Published: May 25, 2008 04:59 pm            

5/25/2008 Letters to the Editor

Don’t be fooled

Gasoline hits $5 a gallon, and your SUV gets 10 mpg. The stock market dives taking your 401K with it. Inflation doubles prices of certain purchases in the first five months of this year. The influx of 13 million illegal immigrants of which a percentage are felons. The assorted idiots who are spending millions and millions of dollars trying to get a job that pays tens of thousands a year. I loved the female idiot saying “I won’t be drinking tea with the Saudis, I’ll get tough with them.” And do what? Hopefully we will never know.

All our current problems are nothing but the fire ant stings you would suffer while standing on their mound trying to get a better view of the tornado bearing down on you. I have touched before on the Muslims and some of the things that will change after they take over, but it would take a large book to fully explore our future.

Certain paradigm shifts are inevitable in geopolitics, which in much of their life cycle are barely visible to casual observation. Like a glacier, paradigm shifts occur slowly over time. And since they run counter to established norms they are often ignored, overlooked or dismissed.

At a certain moment in history the transition from one paradigm to the next is unmistakable and, for better or worse, unstoppable. Once a glacier reaches the valley floor, man with all his strength cannot move it back up the mountain.

A fallacy is being viewed as reality by many western governments. Their refusal to understand they are in the midst of a geopolitical demographic paradigm shift that will have tremendous personal consequences for the people within the nations of western civilization. The insistence by politicians in the West that Islam is no danger to their national governments, and that their nation states can exist with two legal systems, two conflicting cultures, two opposing religious agendas and two political world views, is a deadly one.

The governments in Western Europe are unprepared for this invasion. They now have about 40 million Muslims within their borders whose birth rates far exceed those of the natives. And instead of realizing they are in a demographic war, ostrich like, they bury their heads in the sand and hope the problem will go away. Eventually they will lose, since a nation cannot win a war it refuses to realize it is fighting. Sadly they are unwilling to do that which is necessary to win the war, as are we with our illegal immigrant problem.

Western civilization’s leaders continue to encourage an addiction to self-indulgence for their people. Self-centeredness has become the modern era’s opiate of the masses. Professional athletics, Oprah and “American Idol” have replaced the circuses of ancient Rome. History will catch up with such myopic vision with horrific consequences.

Asia, the Middle East and Latin America are ascending while western civilization sinks into a state of the self, where unrestrained personal “choices” and short-term interests have led to the deification of the individual to the detriment of society.

Political correctness reigns while facts and common sense are derided. Meanwhile the glacier is about to reach the valley floor. Nation after nation in Western Europe will be reconstituted as Islamic republics, beginning first with the smallest, most liberal nations.

Western civilization has created a model for living that has within it the seeds of its own destruction. Muslim politicians elected by Muslim dominated voting districts in the U.S. will eventually take over the leadership of our congressional committees. And in a repeat of the Roman era, the Christians will again become persecuted.



W.V. Bonds

Cleburne



Layland Museum salutes DCA

Another Springfest is over. The streets are cleared of barriers and banners. Market Square is a bit barren with the bright tents of vendors now gone. This was a test year to gauge public acceptance for clustering the event at Market Square and off main roadways. In previous years Springfest booths were located around the county courthouse area. Recent renovations to the 1912 structure, construction fences and contractor’s trailers restricted vendor space and pedestrian access.

Busy crossroad traffic from U.S. 67 and Texas 174 on either side of the courthouse created an unsafe environment for the annual event.

These and countless other decisions were made on behalf of the community by a small group of volunteers of the Downtown Cleburne Association, sponsor of Springfest. Led by President Charles Wells, the group meets twice monthly to discuss, debate and decide ways to improve downtown, to reinvigorate once-active businesses and to make Cleburne a destination place.

The membership brought to town in 2007 the Plaza Theatre Company, which already has provided some 280 performances and sold 14,000 tickets. That was a huge commitment for DCA to make taking on the task of underwriting a new business and to assist with renovations to bring this style of live theater to town. It has paid off by attracting audiences from all around the region.

While the 140-year-old city continues to reinvent itself moving beyond former identities such as, “The City of Roses” or “The Jersey Isle of Texas,” the inevitable growing pains are obvious. Vacant store windows are tangible reminders of the prosperity that once was Cleburne’s. Yet, forward thinking people reside here still and efforts are being made to move on.

DCA must be applauded for their efforts to make difficult decisions and go out on a limb for our city. Wells, Mike Bowles and Maxine Ammons are faithful to the DCA mission and the museum salutes them.



Julie Baker

Layland Museum



Congratulations graduates

Here it is, graduation time for another bunch of high school seniors and hopefully all are eager and ready for entrance into the real world. May they hit the ground running and reaching for what it takes to accomplish a good life.

Accomplish is the key word, rather than receive or deserve. At that same stage of my life I and most others of my age figured that we only deserved what we earned and would receive accordingly, barring any unexpected pitfalls along the way.

I sincerely hope this to be the philosophy of the young people of today who are beginning this exciting new segment of their lives. Unfortunately, the media is full of accounts of the actions and bad news created by some young adults who did not carry this philosophy with them into the work and higher education segments of their young careers. They chose to take the “easy road,” which was based on grabbing what they could and doing whatever felt good, showing few of the good qualities taught them through their early lives by parents, church and educators.

I feel that our local educators have worked hard to turn out well equipped and good citizens who will be able to use their minds and talents in bettering themselves and positively influencing those around them.

May all of us take great pride in our young people and be available and willing to assist and praise them in their pursuit of earned success at all levels. Let’s face it, they are several steps ahead of us in technology adaptation! Give them room and learn from them while urging them to their goals. Many have already shown their stuff while others will do so in big ways and in their own time.

I offer my congratulations to all of the Johnson County grads. You and your parents and teachers deserve large accolades at this point. Set your goal high and persevere in that pursuit. It is mostly up to you from here on, so go with thoughtfulness. Don’t ignore the fact that others were pushing, pulling and assisting you in many ways and do remember that there will always be some one or even many who will still give you a helping hand. Never forget them or their efforts, but be available when others need your help. Keep us proud. Life can be so fulfilling and should be so good!



Monte Swatzell

Cleburne



City spent too much money on club house

I don’t think my letter will ever be published in the paper, but maybe I will feel better knowing I wrote it.

Is not the money of the people (taxes, gas leases, etc.) supposed to be used for the good of the people? Tell me how many of the citizens of Johnson County will ever benefit or be able to use a $2.3 million golf club house? I’ll bet not even 10 percent.

Maybe you could make $1 million for the club house and $1 million for the other 90 percent of us.

Believe me, I’ll remember who the mayor and city council are when election times comes again.

We need $1 million to get the drugs out of our city and then we could all afford more and attract more business and people.



Sue Vaughn

Cleburne

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.