Sons and Daughters of Liberty

What does it mean to be an American today? Whether you are a U.S. citizen by birth, or a naturalized American, you should think about this daily. What is an American? What is it about our way of life and culture that makes millions of foreigners risk life and limb to get here? Do we have a unique American culture? Why do people fear us? Why are there those out to destroy us? These are the questions and issues that will be explored here.

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Location: Pasadena, California

Monday, March 09, 2009

Pasadena's Blackboard Jungle

Public school districts and communities across the country are locked in heated debate over having police officers patrol their middle and high school campuses. Using cops to nail juvenile offenders is what many critics see as facilitating the so-called “School-to-Prison Pipeline,” by which otherwise “good” kids get caught up in the criminal justice system through citations or arrests, as opposed to their “behavioral issues” being handled internally by school administrators.

However, the idea that the police are targeting basically “good kids” engaging in garden variety mischief is a fantasy being sensationally touted by the media, special interest groups, anti-police activists, and out-of-touch parents. The hard truth that nobody wants to talk about is that many public schools in America are increasingly seeing violent assaults perpetrated by students on teachers, staff members, and each other. That is the real reason why public schools are becoming jail and prison preparatory centers.

Symbolic of being out of touch with these realities is Kris Ockerhauser, President of the ACLU Pasadena-Foothills branch, who said in the March 5 issue of the Pasadena Weekly: "The whole idea of a fistfight becoming a felony assault with a deadly weapon is too strong a response." Just below her remarks, the story discusses the case of a young African-American male who, with the help of two other African-American students, attacked and beat a Latino student with their hands and feet. The three students were charged with felony assault.

For one thing, a “fistfight” is when two people engage in basically “fair,” one-on-one fisticuffs. These were three African-American boys who attacked and beat a Latino boy, in what on its face seems like a racially-motivated hate crime. This Latino student was on the ground, being kicked (by shoes) in the head and face and punched by three people. This was no “fistfight.” This was a crime. This was an assault with a deadly weapon. Don’t think so? Lie down on the ground and get kicked and stomped in the head, face, and neck by three guys wearing shoes, who are also punching you with closed fists. Do you think hands and feet could kill you now?

Another misguided sage is Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund, who writes in the Pasadena Journal (March 5, 2009): “The sense that too many schools are turning into prisons is very real. Students are learning that many school disciplinary incidents…that used to end with a trip to the principal’s office, can now lead to an arrest.” I don’t know what schools she attended, but in my day you got sent to the principal’s office for being overly tardy, or for ditching class, not for shanking a student with a knife, or bringing a gun in your backpack so you can shoot a classmate. Violent students assaulting, stabbing, and shooting other students, teachers, or staff, committing vandalism, or committing strong-arm robberies of other students’ belongings are the reasons schools are feeling like prisons. And we need police on campus to arrest these offenders, just like anybody on the streets would be arrested for committing the same acts.

Activists and media spend so much of their time sensationalizing the plight of the “poor” criminal students, disadvantaged from birth, who now have even less chances for success because the police are cracking down on them. How about interviewing, for once, the poor kid who got beat up? Let’s read about the Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who was sent to the hospital with the broken nose, eye socket, and jaw, after being assaulted by several of his own students. How would you feel, as a parent, if it was your child sent to the hospital by a violent student attack? Are you going to wring your hands over the “school-to-prison pipeline” or are you going to demand that the police do something?

There are violent student predators, many of whom are involved in gangs, drug culture, and street criminality. Others, like the Columbine killers, are obsessed with violent video games, bomb-making, and taking revenge out on their peers and society. These “children” have no qualms about bringing weapons to school and attacking classmates, teachers, or staff. Destroying property and stealing, whether by force or fear, is way of life for many of these kids.

Assaults and robberies against our public school children, committed by their peers, happen daily. The police have been decisive in campus crime prevention but are just one spoke in the critical wheel of society’s search for a cure to the ills that plague our public schools. Less crowding, proper funding, skilled teachers, as well as parental involvement, mediation, conflict resolution/anger management training, and access to mental health services will go a lot farther than worrying about a mythical, police-driven “school-to-prison pipeline.”

This article appeared in the Pasadena Weekly issue of March 26, 2009.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

President Obama Rides the Wave, but How Long Will It Last?

I always say ride the wave as long as it lasts. That is what President Obama is doing now as he enjoys 70% approval ratings. So far, like most Americans, I like what I see. Obama has picked a cabinet which I can safely refer to as a “Dream Team.” For instance, Secretary of State Clinton has shown to be shrewd, tough, and nuanced chief diplomat, smoothing out the frayed edges of America’s image overseas (I do not think the image of the U.S. is “broken” as many Bush-bashers would have us think). She will not be intimidated by any men from Russia or Iran, and will seek real cooperation from our European and Asian allies. Secretary Gates, along with our military leaders, have provided our Commander-In-Chief with realistic cause-and-effect scenarios and outcomes which have influenced Obama’s steady decision-making in regard to the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In regard to the economy, Obama has shown to be a diligent and tireless national leader, trying anything and everything to “stop the bleeding.” His federal stimulus package started infusing cash into critical areas, saving the jobs of 25 new Columbus, Ohio police recruits, just days after they were told they’d have to turn their badges back in. As a police officer who has seen agencies in Southern California having to contend with layoffs, this was a sliver of good news among the bad. Obama has his work cut out for him though as the Dow continues to slip and slide to who knows where, and experts across the board agree that things will get worse, perhaps even for several more years, before they get better.

Obama has shown moderate restraint by reigning in spending on all the typical Democratic pet projects lefty liberals are always trying to sneak into budgets. At the same time, he’s shown a fresh willingness to take on Wall Street and the corporate greed that continues to sicken us all. While some continue to throw around the “S”-word (socialism) in regard to Obama, most Americans can agree that all the billionaires and multi-millionaires running around can live with kicking in a little more to help get things going economically. Realistically, capitalism is nowhere near dead, nor is Obama trying to do away with it, but something has to be done. We all have to tweak the game plan a little, because the one we were working with before wasn’t working.

Obama is instilling confidence in those of us who admire a daring leader who is ready and able to take science and technology in new directions. His decision to rescind restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, he will have the courage to take on Big Pharma and get American medicine to actually start curing things instead of managing illness. This may be an uphill battle though, the opening salvoes that we may all get a glimpse of when Obama tackles national healthcare reform. This is one area where the President is at risk of having his approval rating slip.

I like that Obama is channeling the great American Presidents Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt as role models and for inspiration. However, there are dangers with too much comparison and imitation. The situation that America finds herself in now is vastly different than it was in 1861 and 1941. Lincoln and Roosevelt did things in those national emergencies that would make Bush’s steps to keep us safe after 9-11 seem tame in comparison. Lincoln had no problem suspending the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland, occupying Annapolis and Baltimore, and declaring martial law throughout. Lincoln had thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers arrested, including the U.S. Congressman representing Maryland, numerous state legislators, and even the mayor, the majority of the city council, and the police commissioner of Baltimore. Most of those arrested were held without trial for several years! The lefty liberals of today would have been screaming for Lincoln’s head.

And if there are some who thought Lincoln was bad, President Roosevelt flat out lied to the American people during the presidential campaign of 1940 when he promised that America’s sons would not be fighting in the European war. Roosevelt knew, even when he made that campaign pledge that he would do everything he could to get the U.S. in the war. Before America’s entry into the war, Roosevelt had no qualms about waging illegal naval warfare on the high seas against Nazi U-Boats, in violation of international law. He also violated neutrality laws by aiding and arming Great Britain, again prior to our entry into the war. After Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt rounded up suspected Nazi collaborators and sympathizers, silenced anti-war dissenters, arrested newspaper editors, and herded thousands of non-enemy Japanese-Americans into so-called concentration camps.

While many of us centrist Democrats, and moderate Republicans as well, credited the Obama administration for continuing many of Bush’s security and war-fighting strategies, including troop surges, renditions, and Presidential state secret prerogatives, President Obama will soon find that his actions as Commander-In-Chief in waging the current war will come under increasing scrutiny from the anti-war Left.

That just might be when the wave Obama has been riding high comes crashing into the shore of harsh reality.