The Vicious Circle

Did New Zealand's Cardinal Tom Williams really think his country was immune to the degradation and emptiness of liberalism or is he merely blowing off steam because of the inevitable decay of decent society?

"The perennial work of the barbarian is to tear down existing standards, and to debase ideals that have come to characterize a society built on sound moral principle," he said.

"Traditional beliefs and values have been systematically subverted by the derision and outright hostility to the whole Judeo-Christian ethic upon which civilization has been based for the past two millenniums."

Once permissiveness is allowed to take route and go mainstream, things will never be as they once were. There's nothing new under the sun. Look at the mess that is Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. A country that once flourished, producing food and jobs, is decaying. Now that Mugabe and his band of crooks have seized the lands of white farmers, the economy is in the toilet.

But Mugabe's having fun, so don't spoil it.

Young Kenny Hall's having a ball cheating on his girl. Subterfuge is nothing new, but this is a brand new whirl.

Hall, a 20-year-old college student in Denver, decided in March to spend a weekend in nearby Boulder with another woman. He turned to his cell phone for help, sending out a text message to hundreds of other cell-phone users in an "alibi and excuse club," a network of 3,400 strangers who help each other skip work, get out of dates or give a loved one the slip.

Assistance came instantly. One of the club members, on receiving Hall's message, agreed to call the girlfriend. He pretended to be the soccer coach from the University of Colorado at Boulder and said Hall was needed in town for a tryout.

For shame, for shame. Apparently cell phones can be equipped with background noise to fake a liar's surroundings.

Young boys with toys and background noise
going after folly
turn into men who sin with thin fair young things.
Just jolly!

Believe me when I tell you my verse can get much worse.

He's pure delight in pasty white
and rambles on for ages.
What sweet nectar lies in a tome filled with lies
poured across those guiltless pages.

British Bum Waxes Eloquent

Urban blacks and yuppie whites continue to battle it out in Washington, D.C. It seems that Sisterspace and Books is getting kicked out of their building.

There's a whole lot of gentrification going on in that city, which some black people view as a conspiracy against them. Where I come from, fixing up, rebuilding and beautifying are positive qualities. I know, I know, some who've lived there can't afford to pay the sky-high rents, and that's viewed as racist.

Sisterspace's story: "Their reasons go beyond the disputes detailed in thousands of pages of court filings. At the heart of their resistance are the changes they see unfolding outside their store in the historic U Street corridor -- for much of the past century the commercial and entertainment heart of the black community but now one of the hot spots of the District's yuppie rebirth."

The real story: "Instead, the most recent rounds of litigation have focused on whether Sisterspace formally renewed its lease two years ago when it wrote to the MacClure trust seeking an extension. By then, Williams and Burton had stopped paying rent to protest what they said was a lack of repairs. The two parties had been fighting in court for more than two years."

If the "sisters" had paid the rent, they would still have the space. Gentrification isn't racist. The bookstore operators failed to take the proper steps to address their complaints against the landlord. They're further corrupting the system.

We can assume that Sisterspace is some sort of beacon of black hope in an area once hopping with entertainment and all sorts of good things. What do they do with that legacy? Instead of being responsible and setting an example for aspiring entrepreneurs, they abuse the system and stiff the landlord. In the middle of all this hoopla, the drama queens plan to stand arm in arm against federal marshals with guns, who will likely be black, and "protest" their treatment.

These women should be in the business section talking about how they made their business a success despite the odds. Rather sad that we're regaled with anecdotes of how fabulous black life once was in Washington eons ago. One would hope for something more insightful than this excuse for "news."

I must confess: it's a sordid mess.

Here's a toast. To me, Lady D. At best, posting will be spotty. My mission is to call attention to lefty loons on a semi-regular basis. That's all for now. Got to get back to lunch with the bunch.