History and truth rarely coincide.

Mr. Filco wrote an opinion for the Willamsburg Gazette on February 18th, 2023. "History can be taught fairly and objectively." This opinion is right on target, and his analysis is truthful. However, I am offering an opinion as to why history is not taught fairly and objectively. In other words, why did Mr. Filco write his opinion unless he saw an issue with how history is taught to begin with. I am thankful for Mr. Filco's opinion, but we need to look at the cause of why. 

Mr. Filco, I read your opinion today. "History and the truth rarely coincide," You can attribute that quote to me if you wish.

We are the sum of our experiences, and we have to consider human reality based on experiences as to how history is told. All humans have biases, even if some will not admit them. Some but not all historians, college professors, and now high school teachers taught by radical college professors indoctrinate students. The idea of critical thinking, the teaching of "critical thinking," is all but a dinosaur of the past. I blame the Democrats. I have to ask. How the hell did some college professors become so radical? 

Did this whole liberal mess start with a war in the 1960s where cowards were unwilling to fight? Did they not fight because their fathers and grandfathers were killed in the 1940s - 1950s American wars? Is it because hippies of the 1960s, unable to get a real job, became teachers? Is liberalism really just a self-preservation reaction where cowards prefer to be protected by big government or force the poor to fight wars, but not me because I am educated? Does the beginning of American liberalism come down to the fear of dying and expand from there? Huh, well, I don't think you will answer that question, so I have to assume that no answer means my critical-thinking mind is right. 

Having had two children attend college 2017-2021 and my wife (2015) a graduate of the College of W&M, I have had the privilege to listen to lectures and speeches given by those who wear long cloaks, hide behind locked doors and tall walls,  those who sit at the head of the table expressing their blinder views of our history. The truth is, Historians are not what I call the highest IQ, and you know that. To be a historian, you only need a public library and a mind that can think critically. I suggest not letting a historian come at you from a position of power. 

The fact is history has been weaponized far longer. Example: Hitler used a book written by Luther 1500s-1600s to give a reason for the mass murder of Jews in the 1930-1940s. Hitler used a historical reference to kill millions. Today, civil war history is weaponized by liberals, even W&M college grads like Ms. Coleman, the civil war museum curator who now runs Pasbehaugh Island (Jamestown). 

So I say, while we would like history to be taught fairly and objectively would be a high ethical goal, that will never happen as long as liberals live and breathe. 

New York times opinion writer shows us, he has no clue as to rural America.

 

This discourse is in response to Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Paul wrote an opinion piece found in the Williamsburg Gazette 2-1-2023 opinion page. 

Mr. Krugman,

I read your article today an opinion entitled, "Is there anything that can be done to assuage rage in rural America? Let me help you, oh, Northern VA urbanite, understand why rural Virginia hates you. 


1. The vote: In any popular voting process in Virginia, three counties and a handful of large urban cities dictate who our representatives are in Washington, DC. It is so bad that when Mark Warner writes an Op-ed in his quest to ban guns, the Op-ed is not even posted or submitted to a Virginia paper for its residents to read. No, he chooses the Washington Post. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner never visit rural Virginia except it be during voting season. These two urbanites don't give a rats ass about southwest Virginia. 

2. Guns: Rural America owns guns, and we are responsible gun owners for the most part. It is urbanites who shoot each other and not rural America. Yet Northern Va will vote to take from rural Virginia our rights without our permission. Notice how all gun bills in the 2023 Virginia legislation came from urban centers where moral decisions to kill each other do not meet the expectations of rural America's ethical standard. 

3. Most important: The article starts with the New deal and jumps to today's society handouts. Roosevelt 1932 ( in between???) - 1980s. Having grown up milking cows in the 1970s, we had federal subsidies to produce milk on our family farm. That subsidy, along with tobacco subsidies, is all gone. The Government took our milk and took our cash crop. You most likely don't know this, but the family farm is dead in due part to the Federal Government, the lack of subsidies, and in due part to milk processors' cheap payment for raw milk. A living wage was certainly not on the minds of Democrat urban politicians to keep family farms afloat. Now, that is coming back to bite America in the ass, as milk production is done on large milk-producing farms owned by corporations. The Federal Government killed us - to say, the family farm in the 1980s. 

4, Richard Nixon: Ross Perot warned us all, "there will be a great and giant sucking sound if NAFTA is approved." He was right. Not only did we send jobs to Mexico, but we gave communist China favorable trade status in exchange for cheap and, in some cases, slave labor. Textile jobs left Virginians for good. The small town factories making little girls' dresses like in Appomattox and Amelia Va are long gone. Furniture plants like the one in Appomattox and Thomasville, NC, have been shuttered since the 1990s, and Danville Textiles is gone. Do I really have to spell it out for you, or do you understand the term rust belt? The difference between rural America and urban America is the idea of self-sufficiency. 

5. You write about how these perceptions are largely wrong from a point of authority, it seems, and that does not make you right. Yet my guess is you have never lived a day in your life in my shoes; you think you know better, but alas, you seem to believe your friends Thomas Edsall and Katherine Cramer and have yet to experience rural Virginia yourself. 


1. Ignored by Politicians 
2. Don't get their fair share of resources
3. Disrespected by city folk. 


1. Yes, Federally speaking, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner ignore rural Va. The fact is they never leave northern Va, and why should they? All they need is the votes of three counties, Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William, along with Roanoke, Richmond, and Portsmouth, to stay in power. That is where they spend their money. State-wise and as well as federally, an example would be gridlock on our roads from the 1990s- 2020. While suburban DC gets a large swath of money to build roads, Tidewater suffered with a lack of US 64 widening until recently. We suffered and still do with tunnel crossing. Rural roads go unrepaired, and I81 is now a nightmare to drive. While it was once rural is now congested beyond relief, and yet no monies to expand I81. Oh, but I95, well, they get all the money, don't they?

2. As a country boy, I can tell you firsthand that, yes, city folks are leaving their urban centers and, in many cases, retiring to communities like Williamsburg, Va. Once a small community of 30k 15 years ago, now boasts, mind you, 80k. Florida is in the same boat. These urbanites leave high taxes and crime in New York City and bring their brand of politics to rural America. We resent that loudly. These buffoons move to rural America, and the first thing they want is a Walmart. Taxes rise because of the urbanite's intent not to be self-sufficient. These "come here" begin to destroy our way of life, and we resent that. We are a proud people who want local jobs; we don't have to be rich to be happy. Yet the federal Government took our jobs starting in the 1970s and sent them overseas or south of the border. We don't want your damn handouts, Paul; we want to live our lives pulling our cart ourselves, and we take pride in that. We are not a bunch of self-serving; shoot each other hypocrites looking for a handout. Generally speaking, we are church-going god-fearing people, who live a life serving Jesus, and we follow his lessons for living a good life. There is a big difference between following Jesus and worshiping Jesus one day a week. Urbanites tend to worship money, greed, and envy the other six days. That is my life experience with Urbanites. That is something Urbanites don't get and never will. The Urbanite has lost its way, destroyed its cities, and moved to rural America and did the same. No thanks, you have done enough already. 

Richneck School shooting: The police and school division are not explaining or the right questions asked.

Concerning the local opinions in the Williamsburg  / Newport News area concerning the Richneck School Shooting. This is a school shooting where a 6-year-old shot a teacher. The real issue is the right questions need to be asked. Perhaps this is an ongoing investigation? Makes sense to me, but here is what we need to ask as parents, teachers, and citizens. 

Guns Saves Lives

 A last-word writer asked about a "Guns saves lives" bumper sticker. The writer ponders as to someone talking to the Zwerner family. I would be glad to speak to the family if it helps heal and understand the actual issues of a teacher put in harm's way by liberals. I could talk about the federal government statistics that clearly show guns used in self-defense correctly save lives and thousands every year. I don't think that is what they want to hear. I could talk to Abigail, and being the head of a household with two teachers, one who teaches here in James City County and another who teaches in Fairfax County, could relate to the issues that are simply not being discussed. According to scuttlebutt, that is, teachers talking to teachers, the student told people he had a gun; they searched his backpack but did not search the person. The weapon is rumored to have been in the student's hoodie. If this gun, which has not been identified, was a micro-pistol like a Ruger max 9 as an example, then yes, this gun can hide easily as it is intended to be carried hidden. Gun enthusiasts know a strip search would have been required to effectively find this type of weapon on a person. Here is where our legislators and liberal student rights have failed us. This is where people like representative Mike Mullin fail us. That, though, is another discourse worth writing. 

Abigail will know if the student was searched; let's ask the family for input; that is my first question when I meet with them. In James City County, you must be certified to restrain a student. If a teacher has an unruly student, the teacher cannot restrain or even touch the student for fear of lawsuits. The truth is there are a lot of students today that are out of control in our schools, who lack the ability to listen to instructions or behave themselves, and that goes back to the parents, in my opinion. Now we have representative Boysko wanting to add further gun control where legislation already exists. The question is, why has the parent not been reported as charged by the police? We need to understand if, in Virginia, "loco parentis" allows a teacher to even search the body of a 6-year-old? There are personal rights, and then there are rights afforded teachers to act as the parent in the parent's absence, but this is a cloudy doctrine at best. At the end of the day, this horrible event was preventable.

New Years opinion of peace as seen through the media's lense.

Peace is a word thrown around the sandboxes while heads are buried.

 

 

 

Once again, the Daily Press editors miss an opportunity to explore all possible solutions. Let's break down the editorial and provide discourse. Sunday, Jan. 1st, 2023. "Our Views"

 

Here is what Kris and Brian wrote or, shall I say, agreed to print. 

 

"But at a time when division and discord are ubiquitous."

1. When violence is commonplace

2. When neighbors and family are at each other's throats

3. What greater hope can there be other than to see more people choose peaceful means of conflict resolution?"

 

Discourse:

 

The Population Reference Bureau, known as PBR, a leading think tank on violence in our communities, found some not-so-astonishing facts, and yet the media does not report them. (April 2005) Why do black youth in the United States commit violent acts almost twice as often as white or Latino youth? Researchers at Harvard University have found that the reasons have little to do with individual poverty or inherent racial differences, according to a study published in the February 2005 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Instead, four factors— (1) the marital status of a young person's parents, (2)  the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, (3) whether he or she is a first- or second-generation immigrant, (4) and the proportion of other people in the neighborhood who are immigrants—account for most of the differences in violent crime rates for youth, according to Robert J. Sampson, the study's lead author.

"The data suggest that it's more than just a family's financial resources," says Sampson, a professor of sociology at Harvard University. "The study shows that the disparity is largely social in nature and therefore amenable to intervention in the community rather than individual settings."

Our biggest issue is, of course, Democrats. If we, as a morally straight, ethical society, intervene in a black community, we stand a good chance of being labeled racist by the media and black politicians. Whence we do not worry ourselves with the black community for fear of losing our jobs, being labeled, being doxed, or our employers being called to complain, thereby losing our means to provide for our own families. The politicians the black community votes into office give away money for a vote whose followers know no better. Keep them poor and keep them uneducated; that is the Democrat way. Let them kill each other, let there be violence; as long as I have the power, nothing will change. One only must look at Portsmouth or Richmond to see this, yet blinders are the fashion. Blacks are not first, or second-generation immigrants, so (3 and 4) do not apply; therefore, we only have to look to two issues to resolve the violence in black neighborhoods.

(1) the marital status of a young person's parents, (2) the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, meaning educated beyond high school in most cases, although this is not set in stone. A high school graduate can make a great professional in some trade, even a great manager of people or proprietor of a business. Therefore, I submit we are down to one major factor. The marital status of a young person's parents. Fix this Daily Press, and we fix the black community.

 

4. Hampton Roads Residents cannot make a difference when we say, "We can't mediate a peaceful settlement as to the war in Ukraine." 

 

Discourse: Yes, we can make a difference depending on who we vote for to represent us in Washington, DC. Stop voting for free giveaways and start voting for morally straight, ethically sound candidates. Just write my name in the box, that is all you must do!

 

5. "Our region lost far too many promising young lives in senseless shootings and should have to live with the threat of mass shootings haunting every trip to the grocery store, every visit to a theater, and every day at school."

 

The Daily Press goes on to offer solutions. 

 

1. "Virginia needs to restrict access to firearms so those with ill intent cannot purchase them." 

2. "dramatically bolster behavior health services."

 

 The desired result: If successful, it (meaning behavior health help) should help more Virginians find happiness and peace in their own lives. So, what the Daily press is saying is the government is going to help you find happiness and peace!

 

Discourse: Yes, we have lost far too many promising young lives, and I refer you back to my first discourse.

 

(1) the marital status of a young person's parents, (2) the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, meaning educated beyond high school in most cases, although this is not set in stone. A high school graduate can make a great professional in some trade, even a great manager of people or proprietor of a business. Therefore, I submit we are down to one major factor and then one not considered. The marital status of a young person's parents and a movement back to God and God's law, you know, the ten commandments. Fix this Daily Press, and we fix the black community.

 

Steps to take:

1. Too many distractions, so turn off your cell phone, turn off your TV, 

2. Find moments for quiet and reflection. 

 

The editors blame:

1. Past few years. 

2. People struggling with a world that continues to change and dramatically. 

 

We can find some stability.

We can find some comfort.

Maybe we will find joy.

 

if 

 

We are contemplative.

We are quiet.

We are empathetic. 

We are peaceful.

 

if

 

Discourse: Reflection is a mighty power to right a life, as Socrates says, "the unexamined life is a life not worth living. We can find stability, comfort, and joy in our churches. Our public school teachers are not able to furnish these attributes to a good life, but our Sunday school teachers can.

 

If we reexamine what we teach in schools and make time for financials before the 11^th grade, make time for ethics, philosophy, and conflict resolution outside of just once a month or eight times in a school year, we may change some lives. Yet, people make decisions that are not productive or counterintuitive to the health, both physical and mental, of young people. So, what do the Democrats legislate, they make drugs lawful, the very drugs that destroy the child who has no father or living skill set to begin with. I firmly believe politicians do this for power, and the media is all too happy to promote an ideology that kills thousands. The truth is you do not know what to do except it be more power over others. The media be damned if, for once, the media and Democrats thought for a moment, I might be right. That is to be your undoing, Brian and Kris, you think you are always right, and you damn those who do not think like you. Our governor is that example.

 

We can learn to be contemplative, quiet, empathic, and peaceful in our churches and masonic lodges. Yet until the black community wants to stand up and change, there will be no to little change, and whites are not in the mood for being called racist when they try to help our brothers in due part to cancel culture and hate. I read an article recently that blamed the lack of exercise on racism. This was a Time magazine article/opinion. A blame game to excite the masses of poor blacks to rail against whites. I am reminded of "principles before personalities" It means we practice honesty, humility, compassion, tolerance, and patience with everyone, whether we like them or not. Putting principles before personalities teaches us to treat everyone equally. In our Masonic teachings, we practice this ideal every time we gather. We are all equals in the lodge. I think some of you would do well to learn what that means. That means, though, that if a fellow brother trips up and does something wrong, it is my obligation to point that out. It is not your obligation to call me a racist for doing so but to accept my council. If my council does not resolve the issue, then others within the lodge may get involved, just as we see in the bible. Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 5: Paul instructs people to hold others inside the church accountable, but not those who are outside the church (nonbelievers). A fitting good bit of advice given the mass hysteria we find in social media today whereby one can lose their job or worse when we try to help others by preaching what we believe as truth to nonbelievers like yourselves.  

Carbon tax and trade is not good for Virginia.

Discourse to the  Daily Press Newspaper Carbon tax and trade opinion. The Daily Press attacks our governor in the usual manner and as most liberal media pundits do. However, the media does not consider the harm of the RGGI plan implemented in Virginia by Democrats who want nothing but control of its citizens in the name of the environment. 

Having worked in the wastewater business for over 25 years, I can say this about the nitrogen cap and trade. The nitrogen cap and trade program has had financial and environmental results that are mixed at best. The EPA explains how Bay jurisdictions may accommodate new or increased nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loadings. The Bay jurisdictions include Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. New or increased nitrogen loadings may be accommodated either through a specific TMDL allocation or by offsetting those loadings with quantifiable and accountable reductions. This program has been in place for decades now, and we still get C averages at best as to the health of the bay. This means there has been little impact on the bay's health, but it has lined the pockets of the rich who trade in crypto-like currencies and credits. This program in Virginia is similar to the carbon cap and trade program. We can look at its results to understand if this program hurts or helps our economy and environment. The Nitrogen program harms all Virginians who live on a septic system. Low-income and rural Virginia, where wastewater solutions are needed due to age,  often find themselves having no recourse to continue to live in their homes legally. Example: Small communities that need wastewater infrastructure above 1000 gallons per day must buy nitrogen credits to build a treatment plant to direct discharge to a river or stream. These credits are hard to find because larger urban treatment plants hoard their credits for further expansion at their facilities. And if a small rural community can find the credits, they are costly and, in some cases, not affordable. Communities can turn to soil-based dispersal, but this, too, is very expensive when the county has to purchase suitable land for effluent dispersal. What happens is the county board of supervisors looks the other way while small communities in need of help continue to affect the streams and rivers of the commonwealth adversely. Small communities like Columbia, Virginia, are an example of a do-nothing approach and look the other way with heads in the sand. At the same time, aging septic systems pollute the James River. Another area that should be considered for a Virginia Department of Health exploratory environment study is the Chickahomney Haven / Cypress Point area of James City County. These are just two communities that need to address aging septic systems where the total gallons per day community wise is above a 1000-gallons per day, and any viable long-term solution, professionally speaking, is a community system and not an individual septic system. The carbon cap and trade will offer Virginians the same issues facing California: rolling blackouts, poor infrastructure, and higher costs that will adversely affect Virginia's poor and rural communities. 

The civil rights movement and letting go of the past.

I wrote this after reading Mr. Filco's commentary on letting go of the past in the Williamsburg Gazette. Septemeber 2022. 

"Why Isn't Everyone Enlightened?

 

I had been thinking about Joesph Filco's commentary on letting the past go. If all it took was "following your bliss," why wouldn't everyone be as enlightened as Mr. Filco? It seems that the pathway to get there is barred by the necessity of a passage through hell, which is something few people want to go through. I think about Mr. Filco's perceived course through the suffering of the early 1960s and how that shaped his thought process. We all believe the world needs more good, and yet I think evil is necessary. Without evil, the human has no baggage to pull in his life's cart. Humans are, by nature, oxen in a sense. When the weight is lifted, the oxen become fat and lazy, and envy becomes our only baggage, the worst of all sins. I think that is what has happened to our society, where hard work is no longer revered; envy takes its place. Could it be that government intervention in the 1960s movement destroyed a part of our society? 

My main goal as a parent of two children was to let them fail. Let the children find out what a good work ethic looks like. Yet, when the child got close to the edge of a bad decision, I offered a hand to pull them back. The most difficult decision I had to make was when to hold out my hand. Did the civil rights movement go too far in protecting a society of people who rightfully deserved equal opportunities and deserved to fail when poor decisions were put into action? Was the helping hand held out too many times? Indeed we have all witnessed the helicopter parents of today's children and wonder aloud how that child will ever become an adult without evil, the opportunity to fail and learn from it. Have free government subsidies, women with children married to the government, destroyed the family structure where no father can hold out his hand? Are we ready to look back and admit things did not go as planned, and will we ever be able to pull our hand back in the interest of failure? 

Amazing Grace, Liberals get it wrong again

The Poem Amazing Grace was of "poor choice" as a sing-along presented by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's 2022 Fourth of July Celebration, wrote Malcolm Keating of Williamsburg. Typical liberal idealism misplaced, as to a separation of church and state. 

While the Poem is immensely popular in Christian circles, The poem is not founded in Christain beliefs. The Poem is about the writer's experience while at sea. Newton believed that only by the grace of God did he survive a horrific storm in 1778 while aboard the ship, Greyhound. I think we all know, man is predictable, when hope is lost, we pray, and we seek God's intervention. 

“There are no atheists in foxholes.”

The first saying circulated during World War 1, and the second saying spread during World War 2. The earliest close match appeared in “The Western Times” newspaper of Devon, England in November 1914. A speaker at a memorial service for a fallen soldier held at St. Matthias’ Church, Ilsham read from the letter of an unnamed chaplain serving at the front. 

“Tell the Territorials and soldiers at home that they must know God before they come to the front if they would face what lies before them. We have no atheists in the trenches. Men are not ashamed to say that, though they never prayed before, they pray now with all their hearts.”

 

The Poem is used for both religious and secular purposes. The term "Grace" has many meanings, yet this definition matters most. "Disposition to an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency." With the understanding that Muslims, Jews, and Christians follow the same God, the idea of grace is the same in all three religions and texts.

 

In Hinduism, grace is the central tenet of Bhakti Yoga and Bhakti movements, which are seen as reform movements in Hinduism. These movements can mean "grace," "mercy," or "blessing," depending upon the context.

 

 We should consider the idea of grace. Grace is meant for forgiveness, and in this day and time, forgiveness is in short supply. You must possess grace to be able to forgive. Grace and forgiveness do not mean we worship a particular God; Grace is an act given by God for man and an act given by man for man. A man does not have to believe in God to offer grace and forgiveness to someone who has wronged them. Yet if our children are not taught grace and forgiveness, we are forever caught in a loop of the mass killings and hate for one another we see today. Only with grace and forgiveness can we reduce and stop the mass murder issues we find in our country today. So, I say, if the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation sings a song about grace, what we are doing is reflecting upon the grace we should have for each other.

 

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind but now I see

 

Was Grace that taught my heart to fear

And Grace, my fears relieved

How precious did that Grace appear

The hour I first believed

 

Through many dangers, toils and snares

We have already come

T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far

And Grace will lead us home

And Grace will lead us home

 

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost but now am found

Was blind but now I see

Was blind, but now I see