...this amoozing column from a fave website "American Thinker" gave me a chuckle of self-recognition.  I remember that hilarious episode of Maude she cites.  On the other hand, I was looking forward to The Goode Family but thought it was muy unfunny.  And speaking of parking regulations, have you seen these special spaces allotted to Pregnant Women???  At a time when they SHOULD be walking!  Unbelievable they get parking spaces in the same vicinity as the Handicapped Parking.  Unconscionable. 

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 Top secret.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

I'm so glad we have this guy to sum up the liberal experience! :)  Anxiously awaiting his next columns "Berkeley car art not gas efficient" and "I don't like girls who don't shave their legs"

If you like strip malls and acres of parking around your Wallmart you probably wouldn't like Berkeley.  I bet less liberal cities would have similar parking problems though: people who can't afford SF live there, plus it has one of the best universities in the world which brings people into the city every day.

 Panhandling is really common, and I think businesses have a legitimate complaint that the city could do more to spruce up Telegraph ave.  Crime is much more of a bummer, but tends to be spill-over from Oakland or hitting soft-targets at the university. 

Yes, she is a she.  Here's what she wrote about her conversion. Tell me, any liberal or leftist or socialists who are reading this if there's anything familiar in her sensibilities. 

May 21, 2009

How to Deprogram a Liberal in One Year Or Less

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Idealism vs.  Realism  - take your pick in this age old battle

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I think the problem with it is that very few "liberals" actually believe all the things this author says she believed early on (even in Berkeley).   I'm definitely left of center, (fwiw, on those graphs of social/economic ideology I came out in the middle of the liberal quandrant).  You can be a liberal and have a 401k, dislike radical islam, not believe in 9/11 conspiracy theories...  Also, the sort of implicit argument that if you don't believe ALL the things she says liberals stand for, then the only option is to go to the far right.  I feel like she would self-destruct if she met someone with half an ounce of nuance to their political worldview.

She lost pretty much all resonance with me when she said she thought the democrats were getting to "rough and mean"(????), then decided she liked Savage and Hannity.  Also the "family values" thing...

One thing that did strike a chord was on communist leaders.  I didn't have much of an opinion on Castro (I wasn't alive for the cuban missle crisis- so cuba wasn't on my radar except for their cool cars and music).  I did live/work for 6 months in pre-Chavez Venezuela.  When he first came to power I was much more supportive of his regime and populist message, but I've definitely come to dislike him as he's clearly become just another a-hole dictator.

Well, bio, she was writing with a modicum of intended humor so that could explain the broad strokes.

As for being on the left and not believing 9/11 conspiracies, I agree with you that such lunacy is not exclusive to the left.  I'm not even convinced that those who went bonifide wackidoo over 911 truthiness even believed in it so much as they were simply victims of viral Bush derangement syndrome of the era.  However when in New York one Sunday, I happened onto a typical anti-war Sunday in Central Park, composed largely of leftie leftists.  You can see much evidence of their proclivity to believe that "9/11 was an inside job" and to question just what happened to WTC-7 (or whichever bldg. it was) that so gripped the imagination of Rosey O'Donnell.  Here are a few of my photo momentos of that day.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

So I had to check out this American Thinker website.  What a bunch of silliness!  Obama was blasted for wanting to pick Supreme Court justices with the quality of empathy (ridiculous!) and wanting to have some control over the big business who have their hands out for government money but want them to get lost after that.  I mean, really, why should these businesses be accountable for the billions of dollars that our great grandkids will still be paying for?

I don't believe in all liberal causes by any means.  But I don't think there is anything wrong with the evolution of society as times change.  I don't think that one can justify stagnation by calling it "traditional values".  Slaveholders used to justify their cruelty by siting biblical passages by saying that being black was "the mark of Cain" and that they were supposed to be ruled over.  Women had no personal rights because they weren't "smart enough" to make decisions.   Introduction of new ideas and ideals doesn't taint society.  The beauty of this country is that we have the right to choose, to vote for the causes that we all find important. This is one of the founding principles of the United States.  I think the conservatives are just salty that they aren't the majority anymore.

I often wonder how much thought conservatives give to traditional values that used to make up the moral fabric of our society

1. Interracial marriages were illegal

2. In cases of divorce, custody of the children was always awarded to the father

3. Oral and anal sex were punishable offenses

4. Women were not allowed to inherit or purchase property

5. Juries were made up of white males only

6. Black men would be hung for sleeping with white women, whereas white men were free to use and abuse black women

7. Blacks were expected to use different restrooms and water fountains, routinely denied service at public establishments, not allowed to attend certain public schools, and expected to give up seats on public transportation under the guise of "separate but equal"

8. Universities were open only to white males

9. The vote was reserved for white males

10. Gay clubs were raided by the police and patrons were rounded up and hauled to jail

11. The only careers that women were free to pursue would be that of a teacher or nurse

These notions seem so antiquated in society today.  I think the changes have been good.  However, I am curious to hear from the conservatives here.  Would our country be a better place if these laws were repealed and we returned to our more traditional values?  Is a country made stronger by excluding and punishing certain members who don't fit what a certain sector thinks is right?  Who has the right to be the morality police anyways?  Jesus said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  He went out of his way to minister to and care for prostitutes and tax collectors, which were the dregs of society in his time.  So I think the next time a conservative is standing there with a rock in their hand, perhaps they should give some thought to what the true message of the Bible is.  God loves everyone, in spite of their shortcomings. 

2.  What????  Where? Why? When?  

3.  Once again you cite some odd little local injunctions with no context.  If you now Google the details, see if you can find out how often these laws were enforced.

4.  Now we're going back to when?  A millenium or so?  Ancient Greece?  Surely not Rome.  Nor post-Magna Carta England. 

5.  That's pretty true.  I saw "12 Angry Men" too.  But up until what time?  And just how much negative 'conservative' reaction was there?  

6.  And this you call a "traditional value?"  Something conservatives of the nation supported?!

7.  Yes.  True in southern US states into the 20th century whereas many conservatives throughout the nation were against this holdover attitude that came from the chaos and racism of slavery.  Recall that Charlton (conservative) Heston among many others was one who actively protested this moral outrage.

8.   Some universities were exclusively male like Princeton.  As some were exclusively female like Sarah Lawrence.  But then it changed.  And almost every university is open to men and women.  There are still universities that are just for African-Americans though I think Howard accepts a handful of students of other races now.

9.   This probably still goes on.  I know there were raids of gay bathhouses during the height of the AIDS era in the 80s in SF and LA.  Were they raided because gay men were having sex?  Or was there something else going on?

10.  You give no timeline or place and left out secretary.  And housewifery! Midwivery and wet nurse too. Granted there are more women in careers that had traditionally been exclusively a man's domain up until the mid-20th century USA.  But it's just not true that women were not 'free' to struggle through those barriers.  Discouraged?  Sure.  More difficult than for a man?  Yup.  There are too many examples otherwise to try to make the assertion that women couldn't pursue other careers. 

Anyway, May, we're dealing with a massive topic here when discussing "traditional" and conservative values versus liberal values.  A society is a living organism.  Every seeming small societal change has a ripple effect sometimes unanticipated.  One small example -- the coarsening of the culture. Let's take TV and film.  Time was (like until the late 60s) when you wouldn't hear the words "damn" or any minor expletive.  Little by little, the loosening up of the language.  Lenny Bruce does a whole number on forbidden words before George Carlin's act.  We all congratulate ourselves for our maturity.  Hey, they're just words.  Freedom of speech.  And now, you can find yourself walking the aisles of a supermarket listening to teenagers "F" wording this and "F" wording that with not a sign of embarrassment.  It's common parlance.  Good thing, bad thing, neutral? Don't take this as my case for status quo for time immemorial.  I'm only using it as a small example of a path of something that seems innocuous but leads to a change in respect, civility and manners. 

Conservatives (at least this one) do not bolt against every change.  I think it's more about considering more carefully the consequences of those items we think have made our society a strong and successful one.  And I do not draw my conclusions as a result of anything Jesus did or said.  I think Christianity had served the nation well but I myself am not a Christian.

Susan

PS  May, I forgot to mention I commend you for checking out the American Thinker website.  They are not all class A writers over there but there are an awful lot of goodies.  I still think the creme de la creme of news writing comes from the WSJ though.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

The US didn't lift the official ban on interacial marriages until 1965, before that it was on a state to state basis

It was a common law practice in the late 1800's that the father was awarded custody of children

In 1855, the University of Iowa was the first state university to open its doors on a equal basis to men and women. 

The United States didn't officially strike down all sodomy laws until 2003.

I thoroughly agree with you on the whole potty mouth thing.  I get tired of the f bomb being dropped about everything.  I think television is more obscenity than entertainment.  I also find it discouraging that alot of parents today seem to let the television raise their children.  I should have put up more sitations for my claims on my earlier post.  I'm not the type of person to just randomly spout out stuff.  I'm also not of the belief that the Democratic party is the party of the common man.  I think that 99% of politicians are out of touch with the people they represent.

For the record, I am firmly against gun control.  Disarming the people has always been the first step to a fascist regime.  I think the US should stay out of the Middle East but I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women who lay down their lives to preserve the freedoms that we all hold dear.

I also have alot of admiration for individuals who stick to their guns even when the majority is against them.  I give you the utmost props Nuart.

Concerning property rights for women- Okay most of my facts are based on laws enacted here in my great state of Iowa.  The Iowa Code of 1851 gave married women property rights.  I have been reading alot of Jane Austen novels lately so I may have been confusing things a bit.  But I imagine that if it was a common practice in England that only men could inherit that it would have been similar here.

I didn't really mean to say racism was a conservative value.  That was wrong of me.  I just seem to equate Southerners with conservatism.  I also am not saying that all Southerners are or were racists before anyone gets their panties in a bind.  I'm just saying that the laws that were made to protect people against these atrocious acts were an important part of our nation's history.

Interesting story re/the Loving v. Virginia case, May.  Thanks for bringing up the subject because I was truly shocked that this was such recent history.  Check it out !

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/

The left and right are flip sides of the same bullheaded coin, and the machine cranks out the same control freak leaders every election no matter which side "wins." Everyone loses whenever the system has too much control.

I used to be left-leaning, myself and then I came to realize that I valued freedom and couldn't trust politicians.

Pretty crazy huh?  I don't think the government has any right to tell people who they can love and spend the rest of their lives with.  I think one day the public will see the opposition to gay marriage to be on par with the ban on interracial marriage.

I believe when it comes to election time, voting is a matter of choosing the lesser of the two evils.  My hope is that the citizens of this country will continue to become more politically aware and perhaps we will get some candidates out there that really represent.