Fool me once...

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Cline Calhoun

October 6, 2011

by Cline Calhoun Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Thu Oct 06, 2011, 01:41 AM EDT

Somerset — When putting pen to paper (or fingers to keypad), it is so easy to fall into the trap of wanting to denigrate those with opposing views relating to political beliefs and social issues. I try hard to constantly remind myself that there are two sides to every argument, and each side can be as passionate about their viewpoint as the other. It is tempting to accuse someone of being an idiot if we passionately disagree with them. The term “idiot” is used to describe someone who is weak minded, of low IQ, or incapable of learning. Anyone who reaches the hallowed halls of Congress or the Whitehouse is definitely not an idiot, but they can be misguided. George W. Bush, Yale graduate with a Texas size ego, and Barak Obama, Harvard graduate with a Chicago thug style political background, are two such men.

One of my late brothers had a doctorate degree in education. I once told him I had great admiration for him because of his educational success and his intelligence. He readily informed me that he was no smarter than the average guy, that he had simply studied and learned what other people had already figured out. He said the smart people are those who design new innovations, or invents something new that is beneficial to the betterment of mankind.

Of course, common sense (sadly lacking in today’s society) tells us we can learn from the mistakes of others, or once we’ve put our finger on a hot stove, we should learn not to do it again. It’s kind of like the saying “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” This is a fact that Barak Obama is going to learn in about 14 months. He fooled the American people once, but I don’t believe he can do it again.

Common sense is completely missing from within the class rooms of the schools of higher learning such as Yale and Harvard. So if there is an excuse for the damage done to our country by this administration, and the previous one, we can blame it on Ivy League schools and the garbage they feed into the minds of the young people who attend.

Part of that garbage is Keynesian economics, promoting the cause of social liberalism, and the theory that it is the government’s responsibility to regulate the business cycles with fiscal (government) policies. This from British economist John Maynard Keynes who never worked a day in his life, like most of the career politicians in Washington. Also known as macroeconomics, we see it in the way the past two administrations have tried to govern this nation: bail-out of companies too big to fail, deciding which industries will succeed or fail such as Solyndra green energy company, dedicating trillions of unfunded dollars for social programs and public service unions with more borrowed stimulus money, and thousands of regulation policies pouring out of Washington. A good example; the Bush Administration’s law to ban incandescent light bulbs in favor of green energy, hazardous, gas filled bulbs. One result; 200 people lost their jobs in Michigan when an incandescent bulb factory shut down and General Electric contracted the Chinese to manufacture the new bulbs.

The Obama Administration keeps putting their finger on the hot stove, not able to learn that someone is going to get burned; the American people and our way of life. Keynesian economics is responsible for the failures in European countries such as Greece. The Ivy League students are brain washed into this train of thought and they honestly, truly believe this is the way to prosperity for our country, looking outward from their secure, wealthy, isolated bubble in Washington, D.C. We could pity them if it wasn’t for the fact that we the people are the ones on the loosing end.

I’ve heard only one calm, common sense voice of reason from the Republican presidential campaign; Herman Cain. Should he get the nomination, people like Chavez-loving Sean Penn, Morgan Freeman, and the radical liberals will no longer be able to play the race card. And without that they’re in trouble because they sure can’t run on their record.

You can contact Cline Calhoun at ccalhoun1@windstream.net

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Opinion

Separation of State & Mosque
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Clifford Calder
Clifford Arnold Calder, age 69 of Somerset departed this life on Monday, February 27, 2012 at his residence.
Visitation for Mr. Calder will be Saturday, March 3 at 12 noon at the chapel of Lake Cumberland Funeral Home with his funeral service to follow at 2 p.m. Bro. Patrick Butcher and Bro. David Muse will officiate.
Burial will be in the Singleton Cemetery in Lincoln County.In lieu of flowers, the family requests expressions of sympathy be made to the Clifford Arnold Calder Memorial Fund c/o Lake Cumberland Funeral Home.
A complete obituary will be published in Friday, March 2 edition.
Lake Cumberland Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements for Clifford Arnold Calder.

February 29, 2012
Why not charter schools?
The number of parents choosing to home school their children has risen by 50 percent in the last five years. I believe this is a direct indicator of the frustration parents have in the interference of the federal government in dictating what their children should be taught.
State Representative Brad Montell announced the pre-filing of legislation that, if passed, would establish a charter school initiative in Kentucky. (House Bill BR 117) Kentucky is one of only nine states in the nation that does not have charter schools, helping place Kentucky at number 37 out of 50 states in quality of education.
In charter schools, if educators are performing below standard, they can be terminated, not reassigned or given additional training. Most charter schools are non-union and non-tenured, so an educator knows he/she must perform to a high degree of excellence to retain employment. They can increase their chances of advancement through performance incentives.

December 30, 2011 1 Photo
Opinon: Don't Penalize Players for Being Good
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Not immoral, as in evil. Amoral, as in indifferent to right or wrong.
That is not to say that you can’t do something immoral — something that flies in the face of conventionally accepted ideas of good and bad behavior — while playing sports. Look at Ndamukong Suh, the Detroit Lions defensive tackle who’s expected to be suspended for a game or two for stomping, apparently on purpose, another player during a Thanksgiving game with the Green Bay Packers.
Most Kentucky basketball fans would recall Duke forward Christian Laettner’s infamous stomp on UK’s Aminu Timberlake during the 1992 NCAA College Basketball Tournament, and think he probably deserved a fate similar to Suh’s.
But in and of themselves, there’s nothing morally good or bad about throwing a ball, or kicking a ball, or hitting a puck with a stick, or anything of that nature.
There are only the rules of the game. Break the rules, and the game has a system built in to penalize you for it.

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Fool me once...

When putting pen to paper (or fingers to keypad), it is so easy to fall into the trap of wanting to denigrate those with opposing views relating to political beliefs and social issues. I try hard to constantly remind myself that there are two sides to every argument, and each side can be as passionate about their viewpoint as the other. It is tempting to accuse someone of being an idiot if we passionately disagree with them. The term “idiot” is used to describe someone who is weak minded, of low IQ, or incapable of learning. Anyone who reaches the hallowed halls of Congress or the Whitehouse is definitely not an idiot, but they can be misguided. George W. Bush, Yale graduate with a Texas size ego, and Barak Obama, Harvard graduate with a Chicago thug style political background, are two such men.

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What does it maen?
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The day of indelible memories

On a normal day, in my average, everyday, normal life, I would be hard pressed to tell you what I had for dinner the previous day. No, I’m not suffering from dementia or Alzheimer disease. The mind of the average person does not register routine activities as important enough to be a lasting memory. Not so on September 11, 2001. I would venture to say that the majority of the people in America have some indelible memories of what they were doing that day.

September 11, 2011
Dana Allen
Dana Michele Allen, age 25, of Somerset, departed this life on Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Lexington, Ky.

April 27, 2010 1 Photo
Ruth Morris Ruth Morris, 66, of Somerset, Ky., passed away Friday, April 16, 2010, at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset.
April 20, 2010
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