Archive for December 2010
New Year Same Fight
By Susan Stamper Brown
At the stroke of midnight December 31, old and new acquaintances will once again join hands to sing the words to Robert Burns’ old folk song “Auld Lang Syne.” “Should auld (old) acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne (for the sake of old times).”
How many times have we sung that most catchy Scottish tune having no clue what the lyrics actually mean? Burns’ seemingly harmless melody asks the sobering question – is it wrong to simply forget the past and disassociate ourselves from old ideas and acquaintances who, for better or worse, make up our past. Read the rest of this entry »
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
by Susan Stamper Brown
“Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.” Calvin Coolidge, May 30, 1923 Memorial Day Speech, Northampton, MA
The words to the old Christmas carol “Silent night” take on a new meaning this year as I travel to the Great Smoky Mountain foothills to bid a final goodbye to my father who passed away unexpectedly.
Dad was one of a dwindling breed of Americans who loved America about as much as he loved his family, and believed no sacrifice was too great – if it meant preserving the country he loved for future generations. Read the rest of this entry »
Gratitude Begins Where My Sense of Entitlement Ends
by Susan Stamper Brown
An apropos saying, “Gratitude begins where my sense of entitlement ends” was recently tweeted across the cyber world of Twitter, but apparently the message did not connect with entitlement-loving Democratic Party Progressives currently unhinged over the recent proposal to extend Bush tax cuts. Read the rest of this entry »
Green Jobs: Charging Windmills
by Susan Stamper Brown
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) finally completed part of an $8 million project in September that included coming up with a definition for “Green Jobs.” The BLS defined green jobs as: Jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources – or jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources. Read the rest of this entry »
Dangerous Mixture: Political Correctness and Incompetence
By Susan Stamper Brown
The TSA’s new security program of enhanced pat downs and intrusive body scan x-ray machines is a stunning example of what happens when you intertwine political correctness with incompetence. Notwithstanding there is question of the machines’ effectiveness to detect low-density powder explosives such as the PETN used by last year’s Christmas Day BVD bomber and that invasive screening could be in violation of the Fourth Amendment, it seems that treating all travelers equally simply fails the common sense test. Read the rest of this entry »