Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Contemporary musings: Time to Rethink Our attitudes
Contemporary musings: Time to Rethink Our attitudes: As someone who is white and have been assaulted/mugged/beaten up/robbed/et cetera by criminals of various races, creeds, genders, or other p...
Time to Rethink Our attitudes
As someone who is white and have been assaulted/mugged/beaten up/robbed/et cetera by criminals of various races, creeds, genders, or other persuasions over my lifetime (especially in my youth)I feel somewhat qualified to say that one of the problems we face in dealing with the criminal element and delinquency we have to stop dissecting everything by race and social class and stop making excuses from them. I have lived in the Inner City ghetto and housing projects growing up as have millions of others. Claiming the the lack of economic opportunity is the cause of crime is INSULTING to the millions of us who were raised in such and often worse conditions that have and are still pulling ourselves by our bootstraps. Millions of us would rather work than be dependent on government handouts. We do not go out committing crimes or inciting riots. The overwhelming majority of us have always had good, positive with relations with the law enforcement community. It is not an Us versus Them conflict. There is no conflict with anyone other than the criminal element and those of us who want to see our communities improve.
The point I am trying to make rather unpithily (the opposite of pithy) is that social scientists, social engineers, and most importantly social commentators need to stop making excuses. Every one of these criminals...yes, I said criminals for that is what they are...have had the same opportunities as anyone else in similar circumstances. For whatever reason they have failed to take advantage of them. Some opportunities are readily available. Others have to be worked for and earned. Regardless of circumstance they are there. We choose which opportunities we want to partake of all them time. It is time to stop making excuses and start telling the criminals among us that their behavior will not be tolerated. PERIOD!
The point I am trying to make rather unpithily (the opposite of pithy) is that social scientists, social engineers, and most importantly social commentators need to stop making excuses. Every one of these criminals...yes, I said criminals for that is what they are...have had the same opportunities as anyone else in similar circumstances. For whatever reason they have failed to take advantage of them. Some opportunities are readily available. Others have to be worked for and earned. Regardless of circumstance they are there. We choose which opportunities we want to partake of all them time. It is time to stop making excuses and start telling the criminals among us that their behavior will not be tolerated. PERIOD!
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Congress Must Change Its Rules
It would be easy to fix the entitlement attitude members of Congress have with some rule changes. The major catch in the plan I will be outlining is that only Congress, the House and the Senate, can change the rules. Many members are not about to give up their cushy leadership positions in order to more effectively serve those who elected them to office.
My rule change suggestions would apply to both houses of Congress. Here it is:
1. Eliminate seniority in Congress. Each after each election each member of Congress starts over at Square One when they take the Oath of Office. It is the same oath and the same rules apply to freshman legislators as to those who have been reelected many times. This proposal would do away the the designation of "Senior Member."
2. No member of Congress shall serve in any leadership position more than once. No member of Congress shall serve in any leadership position for more than one congress (two years). No member of Congress shall seek a leadership position without having served a minimum of two congresses without such a position.
Campaign financing:
I hated getting fundraising emails this past campaign season from outside of Maryland's 1st Congressional District. Congressional fundraising should be done only within the district in question. For this to happen the Constitution would have to be so amended.
3. No one running for a seat in the House of Representatives or the Senate shall accept campaign contributions from outside the congressional district they are running for in the case of the House of Representatives or the state they reside in in the case of the Senate. All congressional campaigns shall be funded by those residents the members shall represent.
4. Members of the House of Representatives must maintain a home and reside within the congressional district they are elected to serve. Likewise Senators must maintain a home and reside in the State from which they have been elected.
Congress must reform its rules if it is to be a true representative government. Congress was never intended to be a lifetime profession for its members.
This missive has been written solely by Onnie Duvall who is solely responsible for its content.
My rule change suggestions would apply to both houses of Congress. Here it is:
1. Eliminate seniority in Congress. Each after each election each member of Congress starts over at Square One when they take the Oath of Office. It is the same oath and the same rules apply to freshman legislators as to those who have been reelected many times. This proposal would do away the the designation of "Senior Member."
2. No member of Congress shall serve in any leadership position more than once. No member of Congress shall serve in any leadership position for more than one congress (two years). No member of Congress shall seek a leadership position without having served a minimum of two congresses without such a position.
Campaign financing:
I hated getting fundraising emails this past campaign season from outside of Maryland's 1st Congressional District. Congressional fundraising should be done only within the district in question. For this to happen the Constitution would have to be so amended.
3. No one running for a seat in the House of Representatives or the Senate shall accept campaign contributions from outside the congressional district they are running for in the case of the House of Representatives or the state they reside in in the case of the Senate. All congressional campaigns shall be funded by those residents the members shall represent.
4. Members of the House of Representatives must maintain a home and reside within the congressional district they are elected to serve. Likewise Senators must maintain a home and reside in the State from which they have been elected.
Congress must reform its rules if it is to be a true representative government. Congress was never intended to be a lifetime profession for its members.
This missive has been written solely by Onnie Duvall who is solely responsible for its content.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Needles are indeed found in haystacks
OK! Yes, I know it has been since forever ago that i last posted something. A lot has happened since then and I will address those issues at another time. Today I want to share what just happened a few minutes ago. Those of you who are LDS will understand. Those of you are are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, feel questions free to ask me about it. I apologize in advance to be writing this assuming everyone will know what I am talking about.
There I was indexing Smyth County, Virgnia death certificates for 1922 as part of the church's indexing program when I came upon a record the name of Elisa Cress, maiden name Pafford. As I have Cress ancestry I recognized the name. I went into Family Search straightaway and found Eliza (remember, standardization of the spelling of names is a rather recent development in human evolution) Pafford, wife of Samuel Cress. I noticed that some of my information was only approximate and was able to fill in a few blanks.
I knew there was a reason I have been so interested in indexing Virginia death certificates and always hoped to find someone I was related to. I found one and yet it wasn't even in the line I was concentrating on.
There I was indexing Smyth County, Virgnia death certificates for 1922 as part of the church's indexing program when I came upon a record the name of Elisa Cress, maiden name Pafford. As I have Cress ancestry I recognized the name. I went into Family Search straightaway and found Eliza (remember, standardization of the spelling of names is a rather recent development in human evolution) Pafford, wife of Samuel Cress. I noticed that some of my information was only approximate and was able to fill in a few blanks.
I knew there was a reason I have been so interested in indexing Virginia death certificates and always hoped to find someone I was related to. I found one and yet it wasn't even in the line I was concentrating on.
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