Blog Site Closed

The Simi Valley Sophist blog site is closed, and all new blog postings are on the new blog site, Sheepdog Barking.

Naked or Speedo? Moral Morass Exhibit Ten

With all the advanced physical training techniques and nutrition available to today’s athletes, is it any wonder that performance continues to improve and records fall? Oh, then of course there are the illicit performance enhancing drugs.

Now there is a controversy about the latest swimsuit rendition by Speedo, which appears to be a causative factor enhancing performance.

The new swimsuit? Speedo's LZR Racer.

That modest meet last month in Columbia, Mo., began an unprecedented -- and controversial -- six weeks that turned competitive swimming upside down: 14 world records set as of Wednesday, 13 in the LZR suit.

Naturally, there are people who consider the new swimsuit to be unfair competition.

…the onslaught of new world records has ignited debate over whether
high-tech apparel provides an unfair advantage.

Swiming competition is about the perfection of function accomplished by the human body, not the apparel. The first Olympian athletes competed in the nude. Maybe we should return to that standard. Alas, that would horrify or titilate much of the masses. And, we are supposed to be a sophisticated lot?

Linked in this Blog:
The suit that's turned the swim world on its head

Arrogance of Power or Informed Leadership

Laurence Fishburne had a line in the movie The Cotton Club in which he stated, "You've got to learn, that when you push people around, some people push back."

That makes sense to me, but apparently Mason & Felder at the Jewish World Review don’t think highly of the concept:

...the banality of the Fishburn quote — which as any kindergarten teacher can explain is the philosophy of four year old children...

Children have the ability to cut to the chase since they innately understand the nature of power uninhibited by the grownup niceties of hierarchy and negotiation designed to lessen violence in conflict resolution. Children “push back” from a physical intrusion in the only way that they know, physically. Adults have learned all sorts of ways to non-physically push people around, especially if they have power over some one. I talked about the abusive behavior of some work supervisors in my piece, “Black Hats Destroy the Thin Blue Line.”

Within the work place, sometimes subordinate employees refuse to relinquish a contrary opinion or kowtow to a supervisor more comfortable with the arrogance of power rather than the hard work of informed leadership. That would be the supervisor who derogatorily brands the opinionated employee as a person who “pushes back.”

I’ll admit that the “push back” label amuses me no end since it is intended to be derogatory. But it is not, and here’s why. The Free Dictionary defines “push back:”

Noun1.push back - the act of forcing the enemy to withdraw or rollback

Verb1.push back - cause to move back by force or influence; "repel the enemy"; "push back the urge to smoke"; "beat back the invaders" repel, repulse

In other words, there can be no “push back” if you are not pushed first. There is nothing untoward in standing tall in the face of adversity.

Frequently, the activity inappropriately characterized as a “push back” is an employee refusal to agree with a premise, as opposed to an insubordinate action in which the employee fails or refuses to recognize or submit to the authority of a superior. The moment that the supervisor characterizes a subordinate’s reaction as a “push back,” the supervisor has telegraphed his interpretation that the employee is challenging either the supervisor’s authority, or, as in this case, the supervisor’s credibility. The “push back” characterization is not possible without at least a subconscious admission on the part of the supervisor that it is he who pushed first.

I once had a Chief who took the time and effort to inquire, listen, debate and decide. When that process was completed and any matter of disagreement remained, he’d say, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” There is a man who earned respect. And a man to admire, even if you did not agree with everything he decided.

What is there to say about the supervisor who does not rise to the stature of my former Chief?

“…when you push people around, some people push back."

Links in this Blog:
Biography for Laurence Fishburne

The Cotton Club

Send Ward to a ward?

Black Hats Destroy the Thin Blue Line

Free Dictionary Definition of Push Back

Willie Brown Confirms Black Racism

Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco and Speaker of the California Assembly, is comfortable in speaking the truth about the existence of black racism in the U.S. Only, he calls it “race pride.” This comes to us from an article in the Washington Post about the dilemma that Barack Obama is causing powerful black supporters of Hillary Clinton. Those would be the supporters who have not yet recognized that they will lose black constituency support for dissing a black man’s first real shot at the Presidency.

Willie is quoted:

"I think most white politicians do not understand that the race pride we all have trumps everything else."

And, you thought that only Caucasians were racist! How so very liberal of you.

Link in this Blog:
Obama Wave Stuns Clinton's Black Supporters

Islamic Justice

This is quite an example of Islamic justice.

If they treat their own people this way, do you think they will treat you any better?

Both Clintons are Reprehensible for Making Cozy with Terrorists

Thanks to the candidacy of Hillary Clinton for the most powerful job in the world, we’ve been treated to the constant visage of Bill Clinton. The man sold out his countrymen to enhance the potential of Hillary getting elected to the Senate by pardoning Puerto Rican FALN terrorists. FALN is a terrorist organization that bombed and killed in the U.S. From the WSJ article, The Clintons' Terror Pardons:

Given all this, why would Bill Clinton, who had ignored the 3,226 clemency petitions that had piled up on his desk over the years, suddenly reach into the stack and pluck out these 16 meritless cases? (The New York Times ran a column with the headline, "Bill's Little Gift.")

Hillary Rodham Clinton was in the midst of her state-wide "listening tour" in anticipation of her run for the U.S. Senate in New York, a state which included 1.3 million Hispanics. Three members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus -- Luis V. Gutierrez (D., Ill.), Jose E. Serrano, (D., N.Y.) and Nydia M. Velazquez, (D., N.Y.) -- along with local Hispanic politicians and leftist human-rights advocates, had been agitating for years on behalf of the FALN cases directly to the White House and first lady.

Initial reports stated that Mrs. Clinton supported the clemencies, but when public reaction went negative she changed course, issuing a short statement three weeks after the clemencies were announced. The prisoners' delay in refusing to renounce violence "speaks volumes," she said.

And now, Hillary is making cozy with Basher al-Assad.

The thought that the electorate could return the Clintons to the White House turns my stomach.

Here’s a question for you. If you are a supporter of the Clintons, did you check to see if you have any morality left, or do you just blindly support in ignorance?

Links in this Blog:
The Clintons' Terror Pardons

Pelosi, Clinton & Obama Kiss Terrorist State Leader’s Ass

Pelosi, Clinton & Obama Kiss Terrorist State Leader’s Ass

There are certain liabilities inherent to living within a republic guided by democratic philosophies and the primacy of free speech. These precepts have immunized the likes of traitor Hanoi Jane Fonda from the Vietnam era and most recently House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she visited Syrian President Assad in April 2007. Never mind that she did so in contravention to the wishes of the President, who is tasked with the responsibility of foreign policy.

Now the NY Sun reveals that both Senators Clinton and Obama have sent emissaries to visit with Assad. Once again the Democratic Party is meddling in foreign policy. And guess who is representing Obama; None other than Zbigniew Brzezinski. From a piece by James Lewis from American Thinker:

If you're too young to remember the name Zbigniew Brzezinski, he is Jimmy Carter foreign policy genius, on whose watch the Iranian mullahs got into thirty years of power -- with a nuke coming right up. Brzezinski still thinks today that he and Jimmy were right to bring in old mass-murdering Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. These people are never wrong. Would you trust this guy to represent the United States against Islamofascist terror types?

So what’s the purpose of the Pelosi, Clinton and Obama ass kissing with the head of a terrorist state? From Lewis:

Damascus has also been the transit point for thousands of jihadis going to Iraq to commit suicide-murders against Americans and Iraqis. If you want to talk to Al Qaida and the gang, Damascus is your place. Syria's President Assad is also Iran's best buddy in the Arab world. (Iran is the State Department's biggest terror-sponsoring state.) So Assad is the go-to guy for all the terror sponsors.

It's obvious that Hillabama desperately need to send a can't-wait message to the people who attacked us on 9/11. So urgent that they can't even wait for the Democrats to declare a presidential candidate, or to defeat John McCain. This must be a message Hillary and Obama are coordinating with each other, since they are sending both of their foreign policy advisors at the same time to the same place.

Question: What message would that be?

Here's a fair guess. They are telling Terror Central to hold any plans to attack us during the presidential election. Why? Because another 9/11 attack before the election would give the presidency to John McCain, who looks like a hard-ball guy militarily.

Obama and Clinton are attempting to manipulate world events to their personal advantage. Never mind that their meddling in U.S. foreign policy can have disastrous consequences for the U.S. But hey, if they were worried about damaging the U.S., they would not hold the political views that they hold.

Lewis does a fine job of delineating the intended selling out to weaken America by the Democratic Party’s leadership. Go here to read it.

Maybe we should rethink the application of the term “traitor” as it pertains to the leadership of the Democratic Party. How frustrating it must be for legislators, who really want the U.S. to remain strong, to deal with these people day in and day out.

Links in this Blog:
Pelosi brings message of peace to Assad

'Realism' in Syria

Is an October Surrender in the Making?

Saying Thanks With Old Glory

We were five off-highway dual sport motorcycle riders recently enjoying a long weekend in Death Valley exploring dirt roads avoided for years when riding our Harley Davidson motorcycles. Death Valley is a marvelous place for re-cementing relationships spanning many years.

Russ announced that he was packing a 5 foot by 3 foot American flag for the express purpose of displaying the flag should an American military jet pass by in his proximity. That fired-up the group’s enthusiasm. Not only do we love riding motorcycles, but also we avidly support our military. Russ’ plan was a fine token of appreciation for all that our military personnel do for us. And, the plan was not far-fetched since military jets routinely fly low and fast along the Panamint Valley skirting the Western edge of Death Valley National Park.

Homeward bound, two pick-up trucks loaded, we headed southbound on Highway 178. There was mellowness, tiredness, from two days of negotiating dirt/gravel byways and snow. Roads which tried their best to topple us should we get too slow and allow the front wheel to plow. One second you’re upright, and the next you are down, or struggling to keep the motorcycle from pitching you head over heels. Then it happened: on the horizon coming toward us; two F-16’s fast and low.

Russ slowed his truck to a stop, and I bailed out from the passenger side struggling to deploy Russ’ flag. The lead F-16 passed just to the West of us at about 500 feet of elevation, and I’m not sure that I got the flag out in time for the pilot to see it. But three seconds later, Ol’ Glory was fully displayed for the Wingman, who came straight up the road, northbound, and directly over our heads. If you have never had a close-up experience with a low flying military jet, let me tell you this: it is an incredible sight and sound to behold.

Russ and I were high-fiving when I observed that both jets were banking to a southbound heading. I shouted to Russ that they were going to come around for another pass. I can imagine the radio conversation between the pilots.

Wingman to Leader: “Did you see those guys holding up Ol’ Glory? Let’s go around.”

Leader to Wingman: “Roger. There are two stopped vehicles about a mile apart. I’ll take the first, and you take the second.”

Wingman to Leader: “Roger that.”

The leading jet buzzed our partners and climbed up and away to the Southwest. Seconds later, Wingman flew over our partners, descended to about 200 feet off the deck and thundered up the road directly at us. Russ and I, holding Ol’ Glory stretched out between us, were eye-ball to eye-ball with Wingman. Whooom, he passed over us and immediately pulled a high-g ascent: as straight up as an F-16 can do; propelled by the flaming jet engine; followed with a barrel roll. Wingman was gone as fast as he arrived leaving us with the smell of jet fuel and a memory of a lifetime. Russ and I went nuts, like a couple of kids.

That’s the way it happened when we said, “Thank You.” And, they said, “You are Welcome.”

Sharia Becoming British Law

As a population becomes increasingly Muslim, the movement toward Sharia is inevitable. That’s the message of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In a sense he’s right, and it is the right thing to do in a democracy. Or is it?

Depending upon whether you are a part of the shrinking majority or the burgeoning minority, you are likely to have quite different views. England and Europe, in general, are in the midst of a religious/cultural evolution in every sense of the word, change over time.

Read about the Archbishop’s message here.

It will take a lot longer, but Sharia will find a home in the U.S. It’s already happening in Canada. Be very afraid!

Link in this Blog:
Adoption of Islamic Sharia law in Britain is 'unavoidable', says Archbishop of Canterbury

Update 2/25/2008: Read Chuck Colson’s piece
The Archbishop and Sharia