Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 046, Ed. 1 Sunday, March 11, 2012 Page: 4 of 20
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Viewpoints
Page A4 ■ Sunday, March 11, 2012
Sweetwater Reporter
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EDITORIAL POLICY
The editorial section of the newspaper is a forum for
expression of a variety of viewpoints. All articles except
those labeled "Editorials" reflect the opinions of the writ-
ers and not those of the Sweetwater Reporter.
Froma
HilTdl!
GUEST COLUMN
What limbaugh
is really about
Too bad the Republican candidates had to com-
ment on Rush Limbaugh's flaming attack on a female
law student at Georgetown University. El Rushbo
plays troubadour to the party's right wing from his
home in its entertainment wing. The business of the
entertainment wing is show business. That means
making money off talk shows, books and TV appear-
ances — and running the publicity machine at hysteri-
cal volume. It does not mean keeping the interests of
the Republican Party foremost.
My take on Limbaugh is that he was losing his spot-
light tan and needed a UV blast of attention. Thus
the "conservative" radio personality
called the self-possessed Sandra Fluke
"a slut" and "a prostitute" for testify-
ing in favor of requiring all employers
J to cover birth control. Elaborating
I I further, he suggested that mandating
I coverage for contraceptives amounted
■ • J| to the public paying women to have
| sex. In return, the women should tape
■ I themselves in the act, he ventured,
"and post the videos online so we can
all watch." Attention he got.
President Obama called Fluke and
said he'd stand by her, while his press
secretary characterized the attacks as
"reprehensible." But the Republican candidates —
though already in hot water with many women voters
— so feared Limbaugh's wrath that they issued mild
responses. Mitt Romney squeaked out that "it's not
the language I would have used." Rick Santorum
offered that "an entertainer can be absurd." (Not just
entertainers, Rick.)
Full disclosure: Limbaugh targets me on occasion.
But though he's said such unflattering things as "she
might be stupid," I don't mind much. She who dishes
it out should be able to take it. In any case, my right-
wing friends are so mightily impressed when the
Great One finds me worthy of notice, they invite me
to lunch and pick up the check.
I confess to a tiny soft spot for Rush. In top form,
he can amuse as well as irk. Meanwhile, he faces stiff
competition, as others crowd the stage El Rushbo
once dominated.
Sarah Palin was the Republican choice four years
ago to stand one heartbeat away from the presidency.
She's now on Fox talking about the media getting
"wee-weed" over Santorum's Satan talk. Then there's
Ann Coulter, the late Andrew Breitbart and an army
of industrious online provocateurs.
Climbing the greasy pole of the 24/7 right-wing
news cycle requires finding increasingly violent ways
to express contempt for liberals and their attitudes.
But having been at this for a quarter of a century,
Rush is getting a bit old hat. Next to what else is out
there, his Angiy White Male riffs seem almost staid.
Hence, the graphic amplification at the expense of a
poorly chosen victim.
It's one thing to gargle vile things into the mike,
even if they ultimately hurt the cause one purports to
serve. It's quite another to offend advertisers. When
advertisers go, so does the money. Several advertis-
ers, perhaps having eyed the exits for some time,
pulled out after the offensive remarks. That alone
explains Limbaugh's eagerness to issue a rare regret.
Whether his media empire fully recovers remains
to be seen. Abject apologies didn't work too well for
talk radio king Don Imus. In a similar verbal belch,
he called the splendid Rutgers University women's
basketball team "nappy-headed hos."
As for Limbaugh's intended target, I imagine that
she's tougher than he is. And women not in the busi-
ness of responding angrily to swipes at their gender
are laughing at the shtoopidity.
Which makes me want to end with a gem from the
Rush Limbaugh Treasury of Iiumor: "Women should
not be allowed on juries where the accused is a stud."
Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.
To find out more about Froma Harrop, and read
features by other Creators Syndicate writers and
cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at
www.creators.com.
POTPOURRI
O leprechauns and shamrocks
Sweetwater has the repu-
tation of turning red in the
fall; Saturday, with the rest
of the nation, it is likely to
turn green. March
17 has been celebrat-
ed as Saint Patrick's
Day for thousands
of years; in the rela-
tively recent past, it
has become a day
of celebration for
people whose con-
nection with the
Emerald Isle is ten-
uous at best!
The date was set
on the Catholic cal-
endar as a feast day
to honor the indi-
vidual known as the
patron saint of Ireland. Born
British (wouldn't you know!)
in 387 AD to Christian par-
ents, he was kidnapped by
Irish raiders at about the
age of sixteen. The next
several years were spent
in captivity, working out-
doors caring for the flocks
of his captor, a Druid high
priest. Lonely and afraid,
he turned inward, and to
the religion he had learned
as a child. In time, Patrick
escaped, walked roughly
200 miles to the coast, and
returned to Britain. Shortly
after his return, however,
he saw a vision in which an
angel directed him to return
to Ireland as a missionary.
He took religious training
for nearly fifteen years, was
ordained a priest, and sent
by his order to Ireland for
the dual purpose of serv-
ing the Christians who were
there and converting oth-
GUEST COLUMN
iisa
Peterson
ere to the faith. Most of
the people of Ireland at
that time practiced a native
based religion, centered on
oral tradition and
myth. Thanks to
his involuntary time
spent immersed
in their culture,
Patrick knew how
to reach them. It
is believed that he
died peacefully on
March 17, 460.
It is generally
accepted that many
of the traditions of
Christianity were
"borrowed" from
other religions by
missionaries in their
efforts at conversion. Patrick
was not different; the cross
known as the "Celtic Cross"
has at its center a stylized
sun, a carryover from the
older beliefs. Bonfires were
important to the Irish people
as part of their celebrations,
and these became incorpo-
rated into Easter festivities.
He was, apparently, quite
successful in his mission,
as Ireland was completely
Christianized in 200 years.
From earliest history, the
Irish have loved a good tale,
honoring their seanchais
(pronounced shanachies)
and bards throughout time.
The ability to spin a good
tale on a long night being
more valued than accuracy,
the love of yarns has led
to many myths - including
the one about the snakes —
about the good St. Patrick.
The symbols of St.
Patrick's day have their
basis more in legend than
reality. There is no evidence
to indicate that there were
ever snakes on the Emerald
Isle...which would make it
challenging to chase them
out. More than likely, the
"snakes" of the legend are
a symbol for the religions
which were practiced by the
Irish people prior to accept-
ing Christianity. The sham-
rock, or seamroy, was long
honored among the ancient
Celts as a symbol of spring
and rebirth. As the people
of Ireland struggled against
the British monarchy, it
became a symbol of the
rebirth of the Irish nation;
as such, by the 17th century
it was considered the unof-
ficial symbol of Ireland. The
leprechaun of tomorrow's
celebration is largely a Walt
Disney (Darby O'Gill & the
Little People) creation. Celts
of Patrick's day believed in
"lobaircin" or "small boned
fellows", who were kin to
fairies and had magical
powers. Leprechauns were
pretty low on the fairy totem
pole, as their position in
life was to mend the shoes
of the other fairy types, a
profession which left them
quite cranky and difficult.
It was believed that they had
vast stores of treasure, and
always believed mortals to
be in search of it. They were
minor figures in Irish folk-
lore, and had nothing at all
to do with Saint Patrick!
Saint Patrick's Day in
Ireland was, until very recent
history, a religious day. Pubs
were closed; families attend-
ed church in the morning,
then would celebrate in the
afternoon. Since the day
always falls during the fast-
ing season of Lent, the ban
on meat would be waived for
that day, leading to the cel-
ebratory meal of Irish bacon
and cabbage becoming tra-
ditional food for the day.
The Irish have observed the
day for thousands of years;
Americans discovered it in
1762, and it has now gone
global. At a time when
signs stating "no Irish need
apply" adorned many busi-
nesses, the celebration was
a way to connect with the
homeland left behind, and,
to use modern terms, to net-
work together. As the Irish
came to realize the politi-
cal power associated with
numbers, they became a
powerful voting block, and
Saint Patrick's Day parades
a place for ambitious politi-
cians to be seen. Green beer
is an American invention.
At this point, it is hard to
find persons in the US who,
at least on this one day, will
not claim to have a "bit of
the Irish", if only to have an
excuse to join the celebra-
tion. Cards, goofy hats, pins,
and the like abound, and, if
only for a day, our nation
goes from about 12% Irish
ancestry to at least 75%! So
- slainte ((good) health)!
Lisa Peterson is the
County Attorney for
Nolan County. Comments
about this column may be
e-mailed to editor<3jsweet-
wa ter reporter, com
We all want efficient government, dor t we?
While right now it may
seem that the right is com-
pletely occupied with an
internal battle among con-
servatives for the Republican
Presidential
Nomination, the
truth is that's just a
prelude to the main
event. As distract-
ing as the "chase for
the nomination is",
the real issue is the
struggle between lib-
erals and conserva-
tives, and who wins
(or some may look at
it as who doesn't win)
the Presidential elec-
tion, along with all
of the other Senate,
House, State, and
Municipal elections
that take place at the same
time. As attention grabbing
as the primary's are, the
general election is where die
direction of this great nation
will be decided.
Unfortunately, while the
right is occupied with the
state by state primaries, the
left is not being distracted
and is going to great lengdis
to tiy and shape the results of
die coming general election
to their benefit.
One way the left bies to
create confusion, which they
tiien use to push through tlieir
agenda, is by using the same
language, or terms as their
opponents (sadly, the left
is always fighting die right,
not Americas enemies). They
will say die same things, and
sound very similar, but mean
something completely differ-
ent from their opponents.
If you arc wondering how
I can claim that the two sides
mean different things when
they use the same word,
because after all, it's not hard
to understand what a word
means, let's talk about an
example.
Efficiency. Now, how hard
can it be to understand the
word efficiency? In business,
when we talk about "effi-
ciency", we mean somediing
along die lines of getting a
project accomplished at a
reasonable cost, or expendi-
ture of energy. Just as a per-
sonal point, I think we nor-
mally use the word efficiency
in a comparative manner.
For instance, when we say
tiiat a robot in an assembly
line works more efficiently
than the people or equipment
it replaced, what we roughly
mean is die work is being
accomplished in a less cost-
ly manner than before. We
don't necessarily mean that
it is being done in the best
manner possible, just better,
and thus more "efficiently"
than previously. By die way,
I have also seen new gen-
eration equipment tiiat didn't
work out and was replaced by
a human who could get the
job done widi less cost and
trouble.
Anyway, going from the
world of business, and step-
Brace
Kreitler
ping "through the looking
glass" (watch your step Alice)
into die world of government,
the word efficiency takes on
entirely different meanings
and connotations.
The reason that
diis particular word
is so important is
because both sides
(right and left, or if
you like, right and
wrong) have used
this term in their
arguments about
how government
should be handled.
Admittedly, I have
heard people on the
right use the word
"inefficiencies" inter-
changeably widi effi-
ciency. When they
do this they are usually talk-
ing about getting rid of ineffi-
ciencies in government and I
take their meaning to be diat
they intend to erase parts of
the federal government (or
whatever program is under
discussion) in an effort to
make the remainder efficient.
As far as I'm concerned, the
best padi diere would just be
to eliminate whole programs,
but I digress.
So getting back on track,
basically, when people on the
right talk about making gov-
ernment more efficient, what
they mean is they want to
bring the cost of government
down while either maintain-
ing the program, or, and this
is important, reducing the
program or agency to doing
only what it is supposed to
do. In the eyes of a conserva-
tive, a federal agency or pro-
gram would do exactiy what
it is supposed to do, do it in
the least expensive manner
without increasing its own
operating costs, and (I know
this part is a dream) at some
point accomplish the agreed
upon mission and either
reduce or eliminate itself.
Since none of us can think
of any federal agency that
has ever followed that path,
you can understand why it
is a goal that we (conserva-
tives) just can't stop trying
to attain .
Say, do you suppose when
Ccn antcs wrote Don Quixote,
he was actually talking about
a man who was taking on
a national government, or
agency of a national gov-
ernment but had to put his
tale in a form that wouldn't
bore people to tears (unlike
Tolstoy who didn't manage
the 11011-boiing format with
War and Peace)?
Basically, I feel people on
the right use die word effi-
ciency in relation to govern-
ment to mean government
doing what is actually neces-
sary, no more, and doing it
with the expenditure of as
few tax dollars as possible.
We could spend a lot of time
trying to hammer out how
the happy medium of just
enough government, but not
too much could be obtained,
but that would be a differ-
ent (and probably much lon-
ger) column. I will say that
since we have tried too much
government for so long, I'm
more dian willing to try too
little for just as long, but
again, I digress.
Okay, all of that is clear
enough, and in fact die con-
servative use of the word effi-
ciency regarding die federal
government is not veiy dif-
ferent than die use of the
same word in the business
world. So let's take a look
at how the left regards "effi-
cient" government.
First, while I think I under-
stand the workings of the lib-
eral mind well enough, I do
operate on a logic based sys-
tem, so I may be wrong about
that. Additionally, if I don't
understand them, I'm not
really interested in changing
my way of thinking enough to
"bridge die gap".
Unlike conservatives,
liberals seem to think that
large, invasive, controlling,
bloated government agencies
and over restrictive, intru-
sive laws are a good thing. So
when tiiey use the word "effi-
cient" or "efficiency" (by the
way they also consider a large
number of people employed
by die federal government to
be a good thing) to describe
government, what they are
envisioning definitely isn't
cutting or shrinking it.
Just to put a point 011 it,
apparently the teacher of
the child who had her lunch
seized (you know, I started to
put tiiat in quotation marks,
but since her lunch actually
was seized, no need to insinu-
ate irony or sarcasm) has been
fired. Just to be clear, I'm not
sure what role the teacher
had in that debacle, but the
correct way to handle the
situation (conservative point
of view) would be to clean
house and even re-examine
the need for whatever agency
was responsible (I would like
to go on record here stat-
ing that whatever agency the
responsible person, whoever
it is, works for is a total waste
of time, money, resources,
and should be abolished, top
to bottom). Evidently, the
liberal way to handle it was
to fire the teacher. If that
incident alone doesn't point
out some of the difference
between the right and the
left, I don't know what does.
The method I have devel-
oped to by and determine
exactly what die left means
by what tiiey say, is to watch
what they do and compare
that to their statements.
Using that method, I have
determined that when the
progressives talk about effi-
ciency as it regards govern-
ment diey mean a govern-
ment that has enough people
and money to do whatever it
is charged with and then have
time/money left over to create
new regulations and depart-
ments to extend itself, on its
own, into other, previously
"unmanaged" areas. In short,
as I see it, the liberal efficient
government would be a self
replicating, growdi version of
the nanny state. Since what I
have just described is indeed
what we have right now, I
don't really see how die left
could (logically) argue widi
that statement.
So even thought the left is
out diere right now talking
about efficient (among other
tilings) government, and they
sound a lot like conserva-
tives, the difference in mean-
ing between the two groups
is both vast, and important.
These differences are unspo-
ken (for obvious reasons) but
critically important.
Bruce Kreitler is the
author of Obamageddon
(the Culmination of the
Progressive Looting of
America) and posts this
and other articles at
BruceKreitler.com.
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 046, Ed. 1 Sunday, March 11, 2012, newspaper, March 11, 2012; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229710/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.