Why Stand We Here Idle

This divide today amongst Americans is not simply one of issues. Previous to the last few decades our differences were issues oriented. The debates surrounding the ratification of our Constitution and the addition of the Bill Of Rights were legitimate issues. The Civil War was fought over  issues that could be debated as was the Senate's rejection of Wilson's League of Nations. As recently as the two terms of Ronald Reagan we dealt with issues in this nation but things have changed. This administration and the radicals who have taken over America's Democrat party since 1992 travel a different road than their predecessors. They are salesman not statesmen and the wares they peddle are elixirs that do nothing. They have to push for a fast sale every time. They came into America as Johann Tetzel did in Germany in the early sixteenth century, selling indulgences from the purgatory of reality, his ditty could be translated today into As soon as the vote in the ballet box rings...the soul from poverty springs. In this most recent attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the voting public, the Tea Party is being hauled into the Diet of Worms with a charge of heresy against the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Patrick Henry, previous to uttering his most famous words Give me liberty or give me death said this Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle?  That very special temptation of NFL football is upon us, promising to sooth our aching for manly inspiration but if it takes our minds and our efforts away from the needs of our nation and the future of our children it will be the most sissified of pastimes. The following blog is from June 11, 2009 and tells of comments that I made to a group of fellow students ten years ago. Comments that unfortunately proved prescient.

At the age of fifty-one I had gone back to college to work on a Master's Degree in Higher Education, and not for the typical reasons. My son was beginning his quest to find a college to attend and I was, much I am today, spending time on issues concerning the nation that we live in and the people within it. Choosing a college is much more of an important decision than is commonly ascribed to. The young person will be under the tutelage of 21st century professors. If you cannot see a problem here, try reading anything by David Horowitz. They (the students) will initially live in a dorm and we're not talking about Ricky Nelson's fraternity house. So I went back to school, partly to learn about the history of Higher Education in America and its modern counterpart, and partly to help my son in his decision. I completed the core curriculum, had a few seminar classes and a thesis left, but I had what I wanted. So, here I was in my early fifties, in a cohort of students who were mostly in their twenties. It was a terrific time for me but the topic of this blog revolves around a comment I made in one of the classes. I mentioned my extreme concern that there was a divide occurring in America that was far more serious than acknowledged to be. I could see the trend developing of two distinct peoples living within the same country. This concern has come to fruition and it threatens the stability of the nation. One people wants the Constitution to determine the laws of our nation, as it always had. The other wants the Constitution to conform to the desires of the people. Thus, the judiciary would become the new legislature. One wants to hear news reporting and make determinations for themselves. The other considers decision making to be unnecessary for they, the news media, have already completed that task for everyone, so the verity of the news we receive is a moot point. The split is so serious that if it were a demographic issue we would have two nations by now. And it is going to get worse for when one party in power in a division like this has gained that power by circumventing debate by way of a "cult of celebrity,"  and has already began wielding that sword as if it were forged for them, and begins to stifle opposing opinion, then indications are that it is very possible that liberty will decrease, and tyranny arise. The speed with which this transformation in our nation is being attempted is for a reason. Congress needs to slow this onslaught down and give many Americans time to reassess if this is what they bargained for.

Fort Dix...B-3-2

I might be able to spare you the time in reading this for it is pure reminiscing on my part as I recently found myself thinking about one particular day, almost 42 years ago, that changed my life, and here is my recollection of it and the following eight weeks:

It was September 19th, 1969. My aunt had driven me to the Federal Building in Pittsburgh and my mother was also in the car. I said my good-byes as I got out in front of the main entrance. The light was just breaking from the east and I followed the directions given to me and got on the elevator to go up to the floor where enlistments were taking place. There might have been thirty or forty of us there that day. We were given meal tickets for lunch and spent the morning filling out paperwork. At lunch I strolled around the floor that the cafeteria was on for I was not, as of yet, in this man's army. After lunch we took our physicals, the standard turn your head and cough variety, in a line of men standing around in their briefs. We filled out some additional paperwork including signing the enlistment papers and finally were ushered into a small room with the Stars and Stripes proudly hanging at the front. We were told to raise our right hands and repeat the oath of enlistment. Finally in the army? Most of the guys were directed to buses with a final destination of Fort Jackson, South Carolina but Harry W. and I were on another bus headed to Pittsburgh International Airport to catch a flight to Philly. Walking around the airport, I still did not feel like I was in the Army. Harry W. was a wonderful guy who resembled Drew Carey only not as good looking, was only a little taller than Danny DeVito and had a bad case of acne. The stewardesses were very pretty and Harry W. was really putting on the moves. The ladies were literally falling all over him...and ignoring me. Now what was wrong with this picture? I figured that personality must have something to do with this girl thing and that maybe I should try to get one...never did though. We arrived in Philly and followed directions once again to a limousine that would take us to Fort Dix, New Jersey... one long haired hippy type and a short, balding one who had a way with the girls. It was about midnight when we finally arrived at the wooden framed hut. Once again we were filling out paperwork with others who were arriving one by one. We were given mattresses and a couple of sheets and told to find a bunk....the end of a very long day. Finally in the Army? Morning came with loud shouts to hustle across the street for some breakfast and then report back. We were not marched because we had not yet been told which was our left foot and which our right. Next came a longer wooden building where we were issued the standard gear of fatigues, boots, socks, green underwear, a hat and duffle bag to put them all in. One better have the sizes ready for there were no questions taken and no words accepted except small, medium or large. I looked at myself in the mirror. Finally in the army? Nah. After lunch it was another cattle drive over to the barber's hut which had six long pew like benches and a long line of guys sliding down one place at a time as the one in front had his head shaved. To this day I wonder if these were actual barbers or if this was a second job after running a backhoe at night for it took less than a minute to run those clippers up and down the scalp. I put my hat back on and now it came down over my eyebrows. There I was, outfitted and bald. Finally in the army? We were introduced, if I can use that phrase, to a Drill Sergeant who was cordial and related stories from Vietnam for it seemed that all of them had just returned. This wasn't so bad after all. We spent two days being led around to various stations including the dentist where we established records to be kept until the day we would leave the army. Then came a surprise. We were bused  over to another section of Fort Dix where the buildings were all brick. Off the bus we were herded and told to go into the barracks, find a cot to dump our duffle bags on and come right back out. We did this and casually formed some semblance of a line. Then Drill Sergeant Carter appeared out of no where. We were told exactly what we looked like and as I remember it had something to do with goats, Gilligan and Bullwinkle J. Moose. This guys jaw definitely jutted out farther than his nose. He was built solid and stood firm as a rock and we were later told that he still had plenty of metal in his back from Vietnam. Back to the barracks and the lights were out at nine. The next thing that I knew I was flying off the bunk into the air simultaneously as the lights came on. I was the unlucky one to pick the first bunk from the door. It was 5 AM and we had five minutes to be outside in formation. I still didn't know what a formation was. Left Face was the command and I was face to face with another guy. Panic had set in for one of us turned the wrong way.  Fortunately the other guy was wrong and he was questioned as to what grade in elementary he ended his schooling in. We then started out in the darkness on my first actual march which soon became a quick time as we were then repeating, rather yelling, after Drill Sergeant Carter, that we wanted to be airborne rangers...go to Vietnam and kill those Viet Cong. Finally in the army? Reaching the mess hall we entered in a rather strange way. One line was released at a time and was to charge the mess hall yelling like banshees. I guessed there was a reason for that. One week followed another of pushing, shoving, marching, running, push-ups, climbing, shouting, singing and lunging with a bayonet. Six weeks into basic we were finally allowed to go to the PX. Most guys bought stationary, candy, cigarettes and paperback books. I bought Goldfinger. Finally came our week on the rifle range. I had never held a rifle in my life. When a recruit had a rifle in his hands he also had a Drill Sergeant two inches from his ear. They must think that we might turn the wrong way. No one complained. I was firing at targets I could not see and had no idea if I was hitting them but I must have because I did not have to go back. If someone had to urinate...silly comment...there was a  large vat buried in the ground. No problem here...until it got filled up and had to be emptied. A small crane was brought in and four unlucky guys had to stand around it, shoveling and shaking it back and forth to get it free all the while standing in four to six inched of urine. Guess who one of those unlucky guys was? Finally in the army? We were bonding heavily as the fourth platoon and even more so to Drill Sergeant Carter. We were on a mission to win that PT award and we didn't particularly  have any feelings of camaraderie towards the other three platoons, one of which occupied the other half of the  floor we were on and one night we wound up in a big scrum, fighting over who got the mops and buckets first. Graduation came. It had been eight long, hard weeks. We, the fourth platoon, were psyched as we waited for the announcement of the PT award for we desperately wanted Drill Sergeant Carter to be acknowledged for it. And he was! Our squad leader was to march us back to the barracks and we had a fine idea to form the number four and march in it. The breaks on a car squealed and a Colonel got out who did not appreciate the meaning. He was up one side of that squad leader and down the other with words that one might expect out of the mouth of Hillary Clinton but not an officer in the United States Army. We were given the last night off and headed over to the EM Club for our first beers in two months. Walking, if you can call it that, back to the barracks, one of us fell out of a tree in front of us. Now how one could be with us one moment and then fall out of a tree in front of us the next, I never did find out. Finally in the army? When morning came we all waited around a slew of buses to take us to our advanced training with most going in different directions. We were given our platoon picture that morning and passed them around to be signed. I still have this picture with about forty signatures on the back. I alone got on the bus that was to take me to Fort Devins, Massachusetts and waved to the guys that I would never see again the rest of my life. Finally in the army!

Have They Already Begun?

If we were asked, how would Americans view God's opinion of us and our nation and what would they rate the possibility of impending terrible judgments upon us? It's a difficult question for the average American to even contemplate upon for we are generally certain of one thing only, that being that America will indeed continue to plug on, either in good times or possibly bad times but far removed from utter devastation that other countries, and empires, had experienced. It's not a trait peculiar only to Americans for every empire has felt itself somewhat invincible for a long time after its influence and power had peaked. This is our particular malady at this time for we perceive today as simply our turn to live while enjoying the fruit of our productivity and liberty while oblivious to predators of that productivity and liberty. I worry about our youth. It's often said that the same concerns were present in every generation but I lived in those infamous 60s and even with the ascendancy of the drug and rock culture it was tame compared to the diversions that our youth of today have thrown at them. I had a Radio Shack Flavor Radio, a black and white television, a few balls of various shapes and sizes and a 110 pound set of weights to occupy my time. Television is far worse today, far more enticing with many many more channels and an accompanying philosophy of life, society and politics that does anything but convey the belief systems that originally encouraged productivity and liberty. Even so, television is not even the biggest culprit in our decaying society for the Internet, with all of its information, dumbs us down to such a degree that we can ingest but not digest and we can take in vast amounts of that information but cannot analyse it or even categorize it for future use. Throw Facebook into the mix and we have more than one generation involved who, as Narcissus of Greek mythology looked at his reflection in a pool until he died, we continually update and gaze at our own reflection on our Facebook page as that day of judgment nears. It is unlikely to us that judgment, should it materialize, would be anything more than economic decline, political bickering that divides and occasional, prolonged far off wars. We accepted Darwin's flawed concept of the origin of man but this was not enough for God's mercy upon us to end. We forbade our public schools to offer simple prayers to God in 1962 but that was not enough either unless one takes into consideration the half century of chaos and violence our society has endured since then. We legalized the taking of life in the womb in 1973 which is estimated now to be 50 million lives but we still exist as a nation. Our latest offense may be our last in that, in our haste to accommodate the gay agenda through same-sex marriage we would be, in effect, offering up the minds of our children in just about every area of their lives, in what God very clearly calls an abomination. Personal opinion here, it is one thing to permit others in a free society to make choices that effects only themselves but an entirely different matter to permit an agenda to validate those choices to impressionable minds to whom God gave express warnings not to lead astray. Having said this, it is not the gay agenda, or the liberal agenda or even the radical, progressive Marxist agenda that should be our primary concern for all of those only emanate from the consensus of a people. It is our own individual failures that led to such a consensus that we need to deal with. We should indeed struggle within ourselves as to whether we have any right at all to speak against America's profane dealings with God for we ourselves have added to that but that is not an excuse not to stand for what is right. The reality is that we indeed are a sinful people...dealing with our own individual sin as we struggle to lessen the temptations all around us that exacerbate that sin in ourselves and further decay our culture, all the while pleading for God's mercy but knowing that we may have presumed upon that mercy for too long. The violence and imminent collapse of our own nation and the entire world is evident yet we continue to call what is good evil and what is evil good. As I have written often in this blog, no political or military solutions will cure us. They need to be addressed but only a sincere, individual and corporate, humbling before our Creator can give us hope for renewed mercy, and we are without excuse for the evidence is all around us, if only we would look, that God's judgments have already begun.

"Son...I did not try"...?

It is my opinion that before this is all over, and by that I mean the Barack Obama era of either a four or eight year period, he may flee this country. Whether indictments will be part of it or not I don't know but after Americans become aware of the full extent of what this President has done to our nation, to our national and domestic security, of his real intent as opposed to the fictitious constitutional scholar on the covers of Time and Newsweek throughout 2008, and without the media protection that is already starting to crack, he will eventually, more likely seek the approval of those outside this country who, although not totally in sync with his anti-colonial spirit of redistribution of wealth, appreciate his larger vision of a... smaller America and his strong case...for a weak America. If the media does not turn its concern towards its own nation and its own families, as opposed to its own liberal reputation in its own mind, then Barack Obama may indeed sneak into another term. He indeed has his strongholds that will continue to give support, those primarily being the special interest groups who have profited well from the liberal entitlement party. There is really no love, either way, between the man and these groups for it is a simple contract where one party promises a remuneration for the other party's support and that second party will essentially sue, by threatening to withhold that support, if the promises are not kept. The motivations are power...and greed. A second support group is more international and involves the many who have great wealth. These elites will support either a Democrat or Republican who permits them to remain the dominant party in setting course for the world's economies. These two forces alone cannot keep Barack Obama in power nor replace him with another choice without either significant support from mainstream America or a division in traditional America that would essentially destroy the power of their block, and that is where the media comes in. They are a secularist faction that does not necessarily receive any monetary remuneration nor does it hold passionately to any particular economic or political philosophy. The only threat to their world that they have created on the pages of their print media and screens of the broadcast media is religion, and even there it is not Islam, liberal Christianity or Judaism but Biblical Christianity. Having said this...having given these purely personal opinions, I need to reiterate as I have done consistently in this blog that any of our schemes and all of our schemes, whether they be noble or ignoble, sound or unsound, cleverly devised and painstakingly developed or simply mob induced, will indeed either fail or succeed but not without God's staying hand or lifted hand. We cannot go one way or the other apart from His permission which will ultimately lead to His glory and the benefit of those who trust in Him. We do have a cause, that being a future for us and our children in a nation that insures freedom and liberty, and acknowledges that God is not only the source of all blessings but the author of all truth. The hard reality is that that may not be what's in store for our children. They may look at us one day and inquire as to what we did in the final days of the constitutional republic of the United States of America. Our answer will have to be either we tried and failed to protect that  heritage, or we failed to try. Returning to that first political block in this whole equation, mainstream America, it will either wake up, as there are signs of, or return to a deep sleep, either of which will be as God sees fit to permit, for His ultimate purposes and to His everlasting glory.

The Faculty Lounge

In her new book The Faculty Lounge, and Other Reasons Why You Won't Get the College Education You Paid For, Naomi Schaefer Riley, in her investigation of tenure in Higher Education writes that she is met with the argument of "tenure is the best protector of a professor's right to teach and research freely" and that every professor "needed such a shield." The author's opinion is that "the tenure process, which to a greater extent than ever rests on a professor's research rather than his teaching qualifications, is what is eroding  American higher education from the inside out." She touches on a problem that most conservatives are all too familiar with as she implies that once tenured, professors tend to follow their own intellectual pursuits thus ultimately taking the entire college with them. Schaefer Riley takes the argument back to the beginning of the twentieth century when tenure was not an issue of academic freedom. There was a time, the author writes, when most colleges were religious institutions. Denominations provided the monies needed, but the source of funding moved to the business community. This new "Research University" was to "pursue knowledge free from any 'proprietary' strictures." Their goal was no longer to make students better citizens but to use their expertise to improve society itself. The sacred calf became the professors' "own scientific conscience." Schaefer Riley appeals to common sense in that , yes, some faculty positions do need a certain amount of academic freedom to challenge accepted thought but applying that to every class, particularly in an age of many mindless class subjects, enters an entirely different arena of thought. She writes that this is why there's no such thing as 'corporate-manager freedom' or 'shoe-salesman freedom' or "dermatologist freedom... ' "  She also opines that high schools do not teach with the effectiveness that they once did and it now requires a college education to receive what was once a basic high school education. The individual may prosper in this system but civilization does not. Whereas once the institutions were guided by religious denominations, we now have the same proprietary guidance, only now it comes from whoever, or whatever funds the institutions, the liberal Ford Foundation, which the author describes as "the Ford gravy train,' being one of the most notable.  She describes how it is not unusual for, for example drug companies, to prohibit the publishing of raw research data.  Generally those funding the institutions want their philosophies espoused at the lectern. The author comments on the growing list of disciplines such as ethnic, cultural and gender studies" and concludes that "projects that are not strictly academic are not deserving of academic protections." She quotes here another who says that "political correctness represented the return of proprietary universities." She concludes on the topic of abolishing tenure that "When professors are engaged in imparting basic literary skills, or even classes on how to cook or how to start a business, there is no reason why their academic freedom must be protected."  The author believes that "there is no question" that "tenure encourages an overabundance of publishing, and this publishing does little for the undergraduate student who is competing for a professor's time." She brings up an interesting point that may influence the debate on the quality of teaching: If education is constantly changing, why concentrate on traditional learning when it may be so different in the future? Are professors today therefore always trying to expound on something novel and does this help or hurt the undergraduate? Schaefer Riley points out that some schools are indeed trying to focus on the teaching ability of professors they are hiring but this is anything but a trend. She takes on the obsession with College and University rankings. Hers is not the first criticisms that rankings have had for it has been recognized for some time that there are serious problems with the criteria used selecting the top schools. I have a little personal history to share on this topic for I was very involved in our son's college choice, to the point of going through the core curriculum of a masters degree program in Higher Education. I won't name the school but there is a small college that is simply outstanding in everything a college should be. It demands rigorous study in a curriculum that has not been tainted by the politically correct, diversity driven courses of study that have plagued our higher education system. There is a strong Christian atmosphere on campus and it is consequently extremely hard to get into. U. S. News rankings acknowledged the college's excellence. Seems like this might be an argument against the criticisms of the college rankings, doesn't it? Well, as I saw these results framed over glass and hanging all over the administrative offices, I simply shook my head for they should have known that this media does not like the content of what is being taught there, nor the pursuit of truth and that these glowing reports may not last. Sure enough the college was put into a different category where the same statistics did not measure up as well. This, one of the finest colleges in this nation, is now merely a "best buy." The author spends a good bit of time on the tenured life as compared to that of the adjunct professor and we hear from both sides of this issue but the essence of the debate is that the tenured system does not provide a sufficiently improved education to counter the problems it creates and the inequality of opportunity it presents. The author adds her opinion here : "Aside from the hypocrisy of academics who claim concern for society's marginalized while ignoring the lower classes in their midst in what many would deem the unfair treatment of their labor force, is there any compelling reason  that universities-as self-interested as any institution-should reconsider their employment policies? Why not staff classes entirely with adjunct labor? Why not give customers the same product essentially at lower cost?" The author then takes on the issue of unions in higher education. They are smaller than the typical auto workers union and therefore get less economic headlines but "their effects are growing." She gives a history of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP.)  The adjuncts sought help with their plight against the tenured through unionization while the unions in turn were looking for growth in professional fields. Most professors are state employees and in 2010, for the first time state employees became the majority in American unions. The author delves in the many diverse problems and different situations that this issue has evolved into from state to state and region to region. She also describes the Supreme Court ruling where unionization was barred from private colleges. Ultimately, according to the author, the tenure system discriminates against the economic power of the adjunct community which in turn, turns to unions. The author believes that higher education could even get worse if the tenured system is replaced by the union system and writes that sensible answers must be found. Schaefer Riley moves then into politics and it's no surprise that the university system is solidly in the Obama corner. She concludes her book with the issue of the book's subtitle And Other Reasons Why You Won't Get the College Education You Paid For, what most people would have bought the book for, but its her final words before the Afterward that should resonate with the reader of a blog such as mine: "In order for schools to experiment with new models, to institute the real changes that need to take place, the faculty will have to get on board. Administrators-to the extent they want to-cannot make these changes happen. It's not because they are spineless bureaucrats. It's because they have no power. The boards of trustees-which are supposed to be backing the administration-are not paying attention. And the cries of parents and students will be heeded only so much. The balance of power at universities needs to be restored. The most certain way of doing that is by eliminating tenure." This is a microcosm of the problem we have in America. The desires of the people, and the power of their representatives, have been usurped by those elites who pad their own wagon while claiming to be laboring for the disadvantaged who are anything but helped by their schemes.

I Know Whom I Have Believed.....Redux

Almost every day of my life I meet a friend or someone who may remember when I became "religious" back in 1982. They have seen me change my theology and churches and they may have seen me in my worst moments for surely I have given enough ammunition to cast aspersions on my profession of faith in Jesus Christ. I don't pretend to harbor the belief that they will see my ever-present wonderful disposition, courage and strength of character and then capitulate to the calling of God's Holy Spirit, for that is God's prerogative to call. What I do hope that they might see is a God who holds onto His own. I hope that in one of their more introspective moments they might see themselves in need of such a God who has mercy on the least and gives graces to persevere to the weakest. I hope that the joy that fills me to ecstacy might be seen through this personality that is still very much my own. The following blog was written August 30th 2009. It describe that time when God took a veil off of my eyes. I could rightly say then, and even moreso now,  I know whom I have believed


I walked in a Christian book store for the very first time early in 1982, browsed the shelves for a little while and wound up buying a book that peeked my interest. It was Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell. God had already been working upon my heart and my mind. I believe that I mentioned previously that I had just finished reading the Pulitzer Prize winning book (general non-fiction 1974) Denial Of Death by Ernest Becker, that made a good case against religion, and Eric Hoffer's small classic The True Believer that was a powerful work against anyone that believed anything passionately. I tore the Denial Of Death in half so that I could carry some of it with me. Then came Evidence That Demands A Verdict. It wasn't McDowell's intellect that effected me, nor even the truths in the book for many could have read it and not been affected. It certainly was not my decision to believe, for I probably would have fallen for any powerful philosophy at the time. I was a man with a void in my life. Were there any true purposes in this life? I was altruistic, or so I thought. It hadn't been that long since I volunteered and phoned an entire community of Democrats in support of Edward Kennedy's Pennsylvania primary campaign. God took a layer of veil off of my eyes. I had a glimpse of His majesty and I saw my purpose in life to become one more person to bathe in the sin cleansing blood of Calvary. Had I known the long path that I would have to take to even understand the gospel, I would have been severely discouraged. If I knew now my specific limitations and errors in my thinking I might be very saddened but not discouraged for I more fully understand that we indeed are pilgrims. His promises are true or I would not have made it this far. This  may sound naive but when I see an elderly person, feeble and wrinkled, a person who was young and attractive at one time, it consoles me greatly for I see the reality of a quickly passing life but I also see and agree with, as Paul wrote in his second epistle to Timothy, "I know whom I have believed!" Take a peek at your watch. You cannot stop what that second hand, moving before your eyes, represents. Do you have arguments against God or even His existence? There is hope, and that hope is in a veil over your eyes that can be lifted, and in Him who can do so. He turns no one away who has desired this!