Memorial Day Thoughts (and an Apology)

The Peasant has something to share with you.

I hope that you, my wonderful readership, will

be understanding of me in regards as to what I  

am about to tell you.

As you know, in past years I always posted a 

piece regarding Memorial Day on this blog.

Although I always paid tribute to our brave 

fellow Americans who fought and made the 

ultimate sacrifice in past wars, your grateful

Peasant went a bit overboard; as I also gave

thanks to our vets who are still living as well

as those who have died in battle. Your foolish

Peasant wanted to recognize and show gratitude

for their valor, but in doing so I inadvertently 

diluted the original and proper meaning of 

Memorial Day, and I wish to at this time make

a truly heartfelt apology. After thinking about 

the patriotic holiday and reading some articles

about the day I have dined on some humble pie.

We as a nation honor our living war veterans on 

a day which we have named and set aside for 

our show of gratitude to the surviving vets;

it is Veteran's Day. I have, of course, posted 

my statements of gratitude here at that time

of year. I should, however, have not run the 

two days together, as it were, by blending 

their purposes and meanings. The surviving 

war vets gave some, while our vets who died

in battle gave all, and the two must never be 

conflated.

So to all of you, my grand readers, your humbled

and chastened Peasant gives his deepest, heartfelt

apology. To those who gave their lives in war for

our country I give a respectful salute. To the 

living war vets I give my message of thanks 

for your service and sacrifice. And to everyone 

I wish you a blessed Memorial Day. 

MEM

Remembering The Duke

Today, May 26, is the birthday of an American icon, 

a grand star of the Silver Screen, and one of the most

popular actors of all time. John Wayne was born this 

day in 1907.

The Duke, as he has long been affectionately known,

made over 150 films in his long and stories career,

most of them westerns, some war movies, a few 

police/detective dramas, and some other sorts as well.

Although Wayne played many characters, they were 

the amalgam of the same man --- the strong, stoic,

committed, unwavering, patriotic man who always

helps right to triumph over wrong wherever he is,

wherever he goes. A pillar of strength to rely on,

and a figure of positive morale to see one through

anything. Someone who isn't afraid of nor ashamed 

of his masculinity, a man who is masculine without 

being a macho caricature of a man. A stellar example 

of what it means to be an American.

A man that boys could look up to. A man which other men

could emulate. A man that women could trust, count on,

and fall in love with. John Wayne also lived his life 

this way, away from the movie set. 

Would that there were other actors in entertainment who are

of this caliber, on the screen and off, as well as other male

celebrities. We could use more men like the Duke in all 

areas of society as well. 

Happy Birthday, sir. You have given us a magnificent legacy

which, with your memory, will endure the test of time.

MEM

It's a Gas!

President Biden recently announced that 144,000 acres

of federal land, actually a very small percentage of the 

acreage available, would be opened to oil and gas 

development, a welcome development in the face of 

an energy crisis brought on by an erstwhile reversal 

of President Trump's opening up areas to get oil and gas,

which helped lead to the United States becoming energy 

independent and a major exporter of oil --- even if Biden

has had his arm twisted by a court order. 

However, Biden is now in a pinch; he is caught between

an impatient public being so over his slow-moving 

domestic energy production during said energy crisis,

revved up by the invasion of and war in Ukraine, and the 

environmental radicals which make up much of his 

support, which opposes any domestic production at all,

period. So Biden passes the buck, making Russian 

dictator Vladimir Putin the fall guy for the U.S. suffering

gas prices exceeding four dollars a gallon, but we are 

hurt more by the energy-unfriendly policies enacted here

at home. Putin is no exemplar of civilized and gracious 

behavior, but he's not responsible for the United States 

seeing inflation make a comeback, rocketing to 8.3%

according to the U.S. Labor Department. That sorry 

phenomenon is due to Biden pumping loads of money

into the economy via his budget for our current year

with vast investments to increase public housing, 

public health, education, and combating climate change

among other things. The sudden flooding of the economy

with $1.5 trillion (!!) will greatly reduce the spending 

power of the dollar, as there would soon be too many 

dollars chasing too few goods due to the sharp rise 

in the money supply, followed by a stiff increase in 

the cost of the production of goods causing businesses  

to cut back on production, therefore producing less units 

of whatever goods they make. These goods will then 

sell at higher prices. People with higher income will 

feel a pinch; those with lower incomes will feel pain.

All being done while Biden refuses to untie the oil industry's

hands and let them extract more oil and produce more gas.

And all this is to allegedly "Build Back Better".

Sigh.

MEM 

Democrats, Abortion, and the Beginning of Life

On the issue of abortion there couldn't be more of 

a contrast between the Democrat and the Republican

parties. On the question of when life begins, the 

Democrats won't even say while the Republicans 

have been all too happy to share their belief that

life begins at conception. Their belief is the 

intersection of faith, values, and science. The 

Dems may admonish everyone to "follow the 

science" but are strangely mum on the beginning

of life. 

Science has demonstrated that unborn babies can feel 

pain quite early. After six weeks a baby's heartbeat can 

be heard in the womb. Sonograms have shown unborn

babies smiling, yawning, sucking their thumbs, and 

mothers and midwives attest to a phenomenon called

the quickening, in which the mother feels the baby

kicking against the inner wall of the womb, well 

before its birth. Science has, therefore, demonstrated 

that an unborn baby is a human being, and most voters

agree with and therefore follow the science. 

According to a recent poll conducted by the 

National Republican Senatorial Committee, 73% of

voters agree that this is so. 

Although the leak of the draft opinion in the case of 

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has 

caused a furor on both sides of the abortion issue, 

with Republicans outraged over such a sneaky 

act and the Democrats thinking that somehow 

this will influence the SCOTUS to rule against

Dobbs and to also preserve Roe v. Wade, once again

the latter have shown themselves to be the extremists

on abortion by staking out a position that is outside 

the mainstream of where average American voters

dwell. Some Democrat governors and senators 

support legalizing abortion right up to the moment 

of birth. A few even support letting the baby be born,

followed by the mother and her doctor discussing

and deciding whether or not to kill the newborn child

(Virginia's ex-Gov. Ralph Northam comes to mind).

And it isn't very likely that the SCOTUS majority

in Dobbs will back down and switch their vote,

despite the unprecedented leak of the draft of the

majority opinion of the Court, which was published 

in a left-wing online news site, Vox.

Quickly regrouping to cover their bets, the Dems in 

the U.S. Senate will move forward on yet another vote

on the Women's Health Protection Act, which would 

forever enshrine legal abortion throughout the entire

country up until the very moment of birth. The Dems 

are now working furiously to bring the dreadful 

measure to a vote, even though they realize that they 

won't have the necessary votes to pass it  --- two

Democrat Senators have voiced their intention to vote

against the bill, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia

and Kristen Sinema of Arizona, and the usually pro-

abortion GOP senators Lisa Murkowski of  Alaska

and Susan Collins of Maine have expressed concerns 

that the legislation was too extreme, even for them (!).

They just want to have a campaign issue to use in this 

autumn's elections. Let them! They will learn the hard 

way that they do not speak for the American people,

male or female, on abortion; especially when they 

advocate such frightfully extreme laws to ensure a 

woman's right to an abortion. They are only making a 

bad situation worse. 

In this blog post you have seen the Republican's answer

to the question of when life begins, and how they fashioned

their stand on abortion with it. You also have seen that the

Democrats have not given an answer to the question, but 

we know what they are after, and it's doubtful to say the

least that they care about when life begins. And their silence 

speaks volumes, loud and clear.

MEM

NOTE: I apologize for my error in stating that Sen. Kristen 

Sinema voted against the Women's Health Protection Act

bill. Sinema had voted for its advance, not its defeat. My 

information on her decision whether or not to vote for 

this legislation proved to be faulty. Thank you all for 

your understanding.   5/14/22 MEM 

Orrin Hatch, R.I.P.

A rather unique U.S. Senator and politician, who had practiced 

practiced bipartisanship in a rather unique (and surprising) way

passed away just the other day; Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah, ret.),

88, reached across the aisle in the Senate to craft and pass legis-

lation, gaining the cooperation and support of Democrats who

would not have been likely to go along with the efforts but for

the gentle persuasion of Sen. Hatch. The seven-term Republican

senator (a record among Republican senators) even won over 

Sen. Ted Kennedy and became life-long friends with the 

prominent Democrat from one of the most prominent American

political families (!).

A relic of an age when such a phenomenon would, while raising

some eyebrows, have been not so rare as it would be today in our

current hair-trigger political climate, Hatch chaired the Senate

Finance Committee, the Senate Joint Pensions Committee (since 

Hatch's chairmanship this committee has been abolished), 

and the Senate Judiciary Committee, before becoming the President 

pro tempore, the title given to the longest-serving senator from the 

majority party. Along each and every step of the way Sen. Hatch

had established cooperative working ties with Democrat senators.

In his last term or two in the Senate Sen. Hatch made the unfortunate

leftward move that had gladdened RINOs and dismayed conservatives

in the GOP. While he didn't go over to be as far left as Sens. Lisa

Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME), he did vote with 

them and with Democrats some of the time in that period. Whether

or not it was a consequence of his having reached across the aisle

so many times in past years your curious Peasant is not sure.

But Hatch did retain much of his core values and principled stands

on vital issues, i.e. the right to life for unborn babies.

For the most part, Sen. Orrin Hatch was a model senator, a fine 

servant of the people, and a striking example of how to work with 

those of the opposing party to accomplish the heretofore nearly

impossible. May the tall, soft-spoken Utahn rest in peace. 

MEM