Back to Blogging

Hello everyone: Its been a long time since I did any blogging. Nearly trwo years of illness has slowed me down a bit. Some details later if this goes through. Looks as if things have changed since I last blogged. I will send this to see if it goes out.

I have been reading an article in the WSJ concerning the control of the banks by Stuart Varney, host on the Fox Business channel. This article deals with the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) program that has poured money into many banks, some of which did not want it and desire to return it. In fact, this past week (April 1st) four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California have returned 340 million dollars. In most cases, the administration discourages or refuses to accept the returned money. Why? Mr. Varney's answer: "The government wants to control the banks, just as it now controls GM and Chrysler, and will surely control the health industry in the not-too-distant future. Keeping them TARP- stuffed is the key to control... The White House wants to tell (the banks) what to do. Control. Direct. Command. "
Mr. Varney goes on to say, "If the banks are forced to keep TARP cash- which was often forced on them in the first place - the Obama team can work its will on the financial system to unprecedented degree. That's what's happening right now."
One bank is begging to be allowed to return the money, but the administration says, no. The bank is too prominent . The bank is threatened with "adverse" consequences if its chairman persists. "That's politics talking, not economics," says Varney.
"Think about it: If Rick Wagoner can be fired and compact cars can be mandated, why can't a bank with a vault full of TARP money be told where to lend? And since politics drives this administration, why can't special loans and terms be offered to favored constituents, favored industries, or even favored regions? Our prosperity has never been based on the political allocation of credit - until now."
Mr. Varey continues to point our that the Pay for Performance Act, which has just passed by the House, is an outstanding example of class warfare. He says he is an Englishman, and he should know.
Many of the financial institutions are guilty of gross misconduct in their handling of other people's money. We have seen extensive immoral conduct, lust and greed. Where money is available, there will be those who will want to get part of it. However, if there is no moral restraints, all the laws we pass will hardly control the misconduct we have seen in the past few months. Certainly, controls are needed, but let us not over react to the point that we allow government to control our financial institutions, our industries, our health industry and our personal lives. Freedom is becoming more and more a very strange word.

My thoughts on...
Developing a Basis for a Moral Foundation
1. A moral foundation must be based on the belief in the dignity and worth of the individual.

2. A moral foundation must be based on the belief in personal responsibility and accountability. Each person is a free moral agent and is free to act either for good or bad. The good must be promoted and rewarded; the bad denounced and punished.

3. A moral foundation must be based upon some form of authority. That authority may be tradition, self, man made laws or some form of natural law. For the Christian, his authority is the Bible.

4. A moral foundation must demonstrate a concern for the need of the greater society and future generations.

5. A moral foundation must take into consideration the importance of the family as the basic unity of society.

6. A moral foundation must include the establishing of personal ideals, goals and the conviction that one’s actions can be used to make our world a better world.

7. A moral foundation must be based upon the fact that we face a world of good and evil, moral and immoral. We must learn to choose the good and avoid the evil. We must understand what is moral and what is immoral. The child must be taught what is right and wrong.

8. A moral foundation recognizes that each person exerts a good or bad influence upon society and those around him.

9. A moral foundation must be based upon the conviction that destructive ideas and actions should be exposed and denounced.

10. A moral foundation must establish a unifying center to which a society may adhere.

----- Original Message -----
From: Red and Mary Wallace
To: Mannon Wallace
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 9:41 AM
Subject: Re: Illegal Immigrants

My neighborhood has filled up with illegals who work in construction, lawn work, and food service. They do not pay taxes, do not have bank accounts, send all their salary back to Mexico, drive without insurance or licenses, and commit crimes if they can't earn money. Our schools, even in High School, now have Spanish language classes in order to educate the illegals for most subjects instead of making them learn English. They are eligible for State benefits and use the hospital emergency rooms as their family physicians. Nearly every local grocery store hires mostly bilingual help. Nearly all of our grocery commodities have labels printed in both Spanish and English. The state goes out of its way to help them obtain social security numbers and medical benefits. Parkland Hospital is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Texas is becoming a sad Mexican state. Nobody listened to Reza. Still don't!
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********On 4/21/2006 at 8:59 AM Mannon Wallace wrote:
Kudos for James H. Reza. He expresses my sentiments, exactly. Why should we solve Mexico's economic and labor problems by opening our borders to illegal immigrants? Let's just annex Mexico and make her our 51st state. We welcome all those who are willing to come to our country legally,and become English speaking Americans with American values and convictions! So there! Mannon

Mannon's Cogitations

Mannon's Cogitations


Thoughts and Comments from others on Immigration

This is from a Hispanic who lives in Ft Worth, Texas. He's had a column in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and as you can see, expresses himself very well. ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL I can almost assure you that everyone who is a true American was sickened when you saw multitudes of protesters carrying Mexican flags protesting the new Immigration Reform Bill in the Senate. This display of Mexican flags should give you a heads up on where these protesters allegiance lies their hearts are in Mexico and their bellies are in the United States. As an American of Mexican Heritage I want to set the record straight, American Hispanics are not all thrilled with illegal immigration. I, for more than 20 years, tried desperately to bring this national debacle to the attention of the American people. I had the privilege of writing for several newspapers, appeared on national and local TV and radio programs, and was asked by many political groups to address this serious problem affecting my former community (north Fort Worth), city, state, and our country. Many will question how I can speak on this subject with some authority. My simple answer is: I lived with the problem! Trust me, it was no picnic. Never in my life (I'm 68) had I witnessed the lawlessness, the deterioration of my community, and the black market criminal underground activities attributed to the influx of illegal immigrants. To add injury to insult, politicians soon caved in to the many demands of illegal immigrants. Notably: bilingual education, bilingual ballots, welfare aid, free medical care, etc. Through all this national disgrace allowed by our politicians, have you all noticed that no one ever blames the useless, corrupt, and disgraceful government of Mexico? In contrast, they lambaste and criticize our country. How does that grab you? When I addressed the dangers of our porous border between Mexico and the United States, and the lax security of our nation, no one paid attention. As I observed the situation, the problem was perceived to be between American Hispanic communities and illegal immigrants. White Americans it seemed assumed that the problem was not theirs to deal with. In other words they were, asleep at the wheel. However, 9-11 soon woke them up. Lets be honest with each other here, white Americans vote in far larger numbers than Hispanics do. And most politicians (Democrats and Republicans) in our city, state, and federal governments are white. Thus, who is more suited to fix this national disaster? I'm sure most of you know what the answer is. In summation, I'm pleading with white American voters to join me in sending our politicians (Democrats and Republicans) a strong message that we will not tolerate illegal immigrants telling us how to make government policy that will make it easier for them to break our laws. Hope you will join me in this endeavor in our upcoming elections. James H. Reza 4204 Grand Lake Lake Worth, Texas 76135 Phone: 817-237-6287 (H) / Cell 817-454-3316 Please pass this on...it just might get to the other Veterans and VFW, American Legions and to those that truly believe that we will not give our country away !

Education, continued

EDUCATION, CONTINUED

The dictionary defines educate, educated, and education as follows:
To educate: To develop the faculties and power of a person by teaching, instruction, or schooling. To qualify by instruction or training for a particular calling, practice, etc. To train.

Educated: Characterized by or displaying qualities of culture and learning.

Education: The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge and of developing the powers of reasoning and judgment.
The act or process of imparting or acquiring a particular knowledge or skills as for a trade or profession.
A certain distinction is made between education and training.
Education is the development of the special and general abilities of the mind (learning to know): a liberal education.
Training is practical education (empirical, learning to do by experience) or practice, usually under supervision, in some art, trade, or profession: training in art, teacher training.
There are those who believe that to be educated means getting through high school or college and getting a degree. However having a diploma or degree is no prof of education.
One philosophy teacher (My undergraduate work was in Philosophy and Psychology) has listed six characteristics that identify the educated man. (Harold H. Titus, "Living Isssues in Philosophy," pp.527-529.) I think they are well worth considering.

1. To be educated means to know at least one field with some throughness. Education should be in part a preparation for one's vocation.
2. To be educated means to be able to communicate with others, to be able to speak and write one's native language with a high degree of competence.
3. To be educated means to be able to live in a changing world and to entertain new ideas.
4. To be educated means to be able to get along with others.
5. To be educated means to be able to entertain oneself, to develop a rich inner life and a wide range of appreciations and inner controls.
6. To be educated is to be sensitive to the larger spiritual order of which man is a part.

Public Education

It's My Opinion...

Public education seems to be missing the boat when it comes to educating our children. We are so consumed with the idea of SAT scores, reading levels, and math skills that we have failed to see the purpose in all this.

The real purpose in education is two-fold: to impart knowledge to the mind and train in the practical use of a particular skill in order to make a living.

Education is more than attending twelve, fourteen or more years and graduating with a diploma or a degree. At the end of those years, what can one do with a high school diploma? What can one do with a BA degree?

One of the main reasons young people get into trouble is that they have nothing to do. Many of the inmates in prison are there because they have no skills with which to make a living. Many prisons are now making it mandatory that the prisoner have some skill, some way to make a living, before being released to the public.

One of the reasons many students are bored, uninterested and become a drop-out, is that they see no connection or meaning between learning and making a living.
What is the purpose with all this math when little of it is used in practical life? What is the purpose of learning grammar when you don't plan to do any writing? Why learn geography if you don't plan to travel? Who cares about what happened two hundred years ago if you are having trouble getting along with your friends today? This is not to say that these subjects are unimportant. They are very important. But they should lead to a purpose in life. When a student links courses of study to a purpose in life, he becomes motivated to learn.

Every student should have a skill upon graduating from high school. The last two years of high school should be used to teach some skill that will prepare him or her for a job. Our society, and most societies, need carpenters, plumbers, auto mechanics, electricians, electronic repairmen, landscaper, service people, business managers and on and on we could go. When you try to get your car repaired or get a plumber, you usually get the answer, "maybe tomorrow." Yet we hear again and again, "there are no jobs." There are plenty of jobs, just unskilled workers.

For all high school graduates, let's place an emphasis upon training for a job, as well as imparting information to the mind.
(To be continued)

Crime and Punishment

My Thoughts:

It is axiomatic that crime is very much a part of our society and is becoming more and more violent and gruesome with each succeeding generation. Crime, its prevention and control, cannot be ignored, nor can it be dealt with, on the basis of emotion or spurious arguments. Crime is the result of undisciplined minds, weak character, low moral values, and a lack of respect for the lives and property of others. No society can long maintain law and order without moral education. Immoral people commit immoral acts. The consequences of a crime must outweigh the pleasure of committing it. The penalty must match the crime. Victim(s) must be compensated. A man's house is his castle. A life is worth a life. Every society must have a standard, or set of rules, by which a person's conduct is to be measured and consequences determined. That standard must be accepted, and supported, by a majority of the people to be effective. Every society has some set of standards for the control of its members, usually based upon some concept of a God and what He expects of them. Those expectations may be codified, verbalized, or built into the traditions of that culture. The kind of God that culture worships will determine the character and moral level of that society. Evil's purpose is to triumph over righteousness. It is not bound by rules, regulations, boundaries, or restrictions, and will triumph unless those who are of strong moral character and convictions stand up against it. When evil triumphs, the results will be judgment and destruction. The Christian society has accepted the Bible as its standard for faith and practice.