporation in the top 50 of the Fortune 500. Most was the same old, tired rhetoric. Eventually, the paranoid nature of her comments struck me.

She was talking of all the signs and symptoms of racism she saw in everyday life. Her example was this: While she was standing on the corner of the street waiting for the light to change so she could cross, a white man in a car stopped, apparently waiting for the light, locked his car doors. She believed the man locked his car doors because a black woman was standing on the sidewalk near his car. And, although she (the woman), was professionally dressed, the man, in his racist induced terror, locked his doors in fear she may try to cause him some harm.

I always lock my car doors because I taught as a child that locked doors are less likely to fall open accidentally or be accidentally opened from the inside. In fact, much attention has been given to the safety of car door latches and locks over the past 30-40 years.

Additionally, the woman is practicing mind reading which we all know is an impossibility for all except the most gifted of us. She has no way of knowing the man's actual motives for locking his doors but assumes a racial motive which is much more a reflection of her than of the man in the car.

The definition of Paranoid Personality Disorder from Wikipedia

A. A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

1. suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her
   
2. is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates
   
3. is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her
   
4. reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events
   persistently bears grudges, i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights
   
5. perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack
   
6. has recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner

Item one is the constant cry of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakahn, etc. regarding race relations. Item four encompasses the woman's delusional belief regarding the man in the car actions as well as numerous other reactions by black leaders to otherwise innocuous remarks. Item five follows closely with item four.

The other items may play a role in the paranoia also but I am not familiar enough with the black group psyche to know.

I truly wonder how much of the problems we have in our race relations in this country is due to a "mass paranoia" similar to the mass hysterias we've seen at times or the mass persuasion dynamics of Nazi Germany. Many black leaders certainly feed this paranoia and perhaps are actually caught up in it.

Unfortunately, paranoid delusions are extremely hard to breakdown which may mean that progress in race relations will continue to be painfully slow.

Just thought I'd post a couple of pictures I like but with a little message.

  
This is the Roebling Bridge, commonly called the Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio. My son calls it the Singing Bridge because of the singing sound car tires make as they drive across the metal grate road surface on the bridge.

Begun in 1856 and officially opened New Year’s day 1867, the bridge had the longest suspension span in the world - 1,057 feet - and was the forerunner of their Brooklyn Bridge.
More Here

John A. Roebling designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge after he built this one. Roebling actually died before the Brooklyn Bridge was completed.

The little message here is that Al Roker taped a "Today Show" segment in Cincinnati. During the show Roker identified the bridge as a "replica" of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Roker later misidentified the Roebling Suspension Bridge, calling it a "replica" of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Ohio River span, built during the Civil War, actually was the prototype for the New York bridge that opened 17 years later, in 1883.

No real big message except another, albeit relatively minor, example of how the media fails to get the facts straight.


Union Terminal is just west of Downtown Cincinnati. I can easily see it from the windows of my office building. During WW II many soldiers, including my father, boarded trains here to go serve in the military. It now contains a Omnimax Theater, Natural History & Science, Cincinnati History and Cincinnati Historical Society Museums.

While taking an Art History class in college at the University of Tennessee, we studied Union Terminal. It is considered by art historians to be a world class work of art. The interior is more stunning than the exterior. For anyone visiting Cincinnati this is a must see.

The House of Representatives barely passed a bill designed to bring about construction of new oil refineries. H.S. 3893 passed 212-210.

No Democrats voted for the bill and some Republicans also voted against.

Supporters of the measure said that hurricanes quatrain and rite made clear that the country needs more refineries, including new ones outside of the Gulf region. Critics argued it would allow the oil industry to avoid environmental regulations that would lead to dirtier air. -CBS News

The fate of the bill in the Senate seems questionable as does the quality of the legislation itself. There appears to be too little protection of the environment.

Yet, the Democrats offer no proposals it appears (if they are they're getting no press), only opposition. As I've stated before, I would LOVE for the Democratic Party to become stronger and less radical with a greater focus on the plight of everyday people and their everyday life. BUT to become stronger, the Democrats are going to have to learn how to LEAD.

Leading (from Merriam-Webster) 1 a : to guide on a way especially by going in advance b : to direct on a course or in a direction

Political leadership is looking down the road far enough to anticipate the needs of the country and its citizens. As we have all seen, our oil refinery system is fragile and stretched near its limit. Consider this:

In 1981, the United States had 325 refineries capable of producing million barrels a day. Today there are fewer than half that number, producing million barrels daily. Still, refining capacity has been increasing, though not dramatically, for the last decade. Imports have made up the difference as demand has continued to increase.

We need oil refineries. This doesn't mean refineries that over pollute and giving oil companies bigger breaks than they deserve. BUT where is the Democratic plan? Show us some leadership. Create a infrastructure and system which won't collapse whenever a hurricane hits the coast of Louisiana or Texas. Don't wait until campaigning time because then I won't believe you. It'll just be empty campaign promises. Introduce legislation now that addresses this and other problems our nation faces. Take a leadership role. If Republicans resist good, solid legislation, guess who looks bad.

Right now you can protest, criticize and point fingers at Republicans all you want. But until you, the Democrats, do something yourselves to actually solve the problems you're just another whiner in the crowd.

Much has been made about race and poverty regarding Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Left Wingers, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, ad infinitum have claimed racism and poverty as the reason so many people were left stranded in New Orleans. The ever delusional Louis Farrakhan claimed that the levees were intentionally blown to destroy the homes of blacks and to kill blacks. All the while white Americans were giving millions of dollars for relief and rescue efforts. White Americans were rescuing blacks, the poor, anyone who needed rescuing.

Which leads, somehow, to this: I work in the downtown of a large mid-western city with a MSA population of about 1.5 million. When I look out the front of my building, I see city hall and a Catholic cathedral across the street. When I look out the north side of my building, I see a 12 story subsidized housing apartment building. As far as I can tell everyone that lives there is black except for an elderly Chinese couple. I see the Chinese outside frequently, practicing what appears to be Tai Chi.

The parking lot we use is directly behind the 12 story apartment building. In course of walking to and from our cars, my fellow employees and myself have at least passing contact with the people in the building.

Hostile, race tainted comments from the residents of the building are not uncommon. At least one car was stolen this past spring in broad daylight. Several cars have been broken into with radios and other items stolen. The situation has become so bad that my company has had to hire a private security agency to occasionally patrol the parking lot to try and ensure our safety and prevent theft. We have received emails from our company reminding us to leave in groups and to leave before dark for safety reasons.

Several years ago, as a co-worker was leaving a young boy gave him the single finger salute for no apparent reason other than my co-worker was white. Coincidently, the next day the city experienced a race riot supposedly brought on by the death of a young black man shot while he fled from the police. The police had chased the young man through downtown for 45 minutes before, while in a dark alley, he appeared to reach in his pocket for a gun and the pursuing policeman shot him. The young man had numerous but minor outstanding warrants.

During the riots, the blacks protested by assaulting any innocent white people they could find. Interestingly, of the 80 or so rioters arrested, the overwhelming majority did not live in the area. Some came from over 100 miles away. Recently, the police seem to have relaxed their enforcement of laws in the black community. The murder rate for 2005 is on a record pace with most victims being young black males.

These are just a couple of anecdotes of instances too numerous to mention here.

Leaving work yesterday, one of the young ladies I work with and I were doing the usual jaywalk across the 4 lane one way street to get to our cars. A young black man pulling away from the curb on the opposite side leaned out the window and greeted us with, "Get some f**cking sense." Certainly a courageous act by a man who knows he has a building full of cohorts to assist him if needed.

The young man then pulled into the parking lot, parked his car and went into the building. One could easily question the wisdom of making such a rude remark to someone and then leaving an unattended car.

In the company where I work, most employees have a college education of some sort. While I was attending college, I worked to help support myself, my wife and my daughter and pay tuition. At times, I worked full-time and attended classes full-time. I busted my butt and graduated cum laude with a B.S. and with a 3.97 when I earned my M.S. After I married halfway through my sophomore year my parents no longer gave me any financial support but I persevered.

I'm sure many who successfully complete college have similar journeys, getting a good education is hard work. I've taken approximately two years worth of classes since I last graduated to expand my knowledge, especially in computers.

For doing so, we are rewarded with a decent life and a reasonably comfortable living. I have a small house on a creek in the country with a little over an acre of land. Quiet, rural living, I love it. I listen to the tow boats going up and down the Ohio River. I can hear the trains on the Kentucky side. Both are low rumblings that remind you of the moving world.

My great-grandfather and grand-mother immigrated to America from Germany in the late 19th century. They met on the boat on the way over, fell in love and were married. In my closet I have my great-grandfather's trunk in which he carried all his worldly possessions. The trunk is about 3 feet by 18 inches by a foot deep. He spoke no English but he had the famous German work ethic. Through the efforts of my great-grand parents and grand parents in teaching this work ethic and the quest for achievement, my father became the first person in his family and of his hometown of 30,000 to attain a PhD.

And then there's the people who want to hate me because I'm white and I'm the man or whatever. The people who, somehow, want to think the reason they don't have what they want is because the man is keeping them down. But I know that with enough hard work and perseverance nearly anyone can have a decent life in this country.

Jesse, Al, Screaming Howard Dean and others say we should care more about the poor, down trodden, blacks, etc. They may be right. But with the experiences described above and the images seen on TV, sometimes the very people we're supposed to care about make it extremely difficult to care.

Michael Barone of U.S. News and World Report has written a review of a paper by Bill Galston and Elaine Kamarck called "The Politics of Polarization." Barone seems to wonderfully summarize the salient points of the paper. Barone's piece is a must read. The paper can be found here.

During the Clinton administration, the Clintonites began the current practice of the politics of polarization. I see them as the Democratic equivalent of the Nixonian Republicans.

Nixon used the "Silent Majority" to pit against his enemies. The Democrats run scare tactics attempting to frighten the populace with the specter of the religious right, big business, homophobes, etc. The problem for the Democrats is that there are more of the people you should be "afraid" of than there are liberal Democrats that have taken over the Democratic Party.

Major points that Barone notes:

• "There are more conservatives than liberals."
  
• "The myth of mobilization: that if you bring out the base in large enough numbers, you win.
• The myth of demography."
• "The myth of language,....substance is the problem."
• "The myth of prescription drugs..."
• "...38 percent of Republicans say they used to think of themselves as Democrats, while 22 percent–a substantially smaller number—of Democrats say they used to think of themselves as Republicans."
• "The Democratic Party..."is made up of liberals who reject values and positions held by large majorities of Americans. "
• "61 percent of liberals oppose displaying the Ten Commandments, versus only 22 percent of all Americans. A remarkable 80 percent of liberals favor gay marriage; less than one third of their fellow Americans agree."

Although I have gone Republican most elections in the past 20 years, I would love to see a stronger, healthier Democratic Party. It would be healthier for the country as both parties would have to focus more strongly on serving the needs of the populace. Currently, The Democratic Party is so far "out there" it lacks the voter base to gain any significant power. If enough Democratic politicians could let go of the issues of gay marriage, quit race baiting, and show some respect for religion, they could gain popularity.

Liberals and conservatives need to read Barone's piece and the paper if they want a morin depthth look.

A tavern owner in Mason, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati is in trouble for having a sign in his window that says, "For Service Speak English."

A tavern owner near Cincinnati is vowing not to take down a window sign that declares, “For Service, Speak English.”

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission ruled this week that the sign at the Pleasure Inn in Mason violates state discrimination laws and creates an affront to Hispanics.

But tavern owner Tom Ullum says the sign is meant to be tongue in cheek. He says he has Mexican customers all the time and he doesn’t discriminate.
-WKYC News

Perhaps, we should outlaw speaking English. After all, it is the language of oppression, colonialism, slave masters, etc.

Dudley Council in England outlaws graven images of pigs appeasesee Muslims.

Novelty pig calendars and toys have been banned by bosses at Dudley Council in case Muslim staff are offended.

Workers in the council's benefits department have been told to remove or cover up all pig products including toys, porcelain, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

It comes after a Muslim worker said they were offended by pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the authority.
-More here at the Express and Star

Too bad Muslims can't learn to be as tolerant as the members of that other Mid-Eastern religion that outlaws pork, the Jews.

I'm offended by those that think the whole world should conform to their expectations and meet their demands. I am also offended by those who acquiesce and/or support such demands and attitudes.

More of the same at Virginia Tech University, single-sex classes for visiting Saudi professors.

I don't understand how so many people think that we have some sort of obligation to appease each and every demand by each and every group. When our soldiers are Saudidie Arabia and other Muslim countries they are taught and expected to act in accordance with the Muslim customs for men and women, etc. Why can't the Muslims be expected to accept the way we act and behave here. This is OUR country.

When in Rome...

From The Washington Times:

Florida's Riviera Beach is a poor, predominantly black, coastal community that intends to revitalize its economy by using eminent domain, if necessary, to displace about 6,000 local residents and build a billion-dollar waterfront yachting and housing complex

The entire article is here.

6,000 of the poorer residents will be moved in order for rich or soon-to-be rich developers to move in. The real lesson here is not that communities sometimes need to exercise eminent domain to provide for better services, improved transportation, etc. But rather, eminent domain seems to be being exercised more frequently for profit motives to the benefit of the wealthy and well connected and the great detriment of the poor or middle class.

Imagine striving and working for years to have a respectable home in a decent location, or maybe not so decent it seems. Someone with money comes along and sells to your local government the idea of lining the tax coffers by developing your property for commercial purposes. You are given a nominal sum compared to the real worth of your property. The develops and local government get rich(er).

The poor and middle classes will be chased off thier property every time a developer can convince a local government to follow his/her plan.

Facing South discusses similar problems with eminent domain and TVA.

You read it here last. George W. Bush's presidency will go down as a failure. During his second term, Bush's presidency has failed at almost every opportunity to succeed.

The "War on Terror" is a really bad joke. No matter what you think of the war in Iraq, the failure to secure our own borders in any fashion leaves us open to a terrorist attack at the whim of the terrorists. More illegal aliens are entering our country than ever before. The everyday Mexicans and other such Hispanics pose little threat to our national security. But terrorists can enter our country in the same manner.

The Bush administration maintains that all is well in Iraq. That everything is on schedule. Considering the level of insurgent activity in Iraq, my Vietnam days cynicism comes back to life. I'll believe it when I see it. But Cindy Sheehan is still a kook.

Bush's latest nominations, Julie Myers to the Department of Homeland Security and Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, smack of old fashion cronyism from the old days of patronage. Both nominees seem to be minimally qualified for the positions nominated for but have close ties to the president. I am a pretty good programmer but I realize that it would be easy to get in way over my head of I move to an area of programming with which I have little familiarity.

Additionally, Bush and his fellow Republicans in Congress have seen fit to further run amok with Federal spending increasing the deficit by huge amounts. The list of mis-steps and wrong moves grows daily.

Meanwhile, the Democrats show no sign of being able to lead this country out of this morass. Screams about imagined racism, how important it is for women to be able to kill their unborn children, and accusations of fascism if you don't support gay marriage echo throughout the land. Many of the more radical Democrats seem more interested in the fate of Muslim terrorists than in that of their own country men.

In this sadly comical scenario it fits that the phrase that most completely describes our circumstances was originated by a cartoonist, Walt Kelly, the creator of the "Pogo" comic strip, - "We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us."

The recent flurry of interest over the lack of males in college and graduating from college brought a commentor, Jacob, at Tech Central to raise this point: that virtually every kid he came across who had a father actively involved in his life was doing well. He saw them as better mannered, higher acheiving, happier, friendlier, etc. Jacob had ascertained through intelligent observation what most social scientists have proven through volumes of research.

Here are some sobering statistics that strongly support Jacob's observations:

Compared to children in male-headed traditional families where their
natural parents are married to each other, children living in
female-headed single-parent, lesbian or other environments where they are
deprived of their natural fathers are:

1. Eight times more likely to go to prison.
2. Five times more likely to commit suicide.
3. Twenty times more likely to have behavioral problems.
4. Twenty times more likely to become rapists.
5. 32 times more likely to run away.
6. Ten times more likely to abuse chemical substances.
7. Nine times more likely to drop out of high school.
8. 33 times more likely to be seriously abused.
9. 73 times more likely to be fatally abused.
10. One-tenth as likely to get A's in school.
11. On average have a 44% higher mortality rate.
12. On average have a 72% lower standard of living.

Source: "The Garbage Generation" by Daniel Amneus Ph.D.
Found here.

A characteristic of social statistics is that they can change over time. This is especially true if actions are taken to rectify destructive trends. Judging from the college enrollment and graduation statistics, we still have a way to go.

Here are some more sites that address the problems of fatherlessness.

Montana State University
fathermag.com
fathers.com
Myths and Facts About Fatherlessness
Fathers for Life