Michigan.

I couldn't agree more, blackswan. The destruction of morality has been deliberate.

Now retired, in my work life I worked with a different partner each month. One month, I worked with a professionally sharp, competent and educated black fellow from Kansas City. The race subject came up and I told him that, as a kid who grew up in a small WASP town, the notion of one's skin color having anything to do with anything did not compute to me. He didn't like that. We went verbally round and round for awhile, after which he told me that had I grown up around black people I would not have liked them and therefore would be a racist.
All I could do was shake my head.

Yep. Amazing that those who suffer at the hands of these pimps, complain most vociferously about us, the Capitalists.

We need a better communication plan. Ayn, some R&B? Milton, a rap song?

The easy path is so easy...until some many on the path increase gravity!

Thank you, inflation (Federal Reserve). Did you know that America industrialized in an era of DEFLATION? Check it out.

When you're looking at "black lives matter," do so using a Pareto chart, and consider ALL the causes of death. Police are the least likely cause of death (even though they're getting all the press). Also consider accidents, disease, suicide, crime, abortion, etc., and rank them in order. Then consider which of these problems are being addressed. When the smallest problem is broadcast, while much bigger problems are ignored, you need to ignore the complainer.

Don't you get it?!? This is NOT a "mistake" or oversight. It was deliberate from the beginning. We're not thinking long term enough. This has been in the works for at least a century, with incremental changes that won't alarm anyone until it's too late.

You were lucky. Mom got her licks in first, then pop would do clean-up. The two parent tango when you got out of line certainly made you stick to the straight and narrow.

Individualism will prevail when we demand it, and not one second before. Too many think that there's an advantage to things the way they are. There's no vision of a D'Anconia, Rearden, Galt, Wyatt, Taggart, etc., only the "vision" of a Mouch.

Who let the definition of "racist" be defined that way?!? YOU and ME. We need to change the terms of engagement, or things will only get worse.

Herb, you have hit on one of the great dysfunctionalities of the day and age. The race issue is indeeda real problem, but it can be addressed through one of the great things MLK ever said" Look at the content of their character: On an individual basis, take each person. If a cop shoots an unarmed black man, address that cop, not the entire police department. If a black man is arrested, investigate his crime not all others. Police have a hard job, but the power factor also draws those with issues in imposing themselves on others, and if you work in a predominantly black area, there will be issues, and it is not racism, but one persons issues with power. I have several black fiends, and other when we ask each other about crazy things going on, the subject never comes up, yet we are free enough with each other to point out when something goes wrong, or right and criticize or praise as needed. There are systemic cultural issues in each community, and they usually seed in feelings of abuse by others, or refuge from problems in blaming others. Those who really want to address race issues do a disservice when they fire the racism gun, as it has been shot way too often.

John, one thing I have learned is that most people (not you) are comfortable with an unattractive woman (Hillary) in a position if accomplishment (this is tough, since Hillary hasn't really accomplished anything). But they are uncomfortable to the point of antagonism with a very attractive woman (Palin) in the same position.
When several people said to me, "But you're so pretty, you can get a husband. Why are you in dental school?"
I sure never understood this attitude. I am perfectly fine with handsome men in high positions! :)

do you and freedom work as a team, or are you empaths? -- j

Emma, still Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. . people with knowledge and
skill are people with knowledge and skill -- they can
do a job and should be paid the s a m e.

I spent 20 years as one kind of manager or other,
from small engineering group to 121-person dept....
when we hired a female engineer for less than a male,
I asked why, and made noise. . never Too Much Noise,
but noise. . it helped at least one top-notch female
engineer;;; I know.

the story which you told, above, is a great one, and
I want to thank you for relating it. . when a manager
or professional encounters an emergency, they had
better turn into a machine-like character and Get It Done.
but when it's too late, like in your story, emotion is
necessary to begin getting over it -- IMHO. . grieving
starts that process, right?

we also helped to elect Joni Ernst. . her pig-surgery
ad was wonderful, so she got the $100 Joe Wilson
honorary "You Lie!" award (Joe got the first one),
and we went from there.

that's good -- "THIS one can!" -- j

Herb, I never consciously thought about the fact that maybe that man changed his mind that day about something that basic. Maybe he learned to check a premise!

Pinochle, wow ,haven't hear that in a long time. You must be from the mid-west.

Yes. That college campus is in a universe all its own.

If racism didn't exist the poverty pimps would have to invent it.

I used to live about an hour from Madison. It is 87 sq/miles of liberalism surrounded by reality.

Agree. When we stop talking about it, it will go away. There is so little racism that I see, other than people reacting to facts.

The belt method is not always the most effective way to deal. But at least your dad was paying attention. Mine knew less about me than he did his pinochle buddies.

The difference between a concretized mind and an open mind. There are thing that I knew for an absolute certainty only to discover I was wrong. And by being wrong, I felt good to have learned right. It has happened right here in G.G.

I agree. I also agree that if my dad didn't have a belt, that I might have turned up on the wrong side of the law. Dad taught me early and I usually got caught when I went astray. It didn't take me too long to figure it out, that if I didn't want to get it in the rear end with that damn belt I had to behave myself and not break the law.

Earned money is a wonderful tool, Jan.

It was a different time, John. Up for a story?
I was the only female in a class of 106 in dental school, and I was 19, and looked about 16 when I started. I was in the top 1/3 of the class, and a lot of people had trouble with that.
When I was a senior, I was called to the office of the head of oral surgery, who proceeded to tell me that a patient just died because I neglected to give his full medical history. I burst in to tears, after which he told me that none of it was true, that he was just testing me, as he didn't feel a woman was tough enough to be a dentist, and I just proved him right.
Well, for the first time I got angry at being treated like that. I told him that if he called any student in to his office and told that person a patient just died because of his neglect, and they don't cry, he'd better kick that student out.
Fast forward, and I apply for a job at a teaching hospital. The man doing the hiring was the head of oral surgery. He called his counterpart at my school and said, I don't think a woman can do this job. The oral surgeon at my school said, THIS one can.
So ain't life amazing? I was just glad to have the job. I learned a lot!