This is my grandson. He is 21 months old.
Look at those legs. He will be a linebacker and catcher just like his dad. I think he’ll probably play for the Cowboys and Astros, and in his spare time earn a couple of Pulitzer and Nobel prizes.
But I’m just a grandpa. What do I know?
I have been involved in sports all my life. As a kid I played baseball, fooball, soccer, cricket, and basketball. As I grew older I continued playing softball, volleyball, racquetball, and golf, and coached baseball, basketball, and football. As my knees gave out, I could no longer keep up in sports requiring quick changes in direction, and golf became my one activity.
Golf is unique, and that is something I hope continues now that Tiger-mania has died down. What makes it unique is the requirement for a player to understand the rules, and penalize himself for violating one. Some of that has been lost with the huge influx of new players over the last decade. It is coming back.
That integrity is something that can carry over for a child raised in the game. Fair play means far more in golf than in other sports because of it. For that reason, this program in the home neighborhood for Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., is especially meaningful. Bobby Jones was considered a paragon of virtue in the game. He would beat the crap out of you with no remorse, but fair play always ruled.
I bring this all up due to the article I just cited, which I found in a serendipitous way. It combines several of my interests in one successful program. East Lake Golf Club was Bobby Jones’ home course. As a boy and young man, he had a terrific temper. His golf showed it. When things went well, he had a syrupy smooth swing. When they didn’t, golf clubs were broken, and curses filled the air. Once he gained control of his demons, he was unbeatable. His Grand Slam is incomparable, and will never be matched. Unlike today’s version, he won the US Amateur, British Amateur, British Open, and US Open Championships in a single year. To my knowledge, nobody has won all four of those tournaments since, let alone all in one year. Tiger has won all but the British Amateur.
The year before Jones died, the Atlanta Housing Authority opened the East Lake Meadows housing project on what had been the Number 2 course at the country club. By the early 1980s, the project would be better known as “Little Vietnam,” a nickname given for its over-the-top crime rates and drug trade. The housing project crippled not only the lives of those residing within it, but the surrounding community as well. Drug traffickers took over the bungalows lining the golf course and converted them to crack houses. The storied golf club that had nurtured Jones was brought to the brink of bankruptcy. The community that once represented the best of the New Atlanta was now a community without hope.
Tom Cousins, an Atlanta philanthropist, decided he had thrown money around at different “solutions” for years without result, and decided to take on the task himself. He changed the entire area of East Lake by rebuilding the Country Club, tearing down the projects, and building a new community with low- to mid-range housing along with encouraging business growth. The local elementary school was rebuilt, and a charter school has taken its place.
Golf has a role, as well.
Most of the money that Cousins’ foundation put into the East Lake community went into building the Charlie Yates course and restoring the East Lake Golf Club. The Yates course is there for more than aesthetics, though its lush fairways and sparkling lake do create a pleasant environment. Borrowing an idea from golfing legend Chi Chi Rodriguez, Cousins also established a Junior Golf Academy at Yates. The academy is closely affiliated with Drew Charter School and serves as a key youth development program for East Lake kids. To date, the academy has exposed over 1,000 students to the game. To take advantage of the full range of academy activities, students must reach academic benchmarks. The best players who make grades are allowed to travel to golf tournaments. This year, in recognition of the ongoing East Lake relationship with the PGA TOUR Championship, the Junior Golf Academy will become a part of the First Tee Program–a PGA sponsored program to increase inner-city and minority children
I didn’t watch the debate. I had no reason to. I, like almost everyone else who will actually cast a ballot November 2, have already decided who I will vote for. And somewhere in Texas, an illegal vote will be cast which negates my legal one.
I won’t waste time surfing today because the talk will all be about the debate. As if the words spoken last night have any real meaning. I think I can see these two men quite clearly through the actions they have taken–their records of accomplishment or non-accomplishment. If we view only the most recent three years, it is quite clear which man puts this country ahead of others, and ahead of his own personal future.
People forget how politically dangerous it was for us to go into Afghanistan. All the talk is of Iraq. Bush did what needed to be done, and his political opponents–ones who now would say doing it was right–predicted doom and gloom. Think of that for a minute and try to remember. Today those same people claim going into Iraq distracted us from doing the work they didn’t want us to do in Afghanistan. They would say Bush took a political gamble and won. I say Bush ignored politics and did what he was supposed to do as President.
The same doom and gloom hung over our involvement in Iraq. Millions would die. Refugees would flood the neighboring countries. There would be a human catastrophe. Didn’t happen. And the problems there now are the result of the doom-and-gloomers trying to turn Iraq into the new Vietnam, because they’ve said it is. They want it to be.
Bush may not have a future in politics after November 2. I don’t think he will lose any sleep over the decisions he has made if he does lose. He has been Presidential. Which is what we hired him to be.
As I read Intellectual Morons, I am consistently amazed at what passes for education in our Centers for Higher Education. Dan Rather’s use of fake documents pales in comparison to some of the textbooks and reading resources required at universities.
What is troubling to me is the attitude of many educators who use these. For example, one book required at many of our top colleges is I, Rigoberta Mench
I’m being overcome by the Dark Side. The last couple of days have been evil, and it is trying to envelop me. It goes beyond Dan Rather, but he is the catalyst.
We have many people in this country, folks like MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, and the DNC heirarchy, who celebrate in their hearts every death in Iraq. They bemoan the deaths of American soldiers with pity, and the deaths of Iraqis and others with false angst. Because these haters despise Dubya, any death is part of their tally toward his defeat, another stone on the scale. I resent that. Life is precious. Apologizers might say these folks really don’t want people to die, and they are trying to prevent death. Bull. They weren’t crying about all the deaths in Iraq prior to our invasion. They aren’t crying about all the deaths in Sudan.
I’ve had to reassess my view of the Democratic Party and its supporters. Death and misery seem to be at their core. It is as if they feel they can succeed in gaining power only if people in the world are dying or near death. They claim to be passionate about helping folks, sharing their altruistic nature in campaigns. In reality, they do nothing to help once they have power. Charity begins at home, yet how many of them actually contribute anything more than words to helping others? Talk is cheap.
Aligning themselves with despots of the world, Democrats/Socialists seem to thrive on the misery those dictators create. The deaths of thousands in North Korea, Iraq, and Sudan do nothing but make them wring their hands. Deaths of thousands on 9/11 here did nothing but make them even more adamant that we were to blame. People like Kofi Annan and Jacques Chirac making millions from a mass murderer is fine, as long as they like us and don’t talk bad about us.
That carries over to domestic issues. Giving needy people a pittance, subsistence, will make them grateful enough to vote the right way, but it will do nothing to get them out of their personal rut. Misery is good for the DNC. And death. I saw a sonogram of our next grandchild last week. That baby is moving, has a strong heart, ten fingers and ten toes, and moves its mouth. It is alive. All I could think of when watching the video was, “How can someone say that’s not a human being? How can someone believe it is okay to kill that baby?” Death is okay if it serves their purpose. Death is good.
I dislike the political process, and am ready for it to be over this year. But it has been going strong since 2000. For the last year in particular, Democrats have offered nothing positive. Throughout their primaries, they seldom even talked to and about one another. The topic was always Bush. When the Swift Boat Vets came out against Kerry’s candidacy, the major media ignored them. Until they couldn’t any longer. Now they are again ignoring them by spending all their time on imaginary wrongs committed by or for benefit of George W. Bush. Yes, they are imaginary. I’ve found absolutely none of them to be true. And I have tried. Perpetuation of lies. Yet none can respond to the charges by the Swift Boat Vets. All they can do is try and find dirt on individuals in the group, attempting to destroy their credibility. How about Rather’s credibility? Where is the outcry?
Death and misery. Is that not evil? Are we not now in a fight between the Force and the Dark Side? In my view, the Dark Side in this country want politics to govern our society and culture. That is the opposite of what our Constitution was written to accomplish. I need to resist the Dark Side. I don’t thrive in that the way some seem to.
Alex and Paulie have had an ongoing discussion both on blogs and through email regarding the concepts of good and evil, religion, and Islam. All these have coalesced as this post at The Commons.
It is a long one, one in which Paulie attempted to put all of it into perspective. Last night I printed it out so I could read it at leisure and not on a monitor screen. That’s how we old guys have to do things as our eyesight deteriorates. I suggest it to you all, and Paulie is very interested in seeing the discussion continue in his comments.
I agree with the general concepts he presents. But I wanted to add my own thoughts both here and on his site.
I look back at a film series which has the essence of it all in three episodes: Star Wars. The most recent episodes have lost the flavor and are really nothing more than productions meant to fulfil the thirst of fans–both of Star Wars and computer generated visuals. The stories don’t have much to them. But the first three are extremely symbolic of the concepts of Good and Evil, God and Satan.
My personal religiosity fits well with the concepts in the trilogy. We humans are quick to think of God as something in human form with thought processes much like our own. Likewise for Satan. But my sense of the Almighty is very much like The Force. God is the synergism of Good. Likewise, Satan is a collective of the Dark Side, of evil people and their own energy. It matters not which religion they claim to follow, the Good or Evil they do is their adherence to a god.
For that reason, I see no organized religion which completely fits my view of God. I am a Christian. I view Jesus, as does Paulie, as an embodiment of Good in this world. But I do not align myself with any sect.
Now, as I say that, I understand there are people out there who will repeat the chant, “If we could all just get along.” Yes, that is what Jesus advocated. But there is another force working out there which refuses to “just get along” except on their very personal terms. Do you reconcile this conflict through appeasement? That is the only avenue they offer, and that only for long enough to become overpowering. Getting along is not their goal.
The United States has the power to be overwhelming, both economically and militarily. Yet we aren’t, because we choose not to be. Is there any doubt that given the same powers we have, those we are supposed to get along with would eliminate us from the face of the Earth?
So, which side works for Evil, and which side works for good, albeit imperfectly. Which will eventually prevail? It really comes down to what the people of this world view is best. Right now, there are a lot of folks both here and abroad who want the Evil side to win, even though they won’t say it aloud.
One thing I’ve observed in comments on my site and others is that if you mention history, the leftist knee-jerk reaction is “You’re blaming Clinton! or “Remember how Nixon failed in Vietnam!” It is as if the interceding 25 years didn’t even exist. I guess for many of them, they didn’t. But this war against Islamicists could have been dealt with during those years. There was an overriding concern during much of that time, however: Nuclear War with the Soviet Union. Prior to 1989, any move we made in the world had that shadow hanging over it. North Vietnam could have easily been dispensed with. So, too, North Korea. Many of the smaller conflicts around the world were warfare by proxy.
That changed in 1989, and we didn’t.
Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite writers. Not just because of his skill with words, but because he is also a dedicated student of history. This day, there are two articles of his that everyone (including “truth man” and “curveball”) should take the time to read. I don’t expect those two visitors to do so. It might upset their vison of the world. I hope they will read them, and be driven by the desire to read and try to understand rather than try to find fault with the words.
The Fruits of Appeasement is from this spring. “truth man”, if you botherd to read this you might understand the post above.
As long ago as the fourth century B.C., Demosthenes warned how complacency and self-delusion among an affluent and free Athenian people allowed a Macedonian thug like Philip II to end some four centuries of Greek liberty
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