W. R. Mineo │ wrmineo │ Mineo │ Me

A few weeks ago I read a letter to the editor in The News Enterprise, an Elizabethtown KY newspaper (Hardin County) and of course serving many surrounding Kentucky communities  and counties, by an esteemed gentlemen regarding the issue of the federal government intervening on Arizona’s immigration statute. In all fairness, a few things should be required before reading my abbreviated (space constraints imposed by newspaper) response.

First, a reading of the original editorial by Jim Wiese of Elizabethtown KY entitled “Who are the scofflaws?” should be in order. Second, though Mr. Wiese did not identify himself as such, indicating a personal view versus a stance on behalf of any organization affiliated with, many local residents know and identify him through his chairmanship of the Hardin County Republican Party, and he ended his opinion with a firm recommendation to elect “conservative” politicians in the upcoming November 2010 election. Thirdly, without respect to his political opinions, associations or affiliations, Mr. Wiese is locally infamous for his continual commitment to community, commonwealth, and country. Finally, I personally know Mr. Wiese: he is a member of the Staff Judge Advocate for the United States Recruiting Command (USAREC) at Fort Knox KY, where I served in the military as a Human Resources Specialist from 1997 – 2001, and as a government contractor working on the re-branding and transition of the Army into the cyberspace with GoArmy.com from 2001 to 2004; I have nothing but reverent memories of our limited encounters.

After painful editing of my original 634 word response, I settled on the below submission to the newspaper’s editorial board; not knowing what, if any, will appear in print, here is my final draft.

Clarifying Constitutional Confusion

I’m not a constitutional scholar but that doesn’t prevent me from taking a participatory role, or anyone from taking active roles to fuller understand the issues facing our common tranquility and security. I’m sure it was a mere matter of space allocation wherein Jim Wiese (Aug 1^st “Who are the scofflaws”) was unable to explain clearly how federal government had no business in Arizona’s state law to handle the immigration problem as they saw fit.

Yes, we are individual states ‘contracted’ for a common goal (mainly defense) creating our United States of America, after deciding it was counter-productive and dangerous to go it alone; recognizing and accepting the fact that, at times, the needs of the whole must sometimes trump the desires of one. This is why states are forbid from entering into treaties and cannot pass laws counter-intuitive to the nation’s goals as a whole.

Does a state have the right to protect itself? Absolutely! They have every right to expect that when threatened, the collective United States will come to its aid. Does any state enjoy the right to circumvent federal statutes, going outside prescribed parameters of the law? No. Is Arizona really the litmus of American ideals we want to champion? They recognized and adopted the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. only when they couldn’t obtain a Super Bowl bid – when it became financially necessary, not morally acceptable or right. Is Kentucky that beacon for others to emulate, passing the 13^th (KY rejected 2/24/1865) 14^th (rejected 1/8/1867) and 15^th (rejected 3/12/1869) Amendments on March 18, 1976?

America needs action, not knee-jerk reactions. America needs reasonable, equitably enforced immigration laws. We don’t need states running amuck, acting outside the prescribed (constitutional) guidelines. We have recognized, reacted, and corrected that behavior before – at the federal level – Brown v. Board of Education as a small example. Current calls for the repeal of the 14^th Amendment are distasteful, disenfranchising, and a deliberate distraction.

An un-adjudicated charge of malfeasance doesn’t justify subverting federal law by individual states. WE, the American citizenry, are guilty of malfeasance; we fail to participate, we fail to vote, and it is we who keep sending to our hallowed capitol those more concerned about corporate campaign donations than the constituents they’re charged to serve. In November, we need common sense citizens regardless of political affiliation; who know what living on a budget means, can balance a checkbook, and appreciate the struggles of citizens, not corporate donors.

W. R. Mineo
Vine Grove KY

Update: 16 August 2010

The News Enterprise ran a nicely edited version of my editorial, enhancing it with the following cartoon as its lead:

Political Cartoon by Artist Clay Jones

Read the online, edited version at News Enterprise Opinion section for Aug 15, 2010

Gingrich Rhetoric Reinforces bin Laden Statements

Let us briefly consider how former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is spewing the exact xenophobic and prejudicial slandering  that completely reinforces the stereotype that radical terrorist Osama bin Laden has used to give synergy and support to rally a small percentage of fellow radicals to blindly follow the unethical, immoral, and ill interpreted ideologies and policies of terrorism against those who do not succumb to their ill conceived ideals of Islam.

Newt Gingrich and Osama bin Laden

Gingrich Should Stifle Himself

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is obviously not as calculated an orator as he would like to believe himself to be. He is not a policy maker who gives objective, calculated, reserved rhetoric to convey, understand, and rally; he is an attention grabbing politician promoting the very ideals that keep us afraid, that invites radical response, and endangers our security, not provide for it.

Gingrich-Bin Laden Alliance

Read and learn more about the Newt Gingrich – Bin Laden Alliance.

Composure Disclaimer │ I am Mad

If you are reading this at work, at your place of worship, or other place of potential need for political correctness, please increase the font for the nosy onlookers, and heck why not, bring in the children and grandchildren; time for a lesson in bull[...]t – may as well get use to it now, because we (the adult, kids – it is not your fault, but definitely your fight and your future, so please pay attention, the rest of your life will be a test of it!) bring it on ourselves by continually be allowing dumba[...]s in DC and we apparently have the stomach to keep sending them back. Oh, but Rob, I didn’t vote for so and so … oh, but my friends, they are nearly each and everyone guilty of crimes against common sense, and many more today committed crimes against … dare I say it for fear of being taken out of context or accused of grabbing headlines … yeah – they can defame and denounce all they want … our elected members of the House of Representatives today created crimes against humanity.

Might be a good time to send the kids and grandkids away, I don’t feel like censoring anymore; and of course it might be respectful to not continue reading this if you are in fact in a place of worship.

Congressional Crimes Against Humanity?

Yeah, I said it. Failing to pass a health care bill specifically for 9/11 first responders, our U.S. Congress Committed Crimes Against Humanity! I only apologize to any person or descendant of a person who is or was a victim of the normally associated, violent and oppressive, known meaning and connotation; barring that, nearly every member of the House of Representatives can kiss my ass and own what they have sown and may they never get another dollar, another vote, or any sympathetic ear. Yes, nearly every member, and I’m not talking about a number of Republicans or a number of Democrats, Independents, Libertarians or Librarians … I am only aware of one that might be salvageable … though they will all spin it and spoon-feed it to their bases in any sleazy way possible to justify not averting their eyes from the public should they dare ask for another term.

What About Procedures and Amendments?

There is no nice way to put this to please all, but in case I wasn’t clear – bullshit!

The fact that we continue to spend billions in earmark funds and attach other completely unrelated amendments to bill is a load of crap. But that is the way the system works … I’m sorry, didn’t you hear me – BS!

The system is broke and WE all keep allowing it to be that way. We cannot pass a defense appropriations bill without funding research for how long boiled eggs will stay preserved in space? We cannot get a bill out of committee for dealing with pedophiles because some Representative could not get his amendment attached for a tax break for whiskey distillers in his Congressional District? Think these are bad examples, just do a little research of your own and see what kind of asininity we allow these asses to ascribe unto us all; again, and again, and again.

Well, certainly for an issue as important as taking care of our own, especially for one of the worst tragedies in our history, we could comprehend the necessity for common sense. Hell no! We couldn’t pass a bill to fund health care for victims of 9/11 – sad, sick, impeachable!

Congressional Term Limits

Yep, I’m calling for them; Congressional term limits should be enacted this year! Not by an act of law or an amendment to the Constitution, neither will be expedient enough; we’d just debate to death and fail to act out of apathy. Not by act of treason, terrorism or tyranny; we’re better than that. We can enact them by not re-electing a damned one of them. Nope, yours is no good either, I don’t care what her record is. Mine is no good either, he is a PAC-paid-for-politician too and of no use as he is as compromised as his foe across the aisle. I honestly don’t think anyone could persuade me to pick a single politician that should be protected and re-elected.

Correct Congressional Conduct

You want commonsense back into the fabric of government? You want realistic spending, realistic priorities, realistic budgets, realistic thinking back in OUR congressional halls? Then we need to send realistic people to these hallowed halls who understand commonsense, reality, and priorities. These newly elected officials needn’t have long pedigrees, pockets full of cash, or even political aspirations (none is better); simple Constitutional requirements are necessary, however the ability to balance a checkbook, lack of corporate sponsorship, and not be endorsed by a sitting Member of Congress is a must!

wrmineo notes:

I wrote this a few days ago after the AP wire released the story and I had to write or explode; Grandpa said to never to go to bed angry – it didn’t help much. However, I did let it lay for a day before clicking the publish button and placing it on the ether for the Internet archives to hold forever until death does it part. I decided to change very little – they can all get the hell out of DC and let some common sense citizen run the place for a few years and we’ll see we really didn’t need them anyway, I’m sure of it! I did change some of the earlier, heavier heaving of slurs and cursing, changed the first header to edit/omit the word ‘pissed’ and even added a breakpoint to send kids away, because even though mama said don’t say something if you can’t say it nice, sometime we common-folk just get pissed and no sense letting the pressure backup.

If you were offended reading this article; tough, you could have stopped before now.

What is Adult Education?

When I returned to college recently, I realized that I was a “non-traditional” student since having well surpassed the age of 30, but I was struck by the over emphasis of the use of the term “Adult Education“. Between terms a few years ago, I took the summer off to do website redesign, development, Internet marketing and website maintenance on a major Ohio university website overhaul project with my Army buddy and business partner, Ryan Sharrer, Level 5 Development Group (L5DG). In preparation for the sales meetings, we both did a lot of research (Internet surfing) of other university website’s to get a good sense of the needs, direction and design for the project. Again and again, I came across the term Adult Education on nearly every single college, university, technical and other post-secondary school and education site.

Adult Learner

Believe me, I understand the marketing base, reasoning, and tactics in catering to adults who already have full-time lives with job, family and other commitments, who feel the need to get further ahead, or even just to set a better example for their own children. However, something still struck me as almost offensive when I was labeled an “Adult Learner” – I drove to the campus just like everyone else, no short bus picked me up along the way to the university.

Defining an Adult Learner

My fill finally came when I was enrolled in an online, upper-level computer information class; our first assignment was to post a discussion on BlackBoard (a CRM specifically designed for higher learning institutions) about, “What does being an ‘Adult Learner’ Mean to You?” I’m enrolled at Western Kentucky University (WKU). Gordon Ford College of Business, Marketing Management degree seeker, taking an online computer course mainly directed at MS Excel that I’ll probably never use (no offense, Mr. Gates – great foundation you and Melinda have by the way) and this instructor wants to know what it means to me to be an Adult Learner?! It finally struck me, I was offended – feeling discriminated against, catered to, all because I was over the age of 22!

College Students are Adult Learners

Nah, I could not be that concerned, conceited or vain about my age, could I? I was only 39. Then it struck me again, just a little harder and square in the face this time – an 18 year old entering college is not considered an adult! Why not? Is not all post-secondary, college and university learning in fact Adult Learning? Were not all college and university students in fact in Adult Education? Are colleges and universities a higher end of boarding schools where parents send their children? Well, in a way I suppose so. However, in college versus boarding school, you are expected to be more responsible, more accountable, more … adult!

College Education is Adult Education

Let’s stop labeling only the “non-traditional” older students at a college as members of Adult Education and members in an Adult Learning category – it’s all adult learning, all adult education, all about preparing for bigger and better things in life … as an Adult! Not picking on one of my own Alma Mater’s necessarily, they just happen to be a realistic, known example to me, but at WKU, as I am sure is a growing trend among major U.S. colleges and universities, incoming freshman are required to take mandatory classes about “life skills” and “higher education” – I am not talking about an orientation class here (they have those too, of course), but full-blown, full semester classes for college credit. In many colleges, freshman, and often higher grades, are required to live on-campus, in dorms, and purchase a meal plan to ensure they eat. Huh? Yep, from the cradle of home to the campus of collegiate coddling.

Preparation for Adult Education as an Adult Learner

Granted, not every student entering into a college or university, is fully prepared to take their educational career to the next level. Granted, it is a tough transition from high school to college for some. Granted, it is incumbent upon colleges and universities to ensure they provide all of the necessary resources for the success of their students – we all want bang for our buck. But do we really need to avoid calling these young adults entering into a world where greater responsibility, greater accountability, and greater results are expected of them, adult learners part of the adult education program and process?

I will not pretend to have the answers, just simply questions that need answering. However, it seems that we need to accomplish a few things as members of society, educators, and parents: protect, provide and prepare – if we do our jobs right, every student entering into college will know that they are an adult learner, part of an adult education process, regardless of age; with that knowledge comes a greater sense and respect for the responsibilities, tasks, and successes expected of them – now, and for the rest of their adult lives.

Safe surfing!

Cross Posted at Hillbilly Report

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