Memorial Day & flag etiquette

May 27, 2012 Leave a comment

Memorial Day is a time for remembering the men and women who died for their Country since the Revolutionary War. Remembering the approximately 1.3 million soldiers, not including those missing in action or wounded who paid the ultimate price for freedom and love of country.

The history of this day and its meaning is important to know and remember, lest we forget those who died. We have ceremonies and parades through which are woven the symbols of our pride and patriotism, and our homage to our fallen.

The American Flag plays a prominent role in Memorial Day and all observances of patriotism and fallen soldiers. The flag represents all that these men and woman have died for.

In “Our Flag” Henry Ward Beecher wrote:

“Our flag means, then all that our fathers meant in the Revolutionary War; it means all that the Declaration of Independence meant; it means all that the Constitution of our people, organizing for justice, for liberty and for happiness, meant.

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The demise of decorum

May 26, 2012 1 Comment

I recently attended my niece’s graduation ceremony at the coliseum, which served as a reminder of the degree to which common courtesy and decorum have declined. The misadventure at the coliseum is a conspicuous example only because of the momentousness of the occasion. But virtually everywhere we rub elbows with our fellow citizens—movie theaters, grocery stores, restaurants—we are subjected to rudeness, inconsideration, and vulgarity. (I mean “vulgarity” in the broader sense; not merely profane language.)

My niece’s graduation was tarnished by the behavior of perhaps 20 percent of the folks in attendance. They screamed, waved placards, unleashed their unruly children upon fellow spectators, and generally behaved like 4th-graders on one of those days when a substitute teacher fills in.

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Rediscovering what liberty is all about

May 24, 2012 6 Comments

This election season has so far been one of the most depressing on record, at least from the perspective of liberty lovers.  The political conditions themselves were so positive – an incumbent socialist President whose popularity continues to tank and whose every effort at turning things around seems to blow up in his face; an angry and fired-up electorate that is genuinely tired of being given the run around on taxes, spending, and debt; establishmentarian politicians like Dick Lugar are feeling the heat and being overturned by activist, Tea Party insurgents.  Yet, the Republican Party and the conservative movement in general are in the process of taking this once-in-a-lifetime set of opportunities and squandering them.  In the recent set of primary contests, conservatives simply could not get it together to unite behind one conservative candidate and instead frittered away their strength by flitting from one candidate to the next, in turn condemning each as too impure to be worthy of their support.  As it turned out, the one major Republican candidate who really was too impure to be worthy of our support is going to get the nod.  He, in turn, has little that differentiates him from Obama, despite the frenzied efforts at reinventing him as a “severe conservative.”  Hence, conservatives are entering into the general election with a socialism-lite candidate from their own party who himself supports “progressive” taxation, government-run health care, has raised taxes and fees while in office, as well as being simply pitiful on a wide spectrum of social issues ranging from gun control to abortion to the gay agenda.  At least as far as major candidates are concerned, conservatives have been well and truly rooked this election season.

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ObamaCare v. the Ryan plan

May 24, 2012 2 Comments

The Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act (ObamaCare) became law in 2010 and does little to address long-term Medicare funding sustainability.  With Medicare’s insolvency projected as early as 2017, how will North Carolina be impacted?  Approximately 1,700,000 North Carolina citizens are 60 years of age or older.  Of that number, 10%-15% fall below the Federal Poverty Line, requiring government assistance.  In the last 5 years, there has been a 15% annual increase in elderly relocation to N.C.[i] Each North Carolina Medicare recipient in 2030 will cost an average of $9,600/year per enrollee for government healthcare[ii].

U.S. Healthcare spending in 2008 was $2.34 trillion, or 16.2% of GDP and growing. The 2012 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates ObamaCare will cost $1.76 trillion over 10 years and does little to bend the healthcare cost curve downward.[iii]  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have concluded that ObamaCare will increase and accelerate national healthcare spending. [iv] ObamaCare allocates an additional $134 billion over ten years to expand the $17 trillion Medicare Part D drug benefit to close the “doughnut hole.” [v] Although the CBO estimates ObamaCare’s Medicare fraud and abuse reform will save $246 billion, it is not enough to extend the solvency of Medicare, set to run out in 2017.” [vi]

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Regular Republicans and County Commissioners District 6

May 24, 2012 10 Comments

A surprising story was published in the Greensboro News and Record on Wednesday, May 23.  Joe Killian reported regarding the 6th District County Commissioner’s race.  It seems that former Guilford GOP Executive Director Tony Wilkins has endorsed Hank Henning over Jeremy Williams for the run-off to take place on July 17.

Readers will recall that Williams had narrowly defeated Henning during the GOP primary that took place a couple of weeks ago; and Wilkins was eliminated from the race.

An interesting statement was made by Henning, who eschews seeking the endorsement of Conservatives for Guilford County (C4GC):

“I did not interview with them because I didn’t want to feel compelled to abide by the whims of a specific group.”

Hmmmm…

It is ordinarily an admirable trait for politicians to demonstrate independence.  However, it has not been uncommon for local Republican elected officials in Guilford County to seek and obtain the endorsement of the Simkins PAC.  This group is comprised almost exclusively of liberal Democrats; and it has been linked to various types of corruption and improprieties over the years.  I have made the case previously that local Republican candidates simply should not be seeking the endorsement of this particular group.

Let’s note the contrast.  C4GC and its leaders seek to gain nothing from the operations of local government. They are not trying to use local government to fund non-profits; to angle for various grants; or otherwise to peddle influence for personal gain.

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Summer’s Tribute

May 23, 2012 3 Comments

Summer. The word evokes lightheartedness, play and freedom, barefoot adventures and cherished memories: Picnics, playgrounds, wildflowers, fireflies, hot pavement and cold watermelon, a shelf of summer reading, book-ended by Memorial Day on one end and Labor Day on the other.

We simply experience summer as it unfolds, barely taking time to contemplate what has made ‘summer as we know it’ possible here in America. And yet each of knows that the freedom and beauty, gulped down like freshly made, icy lemonade on a shady porch, cries out to each of us for at least one moment of gratitude to those who made it possible – God and the American military.

While some young men may have rushed to war, it is said no mother ever has, for she knows all too well war’s potential for grief. Nor has the veteran, acquainted with war’s true and actual horrors. Yet, here in the North Carolina Triad live over 150,000 veterans of the American military–men and women who have accepted responsibility for defending America on domestic and foreign soil through historic and modern wars, popular and unpopular. Many of them have volunteered again and again for the perilous duty that ensures the fireworks we view this summer will be merely celebratory.

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Liberals in public schools? Surely you jest!

May 21, 2012 4 Comments

Tonya Dixon-Neely, a Social Studies teacher with Rowan-Salisbury Schools, has been suspended for a profane tirade aimed at one of her students. The episode is captured on tape, and available at www.theblaze.com. (As of this writing, the News & Record has not run a story on the incident.) On the recording, Miss Dixon-Neely repeatedly screams over the voice of a student who attempts to criticize Barack Obama and defend Mitt Romney.

But let us not feign shock and outrage over the “discovery” that the hard-left is entrenched in the government schools. Although such episodes are only occasionally captured on tape, it has long been apparent to those paying attention that the education Establishment actively indoctrinates students with leftist gobbledygook. Opinions that stray from the enlightened, progressive worldview are met with robust intolerance, if not–as in the case of Miss Dixon-Neely—apoplectic fits.

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City should not provide recreation for residents

May 21, 2012 4 Comments

The Greensboro Coliseum Complex has lost more than $20 million of taxpayer funds over the last 12 years. Now our City Council, headed by Mayor Robbie Perkins, wants to force Greensboro taxpayers into funding what will no doubt be another failed, big-government recreational facility: the performing arts center. Greensboro’s liberal City Council wants us to pay more in taxes, yet it has wasted our hard-earned tax dollars on extremely large losses.

The city’s responsibility is to provide a robust infrastructure, which includes: waste disposal, clean water, libraries and city police — not recreation. The city’s objective is not being a for-profit business, but an aid to bringing business to Greensboro. The city is not to be providing recreation to people; private businesses and companies will do that. We need to have true entrepreneurs coming to Greensboro to create jobs, wealth and a better way of life. Nothing can be done to help Greensboro unless we stop wasteful spending and vote out irresponsible council members. If only the council would allow capitalists to do their jobs, we would experience prosperity once again.

Addison Riddleberger

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Political Philosophy 101: Left and Right

May 19, 2012 Leave a comment

Many readers of The Greensboro Guardian are friends, family, and co-workers of our contributors, and not necessarily political junkies. Likewise, the Tea Party movement is comprised of individuals only recently inspired—by the radical policies of President Barack Hussein Obama—to join the political fray. To these newcomers, much of the nomenclature, or the jargon, of politics is alien and confusing. Consequently, we have decided to run a series of articles, “Political Philosophy 101,” designed to inform the neophyte, and familiarize him with the philosophical foundations of conservatism (a term sure to be examined at length). This bit of scribbling, “Left and Right,” is the first of the series.

Political positions are occasionally described as “left-wing,” and more often, “right-wing.” The casual reader is more likely to encounter the “right-wing” moniker for a simple reason: most “journalists” are leftists, and they hesitate to describe the policies of their favored political leaders as “left-wing,” because the term has a negative connotation. Meanwhile, the “journalist” writing about a politician or a policy with which he personally disagrees (i.e. a conservative, or a conservative policy), will happily describe his subject as “right-wing” in hopes of creating distaste among his readers for the politician or policy in question. In the daily papers, then, it is commonplace to see Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum described as “right-wing,” or “far right.” Meanwhile, Barack Hussein Obama is rarely, if ever, described as “left-wing,” or “far left.” This despite the fact that Obama’s policies are, indeed, the fruits of an extreme left-wing philosophy.

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GPAC folly

May 19, 2012 9 Comments

Let’s think about the process an entrepreneur or a corporation initiates when a decision is made to start a new business.

An effort, for instance, is made to select a location that is most likely to be profitable. How the business is run, and what menu of products or services is offered, will also influence profitability.  Judgments must be made regarding the facility itself.  Painstaking market research is conducted to determine whether a sufficient number of potential customers will be willing to purchase the products or services offered.  A business plan is usually developed.  Raising capital is a critical element that must be handled with extreme care; and depends heavily upon the existence of a credible business plan.

This is not even remotely the approach being taken with respect to the proposed Greensboro Performing Arts Center (GPAC).  Nearly at the outset, it became a foregone political conclusion that the center would be located downtown.  Preconceived notions quickly were voiced with regard to how large the facility must be.  Assumptions were made that substantial private fundraising will occur.  It was quickly asserted that Matt Brown and the Greensboro Coliseum management will run the facility– thereby assuring that it will lose money and extract money from the taxpayers nearly every year.  Finally, the premise was advanced that the facility must be available to numerous local arts groups.  While this might superficially sound pleasing, it also tends to detract from any profit motive that might otherwise drive the operation of the facility.

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