Quite unlike those noble Aztecs.
Posted on 07/04/2006 7:03:39 PM PDT by infoguy
If you thought the folks at the Los Angeles Times would use the Fourth of July to take a day off from spewing their usual bias and vitriol, think again. Readers of today's op-ed page (Tuesday, July 4, 2006) in the Times are greeted to this piece of bitterness by Mark Kurlansky, "Fathers don't always know best" (The title comes from the print edition; online, the title is, "WWFFD? Who cares?" We have already written about the discrepancy between the print and online titles at the Times here.).
Apparently, Kurlansky is not too impressed by the very people who founded our nation. He begins his column by listing reasons why the United States is such a horrible "backward democracy." And the blame, implies Kurlansky, lies at the feet of the Founding Fathers (emphasis mine):
We ought to do something. Instead, we keep worrying about the vision of a bunch of sexist, slave-owning 18th century white men in wigs and breeches. Even in the 18th century, the founding fathers were not the most enlightened thinkers available. They were the ones whose ideas prevailed. Those who favored independence but were not in favor of war are not called founding fathers. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania ...
Gee, and a Happy Fourth of July to you, too, Mark!
Someone might want to remind Mark that the very freedom of the press that he enjoys is owed not only to the men and women who have fought for its defense over the centuries, but also to the very men who enshrined it in our Constitution. Hey, Mark. Every country doesn't have that freedom.
(By the way, Kurlansky's piece also contains a whopper of bad writing. He begins his article by ranting, "I am sick and tired of the founding fathers and all their intents." Yet in his closing paragraph, he appeals, "So let us stop worshiping the founding fathers and allow our minds to progress and try to build a nation of great new ideas. That is, after all, the intent of the founding fathers." Apparently, Kurlansky is sick and tired of the intents of the Founding Fathers, but we should follow his premise because that was ... the ... intent ... of ... the Fathers. Good grief. Does anyone ever edit these articles besides their titles?)
=-=
Kurlansky is not the only killjoy today. Next to Kurlansky's sad opinion piece is the latest drivel from Joel "I Don't Support Our troops" Stein. Apparently, Joel thought the Fourth of July would be a terrific day to belittle the American flag and the people who display it proudly. His article is, "Eek! A flag on my lawn!" As a promotion, a local realtor planted a small flag outside of Stein's house and at those of his neighbors. Is Stein grateful for the flag? Not in the least. As the title of his article suggests, Stein acts as if the flag were the equivalent of a poisonous vial of anthrax left in his driveway. Stein harps over his "panic" over the flag.
But my bigger panic was over what to do with it. I'm not a flag-waving kind of guy, but I knew damn well that I couldn't just throw it in the trash. Throwing away a flag is very, very bad. It's just as bad as burning it, which, I believe, brings 30 years of bad luck to your country, leading it to repeat the same mistakes. Like sending troops abroad to fight in open-ended civil wars.
So I was going to have to keep this flag for the rest of my life.
Much like you, at about this point, my wife, Cassandra, got sick of this conversation. So she plucked the flag out of our planter and threw it away, not even in the recycle bin. This is a woman who hates both political parties.
Someone might want to let Joel and Cassandra Stein that the American flag has nothing to do with political parties. "Hating both political parties" should have no bearing on your love for the United States, Cass.
But Stein gives away his usual condescension and arrogance in this passage (emphasis mine):
[The realtor] told me that in the town she grew up in near St. Louis, most people kept a flag up all year. Even though I've seen tons of neighborhoods that do this, I've never actually lived in one. I've also never lived in a neighborhood that had those flags reminding you of the holidays and seasons. In fact, I've always looked down on those places. If you need semaphore to inform each other that it's going to get hotter in the upcoming months, nobody is putting a magnet school in your community.
So the reason I didn't want to put a flag outside wasn't because I disapprove of our international policies. It was because I didn't want to associate myself with the other people who put them up, and with their unquestioning, tribal, us-versus-them, arrogant mentality. Though I love being American, I don't want to proclaim it as the sole basis of my identity.
Yikes. Did Stein actually say "arrogant"? Yes, he did.
Happy Fourth of July.
Hey, Mark and Joel - who won the last presidential elections with MORE VOTES THAN ANY US CANIDATE IN HISTORY?
hahahahaha.
This editorial has a bright side: it will drive down the Times circulation even more!
Our flag flies year round.
LOL @ Dave. He actually thinks Joel Stein's wife took his last name! hahahahahaha!
Though, maybe Stein was her last name and he took hers...
Quite unlike those noble Aztecs.
It's the democracy thing they can't stand. They liked it better when we were led by an inbred bunch of arrogant elites.
Now THAT kind of government they could get behind!
But you WILL associate yourself with other liberals, with their unquestioning, tribal, cultish, 'us-vs-them', arrogant liberal mentality ... yes ?
Of course, I can see why Dave might have been flustered. I mean, the very idea that Joel has a wife in the first place brings so many questions to mind. Number one being, is she pre-op or post-op? :P
Why? In their minds urinating on the flag is patriotic. You can never criticize the left. They will just redefine the words to mean what they want.
It's a convenient way to side-step the truth - the framers were radicals, but they weren't proletariat style revolutionaries. They were people who had *everything* to lose and quite a few of the signers did lose everything. It was unanimous vote. This doesn't fit in with revisionists view. And that's what happens as memories fade, - history must conform to the vision of those writing about it, not the folks who were there.
Has anyone gotten this to the Hugh Hewitt show or Radioblogger.com?
Bleah! Such drivel, and on the day we celebrate our nation's birth, too.
What does WWFFD mean? I don't want to give the LAT the satisfaction of a hit.
Considering the enormity of their hatred, it is not surprising that they eagerly serve as a fifth column for America's enemies abroad.
It is of no surprise that the Left has allied itself with and willingly serves the very enemies that attacked the U.S.A. on September 11, 2001, in a replay of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Empire.
Considering all this, the more the American people know about the Left and the more America's domestic enemies of the Left get their message out, the better.
We must make sure that the Left gets plenty of exposure. Their message speaks for itself.
What Would the Founding Fathers Do?
The kind of question only eeeeevil conservative supreme court justices might ask themselves...the 'enlightened' ones ask questions like:
WDIWDAHDIMCST
Which stands for What Do I Want to Do And How Do I Make the Constitution Say That.
:D
My guess is What Would Founding Fathers Do?...But I'm not going to give them a hit either.
Ward Churchill is Joel's kinda guy.
They are hastening their own demise. Not fast enough, for my tastes, but they're still working on it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.