A Rant By Russ Lewis

:::Originally posted December 9, 2005(!!!!) on Yahoo 360!:::

LOWERING THE BAR OF SOCIETY:
The Decline Of American Civilization

The recent brawls at both a Pacers-Pistons NBA game and a Clemson-USC NCAA football game, both captured in all their hideousness by numerous cameras from every angle, highlight in my mind the primary symptom of what ails our society. We neither accept nor bear any responsibility for our irresponsibility. Whether it occurs via words or deeds, there is always someone or something else to blame for our mistakes.
Society itself is the usual scapegoat, and for good reason. Since the beginning of time, societies have continuously flailed with defining what is and what is not acceptable within that society. Those societies that recognize the will of the people, governance by the rule of law, and faith in God have survived the longest.
Whether one believes in God or not, it cannot be intellectually argued that the Ten Commandments don’t just make good sense. Even for the atheists and agnostics amongst us, 5 through 10 are pretty darn good advice.

1. You shall have no other gods besides Me
2. You shall not bear false witness (to an idol)
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
5. Honor your father and your mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. You shall not covet

To remove these guides to a good life from society merely because they come from the Bible is simply ludicrous. And ludicrous describes the state of our society in very large part. The same principles that this great nation was founded upon are being removed one at a time by activist judges legislating from the bench, overriding the will of the people! By groups like the ACLU, by individuals like Reverend Jesse Jackson and politicians like Ted Kennedy, Sam Jankowicz and John Kerry.

Societal Downfall Step One - There is an old quote that says “give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” The Lewis Corollary to that asks “why should the man learn to fish if you’ll give him one?” I am referring of course, to the Welfare program. After all, if you’re going to give a single mom more money for each baby that she can’t afford, why not have more babies? The government will end up caring for them anyway, and on the taxpayer’s back. If you’re going to give someone an apartment and pay for it, where is the desire for ownership? If you’re giving a healthy man a check every month for not working, then where’s the incentive to work? We have created a subclass of people who simply do not possess the skills to survive on their own, and have no incentive to gain them. And it gets worse with each generation.

Societal Downfall Step Two – The Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision basically sanctioned murder. There is no softer, easier or gentler way to define abortion. The common euphemism “right to choose” is flawed in this respect: Once a female has conceived, it is no longer just her body. She is host to a living, growing human being. I feel like running ads in all television and print media that says “If you can read this, you were once a fetus!” Somehow, though, I don’t think that those who sanction the practice of abortion would get it. The Supreme Court in that decision did nothing but cheapen the value of life and promote the spread of promiscuity and disease.

Societal Downfall Step Three – Gay Marriage. Since we have already cheapened the value of life, why not trash the traditional definition of marriage? The next logical step is to consider the legalization of quote-unquote civil unions between family members, multiple partners and animals?
It is wrong for two basic reasons: (1) Biologically, it is impossible for two males or two females to conceive, and therefore propagate the species, and (2) if sodomy is a crime, and the only way for same-sex couples to have sex is to sodomize one another, then where is the judicial outcry at the crimes that, logically, must be being committed amongst these “loving” couples day in and day out?
In the animal kingdom, life is based on a set of instinctual rules that favors the survival of the fittest. Only a being with the capability to reason, however illogically, could even remotely consider homosexuality to be “natural”. Homosexuality is a bad choice, not a genetic predisposition.

Societal Downfall Step Four – The Next Generation. We have become a nation obsessed with our own success, and as such have forgotten that which made us successful. We demand, and in most cases work diligently for, a higher lifestyle. At what risk? We have turned over the duty and responsibility of raising and teaching our children to total strangers. In the rarer and rarer two-parent households, both parents are usually working in order to maintain a big mortgage, several cars and all extraneous frills like cellular phones, cable television, health-club memberships, etc.
Younger kids go to daycare centers, and older kids are left to their own devices after school. They play video games, watch whatever cable channel they want, surf the Internet or hang out with whomever else is in the same situation. Our kids are being raised by the Nintendo babysitter and learning their societal skills from whomever will show an interest in them. They are growing up UNSUPERVISED.
In the typical single-parent home, it is much worse…it is so much easier to toss the kid a five-spot and tell them to grab a bite at Mickey D’s because you have to work late than it is to pre-cook a dinner and have it ready for them when they get home. Peer pressure tells our kids what is right and what is wrong, because the parents simply aren’t there to do it.

Societal Downfall Step Five – Political Correctness. Rather than keep standards high and promote hard work for success, society “lowers the bar” so that no one fails. Kids can’t play dodgeball anymore or have spelling bees. More qualified college applicants are rejected for lesser candidates because “diversity” and “inclusion” dictates that there should be so many students of “this” gender or “that” ethnic background. Intellectual curiosity in the few must be stifled to accommodate the lack of it in the many, while religious and societal beliefs of the many must be stifled or eliminated to accommodate the few.
The great lesson that is lost here is that initial failure and subsequent success, NOT success alone, is the true builder of character in humans.

POLITICS as defined by Moi

:::Originally posted 4/20/2008 on Yahoo 360!:::

POLITICS is best understood when broken down into its two primary linguistic components...POLY from the Greek word meaning "MANY", and TICKS meaning blood-sucking leeches.

Democrats are vilifying the oil industry...the same BIG OIL that the Democratic party has choked, throttled and subdued for 30 years because of the liberal special-interest groups like Greenpeace that fund them. We haven't become energy-independent because tree-huggers DON'T WANT any new refineries, new oil wells, or more nuclear plants. Senator Kennedy has blocked efforts to place an electricity-generating windmill farm in an ideal spot that just happens to be in his backyard.

Why have so many manufacturing jobs left the USA? Ask the Democrats. They will tell you it is because of NAFTA and other free-trade agreements with 2nd- and 3rd-world countries. The real reason is economics, just like oil. Unions, who largely fund the Democratic party, have priced the American worker out of the manufacturing market. Hillary's Universal Healthcare plan will do the same to our medical infratructure. Opening new markets to American free enterprise ideals is not the reason our manufacturing jobs have left...the Democrats' strong support for raising the cost of American labor is.

Last but not least is the misguided view of the war in Iraq by both Democratic contenders. They are both pledging troop withdrawals from Iraq immediately upon their presumed election, based on....what, exactly? Code Pink's views that all war is immoral? Or just getting Osama Bin Laden? As much as I would like to see that towel-headed bastard tied to the nose of a 767 crashing into a mosque, he is not the primary problem...his IDEOLOGY is. And if we can help the Iraqis prove to the world how misguided that ideology is, that victory alone will overshadow him and reduce his influence. The bottom line is that the Democrats want us to lose in Iraq so they can go "nanny nanny boo boo, stick your head in doo doo" to George W. Bush.

I am not too keen on any of our Presidential aspirants...solving our broken political system is not to come from a Beltway insider merely changing addresses within the Beltway. All the Democrats are harping about is change...but not all change is good. Making the RIGHT changes is something that the LEFT hasn't proven too adept at accomplishing.

Rush Limbaugh Stole My Stuff!!!!

I came to this conclusion after watching the Rushbaugh address the Conservative Political Action Committee. Ok, I must admit, us conservatives think a lot alike, so I can't really claim plaigiarism, or intellectual theft, or anything like that. At this stage of my life, I guess I am just glad that someone agrees with me, AND, has a national audience (unlike this blog).

I am relatively new to THIS particular forum, so this is going to be a compilation of previous blogs from my Yahoo 360 page. For the 2 of you who have already read these, pardon the redundancy .

:::Originally Posted November 4, 2008, Election Day:::

THE AUDACITY OF HOPE vs.
THE NECESSITY OF NOPE

My civic duty as an AMERICAN now done, I have cast my vote for my hope for the future of America. It sounds so cliché, doesn’t it? I mean, the “this being the most important election we have ever faced” line…we hear it every election cycle, whether it be for representatives, senators or our President. It has never been truer than it is today.

Several months ago, when the Democratic nomination was still a toss-up between senators Obama and Clinton, and the Republican nominee was Senator McCain, I wrote a scathing blog regarding the choices. I said that there is no way that our obviously broken political system would ever be fixed by someone who is merely changing addresses within the Beltway.

However, once the nominees of each party were finalized, I reviewed the national political records of the candidates on my own. One candidate has a quite lengthy record and the other’s is quite short. One has quite questionable associations with avowed domestic terrorists, an America-hating pastor as an admitted mentor and a dubious “community organizing” organization…the other candidate’s only connection to terrorists came as a 5½ year prisoner in their custody.

Would you rather elect a candidate who has voted AGAINST their own party leadership on one out of ten votes, or one who has refused to take a stance either way by voting “present” 136 times? Would you vote for a candidate who thinks that life itself is “above my paygrade”, or one who firmly believes that life is God’s ultimate gift to us all? Would you vote for a candidate who has promised to kill American jobs by bankrupting electricity-producing coal plants or a candidate who believes that ALL of our domestic energy sources should be exploited for OUR benefit? Would you vote for a candidate who is in favor of removing secret ballot provisions in union negotiations, or a candidate who believes that voting privacy is paramount in ANY vote? Would you vote for a candidate who believes in punishing the successful for the benefit of those who aren’t, or a candidate who believes in spreading the opportunity for success?

America, the choice is ours. Let’s make the right one for the benefit of us all.

::: Originally Posted November 5, 2008, Post-Election results:::
I recall another historic first with an untested candidate, along with the usual media hype based on appearance and biased opinions, not facts. Everybody flocked to see, and ecstatically cheered, waved and clapped in the glorious presence of...RMS TITANIC.

Much like President-elect Obama, RMS TITANIC was new and untested, quite opulent, and seemed to offer everything to those who trusted her with their livelihood. She offered HOPE to those hundreds of 3rd-class passengers who wanted a better life in America. Yes, she was the fastest, the best, and to boot...UNSINKABLE. So the captain and crew threw caution to the wind in order to break records and prove her worthiness. And so, it was only after an earlier NIGHT TO REMEMBER that the true facts of her flaws came to light.

Unlike TITANIC though, President-elect Obama's past associations, Senatorial record and even the words out of his own mouth were all there for you to see. Like the Mainstream Media and the co-hosts of THE VIEW, you fawned over THE ONE and chose to either ignore or gloss over the dubious parts of his record.