Happy Father's Day to all... Single Mothers??

The above picture, and others expressing a similar message, have been making their way around the social media this Father's Day.

It is a travesty to suggest that single mothers can fulfill the role of a father, and that they should be celebrated as fathers on Father's Day. It cheapens the sacrifices fathers make for their families, and it cheapens the overall role of fathers in family units and society- and fathers are essential in the well-being of both.

It is a bit sad. Has our society become such that we must make efforts to explain the simple truth that "single mothers are not fathers" and should therefore not be included in our culture's celebration of fathers?  Apparently so.  And doing just that is David L. Pipkin, fellow Houstonian and author whose work can be found here at Examiner.com. He manages to capture and expose the absurdity of all this in a Father's Day Facebook post. Enjoy, and Happy Father's Day!

I don't consider myself to be one who offends easily, but this is offensive. This is thinking that has caused a great deal of harm in our society and in our country. Too many single mothers make more of their status than what is due. No matter how great you think you are, you cannot replace a father. Messages like this cheapen the value of single moms who really are having to pull double-duty because of a father lost at war or some other untimely death; fathers who truly cannot be there for their children. Too many single moms try to make themselves out to be heroes after divorcing the father of their child because marriage was more difficult than what they had anticipated. Many mothers use that title to become barriers between their children and their fathers. Going through my divorce, I learned that more than 75% of the divorce cases are filed by the wife, and the overwhelming majority of those cases are petitions based on "irreconcilable differences," which basically means, "Oops." The "no-fault divorce" has destroyed the lives of too many children. Other single moms lay claim to hero status because they were careless in their sexual lifestyle and were then surprised when the guy with whom they were shacking up decided he did not want to raise a child. Is it difficult? Sure. Was it foreseeable and preventable? Absolutely. You reap what you sow, but you are not a hero merely because you are a single mom, and you certainly are not pulling "double-duty." The truth is that, rather than fulfilling both roles, too many single moms have deprived their child of a father, and in so doing they have also weakened themselves as mothers. Do some research - look at the disproportionate number of children who fall into alcoholism/drug-abuse, teen pregnancy, drop out of school and ultimately end up dead or in prison who were raised by single mothers. Sure, many men have sired children, but they are no-shows as dads. Father's Day is not to honor them. That is what today is - Father's Day. Mother's Day was in May. This is to celebrate the Dads who are fulfilling or have fulfilled their roles as fathers. If you're a single mother, regardless of how you arrived at that status, I appreciate your passion and your efforts. That said, you have no right to use Father's Day to bolster your delusions of grandeur. You can certainly be a great mother, but you will never, ever replace a father. To all the real Dads out there, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

DNC Fuhrer Hitler Upset About Unions' Loss In Wisconsin

We've all seen (and likely have become tired of) the running internet meme of users creating augmented videos of Adolf Hitler- flawlessly portrayed by Bruno Ganz in the historical drama Downfall- ranting about various news items, at one time enraged about a Dallas Cowboys' playoff loss the New York Giants, at another upset about Disney's acquisition of Marvel, Inc., and we've even seen him fly off the handle at the news that his parody videos are being taken down from sites like YouTube. Sure, the theme is tired.  But this one, meant to capture the DNC's disgust at their labor union generals' inability to deliver a victory in the Wisconsin recall election, manages to refresh the meme's relevance with some sharp observations. Check it out. As I introduced my most recent article published at American Thinker: "Democrats are settling into a hybrid state of denial, anger, and depression in the aftermath of the Wisconsin election, where Scott Walker handed them an historic and embarassing defeat." (Read the article here.) In this video, Hitler captures all three of these emotions nicely.

How MSNBC and Chris Hayes Choose to Remember Our Fallen

This Memorial Day weekend, we witnessed MSNBC pundit Chris Hayes saying that he's "uncomfortable" calling our fallen soldiers "heroes," and suggests that we call them "something more neutral." That the title of "hero" is "rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war."
His contention is that our society's choice to remember our fallen soldiers as "heroic" is tantamount to warmongering.  The first thought that comes to mind is probably how utterly ridiculous that contention is. But when you wade through his elitist condescension toward the sacrifices made by our soldiers- an obvious and lamentable remnant of 60's counterculturalism- you see that these are really nothing more than the words of a depraved creature.

This quote by John Stuart Mill, found below, is a profound observation about war- and as relevant now as it has ever been.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

It is safe to say- Chris Hayes and his ilk embody the "ugliest of things" that Mill spoke of, disguised as intellectualism and compassion. This Memorial Day, may God keep our fallen heroes, and may God continue to bless America.

William Sullivan

Quanell X Should Be Prosecuted

We must recognize, once and for all, that Quanell X’s grandiose street confrontation acts that stoke fear and racial tension are nothing more than a malignant contribution to the public discourse. Because now, he has become more than just the boisterous farce that Houstonians have come to know- his latest comments and actions are cause for prosecution.

To be honest, vast numbers of people are already well-aware that Quanell’s rhetoric is not to be taken seriously. There is perhaps no better example of why than his demand that Nike and Michael Jordan lower the prices of Air Jordan sneakers last Christmas. This one incident explains quite a lot. First and foremost, it shows that he lacks even a grade-schooler’s comprehension of pricing, or the supply and demand that dictates it. Secondly, his making demands to a legendary sports figure and a globally successful business shows the insane level of egotism he harbors. But most importantly, it shows that he is so blinded by the belief that the black community is the perpetual victim of society that he cannot even come close to a proper assessment of blame. It’s not the black community’s fault that its members are committing violence to attain these sneakers, as a sensible person might clearly understand it to be. No, it’s the fact that the shoes are so damn expensive. And Nike and Michael Jordan must be held accountable, despite their obvious innocence.

But for the most part, up to this point, it has just been words. Stupid, stupid words. But in the aftermath of a verdict of “not guilty” in the trial of HPD officer Andrew Blomberg, his choices and his words have a much more dangerous effect.

Mayor Annise Parker issued a stern warning to Quanell and local news outlets to not release the surveillance footage of Chad Holley being forcefully arrested by HPD officers. She, as any reasonable person might, understands that the footage is better suited to be appraised in the court of law rather than in the court of public opinion that is apt to make premature and emotional decisions. But Quanell, unequipped with reason, has chosen to release the footage, and has thereby created an environment of racial tension that is potentially explosive.

And that wasn’t enough. Quanell then sought to spark that explosion.

When asked how he would view riots or violence in the wake of this verdict, he replied, “Whatever the community response is, I believe it’s appropriate.” He is an influential public figure, and he has advocated violence as civil disobedience that he would condone. Effectively, he is calling for riots. This is a crime that compromises the safety of Houston’s citizens and businesses.

To put the nature of this comment in context, imagine that its equivalent left the mouth of local radio personality Michael Berry, who is routinely lambasted for virulent and vitriolic rhetoric. Imagine that he advocated violence against the Occupy Houston protestors that have defiled our public grounds and cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Would the outcry against the use of his influence to incite violence be so deafeningly silent? Absolutely not- he would be the subject of scorn and campaigns to prosecute him.

What is the difference? Why is there an underlying cultural acceptance of calls to violence when it is believed that it can be attributed to black persecution and the subsequent rage? We witnessed this travesty in the public indifference to the violent rhetoric of the New Black Panthers in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting, and it is one that we now witness in the public indifference to the incendiary rhetoric of our very own Quanell X.

William Sullivan

More Views of Louis Farrakhan's Evil Mind

A diseased mind, with a diseased army of zealots in tow. And perhaps most frightening, they are but a small sample of the militant anti-Semitism infecting the globe.

It's All Invasive

Recently Patricia Kilday Hart wrote an article for the Houston Chronicle in which she compares lawmaker’s reactions in the state of Texas to those in the state of Virginia regarding the use of a trans-vaginal wand in what is commonly called the Sonogram Law. In this article, which of course wasn’t labeled by The Chronicle as an op-ed, she wonders why the Virginia law got so much national attention, while the Texas law received so little. Her furor stems from the use of a 10 inch trans-vaginal wand that would be used to detect the fetus up to 10 (and rarely 12) weeks gestation. In an attempt to kill the legislation in 2011, Texas state rep Carol Alvarado D-Houston, presented the wand during Texas’ last legislative session and described the procedure. The bill still easily passed. Now a couple weeks ago the Doonesbury comic strip began lambasting the Texas law causing the strip to be moved from the comic section into the editorial section by many newspapers. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have also brought the wand into their respective comedy routines, with Colbert using it to make Republican margaritas and Stewart comparing the procedure to rape. The reaction in Virginia, according to Hart, was that the bill was “watered down”, whereas in Texas no changes were made.

So why, may you ask, has the use of the wand to obtain a sonogram prior to an abortion received so much attention and anger from the left? The answer given by Alvarado, Hart and others is that…wait for it…it’s an “intrusive” procedure. Other than medical (chemical) abortions, which can only be performed during the first 49 days of gestation and only account for between 13-17% of US abortions, every method of abortion is an invasive procedure. From suction aspiration where a plastic tube is inserted into the cervix and the suction literally rips the fetus apart, to a suction/D&C where a curette (a thin metal rod with a knife-sharp loop at the end) is inserted into the uterus and is used to dismember the fetus which is then suctioned, to D&E where forceps are inserted into the uterus to forcibly dismember the fetus, abortions are intrusive! And in up to 8% of chemical abortions suction aspiration must still be used. So to recap, it is supposedly asinine to think that a woman going in for an extremely invasive procedure (abortion) should have to undergo a trans-vaginal sonogram first while keeping in mind that the trans-vaginal sonogram only applies to gestation periods up to 10 weeks in most cases.

The article goes on to state that Texas lawmakers did not use the specific term trans-vaginal sonogram in their bill. Which maybe they didn’t, but they also didn’t refer to abortions as trans-vaginal fetus dismemberment and removal procedures which technically they could have.

And it gets better. Some of the responses to this article, as well as the comments from the likes of Stewart, delve further into issue of the sonogram law in general with opponents claiming that doctor-client privacy is being violated. No where in this or similar bills are there provisions to make public the results of the sonogram or the choice the woman makes afterward. It would seem that prior to an abortion that the doctor would have the obligation to divulge all pertinent information about the procedure. After all, doctors thoroughly go over x-rays, CT scans and MRI’s with the patient prior to performing any other medical procedure, why should this be any different?

But somehow the left wants you to believe that this is different because the government should have no place in women’s health affairs, that is of course until the left demands the government to force insurance companies to pay for contraception and other “family planning options”. The lack of logic and continued hypocrisy of the left’s argument would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

Calvin Parker

http://www.chron.com/news/kilday-hart/article/Reaction-to-trans-vaginal-sonogram-a-tale-of-2-3422249.php

Before You Say "War On Women" Again...

To be sure, I'm all for having a discussion about how healthcare should be administrated in this country. Personally, I advocate local and private administration rather than a federal single-payer system, and I think history, evidence, and fiscal reason support my preference. But sure, let's have the conversation about the merits of boths paths, and lawfully implement changes without circumvention of the Constitution. Looking at you, Democrats that support ObamaCare.

But where I take particular issue is when some among the American left argue that the lack of a federal birth-control mandate constitutes a GOP-led "War on Women."

Before using these words in the future (as they have little value beyond being an emotional trigger, anyway), read this amazing and informative article by Robert Fisk. It may offer perspective on some other cultures and ideologies that truly wage war upon women. I will suggest reading it all (full link below), as it is a global epidemic that warrants far more attention than it is given, but for those pressed for time, here is an excerpt that particularly affected me:

"[A] young woman found in a drainage ditch near Daharki in Pakistan, "honour" killed by her family as she gave birth to her second child, her nose, ears and lips chopped off before being axed to death, her first infant lying dead among her clothes, her newborn's torso still in her womb, its head already emerging from her body? She was badly decomposed; the local police were asked to bury her. Women carried the three to a grave, but a Muslim cleric refused to say prayers for her because it was "irreligious" to participate in the namaz-e-janaza prayers for "a cursed woman and her illegitimate children"."

Now, remember that Rush Limbaugh is known far and wide as a misogynist of the highest order for saying that Sandra Fluke should buy her own birth control and for calling her a slut. Then, think about the fact that events like this are quietly happening every single day in other nations, most often in predominantly fundamentalist Islamic ones, without the slightest mention of condemnation by the American left.

And then, reflect on how incredibly ridiculous this GOP-led "War On Women" nonsense really is.

Found at: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-crimewave-that-shames-the-world-2072201.html

William Sullivan

** Above image courtesy of Global Post. Hat tip to Dr. M. Zudhi Jasser for providing this article.