Mark Knows It All

Several weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a 50th anniversary celebration for some acquaintances of mine. I don’t really know these folks all that well, but they are great people, and as a couple are dedicated to their passion for music. The entire evening was filled with great songs, good food and drink, and toasts and well earned and deserved compliments and praise. It was a hell of a party. During one of the musical presentations, another couple who were good friends of the guests of honor, stepped up to the microphone to offer a very special gift. I will call them Ted and Julia, who themselves are well into transition from middle age to the golden years. Julia, who has some physical problems, sat down on a chair. Ted stood by her side, with his arm on her shoulder. Together, they sang two madrigals, a cappella, to celebrate their friends’ anniversary. It was simple and unadorned, and a little shaky, but heartfelt through and through. Ted and Julia honored the anniversary co...

Okay, folks, every now and then one has to put down the fun stuff and ponder the more serious matters of life. For your consideration, I have provided you with some philosophical statements about the nature of man and the nature of government. Read through each one of them, and decide whether you agree, or disagree. If you get bogged down, a shot of bourbon might help you to the end. 1) Man cannot be a potential pawn of other men, nor be a part of a general collectivity in which the sacredness and the separate identity of individual human beings are ignored. 2) Man’s development, in both its spiritual and material aspects, is not something that can be directed by outside forces. Every man, for his individual good and for the good of his society, is responsible for his own development. The choices that govern his life are choices that he must make: they cannot be made by any other human being, or by a collectivity of human beings. 3) The economic and spiritual aspects of man’s nature ar...

Has this ever happened to you? You walk into a Dunkin Donuts to buy one glazed and a cup of coffee. In front of you is an innocuous looking person who walks up to the counter, and responds to the question “Can I help you?” with the following: "I would like 5 dozen donuts, and I don’t know what I want. Let me see, I want 2 of the donuts to be chocolate covered cake, no, make that three, no make that two, and don’t make them cake, make them like the glazed, forget that, make them cake, with sprinkles, no, leave the sprinkles off….” And that is just for the first two donuts, more than four dozen to go. The only thing worse is being at the Deli Counter at Rulli Brothers Italian Grocery Store in Boardman where some little ethnic lady is ordering five pounds of lunch meat two slices at a time, then goes and pays for it with exact change out of a buried coin purse located somewhere in a very large black bag. I was once in a movie theater trying to buy a box of popcorn. I had to ta...

I read on AOL news today about two 13 year old boys from McMinnville, Oregon, who are being prosecuted as sexual predators. While in school, they slapped some members of the female sex on the butt. There are some additional allegations that they touched a breast, but it appears that the butt slapping is the bulk of the issue. Numerous students have stated that this is common behavior in the school. Originally, they were charged with several felonies. The county prosecutor has now seen the light, and dropped the felony charges, and is prosecuting a list of misdemeanor charges that could result in a year in “juvy hall” and the boys being required to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. An offered and refused plea deal would give the boys probation, but the sex offender registry would be required. Let’s see. Today on television I saw a ½ hour infomercial for Girls Gone Wild . I saw a promo for show called LA Ink hosted by a fully tattooed babe named Katmandu. I saw nume...

I have seen, lately, numerous articles and television commentary about the legacy of George W. Bush. Currently, his disapproval rating is 65%. He is tied with Harry Truman when Truman left office. The only president with a worse disapproval number when he left office was Richard Nixon at 66%. “W” also holds the record for the highest approval rating in October, 2001….93%, which gives credence to the saying “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”. I can give you a litany of reasons why I don’t like George W. Bush, most of which would be the antithesis of most of the reasons Americans don’t like him. Other than his position on immigration, I am a supporter of his domestic and foreign policies. If he is guilty of anything, it is his failure to lead. Any first year political science major will tell you the President has very little real power. The strength of the Presidency is the power to persuade. It is the ultimate bully pulpit. Here, he has failed miserably. Domestically, Presiden...

The Youngstown Vindicator recently ran several articles about the traffic on State Route 224 through Boardman Township. It is a highly congested road, a prime example of unbridled growth with no planning, such as access roads. Although I have seen busier roads many other places, I have rarely seen the atrocious driving for which Rt. 224 is famous. ODOT lists it as the 6th most congested road in the state, and it is regularly on the top 10 list for accidents, albeit most of them of the fender bender variety. I drive up and down that road at list once each day, and more often than not several times each day. And although my observations may be anecdotal in nature, I think I can safely say that the Vindicator article should have been headlined to read “Bitchy Women Terrorize Local Highway”. In my travels to and from work, I am the victim of an occasional male aggressive driver who more likely than not is under the age of 25. But on a regular basis, the women top the men in bad, distracte...

For this month’s winner in the “Lord, you can take me now, I have seen it all!” category, I offer to you Animal Planet’s television show: “Who Gets the Dog?” I saw this piece of TV magic this morning while flicking through the channels for something other than infomercials and preachers. Don’t get me wrong. I like Animal Planet , and I am a fan of such shows as Pet Star hosted by Mario Lopez, who must be a candidate for sainthood as he is continuously upstaged by dogs who can dance on beach balls and acrobatic cats. I also like Animal Police , where we see the ASPCA seek out the dregs of humanity whose mistreatment of animals shakes my faith in human nature. Not to mention that the new Terri and Bindi Show . Bindi is the terminally cute daughter of the late Steve Irwin of alligator and sting ray fame. I don’t know, the promo picture shows this little girl with a snake wrapped around her neck. I thought they were through exploiting her after Mr. Irwin dipped her in the lake with snap...

The following article appeared in this week's edition of the The New Republic to coincide with the release of the movie A Mighty Heart, which deals with the death of Daniel Pearl, the journalist killed by Islamic terrorists in 2002. It was written by Mr. Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl. When I started to read it, I initially thought here is a liberal trying to justify a conservative position on moral relativism. But when I finished, I concluded that this is an eloquent, albeit a tad heavy, statement on the problem of moral relativism as I have read. It is certainly much better written than anything I could do myself, and I feel worth reading by everyone. I am probably violating 50 laws by reproducing it here, but it is something that everyone should read, especially in light of recent events in Great Britain. Here are the links to THE DANIEL PEARL FOUNDATION and THE NEW REPUBLIC . Moral relativism and A Mighty Heart Back to Focus by Judea Pearl Only at TNR OnlinePost date:...

I have written several times about creeping freedom loss in our society. Baby-step by baby-step, we have acquiesced to the do-gooders of the world who use the guise of “reform” to stifle our freedom and hinder our ability to educate our children. Today, the Supreme Court of the United States struck a blow for freedom, and proved that our checks and balance system works...eventually. In a 5-4 decision, the Supremes reigned in the McCain Feingold Campaign Reform Act. Already upheld as constitutional in a previous decision, the Bush/Roberts court finally called it for what it is, censorship. A long time ago, Russ Feingold, one of the most liberal members of the Senate, decided he didn’t want Right to Life advocates running campaign ads against him in his re-election bid. Claiming campaign reform prohibiting “big” money from "contaminating" elections and "destroying" democracy, he and John McCain sponsored the “incumbent protection act”, which outlawed individual and/or...

The Iron Bridge is a restaurant located outside of Mercer, Pa. It is one of three restaurants standing in a row owned by the Springfield Restaurant Group on PA Route 19, and was the original restaurant in what is a strong regional and now rapidly growing national chain. But the Iron Bridge still stands on its own, and quite frankly is heads above its cloned Springfield Grill (good, but not great) sister establishments in quality and atmosphere. It is the best restaurant my wife and I have ever eaten in, anywhere, anyplace, and we have been to a lot of places. It is in the middle of nowhere. There are two ways to get there. One can hop on the freeway and it is about 40 miles from my driveway down I-80. The other way is to drive through Youngstown and Campbell to Ohio Rt. 422, then to PA 208, and take the winding road through West Middlesex, New Wilmington, and Volant to PA Route 19. That is the long way. Last night, we took the freeway there as I was really hungry, but we took the long ...

Sometimes the loss of liberty comes in one swoop. But more often than not, it is stolen away from you in baby steps. That is what is happening in the United States. Below listed are 8 threats to your freedom. These are already creeping up on you as they become accepted in our society. Is this what you really want? Voters Beware!!!! 1) McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act : This is arguably the most un-American power play that incumbent politicians have ever foisted on the American public. It also shows that slapping the label "reform" on something doesn't mean that the reform is good. This hodge-podge of campaign spending regulations was sponsored by Russ Feingold, one of the most liberal Senators in Congress, and John McCain, who likes to think of himself as a conservative. Purportedly passed to limit large soft money contributions to political campaigns, it is more aptly labeled The Incumbent Protection Act . The net effect is to prevent you and me from pooling o...

In April, PBS aired a series entitled America at the Crossroads . The subject was America’s relationship with the Islam. It was strongly criticized in conservative circles for its refusal to show a contracted segment about fundamental Islam. On the other hand, and to its great credit, PBS aired an outstanding and provocative segment on fundamentalist Islam entitled Faith Without Fear . The subject matter followed a young Muslim woman named Irshad Manji, whom the New York Times described as Osama Bin Laden’s worst nightmare. Born in Uganda, her family immigrated to Canada to escape the terror of Idi Amin. Ms. Manji is a person of letters who is an activist for feminism, gay rights, and deep reform to the Muslim religion. Among her many achievements, she is the author of the book The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call For Reform In Her Faith . PBS followed her as she traveled around the world challenging Islam to modernize. It showed heated debates with the Imams and Mullahs who c...

Remembering America's Bravest

Being the rich, elite snob that I am, I belong to a private club. Six or seven years ago, it decided to do a major “renovation” to its golf course to the tune of...let's just say it was a lot of money. The club was close to being mortgage free, and the golf course, as it then existed, was a classic golf course designed by a major course designer of historical repute. But the members of the club decided they wanted the best golf course and best club in Ohio. Visions of professional golf tournaments danced in their heads. At the club meeting to vote on the project, I opined that perhaps the figures ought to be re-examined and perhaps we ought to save some money first. This isn’t Palm Springs, and many of our members, contrary to popular belief, aren’t wealthy. Sooner or later, I said, we would have to assess the membership, and we would lose members, leaving those who remained holding the bag, so to speak, and paying the mortgage. I was booed. I was told that those who can’t afford t...

Here is the problem with education. Ward Churchill is a tenured professor at the University of Colorado who gained his 15 minutes of national fame by comparing pre 9/11 Americans to Germans following the Nazis and calling American leaders little Eichmann’s for the genocide promulgated against the citizens of the middle east. He is clearly a left wing whacko, and his obscene rhetoric initiated an investigation as to just how this guy became a tenured professor at a major state university. It turns out that Professor Churchill lives in a glass house and shouldn’t be throwing stones. He claimed that he was a member of an American Indian tribe, and that he was a descendent of same. He lied. In subsequent work, he misrepresented facts relating to the treatment of American Indians by the federal government; wrongfully claimed that Captain John Smith introduced smallpox into the Indian population during the 1600’s; and claimed that certain work done by a Canadian environmental group was done ...

When did being a conservative become a vice? How come people like me are treated like an adjective? He is a “conservative”. We read “conservative” publications. We watch “conservative” Fox News. He belongs to a "conservative" think tank. And horrors of horrors, we listen to the dreaded “conservative” talk radio. We are cold, uncaring, money grubbing, probably wealthy but maybe a red neck. Our houses are filled with guns and our women are barefoot, pregnant and subjugated. Most of all, we are morally and intellectually deficient for failing to be sufficiently insightful into the dreadful human condition and how it is aggravated by our economic and political system. Anna Quindlen, in her Newsweek editorial this week, unwittingly demonstrates the arrogance of those who consider themselves to be liberal. David Halberstam, a Pulitzer prize winning liberal guru, was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 73 several weeks ago. Ms. Quindlen used her editorial entitled “Still...

May is here and the temperature locally will be up in the 80’s tomorrow. Below are my recommendations for summer movie viewing. A word to the wise, these movies all pop up periodically on broadcast and cable channels. Watered down, cleaned up versions don’t cut it. Spend the 5 bucks and rent the movies. Happy viewing!! MEATBALLS (1979): Bill Murray as the camp counselor you hope your kids never experience. Light on the raunch and heavy on the laughs, Murray is the man in charge of the “counselors in training” and their attendant hi-jinks. I like the movie because of a sweet sub-plot about a scrawny kid with problems who ends up saving the day at the inter-camp Olympics. But mostly, it has three great songs: Mary MacGregor's “ Good Friend”, Terry Black's “Moon Dust,” and David Naughton's "Makin' It". The first two were composed by Elmer Bernstein . Summer movies don’t come any better. CAPOTE (2005): Philip Seymour Hoffman deservedly won the Best Actor Osc...

The following statistics, or various versions of them, have been bandied about relating to illegal immigration in Los Angeles County. 1) 40% of all workers in Los Angeles County are working for cash, paying no taxes. 2) 75% of the people on Los Angeles County’s most wanted list are illegal aliens. 3) 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans paid for by Medi-Cal and the taxpayers. 4) 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are illegal aliens. 5) 300,000 illegals in Los Angeles County are living in garages. 6) The FBI reports that ½ of gang members in LA County are illegals from south of the border. 7) 60% of the occupants of HUD properties in Los Angeles are occupied by illegals. 8) There are 5.1 million people whose primary language is English in Los Angeles. There are 3.9 million people whose primary language is Spanish. 9) There are 21 Spanish only radio stations in Los Angeles. 10) 90% of the current population growth in California, New York a...

One of the first rules of Political Science is that it is the perception of the truth, rather than the truth, that is important. In addressing any issue, one either has to get to the truth, or learn to manipulate the perception. Ronald Reagan understood this. A perfect example was the “Star Wars” nuclear missile defense system. We didn’t have the capability of building it back then, but the Soviets thought we did. And they definitely did not have the capability of competing with their perception of our capabilities. Hence, the beginning of the end of Communism. Race relations also deal with perceptions. The experiences I listed in the previous installment go to my perception of the Black community. The hip-hop antics of so called hip-hop artists are a large part of that perception. Have you ever watched some of these guys and gals perform? In the midst of their racial and sexist and violent tirades, how many times do they grab their crotch? I am so impressed that they have one. News fl...

I am so excited. I heard on the radio the other day that I have grown a new appendage. It is called a “carbon footprint.” Can anyone tell me where it’s located? I was so happy when, for just a minute, I thought it might be a replacement for my eczema ridden right foot with the festering ingrown toenail. Udder Cream and Vaseline Intensive Care have become my new best friends. But I didn’t see anything there. So I inspected myself when I got out of the shower today, looking for anything unusual or out of place. Everything seemed to be there, but nothing new. I heard that my carbon footprint was supposed to be green. I noticed a few green things, but nothing like that. Maybe I should see a doctor. Al Gore is supposed to have a huge carbon footprint. According to conservative talk radio, his is among the biggest in the nation. Good for him, and lo to anyone who goes up against him “mano a mano.” Who says size doesn’t matter? Of course it does. I am starting to lose sleep over this. Nancy P...