Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Easy To Do Justice, Very Hard To Do Right....Redux

The title of this blog from February 14th of this year (Valentines Day) is a comment made by barrister Sir Robert Morton in Terrence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy. It's an axiom that our culture needs to explore. The liberal element often dwells on the concept of justice but justice can be distorted to being revenge, it can be self-seeking, it can be injustice. It can be easy to do justice if it has become an ephemeral concept lacking thought and meditation. My take on this play is that the English Crown had swiftly done justice as they perceived it, Sir Robert Morton was attempting to do right which was not so easy.

February 14, 2010:
Playwrights have an advantage over novelists. The novelist can write for a thousand pages detailing the scene, the playwright spends all of his time on dialogue. I can read and enjoy a Neil Simon play almost anytime. Terrence Rattigan wrote The Winslow Boy which has been turned into two films. One in 1948 starring Robert Donat and the more recent film from 1999 directed by David Mamet. The plot is that of a young boy at a prestigious  military school in England (circa 1900) who is accused of stealing money. His father and sister set out on a seemingly impossible task of forcing the government to withdraw the accusations against him. Enter Sir Robert Morton, who takes on this case to the surprise of even his loyal friends. The film is a remarkable story of a father's love for his son, a sister's quest for fairness and justice in society, and a barrister's pursuit of right. It is also a love story but if you ask ten people who saw the film they might wonder where the romance was. The boy's sister and the famous barrister are poles apart politically in an age that is seeing women take their place in society. An unlikely couple if their ever was one. Indeed, there is no romantic dialogue, not even the holding of hands. What there is, is one or two looks given for a second and two comments at the end of the film. Miss Winslow and the barrister are parting, what would seem to be forever, but she had to make one last comment on the emotion he displayed at the verdict, for she doubted  any sincerity in this lawyer. She elicited from him a parting comment on her continuing feminist activities of which he said Pity, it's a lost cause. Her final words were Oh, do you really think so Sir Robert? How little you know about women. Goodbye, I doubt that we should meet again. She may have been correct about the future of women's suffrage in England but that was not the issue on trial in this dialogue here as he parted with Oh, do you really think so, Miss Winslow? How little you know about men. I have never been a fan of Valentine's Day for it seems trite. We are submerged in a culture of words and phrases such as Erich Segals's given to Ryan O'Neill, Love means never having to say your sorry. It's too late to recommend The Winslow Boy for Valentine's Day but then it fell on a Sunday this years and that is another love story altogether and it would probably be better to view it without all the trappings of hearts and candy anyway.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Yelling "Free Will" In A Crowded Lynyrd Skynyrd Concert

Saturday's Wall Street Journal highlighted an article by Jane Goodall on her life among the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. It was touching, but there was one glaring error as the anthropologist looked upon these wonderful creatures as being our common ancestors from six million years ago; for our ancestors were, one created man and one created woman, only six thousand years ago. This creation, us, has a free will. Martin Luther wrote a book and Johnathon Edwards, two hundred years later, wrote another with titles that seem, at first glance, to be saying something opposite but Luther's Bondage Of The Will says the same thing that Edward's Freedom Of The Will does. We don't talk about free will much anymore, yet in the back of our minds, it demands recognition. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer concentrated on man's will. It was when one man's will did not coincide with another man's will that suffering ensued. Desire was the problem and denial the answer. Schopenauer claimed to be an atheist and talked often as would a Buddhist. I cut out a Bizarro comic that might address this, an Eastern monk kneels before his teacher and says what do you do when you have freed yourself of all desire except the desire to be free from desire. Third Reich filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's historic work Triumph Of The Will deifies the will and the object of it. When a Christian enters the debate a genuine conversation on free will may come up, and the challenges pour in over a free will but fallen nature that determines the outcome. Chief among these might be, Well, if I can't really choose to believe, what's the use in trying and If such is the case then God is unjust. I think that you have to step back a little bit and consider this, Are you a person...do you exist? Is it a silly question? No. For if you acknowledge that you are an individual...and also that God exists...there has to be a relationship, or a broken relationship. Who determines that relationship, the creature or the Creator? Well, if it's the Creator, He's telling you that you are the culprit but He has provided a way. One might then might say hold on, I'm not the culprit! If you deny culpability...how can you then complain about the method God has designed for forgiveness, for you have rejected his premise to begin with? Why do you barter over the cost of a car that you have no intention of buying? Address the first issue and you will be surprised how little challenge there is to the second! If you truly had an unimpinged free will and consequently have no problem with rejecting God, would it not have been better to have had a fallen free will and forced to depend, not on an intellectual decision of perceived truths or you own righteousness, but a merciful Savior who has already promised forgiveness for coming to Him in sorrow for your sins and faith alone in His ability to redeem you? So to recap, If you do not have the ability to have faith in God, then God is unjust; but if you do have the free will and consequently the ability but reject him, He is not unjust? He says repent and believe and is unjust, but if He says choose what you want he isn't? Would you really rather to have not existed at all? There is an infinitesimal number of people.....who could have been but were never created therefore never existed. The ratio of created souls to souls never created would also be infinitesimal...would God not then have to be infinitesimally fair and just. Think of the multitudes that He never had to offer mercy to! Or is the injustice in that He has created you? Had He not, you could not call Him unjust for there would be no you. If just one soul, or one angelic being, is condemned, would that not, to some, be enough for a charge of injustice?  Then again, if everyone were to be given mercy, would the ultimate injustice not be in the existence of suffering in this life at the hands of some with no threat of punishment? If God never had created, there would be no suffering...but also no joy. What is the ultimate demand that you might give to God in order to absolve Him of the charge of injustice? If you eventually find God innocent of injustice, and He is taken out of the dock, might it not be wise to dwell on His goodness. The offer of forgiveness, adoption and redemption would then be seen as wonderful. This is undeniably a poor treatise on free will but I only hope to encourage you to reconsider charges of injustice towards God and ask yourself who rightfully lays the groundwork for salvation, you or God.

Saturday.....Special Day for Special Dog

I wanted to write about this while it was fresh in my mind. Our son, our only child, was married today. He married a wonderful young lady who grew up in a house close enough that I could hit it with a golf ball. If you knew how I played golf, you would realize how very close that is, and if there was a golf course next to it, I probably would have hit it a many times. He's two years older than her and for many years they, and the other children of the neighborhood, played release in the evenings until, one by one, they were called home by parents. I assume that release is similar to the tag of my day but never did ask for a description of the rules. I just heard the laughter and shouts until they quieted down for the night about the same time that the chirping of the birds did. Both are young Christian adults. I remember the day when I commented to my wife on the change in this little girl running around. She was becoming a beautiful young girl. Our son noticed too. By the high school years they were dating. He went off to a very good and a very conservative college.  Two years later she went there also, and one after another they graduated. He went to law school and they set a wedding date after her graduation from college and his second year of Law. I am the type of person who likes to be in the background. I merely want to help the politician, to help the pastor, but in an odd quirk of personality, if they do not do the job, I'll tell them that. So being the father of the groom was a little bit difficult. I'm sure I would do much better advising the father of a groom. It was like I was on a cloud for the last two days. God has blessed our son with fine young Christian friends. To someone like me, this is more valuable than a million dollar lottery win. I watched the young folks laughing and enjoying themselves at the rehearsal dinner, and was very humbled at blessings given. Tonight I saw them dancing with abandon, all good clean fun and certainly the type of wedding celebration God designed for His children. Years ago, when we dropped him off at his freshman dormitory for the first time, I had real difficulty with emotions. When we moved him into his apartment at law school, it was even more difficult. Today was different and similar. They were no tears at his leaving us. It was pure joy to see him join to another in God's plan, but there was one moment when I almost lost it. The pastor of the church, in his sermon, looked to our son and made this comment, or one very similar to it: You requested that  I preach this sermon with a very clear definition of the gospel for all those attending to hear... Our son wanted all those who came to his wedding to hear Christ preached. I was never more thankful! I danced two slow dances tonight. I think that makes three in my life.  And I liked it! I also was probably the first and only man, ever, to attend his son's wedding with a tennis ball in his pocket. It's a long story, trust me, I make mistakes like this, and I took great joy in seeing my wife have such a wonderful day!

Thursday.....Politics.....Shake The Timbers

For the past few days I tried a new bumper sticker scheme. Below the Special Dog URL, I have another sticker. Today it read, 103 Days Left. It alludes to 103 days left until the November elections. Tomorrow I'll change it to 102 and so on. I'm trying to get people's attention, enough to look at the blog. It doesn't really express my priority at this time for just getting to November 2nd without a slow but continuous disintegration of our American heritage, way of life, national defense and Constitution is the problem, and why it's time to call every man (woman) to their post right now and not wait on election day. To compound the problem, even after the House and possibly the Senate leaves the hands of this Progressive cabal, there will still be over two months before a new Congress is sworn in to stop, not the leak of freedoms, but the deluge. The potential of the executive order will loom over us for much longer than that. Speaking to conservatives here; we are all familiar with the legislative ploy used often over the past 18 months that we have to act right now!!!, in effect saying we do not want to talk about this, we don't want the public involved any more than they already are and if we are forced to go into detail they (the public) will never go for it. We Republicans have our own rhetorical ploys. One is, but think of the alternative!, when it comes time to hold your nose and vote for wobbly Republicans. I mentioned this before but think it bears repeating, Oliver Cromwell was subordinate to the Earl of Manchester in the Second Battle of Newbury but Manchester lacked the aggressiveness needed for victory. It was going to be a right proper scrimmage, don't you know. Tallyho! Cromwell would have none of it and warned Manchester that if he had to go through Manchester's army first, he would. Manchester accused Cromwell of recruiting officers of low birth  (tea partier types?). Cromwell's response was If you choose Godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them. I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else. Winning the Congress back in November should not be the only goal, shaking the timbers of the house of Republicanism to knock the pretenders out of the rafters should be. The message to Republicans should be dig your feet in and don't give up any more ground, or your on your own. I don't mean to disparage precinct work and Republican committees but I, personally, have had enough of reaching out across the aisle only to have someone try to stamp government property on it.

Wednesday.....Culture.....America's Balance Sheet

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Northrup Grumman Corporation is moving its headquarters from California to Virginia. What's different here from normal corporate moves is that they are buying the property instead of leasing it, and therefore will list the cost as a liability rather than an expense. Proposed new rules of accounting, which would come into effect in 2013, would have companies listing leases on their balance sheets. Northrop says that it makes more sense to be located nearer their customers but it's more likely that California's taxes were part of the decision. Anyone who has traveled the beltway around Washington D. C. knows that the various corporate headquarters buildings stick out as bold advertisements, and Virginia and their banks offered incentives. It's a sign of the times in a flagging economy that corporations cut their liabilities. A balance sheet can be looked at as assets = liabilities + shareholder equity. Is there a way to construct a balance sheet on America itself, and if so, what would the bottom line look like? Our assets have always been our people, natural resources, industry, the heritage of a protestant work ethic, our entrepreneurism and determination, our military that defends all of these and adherence to a rule of law that kept us from chaos. Our freedom of speech and the press was a protection against tyranny and an American Creed  united us in every challenge and every difficulty that we faced. Education was one of our greatest assets and Christianity was our greatest. Our liabilities were few, the greatest being the long fight to end slavery and then the longer fight to end discrimination. We had little shareholder equity added to the liabilities. As we grew in power and prestige, our liabilities increased as we were called upon to defend our, and others, freedoms all over the world. Another liability that we proudly accept is the compassion in financial assistance that is needed all around the world, but our outlook was still good because of the strength of our people, a firm foundation in our Constitution, an American Creed recognized around the world and our firm reliance upon God.  Our balance sheet today bears little resemblance and the prognosis has been severely downgraded. The natural resources are still there but the industry, heritage, entrepreneurism and determination lay dormant beneath the surface. Our work ethic is still there but misdirected. Our military proves itself every day but is being weakened as weapons systems are in competition with bailout and  wasted stimulus monies. Our Constitution's power is being sapped from judicial activism and our laws are being overruled by the faux compassion of Progressivism. We have our freedom's of speech and of the press, for today anyway for they are under assault, but our press has failed the people, its calling and profession. Our Creed is still shared by half of the people, the other half opt for the creed of narcissism. The education of our youth has been forced to substitute self-esteem and a distorted form of toleration for learning, thinking and growing into maturity and responsibility. Our higher education has become a tool of intellectuals, and elites as some would say, who attempt to grab the young adults for indoctrination in their progressive ways. Our churches, on the whole, are weak. They are proficient at telling us we should not judge, but oblivious to Scriptures command to judge between what is right and what is wrong. It's sermons are all too often anecdotal, humorous, soothing and a very serious challenge to the advice given by Dear Abby, Oprah and Dr. Phil. We are given anointed teaching on how to live the victorious life but withheld from us is our being alive because of a victorious death. The cross is preached on Easter Sunday and then given a long rest. Our shareholders equity, added to the liabilities, is in the form of enormous debt owned by foreign investors. We are no longer self-sufficient. We are paying a lot of attention to the balance sheets of corporations but ignoring our own balance sheet as a nation and will collapse as fast as Lehman Brothers if we do judge ourselves and check our bottom line.     

Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Cinco De Mayo...Redux

I'm repeating this blog because it relates to yesterday's thoughts. The elements of this debate on immigration reform are: 1) It is being championed because this is considered to be a huge influx of Democratic voters, not because of humanitarian concerns. 2) The word reform is misleading, I am for true reform, a reform that expedites immigration exponentially, this in amnesty labeled as reform. 3: Amnesty, or the willful ignoring of law, in a situation as immense as this, would make all laws tenuous and subject to the mood of a public whose pills are supplied by those whose priority is reelection. 4) It will not help the illegal immigrants who come into a nation in a way that weakens that nation and breeds chaos. 5) It will hurt the immigrants who have become true citizens, fellow Americans,  and respected our laws, now their laws, all of which should encourage us, cause us to celebrate their inclusion and make it easier and faster for others to follow them.

May 4, 2010
In 1862, a large French military force was defeated in the town of Puebla by a smaller Mexican army. It was the beginning of the French defeat in which, although the United States was involved in its own Civil War, it did apply what pressure it could in support of Mexico. Today, the 5th of May is a day of celebration, to one degree or another, across America, more so even than in Mexico. The American of Spanish heritage is an integral part of American society. They are not cousins, they are us. They are part of the fabric of this nation, productive, a blessing in their joining with us in citizenship and a key to our future. The heritage they bring is wonderful as any other nation's contributions to our country. Immigration of Latinos needs be expedited for our benefit as well as theirs; illegal immigration, if not halted, would play no small part in the collapse of our nation. We cannot afford incorporating a mass exodus. The entitlements would cripple us, the precedent of an amnesty would do a great disservice to those who have come to join us legally, it would be a personal and economic assault on all Americans. It would leave our Constitution in tatters, the only benefit, and that temporarily, would be for those politicians in office who live to pad their positions of prestige, a prestige that is now as admirable as a governor in Vichy France. Amnesty would not be an addition of people who respect, admire, and even love America and its heritage. It would be an invasion of people who want the benefits regardless of who it harms. This should be a strong litmus test for any Republican running for office. We have a lot of official holidays in this nation, but if we were to have another, I would opt for a celebration for all those who patiently, determinedly, legally, and not only for their benefit but in hopes of strengthening us, come and join us. Mark Levin's book Liberty And Tyranny is a short read but powerful and profound. In his chapter on immigration he quotes from George Washington's Fairwell Address in this: Citizens either by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has the right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. This does not describe an amnesty, but does point favorably to those who have respected our laws and come to be part of us and help defend those laws.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Politically and Doctrinally Demure

NBC News is reporting that some prominent Evangelicals are supporting President Barack Obama's initiatives on immigration reform, aka amnesty. They give a few reasons and examples of this; Hispanic pastors who have befriended non-Hispanic pastors hold a certain sway over their opinion on this through work done together on other issues such as abortion and marriage. One lawyer who jumped on board said that he was a Christian...Conservative and Republican...in that order. So am I. He wasn't going to let political rhetoric or party affiliation trump (his) values, and if he's (Obama) right on this issue, I will support him on this issue. First of all this lawyer apparently will not let the law get in the way either. Secondly, he misinterprets Obama's intentions when he says If he's right on this issue. This statement implies that President Obama's policy is based on concern for the welfare of Hispanics. It is not, it is political. Another Evangelical mentioned is Bill Hybels who gave us a megachurch without any crosses, for the perceived message might then be just one symbol! Southern Baptist leader Richard Land added that Hispanics are hard wired social conservatives unless they are driven away, a thought I have put forth in past blogs. What this gentleman is doing is saying It may not be the lawful or ethical way to do it but it will benefit us, so let's do it anyway. He added that You don't get a lot of Hispanics in your congregation by engaging in anti-Hispanic anti-immigration rhetoric. Mr. Lands denomination is what it is today precisely because it put truth on the back burner in favor of pragmatism that never worked anyway because the gospel is not oriented towards pragmatism. His linking anti-Hispanic with anti-immigration was wrong on two points. It is the same slur that calls Tea Parties racist. It also is incorrect in that it is not anti-immigration it is anti-illegal immigration. Hispanics need what every other ethnic groups  needs. All over America, sessions, boards and congregations will meet to see how they can grow their churches. They will hold extravaganzas and they will seek people on a more personal level. They'll offer exciting worship, a place to connect and a warm and friendly atmosphere. Surely a saxophone and set of drums on the stage is not part and parcel of a dead church! They'll soften their message in order to bring people in, unaware that they will have to keep it soft, or at least doctrinally demure, in order to keep them from leaving.The answer will elude them: make two resolutions 1) preach and exalt Christ, and 2) go door to door and tell people that here is where they can hear Christ preached and exalted!

Friday.....America.....All The World Wonder'd

Who might be classified as foreign  enemies of America's? Russia and China would be two. Messrs Putin and Medvedev would be very pleased if we collapsed as a nation and certainly as prime motivators of freedom and liberty throughout the world. Some might say that China's economy is too intertwined with ours and that the word competitors is the strongest that can be used. This is true only to a certain degree as it pertains to the immediate benefits and/or sustenance we give to them. These things can change at the drop of a hat and if they do the word enemy will be as apropos as ever. Soviet era Russians will live with their defeat at the hands of America and will put on a smiling face only so long as it benefits their wait to turn the tables on the world's only superpower. Islamic fundamentalism is certainly an enemy to America. Hugo Chavez, Fidel, Kim Jong-il and other Communist holdovers are enemies. There are others but suffice it to say that there are indeed enemies of America out there.
John Bachelor's radio program is one of the more profound conservative offerings on the air. His show is syndicated throughout the week but he also broadcasts a program on XM Radio channel 158 on weekend evenings. His questions to guests are often speculative and I appreciate this for this is an age, not having an equal, where potential catastrophes are literally everywhere. One particular problem he addressed today is China's aging rulers and dwindling ideology particularly as it relates to their internal problems and a succession problem in North Korea (their only ally in the region), should Kim Jong-il die.
CNBC assumes no responsibility for any losses, damages or liability whatsoever suffered or incurred by any person, resulting from or attributable to the use of the information published on this site. User is using this information at his/her sole risk. This disclaimer appears after a report given by Daryl Guppy that likened the economic situation today to that of 1930 where the collapse of 1929 and recovery of 1930 is eerily similar to our collapse of 2008 and recovery during the early part of 2010. Mr. Guppy's warning was that the Dow could drop to 7500 if this critical point is not passed and even then it would only reduce the probability of disaster as we remain on the edge of the precipice.
My point in this post is that vigilance is required, and preparation, for we are living in a period, as I wrote above, unequaled in human history. Our culture has collapsed. Would it be that our government was only is disarray, for it is actively promoting chaos on a world level. Our enemies know that this group of people with powers in government and media may be their last, best and final chance to destroy us. Kipling's Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them is applicable today. These are somber times yet we continue to pursue our trivial pursuits. If ever there was a time in this nation for a Proclamation for National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, it is now but we do not have a Congress as we had in 1863 that would construct a proclamation with words such as But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace , and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Nor do we have a president such as Abraham Lincoln that would likely sign such a proclamation if placed upon his desk. Our current National Day of Prayer substitutes meditation for humiliation, is officially observed only on occasion, compromises the one, true God and lacks the acknowledgment that we are to blame for our problems. What we do have is a general uprising of the citizenry going on that needs to focus, not so much on the Constitution as to the one who permitted that constitution to come about.

Wednesday.....Culture.....Father and Son

I think that most people could recall the beginning of the the Andy Griffith Show where Opie and his dad are walking along a country path together, fishing poles in tow, and Opie picks up a stone to skim across the pond water. Maybe, if you are a little bit older, you might remember the television relationship of Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford) to his father Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors- the Rifleman.) And then there's the TV commercial where the father is shaving and his young son pretends to be shaving along side of him. Admittedly, a lot of sons do not emulate their father and his philosophies of life. Some scurrilous men wake up to find their sons have turned out to be God-fearing young men with no similitude to their atheistic ways. Other fathers do everything they can to raise Christian sons only to see them rebel where the hope then is that they someday may become returning prodigals. Some fathers take the track that their sons need to build toughness in this world and therefore give little personal advice for they will have to learn the hard way, by their own mistakes. Many...many men, take the moderate road. They probably go to church and require that the son tag along, at a younger age anyway, but that's the extent of the religious guidance for they tell themselves that that's the job for Sunday school. Some men feel that there is no hope for them, that they have rejected Christ for too long but they do everything they can to make it possible for their son to have what they missed. They are wrong here for God's mercy extends to all who come to Him but the picture of a drowning man lifting his son above water is respected as it is sad. Is there a greater responsibility that a father can have than teaching his son, throughout his young life, about Jesus Christ?  Does a quality education with a prosperous future equal this? Would their future success in any endeavors justify the failure to present our Creator and Saviour to them? By large majorities, men do not do this. If you have a very young son, or children, you have adequate time, Lord willing, to learn the Christian faith and teach them. If the children are in, or close to, their teens, you may have to be very straightforward with them and tell them that you made a mistake and are going to have to rectify it. A humbling experience...yes, but one of love! If they are already grown adults you might try this; ask them for a personal favor in return for all you have provided them while they were growing up. Present to them that if they would, on their own, search the Christian faith with all seriousness, and if they would eventually come to a faith in Christ, you would feel God's great mercy in your life and His forgiveness for your abandoning your responsibilities. It would be a father's personal request of a son. Only God's Spirit working on man could bring this about. Only knowing the love of Christ yourself, or having experienced a taste of it, could even have brought you this far in reading this. Is there even a place for these comments in this blog? They are a bit pushy, maybe they seem arrogant, maybe they are even an affront? Is it cowardice to plaster this in such a way. If so, it a glorious cowardice to encourage a man to present Christ to his son! The advantage of the general anonymity of a blog like this is that there is no third person involved, only you and God. If one man would look at his son and then look to Christ and put everything aside to seek God's saving mercy upon this child he loves, the pitiful efforts of this blog would be worth it.

Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Braddock's Defeat... Redux

The NAACP today adopted a resolution tying the Tea Party movement to racism. One bright spot, one shining trend in the political atmosphere today, is the growing numbers of black people standing up to the Leftists who have taken over the Democratic Party. They are running for office and speaking out. Colonel Allen West who is running for Congress in Florida's 22nd district (www.allenwestforcongress.com) is one of the most articulate spokesman for conservative values in the country and Star Parker (starparkerforcongress.com), running in California's 37th district is another. Thomas Sowell's writing may the most incisive and intelligent in the debate in America today. This blog from December 12th  is about the closing of a hospital in a depressed community. It's not a socialist thread, it is an issue of coporational ethics. It's not about the government providing health care, its about a corporation keeping open a hospital that they purchased to begin with. It's about discernment that a hospital is as important as a police or fire department.

George Washington visited what is now Braddock, Pennsylvania at least twice in the 1750s. The Battle of the Monongahela, in the French and Indian War saw General Braddock's death, hence the name of the town. Andrew Carnegie's first Bessemer Process steel mill began there as did the first of his famous libraries. The November 29th, 1904 issue of the Braddock Daily News announced HOSPITAL AT LAST. It would open in 1906. My mother worked the switchboard at Braddock Hospital after World War II and had nightly visits from a returning soldier who was badly burned on a troop ship from a Kamikaze attack, treated in Cleveland and then recovering at his hometown hospital in Braddock. That soldier was my father whose friends would boost him up to his room window each night after a few beers on Braddock Avenue, that is until this was discovered and he was banned from the hospital for life (according to my mother anyway.) The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), also an insurance company, now runs the hospital and decided in October that it should close in January 2010 due to financial concerns and low patient occupancy. There have been numerous protests, candlelight vigils and claims that closing it violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, for Braddock is a depressed community. Financially, the number of citizens in Braddock who use the hospital may not be enough to justify keeping the hospital open, but someone at UPMC has to take in consideration that this community has been hit with one adversity after another. They do not need one last humiliation in being told to pack up the car and find their way to another hospital. There are not a lot of votes or political contributions from this area, just people, mostly black who do not have the transportation to just zip over to another community when their breathing is labored or the flu may be setting in, This decision to close Braddock Hospital needs to be put on hold until it can be ascertained that there is no choice but to close the facility, and that this is not just an economically wise decision. This is no a single payer medical insurance issue. It's a corporate issue that affects people's lives intertwined with their decisions.


Braddock Hospital closed this past January 31st.  When we close a hospital in a poor community for economic reasons, when we cut jobs for more attractive dividend offerings, when the health of employees is only important on a balance sheet, when the elderly are looked at as past their window of contributing to society instead of aging heroes that paid their dues, then we have indeed become racists and the object of our racism is humans, of any color, who, unless disposed of in one way or another, hinder our profit taking. Whether a member of a Tea Party or not, whether black or white, brown, red or yellow, those who are vehemently opposing a New World Order and tyrannies of any sort, are not racists, they are opposing those who promote racism of many and varied types.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Crossing The Line

A vacation day permitted me to listen to Glen Beck's morning radio program. His references to Jesus, Christianity and salvation seem to be increasing. His broadcast skills are an effective tool in awakening the American public to nefarious schemes both within our own present government and from world elites. The question that should be addressed though  is how effective is he at assimilating Mormonism into Christianity? Mormonism is a very precise religion, well documented and very clear in what it chooses to reveal. The problem is that it readily chooses to reveal only the vague similarities to Christianity. Suffice it to say here that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches polytheism, a created Jesus and gods evolved from men. It's salvation is one of works, which is no salvation at all, and it speaks of faith in a Jesus that is not the Jesus of Scripture! So when Christians listen to Glen and he evangelizes, how are we to take this? Do we rejoice that the name of Jesus is exalted? Well, do we rejoice to see Mormon missionaries walking from house to house, for there is no difference? What are we willing to give up for a Republican congress? The gospel itself?  The same problem exists, although to a lesser extent, with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others. We are citizens bonded together in a common cause but that cause does not extend to
Christian doctrine. Its limit, as to our unity, is in being a God-fearing people. Rush does not exceed this. Hannity takes it to the limit but Glen Beck demolishes the boundary of what is Christian and what is not as he has taken on the mantle of prophet and the clerical robes of George Whitefield. Some might be concerned for Mormons who may be slighted in this but it would be better to direct that concern to those who have false gospels brought, special delivery, to their very doors. Some might be concerned that internal divisions might hamper Republicans from taking back the Congress in November, but that concern would be better directed towards a future America that no longer could distinguish between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the many false gospels brought in His name. This is one of the lures of politics that cause some to shun involvement altogether, that we compromise the gospel for personal freedoms, which, without the gospel, are merely freedoms to choose which way to remain alienated from Him whose is the only truth that can set one free. Thomas Jefferson was no Christian. To meet with him under the umbrella of a Constitutional Republic would have been a privilege, to meet with him before his pulpit would be an abomination, and Glen Beck's pulpit no less so. The web site (www.equip.org) can supply more than is necessary to determine whether Mormonism is a Christian religion.

Friday.....America.....Hot Buttons

Joey:           Hey Gramps.
Gramps:     Hi Joey. And for what reason do I have this pleasure?
Joey:          I was wondering if you would do me a favor and help with a school project?
Gramps:     Sure. What is it?
Joey:          Well, it's for my Civics class. Mr. Horton's assignment is to ask three people their opinions 
                  on who was America's best president and who was the worst.
                  They have to be from three different age groups, for instance I can have one young, one
                  middle age and one elderly.
Gramps:     I'm in, Who are you getting for the young person and the elderly one?
Joey:          Uh....Well I asked Uncle Tim....and I asked Jimmy Jones who graduated a few years ago..
Grampa:    Hmmmm. So that makes me...the....uh....elderly?
Joey:          Well, yeah...elderly or senior citizen I guess.
Granpa:     Joey. I'm 59 and 3/4 years old. Did you know that Gordie Howe played 
                  professional hockey until he was 51 years old?
Joey:         Gordie who?
Gramps:    Not "who"..."Howe."
Joey:         How what?
Granpa:     Never mind.
Joey:         Wow, you knew a lot about sports when you were young!
Gramps:    So, do you just want me to name the presidents?
Joey:         Well, you're supposed to give your thoughts on why you chose them.
Gramps:    That's a cinch...... What do you mean "when I was young?"  Did you know that Tom
                 Watson, he's five months older than me by the way, led most of the way in last year's
                 U. S. Open?
Joey:         Was that the "Senior" league?
Gramps:    No that wasn't the Senior league!  Well, hey anyway. If there's three things I got to
                  give...it's opinions, opinions and opinions.
Joey:         Great. I've got a recorder here, so you can just talk and I'll write down your answers
                  later.
Grampa:    Ok, here we go. By the way. Did you know that Grandma Moses didn't start painting
                  until she was in her 70s? That 7...zero...70s!
Joey:         Was she my great-grandma?
Grampa:    No.  Never mind. You know, I was thinking. the name "Gramps" makes one sound old....
                  now you can't really call me Wilbur?
Joey:          Did you have a nickname when you were....uh....real, real young?
Gramps:    Well, yeah. They called me "bolthead" because I liked to fix cars so much.
Jeay:         Bolt....head?
Gramps:    Not, bolt........head, bolthead, the girls loved it.
Joey:          So you want me to call you Grampa bolthead?
Gramps:     Lets just forget it, back to this assignment...take a seat and fasten
                  your seat belt for you hit on two hot buttons today.
Joey:         Hey, you got a lot a "hot buttons", how bout if I call you "hot
                 buttons?"
Gramps     Hot buttons huh? Yeah that'll work.
Joey:         Did my dad have a nickname when he was young?
Hot Buttons: Yes he did but I think that he should be the one who tells you...if he wants to.
                     Ok. here we go.....cough cough
                     ah...hem!   
                     I've actually thought about this before.My vote for our greatest president was the
                     Gipper.
Joey:             The What?
Hot Buttons:  The Gipper. You mean you that you didn't know that Ronald Reagan's nick-
                      was the "Gipper." Well, let me tell you something else that you might not have known. 
                      Reagan was a couple of weeks short of 70 years old, that's 7...zero...70 when he was 
                      inaugurated our 40th president. Anyway, I look at three areas when trying to make a
                      choice like this. How did the economy do during the presidency, how about our foreign
                      policy and national defense....and was the American public changed in any way while
                     he was in office? On the economy, America prospered, primarily due to tax cuts for
                     the American people, after the malaise of the Carter Administration. Do you know what
                     "Malaise" means?
Joey:             No!
Hot buttons:  Neither do I but put it in anyway...it sounds good. Anyway, Reagan strengthened our
                      military, that and our growth was a death knell for the Soviet Union. As for the spirit
                      of Americans...his words, always beautiful and profound, inspired, they motivated,
                      they instilled a confidence in the people, they melted even his stronger detractors.
                      He was the quintessential example of leadership. Do you know what "quintessential" 
                      means?
Joey:             Yeah.
Hot Buttons:  Good. Tell me later.  So that's my choice for our greatest president.  As for the worst. 
                       Joey, this is sad in talking about for it's our current president. I knew from the 
                       beginning that I disagreed with his policies but I wasn't prepared for what transpired,
                       and it continues almost every day. The bailouts, admittedly started by his predecessor, 
                       and the stimulus packages that put us so deeply in debt that we will never overcome
                       this burden, the attack on "business" in general that appears to come from deep 
                       inward hostility towards America's worldwide economic prowess, and the taxation 
                       that will make "all" Americans totally dependent on what their government allows,
                       these things, and others, make him America's worst president on our economy. The 
                       national defense and foreign policy is even worse, if possible. Our  longstanding
                       advantage in military capabilities is being eroded. Aircraft and navies of governments
                       who are not friends of ours, are catching up and may surpass us. Our allies are on 
                       "pins and needles" as they try to determine what we will do in an emergency. Lastly, the
                       American public has become two peoples in one nation, one still resembling America's 
                       heritage and the other being cast in the European mold, and even the worst of that
                       mold. This president plays to our weaknesses instead of challenging us to think. He
                       encourages us to memorize and discourages us to analyze. He's undoing all that Martin
                       Luther King accomplished. He lumps honest dissenters in with terrorists and lumps
                       terrorists in with honest Muslims. And we are only 18 months into his term!  Well,
                       that's about it.
Joey:              Thanks a lot Hot Buttons. I'll tell my dad how much you helped me. He's the one
                       that recommended you for the el...der..ly person.
Hot Buttons:   Squiggy!
Joey:              Squiggy?
Hot Buttons:   Yeah...Squiggy. That was your dad's nick-name. Tell Squiggy that Hot Buttons says,
                      "you're welcome!?
      
                      
                     
   
                    

Thursday.....Politics.....Madness

I would like to address a certain type of person in this blog, the Christian who supports the Obama agenda. It's a blog on politics although it starts with the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. It's not on the topic of homosexuality or any implications of it with the legalities of marriage. This denomination met in Minneapolis and in a vote that is not final, 53% said that it would be ok for noncelibate gays to be included in the clergy. Now if you are a Christian with even a modicum of knowledge of Scripture, you know that this would be an impossibility. Once again, I'm not trying to convince anyone on this particular issue, I simply want to present an analogy to you. You observe this and wonder in full bloom amazement how the vote of delegates from a major denomination, and there have been other major denominations, can have completely lost the ability to interpret even the most perspicuous of Scripture. Here's the analogy: Just as these delegates have fully departed from the truths of that which they claim to be a part of, those Christians who, at this late and thoroughly documented time, still fail to see that the Obama presidency is in any way related to the American heritage of 234 plus years, then you have been effected by this postmodern strain of thought yourselves. A radical redistribution of wealth is in process. It started secretively but is now increasingly coming out in the open. It is being accomplished through deception and a reliance on an American public that, to a large degree, has lost its ability to discern. The national defense of our nation, which has always been our priority, is slowly being dismantled for it will not be necessary in the world that is envisioned. So what went through the minds of those delegates in Minneapolis? Thoughts of "love and fairness" devoid of any logic and reason and convoluted through a national agenda that refuses to connect the dots from one statement to another show in this quote from one of the attendees, we will no longer have to tell our brothers and sisters in Christ that they (have to) lie about who they are. In another comment, the world has become a more tolerant and accepting place. No, the world is on the verge of a totalitarian orgy. If you see the absurdity in this issue that has been in the headlines for many years, please consider that the same deconstruction of discernment may have entered into your belief of what this administration puts out every day to the public to devour without mastication. Other Presbyterians in this denomination will surely put up a fight here and won't take the path of the British Colonel in Bridge On The River Kwai who, at the end of the movie, was forced to see the results of his mistakes and simply utter, What have I done!

Sunday.....Christianity.....John 3: "18"

The most famous Biblical verse is deemed to be John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you are  old enough, you may remember the Rainbow Man, whose hair was dyed the colors of the rainbow, holding a sign with John 3:16 on it. Or more recently you may recall it stencilled below University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's eyes. Stop in any Christian bookstore and it will be on cards, necklaces, bumper stickers and t-shirts. I write these Sunday blogs primarily for those who may be passing through and are in the beginning stages of inquiry into the Christian faith and diligently searching to find out who Jesus of Nazareth was. I try to point people to certain ministries that are, in my opinion, extraordinary ministries where you cannot but find the truth in these matters. John MacArthur's Grace To You (www.gracetoyou.org) would be one. Michael's Horton's White Horse Inn (http://www.whitehorseinn.org/) would be another but R. C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries (http://www.ligonier.org/) would be my first recommendation. Your search may not be over upon entering here, but it would no longer be a mere inquiry but a full fledged journey. I was listening to the latest cd sent out from Ligonier the other day and one emphasis of it was John 3:18 which reads He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God, continuing on into the next verse, And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light...  Do we come into this world in the graces of God, only to be tested as to whether or not we will lose them, or do we come into this world condemned already as this verse indicates? Today's prevailing opinion is the former and the implications are enormous. Not all Christians would use the phrase born again in describing themselves, this partially because the phrase has come to incorporate a certain theology a la Billy Graham, Jimmy Carter, Charles Colson and even  George W. Bush, but all true Christians are indeed...born again. The phrase was spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus who had come to him by night, when He said to him Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. These are those who were condemned...and are now redeemed. They are new creatures. People who know me might be little impressed by my saying this. This would be my failure but there is more to this equation being formulated and I hope that it would ultimately encourage you. I didn't  take Latin in school but I did, over the years, develop the ability to pick up enough understanding of this classic language to love it immensely. Having said that, Martin Luther constructed a phrase, Simul iustus et peccator or at once righteous and a sinner. Looking at this from the first perspective, one would be brought into this world with salvation only to eventually be indwelt with sin. The second perspective has one brought into this world already lost, and then made righteous. Both would be simul iustus et peccator but only one would bring rejoicing for it would not be a good thing for one would be born righteous but then indwelt by sin but it is the greatest of hope, graces, joy and thanksgiving to know you are a sinner but redeemed through the perfect life, death and resurrection of another!  If you are an inquirer, you are a member of the human race but you may one day become adopted...not because of how good you are but because of how good the One who adopts you is. You won't please Him as well as you want to, and it will hurt. By seeing Him more clearly, you will see yourself more clearly also and you will realize that you were not only adopted, you were redeemed, and you will see what you were redeemed from. You will understand what loving darkness means. Two chapters later in the book of John, in verse 24 Jesus said Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgement but has passed from death into life. We are born with no spiritual life. My question to many with either modernity or postmodernity worldviews and philosophy, who may consider from time to time whether their salvation is still secure is, had you attained it to begin with? Are you relying on that which there was no change to begin with? If this is so, then salvation in itself must be boring to the utmost for how could one rejoice is something never lost and then found, never lifeless and now fullly and abundantly alive, never condemned and now redeemed? The book recommendation today, although not directly related to the theme of the blog, was very important to me in the early 1990s as to the direction my reading would take.

Thursday.....Politics.....Ask Not.....

One liberal commentator gave this advice today in an opinion piece: Democrats should wage a cavalry-charge battle.....The Republicans play hardball while the Democrats play badminton.....Democrats should say to Sens., Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Scott Brown: Either you are moderates or obstructionists.....Democrats should tap the anger toward Washington.....Democrats should go to the country in this election and hear the people's hurt, fight for their hopes and heed their message. To answer Republicans with a ferocity and determination Democrats have failed to show since winning the presidency and controlling Congress.....If Republicans want to wage a war......Democrats should fight them every hour of every day on the floor of Congress and say, as Clint Eastwood said: Go ahead make my day. This is a strategy without a foundation of truth, in fact it's a ruse. The Democrats are the ones who play hardball and their pitches are always loaded up with spit. President Obama's speech today on immigration is a prime example of a cavalry-charge battle, and this not only the latest, as other, equally egregious, examples are occurring simultaneously. His speech was pure deception and at times startling in its candor as he said being an American is not a matter of blood or birth, it's a matter of faith. No it isn't, it's a matter of law. This from a man who may be in office because of his belief that "being president is not a matter of a birth certificate." These comments made are part of a plan to turn a losing hand into a winning hand by accusing their opponents of cheating and while everyone looks at them, pulling aces out of their sleeve. And what are the Republicans doing while this is going on? They are caving in on another Supreme Court nomination because they do not want to appear to be swinging their badminton rackets too hard. One Progressive Era reform was the adoption of the 17th Amendment in 1913. The Constitution called for legislators to name the Senators from each state. The amendment changed that to the people electing Senators. It was meant to stop big business from bribing legislators into naming crony Senators. The result is that we now elect Senators who then spend their six years preparing for their reelection. The cronyism, the greed, the power hungry and fame enticing lure of the office is not a Constitutional problem...it is a human problem. It would be very difficult to defeat a sitting Senator for he (her), and others like him (her), have garnered power and influence that would force their challengers to wage an uphill battle, almost a Sisyphean quest. There are some strong Republican voices in the Senate but the others should give voters pause as to whether it truly is, as one Republican operative said to me when I showed the slightest bit of reservation for Pennsylvania Senatorial candidate Pat Toomey over his failure to support a New York Conservative over a liberal incumbent Republican, Oh, but consider the alternative. Maybe its time for Republican Senators in office to consider the alternative in voting for America's future or living in a totalitarian society. John Kennedy stood at the Berlin Wall and said in German I am a Berliner. I paraphrased that in an earlier blog in that we should have stood with Honduras in their crisis and said I am a Honduran, but even that does not give me the right to make their decisions. I am for any Latino escaping the turmoil of their own country, if that be the case, and becoming Americans! I am for excellerating the citizenship process! I'm for throwing a party for them! But being an American is one who respects the rule of law and is willing to defend it. It is being one who loves its heritage, especially its opposition to tyranny from without and discrimination within. It is being one who is viligant against tyranny, not beneficiaries of it. It is being one who lives by its Constitution and not one who seeks a living constitution. It is being one who says Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.