This Is The Essay That Had Me Chosen For Planning Abroad In Vienna, Austria!

I want to be informed and prepared for the transition to the post-petroleum world.

On a recent trip to Charlotte, N.C. there was an opportunity to ride the new Lynx light rail system to the city center. Interestingly this trip could be directly compared to a previous trip on an adjacent road with the same beginning and end points during a convention 6 months earlier. Whizzing by beautiful new TOD’s, traveling faster than parallel traffic on South Boulevard and enjoying a conversation without having to pay attention to the road brought a realization; this is a big part of the future of planning and I want to be part of it.

Now is the time to prepare, if suburbs were developed with an eye toward the current century’s needs, our metropolitan areas would have been designed far differently. Metro Atlanta might not be following in LA’s footsteps. If there is going to be a transition to a post-petroleum world now is the time to plan for it.

Although hybrid or even petroleum-free single occupancy mobility is the most obvious core of future transportation in America, transit oriented developments offer a bridge to that future as well as great benefits. I believe that light and heavy rail transit systems offer public mobility, less car dependence and spur more central development. A concerted effort to reduce oil consumption will stimulate a desire for shorter commutes, walkability and more political will in support of mass transit. These things can contribute to the reduction of sprawl and cause development in the city core and inner ring suburbs. This issue is so large because even the first stages of transitioning to an oil free future may cause a dramatic change in the form of today’s cities.

There are obstacles to this sort of change. There is an established, familiar petroleum based vehicular street grid system. Our culture fosters a strong desire for independence in mobility with a constant eye toward the cheapest or most luxurious alternative.

These two classes are going to be great opportunities to explain how a petroleum free future can come about and change our cities. Also they will answer questions I have for the detailed physical future of the North American city.

One of my chief questions will be, What does the footprint or street grid of a petroleum-free metropolitan area look like? Other questions are, will the cuts in sidewalks or the physical form of the street change? Could the street carry the energy needed for transportation? I also want to know if Developing countries could leapfrog Western ones as markets begin to emerge without the burden of obsolete infrastructure.

One of the strengths of Rome was in their aqueduct and road systems. Infrastructure is the key to economic vitality and is central to urban planning. I am open to new ideas and fresh perspectives on transportation. This is my passion and I want to be in the middle of the future.

A reflection on Rawlsian (Socialist) Framework

The Rawlsian Framework is an extremely liberal political theory based on the ideals of collectivism. This “moral” theory is meant by some to be a guide for the creation of law. An earlier reading expressed an opinion that people with Marxist leanings often find themselves in the employment of planning as a way to implement their belief system on a society. (Beatley) This liberal approach to Growth Management is an effective way to aid the disadvantaged and limit the power of the bourgeoisie under the guise of fairness and populism.
To be sure there is an appeal to economic fairness in the Rawlsian Framework. Beatly advocates a view of a society not comprised of individuals but a collection of people in a mutual and shared endeavor. This is supposed to cause an equal distribution of the good and bad of life. Beatly goes so far as to question why the naturally advantaged by means of skill and dedication should received a greater distribution of benefits. This is a morally arbitrary and is essentially undeserved according to our writer!
When these ideas are put into planning the ideas of equal distribution corrupts the technical aspects of planning and planning takes on the role of social judge. Imagine trying to implement fairness in life whilst plotting roads and allocating space for commercial development. Social Judges planners are not.
I take personal offence that we are to be denied the fruit of our efforts if those fruits do not benefit society as a whole. The following passage from our text illustrates the most poisonous idea of justice and illustrates how deep into socialism Rawls had descended.
“Thus for Rawls the primary task of moral theory is to determine the appropriate standards of justice for governing their cooperative social arrangement and its resultant distribution of benefits and burdens” (Beatley)
This idea of “social justice” and cooperation is in direct contrast to the Anglo-Saxon and Judeo-Christian work ethic on which the United States was founded. This sort of thinking leads to wondering who is the least advantaged and how do we chose them? Who is making too much, has too much and how much should the government take to even the score of life? This is the heart and soul of Socialism. All one would need to do would be to look at the cities of the former Soviet Union and North Korea to understand where these theories lead. Their cities are Spartan and cleaned of references to faith and religion. The desolate cities and towns of those two nations are considered to be among the dreariest in the world.
One other aspect of this cannot be ignored. In Rawls “two principles of justice” Rawls arranges legal principles in serial order. The most striking thought is the thought that “equality under the law” is dead last. (Beatley) This sacred idea is behind such common things as discussion and formal democratic liberties. I put it that equality under the law is a primary, fundamental and basic right and most special privilege.
The principles in our text our principles I will try to avoid in my professional career. One should always hold a place for the disadvantaged. There is a always a place in the city for the disadvantaged. These principles however, are not based on morality, they are based on humanism .
In this nation, any increase in wealth or benefit should always go to the most hardworking and dedicated. In the frame of Urban Planning, We must accept that our central business districts comprise our most dedicated members of society who hold the keys to our economic vitality. CBD’s deserve before other sections of a city the most progressive and innovated forms of infill and reurbanization. The most impoverished districts of most American cities look as awful because of the laissez faire attitude of their residents and the crime those residents commit. No, our hardest working do deserve the best laid Plans of mice and men.
Now I know why Rawls and his wife spent their first holiday writing an index for Nietzsche. (Friedrich Nietzsche)

By Thomas Jefferson

"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

Pictures From A Road Trip To North Carolina

Would you consider me a Facist?

To anyone who has read the previous 50 posts, I have a question. It has come to my attention that my views concerning local governments are facistic and that I am on the side against freedom. Firstly I want to say that these accusations are not comming from a leftist hippy, but two close conservative relatives. After defending my views I even received a hearty Heil Hitler! hand gesture. I am still loved, it's just that this love comes from eyes suspicious that I may agree more with Hillary Clinton than Bob Dole. I digress
Here are the points that led to said accusations.

1. People are often so ignorant of their local elected officials that many are better off appointed than elected.
2. If the footprint of a metropolitain area exceeds its county boundaries the city limits of the primary city should be enlarged to contain the ENTIRE footprint of the metro area. (South Florida would be an exception, seeing as the metro is 110 miles long a more prudent approach would be to consolidate the primary cities with their respective counties.)
3. A merger of counties around the state, they were created when the world was a much smaller place and before cars. Their function as mid level government is ineffecient in a world with cars, perhaps they can be salvaged if they were larger.
4. Zoning and major project plans of our primary cities ought to be directed from the State, for the benefit of the entire State. Specific examples inclued Ports, Airports and Rail Connections.
5. Current land use laws ought to be updated to reflect New Urbanism Ideals. Walkability, mixed use construction and planned rail service would be the hallmark of greenfield and brownfield development.
6. Green Beltways around major cities for the purpose of limiting sprawl. Two primary benefits are more greenspace around a cities perimiter and the prevention of Orlampa.(The suburbs of Orlando and Tampa becoming indistinguishable from each other) South Florida is 110 miles long without any break from development. The rest of the state is following suit.

Comments are welcome, if you do believe that I am in need of an exorcism or "mental reconditioning" please e-mail me at cliffordsherley@gmail.com if I do receive some e-mails on the matter I may reconsider my positions. If more than two people say something about you than it probably is true.

Signing off and God Bless

It is a sin to waste food.

The Superlative Degree of Comparison Only

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

"This is the most important election of our lifetime"
"When I was younger we didn't have any of this technology"
"It was never this bad"
"This is the first Imperial Presidency!"
"Partisianship has reached a new high"
"People weren't as immoral in the 50's"

Spot on. Dickens knew a thing or two back in the 1700's. For those unfamiliar, this is the opening paragraph to A Tale of Two Cities

Another Example of Reconquista

I'd say something but I don't think anyone is suprised by this. I would like to point out though, that I'm not sure they ever really had a claim to Oregon. Look closer, yeah, it goes all the way to Portland. We must not forget the contributions of Mexico to Oregon by way of Los Salem and Santo Eugene.

Pictures from my trip to the City of Washington

In Front of Congress, Just Like In All The Movies

View Of The Lincoln Memorial

Mandy and I Across From FBI Headquarters

Random Potomac Office Buildings

From the Base of the Washington Monument

My Favorite Quotes From Ann Coulter

BTW for 49 she's totally hot.

• I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo.

• [Canadians] better hope the United States does not roll over one night and crush them. They are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent.
• "Democrats cannot conceive of "hate speech" towards Christians because, in their eyes, Christians always deserve it."

• Here at the Spawn of Satan convention in Boston, conservatives are deploying a series of covert signals to identify one another, much like gay men do. My allies are the ones wearing crosses or American flags. The people sporting shirts emblazened with the "F-word" are my opponents. Also, as always, the pretty girls and cops are on my side, most of them barely able to conceal their eye-rolling.

• *In anticipation of their surrender strategy becoming substantially less popular in the wake of another terrorist attack, the Democrats are all claiming that the threat of terrorism was nonexistent -- notwithstanding 9/11, the Cole bombing, the bombing of our embassies, the bombing of the World Trade Center, the Achille Lauro, etc. etc. -- until George Bush invaded Iraq.

• *The "European Union" happens to be composed of people who hate our guts. It is the continent where Moveon.org-style lunatics are the friendly, pro-American types and the rest are crazy Muslims.

• *Apparently, even crazy people prefer targets that can't shoot back. The reason schools are consistently popular targets for mass murderers is precisely because of all the idiotic "Gun-Free School Zone" laws.

• *I'd build a wall. In fact, I'd hire illegal immigrants to build the wall. And throw out the illegals who are here. [...] It's cheap labor.

• *You know, ok. I made a few jokes — and they killed 3000 Americans. Fair trade.

• Six imams removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix are calling on Muslims to boycott the airline. If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether.

• *The tolerant liberal suddenly becomes very intolerant when their official religion is challenged.

• Liberals' only remaining big issue is abortion because of their beloved sexual revolution. That's their cause: Spreading anarchy and polymorphous perversity. Abortion permits that.

If Orwell Only Knew

I've got the warm fuzzies big time.

Note red and black being the colors of extensive and endemic surveillance societies, green and blue being those societies with adequate safeguards. Also notice which two major English speaking Western countries are red and black.

Thaaaats right, the US and UK.

Click image to enlarge

Barackillary

Can you hear the Obasms and feminist shouting of a thousand watermelon socialists (Green on the outside Red on the inside) at such a proposal!

And I thought I had embarrassing pictures

At least the chickens are coming home to roost in Europe.

A special shoutout to Nigel Farage of the UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) for helping to pull of this latest stunt at the corrupt and incompetent European Parliament. Corrupt because they are draging nation-states into their socialist ever-closer union. Incompetent because they refuse to allow electronic voting and count by hands raised in the 785 member strong parliament.

Guess how often they get the vote wrong, no really, yours might be closer than theirs. They have no way of knowing how the vote went or who voted for what. I repeat, THEY HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING! Couple that with no accountablity on the various Members of Parliament and you have quite a problem for the post democratic European world. But I digress.

Because the political elite have it put in their hearts to acomplish their hidden goal they have denied every country but Ireland the ability or willpower to hold a referendum on the new SELF AMENDING Lisbon Treaty.

In other words they are too chicken for a referendum.

God Bless America,

Nah Nah Noh Naaaah, Not God "Explicitive Deleted" America, God Bless America,

Sorry I couldn't resist. ; )

You can't tell a Yuppie by their clothes.

There is a couple at church who I often happen to sit next to. Always fashionably dressed and mannered. (The kind you sit up straighter around) I often feel intimidated by people who look really well put together. Maybe inadequate is the word, but that's my problem and not anyone else's.

The point is one Sunday I was sitting next to these people with their unfortunate name and stylish things and I needed to use the restroom.

I always have to use the restroom. It's a problem.

I made a sign as if to notify my fellow parishioners and hope maybe they move slightly to make my exit quick and the wife did something I did not expect. She moved over with a look in her eyes containing no malice or annoyance. The husband followed with a smile and similar niceness. They couldn't care less if they had to move because I needed to.

How do you feel small around people who don't feel themselves to be big. The short answer is that you don't. In the list that I carry around in my head and with which I classify all I come in contact with, I moved them from Yuppie to Classy. Corny to be sure, but just because someone looks nice doesn't mean that are full of themselves or don't act nice also.

We are often warned not to be prejudiced, but let us remember not to be biased on either end of the spectrum.

I identify with ...What?

I had a horrid realization the other night. Of all the books and columns I've read I can say only three people think the way I do. As a contemporary Pat Robertson has always articulated my views to a T, but if that wasn't bad enough there are two fictional characters with whom I also identify.

While reading Orwell's 1984 and Deliverance I found myself consistantly feeling as if the protagonists of both books were taken directly from my inner conscience. Their thoughts and actions were so similar to what my own that I felt a comfort and familiarity with both characters. Yes you heard me: Deliverance and 1984. Something is deeply wrong upstairs. I've always known I thought differently, but this takes the cake.

There are two great examples of how numbingly boring my point is. One is when the character Ed Gentry observed the precise moment when the suburbs of Atlanta stopped and became rural. Oh if the man could see sprawling capital of the New South Atlanta now! Another moment of revelation whas when Ed stood in his office and thought about how often men before stood the same way when making decisions. I liked Ed.

1984 was love at first sight, the opening line is "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen". Little did I know there was a Clifford about to run into trouble in London, the capital of Airstrip 1.

Anyways this is my creepy little inner conscience.

Liberty's Soul

Youtube has a video of Pentecostal singer Mickey Mangun singing Battle Hymn of the Republic and I strongly recommend anyone to view it. It is taped during the Library dedication of President Clinton. Clinton has frequented the Pentecostals of Alexandria and has mentioned them in his latest book. Anyway hearing the Battle Hymn and watching the jet fly by made me feel patriotic in a way I haven't for a long time. This nation is not always about money. It has a soul and maintains a wonderful religious ferver. Remember that righteousness exhalteth a nation Anytime I see an address finished with USA or see a large flag flying in the wind my heart swells for the country that allows such precious freedom to flourish. God Bless America

Old English Cognates With Latin

Origins of English
It is funny how small the world can seem. Two of my intrests have collided in an unusual way. One of my favorite things to do is to read old books, many of which are written in the British English of the 17th and 18th centuries. Another interest is to learn Spanish. While reading these books I keep coming across obscure words that quite easily translate into Latin and Spanish. With so many cognates (words that have a common origin) it is a shame I'm not fluent in Spanish yet.

English Latin Spanish Synonym

felicity feleciter feliz happyness

rudd rubor rojo reddness

facile facile facil easy

translucent lucere lucir clear

It's true what they say, " English is a German language with a Latin vocabulary".

Class is not going well

On Thursday evenings from 6:30 till 7:50 I attend a class on Anatomy and Physiology at the local junior college. The teacher had fooled around for the first few classes and now he had three classes of material to cover in one night. While approaching the third hour of lecture with only one five minute break I noticed everyone was either rubbing their face or stabbing theirselves with the blunt end of their pens.
It reminded me of an episode of Seinfeld that brought this subject up.

Excerpt from Episode 45 "The Wallet"
JERRY: It's a tell. You gotta tell.
ELAINE: What tell? What's a tell?
JERRY: When you ask someone about their relationship and they touch their face you know it's not going too well. Go ahead ask me how it's going with somebody.
ELAINE: Um, uh, who's it going with, uh, Alice?
JERRY: Good, going good (scratches chin) And the higher up on the face you go the worse the relationship is getting. You know it is like - pretty good - not bad - I gotta get out.
ELAINE: How high did I go?
GEORGE: You almost did the nose.

Yeah, Class is definitely not going well.

Grrr... Snowbirds

Loxahatchee River

I know this is insignificant, but I was speaking with a snowbird this week. He was complaining about a floater in his vision. I winked at him and said I hoped people wouldn't think he was crazy for swatting air so much. "No they won't" he says, "they'll just think its because of all the mosquitos here in Florida."

It felt like he just just another person here to use this State solely for it's warmth and sterile, planned communities. Many of these people that come for the winter are also begging for the portability exemption for their condo taxes. You know what? I think that if you don't even know that there won't be any mosquitos until March, then you don't deserve the tax break given to the locals who put up with the mosquitos in July.

Another person I just love is my neighbor that lives two doors down in my condo building. Every January he leaves to go back to Michigan and boards up his windows like he is living in Warsaw during the German bombings. He is kind enough to take them back down when he returns every late December.

I feel like my home is a Hotel

Why Population Figures Matter

Infancy's the tender fountain,

Power may with beauty flow,

Mother's first to guide the streamlets,

From them souls unresting grow--

Grow on for the good or evil,

Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

William Ross Wallace

full text

The Result of Social Planning

A Bleak Future for Italy

With the population expected to fall by a third over the next 50 years, Italy is considered to be in a baby crisis. The fertility rate has hovered around 1.2 births per 1000 population, far below the 2.1 needed for population maintenance. One of the pitfalls of both Womens Lib and Socialistic Ideals is that the state alters the natural flow of life so that it is inconvient to raise children. New, often Progressive social pressures change the norm. Italy's figures are indicitive to what is happening throughout Europe excluding Ireland and France.

Europe's baby shortage crisis

Persistent Drop in Fertility Reshapes Europe's Future

The rise of the 'childfree'

To the Torches of Freedom

The Colossus of Rhodes

To you, o Sun, the people of Dorian Rhodes set up this bronze statue reaching to Olympus, when they had pacified the waves of war and crowned their city with the spoils taken from the enemy. Not only over the seas but also on land did they kindle the lovely torch of freedom and independence. For to the descendants of Herakles belongs dominion over sea and land.

Dedicatory inscription of the Colossus 290 BC

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883

All none of Florida's delegates

Yeah, whatever happened to every vote counting. I'd like an answer Howard Dean, um or from any Democrat for that matter.

All half of Florida's delegates

I guess I can live with this.

During the National Anthem

ummmm?

Old Folks at Home ( Swanee River )

Old Folks At Home

Ugly K-Marts and Swanee River

There has always existed an affection for the song Old Folks At Home in my house. It is a song I've caught my father singing along with Que Sera Sera and Blue Moon of Kentucky. Coming from the cold tundra of the Miami Valley in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Dad has always appreciated Florida. The Florida that serves sweet tea north of Orlando city limits and cafe con leche in Miami. Diverse, Beautiful and overrun with New Yorkers and tourists. This song is his favorite way of embracing his adopted State.

It has been in the press lately that there will be a vote to replace Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) with a new song Florida, where the sawgrass meets the sky. Now, I know a song about geography is unlikely to offend anybody, but what is wrong with our history? True, there are what are now considered offensive words in a verse that no one sings. I have, nevertheless come across offensive words in books that I would not dare throw out. Surely the works that describe Sherlock Holmes are worth tolerating now ugly words like niggardly and imbecile. Please click on the links provided to see the proper meanings.

Having this beautiful song removed from our collective conscience is like returning to your old hometown with its ugly K-marts and working class friendlyness. Followed shortly thereafter with a visit to a newly gentrified city; its history demolished and new glass towers empty and with little meaning.

Sure, down here the sawgrass does meet the sky. Yet, somehow I feel that I'd rather have mammy and pappy waiting for me than a flat politically correct Florida horizon.

Below are the lyrics to both songs.

Old Folks at Home

Stephen Foster, 1851

Way down upon the Swanee River,Far, far away That's where my heart is turning ever That's where the old folks stay All up and down the whole creation, Sadly I roam Still longing for the old plantation And for the old folks at home All the world is sad and dreary everywhere I roam Oh darkies, how my heart grows weary Far from the old folks at home
2. All 'round the little farm I wandered,When I was young Then many happy days I squandered, Many the songs I sung When I was playing with my brother, Happy was IOh, take me to my kind old mother, There let me live and die
2. One little hut among the bushes, One that I love Still sadly to my mem'ry rushes, No matter where I rove When shall I see the bees a humming, All 'round the comb When shall I hear the banjo strumming, Down by my good old home

Florida, Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky aka (Flaaah - riiiiiiii - da)

Jan Hinton

Florida, where the sawgrass meets the sky. Florida, where our hearts will ever lie. Sitting proud in the ocean like a sentinel true, Always shielding your own, yet giving welcome. Florida. Mocking birds cry and ‘gators lie out in the sun. Bridges span southward to the Keys and rockets skyward run. The orange blossoms’ sweet perfume and fireworks fill the air. And cultures rich, our native people share. Florida, where the sawgrass meets the sky. Florida, where our heats will ever lie

I forgot to mention that the new song is quite slow and with a northern accent as demonstrated by several long three sylable flaaaah - riiiii - da's. Honey, its pronounced Flor-da

¿Crea in la Reconquista?

I recently received an e-mail that brought the word Reconquista back to mind. Originally the word referred to the time in Europe when the Christian territories in Iberia were retaken from the Muslim Moors. The Reconquest lasted from about 722 A.D. to 1492 A.D.

Anyway the e-mail showed an American flag upside down and below a Mexican flag. This was done at Montebello High School in California by a student from nearby Whittier High following a proposed immigration bill back in 2006

Look how happy they seem. You can Fact Check at Snopes

These are just idealistic high schoolers. What bothers me is the one thrown up above a Post Office in Maywood, Ca. It's a federal building you know. I know that when Billary gets elected most buildings will have the opportunity to become federal. However, the Post Office does have special significance to me. BTW, If one doesn't have the new national ID card (the one required to enter a federal building in 2014) would you still be able to go to the Post Office? But I digress.

Rest assured this is a fringe movement, but so are Ecoterrorists and Ted Kennedy supporters. These things are not right and they shouldn't be ignored.

Family??

Times were in our country, when we would bicker amongst ourselves as Americans - as family is wont to do - but woe to foreigners who also attacked us… we stood up together against the enemy - again, just like family.

At what point did we begin letting outsiders – enemies, foreigners, etc – in on our family gatherings? When did we begin to let them in - behind closed doors - on our bickering? When did we stop protecting our family and letting those who aren’t family gain ammunition against us?

Some clichés that don’t seem so cliché anymore, come to mind:

United we stand, divided we fall
Family is family and outsiders are outsiders
Don’t air your dirty laundry in public
You and me against the world
If you give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile

And we wonder why our economy is failing, why our politicans seem to ignore us, why the world no longer respects us, why terrorists are beating a path to our door and why we cannot seem to stem the tide of illegal immigrants... United we stand, divided we fall… yeah… how about that…

Reposted with permission from Poets Corner http://jewhl.blogspot.com

No Flags Fly Here

In Denver, CO., some schools have seen fit, due to high tensions over the immigration issue, to ban flags of any kind from their schools. Apparently, some students came to school either wearing or waiving Mexican flags & other students retaliated by bringing American flags. Reportedly, tensions grew from there to name calling and other hateful remarks. So, in a rather poor attempt to diffuse the situation, the powers that be at these schools decided that absolutely no flags – from any nation, including America – were to be allowed on school property, under penalty of suspension.

Once again, another country has been allowed, albeit indirectly, to dictate the actions we as Americans take against our own. Students who brought the Mexican flags to school were expressing their feelings on the immigration issue. Well, so were the students who brought American flags to school. True, the resulting name calling & language deterioration was perhaps uncalled for, but as Americans, we have the protection of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, as long as it remains non-violent. Those who are in America, but not yet American citizens, perhaps do not enjoy the same level of protection. This is as it should be. They are not Americans, we are. Period. End of story…. Or is it?

Apparently, in situations like this, Americans do not even enjoy the level of protection promised to us in the Constitution. Because in order to diffuse the tensions this immigration issue caused at these few schools, all must suffer: no flags representing any country are allowed on school property. All but the American flag, right? That’s still allowed, yes? This is America, after all.
Alas, even the American flag has been banned. Apparently, waiving or wearing an American flag causes tension and fights to break out…in American schools. Even on a day of remembrance for us – September 11th – a day when we pull together as a nation & remember those who gave their lives in the most heinous terrorist attack this country has yet seen on our own soil – even then, the ban on American flags was in effect at these schools.

Once again, another country and its problems in controlling its own citizens has dictated to America the actions and reactions required of American citizens. Once again we have allowed tensions and harsh words to back us into a corner, and instead of coming out fighting, like patriots, we have retreated to our little corner, bowed our heads, allowed our enemies to handcuff us and handed them the key. Congratulations, America; cannot wait to see which country gets to use us for a punching bag next.

Reposted with permission from Poets Corner http://jewhl.blogspot.com/

Beyond the dream.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what a former friend of Dr. King said today in San Antonio. He said that by having banquets and parades we do not honor Dr. King. Surely even though the message of equality and liberty are larger than Dr, King himself we need a figurehead in this country to keep focus right? And then a scripture came to me. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." It's true. We have made MLK an Idol. To celebrate one man for a day is a very strong thing to do. We celebrate him more than his message. Doing some research I found that Rev. King was greater than just a flag bearer of equality of race, he also faught for economic equality as well. The following paragraph is a quote from his book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?
"In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact stands out: There are twice as many white poor as Negro poor in the United States. Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of poverty that derive from racial discrimination, but will discuss the poverty that affects white and Negro alike. " I am certain that the laws most true to the message of Rev. King are ones that provide protection to the unfortunate and mercy to the desperate, and not affirmative action laws that bind us in groups and erode our individuality before government. Let us remember that Rev. King was a preacher with a heart for the poor. Surely he read about how we will all be accountable to God at judgement and will be judged by our actions. I am also positive that Rev. King had read the Scriptures that proclaim the supremacy and necessity of Charity in a walk with God. We do not honor him by holding parades and festivels. We honor him by acting as Christians, blinded by the color of our countrymen and showing charity one toward another.

Excerpt from King's 1967 book "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?"
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/mlk/king/words/poverty.html

ABC article titled "Historians Fear MLK's Legacy Being Lost"
http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=4164136&page=2