Pemberley

I have been a Pemberlean since 2001, and may be the oldest (in terms of birthdays) member. In the years since I was a Newbie, I have seen many come and go, and have made a number of friends, most of whom I have never seen and never will this side of the grave. It seems to me that in the last 2 or 3 years the Republic has become overly politically correct. I am in full agreement that Pemberley is no place for religious or political arguments. However, matters of religion and politics are very apt to come up on some of the boards. I often post on GK Chesterton and it is hardly possible to talk about GKC while ignoring religion. None of my posts on him have been deleted.

Religion is a vital part of Jane Austen. For example, it is hardly possible to discuss Mansfield Park while ignoring the religious matters that are so important in the story. The matter of divorce and the Church of England's position in the matter came up for a lot of discussion, especially as many Pemberleans knew almost nothing about it. I doubt that we could have the same discussions today.

Early in my years at Pemberley we had the Fanny Wars, which were a lot of fun. At least one lady accused me of being an immoral man because I like Henry Crawford. Again, today,
I doubt that our exchange would be tolerated. Hope I'm wrong, and I will try to start the Fanny Wars up again.

Pemberleans

My Pemberley friends who visit my blog (and how I detest that word) will find not a great deal on it yet, but have patience. I have much to say, and will get around to saying it in due time. There are 7 people in this household and only 2 computers, so there are times when both are in use by people who need it for school, or work, or Our Lady of Peace church. I will always relinquish it for them.

Pemberley itself will be the subject of a post in the near future.

Gianna Jessen

I recommend all visitors to look up Gianna Jessen. This young lady is the survivor of a botched abortion. She lived against all expectations, was raised by a foster family, and became a lovely singer and speaker. As a result of the botched abortion, she has cerebral palsy, but it does not restrict her singing and speaking. I had the absolute delight of meeting her 3 years ago and buying her book. She insisted on talking to me rather than just shaking hands and signing the book.

By all means, look her up on the net and find out more about her.

Take the trouble to think about the fact that Gianna was the sort of baby that Barack Obama would have let die and be tossed into a dumpster or torn apart and flushed down a garbage grinder. Any normal human who hears her must be glad she is with us.

Golden Parachutes

15 or 16 years ago a big and famous manufacturing company in the Pittsburgh area was on the verge of bankruptcy. Several thousand employees were laid off, and the company almost went out of existence. The board of directors got around to taking action by firing the CEO. Now I don't think that this man was the only culprit, but he was the man in charge, and was highly paid. In order to send him off quietly, the board awarded him an increase in pension (though he was retiring early--by insistence) from $700,000 to $900,000 a year, $10,000,000 in stock options, and get this--the craziest of all--an $800,000 1 year contract as a consultant.

His consulting must have been easy; all he needed to do was to tell the other executives to study his actions and do something different.

This man's golden parachute is nothing compared to the gp's given to the CEOs of the banks and other financial institutions that failed in the current economic crisis.

Rewarding failure has become common in the business world--at the highest levels. I am sure that the lower level employees in the failure did not get millions of dollars. Also, I would like to know how the companies could find the money to pay out these high-level incompetents (or perhaps embezzlers) when they can't pay their regular expenses.

What the hell is the matter with our financiers?

A missed point

In the debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, I was disappointed that John McCain missed a point he could well have made. Obama said that the US was fighting 2 wars. This is not so; we are fighting 1 war. Fighting in Iraq and on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border is simply 2 fronts of the was against Islamic jihad. This is similar to the WWII situation where the US was fighting in the west against Germany and in the east against Japan, the two foes being allies.

McCain could have pointed out that Obama, thinking of 2 separate wars, was losing track of the fact that the US is warring on 2 fronts of the same war.

Creating jobs

Many people, including some who should know better, keep saying that "Government does not create jobs. Think about it. Look at the government bureacracies that have expanded so largely in the last few decades, on so many levels--federal, state, county, city, township. Look at the staffs of the senators, congressmen, governors. Even look at the military. Government has created many many jobs. How many of them should have been created is another matter.

In my opinion, expanding the military is one of those instances of job creation that is not only desirable, but necessary, as are the expansions of law enforcement and homeland security. These things must be considered one at a time.

Abortion--rape and incest

Some time ago I read, in a pro-life paper, an interview with a beautiful 23 year old girl who was a medical student planning to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. She is the child of rape. Her mother, against advice and pressure, carried her to term and raised her. She says that, in middle school, the matter of abortion came up among her peers, and a common statement was, "I'm against abortion except in cases of rape and incest." She said, "How do you think that made me feel?" After a time, she realized how to answer that statement. She asked, "Did I deserve the death penalty for my father's crime?"

What answer can be given except "No, you didn't"

Well, all too many Americans appear to think that she did. I believe that this is because most people have not thought the matter through, and have never had to answer the question, "Did I deserve the death penalty for my father's crime?"

God bless Sarah Palin

Her selection for the vice president candidate delights me, and really improves my opinion of John McCain. This woman holds to all the values that I cherish.

Obama seem to have never met an abortionist that he didn't like, nor a gun owner that he did like. I'm sure Sarah Palin has met some gun owners that she didn't like (so have I), but never an abortionist that she did like (neither have I).

Sarah Palin cherishes her son with Down's Syndrome, whereas he is the kind of baby that the abortionists and their supporters would flush down the garbage grinder.

Worst Day

I think that most Americans think the worst day in our history is 9/11--Sept. 11, 2001, when 3000 Americans were killed in the terror attack. They are mistaken, as a worse day was 9/17--Sept. 17, 1862, when 4000 Americans were killed on the field at Antietam in the Civil War. All the Americans killed on 9/17 were soldiers, as there were no civilians killed despite the fact that some of the fighting was in the town of Sharpsburg, Md.

Still, even 9/17 was not our worst day. Between Jan. 1973 (the infamous Roe v Wade decision) and 2000 we averaged over 4000 abortions a day. As the abortion mills generally did not operate on Sundays and holidays, it is certain that there were days when well over 4000 abortions eliminated the lives of unborn American children.

Irritation

I have lots of this, partly because getting onto a blogspot has been often frustrating.