Redstate

Posted at 7:03pm on Jan. 1, 2008 I'm Gone

By mikeleader

I will miss Red State much more than it will miss me..In the year or so I've been here I've written perhaps 3 or 4 diaries, offered a dozen or so comments.

Like Gamecock, (whom I greatly admire) until my Conserative epiphany I was a dedicated Democrat,with a very liberal upbringing who was elected to a Dem Party position of great influence. Lots of the Democrat politicians whose names appear in these pages are people whom I know, and who know me, and in whose circles I traveled in.

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Posted at 7:23pm on Dec. 28, 2007 The Jewish-Mormon controversy that won't go away [Closed and annotated.]

By mikeleader

[I am taking the position that the author of this piece has temporarily allowed his personal objections to the practice mentioned below to overwhelm his good sense over what is and is not acceptable political commentary at RedState. I sincerely hope that this will end the matter. - Moe Lane]

The Catholic uneasiness over Mormonism is well known and will be a factor if Romney becomes our standard bearer. There is also a little known but MAJOR PROBLEM between the LDS(Latter Day Saints) and the American (also world wide) Jewish community.

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Posted at 11:02am on Oct. 11, 2007 Rudy Schism and the tale of the Chinese Monk

By mikeleader

mikeleader
Chin-Ning Chu in her superb book on the Asian mind set,"Thick Face Black Heart" tells the story of the Chinese Holy Man...
He sat under a tree meditating when a boy ran to him..The boy said he was accused of being a thief and there was a mob after him, and they would cut off his hands if they caught him.He claimed he was innocent and in his heart, the Holy Man knew he was telling the truth.The boy climbed up and hid in a near by tree. When the mob approached and asked the Monk if he had seen the boy he hesitated. He knew the boy was innocent, but years before he had taken a vow to always tell the truth..He kept his vow and revealed the boy's hiding place . the boy had his hands cut off and he died.

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Posted at 12:52pm on May 27, 2007 Governor Richardson, touted as a moderate, exposed as a moron

By mikeleader

The usually sensible Larry Kudlow heard on ABC radio in new york and msnbc on cable did a riff on Richardson.

He read his bio, governor, diplomat, hispanic, a moderating voice in the light of Hill and Oba..He said unlike the other dems. he's a businessman and pro capitalist.he's not a raise taxes governor, and he resonates with the latino community...
Kudlow can see him as a possible VP candidate.....

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Posted at 11:36am on Apr. 24, 2007 phony union mantra

By mikeleader

In n.y. everyone seems to have bought into the teacher's union nonsense that all we need to do to educate kids is throw more money into the schools, and lower class size..This mantra is repeated ad nauseum..ignoring the fact that nyc spends 14 billion a year on education....more than the gnp of most countries in the UN...,and places like Singapore, Thailand,Kong Kong and others on the asian rim have up to 170 kids in a class and that class has all grades from the 4th through 12th...and how do these kids do when they come here with out knowing a word of English? walk by Stuyvesant H>S>, Bronx Science,Brooklyn Tech...and all the specialized schools and note the predominance of Asians...

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Posted at 8:16pm on Apr. 20, 2007 Reid:Redstate must act!

By mikeleader

Fellow Redstaters....we talk, we lament, we wring our hands, we shake our heads in disbelief...we blog ..and we wait for someone,or something to happen to flush out the fools and cowards who now head both houses of govt.
Our President (whom I admire and respect)and his administration haven't a clue about public relations .Yes the 5th column, known as the msm , have wrapped up public opinion in a little bow, but for god sake where are our elected Republican collective voices? Where is the righteous anger and indignation? Who will immediately fashion a strategy to compel Pelosi and Reid to resign!!

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Posted at 2:55pm on Feb. 11, 2007 Conservatives helping liberals straighten theTitanic's deck chairs

By mikeleader

Question: What do you call a conservative who is so consumed with the abortion issue he will refuse to vote for anyone who disagrees with him, even if that person has little to do with affecting that specific policy?

Answer: A friend of Hillary.

I’m Jewish, so after four millennia of oppression, paranoia is in my genes. I speak to two very old people with faded number tattoos on their forearms who tell me that America today is like they remembered Europe in the thirties. Someone in our crowd says “It can never happen here,” and the two survivors look at each other, look away, and say nothing. Their silence speaks louder than any words they can utter.

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Posted at 5:00pm on Feb. 10, 2007 My Friend Rudy

By mikeleader

In 1993 it became obvious that if Rudy was to avenge his narrow defeat for Mayor four years earlier, he would need more Democratic voters to cross party lines and support him. His campaign strategists knew I was disenchanted with the incumbent and put a full court press on me to meet with Giuliani. I was the elected head of the Democratic Party in a large Democratic district whose vote could be pivotal if it turned out for the non Democrat challenger.

I met him and we talked for about an hour. He impressed me then as he does now with his intelligence, humor, and vision. I agreed to publicly support him, and shortly thereafter I stood on the steps of City Hall with Rudy in a far reaching press conference where the press corps did everything they could to dig up a nefarious motive for my sacrilege of becoming the first Democratic Party Leader to endorse Rudy. I felt then he was the best candidate for my city .Though I was a Democrat, and an unpaid Party official, I had to choose reason and conscience over Party. The “man bites dog twist” made for a good story and it was picked up by all the city papers, and went national when the Associated Press picked it up.

Read on . . .

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Posted at 2:16pm on Jul. 16, 2006 Ed Rogers Republican strategist on Israel (what????)

By mikeleader

Fox had Rogers on this morning to give a fair and balanced response to the Irael- islamafascist conflict.. this guy's a repub. strategist...he sells out our ally..he sells out our president..

then I google this:

Republican Ed Rogers Calls Feingold "Thoughtful"

"... Russ Feingold is thoughtful opposition. He voted against (the war in Iraq). He's been principled about the whole thing. He's been matter of fact. I don't have any problem with his position. ... He's consistent and thoughtful." - Ed Rogers, Republican strategist (source: "Hardball")

who is this guy? who uses him for strategy? I told Fox the next time he's on I'm dropping the channel from my xm package..

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Posted at 8:56am on Jun. 19, 2006 A Modest Proposal for Education and Welfare Reform

By mikeleader

Pat Cleary brings up a very good point in her exscellent diary..The answser is Parental Involvement!

For years NYC has been spending between 11 and 14 bilion dollars on city schools with negligible results...

that enormous amount of money dwarfs the Gross National Product of most of the countries on the planet..

A very significant study I remember reading in  the Daily News a few years back discussed how statisticians rated a plethora of factors in order to see which were analogous to student performance...The one correlation which held true universally was that the schools which served the most free lunches and breakfasts had the distinction of poorest student performance...

Mandated food in school occurs in neighborhoods where most of the parents are below the poverty levels...These parents because of a myriad of circumstances albeit some beyond their control might not be equipped to instill the love of learning, or provide the proper pre school preparation enjoyed by more affluent parents...

For example, most of the pre schoolers I know have been taught the alphabet, colors, shapes, and have learned to read along with mommy and daddy every night in a "bedtime" book.

On the other hand...I've taught in schools where the majority of 4th graders in my class could not spell their own names.

The idea of throwing money at schools doesn't make sense the way it is done now.  The refrain of lower class sizes, and higher teacher pay is in the words of a well known exotic  dancer, "A crock."...Compare the way Asian schools along the Pacific rim have done...Students there have 70 kids in a class...Subjects are taught to children from the ages of ten to sixteen in the same class!

and how do they do...Go to the specialized schools of nyc...Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech...you see an enormous preponderance of Asian students..far more than their demographics would suggest.

In fact, take a poll of the next Korean grocer when you shop and ask what school their kids are going to...count how many MIT's, John Hopkins and Stamfords you come up with.

The answer is parental involvement to combat educational woes..and the way to involve parents is to use the money municipalities pay to welfare recipients... to clean the parks, and remove grafiti, and pay those parents to work for their kids.

a structure should be put in place to pay an increased benefit (5% increments)to welfare recipients when their (in school) children achieve certain benchmarks..i.e. 90% attendance , 0 lates, grade level over 80%, all homework assignments completed. Parents would get a bonus by attending all parent teacher conferences, participating on school trips, and being members of the parent-teacher associations.

Many parents would like to participate in their children's education yet they don't have the skills...Some of that 14 billion should be used for remedial training for those parents, once again using money as an incentive...Teachers could earn the extra dollars as tutors, training parents to master the skills necessary to work with their elementary school children...In one generation...we can both make our kids better students...and wipe out welfare..breaking the chain of poverty and misery which replicates itself again and again.

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Posted at 6:12am on Jun. 3, 2006 The man who wanted to say Kaddash

By mikeleader

Subject: The man who wanted to say Kaddash

Time: 5:52:45 AM EDT

Author:  mikeg400

Mood:  Quiet  

I thought the door to the Club office was closed...but the little man was able to walk in...and for a brief moment I thought my father had returned from the grave...He wore the uniform of  Jewish elderly men...grey windbreaker, zipped in defiance of the 90 degrees, nondescript logoless blue cap...beige khaki's, what they used to call "chenos" and  grey sneakers.

I had seen his face  a thousand times, or pictures of  faces like his, staring through the barbed wire fence of Auschwitz and Dachau,,,Skull faces, sunken dark eyes, skin shrunk by hunger, bony nose and jaw......and the expression of bewildered utter saddness.

"Your sign says you're a Democrat." He said accusingly.His voice was hoarse, dry..

"I am ....sometimes" I said .

"You don't do nothing...You don't help the people."

"My job is to get the people elected who help the people."

Typical me...I'm going to teach this poor guy about District Leaders and the role of the Leader in party politics...I might as well try to explain algebra to my cat.

"You don't help the people." He said louder.

"You're right..So why do you want to waste your time talking to me..You know where the door is." Quick trigger..that way all my life.

...then he started to cry.

I never saw my father cry until the last throes of his Alzheimer's. For no discernible reason he would awake from his dreams and with deep throated sobs and tears that tore at my heart and made me want to hold his ravaged body in my arms like a protecting blanket to give him strength.  I was back there ...at his bedside trying to calm him and trying to fight back my own tears for the million things I had done over a lifetime that I could have done better to make him happy and proud of me...and love me..

My voice softened."How can I help you.?"

He told me his story then...His name was Shabbat. "Do you know what that means?" I did..The Sabbath the day of  rest and peace.He was 91, my father's age before he died, his wife had passed away. He wanted to get to shul each day to say the ritual prayer for the dead, Kaddash, but the heat..the walk..had become too much for him. He needed transportation.

I'm sure the rabbi would arrange some transportation for you."

"I can't ask him, he's too busy."

"How about Access a Ride?  " I reached for the phone to make an arrangement for him

"No they don't come on time. They can make you wait for a quarter hour.Then they make you wait to pick you up."

"So you wait a while..Where do you have to go?"

"Yeah I wait but the Russians they get cars to take them to their friends house, and the blacks go to the night clubs..and I can't get a ride to the shul to say kaddash for my beloved wife."

"You can get a ride but you're too busy to wait. What would you like me to do for you if you don't want Access a Ride.?

"Get me someone to pick me up and take me home."

"Why don't you just call a cab or car service." I expected him to tell me how poor he was and how he couldn't afford it...but his answer surprised me.

"I'm not going to use my own money!" He said emphatically.

"Why not? You probably have some money left over from social security or a retirement pension..You live in a rent controlled appartment?

"No I own a house..two family .Why should I pay when the Russians and the blacks don't pay anything !"

"Because that's what you are supposed to do." I said rising up and walking to the door. He followed me outside as I knew he would,  and I quickly walked back in locking him out.

My conscience gnawed at me. "How could you be so mean?."

It wasn't his fault..It was what the political parties do to people like Shabbat..sad to say, the Democrats have made it the cornerstone of their philosophy. You pitch rich against poor, black against white, haves against have nots...develop a victim mentality...let people believe government was there to take care of all there needs...stifle self reliance and initiative....the villains were the Russians, the blacks, the Republicans, the wealthy...anyone but themselves...I counsel alcohol and drug addicts...I had heard the rap a million times before.

. My father woke each day at 5 am... found his way to the docks of the Brooklyn Navy Yard....stood on , above , or under the water in temperatures that varied from 110 in his protective clothing to a 20 below zero wind chill, building the ships of America's navy that saved the world....

He taught me to question, to think, to rely on myself...and when things got bad, you worked that much harder..

I felt bad for Shabbat, all the Shabbats..but.he wasn't at all like my father.

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Posted at 11:18am on May 29, 2006 response to my first diary entry

By mikeleader

so... you know those sci fi movies where the  zombies, (or aliens,or robots) take over the world after a  a nuclear disaster and what's left of humanity is living in caves or deep underground....One of the bedraggled survivors stumbles out to the "forbidden zone" and just as he is about to be ripped to shreds by the mutants he is saved by members of humanity who chose to fight rather than succumb Their Leader( picture Charlton Heston before the bad wig, dressed like Moses..flowing robe and staff. Pulls out a Big Mac and hands it to the awestruck survivor who gobbles it down in one bite.

Our hero says "you mean there are others who survived?"

"Yes" Heston smiles benevolently.."and frech fries and cokes"

"My god!!I thought... I thought I was alone..."

"Come my son join us on the SHINING CITY ON THE HILL.

translation...zombies= good people who have lost reasoning power because of the radiation-like exposure of the msm.

HESTON=CONSERVATIVE BLOGGERS

city on the hill=Redstate

------------------------------------------

thanks to all who took the time to respond...quick answers

..My "epiphany" was spurred when in my real life job of educational administrator I fought the libs who wanted to send several dozens of our public school students to Cuba to learn about Communism at taxpayer expense...and I blocked a program the libs wanted to implement costing a million bucks, dealing with "Trans-sexual verbal assaults" among kindegarten and first graders.

TSVA is when one little boy calls a little girl "stupid"...ah I say...isn't that just teasing

..no you fascist nazi consevative...that's the root of all the problems women face in their lives...who knew?

Then I supported Giuliani for Mayor and my boss was his opponent's spouse..not a good career move! Cost me my job..no ACLU involvement here!

and then there was the little event called 911..where I lost a brother-in-law and 2 dear friends ...........

Don't agree with all repubs..Love Bush (can not be a Jew and not love our president)

and finally..

I'm not new to the vast right wing conspiracy...became a Dem originally because there were dems who understood capitalism, recognized the wisdom of the Founding Fathers,believed in a strong national defense, and understood loving your country wasn't a bad thing..the speeches of jfk and humphrey in their day would be considered right wing today..

i stay as a dem because I can help people learn to question what they read and hear and open their eyes...and ..no Rep can get elected locally to any office...even in the Nixon landslide, dems in my area won by 90-95 %

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Posted at 5:00pm on May 28, 2006 Hi my name is Mike and I'm a Democrat

By mikeleader

  "Hi my name is Mike and I'm a Democrat."

The above is stated with the same embarrassment and discomfort an alcoholic feels when he first addresses an AA meeting.

Even more disheartening is that I am an elected party (not public) official of the Democratic Party.  Many of the elected officials skewered in the conservative blogs or discussed on air by Rush, Sean, Mark Levin and others, are folks I know well on both a political and social basis. i serve in a very blue state and ala Zell Miller, I've come to the opinion that the libs, have taken over the party and are determineed to destroy it and with it the greatness of America.  

I have stayed a dem in the hope of being able to counter balance the crazies in my party. I am being overwhelmed by the fiercely ignorant who carrying their torches and pitchforks have accepted the polemics of msm. There are others like me..Reagan Democrats who understand the peril we face from the islamic fascists. They are few and far betweem..My blue staters are staunch in their elitist certainty of the merits of diversity, multi culturalism,affirmative action, big government, judicial activism, globalization and like the world in the 3o's "there are none so blind as they who will not see."... I stay in this swill trying from the inside to educate and point out reason and logic.....

they are beating me down..RedState helps me remember that there are still americans who know history, who have principles , who are not ashamed to be part of the most wonderful and blessed country that ever graced the earth... Room for one more Senator Miller,Senator Lieberman...?

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