The New Civility

The 21st Century meaning of civility bears no resemblance to its original definition and includes an unhealthy dose of character assassination.

Shortly after she assumed her duties as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (full of barely-contained glee in her newfound power) announced that there was to be a new mood of civility and cooperation now that she and her cronies were in charge. Whether her words were heart-felt or not, from the outset there has been no evidence that a new era of civility had descended on Washington as she and the Democrats proceeded to immediately channel the agenda of the radical left. Perhaps she knew that civility would not be called into play since she and her cadre never had any intention of engaging Republicans in any meaningful way.  The GOP voiced their unhappiness with one of their bills and her response was:

“Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.” 

When Rep. Alan Grayson spewed his outrageous lies that characterized the Republican's idea of Health Care reform as based on their belief that the sick should "die quickly," Madame "Do-As-I-Say-Not-As-I-Do" Pelosi said she saw no reason to either rebuke him or pressure him to apologize.

As more and more obscene details of the Democrats bloated Health Care giveaway emerged, the American people became restless and increasing numbers of disgruntled tax-payers began to fill town hall meetings.

Rush Limbaugh and other discerning, right-thinking talk hosts reported on this phenomenon while the mainstream media for the most part remained shamefully silent.  When the protests could no longer be ignored, Madame Pelosi lashed out at the disgruntled legions giving them the unfounded label of "Nazi".

You know the radical left-wing Democrats are desperate when they dust off the character assassination shotgun previously levelled at Clarence Thomas, Hillary Clinton's imagined "vast right-wing-conspiracy" purveyors and countless other targets of their derision. The acrid smell of desperation by the loony MSM (mainstream media), radical LWEs (left-wing extremists), RINOs and CINOs (Republicans and Conservatives in name only, respectively) is evidence of the last line of defense in an arsenal that contains little more.

When word got out that Rush Limbaugh had been courted to become a part-owner of the Rams NFL team, the professional race-card players were out in full force. They smelled blood in the air and launched an irrational jihad against Limbaugh.  When the liberal, yet honorable Juan Williams dared to defend Rush Limbaugh based on the facts he was soundly spanked by his guest Warren Ballentine who had the audacity to tell Williams to "go back to the porch".

This kind of baseless, revolting character assassination is what happens when many liberals can't handle the inconvenient truth that facts present.  They still believe that if they repeat a lie loud enough and often enough it becomes the truth. Selective use of their fact-checking machine - as with the recent Saturday Night Live skit that mocked Obama's accomplishments (just two: "jack" and "squat") is indicative that their definition of the much touted "transparency" promised by this administration is just as faulty as their definition of civility.

Reading more than just the headlines, questioning our elected representatives and holding them accountable is key to ensuring a healthy governemnt and will go far to lift the mask of seething hate that has been worn for far too long inside the Beltway in Washington. "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" that George Washington subscribed to should be required reading for anyone hoping to be elected to office.

Mason Locke Weems, an early 18 century author who wrote extensively on George Washington said of Washington:

 "it is no wonder every body honoured him who honoured every body."

When the day comes that our leaders honour the people that they work for, we will experience genuine civility.

Balloon Boy

My heart was in my throat when I first heard about the little boy that had supposedly floated away from his backyard in an oversized home-made balloon.

MSM was all over it with dramatic minute-by-minute live coverage. The six-year-old boy had somehow loosened the tether to the inflated balloon. His older brother told his parents that he had seen him climb inside.

My seven kids are all grown now but I well know from experience how children can and - if left to their own devices.- absolutely will do some incredibly stupid things.  I said a prayer for the boy's safety and for his parents and family as they witnessed the out-of-control Mylar mushroom-like flying through the skies far above the ground. I felt guilty about the growing resentment I harbored towards the parents for not watching their boy more closely.

Relief when the balloon landed gently and unceremoniously in an empty field, rescue personel quickly scrambling to release the boy from the collapsed balloon. But he was nowhere to be found. Now there was a report that someone had witnessed something falling from the aircraft not far from where it was inadvertently launched.  I prayed that the boy had run off and hidden out of fear after releasing the aircraft and never was in the balloon to begin with.

On my commute home I saw the first of dozens of posts on Twitter saying that the boy had been found and was safe. Thank God! A happy ending!

But that is not the end of the story. The boy had indeed been hiding in his own home. I can't imagine how his parents had not checked every nook or cranny that a small child could have concealed himself in when the alternative was so horrific.

In the opinion of a body language expert employed by the police department the parents behavior was genuine - that they believed their son was in the balloon. But most people are starting to believe that the whole thing was a hoax.

I'm tired of this shameful story. The parents were completely irresponsible to allow even the possibility that their child could be put in such danger. It is just as asinine as having an unfenced pool, a pet python or a loaded gun around when you have small children.

I heard that the police are planning to bring criminal charges in this case and I do look forward to that.