In South Carolina, a state where they practice forgiveness and grace instead of rioting and looting, the Confederate flag was removed from the state capitol grounds and taken to a museum. TV and radio commentators are speculating this will end the murders of innocent black people, but only if all vestiges of Confederate generals and other Southern heroes are also removed.

Congresswoman Pelosi of San Francisco says no state flag that includes even a hint of that Confederate emblem should be allowed in the U.S. Capitol. In response the Governor of one of those states replied: We’ll work on cleaning up our flag; meanwhile you concentrate on cleaning up the sanctuary city mess in your hometown that let an innocent woman be killed by an illegal Mexican felon who had been deported five times.

Now that the flag is down, serious people are asking: Will this create jobs and solve the unemployment problem? Will our schools improve so students learn better and faster?

Speaking of removing objectionable symbols, the Oklahoma Supreme Court wants to tear down the Ten Commandments monument on the capitol grounds in Oklahoma City. Before they take a sledgehammer to it, those justices need to go back and read what Oklahoma’s favorite son, Will Rogers, wrote, “Whoever wrote the Ten Commandments made ‘em short. They may not always be kept but they are understood. They are the same for all.” Later he joked, “When Congress gets the Constitution all fixed up, they are going to start on the Ten Commandments, just as soon as they can find somebody in Washington who has read them.” Governor Fallin stepped in front of the monument and said, “No, this monument will stand.” In fact, she will request that every worker, every legislator, every judge, every lobbyist stop and read all Ten of the Commandments before entering the Capitol. Why, a bunch of those old lawyers will do well to pass 7 out of 10.

President Obama will be visiting Oklahoma. I wonder if he’ll talk to the family of the popular sportscaster who was killed by an illegal immigrant who made an illegal U-turn. I doubt it because he didn’t call the father of the young woman killed in San Francisco either. Some lives don’t matter as much as others.

Last Sunday Greece voted against austerity. Today in the standoff with Europe, Greece is about to get hit with a double dose of austerity. Europe says, if you want any more money you must cut government spending, increase taxes, and “sell some assets.” They already rejected my idea to sell a few Greek Isles. So I suggest they auction off some Greek ruins, including the Parthenon. That should bring in a couple of billion Euros. See, in Greece, ruins are worth more than things that aren’t ruined. On taxes, Greece needs to get tough on wealthy tax evaders to bring in more dough. (Maybe they can hire Lois Lerner to go after ‘em.) Europe knows they can’t cut off Greece entirely because young people would riot and some old ones might starve. So they will loan ‘em a few more Euros, and trust the Greek politicians to follow through with their austerity promises.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers: (on collecting debts from nations)

“(Editorials are saying) ‘What are you going to do? You can’t collect, we have to make some different terms.’ (I say) One message of three words will make every nation dig it up and send it over by plane: Pay or default. There is not a country in the world that would dare default. It would spoil their credit. They couldn’t borrow any money anymore.” DT #1962, Nov. 17, 1932