***Monday, February 13 — Scroll down for updates***
Looking for the “podcast?” Download the MP3 at Captain’s Quarters.
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Third and final day of CPAC. I asked Judge Charles Pickering (pictured) his opinion of blogs. (See Judicial battles stem from culture war)
Blogging is citizen participation, which is good, and blogging is a lot like pamphleteering during the American Revolution. I made the same comparison in Blogging Matt Drudge. Responsible bloggers make great contributions to democracy.
I attended a session this morning called “The Entitlement Crash.” Standard fare about social security reform, health care reform, and the success of welfare reform, but a couple of comments at the end caught my attention. Moderator Peter Ferrara of the Institute for Policy Innovation made a reference to the Lord. Hold the phone! An elderly woman who asked a question about raising the retirement age takes care of her elderly mother. Long lives! Before Ferrara answered the question, he said something like, “You’re doing the Lord’s work taking care of your mother, by the way…”
The Lord’s work. I was overjoyed to hear that. As much as people malign Christianity, there is a strong sense of family responsibility throughout the Bible. I’ve heard some Christians argue that putting your elderly parents in a nursing home is unbiblical. Part of honoring our mothers and fathers means that we take care of them in their old age. Back in the day, that’s what a lot of people did before the nanny state took over. The very idea that we sacrifice and take care of those who took care of us is so…
3:24 p.m.: I broke off mid-sentence. Got distracted! First, I had lunch with the man from the endangered species list I mentioned yesterday and missed the session on illegal immigration. I’m not complaining, though. 
Second, ran into and took photos with Richard Miniter, whose book I reviewed. Great read. Was introduced to and took photos with Joel Mowbray. We talked about why he doesn’t have a blog. Third, I was interviewed on Ed Morrissey’s radio show. Reception was very bad in the hotel, so I became a walking Verizon commercial. “Can you hear me now? How about now?” As soon as Ed said he could hear me clearly, I stopped abruptly. I was standing in the middle of a crowded room practically shouting as Ed and Mitch Berg interviewed me about CPAC. Hilarious. But fun.
This morning I met and took a photo of a lovely Muslim woman who works for Muslims for America. I regret not asking her questions, but I will set up a time to speak with her about global terrorism, her opinion about the cartoon riots, etc. I had a too-brief chat with Michelle Malkin. No photos.
Either tonight or tomorrow, I’ll post more pictures and finish my thoughts on the Entitlement session and offer final thoughts on this year’s CPAC. I must mention all the great bloggers I saw again and others I met for the first time.
10:15 p.m.: My interview with Mitch Berg and Captain Ed is available for download. I thought I was shouting because of the noise around me, but I wasn’t. Cool.
Correction: Ken Yarmosh and I presented “Crash Course on Blogging” on Thursday afternoon. In the interview I said Friday.
If you’d like us to present this two-hour course at your organization, please contact me or Ken.
Sweet dreams…
Update (2/13): CPAC is already a fading memory. Playing catch up with neglected tasks will occupy my week, but I’m glad I attended. (pictured with author Richard Miniter)
CPAC is the place to be if you want to network with and meet well-known conservatives. I thought of skipping the conference this year; I’m glad I changed my mind.
I would like to have seen more “debate” on the two panels I saw, but since panelists pretty much agreed with each other, there wasn’t much. Other bloggers complained about that, too. The organizers should have invited a few liberals to add spark. Perhaps they were invited but turned down the invites.
Then again, the homogeneity is comforting and affirming, especially if you’re around liberals all day.
A man on the Entitlement panel made a comment that ties in loosely with Star Parker’s latest book, White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay. Robert Moffitt of The Heritage Foundation said that government aid programs used to be for the indigent (no news there) but have become a middle-class entitlement. Think health care subsidies, the broken Social Security system, etc.
Without a clear and unrevised historical perspective, people tend to forget that Americans in general used to have a healthy suspicion of the government. That’s no longer the case. We all complain about rising health care costs, but health care is a business like anything else. As extreme as this may sound to nanny staters’ ears (conservatives included), we have no “right” to free or reduced-cost health care or to expect the government to help to keep us healthy. Radical, isn’t it? If you think so, then you understand how far we’ve fallen.
You’ve heard of the trickle down theory popularized by Ronald Reagan, haven’t you? The idea is that investing in companies and giving them tax breaks will benefit the entire economy. Well, the entitlement mentality has worked in reverse, a trickle up theory, if you will. The “right” to government benefits has spread from the “poor” to the higher classes.
It seems the definition of “indigent” has changed over the years. Once upon a time, the government adopted the very biblical concept of taking care of “widows and orphans.” Bums were excluded. There was also a distinction between the working poor and bums. People with little money but who worked for a living were proud and didn’t want government handouts. If someone labored at a back-breaking and thankless job but took care of his family and paid his bills, he was and still is intrinsically different from the “poor” person who didn’t want to work.
These days “the poor” are lumped in one big group, as if they are a uniquely identifiable group. The “poor” woman collecting a government check with no interest in ever working and who continues to have kids she can’t afford is different from the woman who gets up every morning and clocks in. A man who makes a family, married to the mother of the children or not, and goes to a low-paying job to make sure they have shelter, food, and clothing is of a different character than the “poor,” fit-looking bums on the street hustling me for money.
But character, good or bad, is an antiquated and “judgmental” notion that went out of style with the dinosaurs.
In our economic system, low-wage earners don’t have to remain low-wage earners their whole lives. They can gain the experience and skills needed to move to the next higher-paying job and the next, even in a system that, unfortunately, oursources and hires illegal aliens. I have no patience for people living without hope and constantly complaining and blaming others.
The old v. new media panel discussion I attended was unenlightening. Same old, same old. Terry Jeffrey, Human Events, Nick Schulz of TCSDaily.com, Martha Zoller, radio talk show host and author, and Diana Banister, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs (moderator) talked about how the new media is impacting the old media, the flexibility of new media, etc. They talked about bloggers but had no bloggers on the panel. For whatever reason Glenn Reynolds couldn’t make it, and they didn’t seek a replacement. There was a whole row of bloggers downstairs, but whoever put together the panel didn’t bother.
I enjoyed meeting bloggers, people who read LBC and/or remembered seeing me on C-SPAN and/or attended my blogging presentation. It was a great opportunity professionally and personally.
I spent two days sitting next to Rocco DiPippo of The Autonomist. This guy is one of the most outgoing people I’ve ever met. He told me how one contact led to his contribution to David Horowitz’s new book, The ProFessors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, a FrontPageMag.com column, and other cool things. Rocco said he couldn’t believe that a regular guy like himself would ever meet and mingle with the kind of people he’s always admired.
It would take too long to list all the great people I met, but check the previous posts (Endangered Species and CPAC 2006) for links to bloggers and Technorati for more CPAC blogging and photos.
That’s a wrap…
Deplorable? Selfish?
Fascinating stuff, La Shawn. Thanks for keeping us updated!
:o)
Comment by Jewels — 02.11.06 @ 2:21 pm
(oops- read your last sentence wrong. In my head I inserted the word “wouldn’t” between “we” and “sacrifice”. There- hope my comment makes sense now.
Comment by Jewels — 02.11.06 @ 2:23 pm
>>I’ve heard some Christians argue putting your elderly parents in a nursing home is unbiblical.>>
I can understand that…but I can also understand situations where nursing homes are the right place. My grandmother lived with my Aunt from the day she (my aunt) was married. My aunt had six kids, they grew up, and still my grandmother lived with them. At age 92, my grandmother had one leg amputated at the knee due to type II diabetes. Continued to live with my aunt, but life became much more difficult. My aunt was now in her 50s-60s and physically it became hard for her to assist my grandmother getting in and out of bed. At age 100, my grandmother was getting senile, and started becoming abusive with my aunt. Another aunt - who was a sister in an old age home - told us that this was not unusual…that at a certain stage, people may be perfectly pleasant to visitors, but abusive with their caretakers. My grandmother was moved to the other aunt’s old age home. At 101, the second leg was amputated, again due to the complications of diabetes. She died at 102. You could say she was still in the care of family, but I don’t think it mattered at that point. The care at the home was more than my aunt could give, and the care my aunt could give was no longer adequate - not due to lack of desire, but due to physical demands.
In spirit, though, I agree with you. I just won’t throw any stones….!
Comment by suek — 02.11.06 @ 3:00 pm
I completely agree. And if someone has raised children who are unable to take care of them it’s their fault for not raising them well. And if someone has not had any children, well, they should have thought about that. I don’t see why our hard-earned tax dollars should go to take care of people who haven’t planned their old age better.
Comment by Jon Swift — 02.11.06 @ 3:00 pm
Northern Alliance Radio Network Today
The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be on the air today between 11 am and 3 pm Central time on our local radio station, AM 1280 The Patriot. The first two hours feature Brian “St. Paul” Ward and Chad “The…
Trackback by Captain's Quarters — 02.11.06 @ 3:00 pm
Black people tend to take care of their elderly instead of putting them in elderly warehouses. Even when taking income into consideration.
Comment by DarkStar — 02.11.06 @ 3:11 pm
On a similar topic, how to expose anti-Americanism :
http://futurist.typepad.com
Comment by Tester — 02.11.06 @ 3:17 pm
Not everybody had good parents. I think there are probably some situations where it would be appropriate to put an evil unrepentant parent in an old folks home.
However, let me be quick to add the best thing is when Parents repent of the sins they have inflicted on their children, and children repent of the hatred they have towards them. Then there would be love and the old folks home wouldnt even be considered.
The last words in the Old Testament in Malachi are this:
“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” Malachi 4: 6
Comment by Ted Wegener — 02.11.06 @ 3:26 pm
Ahem! Old age isn’t what it used to be. Through the “miracle” of modern medicine vastly more people are living significantly longer with medical conditions that would have killed them much earlier fifty years ago.
In the early 1900’s there were “old folks homes” for the indigent or childless or aged with chronic problems. People then felt fortunate to avoid them and die at home in bed.
Today there is a large network of “retirement homes” that provide “assisted living” right down to the last breath. They are expensive and mostly quite well organized.
Then there are the “nursing homes” which run the gamut from mini hospitals to flea bag motels.
The point is that growing old is not for sissies and it isn’t cheap. If you plan to be the care-giver you had best be prepared for the hardships in both spirit and pocket.
I volunteer with medical assistance for many families who have the daily responsibilities of an aging relative. Bluntly said, most of these folks are trapped by the circumstances of income and would hire skilled help and/or placement if they were able.
The last place I would want to see an old person is in some type of state run institution. (Think warehouse.)
I have seen loving care given in the home. I have seen abusive care. I have seen the elderly tyrannize the household.
Part of putting together a good life plan is to have taken into account how you will receive help in your last years. It is your responsibility, not your child’s.
Comment by Heliotrope — 02.11.06 @ 4:55 pm
It is your responsibility, not your child’s.
I second that, although I do believe Christians have certain duties others don’t, especially if parents can’t take care of themselves for whatever reason.
Comment by La Shawn — 02.11.06 @ 4:58 pm
I don’t know about that Muslims for America website LaShawn??
Did you take a closer look at it? They have one of the worse terrorists and murderers portrayed on there and that would be the leader of Sudan if you scroll down…this man is responsible for the murder and slavery of Black Animists and Christians for the last 20 years there…..I believe his name is Bashir…..and now this monster has been leading the charge into Darfur for the last couple of years where he has been slaughtering Black Muslims even….
I’d be leery of any website or organization that would have this Islamic terrorists scoundral on their site!
Comment by Albertanator — 02.11.06 @ 7:13 pm
Lunch at CPAC!
Wonder Woman and Right Girl (Gentlemen bloggers to be identified when I find my notes! Sorry.) update: Jeff Harrell and Tom Bridge The Conservative Political Action Conference is going on here in DC this week, and bloggers were out in…
Trackback by Reasoned Audacity — 02.11.06 @ 7:15 pm
It is your responsibility, not your child’s.
To a degree.
I’m doing my best to make sure my kids won’t have to take care of me, but I have also told the oldest what it means to be family, so, if I can’t, I expect she will pitch in how she can.
Comment by DarkStar — 02.11.06 @ 7:27 pm
NARN Podcast: La Shawn Barber
I have a fresh podcast of our interview with La Shawn Barber from CPAC here. Her cell connection was a bit troublesome, but it was a fun interview. We’ll have La Shawn back on the show sometime soon!…
Trackback by Captain's Quarters — 02.11.06 @ 9:55 pm
Live-in caregivers in the Chicago suburbs area cost $45,000/yr (and by the way most of them are illegals from Lithuania and the former Russian states). Nursing home care varies, but in my mother’s case, a little over $40,000/yr in a little town in Wisconsin. Imagine what it’s going to be like in 20 years. Our society has changed. Families are scattered all over and are much smaller. Nobody’s home to take care of grandma anymore, much less their own children. Very scarey.
Comment by dianne — 02.11.06 @ 10:09 pm
It really sounds like you’re having a wonderful time at CPAC. I wish I was close enough to come, I’d love to get Wayne Perryman’s autograph on his book. It’s a little dog-earred, but that’s because I lend it out a lot!
Comment by Bonnie Calhoun — 02.12.06 @ 12:07 am
Learn Marketing from La Shawn Barber
La Shawn Barber blogged while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C. this weekend. I…
Trackback by PRMAMA: Marketing to Go! — 02.12.06 @ 10:17 am
LaShawn,
Glad you were able to have lunch with Mr. “Endangered Species.” While socially conservative isn’t on my list of “likes,” I feel you on the rest of the description (and I’m glad to hear it’s “endangered” and not “extinct” :-). It must have been refreshing and oh-so-nice.
Comment by Elle Gray — 02.12.06 @ 5:41 pm
MONDAY QUICK LINKS
Jim Hoft notes that Iran threw itself a party celebrating 27 years of Mullah-cracy–and millions boycotted. Publius Pundit has more on the sit-out. Clark Mountain Musings has a FlashPoint greeting card for the mullahs, with special guest appearances by…
Trackback by Michelle Malkin — 02.13.06 @ 9:28 am
My brother took care of my mother until she was 87, but she got so she couldn’t walk without falling down. Finally he gave up and had her admitted. I’m 1200 miles away. I’d like to get her and bring her here but she’d never survive it. And she’d be falling down, maybe even down our stairs. Talk about a helpless feeling..
Comment by cassandra — 02.13.06 @ 11:06 am