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Brief Bio
Who's Doing The Work?
September A 2007
Is it factual that the illegal
alien workforce in America is supplying
laborers for “jobs that Americans won’t do,”
or has our education system been failing to
offer skilled job training? FSM Contributing
Editor Lee Ellis gets to the bottom of why we
lack native-born workers.
Trade Apprentices: Available Americans or New
Illegals?
On Fox News recently, I heard Secretary of
Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez say, in a press
conference, “…it is clear that there are jobs
Americans are not willing to do, or available
to do.”
While we have heard government bureaucrats
talk ad nauseam about jobs that Americans
WON’T do, it was interesting to hear
Secretary Gutierrez also use the phrase,
“jobs Americans are not AVAILABLE to do.”
What does this really mean?
To me - and many business owners - it means
that too many “trade apprentices” such as
plumbers, mechanics, carpenters etc. are no
longer coming out of today’s high schools. We
are beginning to see an extreme shortage of
Americans who are trained to do these jobs.
Last May, Deloitte & Touche, an advisory,
financial, management firm, wrote, “…
Specifically, research finds: today’s skill
shortages are extremely broad and deep,
cutting across industry sectors and having an
impact on more than 80 percent of companies
surveyed. Skills shortages are having a
widespread impact on manufacturers’ abilities
to achieve production levels, increase
productivity and meet customer demands.
High-performance workforce requirements have
significantly increased as a result of the
skills gap shortage and the challenge of
competing in a global economy, according to
nearly 75 percent of survey respondents.”
Why is this happening? I suspect that this is
occurring because for the past decade or
more, the “politically correct” crowd has
insisted that all kids should go to college,
even if many preferred a trade rather than a
professional career. As a result, shop
classes have been shut down in almost all
schools and more teachers are being
encouraged to prepare their students for
college entrance exams.
Also, as a result, more kids are dropping out
of high school because they had wanted or
needed jobs as soon as they graduated. But
without the skills, without the training for
working in the many trades needed, it is not
easy to become an apprentice worker.
It gets down to one simple fact --- not
enough schools today are teaching kids how to
work with their hands. Too many children (and
their parents) are being made to feel like
second class citizens if they do not go to
college. In past years, high schools along
with private, affordable academies turned out
graduates who were capable of entering all
types of work. Since students would take
several years of languages as well as
complete courses of English literature along
with civics, history, geography and all forms
of math and business courses, most were
prepared to enter either college or the
business world.
But students could also learn trades, how to
work with their hands in mechanics, plumbing
and other shop classes. They also studied
music and arts, if they desired. Thus they
could pursue good paying trades for a
comfortable living, whether playing in a band
or repairing an air conditioner or a car.
Even if they did not do these things for a
living, all of them came in handy in later
life whether used in maintaining a home or
for the pure enjoyment, as a hobby.
What do the trades pay in today’s world? It
varies by locale. Some job seekers may have
to move around to get what they want. When I
got out of the military, I had to be willing
to move from city to city to find work at
better pay. Hard work and a willingness to
relocate will always pay off.
Here, courtesy of the Employment Policy
Foundation, is a look at the best-paying
occupations at varying education levels:
Top Paying Jobs That Do Not Require a High
School Degree
These jobs tend to require substantial
on-the-job training and work experience
rather than formal education and schooling:
Industrial production managers -- $36,000
Bailiffs, correctional officers and jailers
-- $36,400
Drafters -- $36,000
Construction manager -- $33,600
Electricians -- $31,900
(Location will vary these figures greatly.
For example, a journeyman electrician in
Chicago or Seattle (according to PayScale.com)
has a median hourly rate of about $35 per
hour, which could mean over $72,000 per
year.)
Top Paying Jobs for High School Graduates
These occupations emphasize work experience
and on-the-job training rather than formal
education:
Computer software engineers -- $58,900
Computer/information systems managers --
$56,400
Computer programmers -- $55,000
Network systems and data communications
analysts -- $49,000
General and operations managers -- $48,000
Database, network and computer systems
administrators -- $48,000
Good professional painters, mechanics,
plumbers and carpenters are also supporting
families and new homes with money to spare.
I believe that unless schools start helping
American students who have no desire to go to
college to become aware of these soon-to-be
job possibilities as a result of basic high
school training, two things will happen:
1. More kids will drop out of school and thus
run the risk of joining gangs or turning to
crime.
2. Businesses will be forced to hire more
foreigners from other nations to fill these
jobs, no longer finding Americans available
to do them.
We are all either immigrants or all descended
from immigrants (There were no true Americans
on this once hostile territory – even the
American Indians originally came to this
continent from other continents, crossing
over through Alaska to our plains and
mountains.) Nevertheless, our current borders
are porous, and as a result, illegal
crossings are bringing in unskilled workers
who are doing our agricultural work that
supposedly most Americans do not want.
However as these illegal crossings continue,
many illegal aliens are developing new skills
in order to get better jobs. So we now see
them entering the work forces here of not
just agriculture or landscaping, but also the
hospitality, construction and service
industries. Some have also been able acquire
motels, convenience stores and nail salons.
But, given the opportunity, along with proper
encouragement from school administrators,
teachers and counselors, the many American
students heading from local public schools to
the work force can take and do these jobs as
available Americans.
Many companies see the coming shortage of
Americans skilled in trades, and they are
taking action. Richard N. Parsons, a former
officer with Siemens writes:
"During my time as vice-president, Siemens
Enterprise Networks, we implemented specific
educational initiatives in partnership with
community colleges, colleges and universities
in the U.S. to provide critical vocational
skills to our workforce. Siemens, a German
electronics and engineering firm that's over
160 years old, quickly embraced our requests
to provide capital equipment, classroom
space, vocational education curriculum and
mentors as well as financial support. Germany
is one of the world's leaders in vocational
education and my company recognizes the
imperative requirement for the types of
skills you've outlined in your op-ed. We
believed these skills were critical to our
future competitiveness and we made--and
continue to make--significant investments in
this arena. I personally spent much time on
this initiative--it was vital to our business
future--along with other senior executives in
our U.S. business. Incidentally, Siemens
employs 75,000 people in the U. S. alone
(over 400,000 world-wide)...a great example
of "in-sourcing"...a term you never hear from
the Democrats and their union pals." (Mr.
Parsons’ office was in San Francisco although
his headquarters was in Germany. He now
resides in La Quinta, CA).
Carol Ascher has written about another factor
that also affects students, “When schools
tolerate absenteeism, truancy, tardiness,
sloppy work, and misbehavior, they are not
helping students establish necessary work
habits. Although employers seldom consider
grades or test scores, which high schools
prospective entry-level employees attend can
be important because of the social attitudes
and skills presumed to have been taught.”
In other words, tough schools that demand
discipline really help students to get better
jobs and make more money when they get out.
It is that simple. In the interests of their
children’s future and economic wellbeing,
parents need to support such schools.
So while there may be some jobs that
Americans won’t do; let’s all work to make
sure that there will always be available
Americans for all good paying jobs needed by
American enterprise to better serve our
country. Work with your school systems and
local businesses to make sure that this is
happening. Good jobs mean less crime and
happier families.
Isn’t this what America is all about ---being
able to enjoy the pursuit of happiness?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Trade Apprentices -Available Americans or New
Illegals?
August B 2007
On Fox News today, I heard
Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez
say, in a press conference, "…it is clear
that there are jobs Americans are not willing
to do, or available to do."
While we have heard over and over again
government bureaucrats talk about jobs that
Americans WON'T do, it was interesting to
hear Secretary Gutierrez also use the phrase,
"jobs Americans are not AVAILABLE to do."
What does this really mean?
To me and many business owners it means that
too many "trade apprentices" such as
plumbers, mechanics, carpenters etc. are no
longer coming out of today's high schools. We
are beginning to see an extreme shortage of
Americans who are trained to do these jobs.
Last May, Deloitte & Touche, an advisory,
financial, management firm, wrote, "…
Specifically, research finds: today's skill
shortages are extremely broad and deep,
cutting across industry sectors and having an
impact on more than 80 percent of companies
surveyed. Skills shortages are having a
widespread impact on manufacturers' abilities
to achieve production levels, increase
productivity and meet customer demands
High-performance workforce requirements have
significantly increased as a result of the
skills gap shortage and the challenge of
competing in a global economy, according to
nearly 75 percent of survey respondents."
Why is this happening? I suspect that this is
occurring because for the past decade or
more, the "politically correct" crowd has
insisted that all kids should go to college,
even if many preferred a trade rather than a
professional career. As a result, shop
classes have been shut down in almost all
schools and more teachers are being
encouraged to prepare their students for
college entrance exams.
Also, as a result, more kids are dropping out
of high school because they had wanted or
needed jobs as soon as they graduated. But
without the skills, without the training for
working in the many trades needed, it is not
easy to become an apprentice worker.
It gets down to one simple fact --- not
enough schools today are teaching kids how to
work with their hands! Too many children (and
their parents) are being made to feel as
second class citizens if they do not go to
college. In past years, high schools along
with private, affordable academies turned out
graduates who were capable of entering all
types of work. Since students would take
several years of languages as well as
complete courses of English literature along
with civics, history, geography and all forms
of math and business courses, most were
prepared to enter either college or the
business world. But students could also learn
trades, how to work with their hands in
mechanics, plumbing and other shop classes,
They also studied music and arts, if they
desired. Thus they could pursue good paying
trades for a comfortable living, whether
playing in a band or repairing an air
conditioner or a car. Even if they did not do
these things for a living, all of them came
in handy in later life whether used in
maintaining a home or enjoying as a hobby.
What do the trades pay in today's world? It
varies by locale and some job seekers may
have to move around to get what they want.
When I got out of the military, I had to be
willing to move from city to city to find
work at better pay. Hard work and a
willingness to relocate will always pay off.
Here, courtesy of the Employment Policy
Foundation, is a look at the best-paying
occupations at varying education levels:
Top Paying Jobs That Do Not Require a High
School Degree
These jobs tend to require substantial
on-the-job training and work experience
rather than formal education and schooling:
Industrial production managers -- $36,000
Bailiffs, correctional officers and jailers
-- $36,400
Drafters -- $36,000
Construction manager -- $33,600
Electricians -- $31,900
(Location will vary these figures greatly.
For example, a journeyman electrician in
Chicago or Seattle (according to PayScale.com)
has a median hourly rate of about $35 per
hour which could mean over $72,000 per year.)
Top Paying Jobs for High School Graduates
These occupations emphasize work experience
and on-the-job training rather than formal
educationComputer software engineers --
$58,900
Computer/information systems managers --
$56,400
Computer programmers -- $55,000
Network systems and data communications
analysts -- $49,000
General and operations managers -- $48,000
Database, network and computer systems
administrators -- $48,000
Good professional painters, mechanics,
plumbers and carpenters are also supporting
families and new homes with money to spare.
I believe that unless schools start helping
American students who have no desire to go to
college to become aware of these soon-to-be
job possibilities as a result of basic high
school training, two things will happen:
1. More kids will drop out of school and thus
run the risk of joining gangs or turning to
crime.
2. Businesses will be forced to hire more
foreigners from other nations to fill these
jobs, no longer finding Americans available
to do them.
We are all either immigrants or all descended
from immigrants (There were no true Americans
on this once hostile territory - even the
American Indians originally came to this
continent from other continents, crossing
over through Alaska to our plains and
mountains.) Nevertheless, our current borders
are porous, and as a result, illegal
crossings are bringing in unskilled workers
who are doing our agricultural work that
supposedly most Americans do not want.
However as these illegal crossings continue,
many illegal aliens are developing new skills
in order to get better jobs. So we now see
them entering the work forces here of not
just agriculture or landscaping, but also the
hospitality , construction and service
industries. Some have also been able acquire
motels, convenience stores and nail salons.
But, given the opportunity, along with proper
encouragement from school administrators,
teachers and counselors, the many American
students heading from local public schools to
the work force can take and do these jobs as
available Americans!
Many companies see the coming shortage of
many Americans skilled in trades and are
taking action. Richard N. Parsons, a former
officer with Siemens writes:
"During my time as vice-president, Siemens
Enterprise Networks, we implemented specific
educational initiatives in partnership with
community colleges, colleges and universities
in the U.S. to provide critical vocational
skills to our workforce. Siemens, a German
electronics and engineering firm that's over
160 years old, quickly embraced our requests
to provide capital equipment, classroom
space, vocational education curriculum and
mentors as well as financial support. Germany
is one of the world's leaders in vocational
education and my company recognizes the
imperative requirement for the types of
skills you've outlined in your op-ed. We
believed these skills were critical to our
future competitiveness and we made--and
continue to make--significant investments in
this arena. I personally spent much time on
this initiative--it was vital to our business
future--along with other senior executives in
our U.S. business. Incidentally, Siemens
employs 75,000 people in the U. S. alone
(over 400,000 world-wide)...a great example
of "in-sourcing"...a term you never hear from
the Democrats and their union pals." (Mr.
Parsons office was in San Francisco although
his headquarters was in Germany. He now
resides in La Quinta, CA).
August A
July B 2007
As a retired
CBS executive, Contributing Editor Lee Ellis
has an encyclopedic storehouse of information
on the history of broadcasting. In this
stimulating, informative column, Lee traces
the 1949 origins of the Fairness Doctrine
while explaining how its foundational purpose
has been turned on its head by today’s
political activists. ~
Carol Tabor, president of
familysecuritymatters.org, where Lee received
more hits on this one article than any one
else who writes for the popular site.
“CONGRATULATIONS! Your piece was the
most-clicked-onto in our newsletter!!!!!!!!!!
Our readers love you!” - Carol Tabor,
president of familysecuritymatters.org.
___________________
From the New York
Times: Publisher, Dick McDonald
www.dickmcdonald.blogspot.com
“As Lee Ellis so aptly explains in Family
Security Matters the "Fairness Doctrine"
presently being revived by Liberal lawmakers
to destroy the Republican dominance of "Talk
Radio" should be applied to newspapers and
other Democrat-Party media if we are to
achieve the result that doctrine was enacted
to accomplish. If you are interested in
history of the Fairness Doctrine and the
ruthless attempt by Democrats to be as unfair
as possible read Lee's colorful analysis.
~ Dick McDonald
New York Times
_____________________
Friends, do you remember what our media was
like a few decades ago? I am sure that many
of you are too young to go back more than two
decades, so let me explain, and remind some
people who might be older, what this
broadcast veteran remembers.
Before television, our radio stations were
basically those that belonged to, or were
affiliated with, the networks and so most of
them carried dramas, called "soap operas,"
during the day and celebrity shows all
evening. These were the days of Jack Benny,
Fred Allen, Milton Berle, and dramas like
Gangbusters and Gunsmoke. It was not until
1948 that I was able to buy my first black
and white TV set, with a screen size of only
10 inches. In those days we did not have
cable TV or computers, and thus, the networks
slowly switched all their nightly radio
programs over to evening television. However,
to receive these programs, we had to install
huge antennas on our rooftops. If we lived in
a major metropolitan city, we might be able
to see a maximum of three TV stations; if we
lived on the outskirts or in a suburb, we
were lucky to be able to receive just one TV
station.
It was then, according to the Museum of
Broadcasting, that the FCC took the view, in
1949, that station licensees were "public
trustees," and as such had an obligation to
afford reasonable opportunity for discussion
of contrasting points of view on
controversial issues of public importance.
The Commission later held that stations were
also obligated actively to seek out issues of
importance to their community and air
programming that addressed those issues. This
was understandable back then, because it was
feared that broadcast owners could dominate
the public with their own personal political
views and, with so few outlets, this could
have been a real issue.
The Museum of Broadcasting further reminds
us, “The fairness doctrine ran parallel to
Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1937
which required stations to offer ‘equal
opportunity’ to all legally qualified
political candidates for any office if they
had allowed any person running in that office
to use the station. The attempt was to
balance -- to force an even handedness.
Section 315 exempted news programs,
interviews and documentaries. But the
doctrine would include such efforts. Another
major difference should be noted here:
Section 315 was federal law, passed by
Congress. The fairness doctrine was simply
FCC policy.”
This was not true as far as newspapers were
concerned. I can remember when the average
home would subscribe to as many as four
newspapers per day: two in the morning and
two in the late afternoon. Back then, they
were only 2 cents each on a news rack. As a
boy, my parents used to have four Boston
newspapers thrown on our front porch daily.
When I came to LA, the city had four
newspapers, too: The LA Times, The LA Mirror,
the LA Herald-Express and the LA Examiner.
As TV grew rapidly and matured with color, it
began to take over the news, causing
newspapers to lose readers and advertisers.
As this trend grew, newspapers shrunk to only
one per city.
Radio had almost died, but then discovered
“format radio” that appealed to what was
called niche or specialty groups. It started
with “Top Forty” popular record hits that
became highly successful. This was followed
by 24 hour news radio stations as was
pioneered by two LA radio companies ---KNX
and KFWB.
Finally, talk radio was started with people
like the late Joe Pyne. His daily taped and
syndicated radio program was heard in 254
markets and Pyne was also the number-one
morning guy in LA in 1966. He was so popular
he was allowed to broadcast the 6-10 a.m.
program from his home.
He also was the first outraged, outspoken
voice on national television, the father of
modern conservative talk shows; blazing a
path for Morton Downey, Jr., Wally George,
Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham,
Sean Hannity, and many others. Radio really
grew and began to dominate the marketplace in
the daytime. Today there are 31 AM plus 49 FM
--- a total of 80 radio stations --- in just
the city of Los Angeles, all with their own
specialty niche audience groups.
As Cable TV brought in new channels such as
CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, network news began
to slip. CBS, NBC and ABC began to substitute
features for much of their hard news,
relegating most political news to headlines
or just two minutes of TV time. Between
features and commercials, there was not much
time left in a half-hour news period.
And so, as both TV and radio stations
multiplied with even small towns being
supplied not only by many AM and FM radio
stations but also by cable, suddenly bringing
in hundreds of TV channels broadcasting all
types of viewpoints, this opened the door to
stopping the so-called fairness policy.
In 1985, the FCC issued its Fairness Report,
asserting that the doctrine was no longer
having its intended effect, might actually
have a "chilling effect" and might be in
violation of the First Amendment. In a 1987
case, Meredith Corp. v. FCC, the courts
declared that the doctrine was not mandated
by Congress and the FCC did not have to
continue to enforce it. The FCC dissolved the
doctrine in August of that year.
Jumping to 2007, what was feared back in the
40s - when people had only one station to
which they could listen - had begun to happen
today, as both Network news and Cable news
began to echo the singular policies and
theories of the Left, or the new Secular
Progressives, who were intent on socializing
the American government, as had happened in
Europe. The only opposition voices that
emerged today came from the new talk radio.
Yes, Fox News Network had turned half of its
views to conservatives, but it was the lone
TV network doing this. It was up against the
liberal views of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CNBC, NBC,
ABC, CBS, and taxpayer-supported,
government-sponsored NPR! It was also up
against the new liberal blogs and Left-Wing
web sites such as www.MoveOn.org on the
rapidly growing Internet, as computers had
become an essential part of every home. And,
of course, all far-left groups still had
access to Fox to counteract any views held by
conservatives.
Yet, this was not enough for the Leftists. As
of early 2007, Senator Bernie Sanders, along
with Representatives Dennis Kucinich, Maurice
Hinchey and Louise Slaughter had announced
their support of legislation, which would
reverse the 1987 FCC decision and restore the
Fairness Doctrine. They have now been joined
by Senators Dianne Feinstein, John Kerry and
Dick Durbin. Clearly, this is a deliberate
attempt to destroy the free speech
imperatives and thus eliminate the remaining
voice of the Conservatives --- Talk Radio!
Remember today’s context: the Democrats now
seem to control and have access to all TV
networks except one, and to liberal blogs and
internet sites like www.MoveOn.org . They
also seem to have the complete editorial
support of almost all newspapers in the
nation, especially large metropolitan ones,
such as The New York Times, The Washington
Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco
Chronicle and The Los Angeles Times.
We must also remember the fact that the
Fairness Doctrine originally was added by the
FCC when cities were limited to only one TV
station owner per locale. Now, the only
private medium that seems limited to just one
owner is the local newspaper. So if we apply
the original reason for the need of The
Fairness Doctrine, then it needs to be
applied to the print media, not to the many
radio stations broadcasting in each such
area!
In most towns today, the local newspaper is
probably owned by a chain. While local news
is often well done by local reporters, almost
all opinion columns and national news come
from syndicated sources, mostly direct from
The New York Times Syndication Service or
from AP (The Associated Press).
In my valley of nine cities, we have access
to many radio stations ---both AM and FM.
Time-Warner Cable supplies us with both
hundreds of TV channels and broadband
Internet for our computers, but we only have
one local newspaper! The only way to get the
Conservative viewpoint is to turn to just two
of the local radio broadcast channels where
we can listen to the following: Rush
Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and
Laura Ingraham.
Based on this desire of some of our liberal
government politicians for fairness, which
medium really needs a Fairness Doctrine
applied? It is certainly NOT Talk Radio ---to
do that would require the Unfairness Fairness
Doctrine!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
July A 2007
June B 2007
President Bush's Major Mistake as aired on 60 Minutes
George W. Bush has made many
wise decisions, even if the Soros MOVE-ON.org
and The New York Times syndrome always
prevail with propaganda to make it sound
otherwise. But President Bush has made a
major mistake that many of us across the USA
have also made and regretted during our
lifetimes. We have refused to get rid of bad
tenants!
George W. did this with his Tenet
---Clinton's Director of the CIA, George
Tenet. When Bush cleaned house in 2001, he
left Tenet in place and relied on him for
Intelligence information even though Clinton
had always missed on stopping Osama bin Laden
based on CIA information. But then Clinton
(and Carter before him) had destroyed the
CIA's ability to get vital information by
denying it human resources overseas and
relying, instead, on analysts at Langley
----the "Valerie Plames"--- who worked from
their desks trying to make judgments on what
might happen.
I suspect that what you saw on "60 Minutes"
about Tenet's book which hits the retail
stores today, had more to do with selling
books than about what ever happened in
Washington! In all the years I have seen
appearances by Tenet on TV, this is the first
time I have seen him show this much acted-out
passion. I am sure his passionate body
language was genuine, but more on selling his
book than in defending his words "Slam-Dunk
."
As my readers know, I yell at my TV a lot. As
I watched "60 Minutes," I was doing this
again!
When Pelley and Tenet said that Iraq had no
WMDs: I asked "Who did they think killed all
the Kurds with a WMD of poison gas?" They had
photos of all the dead bodies. What more
proof did they need? Our troops were sent
there armed with masks and protective
clothing ready to deal with this deadly
poison.
Tenet blamed Dr. Rice, but when he supposedly
told her about a terror plot, but NEVER
mentioned it to the President when he had a
daily meeting with him, wouldn't this cause
any new advisor to be slow in going full
blast on something from a former Clinton
bureau chief? She did follow through with a
team sent to Afghanistan to get some human
intelligence on the Taliban. Remember that
this entire Bush administration had been in
the White House only for a few months in
2001. Bush was also delayed by the Gore flap
in getting an early start in building an
administration. No matter whether it is an
incoming Democrat or Republican President, it
takes a long time for a new government to get
up to speed due to our existing bureaucratic
form of government. This has happened with
every major political change in the past.
Did Tenet and Pelley forget that Bush
promised to go after the terrorists AND those
nations supporting them? WMDs were only a
small part of the reasons for going into
Iraq. We knew and had proof that Saddam was
fueling and financing terrorism! We knew that
al Qaeda leaders had been flying in and out
of Iraq. We knew Saddam had been paying
$25,000 dollars to the families of any
volunteer suicide killers! We knew that
Saddam did have a nuclear plant that was
destroyed by Israel and that he would try to
do this again. And we knew that he had rape
and torture rooms that he used on innocent
Iraqi civilians and political prisoners.
We also had intelligence about Saddam's
nuclear attempts coming in from British,
French, Spanish and German Intelligence as
well. Any President who ignored this
information and
did nothing would do so
at his peril!
More importantly, we knew that al Qaeda was
not a nation, but was made up of Islamic
fanatics who came from all the Middle East
nations. One could not act as if this were
one uniformed, national area occupying just
one piece of land. It was a terrorist group
and it was kept alive by donations from
various other nations, especially Iraq!
With the Carter and Clinton administrations
decimating our human intel in the Middle
East, we had to have a listening post right
there in the heart of the Middle East. Where
did Tenet think it should have been --- Iran,
Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia? How could we get
into any of those places without a tremendous
high cost of lives and money? Iraq was the
only place possible and it was a SLAM DUNK as
Tenet promised. Our troops swept through Iraq
into Baghdad as Saddam fled like a coward to
be found later hiding in a spider hole in the
earth! The taking of Iraq and driving out its
cruel despot who had enslaved and murdered so
many innocent civilians was a mission
accomplished quickly. We saw the 8 million
people who voted and held up their purple
stained fingers
Unfortunately, other Middle East nations,
especially Iran, hired mercenaries to try to
keep the Iraq government from succeeding in
forming a democracy because its dictators
knew that this taste of freedom would spread
and perhaps rob them of their corrupt power
with it financial gains. We do not have a
civil war there; we simply a Middle East
power grab taking place!
More importantly, we have the largest
listening post ever built housed in our new
large embassy. It is due to this oasis in the
heart of the Middle East, that President Bush
has kept America from being attacked again
and again by terrorism. Those of us who give
Bush low poll ratings have obviously either
forgotten all of this or we are either
misinformed or uninformed. To be misinformed
gives credit to the enemy who feeds us
propaganda; to be uninformed, there is no one
to blame but ourselves.
____________________________________________________
June A 2007
May B 2007
Are American Democrats De Facto Socialists?
Many people who love America and the
values it has established over the years
have written to me, expressing great
concern about the sudden spiraling down
of our nation. They ask how we could now
be staring at the Socialist preparation
to take over our nation, and they wonder
how we ever could have arrived at such a
sad place.
Yes, it is sad, but let’s review some
history to help us understand how we
came to allow de facto Socialists, for
the first time in American history, to
be the majority vote in the United
States Congress. It would do us well to
reexamine the teachings of Antonio
Gramsci who was a founding member and
onetime leader of the Communist Party of
Italy. He, and the early Socialists,
believed that the only way to conquer
the philosophy of a country like America
was not to battle in the streets, but to
infiltrate our schools, universities,
institutions and churches with strong,
left-leaning rhetoric and
indoctrination. Do this and America as
we know and love it, eventually, would
fall.
But he didn’t stop there.
“Gramsci…argued for a strategic
distinction between a "war of position"
and a "war of movement”. The war of
position is a culture war in which
anti-capitalist elements seek to gain a
dominant voice in mass media, mass
organizations, and educational
institutions to heighten class
consciousness, teach revolutionary
analysis and theory, and inspire
revolutionary organization. Following
the success of the war of position,
communist leaders would be empowered to
begin the war of movement, the actual
insurrection against capitalism
[emphasis mine], with mass support.”
One can see this vision unfolding before
our eyes in America today, and it is all
the more worrisome that, concurrently,
Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man
who believes the fall of the Soviet
Union was “the geopolitical catastrophe
of the 20th century”, has become
increasingly more aggressive in his
verbal attacks against America. But I
digress.
The Socialist followers of Gramsci did
infiltrate their philosophy into many of
our proud institutions over the past
decades and, today, flabbergasting
examples abound on a daily basis. Thus
we have universities that now have
produced lawyers and journalists who
have bought into and helped to sell the
ideals of the far left. We have
lawmakers who vote for destructive
socialist programs and legislation in
the areas of health care, education,
civil liberties, free speech and more.
As another example, the organization
known as "National Council of Churches"
seems to aid and abet them. According to
www.discoverthenetworks.org, “At its
founding in 1950, the New York
City-based National Council of Churches
(NCC) absorbed its predecessor, the
communist front-group known as the
Federal Council of Churches. At one time
an overt supporter of the communist
cause, NCC has today recast itself as a
leading representative of the "religious
Left." It claims a membership of 35
Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox
Christian denominations, and some 50
million members in over 140,000
congregations.”
Socialists also learned
that they could help to lower the
standards of education - which would
allow them to create a public that
lacked knowledge of history, geography
and civics - and therefore could be
manipulated easily by liberal media; and
also of morality, which would drive
religion out of the country as they have
been so successful in doing throughout
Europe. They decided to name this new
operation, “Political Correctness.”
“To attempt to point out the odious
nature of Political Correctness is to
re-state the crucial importance of plain
speaking, freedom of choice and freedom
of speech; these are the communities’
safeguards against the imposition of
tyranny, indeed their absence [emphasis
mine] is tyranny”, according to Philip
Atkinson, author of “A Study of Our
Decline.”
But do you know what? Uncle Sam sat back
and let them do this after WWII. The
result was that Americans and their
government were taught by
Socialist-dominated schools, churches
and institutions always to tolerate
everything, that there are no
differences between men and women, that
it is harmful to compete, that we should
never judge others, that all corporate
enterprises are based on greed, that
capitalism is inherently bad and that we
have to learn to accept other
philosophies of life, including those of
countries in Europe and around the world
that are clearly and utterly inferior to
ours.
Even our courts used European
Constitutions to try to color and change
ours.
Our Supreme Court also usurped some of
the duties of the Legislative branch; it
even stopped the presidential use of the
line item veto, thus allowing our
deficit to build. And with vicious,
unrelenting and oftentimes scurrilous
and specious attacks (before the
cameras), our Congress has weakened the
very Office of the Presidency.
Disgusted with the outrageous success of
their own country’s economic basis,
capitalism, Socialists understood that
they could not destroy the America we
love by economic programs. Rather, they
decided to fight the battle in a more
covert way. They have used massive
immigration, multi-culturalism and
political correctness to brainwash our
children, indeed our society, into
turning this once-thoroughly unique and
proud nation into the mess we see today,
destined to become Socialist by nature
because of its changing, and soon to be
inherent, population demographics and
proclivities.
We have let some Socialists get elected
to Congress, some by masquerading either
as Democrats or RINOs (Republicans in
Name Only); we have also let them
infiltrate Hollywood, replacing great
American actors and directors who fought
for this country in WWII and who made
great patriotic films to help us win
that war. Now the films, including TV
dramas, are directed, produced and acted
by staunch Leftists. This
“entertainment” has helped subtly to
disseminate Socialist (and Communist)
messages to Americans, has greatly
lowered youth standards of behavior and
responsibility, and ultimately, has
helped the terrorist regime come close
to defeating us. Perhaps we misjudged
Senator Joe McCarthy.
Yes, America’s conservatives are losing
the war of public relations and mass
communication without realizing that
verbal and mental ammunition is far
stronger and more deadly than the bombs
and bullets of all other wars. While we
won against Saddam Hussein through our
military power, the terrorists have
boasted that they have been able keep
Iraq unstable through fear and effective
use of the media ---theirs and ours!
Beyond the complicity of al-Jazeera,
Osama Bin Laden himself has said he will
win this war in the American media, not
on the battlefield.
This frightening concept is underscored
by James Q Wilson in his article, The
Press at War, “whenever a foreign enemy
challenges us, he will know that his
objective will be to win the battle not
on some faraway bit of land but among
the people who determine what we read
and watch. We…are in danger of losing in
Iraq…in the newspapers, magazines and
television programs we enjoy.”
Hitler and Castro took over their
countries with hypnotic words. Now we
are losing our battles because we let
our children be taught by our own "madrassas"
where ultra left wing professors rail on
about how America and conservative
values are the cause for all the woe in
the world. We are so naive and
uninformed that we actually finance this
subversive “education”, including the
professors’ salaries, with high tuitions
paid for from our own wallets or purses
and through American taxes as well!
Other very large democracies, such as
India, are having similar problems as
this new form of intellectual and
emotional warfare escalates, outdoing
the old form of bullet warfare. A
combination of terrorism and verbal
manipulation through schools,
universities, churches, media and
entertainment work as a powerful, toxic
force to mix fear and brainwashing
together so that this clever propaganda
can conquer powerful nations in the 21st
century without one bullet fired.
How? This is the frightening part of it:
once these verbal bombs explode amongst
us and then are disseminated by
television, radio and newspapers, many
of our people are infected and, in turn,
become deadly carriers of this
disinformation to others via
word-of-mouth at coffee breaks, in the
workplace, in our universities, over the
back yard fence, in letters to the
liberal press, in e-mails on the
internet and more. This virus also shows
its results in the voting booths. We
almost saw Gore or Kerry win the
presidency in the elections of 2000 or
2004, and many tell us now that Hillary
Clinton, who wants to socialize, and
thus destroy, our world-renowned and
-revered American medical and health
care system, could be our president in
2008.
The intensity of this plague has
increased to such an extent that we may
see our beloved Republic turn into a
plain democracy where we no longer use
the Electoral College, thus causing the
people in the Heartland to lose their
votes, as only Los Angeles, San
Francisco, New York, New Jersey, Chicago
and Detroit always would decide who will
occupy the White House as a new
President of the USA! We could even
become a Socialist nation starting in
2008, depending on whom we elect. With
the polls now showing that the seesaw
has tilted slightly in favor of the Left
(if one can believe the polls), is it
too late to save our nation?
Not if we, who love what our forefathers
founded, emulate the American spirit at
Concord that fired the shot heard ‘round
the world. This proud spirit can spread
and counteract any leftist propaganda if
we really make an effort to show it and
get others to do so, too. But -- we are
running out of time. The 2008 elections
are just around the corner and we are
now truly staring at the Socialist
preparation to take over our nation.
Can we really wake up to what is
happening to us and once again build up
our grass roots to take back our nation?
Can you speak up? Can you write letters?
Can you meet with your representatives?
Can we save this Republic of ours? We
shall soon have this answer.
___________________________________________
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing
Editor Lee Ellis is a retired journalist
and radio narrator, formerly a Vice
President with both CBS and Gannett (USA
Weekend). He is also a combat veteran of
WWII, having fought in the South Pacific
invasions. He can be contacted at
indiolee@dc.rr.com.
© 2003-2007 FamilySecurityMatters.org
All Rights Reserved
If you are a reporter or producer who is
interested in receiving more information
about this writer or this article,
please email your request to COY7m@aol.com.
Note -- The opinions expressed in this
column are those of the author and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions,
views, and/or philosophy of The Family
Security Foundation, Inc.or the Valley
Breeze.
This is an exclusive article by Lee
Ellis for the political website
FamilySecurity Matters.org. It was
reprinted with the permission of Mr.
Ellis and Family Security mtters founder
Carol A. Taber.
For more information on this and other
articles of interest go to the website,
www.familysecuritymatters.org.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Two Americas
May A 2007
John Edwards is correct
is saying that there are two Americas,
but NOT for the reason he states
---economical --- but rather that we
have the America of the
Communist/Socialist one as led by the
Pelosis, Reids, Soros et al. and we have
the America of the patriots, the
followers of the Judeo-Christian values
and those who believe that our
Constitution, as written by our
forefathers, was and still is the
guiding light, the strength of this
great Republic. With America divided
50-50, we could be close to our own
civil war again!
We truly are under siege by both the far
left and the Middle East Islamic forces.
These two forces no longer fight us with
either guns or diplomacy. Their weapon
choices are terror (suicide bombers),
media propaganda, tenured professors who
indoctrinate our youth-- our future
voters, and infiltration of our
political groups and some of our social
and religious organizations. The
Democrat party is no longer the party of
Truman, JFK, Scoop Jackson and all. The
only remaining true Democrat of that
school is Joe Lieberman and he has been
forced out of the party to become an
Independent! Even the Republican party
is not solid any more as witness some
poseurs we call RINOs (Republicans in
Name Only).
Hitler is being reincarnated for a new
kind of evil ...an evil designed to
destroy both America and Israel
including their values. It is an evil
that wants to slaughter all Christians
and Jews with a new holocaust. With the
lowering of all educational and moral
standards, America has been prepared
over the past few decades by the
Socialist and Middle East mindsets for
this to happen again. The preaching of
political correctness, tolerance, and
being non-judgmental has made it so much
easier for them to succeed. This advance
poison has been slowly creating a
Chamberlain-like sleep of "Peace in our
Time" in too many American people. Harry
Reid has already told us, Iraq and al
Qaeda that America has lost the Iraq
war, thus encouraging more of our
enemies to keep up the slaughter in an
effort to prove Reid correct!
We are about to be taken over if we
don't wake up soon! My generation of 80
plus years fought once for us in WWII,
but we are dying out. We need new Paul
Reveres who will ride to alarm the
people, new generations to wake us up,
new forces that will grab the
left-swinging political pendulum and
force it back to the right of center
where it belongs
Are they out there? There is not much
time left. We have the mirror reflecting
what has happened to Europe ---England,
France, Spain, Italy and Germany--- as
the combination of Moslem fanatics and
anti-America, anti-Israel Socialists
take over those countries. America is
less than ten years behind what happens
to Europe! Do we dare to look at this
refection in the mirror to see what is
coming?
We do not have much time to rally. Can
we? It is time for you young and
middle-aged voters to decide now which
of these two Americas your want for your
children and for your grandchildren! The
decision is yours to make, especially
come the 2008 election. We do get the
government we ask for, vote for!
indiolee@dc.rr.com
_____________________________________________________________________________
April B 2007
Oprah and
Education Today
By Lee Ellis
In the previous issue of The Valley Breeze (A
edition). I wrote about Oprah Winfrey's new
Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
I wrote how these young ten to twelve
year-olds had the ability to use English with
a refined vocabulary and a better syntax than
most high school graduates seem to have here.
Their demeanor was one of poise, faith and
determination to succeed in life, something
not often seen in many of our grammar or
junior high schools. I also gave some of The
New York Times' statistics about our failing
schools here and asked why?
In this part 2 section, I offer some
thoughts:
PART TWO
In the 1920s and early 30s, many mothers
never praised their children because, as they
told friends, they didn't want one of their
kids to get "a big head." This happened to
many children back in those years because
parents of that era were confused about the
different meanings of "egotistical." They
could not separate "ego" into the edges of
this behavioral spectrum from self-confidence
to vanity. They tended to think of having an
ego as being "conceited." This often had a
strong effect on many kids who began to think
that they did not have the ability to succeed
or that they had to do double duty in order
to make it. Thus, while some kids gave in to
this training and did not do much in their
lives, many became "perfectionists" in order
to do well. As the next three or four decades
showed, this caused many adults to become
successful entrepreneurs or to quickly move
up a career ladder to become VPs or even
CEOs. But this need to do double duty or work
80 or more hours per week left a trail of
broken marriages and new kids growing up
without a father in the home when he was
needed.
Decades later, parents overcame this
shortcoming in parenting by first praising
their kids for their good behavior and also
scolding them for their bad. This helped
produce children with a balanced outlook and
would have helped our society if it had
continued. But, by the late 80s, parents
started going a step too far by constantly
praising children, even if they were failing.
Thus began what some call the "Me
Generation."
Some schools echoed this pattern to where, in
many schools, an "F" for failure was no
longer used, nor was marking wrong answers
with red pens. This might give children a
feeling of low self-esteem, it was said.. We
couldn't let children think that they had
failed at something, educators claimed.
Society, especially the new academicians, had
decided to defy Aristotle's formula that
something cannot be A and Non-A at the same
time. They had forgotten that children can
trod a path of both successes and failures,
learning from each as they went along. A
failure can teach as much as a success when
one can experience both. Success is never the
pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Life
is composed of little successes and small
failures daily as we walk through this
passage of life. As we learn from a failure,
we gain an increase in our daily allotment of
successes.
Educators also forgot that for children to
have faith in themselves, they must also have
faith in God. If we are governed by a higher
power, then we feel the need to prize and use
the talents given us as a gift from God. But,
civics and history forgotten, political
forces along with school districts took on a
false interpretation of our Constitution and
by using a phrase never in this esteemed
document --- separation of church and
state---, steered children away from belief
in God to a form of secularism or even
atheism. The word, "God" has never referred
to any specific religion or denomination in
America. Our forefathers only wanted to keep
God free from any specific faith and not held
captive by one denomination as the English
Kings had done.
Civilization, as we know it, is but a thin
veneer of good when viewing this earth from
its beginning. When the people of Germany
lost faith in the 30s, Hitler's horrors took
over its so-called civilization. Today, as
much of Europe has discovered, its current
loss of faith has allowed the Fundamental
Islamic followers to start a take-over,
bringing with it another possible holocaust
that supposedly could never happen again.
Now, in this new century, some parents and
some school faculties are finally beginning
to understand and teach children that self
esteem comes not from without, but rather
from within, by being able to achieve through
their own efforts successes in finding
solutions to problems. Many teachers, once
again, are beginning to have high
expectations of their students. Some schools,
especially charter and private schools, are
beginning to raise all standards of both
education and discipline, even demanding a
dress code. This has not spread to many
schools or colleges yet, but hopefully it
will.
Perhaps, Oprah Winfrey, regarded as a liberal
by many, has given a gift of conservatism to
many young people and educators by reminding
us all that high standards of manners, dress
and behavior combined with a good education
is essential, not just for each person, but
for the good of a nation and, indeed, the
entire world.
_________________________________________________________________________
April A 2007
Lee Ellis presents a two-part series on
the value of education and why Oprah Winfrey
took her new school to Africa instead of
building the huge learning facility in a
major American city.
____________________
Part One
In South Africa, Oprah Winfrey has started a
"Leadership Academy for Girls." It is for
10-12 year-olds whom she believes have a
destination for leadership in their country.
Here they will live and learn.
When asked why she did not do this in
America, it is reported that she had worked
with enough schools here to know that the
tremendous desire for advancing in life via
much education was simply not present in our
young students.
Oprah will not let this happen in this new
school, as she has found many African girls
with a great zeal to learn. More importantly,
she has built a school whose very structure
and architecture appeals to the senses of
well being and comfort, one of the essentials
of setting the tone for study and the desire
for learning.
The 28-building campus boasts computer and
science laboratories, a library and theater
along with a wellness center. Oprah has also
included dress uniforms for all, along with
expected higher standards of behavior and
cleanliness. Her academy received 3,500
applications from across the country of
Africa. A total of 152 girls ages 11 and 12
were accepted. "I wanted to give this
opportunity to girls who had a light so
bright that not even poverty could dim that
light," Winfrey said at a news conference
according to the Associated Press.
In watching some of these young children, on
TV, as they applied for the school, I could
understand why Ms. Winfrey built near
Johannesburg rather than in a major city in
America. There, these young tweens had the
ability to use English with a refined
vocabulary and a better syntax than most high
school graduates seem to have here. Their
demeanor was one of poise, faith and
determination to succeed in life, something
not often seen in many of our grammar or
junior high schools.
Don't get me wrong. There are many private
and public schools in the USA that are
meeting the needs of children, and these
students speak and act well, too. But these
are the exceptions rather than the rule. A
CBS study, in the 90s, found the modern
college diplomas were on a par with the high
school diplomas of 1946 and that current high
school diplomas were worthless.
Pat Buchanan has written that although
millions of dollars have been thrown at
education, the National Assessment of
Educational Progress exams known as the
"nation's report card" do not reveal the
desired results for this money.
An NAEP test of 12th-grade achievement was
given to what The New York Times called a
"representative sample of 21,000 high school
seniors attending 900 public and private
schools from January to March 2005."
What did the tests reveal?
"Since 1990, the share of students lacking
even basic reading skills has risen by a
third, from 20 percent to 27 percent.
"Only 35 percent of high school seniors have
reached a "proficient" level in reading, down
from 40 percent.
"Only 16 percent of black and 20 percent of
Hispanic students had reached a proficient
level in reading.
"Among high school seniors, only 29 percent
of whites, 10 percent of Hispanic students
and 6 percent of black students were
proficient in math.
"Mr. Buchanan went on to say, "This is only
the half of it. Among the kids whose test
scores on reading and math were not factored
in were the 25 percent of white students and
50 percent of black and Hispanic kids who had
dropped out by senior year."
What has gone wrong? Please read my thoughts
on this in the next issue, (Edition B) of The
Valley Breeze.
_____________________________________________________________________________
March B 2007
March A 2007
February B 2007
Congress Aids, Abets
and Emboldens Suicide Bombers in Iraq
By Lee Ellis
As I write this, another homicide truck
bomber has struck a market in Baghdad,
killing as many as 121 people among the
crowd buying food for evening meals, one
of the most devastating attacks in the
capital since the war started. The
attacker was driving a truck carrying
foodstuffs including oil and flour when
he detonated a ton of explosives,
destroying stores and stalls in the busy
outdoor Sadriyah m