Previous Musings of the Guru

Not being a Clinton fan, I should probably relish all the problems that he has made for himself. However, I believe the Republicans have made a big tactical error. They have taken an illegal act (lying to a grand jury) and pushed it to a constitutional definition, that although it possibly meets the techinical definition, in no way could it really be high crimes or misdemeanors as intended by the original framers. If he had lied about something that affected national security, or mislead the public about some criminal deed, then maybe Congress would be justified. Even Reagon lied about selling missiles illegally, and got by with an apology.

The Senate needs to quickly acquit the president of impeachable offenses, maybe give him a rebuke, and get on with the business of our country. Let a federal prosecuter decide whether or not to charge him with perjury, using the same process that you or I would be subject to if we lied to a grand jury.

It may be too late for the Republicans, already hurting from the last elections, to gain back their credibility. The Senate still has a chance to act in a bipartisan manner, and to get this over with quickly without removing him from office. But I believe there will be a backlash. And that may be good for the country, because maybe it's time some of the hard line old-timers are to be replaced by those that would put their country ahead of the party.

This was the headliner for the day, WHILE
the stock market was fluctuating wildly a couple hundred points,
the impeachment trial was going on, and
we had bombed Iraqi missile sites.
Goes to show you what is important to the average Joe, at least according to CNN.

How in the world could we elect a president who if he was anyone else with the accompanying trappings, we would not even consider for the school board or city council? Or is he really innocent of all that stuff? Like OJ is innocent?. Or do we think all politicians are the same?

Compliment a woman co-worker on how she looks more than once a day and you could be harassing her. But if you don't do the same for your wife, you are mentally abusing her.

A six year old pinches a teacher on the butt, and is hauled off for a sex offense. A dad pinching his 6 year old daughter on the butt could be charged also. Dads had better not bathe their baby girls, let alone change their diapers. Nosy neighbors might be peeking in the window, and turn you in.

If a governor propositions a women in a motel, and she says no and leaves, its crude but not harassment. If in fact he exposes himself at the same time its immoral, but since he's not in public, its probably not even illegal. And it is still not harassment. Now if the incident is repeated several times in the next few days, thats harassment. But why in the world would she keep going back? And she probably didn't.

Your 8 year old falls and bruises his head and arm on the coffee table. Two weeks later he or she falls out of a tree, nothing broken, but a few more bruises. You better be ready. A teacher or school nurse could report it and you'll have child welfare on your door step.

Your rebellious teen-age son gets angry with you after you say no about something. That night he hits himself about the chest and legs to raise bruises. Next day at school he makes sure the coach sees him and asks about the bruises. He says you did it. He doesn't even need the bruises. Guess who they will believe.

No one can deny there is plenty of abuse and harassment going on, and we need laws for the perverts who commit it. But lets be reasonable. We still need to allow for courtesy, family discipline and affection, and plain old-fashioned good sense.

In todays terms I would be considered an abused child, but I suffered no ill effects from it, and grew up with a good respect for authority. Although I wouldn't recommend the same kind of discipline now, it was common in those times and the problems schools have today were non-existant then. Yes, there should be limits to physical discipline, but on the other hand a well placed swat on the rear-end occasionally may be called for.

A church in Arkansas shut down its day care center because it was encouraging mothers of the children to work outside the home, and they felt that a mother's place was at home with their children.

Well now we hope they will help support those children, because either the mothers will be forced to quit work, or find much higher priced care. I'm sure that many working mothers would rather stay home with their children, but if faced with starving children or working to put food on the table, there isn't much choice.

It would be nice if in this day and age the average father could could make a living wage for the whole family. And what about the mothers without supporting fathers? The church should have left well enough alone, and thanked God for all their mothers with resident fathers.

Fuzzy Zoeller's joking remark (expressing the hope that Tiger Woods wouldn't choose fried chicken and collard greens for the PGA banquet's menu next year) and the reaction of the press and other groups is an example of how far PC (politically correct) has come.

Was the jesting remark related to Tiger's race? Probably. Was the remark racist? Only to those running around with a race chip on their shoulder.

Come on folks! If Lee Trevino had won the tournament and Fuzzy had expressed the hope that he wouldn't choose tacos and tamales for the menu, everybody would have had a good laugh, including Lee.

Ironicly, a couple days later our local newspaper, The Daily Oklahoman, had an article in the health section concerning the diet of the black culture. It talked about how fried chicken, 'chitlins', and other foods associated with black culture lead to obesity and early heart attacks. By the same measure why wasn't this racist? I'm sure the article was in many other papers also, but I didn't hear any outcry over that.

We live in a multi-cultural country. Our differences in appearance and living are obvious, and cannot be avoided or ignored. Of course there are crude references related to race or culture, and these are inexcuseable. I happen to have a larger than average nose and have been the target of a few jokes. But I understand that its all in jest and people are just trying to be funny, and don't intend to insult me. Look at all the jokes about Ross Perot's ears.

If we could be a little more light-hearted about ourselves and our differences, this would be a much greater country. We have enough problems without taking an off-the-cuff remark that meant no harm, and putting it in headlines all over the world.