Malcolm Cutchins: Help can come in many fashions
Columnist
Published: July 16, 2009
One of the headlines on page 1 of this newspaper on July 8, was “Dowdell seeks help in representing Ward 1.” Readers will recall all of the cemetery/Confederate Flag publicity. Consider the four paragraphs below to be an open letter to Arthur offering “help.”
I am sure you are familiar with help coming from a higher power as Psalms 121 tells us. Help can also come in other ways as well. In this case, it’s a DVD based on a true story with a racial component, “The Heart of Texas.” The “WINNER” awards won by this film number at least three, all at the 2009 WORLDFEST International Film Festival. They are: Best Documentary, Best Texas Film, and Special Jury Award. The film also earned 5 of a possible 5 doves from The Dove Foundation.
I can’t describe much detail here without revealing the surprising aspects of this film and ruining your watching of it. A brief description is “When tragedy pierces the heart of a small community on the quiet Texas plains, its townspeople witness what can happen when grace and forgiveness triumph over anguish and outrage… a story of such tender mercy can seem more of a work of fiction or a wishful tale … yet every moment of this unbelievable story is true.” Arthur, you have certainly expressed “anguish and outrage,” as some have in response. Everyone would profit from viewing the film.
Ron Maxwell, the writer/director of the films, “Gettysburg,” and “Gods and Generals,” notes, “The Heart of Texas” provides a cinematic experience that will last long after viewing, a true tale of loss and redemption that will become part of your life.” A well-known producer says it “is an unforgettable miracle – 100 percent true.” Both he and a major motivational speaker claim it will “change your life.” It has been described as “astonishing… heartbreaking, and yet so uplifting… everyone needs to see it.”
The DVD is available at amazon.com and their sources, but I will be very glad to loan you my personal copy – if you promise to watch it and consider how its message applies to solving the problems of Ward 1 and its representation here in our state.
* * *
For the first time in our history, we are on the verge of placing on the Supreme Court a nominee who, according to Sen. Sessions, has seven times made similar biased statements like her “wise Latino woman” one.
Also, for the first time in U.S. history, our budget has now exceeded $ 1 trillion for the year. Another first: 32 Czars appointed by a U.S. president with more to come, along with vast sums of more taxpayer money to be spent. As Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) astutely observes, “We’re not stimulating the economy; we’re building government.”
The American people have got to stand up and say enough is enough! Nearly everyone would say child abuse is wrong, yet too many of us sit by and let our children and grandchildren be terribly abused financially by this administration.
Dr. Malcolm Cutchins is an emeritus professor of engineering of Auburn University and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.
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Reader Reactions
I can’t believe that the OA News is allowing Dr. Cutchins to rehash the Confederate flag incident after the paper incited racists from all over to flock to their Web site. Shame on you OA News and Dr. Cutchins.
As for Dr. Cutchins’s quoting of Ron Maxwell’s films (noted for their perpetuation of the myth of the Lost Cause) I recommend James M. McPherson’s *Battle Cry of Freedom* for some accurate historical detail.
And try watching *Glory* for a much better film on the Civil War.
Haven’t we had budgets exceeding a trillion for at least a couple of decades now? Is Dr. Cutchins thinking of the deficit?
Dr. Cutchins wrote “too many of us sit by and let our children and grandchildren be terribly abused financially by this administration” yet budget deficits have been a reality for decades. Was less terrible abuse acceptable?
In fact, only one party (Guess which one?) has managed to submit, and submit is appropriate since it’s just on paper, a budget surplus in just five years during my lifetime and they’ve been barely in the black. Was LBJ’s 1969 surplus why you didn’t rescue me from abuse Doc?
And where’s all this concern of Dr. Cutchins over the fate of future generations when our environmental future bumps up against his frequently perceived threats to some interests making money?
As for the appointment of czars, a media term used so as to not have to use official titles that often stretch on forever, Presidents have done this since Nixon. A few are even now mandated by Congress.
We could argue the Executive Branch ought to just rely on Cabinet level positions and yet these folks often have plenty to do. Working around the burdens of bureaucracy is arguably even a Conservative foundation. Is this Centrist administration darned if they do and darned if they don’t?
Czars are still operating under our statutes and regulatory structures. They are essentially a blend of spokesperson, liason, and policy wonk with rather limited power in most cases. Is appointing what we hope are generally capable experts, often academics, to these positions necessarily a problem? The use of czars can help to ensure that government policies are carried out effectively and efficiently. This is also hardly a negative.
If there is an increase in the numbers of czars, perhaps this can be explained by the many challenges we currently face as a nation, most of which have been inherited by the current occupant of the White House and not just from the last administration. However, given his usual right wing sources and his reliably paranoid style, I trust Dr. Cutchins is otherwise informed and perfectly prepared to pass his “thinking” along.
Thank you, Dr. Cutchins for your wise words.
God bless America
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