Sunday.....Christianity.....Aah...Tabletalk!

There was a movie a few decades ago, a comedy, where a man was trying to impress a young lady who was very cultured. Advice given to him was that if the topic of classical music came up, just say Aah...Bach and that may get him by. If Old English Heroic Epic Poetry ever comes up in a conversation, I may just say Aah...Beowulf.  I read Beowulf in high school. It was a great learning experience. I learned how to read thousands of words straight through and not understand a single thought they conveyed. I wasn't the greatest student in grade school and high school, but I was neat. A nun once beat me with a pointer because I was cleaning out my desk during a test, and my freshman high school history teacher once threw all my books out of the fourth floor window for the same offense. I once held a fancy for a young lady in College who was very cultured, in fact she taught Theater Arts 101 as a grad student. I think this was the beginning of my really reading for I devoured that text book to  impress her. I took an acting class and went to plays....Aah...Moliere!  The peak of my impressing her was when I cleared up a long standing mystery at the local playhouse when I correctly identified King Edward VIII in a Hirschfeld mural that eluded even the director. I guessed correctly for I knew it was either him or Dagwood Bumstead....Aah...Blondie!  But alas, I'm not cultured. I'd rather go to a Three Stooges marathon than a ballet. I read everything I had to through high school, but I didn't really read it. But I've had a metamorphosis, Aah...Kafka!   Reformed theologian, pastor and teacher R. C. Sproul, through his Ligonier Ministries (http://www.ligonier.org/), publishes a monthly devotional/Bible study called Tabletalk after Martin Luther's work of the same title. This booklet comes to our house early so I'm usually a little bit ahead of schedule. Today I was reading the July 15th offering and the Bible verse to be considered was Joshua 1:8, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous. Sproul writes that Authentic meditation...is not some exercise wherein we try to empty our minds and expunge all desires in order to achieve some kind of mystic experience or melding with the transcendent. What R. C. is directing us to is a pondering and a considering of the scripture that we read. Many years ago, a friend commented to me in a bit of theological debate, that he had read the entire Bible...cover to cover. I can only hope that he got more out of it than I did with Beowulf. Just this past Friday, another friend volunteered the information that he was reading the Bible every morning. He seemed reticent to say that he only read a little bit every day and had to think hard on what he was reading. I was stunned for he was reading it in the most possibly beneficial way! We have a tendency today to think that merely passing the words from our eyes and through the brain permits the reading requirement to be checked off. For an analogy, consider a time when you had a significant problem in some area of your life and you meditated on it throughout the day, trying to find and answer. You might re-read, over and over again, the letter you received in the mail detailing the problem. There are books that I fly through and others that I devour every letter of every word. Pilgrim's Progress is one, and I have often meditated on the various parts of Christian's journey and the people that he met along the way. R. C. Sproul concludes with We meditate on Scripture not simply to fill our minds with knowledge, but to prepare ourselves to act rightly even when the text is not before us.  If you are new to reading Scripture, ponder over what you read, consider the implications in your life and meditate upon the commentary at the bottom of the page

Wednesday.....Culture.....Summer Reading List

Fox News reports that A new study by the National Association of Scholars has found that 70 percent of the summer reading books assigned  to incoming college freshman in the U. S. show a liberal bias and are not academically challenging. Surveyed were 290 colleges and the responses were categorized with multiculturalism, immigration and racism in first, followed by environmentalism, animal rights and food. The conclusion of the report was stated as more of the same. Conservative books comprised only 2 percent of the reading list. Pop culture trumped core curriculum. The classics were virtually ignored with no Shakespeare but a smattering of classics like Frankenstein, The Communist Manifesto and Walden. Some educators fought back claiming conservative bias in the study. I decided to look at the study myself, the schools surveyed and the books recommended. The Pathetic World Of College Summer Recommended Reading comes to mind as a good book title. There is no getting away from the liberal and progressive influences of Higher Education, but on the flip side, these institutions may be finding it increasingly difficult to apply the term tabula rasa to their incoming freshman classes. Truth will win out if given equal time.  Our nephew recently graduated from high school and will matriculate to a college whose summer reading book is Pat Barker's Regeneration written in 1991. Barker admits that the book is an anti-war novel , but maybe not in the typical sense. World War I is the venue while social class issues and homosexuality are also themes. I gave my nephew The Heritage Guide To The Constitution as a graduation gift.

Tuesday.....International.....Thomas Sowell On "Tyranny"

The Times of London ran a comic where Barack Obama was kicking a soccer ball with BP on it. On his uniform was written Mid Term Elections Inc. A recent Pew poll showed that over 80% of British people have a lot or some confidence in President Obama, while most of the rest have little or no confidence in him, but that poll was released on June 17th and probably taken weeks before that...before the BP shakedown. Maybe the British people can now understand a little bit better why the American people are not so enamored with our President? It goes beyond Barack Obama, to all those who share his political philosophy and put him into office. They are takers, for they will take from anyone who cannot help them and give to anyone who can help them. Plato wrote: This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. Thomas Sowell used the word tyranny today in his column of which I will reprint portions of here. The entirety of the article can be read at www.tsowell.com.
   When Adolph Hiltler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics. Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.....a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even to survive. In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes.....Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation?  Nowhere. And yet that is precisely what is happening with the $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill.....If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion- or $50 billion or $100 billion-then so be it. But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law." Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference......If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in Constitutional government. And without Constitutional government, freedom cannot endure......The man appointed by President Obama to dispense BP's money as the administration sees fit, to whomever it sees fit, is only the latest in a  long line of presidentially appointed "csars" controlling different parts of the economy without even having to be confirmed by the Senate, as Cabinet members are. 
I did a number of individual chapter reviews of Thomas Sowell's great book Intellectuals And Society. He not only knows tyranny when he encounters it, he knows how and why it develops in the first place, and who is most likely to embark in that area. 

Monday.....Miscellaneous.....November 7, 2009 Redux

I mentioned last week that one of the problems that I faced in this blog was writing on a topic and having it buried as the months pass by. I experimented with two book reports (Liberal Fascism and Liberty And Tyranny) that were repeats of past blogs and have since come up with the idea of using Monday's blogs as repeats from the past year and a half. Today's blog is from November 7, 2009. There is so much politics in what I write that I take the chance of it eclipsing that which is the only answer and, the only hope we have of any future at all in this country. Benjamin Franklin wrote that during the First Great Awakening, he could hardly walk down a street in Philadelphia without hearing a Psalm sung on one side or a hymn on the other. George Washington worried in the 1790s that America would lose all belief in God. We, as a people, have swayed back and forth in our dependence upon God's mercy and guidance. This particular blog is my take on our condition today, and if not reversed, we are to be pitied as a people in spite of our heritage, in spite of our military prowess for as 1 Samuel 2: 10 proclaims, For by strength no man shall prevail.

In the late 1950s America was transfixed by the phenomenon of the Hula Hoop. It would take something on the level of the iPhone to do that today. It was a simpler time, for all we had to worry about was megaton hydrogen bomb-laden ballistic missiles being sent our way. We have since lost our moorings in America and our ship of state is drifting aimlessly amongst the shoals. Our moorings were once tied to belief in and dependence on God, and we were kept safe. We are not safe today. We are at the mercy of those who have no mercy. We cannot come to consensus on how to deal with those who walk among us and want to destroy us. We are so conflicted in our own national conscience that we often cannot even punish a serial killer. Yet, Terror, thy name is Jesus and thy weapon is truth. We will make laws to protect us from you. We will isolate those whom you send to us. We will ban your book. You have disquieted us, your words upset us. We do not recognize your holiness. You are not our king. We will not pay you homage. You are not our God for there is no God. We were your slaves but now we are free. If you desire to live here, you will do our bidding. This is not the proclamation of everyone in America, not even the majority but it is a proclamation that is placarded in our universities, and on the marquees of our theaters. It is the lapel pin on our business suits and hoisted up on our flagpoles, but it is not buoyant and those who cling to it as the ship sinks beneath the raging waves will perish. Even as Gideon needed way-tokens, I need them also. I rejoice in my weakness for I see so clearly how a man's perceived strength without God is a pitiful state to be in.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Fathers Day

I know that I have related this story before, it was quite a number of years ago that we visited a Presbyterian Church (OPC) on Mother's Day. A gentleman took the pulpit in place of the teaching elder who was away and preached a sermon on Fathers. I am one of those who believe that Christ must be preached each and every Lord's Day, from the Old Testament...or the New Testament...from the latest Christian magazine received in the mail if need be, as long as He is preached accurately in His person, His office and His redemptive work accomplished for us on the cross. All of the scriptural application you want can be added and will be appreciated, but first and foremost, Christ must be preached! Having said this, it was no surprise to my family that upon leaving the church I made a firm comment to the gentleman who took the pulpit that day. Now this man could have rebuked me for having the audacity to criticize while attending their church in passing through, or he could have given a perfunctory nod and looked quickly to greet the next person in line leaving the church.  He did neither. His humility provided all the rebuking necessary. He failed to preach Christ and apologized. My personal repentance was to Christ of whose Gospel I so ineptly attempted to defend. I may be the last person qualified to tell pastors how to preach, but I am on equal footing with all believers in my right to request to hear Christ preached for it is as insulin to a diabetic, oxygen to one suffering from emphyzema or bourbon to an alcoholic if you will.  It is the great weakness of the church in America today that by simply mentioning the name Jesus Christ our pulpits are then permitted to go on at length in any direction, fully confident that they are preaching Christ. If I had but one prayer, it would be to have Christ preached to us that we might thereby have the strength to go on. That particular church we visited probably preaches Christ on a regular basis for it is a sound denomination. That gentleman most assuredly loves and serves Christ, and probably much better than I do. I should have made my comments to him in the way that I am writing this blog. I've also told the story of a young Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who when unsaved, remembered of the day of his salvation this way: I sometimes think that I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a  little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fourteen people...The minister did not come that morning, he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or a tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach...His text was, 'Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth.'  When he managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Seeing this young man to be miserable in his countenance, he looked to Spurgeon and said, Young man look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but look and live. Spurgeon related I saw at once the way of salvation.  In short order, Spurgeon was ordained and later preached to both  Prime Ministers and shoemakers. On a winters day, nine years later, he preached a sermon on Psalm 44: 1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers, have told us, what work thou didst in their eyes, in the times of old. He concluded his sermon with this.....when the Romans used to attack a city, it was sometimes their custom to set up at the gate a white flag, and if the garrison surrendered while the white flag was there, their lives were spared. After that the black flag was put up, and then every man was put to the sword. The white flag is up today; perhaps tomorrow the black flag will be elevated upon the pole of the law and then there is no repentance or salvation either in this world or in that which is to come..... To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. Oh, to-day lay hold on Christ: 'Kiss the son. lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Saturday.....War On Terror.....Bloody Sunday, Abu Ghraib and Mei Lai

British Prime Minister David Cameron recently issued a formal apology for the unwarranted killing of citizens in Northern Ireland on January 30, 1972 that became known as Bloody Sunday. Today's Wall Street Journal has a very insightful article, written by British author Douglas Murray, on that apology. On that day, British troops killed 13 people as a civil rights march deteriorated into a riot. The most recent government investigation into the day recently concluded after 12 years and a cost of 200 million pounds. The results vindicated the families of the dead who had pursued this course of investigation. Murray considers the views of both sides on this issue, one being perfectly decent and patriotic people who believe little good, and much damage, can come from publicly hauling our troops over the coals, and others who believe that we must hold our troops to higher standards than any of those they fight. In his first bit of insight, he mentions that legitimate views can be highjacked. This is what we need to realize in America today. Conservative and Liberal issues can be, and often are, highjacked. If we fail to discern when this happens, the extremist has succeeded in bringing chaos to a legitimate debate. The writer also points out that, what is not considered is that, in British opinion, the latter side contains not mere social groups but terror groups. (emphasis mine) The terrorist therefore becomes vindicated along with the innocent, and Mr. Murray gives his warning that a demonstration of ..... our decency can turn into our enemies using this as proof that they were right all along. He quotes the late Jeane Kirkpatrick in our tendency to blame America first and most, and to extend to others 'understanding' and tolerance denied the United States. Mr. Murray writes that our enemies rely upon this, that such inquiries will be solely inward-looking because then our attention will never focus outward upon their crimes and warns that what makes us great and free is also what makes us vulnerable, our introspection can be a demonstration, not of sophistication, but of self-absorption, weakness and finally naivete'. In my estimation, our media often does exactly what Douglas Murray warns against.  When self-absorption rules their reporting, our war efforts suffer, as does our national defense. Tolerance is not considered for Conservative issues, but lavished upon the Obama administration's agenda. The ultimate product is that terrorists kill with impunity while we struggle to defend ourselves; and tyranny advances while victory is tied up in the court of public opinion. One prime example would be Abu Ghraib. Murderers were mistreated and we kept our honor by defending them regardless of the much needed aid, strength and motivation it gave to others murderers, their cohorts, still in the field. Abu Ghraib could have been handled and future abuses halted without assisting the greater crimes while focusing on the lesser. This is certainly not to say that investigations of criminal and ethical conduct should not take place. On the contrary, if we use the tactics of terrorism on innocents and murder of non-combatants, victory would not only be hollow, it would be a worthless and not even something to be desired. The Warrant Officer who witnessed the atrocities of Mei Lai was the prototypical example of common sense in understanding that the murders in those ditches equaled the murders of the Viet Cong who may have lived in that village. It was reported just today that 20% of the Guantanamo detainees that were returned to Saudi Arabia (25 out of 120) have returned to militancy. If we as a people once again begin to discern the difference between self absorption and true justice and honor, our enemies will have lost one of their more valuable weapons.

Friday.....America.....Liberty And Tyranny

The following is the second of two consecutive book report blogs from April of 2009:

Mark R. Levin's Liberty And Tyranny, A Conservative Manifesto has been the top selling book on the New York Times best seller list for its first three weeks. I've read a number of Conservative books that have come out over the past few years, and generally they are good but not necessarily profound. This book is different. Whereas Jonah Goldberg emphasized the political philosophy of fascism, Levin looks at the individual, the Statist, who has an insatiable appetite for control. His sights are set on the next meal even before he has digested his last. This is descriptive of what has happened in President Obama's first 100 days. To the Statist...liberty is not a blessing but the enemy. It is not possible to achieve utopia if individuals are free to go their own way.....through persuasion, deception and coercion, the individual must be subordinated to the state.....he must abandon his own ambitions for the ambitions of the state. Quoting Barack Obama. our salvation depends on collective salvation. Academics, Hollywood and the media are tools of the Statist. He quotes C. S. Lewis, Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. The Founders were highly educated, well informed men who excelled at reason and science but worshiped neither. On the other hand, the Statist acknowledges only that law which he himself sets in place, and which is subject to change or arbitrary application on his say-so. Bloody revolutions, such as in France and Russia were always under the flag of democratic populism. Franklin Roosevelt's appointee as Chief Justice wrote no tax, in any amount, large or small can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions..the First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. Chief Justice William Rehnquist disagreed. The (First Amendment's) Establishment Clause did not require government neutrality between religion and irreligion nor did it prohibit the Federal Government from providing nondiscriminatory aid to religion. there is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the Founders intended to build a "wall of separation" that was constitutionalized in Everson (Black). On the trend towards a "living constitution", contracts are interpreted, and the intentions of the parties discerned in the context of their original making...the Conservative is an originalist. The concept of an individual's "right" to a job, money, a home, medical care etc, comes from FDR's Second Bill Of Rights, as the Constitution's Bill Of Rights were not enough. Levin describes that which we have experienced, of the plot to transform the civil society through the judiciary-without the consent of the people and without regard to the Constitution. And they are well positioned to do so. On economics, the Marxist class struggle formulation, which pits the proletariat (working class) against the Bourgeoisie (wealthy merchant) still serves as the principle theoretical and rhetorical justification for the Statist''s assault on the free market. Lets hear from Saul Alinsky, Hillary Clinton's hero, who she wrote her thesis There Is Only One Fight: An Analysis Of The Alinsky Model. the contents of which have been kept secret, Organization for action will now and in the decade ahead center upon America's white middle class. That is where the power is...our rebels have contemptuously rejected the values and way of life of the middle class. They have stigmatized it as materialistic, decadent, bourgeois, degenerate, imperialistic, war mongering, brutalized and corrupt...we must begin from where we are if we are to build power for change. The Statist blames the free market and industry when things go wrong but subsidizes it when necessary in order to extend his own reach, whereas, the Conservative is not a corporatist...not a pleader for oil  companies and other corporations. Rather, he defends the free markets...against the tyranny that threatens them.  Edmund Burke, the Father of Conservatism, is quoted, What is the use of discussing a man's abstract right of food or medicine....I shall always advise to call in the aid of the farmer, and the physician, rather than the professor of metaphysics. The Enviro-Statist continues to revere Pittsburgher Rachel Carson whose work helped ban DDT around the world. Her work has been discredited, malaria flourished and millions of the children she claimed to want to help...died. This book contains a fair amount of statistics on various areas such as auto safety, bailouts, immigration, taxation and global warming. Levin correctly states that Skepticism is essential to science; consensus is foreign. Yet in the hysteria over global warming the Statist attempted to silence opposing scientists and not only claimed consensus as evidence but was dramatically incorrect in such a claim. President Obama appointed Carol M. Browner as his "global warming czar" yet the media thought it unimportant that she was recently one of the fourteen leaders of the Socialist International's Commission for a Sustainable World Society. On illegal immigration, the Statist....of course looks over the horizon and sees opportunity, the demographic changes he is importing and protecting, empower him. The Conservative believes that immigration can contribute to the well-being of society, but it can also contribute to its demise. On self preservation, George Washington said to be prepared for war is one of the effectual means of preserving peace. From Levin; The Conservative believes that unalienable rights attach to all human beings, but it is not necessarily the responsibility of the United States to enforce those rights...however, he also believes that there are times when evil perpetrated, by a regime is so horrific that to ignore it tears at the moral core of American society. Agreeing with Goldberg, the Statist must denigrate those who obstruct him, and once in power, his threshold for actual civil liberties violations is often lowered. This, Goldberg would say, is an extreme understatement. The book is only 205 pages long and would be a good prerequisite to seriously entering the political arena.

Thursday.....Politics.....Liberal Fascism

One of the disappointments in writing this blog is that I might write on a certain subject and after the passage of time, and many additional blogs, fully expect that no will come across it again. Today, because of this, I would like to copy a blog from April 22, 2009, that blog being a book report on Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. This administration no longer just has fascist tendencies, it is a mature fascism. Hard to believe? Few Americans know the origins and the characteristics of this early 20th century political philosophy and what they had heard during the Bush administration, as charges of fascism was leveled against it, was an absurd reversal of protagonists. If you do read this book, and are awakened as to what is going on in Washington D. C., please invest in some more copies and give others the opportunity to join the effort to stop it.

     There are two secular books that I consider necessary reads if you are concerned for America. One is an expose, the other is a manifesto. They are Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism, The Secret History of the American Left From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, and Liberty and Tyranny (which I hope to reprint tomorrow) written by Mark R. Levin and No.1 on the best seller chart. Goldberg begins his last chapter with this, I have argued that modern liberalism is the offspring of twentieth century progressivism, which in turn shares intellectual roots with European fascism.....in the United States, the movement known elsewhere as fascism or Nazism took the form of progressivism. Part of Tom Wolfe's blurb on the back states, Love it or leave it, "Liberal Fascism" is a book you won't be able to put down, in either sense of the word. It is startling, table gripping and ultimately quieting because it makes sense of what has been going on. This book did not plant the seed within me on today's liberalism having the potential of becoming totalitarian, I had already discerned that. It did show me that it had been done before in America. Goldberg begins with...in reality, international fascism drew from the same intellectual wellsprings of American Progressivism-moralistic social crusade from which modern liberals proudly claim descent-is in some respects the major source of the fascist ideas applied in Europe by Mussolini and Hitler. As we read through the history of the Progressive Movement, we can see clearly the goals, methods and schemes that are being presented to us today. The term, fascism is thrown around today much as Stalin did in using it for anything he didn't like. In fact, fascism was highly thought of by the American Left in the 1920s, as was Mussolini. President Woodrow Wilson's writings and actions are thoroughly detailed by Goldberg as he writes indeed, it is my argument that during World War I, America became a fascist country, albeit temporarily. Goldberg begins with the French Revolution, the first fascist movement, and the philosophy of the Jacobins. As an example of this he writes, they replaced venerated holidays, with pagan, nationalistic celebrations. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was renamed the "Temple of Reason."  Again on the French Revolution.....it was also seen as a left-leaning one for breaking with the Catholic Church and empowering the people. The current philosophy that has enraptured so much of the American psyche has shown every sign and has the potential to rule with the rod, as Goldberg writes of  fascism, It is "totalitarian" in that it views everything as political and holds that any action taken by the state is justified to achieve the common good. Robespierre's comment there are only two parties in France, the people and its enemies is too close to the current effort by the administration and media to place the charge of extremism on free speech advocates, Tea Parties, gun owners, Christians, the military and opponents of abortion, illegal immigration and same-sex marriage. Goldberg states that Mussolini coined the term "totalitarian" to describe a society where everybody belonged, where everyone was taken care of, where everything was inside the state and nothing was outside: where truly no child was left behind. Hitler wanted a non-smoking, vegetarian, holistic, environmental nation where, as his youth manual stated nutrition is not a private matter. Goldberg did not coin the phrase liberal fascism. Progressive H. G. Wells did as he told the Young Liberals at Oxford that Progressives must become "liberal fascists" and "enlightened Nazis." Goldberg says, and I agree, that liberals are not interested in their intellectual history and thus can accuse conservatives of being fascist. Mussolini was heavily influenced by the Pragmatism of William James. Does this from Goldberg on fascists sound familiar,  any belief that is useful is therefore necessarily true. Conversely, any truth that is inconvenient or non-useful is necessarily untrue? This is the theorem used on global warming, the war on terror, talking to dictators, the Constitution, assisted suicide and a host of other issues that we have wrung our hands over in past years. Goldberg proclaims that fascism, is a democracy gone mad. There's a chapter on Woodrow Wilson. He believed, the individual must marry his interests to the state. He was the first President to speak disparagingly of the Constitution. I mention Wilson's comment on the military draft because it so resembles the linguistic mumbo jumbo that Hillary Clinton so often uses, It is in no sense a conscription of the unwilling: it is, rather, selection from a nation which has volunteered in mass. Again from the book, Wilson's Sedition Act banned "uttering, writing, or publishing any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the United States government or its military. Had radio talk been around, broadcasting would have been mentioned. Again from Goldberg, the Justice Department (under Wilson) created its own quasi-official "fascisti" known as the American Protective League or APL. They were given badges, many of which read "Secret Service" and charged with keeping an eye on their neighbors, co-workers, and friends. On Hitler, in speech after speech Hitler made it clear that his goal was to have no dividing lines between rich and poor. Quoting the head of the Nazi German Labor Front. the Nazi party was intending to change the whole concept of labour relations, based on the principle of co-determination and shared responsibility between management and workers. Does this not sound like what is in the works with the auto industry? On economics, Mein Kampf is replete with attacks on "divided hungry businessmen." There's a chapter on Hillary Clinton but there are numerous books that document her philosophy to anyone concerned enough about her role today. Relaying here but one paragraph, After graduation Hillary was offered to an internship by her hero Saul Alinsky-famed author of "Rules For Radicals"-about whom wrote her thesis; "There Is Only One Fight. An Analysis of the Alinsky Model." In an unprecedented move, Wellesley sequestered the thesis in 1992, even refusing to divulge the title until the Clintons left the White House. This book is 405 pages, I have only given a small sample of the evidence that this New Progressivism has fascism bursting at the seams to get out. The book emphasizes that the Nazi hatred of the Jews was peculiar to them an not shared by other fascists. Goldberg strongly infers that fascism will not enter America as a storm trooper but as a smiley face that knows what is best for you. Barack Obama is mentioned only twice, as this book was written in 2007, in many respects, Alinsky's methods inspired the entire 1960s generation of "New Left" agitators (Barack Obama, for years a Chicago community organizer, was trained by Alinsky disciples). What is the  importance of this book? Many Americans tend to think that the politics and agenda of the current administration is indeed new, but good and needed; when in reality, it is not new, it is rising from the ashes of fascism that led much of Europe into destruction in the last century.

Wednesday.....Culture.....One If By Land

Please consider this scenario: Hundreds of miles off of our Eastern coast, in the middle of a perfect tempest, a ship is in danger of going under. The captain and many of the crew wait on the bridge for the chief engineer to return and give his assessment. The hatch flies open and he charges in closing off the storm behind him, does not bother to take off his rain gear but merely says We are going down! He begins explaining his statement with one problem after another, the ships pumps cannot run, the water level is pouring into the aft compartment and cannot be stopped, the tear in the seam is eighteen yards long and water will continue to fill the lower compartments, the cargo has shifted to the port side where the tear is, the waves now rule this ship... The ship of state of America is going down!  This is not a drill! By going down, I mean that all of our history is under water. Our laws are atrophying. There is a tear in our American fabric developing for the last eighteen years that exposes a man typing into a teleprompter, his long gray hair covers his ears, his gray beard rests on his chest and his dark mustache covers the lips that have spewed lies that many have followed. Our allegiances have shifted, 42% of them (as of this week) are still willing to begin a new America, unrelated to, and irreverently discarding the old. The storm clouds over the face of the earth now dictate our future. This nightmare will come true if we do not wake up, and it may even if we do. Our local newspaper published a piece today with untruths and distortions on a topic that comes up in blogs such as this. A friend at work pointed it out to me as evidence for the other side of this issue. How do we deal with this when the media, at the very best, hasn't a clue, when purveyors of misleading information have the eyes of a people who are only willing to give a glimpse towards finding the truth? The first stage in combating this epidemic has to be a diagnosis. This ship of state is sinking! Barbarians are at the gates! These folks have to know that this is not a game to us, played when the Steelers or Penguins are not playing, or when not looking forward to vacation, or until the kitchen cabinets are in. They have to hear this in our conversation. We are more than concerned. We are shaken by what has transpired in the past eighteen months but not dislodged from our moorings. We are building with mortar and brick as fast as we can. The directions for fortifying the heritage we hope to give to our children is not four easy steps. There are prints and schematics involved and we are willing to go over them with anyone anytime but will not be drawn into sound bite debate that has been the modus operandi of the Left and powered them to their present dominance on committee chairs, cabinet appointments and Czarships. I assume that Army basic training is the same as it was 40 years ago, at least I hope that it is. Life changes the morning after the swearing in and taking of the oath. The hair is gone as is the free time. For two or three months, you are taken apart and put back together again, and nine out of ten men that I have talked to were appreciative of experiencing it. I don't think that a picture of Uncle Sam pointing, and saying I want you!, has much effect anymore but let me give you this picture. Contrast the American flag raised on Iwo Jima at the cost of 6,800 Marine lives next to William Ayers standing on that flag on the cover of a magazine, the day before 9/11. The bell is tolling, the lantern is in the church tower and there needs be a sudden change in our lives until, God willing, we can give this heritage of freedom and liberty to the younger generation.

Tuesday.....International.....Kang Chol-Hwan

I used to like to tell the story of how I had watched soccer, on and off, 15 minutes here and a half an hour there, for the last 40 years....and never saw a goal! Well, two weeks ago I tuned into a game from somewhere overseas and sure enough, that little ball fits into that big net. After watching a little bit of the USA/England game, I can now say that I have seen three goals! I don't mean to belittle the game for I'm sure it is terrific to those who play it and are fans but it did get me wondering about the pastimes of various countries. If this is Europe's sport, is there anything that can be gleaned about a people who, in effect, watch a pinball game for most of an hour and a half? For one thing, they must be very patient! It reminds me a little bit of the Russian national pastime of chess where knights, bishops and rooks move back and forth incessantly and pawns barely move before the ball is somewhere near attempting to kick into the net. Compare this with America where highlights of the many scores, in whatever sport, fill up the sports newscast every night. Many Americans can now say that their favorite player, in whatever sport, is from another country. My favorite Pittsburgh Pirate is I. M. Itchyru but he never gets in the game because he's always  scratched.
     North Korea gave Brazil all it could handle in soccer today, in losing only by a goal. I saw a photo of the North Korean team in practice and would normally root for these underdogs going up against the rock star Brazilians. It will never happen though for I see Kim Jong il's's odious picture on every jersey and smell the stench of death.  The pictures of the people that are subject to his tortures, whims and ego fill the stands, shouting help us! How, on God's green earth, do I let the little things of life bother me when half of a nation suffers from repression and the other half trains to kill their would be helpers in a future war? This man will never have compassion on his countrymen, and most probably will cause a war before he leaves this earth, and even if he does depart, his successors would surely know that Nuremberg type trials face them if they open the country up. I'd like to invite you to read a book with me, one that I have not finished yet. Kang Chol-Hwan spent ten years of his early life in a forced labor camp in North Korea before escaping to China and then South Korea. Listen to his pleas and pray for the people that he left behind.

Monday.....Miscellaneous.....I'm For Amnesty!

There are many very intelligent American citizens, who would be categorized as liberals, who pride themselves on their ability to logically navigate the issues of today, who are being had big time, and justify P. T. Barnum's well worn statement there's a sucker born every minute. Take a few comments today from Barack Obama that I took from a BBC report; As reported, the President is addressing his network that originally put him into office and asking their support again. Here are his words: Beyond the risks inherent in drilling four miles beneath the surface of the earth our dependence on oil means that we will continue to send billions of dollars of our hard earned wealth to other countries every month-including many in dangerous and unstable regions. First of all, we drill four miles below the surface of the earth because his environmentalist supporters demand that the drilling is done in deep water, but the main offense in this statement, and it is grotesque, is that sending America's wealth to other nations is the actual plan, the agenda and the goal! Barack Obama, the men who mentored and who continue to mentor him, and many of the people with Marxist allegiances who he appointed to influential positions, see this redistribution of wealth as the ultimate fairness doctrine. This is no secret. It is not a conspiratorial theory, but great pains are made to keep it under wraps and beneath the radar. Even in a profession that is known for misleading political rhetoric, even in an age that sees this deformity pushed to the limits...how can an individual so brazenly criticize that which he in fact totally supports? It takes much, much more than gall, it involves much more than disingenuousness...it is unmitigated intellectual corruption.  The next statement: In other words, our continued dependence on fossil fuels will jeopardize our national security. It will smother our planet. And it will continue to put our economy and our environment at risk. Our national security is an issue that has been consistently trumped for the past seventeen months by personal political opportunism. Additionally, it will not smother our planet for global warming has been discredited to the degree that, although it may remain on the table of discourse, it should in no way be considered a proven theory or even a probable one and maybe not even a possible one. Our economy is more than at risk, it is in intensive care due to the insurmountable debt accrued. A third statement, We cannot delay any longer, and that is why I am asking for your help. Our President is addressing those who were duped in the fall of 2008 by the most deceptive form of campaigning our nation has ever experienced. Its great strength, apart from a willing media, was a public that was the quintessential example of gullibility of any electorate, anywhere. The administration continually uses the ploy of an emergency situation that needs action immediately, thereby bypassing debate, criticism and examination. I've mentioned  a few times that the power this administration wields has only a few months left. They have to make their last moves in the coming months for even the Democrats will not be able to run on the contemptuous moves this administration has made thus far. The title of this blog is I'm for amnesty, and I am, a limited amnesty for Democratic Congressman who will stand up against the strong arm tactics and manipulations of deception at the highest levels of our government. Say no to the arm twisting that will begin in short order and I, anyway, will consider you as I would any legitimate candidate. Some may disagree with this amnesty but consider this. The Republican who takes office under false pretenses and then abandons his professed conservatism, harms the party, and America, more than the Democrat who admits past mistakes and abandons them. Consider this also, we will need an honest, viable opposition party. Until the American public unites in, at least, our heritage of sacrifice for freedom and independence, our liberty, our intellectual attributes of common sense and reason, our respect for human life and our dependence upon a just and righteous God, we will strive against ourselves to the great satisfaction and benefit of our enemies. We need a return of Republican leadership in Congress but we also need a united citizenry vigilant against all forms of tyranny and human autonomy.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Sola, Latin...."Alone"

The 90s were a time of theological movement for me. My beliefs on God's involvement in man's motives and decisions were changing. Did I choose God or did He choose me? What were the ramifications of the answer to such a question? I read and read, and read some more, traveling from one Christian bookstore to another. If you are in that state of flux, I'd like to recommend a very good book. The 16th century Reformation raised five banners high above the prevailing beliefs of the day. Known sometimes as the Doctrines of Grace and sometimes as the five solas, I was totally ignorant of them throughout the 80s. R. C. Sproul used his enormous skills in explaining these doctrines in his book Grace Unknown, The Heart Of Reformed Theology. R. C. has a way of making seemingly complex issues easy to see and therefore make an informed decision on whether or not they are in fact true. I firmly believe that this book would be a valuable investment for you and it may bring changes to your concept of the Gospel itself, and that change would be one of wonderful grace...to marvelous, astonishing, glorious grace, staggering in its implications and abundantly overflowing in the joy it produces.

Friday.....America....Never, Never, Never Quit

I am very, very, very good at finding lost items. The reason is because I am so very proficient at losing things and thus have lots of experience. I will go to extraordinary lengths to retrieve something I've lost. I bought an English pipe on a vacation to Europe in 1981 and promptly dropped it through an opening in front of the elevator door at work upon returning home. To this day, 29 years later, when I stand before that elevator, my lips curl up like Bill Murray's in Caddy Shack, as he ponders how to get that gopher. That pipe is probably petrified today but it doesn't matter. I recently switched cars with my son and dropped my money clip between the seat and console, a very tight space. I retrieved it along with a metal bookmark that I had given him with a quote etched on it. The words read "Never, never, never quit-Winston Churchill." One word, thrice repeated, does not sound very poetic but it does deliver the message. When utilized in the Bible, it means what it does today...extreme emphasis. I don't mean to sound trite but a saying like that needs pondering over, even meditating upon. Churchill's actual words delivered in October of 1941 were Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. I'm not talking about never giving up on a personal goal or desired vocation. Motivational speakers abound who do that.  In my opinion, one of the most tragic mistakes that we have made is our judgment that man is basically good. The effort to ban all nuclear weapons is based on this, there is elements of it in the failure to acknowledge the legitimacy of the death penalty, and it even shows up in abortion as you have the fetus that is not a person whose continued existence depends upon genuine persons who are generally good. The same principle of good people making their own decisions is in the same-sex marriage debate. Good people should trump laws in legalizing drugs and illegal immigration. Man is good and laws are neutral therefore, man trumps laws. Why be shackled to constitutions when man can make decisions as they arise? The biggest issue of all may be in mankind that is good placed under the dominion of a God, where His goodness is suspect to begin with. In reality, man is not good. Given the proper circumstance, rewards and punishments, he can act good, but in the same vein, given the wrong circumstances, lack of rewards and punishments, he will cause havoc, pain and suffering. Should this be the case, would it not make sense to never, never, never quit on dealing with our weaknesses and seeking Him who can not only give us strength but give an impetus to all to live, at times, as though we were good?

.Praying For Those In Authority

           So how do we go about praying for "kings and all those in authority" as the Apostle Paul wrote in the second chapter of his first epistle to Timothy? Do we pray for Barack Obama differently than we did for George W. Bush? I've heard prayers offered from pulpits that simply go something like Lord, we pray for the leaders of our nation and all those in authority, and I've heard Lord, we pray that all those in authority submit to Thy Lordship in all their decisions. The full verse is Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
           John Calvin wrote that in prayers and supplications we are to "pour out our desires before God, asking as well those things which tend to promote His glory and display His name, as the benefits which contribute to our advantage." As for our living in godliness and reverence, Calvin applies that to the church being under their "protection and guardianship" of kings and authorities. My concern for George W. Bush was for discernment for a professing born again Christian whose church involvement, reading of Christian literary works and knowledge of the church's history and doctrines was probably severely limited. I prayed for discernment under such circumstances. I prayed for strength for him in that he might depend on God's protection as he was thrust into a situation of war that he could not have foreseen.
           Barack Obama is different in that his true religious faith is buried in a life where political appearances seems to dictate all pronouncements. The statements that he has made show little or no familiarity with the gospel. So, my particular prayer for him is God's mercy unto salvation as had been extended to one once every bit as lost and confused...me.
           With President Bush, I prayed for a sound mind as he experienced an attack upon the people he was commissioned to defend, and this while many in his own country worked against his efforts. With President Obama it is similar and different. I do pray for a sound mind, not in his machinations of socialism, but in what might be ahead, for his lack of wisdom now may lead to tribulations far more unnerving than even President Bush experienced. My prayer is that should he be thrust into chaos where the safety of America has been compromised, that he would put aside all political concerns particularly the often mentioned Democratic theorem never let a good crisis go to waste.
           This is not meant as humor or sarcasm, but I pray that he retire from his office in 31 months, having failed in most of his agendas but succeeded in leading our armed forces if necessary in protecting our nation. I pray that he might keep the respect of his children and those who truly love him as a person. Calvin goes on in depth about being obedient to the authority of a ruler, even if he be wicked for the respect is in the office and that the wickedness is not to be cloaked with this same respect. Long ago the Israelites asked for a king like the other nations and were warned what kings could do to them.
           We in America, asked for a President, and for good or for bad, we have them. The authority that we live under, that we demanded, also comes under the auspices of a constitution. To rebel against it must also come under the same condemnation as rebelling against a human authority! We have a constitution that has given us a president. It has also given us freedom of speech. To separate the office of President from the Bill Of Rights is not submitting justly to authority. To resist the authorities in power apart from the ballot box and other rights we are given is also, and equally, not committing to authority.

Tuesday.....International.....Creed Or Chaos?

         Helen Thomas retired quicker than you can say show us the birth certificate, or some college transcripts, or a social security number...anything...how about a fingerprint, after her remarks about the Jews in Israel. I'm sure she will be lionized at some future date but for now even the administration couldn't see her go fast enough. The sudden offense was not in her specific opinion for those same thoughts are shared by multitudes of others, but that a White House correspondent since the administration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy held these views until a ground swell of overt Israel bashing caused her to drop her guard and express them.
         One word coming up again and again in the last few weeks is burden; has Israel become a burden to the United States? Well, the answer is that it sure has, along with the Constitution, talk radio, most Americans, the alphabet that forms words, numbers that can be added and subtracted, border signs and the neocortex of the human brain where logic and abstract thought primarily takes place... all pose difficult hurdles and are burdens to the current administration. It's reported that Iran now has enough fuel for two nuclear weapons which means that they probably have enough for four.....but tough sanctions are coming!
         The enemies of Israel are like Eli Wallach, squinting to their left to see who Clint Eastwood (U.S.) is looking at, then squinting to their right in hopes of getting the drop on Lee Van Cleef (Israel). The Palestinian/Israeli situation is not that difficult to explore and come to a reasonable understanding of what happened, and what needs to happen, but the International Left has no interest at all in this area. It should not require genius to see that there are legitimate issues on both sides but one thing that is evident and totally unacceptable is killing innocent people, week after week, year after year, decade after decade. That is what the fanatic militant groups in the Middle-East do, and how does the West respond? It virtually ignores it! Israel takes all that it can and, from time to time, strikes back with violence that in no way is comparable to the wanton murder perpetrated upon them, and how does the West respond? It projects the guilt of the aggressor upon them! Dorothy L. Sayers, in her classic treatise Creed Or Chaos wrote concerning Christianity: the cry today is 'Away with the tedious complexities of dogma-let us have the simple spirit of worship; just worship, no matter of what.'  The same malignancy today effects our view of the world. Facts and realities are intrusive of our life. Israel is indeed becoming a burden. It tires us. As Sayers' book strongly affirms, if there is no creed, there will be chaos.
           The American Creed that once united us is being whittled away and chaos reigns in our economy, our foreign policy and our society. I previously recommended a book by Lee Harris called The Suicide Of Reason. In it Mr. Harris describes our predicament this way, We in the modern West simply want to be left in peace, to enjoy our carpe diem ethos, to follow our bliss, to amass our toys, to do as we wish. That is why we are so profoundly reluctant to acknowledge that there are violent forces that feel bitter dissatisfaction at what we in the West prefer to see as the end of history.
         The problem gets progressively worse. Even if this anti-Israeli agenda nears succeeding, Israel, whose people have experienced holocaust before, will defend themselves in such a way that the peace of a world that ignored their plight and sanctioned murder will disintegrate anyway, dissipating the dreams of the indolent West. Helping the Palestinian people is a legitimate and noble goal but legitimatizing the leeches that have attached themselves to them is neither noble or wise.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Puritan Mind

I have mentioned many times a book of Puritan prayers, edited by Arthur Bennett and published by the Banner Of Truth Trust called Valley Of Vision, and I've given examples of those prayers in this blog. It's really an obscure book as far as Christian reading today is concerned but has had an impact in the lives of those who have read it. On Thanksgiving, a number of years ago, our local newspaper did a front page story on one family's observation of the day. In the photo, the family was seated around the dinner table and laying there was Valley Of Vision. I choose the prayer for today's blog entry for a reason. Would the prayers we daily offer to God evidence a satisfaction with ourselves; and upon reading this prayer below, would some recoil at the failure of the person offering it to live victoriously? The book does not ascribe a name to the authors of individual prayers, only names of those whose prayers are included in the book. So this prayer may have been written by Charles Spurgeon, Isaac Watts, John Bunyan, Augustus Toplady or one of the other eight contributors.
 O God of grace
Thou has imputed my sin to my substitute.
and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom's robe, decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the days work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

Thursday.....Politics......California Dreamin'

Californians will be going to the polls on Tuesday and one of the contests will be for a Republican challenger to Senator Barbara Boxer.  Carly Fiorina's father was a law school dean and federal judge and she has always had a knack for being noticed and finding the spotlight. Early on, Carly  was a Kelly Girl secretary at Hewlett-Packard but eventually became its CEO, experiencing six contentious years before being forced out by the corporation's board. When John McCain's presidential campaign had turned it's attention to finding a running mate, Carly Fiorina, one of his economic advisers, was mentioned. I simply shook my head that the he could even consider her for such a position. In November of 2009, she announced her candidacy for the United States Senate.  The Republican establishment was looking for a name with some pizzaz, someone to meet Barbara Boxer on her territory...celebrity. John McCain supports her candidacy...no surprise here, but Sarah Palin, in Facebook comments, did also, not only a surprise, but a glimpse into her independence..  Fiorina has been hitting Barbara Boxer hard in an attempt to present the primary as a fait accompli for the polls have her, with not only the lead, but an increasing one but there are some interesting asides to the race.  There is a liberal Republican in the race, Tom Campbell and Fiorina appears as a conservative when compared to him. Their is also a third candidate, California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore who Fiorina appears to be a moderate if not liberal compared to him, and finally there is a large percentage of undecideds. My take on this is that the establishment politicians looked for and found a body to put in Washington while opposing a true conservative in the process.  Fiorina admitted that she didn't even vote all the time prior to her recent defense of the Constitution. The word is that she will run in the primary as a conservative but moderate in the general election. This is the way it is done.

Wednesday.....Culture....."Welcome Bilderbergers!"

It was a dark and stormy night..... Sometimes I feel like Snoopy, sitting on his doghouse and trying to get past that first line. In fact it is a dark and stormy night as I write this as thunderstorms are passing through Western Pennsylvania and lightning is flashing out the window above the computer screen. I'm a rain person. I just turned off the radio, a rare thing, and opened the window to listen to it. My ancestry is mostly English and I evidence that as I can't cook, love English films, would rather have an MG than a Corvette and have always wanted to wear a pith helmet ( I looked at one in a store in Gettysburg the other day.) My favorite book is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, actor is (was) Richard Harris, movie is Chariots Of Fire followed by The Winslow Boy and then possibly Master And Commander. Although I know little about classical music (Ah... Bach!) I am most relaxed listening to Ralph Vaughan Williams as his compositions transport me the high seas with sails billowing and the waves of the deep raging. As for the sometimes posed question who would you like to be stranded on a desert isle with?, it would probably be Margaret Thatcher! But much more than these personal preferences and inclinations, I am an American, born into the privilege of its liberties and with a responsibility, that responsibility being to maintain and independent spirit and rebel against all tyrannies of the mind. It may have been a dark and stormy night in May, 1954 at the Hotel de Bilderberg in the Dutch village of Oosterbeek when eighty invited  participants of prominent politicians, industrialists, bankers, writers, unionists and scholars met for the first time. This group, the Bilderbergers, will be meeting again for four days starting tomorrow in a beautiful setting near Barcelona in Spain with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero giving the opening remarks. Secretary of the Treasury Geithner will be one of the Americans attending. I remember reading about this secretive group back in the early eighties and numerous books and conspiracy theories have come about. Most Christians in my age group are familiar with the theories. A partial  list of Americans who have participated in Bilderberger meetings is impressive and can be found in H. Paul Jeffers book The Bilderberg Conspiracy. The list includes the usual suspects such as Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller and Bill Clinton but also names like Dan Quayle and Charles Krauthammer. Over the years, there has been substantial changes in world matters, both economic and governmental, as a result of these meetings but I'm not going to mention those for they can be researched in Mr. Jeffers book and a more recent offering The Bilderberger Group by Daniel Estulin. I will give my inclinations though. About 150 of the world's most influential people will gather and be bored to death in the full conference meetings but in the smaller get togethers, where the real meat of conspiracy is taking place, plans will be made apart from political processes to guide the currencies and economies of the world. It has been described by some as conspiracy, yes, but a conspiracy of silence. In other words, they indeed are setting initiatives, just not telling anyone who is not officially part of the elite of this world. The quest for a New World Order is no longer secretive for an army can move its men around and seek to give impressions of plans that are not and hide plans that are, but when the siege comes, secrecy is no longer a weapon and that siege is now in progress. Mr. Estulin, in a remarkable turnabout, has been invited to speak on the Bilderbergers to the European Parliament, the equivalent here of speaking to a joint session of Congress. Mr. Estulin quotes David Rockefeller in his book: Some even believe that we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure-one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it. The job of exposing a conspiracy of Bilderbergers has been advanced to the stage where we can now concentrate of polling our legislators on whether they have bought into a world ruled by elites serving their own purposes or whether they utterly reject the secrecy, the arrogance and the  aplomb of of those who think that they can continue on this course without, at least the American people, standing in their way.

Monday.....Memorial Day

We spent the day touring the battlefield at Gettysburg, again, and viewing the parade in the town. In 1856, Stonewall Jackson toured Europe and visited  the Waterloo battlefield. As James L. Robertson Jr. relates in his wonderful biography of Jackson, Stonewall Jackson, The Man, The Soldier, The Legend:
Years later Jackson discussed the pivotal engagement with his army physician, Dr. Hunter McGuire. When McGuire asked whose troop dispositions were the wisest, Napoleon's or Wellington's, Jackson leaped up from a camp stool and replied with much enthusiasm, "Napoleon's, by all odds!" McGuire then asked, "Well why was he whipped then?" Jackson answered without hesitation, "I can only explain it by telling you that I think God intended him to stop right there. Jackson died at Chancellorsville two months before Gettysburg. It is only opinion, but had he been in charge of the Second Corps in Pennsylvania, Lee's army would have been defending the high ground and there would have been a different result to the battle, but this was not God's will, nor was it His will that the Confederate States would succeed in leaving the Union. Today, our military serves honorably and courageously in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yesterday they had served so in Vietnam, Korea and on various battlefields of two World Wars and other conflicts, all the time not knowing how the war would turn out or if they would even survive. This day is dedicated to remembering them and there is more emotion for me now than the Fourth of July. I want to concentrate here on a few of Abraham Lincoln's words from the latter part of the Gettysburg Address given at the dedication of the Soldier's National Cemetery, four and a half months after the battle:
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain...  Are we, the living, truly dedicated in continuing their efforts? Do we know that these efforts are still an unfinished work? Do we realize that we still have a great task ahead of us? Is our devotion increasing or stagnant, or even decreasing as summer comes? Can our resolve be described as high or is it only mediocre, if there at all? Every American that has died in each and every conflict of our history will have sacrificed in vain if we succumb to those who wish to weaken our defenses, usurp our liberties and assimilate the United States into a world government. Lincoln's message is very clear. Those who we honor on this day will indeed have died in vain if we do not pick up the banner that fell from their hands. If we remodel our homes or build our fortunes or relax in our entertainments...before...we have done, or without doing at all, what is necessary in upholding and continuing their efforts...then we will have failed them, failed our nation and our loved ones. If we are not interested enough in reading and studying, if we wish, too much, to avoid the contentions that will come because of our efforts, if we let others labor and fail against those who would assimilate us into a world governmenl, while we are busy patting ourselves on the back for our own personal accomplishments, then our generation will live in infamy in the minds of those who, should God will it, come after us.