Which is more culturally relevant: EASTER, …or Cesar Chavez’ birthday?

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter.

My family and I enjoyed ourselves, hosting my sister-in-law’s family after morning mass, while I kept track of the NCAA Hockey tournament. However, only one little unnecessarily political event ruined an otherwise politics-free day, as my brother-in-law and I jumped on the web for a quick hockey update.

This:

Yes, on Easter Sunday: a national holiday and special day of reverence for the overwhelming majority of Americans (both religious and secular), Google chose to make their daily doodle a celebration of the birthday of Cesar Chavez, rather than some sort of recognition of Easter.

Gun Control, our Children and the State

You have likely heard of some of the more ridiculous gun-related stories from the past week:

• The kid who ate his Pop-Tart into the “shape” of a gun and was suspended;
• the 5-year old girl who was suspended for “terrorist threats” that she made with…her ‘Hello Kitty automatic Bubble Blower©’;
• and the other day the 3rd-grader who had his cupcakes confiscated due to his decorating them with little green WWII plastic soldiers.

Welcome to the new ‘tolerance’.

These events prompted Maryland state senator J. B. Jennings to introduce “Senate Bill 1058 – The Reasonable School Discipline Act of 2013″. Courtesy of the Daily Caller:

“Everything’s Amazing, and NO ONE is Happy”

Today’s post title, stolen from the opening minutes of a video we posted a few weeks back, is as good a summation as I’ve heard for our nation today.

Our lives are filled with wonders which were unimaginable just a short time ago: tiny cell phones, huge flat-screen TVs, laptop computers & tablets, and every other sort of convenience for our homes.

And yet, much like spoiled little Veruca Salt in ‘Charlie & The Chocolate Factory‘, too many folks in our nation today want what they want right now, …and upon receiving it are still not satiated. They merely move on to the next “want”. They never seem to be truly happy or at peace.

Which begs the obvious question, WHY?

I’m betting we could ALL guess at a few of the likely reasons:

Rewriting History: the Left’s favorite tool, and how to combat it

It’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned Chris Matthews, which is likely due to MSNBC’s nightly viewership being a number I could roll on a pair of dice.

That said, their parent network (NBC) often references them, which means their influence is magnified far more than their worse-than-dismal ratings warrant. And THAT’s why I still, occasionally, pay attention to the prattling of Matthews & Co.

The following quote is from Matthews’ Wednesday night ‘Hardball’ show, but the date really doesn’t matter: his shtick is the same, every night and every week. Chris Matthews often describes himself as “leaning” left. HA!

He leans so far left, he’s horizontal.

Read the following and you’ll see what I mean: (courtesy of HotAir.com and Duane Patterson, as well as Newsbusters.org):

Charlie Brown, the War on Christmas, and what it means for the culture-at-large

Just saw my first “War on Christmas” story for 2012, from a group called ‘Arkansas Society of Freethinkers‘ doing the annual secularist freak-out.

But as you read this, remember: the repeated refrain we hear in the media is that there IS no such ‘war’, and that it’s a contrived creation of the “Christian right” and Fox News.

From Statepress.com:

“This isn’t about Charlie Brown or Christmas, it’s about the separation of church and state,” Anne Orsi, the vice president The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers, said in her statement voicing opposition to the actions taken by the Terry Elementary School in Little Rock, Ark.

The school took students to a [stage] performance of “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown,” reinvigorating a debate between the pious and secular.

The school should not have taken the children to see this play, regardless of giving the option to attend. Not because it violates the Constitution or breaks freedom of religion, but because the state should not have any say in the spiritual or religious education of our children…

What do the election, Benghazi, and the Israel/Hamas war have in common?

—–

ANSWER: culture.

For instance, when you shake your head and wonder how could any rational person think that Israel defending itself is an unprovoked attack, keep in mind that such “thinking” has been stoked, taught and reinforced to much of our society since they were in grade-school. In high-schools & colleges, ‘unpopular thought’ isn’t being discouraged: it’s being systematically stamped out. Our schools are now highly expensive inculcation centers, rather than institutions of higher learning.

The election? The logical result of a Progressive ideology which is pervasive throughout  our society.

Benghazi? Our president has lied, repeatedly, on this entire debacle and still the press doesn’t push for the truth, leaving it to the Wall Street Journal, conservative blogs and Fox News.

More election analysis: Yep, we’re DIVIDED, but NOT in the way you might think

Two excellent jobs of analysis, coming from two starkly different viewpoints. Both are worthy of serious consideration, though.

The first is from one of our buddies, Cosmoscon, titled ‘A Divided America‘:

“Conventional wisdom tells us that über 1%-er Romney and the Republicans mainly do the bidding of the wealthy and Obama and the Democrats represent the poor. 

Not according to this: