ROLE MODELS FOR GIRLS

GIRLS, WHAT YOU NEED ARE GOOD ROLE MODELS. THAT IS, YOU NEED ROLE MODELS THAT ARE GOOD GIRLS. YOU NEED TO FIND SOME LIVING OR DEAD SAINTS TO EMULATE. IT MIGHT BE MY LAMBENT NAIVETE THAT IS SPEAKING OR MY NOSTALGIA FOR THE APPEAL THAT GOODNESS HAD FOR ME WHEN I WAS YOUNG, BUT CERTAINLY THE TRASH AND TRAMP-HOOD OF MODERN SOCIETY IS NOT WORTH IMITATING. BAD ROLE MODELS MUST BE IGNORED WHETHER REAL, FICTIONAL OR MAGICAL. FOR EXAMPLE: BARBI, BRATZ, CHARLOTTE CHURCH, MADONNA, PARIS HILTON, BRITTANY, BEYONCE, KATIE, A DIXIE CHICK, AN AMERICAN IDOL, JLO, OR A BARELY LEGAL PORN STAR. MISSING FROM THESE BEAUTIFUL FORMS AND FACES IS A MORAL SUBSTANCE, THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT TO MEANING IN LIFE. AND WHERE WE GO, NOT WHO OR WHAT WE TEMPORARILY ARE, INFORMS EVERYTHING THAT IS LASTING.

THE DEVIL IS IN 7TH HEAVEN TODAY. OCCASIONS OF SIN - TEMPTATIONS TO ENGAGE IN LUST, VIOLENCE, GREED AND SELFISHNESS - SWIRL MADLY IN OUR CULTURE OF EXTRAVAGANCE. EVIL TO BE SPOKEN, SEEN, TOUCHED, TASTED, SMELLED AND HEARD IS FREE. YOUR CHOICES ARE FREE. SUPERFICIALITY AND ARTIFICIALITY CAN BE BOUGHT AND SOLD; SEXUALITY CAN BE USED AND DISCARDED. YOUR CHOICES ARE FREE. BUT THE HIGHER APPEAL OF TRANSCENDENT IDEALS IS ALSO FREE.

IN YOUR TURBULENT TIMES OF HORMONAL TUMULT, YOU YOUNG WOMEN NEED ROLE MODELS. WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD GIRLS GONE? IN THE MEDIA WORLD THEY HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN. PARENTS AND PEERS HAVEN'T DONE THEIR DUTY FOR YEARS. WHEN A 53 YR. OLD HOMELESS MAN CAN OBTAIN A GUN AND ABDUCT YOUNG GIRLS TO RAPE AND KILL, IT'S APPARENT THAT THE ABSENCE OF PROPER, PRIOR PARENTING IS WELL OVER A HALF CENTURY OLD.

YOU NEED TO FIND OR TO RE-DISCOVER THE POLLYANNA WHO CAN INSPIRE YOU NOW. DELVE INTO THE WORLD OF BOOKS AND DISCOVER LANDS WHERE GOOD LADIES HAVE DARED TO TRED. FOR EXAMPLE: MARIA GORETTI, BERNADETTE, ST.TERESE, THE ST. JOAN, ST. ROSE, THE VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER TERESA, JACINTA, ANN FRANK, TEKAKAWITHA, THE TEENAGER WHO SAID "YES," AT COLUMBINE. YOU TOO CAN BE A GIRL WHO DREAMS TO BE A GOOD WOMAN FOR GOODNESS' SAKE AND THE SAKE OF THE BEAUTY OF GOODNESS. EVEN THOUGH SHE BATTLES EXTINCTION BECAUSE OF OUR SECULAR, ATTRACTIVE MILIEU, YOU CAN CHOOSE TO SAY NO TO HER DEMISE.

SAINTS MAY OR MAY NOT BE OVER THE TOP WITH RELIGIOSITY, BUT AT LEAST THEY ARE NOT UNDER THE TABLE WITH DEPRAVITY. YOUR CHOICES ARE FREE. FOR THEM, ONLY YOU WILL PAY THE FAIR, MARKET PRICE IN ETERNITY.

ALSO CAST ASIDE

EMANCIPATED, ELITIST WOMEN WHO WRITE THAT "AMID THE JOYS AND REWARDS OF HAVING A BABY, TAKING MATERNITY LEAVE CAN TOUCH OFF A SERIES OF LOSSES AT WORK. STEPPING OUT FOR CHILDBIRTH OFTEN MEANS GIVING UP PERKS, STATUS, BOSSES' ATTENTION AND BONDS WITH COLLEAGUES. ALL THIS CAN MAKE IT EASIER TO BREAK THE UMBILICAL CORD - THE ONE THAT ONCE BOUND YOU TO YOUR JOB." CLEVER METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE CANNOT DISGUISE MY OUTRAGE OVER THIS RATIONALIZATION FOR CASTING ASIDE CHILDREN AS AN ALL PAIN, NO GAINER BY WORKING MOTHERS. CHILDREN ARE NOT ONLY NOT EMBRACED, THEY ARE INCONVENIENT. FURTHERMORE, WHEN A COLUMNIST CALLS THIS "A MOMMY DRAIN," SHE'S EXHIBITS FEMINIST THINKING ABOUT HOW INADVISABLE IT IS FOR MOTHERS NOT TO BE WORKING, HOW SECONDARY ARE A HUSBAND AND A HOME LIFE. LIBERATED, LIBERAL THINKING SUPPORTS THE MYTH THAT WHEN NEW MOMS TAKE MATERNITY LEAVES, IT LEADS TO A "DAMAGING LOSS OF SKILLED EMPLOYEES." EMPLOYERS TRY TO LURE THEM BACK TO WORK WITH TACTICS AND

AN ASIDE

NANCY PELOSI IS AFFLICTED WITH LIBERAL DYSENTERY. POLITICAL STATEMENTS FLOWING FROM HER DIARRHEA OF THE MOUTH EXHIBIT NO COHESIVENESS, NO CONSISTENCY, NO COMMON SENSE, NO LOGIC. I PARAPHRASE HER ALLUSION TO A SECURITY MEASURE AS AN "OUTRAGE TO THE CONSTITUTION," WHEN I AFFIRM THAT SHE IS AN OUTRAGE TO A CHRISTIAN’S CONSTITUTION, AN OUTRAGE TO WHAT CONSTITUTES WOMANHOOD. HER PERSONAL DEVILS ARE REPEATEDLY REVEALED IN THE DETAILS OF HER OUTRAGEOUS OUTCRIES AND ANTI-REPUBLICAN RANTS.

PITY HER CHILDREN. WERE THEY PLANNED EVEN THOUGH HER DEMOCRAT PARTY QUESTIONS THE USEFULNESS OF OFFSPRING? HOW DO THEY RECONCILE THEIR MOTHER'S CONTRADICTORY MESSAGE ABOUT "DOING UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU," WHEN SHE, THEY AND NO CHRISTIAN ALIVE WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED AS MS. PELOSI ( WHY IS SHE NOT A MRS. IF MARRIED?) TREATS HER POLITICAL ADVERSARIES AND HER ELECTED PRESIDENT? PITY HER CHILDREN. HOW CAN THEY ABIDE BY THE 10 COMMANDMENTS WHEN THEIR MATERNAL HARRIDAN SHOUTS REPEATEDLY THAT IT'S ALL ABOUT ME AND WHAT I KNOW TO BE CORRECT AS A LIBERAL.ONLY MY MORALITY APPLIES.

WE SHOULD ENVY, NOT PITY THEM, IF MS. PELOSI, FOR CONVENIENCE SAKE, HAS JUST CAST THEM ASIDE.

LED ZEPPLIN II

A YOUNG, MALE WRITER, COMMENTING ON THE YOUTH OF TODAY, ASKS "HOW COULD YOU EXPECT 'EM TO LOVE PAT BOONE AFTER THEY'D HEARD 'LED ZEPPELIN II'? I ASK, HOW COULD YOU NOT?

THE 1950'S MUSIC OF PAT BOONE RHAPSODIZED OVER MELODY, HARMONY, ENUNCIATED LYRICS, UPLIFTING MESSAGES, DECENT SARTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS AND PUBLIC MORALITY. TURNTABLES ROTATED TO THE TUNE OF A SORT OF RIGHTEOUS SECULARISM. BOTH AS AN ADOLESCENT AND AN ADULT I NODDED WITH APPROVAL OF PAT BOONE.

WHO OR WHAT IS 'LED ZEPPELIN II'? APPARENTLY IT’S THE 2ND ROCK AND ROLL ALBUM OF LED ZEPPELIN, FROM 1969, VIRTUALLY CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH THE MELLOW CROONER. 'ROLLING STONE' MAGAZINE HAILED IT AS THE 75TH GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME. IT APPARENTLY INSPIRED HEAVY METAL, HARD ROCK AND BLUES ROCK IN THE FUTURE. IT APPARENTLY INTENSELY ATTACKED MUSIC WITH GUITAR, DRUMS AND VOCALS. EVEN THE ALBUM COVER'S PICTURE SHOUTS TO ME IN A THOUSAND DISAPPROVING WORDS. IT'S APPARENT THAT NEITHER AS AN ADOLESCENT NOR AS AN ADULT HAVE I EVER HEARD IT.

A DIFFERENT MUSICIAN, WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, DESERVES WORLD ACCLAIM. APPARENTLY HIS WORTHWHILE MUSIC, UNLIKE THE EVANESCENCE OF YOUTH, HAS MAINTAINED AND SUSTAINED ITS QUALITY FOR CENTURIES. UNFORTUNATELY, A MOZART OPERA CELEBRATING THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH WAS CANCELLED RECENTLY BENDING TO THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS OF ACCOMMODATING PROTESTING MUSLIMS.

'LED ZEPPELIN II' IS A BAD, MAD COUNTERPOINT TO PAT BOONE AND MOZART. I GIVE IT MY RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION.

A YOUNG, MALE WRITER, COMMENTING ON THE YOUTH OF TODAY, ASKS "HOW COULD YOU EXPECT 'EM TO LOVE PAT BOONE AFTER THEY'D HEARD 'LED ZEPPELIN II'? I ASK, HOW COULD YOU NOT?

THE 1950'S MUSIC OF PAT BOONE RHAPSODIZED OVER MELODY, HARMONY, ENUNCIATED LYRICS, UPLIFTING MESSAGES, DECENT SARTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS AND PUBLIC MORALITY. TURNTABLES ROTATED TO THE TUNE OF A SORT OF RIGHTEOUS SECULARISM. BOTH AS AN ADOLESCENT AND AN ADULT I NODDED WITH APPROVAL OF PAT BOONE.

WHO OR WHAT IS 'LED ZEPPELIN II'? APPARENTLY IT’S THE 2ND ROCK AND ROLL ALBUM OF LED ZEPPELIN, FROM 1969, VIRTUALLY CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH THE MELLOW CROONER. 'ROLLING STONE' MAGAZINE HAILED IT AS THE 75TH GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME. IT APPARENTLY INSPIRED HEAVY METAL, HARD ROCK AND BLUES ROCK IN THE FUTURE. IT APPARENTLY INTENSELY ATTACKED MUSIC WITH GUITAR, DRUMS AND VOCALS. EVEN THE ALBUM COVER'S PICTURE SHOUTS TO ME IN A THOUSAND DISAPPROVING WORDS. IT'S APPARENT THAT NEITHER AS AN ADOLESCENT NOR AS AN ADULT HAVE I EVER HEARD IT.

A DIFFERENT MUSICIAN, WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, DESERVES WORLD ACCLAIM. APPARENTLY HIS WORTHWHILE MUSIC, UNLIKE THE EVANESCENCE OF YOUTH, HAS MAINTAINED AND SUSTAINED ITS QUALITY FOR CENTURIES. UNFORTUNATELY, A MOZART OPERA CELEBRATING THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH WAS CANCELLED RECENTLY BENDING TO THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS OF ACCOMMODATING PROTESTING MUSLIMS.

'LED ZEPPELIN II' IS A BAD, MAD COUNTERPOINT TO PAT BOONE AND MOZART. I GIVE IT MY RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION.

POLAR ICE

FIVE STAR GENERAL DOUGLAS MC ARTHUR, DURING WORLD WAR II., PEACOCK THAT HE WAS STRUTTING ACROSS THE WORLD'S STAGE, MASTERED THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WITH SOARING THOUGHTS IN NUMEROUS SPEECHES AND IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 'REMINISCENCES.' CITIZENS MIGHT TAKE TO HEART HIS SENTIMENTS AND APPLY THEM TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST OUR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENEMIES TODAY.

"PEOPLE GROW OLD ONLY BY DESERTING THEIR IDEALS. YOU ARE AS YOUNG AS YOUR FAITH, AS OLD AS YOUR DOUBT; AS YOUNG AS YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE, AS OLD AS YOUR FEAR; AS YOUNG AS YOUR HOPE, AS OLD AS YOUR DESPAIR. IN THE CENTRAL PLACE OF EVERY HEART THERE IS A RECORDING CHAMBER; SO LONG AS IT RECEIVES MESSAGES OF BEAUTY, HOPE, CHEER AND COURAGE, SO LONG ARE YOU YOUNG. WHEN... YOUR HEART IS COVERED WITH THE SNOWS OF PESSIMISM AND THE ICE OF CYNICISM, THEN AND THEN ONLY ARE YOU GROWN OLD - AND THEN, INDEED, AS THE BALLAD SAYS, YOU JUST FADE AWAY."

AMERICA UNFORTUNATELY HAS BEEN PREMATURELY AGING. LEFTIST LIBERALS, THROUGH THEIR PRISMS OF HATEFUL, NEGATIVE THINKING HAVE GROWN OLD, GODLESS, FEARFUL, COWARDLY AND DESPAIRING. OUR ISLAMIC JIHADIST ENEMIES ALSO PREACH HATRED AND DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA. LIBERALS PREACH ACCOMMODATION TO SUCH ENEMIES WHO IN TURN MASTERFULLY CAPITALIZE ON AMERICA'S WEAKNESS.

SATAN - THE INCARNATION OF THE HOPELESS - RESIDES, IN DANTE'S EPIC POEM 'THE INFERNO', AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, FOREVER CONDEMNED IN THE WORLD OF ICE. DO WE WANT TO JOIN HIM? COLLOQUIALLY SPEAKING, "LET’S NOT GO THERE." BUT DESERTION OF OUR LONG-HELD IDEALS WOULD DOOM US TO AN ICY FATE. WHERE ELSE WOULD MC ARTHUR'S WRINKLED SOULS GO?

THE HATRED OF LIBERALS AND ISLAMO-FASCISTS IS LIKE ICE. IF WE SUCCUMB TO THEIR INFLUENCE, OUR WORLD COULD END IN ICE. THE BELOVED AMERICAN POET, ROBERT FROST WROTE THAT HE KNEW "ENOUGH OF HATE/TO SAY THAT FOR DESTRUCTION ICE/ IS ALSO GREAT AND WOULD SUFFICE." THE FIRE THAT SUSTAINS THE IDEALS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA IS ALL THAT SEPARATES US FROM BEING FROZEN IN AN ICY, SOULLESS GRAVE.

TREND OR TRENDIER

SINCE EDEN, IT'S BEEN ABOUT CHOICE. THE MAYOR OF BOSTON DEFIES THE TREND TO WAL-MART, THE MARCH OF DOLLARS, THE FRISSON ON THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE. HE TAKES THE HIGH ROAD OF ELITISM CLAIMING THAT WAL-MART DOESN'T "PAY WAGES THAT ARE SUFFICIENT, THEIR BENEFIT STRUCTURE IS POOR." HE CONTINUES, "I DON'T NEED EMPLOYERS LIKE THAT IN OUR CITY." THEREFORE THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON WILL HAVE NO CHOICE.

INSTEAD, HE EMBRACES THE TRENDIER, TARGET BECAUSE OF THE "DIFFERENT IMAGE THEY HAVE IN HOW THEY MARKET THEIR PRODUCT AND THEIR APPEARANCE OF THEIR STORES. THERE'S A LOT TO DO WITH IT, THE IMAGE OF THE STORE. "

REALLY. THE FREE CHOICES OF MANY AMERICANS CONTRADICT THE ELITISTS’ DESIRES AND THEIR BIG BROTHER SOLUTIONS WHICH DICTATE WHAT ARE THE 'GOOD.' FACTS DON'T MATTER. THEIR 'APPROVED' RETAILERS CHARGE MORE FOR MERCHANDISE, EMPLOY FEWER WORKERS AND HAMPER THE FREE MARKET SYSTEM. YET, ONLY IMAGE COUNTS, THE IMAGE OF BETTERING ONE'S INFERIORS AS THEY LIVE AS SUPERIORS.

CHICAGO ALSO TRIED TO BAN WAL-MART IN AN APPROPRIATE, WELCOMING NEIGHBORHOOD, BUT AN ALDERMAN THREW UP THE ROADBLOCK OF A $10 AN HOUR SALARY AND A $3.00 HEALTH CARE BENEFIT. IRONICALLY, THIS ALDERMAN’S OFFICE SPENT $30,000 OF CAMPAIGN MONEY SHOPPING FOR SUPPLIES AT THE BIG, BAD STORE! LUCKILY, THE MAYOR VETOED THIS PROPOSAL AND BLOCKED AN OVERRIDE OF IT; ENLIGHTENMENT PREVAILED.

THERE ACTUALLY EXISTS A 'CORE EDGE AND CHARISMA INSTITUTE' SOMEWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY. THEIR NEED IS HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE BUT THEIR INFLUENCE PERVADES THE PSYCHE OF EACH BLUE-STATE LIBERAL HERE AND ABROAD. IT'S ALL ABOUT IMAGE FOR THEM EVEN THOUGH THE REAL WORLD SPINS ON ITS AXIS WITH THE FACES OF COMMON MEN AND WOMEN, ORDINARY PLEBS. WHY MUST THE MAJORITY FACE CONTINUAL MANIPULATION AND MANACLES FROM THE ARISTOCRATS WHO SNEER INSTEAD OF GRIN WHEN THEY SEE THE WAL-MART LOGO, A GOLDEN SMILEY FACE.

BEYOND REASON

I CANCELED MY LOCAL NEWSPAPER BECAUSE ITS AGENDA WAS BLACK CRIME, GAYS AND LIBERAL POLITICS. I DESISTED FROM WATCHING LOCAL TV NEWS BECAUSE IT WAS JUST A DISPLAY OF DOOFUSES. SO MURDER AND CRIME ONLY PASS BY ME ON LOCAL RADIO A MINUTE OR TWO A DAY. NEVERTHELESS TWO MINUTES WERE SUFFICIENT FOR OUTRAGE. IN ILLINOIS, THREE CHILDREN WERE KILLED, THE MOTHER RIPPED OPEN FOR HER FETUS AND MOTHER MURDERED TOO - FOR WHAT REASON? REASON, OF COURSE, HAS NOTHING AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ANSWERING THIS QUESTION OF THE DAY - HOW DO WE PREVENT SUCH TRAGEDIES?

WAS THE EARTHLY CONDITION OF THE KILLER AS SAD AS WHAT A MR. SEBALD DESCRIBED FOR KOREANS EARLY IN THE 20TH CENTURY - "OPPRESSED, UNHAPPY, POOR, SILENT AND SULLEN?" OR WAS THE LIFE OF THE MURDERER AS HOPELESS AS A MR. HOBBES DESCRIBED FOR A MAN IN THE STATE OF NATURE - "SOLITARY, POOR, NASTY, BRUTISH AND SHORT?" I SUSPECT NOT. I RUE THE FACT THAT THIS EVIL DOER LIVED HERE IN THE U.S.A., EARLY 21ST CENTURY. NO EXCUSES CAN BE ACCEPTED FOR EVIL BEHAVIOR.

HAS CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FAILED US IN AMERICA? COULD A MILITANT ISLAMIC STATE CURB SUCH CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES? AGAIN, I SUSPECT NOT. WHAT HAS BEEN LOST IS RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE, REVEALED AS DISRESPECT FOR GOD, FOR REASON, FOR WOMEN, FOR RULES OF LAW, FOR HUMANNESS, FOR LIFE. FOUR LIVES ARE TRASHED, INCINERATED BY A MINION OF SATAN. OUTRAGE IS THE ONLY RESIDUE.

MORAL OR POLITICAL

A FAVORITE TACTIC OF WRITERS AND THINKERS IS TO MORALIZE THE POLITICAL AND POLITICIZE THE MORAL. WHEN POPE BENEDICT XVI INTRODUCED THE SUBJECT OF A SERIOUS DIALOGUE BETWEEN REASON AND RELIGION, HE DIDN'T FORESEE THAT POLITICS AND MORALITY WOULD BE PUT INTO THE CROSS HAIRS AND BE INTERPRETED AT CROSS PURPOSES. TOO BAD.

THE SUBJECT OF IMMIGRATION ALSO LENDS ITSELF TO DISTORTIONS AND OVER-REACTIONS. THE QUESTION OF WHETHER WE ALLOW IMMIGRANTS, HOW MANY AND BY WHAT LEGAL PROCEDURE IS A POLITICAL ISSUE. YET SOME CHRISTIANS, ACTIVISTS AND POLITICIANS HAVE TURNED IT INTO A MORAL DEBATE. PERSONAL ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS OCCUR, LIES ARE DELIBERATELY SPREAD ABOUT THEM, COMPLAINTS ABOUT UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES ARE INVOKED AND POLITICIANS PANDER FOR VOTES. ANOTHER MORAL QUESTION IS WHAT DOES JUSTICE MEAN FOR IMMIGRANTS. A VICTIM OF INHUMANE, IMMORAL TREATMENT MAY BE A WILLING PARTICIPANT IN ILLEGAL ENTRY UNDER INHUMANE CONDITIONS INTO THE UNITED STATES. THE POLITICAL QUESTIONS ARE WHAT CONSTITUTES LEGALITY AND ILLEGALITY.

WE ALL KNOW WHY THEY COME. MARY ACTIN, WHO ARRIVED AT ELLIS ISLAND, GLORIFIES THE CAUSE IN 'THE PROMISED LAND.' "SO AT LAST, I WAS GOING TO AMERICA! REALLY, REALLY GOING, AT LAST! THE BOUNDARIES BURST. THE ARCH OF HEAVEN SOARED. A MILLION SUNS SHONE OUT FOR EVERY STAR. THE WINDS RUSHED IN FROM OUTER SPACE, ROARING IN MY EARS, 'AMERICA! AMERICA!' "

THE ROMANTIC DREAM HAS NOT DIED. IMMIGRANTS STILL DIE TO GET IN. THE PROBLEM WON'T GO AWAY. RATIONALITY AND RELIGION MUST COME TOGETHER TO SEEK A SOLUTION.

DO SOMETHING

WHENEVER THE HORSE ESCAPES, SOME DO-GOODER CLOSES THE BARN DOOR AND THEN THE ACTIVISTS INSIST UPON A SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM THAT WILL VIRTUALLY NEVER OCCUR AGAIN. LAWS ARE PASSED. STUPID CAMPAIGNS ARE LAUNCHED LIKE MANDATORY HIV TESTING FOR 13 TO 64 YR. OLDS. OR MEGAN'S LAW OR LOW-FAT VEGETARIAN MEALS FOR CHILDREN OR OATMEAL AND BROWN RICE IN DOG FOOD. ALL ARE IRRATIONAL; NONE RELATE TO COMMON SENSE.

FROM AN EDUCATION SCHOOL PROJECT RECENTLY, 3/4 OF OUR SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION CAN'T PRODUCE EXCELLENT TEACHERS. TEACHERS ARE EDUCATED IN SCHOOLS WITH LOW STANDARDS AND EVEN PRINCIPALS RATE ONLY 40% OF EDUCATION SCHOOLS AS DOING A GOOD JOB. LET'S FACE IT, WE DON'T NEED SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION OR CERTIFICATES OF EDUCATION IN THE FIRST PLACE. DISCUSSIONS ABOUT TEACHING THEORY OR SUBJECT MATTER ARE IRRELEVANT.
MORE IN-CLASSROOM TRAINING IS IRRELEVANT. HIGHER PAY IS IRRELEVANT. THE CALL FOR MORE PROFESSIONALISM IS IRRELEVANT.

WHAT IS RELEVANT IS BASIC COMPETENCE ON THE JOB. UNLIKE ELITIST'S WHO LOOKS FOR THE COMPLICATED AND IRRELEVANT SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS, COMMON SENSE HOLDS THE OBVIOUS AND SIMPLE SOLUTIONS.

A TEACHER NEEDS TO ENTER HIS OR HER SCHOOL AND CLASSROOM DAILY WITH CONFIDENCE IN A DISCIPLINED ATMOSPHERE. THE TEACHER NEEDS TO KNOW THAT THOSE STUDENTS WHO WILL NOT SHOW RESPECT, WILL NOT CO-OPERATE, DO NOT PUT IN AN EFFORT FOR VARIOUS AND SUNDRY PERSONAL REASONS WILL BE EJECTED FROM THE SCHOOL. EVEN SO, THE POOL OF THE UNEDUCATED IN OUR SOCIETY WOULD REMAIN THE SAME.

A TEACHER MERELY NEEDS TO SHOW UP IN CLASS EACH AND EVERY DAY. RELIABILITY BY EXAMPLE IS THE KEY TO UNLOCKING HEALTHY HABITS IN YOUTH WHICH FOSTER LEARNING.

A TEACHER NEEDS TO ENJOY TEACHING THE SAME CURRICULA YEAR AFTER YEAR DERIVING PLEASURE FROM PRESENTING INFORMATION TO DIFFERENT PUPILS AND WITNESSING THEIR SUCCESSFUL ACCUMULATION OF KNOWLEDGE. NO EDUCATION COURSE CAN CREATE THIS SIMPLE, INNATE URGE.

A TEACHER DOES NOT NEED TO BE THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST IN ANY FIELD. FOR PRE-SCHOOL, GRAMMAR SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL GENIUS IS NOT REQUIRED. (NEITHER IS IT REQUIRED IN SOME UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGES WHERE THE TEACHER'S ABILITY TO INSPIRE PERSPIRATION IN A STUDENT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A SHOW OF AFFECTION OR SCHOLARSHIP.). ALL EDUCATION, AFTER ALL, IS SELF-EDUCATION.

A TEACHER NEEDS TO HAVE MASTERED AN AREA OF ACADEMIC STUDY FOR HIGH SCHOOL. TEACHING. IN LOWER GRADES, A CONCENTRATED STUDY IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS AN UNDERSTANDING OF CHILDREN, AN ENJOYMENT OF THEIR COMPANY AND AN EXAMPLE OF RESPONSIBILITY AND SELF-DISCIPLINE. CANDIDATES WHO PRIMARILY SEEK LOVE, AFFECTION AND APPROVAL NEED NOT APPLY.

A TEACHER NEEDS TO BE A JUST LEADER AND A MORAL EXAMPLE TO STUDENTS. THIS IS NEEDED BECAUSE PROPER PRIOR PARENTING IS PROBABLY ABSENT FROM SOME OF THE STUDENTS' HOMES.

A TEACHER DOES NOT NEED THE SAME SALARY AS A PROFESSIONAL SUCH AS A DOCTOR OR SCIENTIST WHO MUST INNOVATE AND UPDATE HIS KNOWLEDGE AS TIME GOES BY.

ELITISTS WHO HAPPEN TO BE COLUMNISTS, WHEN ASKED ABOUT BECOMING A TEACHER, GIVE ADVICE IN THE FORM OF BALDERDASH FROM ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTING TEACHERS. THE "BEST TEACHERS WILL TELL YOU THAT MUCH OF THE SUMMER IS FILLED WITH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, EXPLORING NEW CONTENT AND CREATING LESSON PLANS," WRITES THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS UNION. THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ADDS THAT "THE AVERAGE TEACHER SPENDS MANY HOURS BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL IN MEETINGS, GRADING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS, ASSISTING STUDENTS AND CALLING PARENTS." WOULD THAT THESE TWO LIES WERE TRUTH. AS FAR BACK AS THE 1960'S, ONLY THE RARE, IDEALISTIC YOUNG TEACHER PRACTICED WHAT THESE TWO PROPAGANDA QUOTES PREACHED. TEACHERS HAD SHORT HOURS, THE GREAT BENEFITS, REASONABLE PAY, LIVED A GRAND LIFESTYLE, TOOK MANY SICK DAYS AND LONG VACATIONS. WHAT EXPLAINS THE SLIDE IN TEST SCORES AND THE ABSENCE OF KNOWLEDGE PRODUCED IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TODAY? WHAT EXPLAINS THE INFAMY TODAY OF SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN STUDENTS AND TEACHERS, DISMAL TEST SCORES, RAMPANT WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONIES, GRADUATES WITH VIRTUALLY NO MASTERY OF FACTS ABOUT HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, MATH OR SCIENCE AND OF GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE MOSTLY UNTOUCHED? AMERICA'S PUBLIC INSTRUCTION RECORD REEKS. SPINNING A ROMANTICISM ABOUT GREAT TEACHERS MAKES ANY OBSERVER OF REALITY DIZZY.

THE HORSE KEEPS ESCAPING FROM HIS STALL WHEN IT COMES TO SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC EDUCATION. CLOSING THE DOOR EACH TIME HAS ONLY RESULTED IN REPEATED USELESS GOVERNMENT SPENDING. THE HORSE STILL OUTSMARTS HIS OWNER.

UPON THE PEOPLE

WHAT'S THE TEMPORARY, PREVALENT DISEASE VISITED 'UPON PEOPLE' TODAY? TAKE YOUR PICK OF EPIDEMICS. THE MEDIA FULLY AND FAITHFULLY REPORT ON THE EPIDEMICS OF AIDS, OBESITY, CHILDHOOD OBESITY, KIDNEY DISEASE, TYPE 2 DIABETES, HEART DISEASE, BI-POLAR DISORDER, DEPRESSION, ADD-ADHD, MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE LATEST SCARE, E-COLI FROM FRESH SPINACH. WITHOUT A CLAIM ON VICTIMHOOD, I AM SO HEALTHY THAT I FEEL ABANDONED ON THE BERM OF LIFE.

I MUST ADD, HOWEVER, A FEW TABOO 'DISEASES' THAT OUR LIBERAL-LEANING, POLITICALLY CORRECT SOCIETY CANNOT BRING ITSELF TO ADMIT EXIST. I NOTE UNDERAGE DRINKING, SINGLE PARENTHOOD, OUT-OF-HOME CHILD CARE, SEXUAL PREDATION, OVER-SPENDING AND FAILED PUBLIC EDUCATION.

THE INEVITABILITY OF PAIN AND SUFFERING, FEAR, DREAD AND NEGATIVITY AWAIT THE HAPLESS WHO WILL BE AFFLICTED BY THE SO-CALLED MEDICAL EPIDEMICS FOCUSED UPON BY THE MEDIA, ACTIVISTS AND VESTED INTEREST GROUPS. HOW DEPRESSING AND SELF-DEFEATING TO FACE A BARRAGE OF NEGATIVE MESSAGES, INDUCING PANIC, DAY BY DAY. NEVERTHELESS, A GENUINE, MEDICAL AFFLICTION SHOULD WARRANT ATTENTION EVEN THOUGH PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY LIES AT THE HEART OF PREVENTING OR COPING WITH SUCH DISEASES IN SPITE OF THE HISTRONICS.

CURING THE SELF-INFLICTED, TABOO DISEASES OF OUR SOCIETY IS A PRICKLIER. MATTER. TO QUELL CULTURAL EPIDEMICS, DISCIPLINE, PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY, DEDICATION TO MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN, THE PRIORITY OF INTELLECTUAL LEARNING IN SCHOOLS AND HOMES AND THE PROPER, MORAL PERSPECTIVE ON OVER-INDULGENT SPENDING AND ITS CONSEQUENCE, DEBT WITHOUT SAVINGS, WILL BE NEEDED. PERSONAL SOUL- SEARCHING AND HONEST ADMISSIONS OF GUILT MUST PRECEDE ANY PROPHYLACTICS FOR THESE DISEASES. FURTHERMORE, A LARGE DOSE OF STURM AND DRANG BROUGHT ON BY A GENUINE SENSE OF SHAME (NOT ARTIFICIAL APOLOGIES TO SELF AND SOCIETY) IS IN ORDER FOR THOSE SUFFERING FROM THE REAL EPIDEMICS OF OUR TIME.

TRUTH OR DARE

THE THERE CAN ONLY BE TRUTH OR LIES. SOME WHO LIE, HOWEVER, DARE TO DO SO WITH IMPUNITY. IRAN HAS A HISTORY OF LYING BECAUSE THEIR CULTURE AND THEOSOPHY APPROVE IT. THE AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI OF IRAN IN THE 1980'S, FOR EXAMPLE, PREACHED TAQIYA, RELIGIOUSLY SANCTIONED DISSEMBLING. PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD MERELY TOOK UP THE BATON (SWORD OF THE CALIPHATE) AT THE UNITED NATIONS ASSEMBLY YESTERDAY TO CARRY ON THIS ANCIENT TRADITION.

POPE BENEDICT XVI RECENTLY REFERRED IN A SPEECH TO AN ANCIENT EMPEROR, MANUEL PALAEOLOGUS, WHO SPOKE THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MOHAMMEDAN PATH TO CONVERSION BEING PAVED BY DEATH. IMMEDIATELY, HOWEVER, APOLOGIES WERE DEMANDED FROM THE POPE. MANUEL'S SON, JOHN, WAS THE BROTHER OF CONSTANTINE, THE LAST BYZANTINE EMPEROR WHO DIED IN BATTLE IN 1453 WHEN ISTANBUL FELL TO THE TURKS. EASTERN CHRISTIANITY WAS DEFEATED IN ITS LAST STAND AGAINST THE MUSLIMS AFTER 8 CRUSADES OVER 300 YEARS. ISLAM WAS IMPOSED BY THE SWORD.

THE LIE OF ‘CONVERSION BY THE SWORD’ STILL LIVES. IRAN'S PRESIDENT PREACHES IT, WELCOMING THE FINAL RECKONING WITH THE RETURN OF THE 12TH IMAN. IT'S TIME TO AGAIN RAISE HIGH THE CROSS BECAUSE CHRISTIANITY IS NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET. LET THE 9TH CRUSADE BEGIN!

IS THERE CONSENSUS? SATAN STILL TAUNTS JESUS FROM THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN - AND HE IS NOT GEORGE W. BUSH AS HUGO CHAVEZ STATED WHEN HE ADDRESSED THE UNITED NATIONS ASSEMBLY. SATAN DISSEMBLES AND LIES THROUGH CHAVEZ AND AHMADINEJAD IN A GUISE APPEALING ENOUGH TO TEMPT SOME LISTENERS INTO IDLENESS RATHER THAN ACTION. MUSLIMS ON JIHAD IN THE EAST, DARE LIE BECAUSE THEY ANTICIPATE IMPUNITY FROM THE WEST. HISTORY IS WRITTEN ABOUT GOOD PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE NOTHING, EITHER BECAUSE THEY CANNOT RECOGNIZE A LIE OR THEY WILL NOT DARE TO FACE THE TRUTH.

EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS

WHO IS LESS DANGEROUS TO THE SECURITY OF OUR COUNTRY - A VEGETARIAN WITHOUT CHILDREN OR A CARNIVORE WITH KIDS?
THE MEAT EATER, OF COURSE, BECAUSE THE PACIFIST AND SELF-CENTERED MARRIED VEGETARIAN OBVIOUSLY HAS NOTHING TO SACRIFICE IN A TIME OF TRIAL SAVE HIS EGO.
WHO IS MORE DANGEROUS TO THE SECURITY OF OUR COUNTRY - A QUASI-CELEBRITY WHO DESCRIBES THE MUSLIMS' JIHAD AGAINST THE WEST AS "GNARLEY BRO," OR A WOULD-BE CELEBRITY WHO DESCRIBES OUR WORLD CONDITION AS THE "PERFECT STORM" BEFORE WORLD WAR III?. THE JIVE TALKER, OF COURSE.

WHAT IS MORE DANGEROUS - SMOKING ITSELF OR AN AGENDA TO ATTRIBUTE HEALTH CONDITIONS TO SMOKING THAT COMMON SENSE ALONE SAYS DON'T EXIST? A RECENT STUDY 'REVEALED' THAT ONE THIRD OF ADD (ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER) AND ADHD ( ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER) ARE LINKED TO A MOTHER OR BOTH PARENTS SMOKING BEFORE A CHILD'S BIRTH. A CONCOMITANT FINDING 'SUGGESTED' THAT CHILDREN FROM HOMES WITH SMOKERS ARE TWO AND A HALF TIMES MORE LIKELY TO GROW UP WITH ADD AND ADHD. ENTER COMMON SENSE WHICH REMINDS ME THAT THIS EPIDEMIC OF OUT OF CONTROL YOUNGSTERS SHOULD HAVE RAMPAGED IN THE 1920'S, 1930'S, 1940'S, 1950'S, 1960'S AND 1970'S WHEN VIRTUALLY EVERY HOUSEHOLD 'LIT UP' AT SOME TIME AND TOBACCO WAS THE 'IN THING." COME TO THINK OF IT, TOBACCO HELPED AMERICA WIN TWO WORLD WARS AND PUSH US TO THE STATUS OF A SUPER POWER WITH THE HIGHEST GDP (GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT OF GOODS AND SERVICES) IN THE WORLD. TODAY'S SMOKERS MUST BE LOSERS FOR OTHER REASONS. PERHAPS 1. THEY ARE POOR DISCIPLINARIANS COMPARED WITH PARENTS IN THE PAST, OR PERHAPS 2. AN AGENDA EXISTS WITH ACADEMICS, SCIENTISTS, ACTIVISTS AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS GEARED TOWARDS THE ELIMINATION OF SMOKING IN SOCIETY. I VOTE BOTH 2. AND 2.

THE COGENT EXISTENTIAL QUESTION SHOULD BE, IS LIFE WORTH LIVING WITHOUT CIGARETTES? IF THE ANSWER IS NO, EVEN BISHOP FULTON SHEEN WOULDN'T DISAGREE. THE REITERATED THEME SONG ON HIS POPULAR TELEVISION PROGRAM FROM THE 1950'S, WAS THAT "LIFE IS WORTH LIVING." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? LIFE, LOVE, GOD, TOBACCO, DRUGS, CHARITY, HOPE, FAITH, GOOD DEEDS, DEEP THOUGHTS, COURAGEOUS ACTIONS - ALL INVOLVE SOME ELEMENT OF PERSONAL DANGER. THE FEARLESS EMBRACE OF DANGER FOR HEAVENLY GLORY MAKES LIFE WORTHWHILE.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I FOUND THIS APT QUOTE FROM A POET (LUMMIS) IN THE LAST CENTURY;
MY CIGARETTE! THE AMULET
THAT CHARMS AFAR UNREST AND SORROW,
THE MAGIC WAND THAT, FAR BEYOND
TODAY, CAN CONJURE UP TOMORROW.

STICKS AND STONES

THE BUZZWORD, OUTRAGE, WON'T GO AWAY, BUT WHENEVER IT IS EXPRESSED, IT IS MISPLACED. A DEMOCRAT FROM CLEVELAND WAS "OUTRAGED WHEN THE REPUBLICANS CUT MEDICAID BENEFITS FOR 25,000 POOR PARENTS LAST YEAR." RATHER IT SHOULD BE THE WORKING PUBLIC WHOSE MONEY IS MISAPPROPRIATED FOR 'HAND-OUTS' THAT SHOULD BE OUTRAGED. SOME COURAGEOUS POLITICIANS SHOULD SPEAK OUT FOR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

REPUBLICAN VOTERS ARE OUTRAGED OVER THE " PROFLIGATE SPENDING" BY THEIR PARTY POLITICIANS ESPECIALLY EVIDENCED IN PORK PROJECTS. RATHER THESE VOTERS AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN GENERAL, DIRECT THEIR OUTRAGE INWARD BECAUSE A CULTURE OF EXPECTATION AND SPOILED LIVING CONTINUES TO EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO DOLE OUT PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES IN EVER INCREASING NUMBERS AND AT EVER INCREASING COSTS.

THE "HUBBUB OF OUTRAGE" OVER THE POPE'S REMARKS BY SOME OF THE "UMMA," MUSLIM BELIEVERS, MIS-PLACES REASON. BENEDICT XVI, GIFTED WITH INTELLECTUALITY AND TRUTH, IS BEING DISSED WORLD-WIDE BY VIOLENCE FROM MUSLIMS WHO CLAIM THEIR RELIGION IS PEACEFUL. RATHER THE MAJORITY OF DEVOUT, RATIONAL FOLLOWERS OF THE PROPHET OUGHT TO BE OUTRAGED AT THE CONDUCT OF THOSE WHO SHOULD BE ASHAMED. SOME COURAGEOUS MUSLIMS SHOULD SPEAK OUT AGAINST IRRESPONSIBILITY.
STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES, BUT NAMES CAN NEVER HARM ME.' UNTIL NOW. UNTIL NOW WHEN FREE SPEECH IS NOT FREE; ITS PRICE IS VIOLENCE.

PRAYING

NON-PREY, AN INITIATE
I ACCOST IN THE SUN
A GREEN WEDGED CAP,
A CAMOUFLAGED STICK,

LEGS POISED ON GRASS.
THE PROPHET'S THORAX
SWOLLEN AND SHINGLED
PULSATES, PULSATES.

MISPLACED OUTRAGE

I'M NEITHER AN INTELLECTUAL NOR A WRITER FACILE WITH FANCY LANGUAGE. I KNOW NOT WHAT NEWT GINGRICH'S "METRIC-BASED PERFORMANCE OR ENTREPRENEURIAL IMPLEMENTATION" ENTAIL. I WRITE NOT "WINDY BROMIDES" CONTAINED IN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. I MERELY READ ABOUT THE "CIRCUS OF PIETIES AND OUTRAGE" OVER A SPEECH BY POPE BENEDICT VI BY AN ERUDITE COLUMNIST, TUNKU VARADARAJAN (WHOSE NAME I CAN'T EVEN PRONOUNCE). BUT I CAN SPOT MISPLACED OUTRAGE. THE POPE SPOKE TRUTH TO POWER CALLING EXTREMIST, RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGY AND ALLAH INSPIRED TERRORISM, IMMORAL AND DANGEROUS. ALSO, ORIANA FALLACI, AN OUTSPOKEN CRITIC OF EUROPE'S APPEASEMENT OF RADICAL ISLAM, PENNED THE WISE OBSERVATION THAT WHEN A NATION COMPROMISES ITS PRINCIPLES AND ABANDONS ITS VALUES, ITS CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION DIE. WHAT FOOL - OTHER THAN THE ONE ON WHOSE FOOT THE SHOE FITS - WOULD BE OUTRAGED BY THE EXPRESSION OF THESE TRUTHS BY POPE BENEDICT OR ORIANA.? YET WHENEVER THE TRUTH IS SPOKEN, AN APOLOGY TO THE MUSLIMS MUST NOT BE FAR BEHIND.

AN OUTRAGE IS THE PATTERN OF SABOTAGE BY PRISONERS AT GUANTANAMO BAY WHICH ENDANGERS THE LIVES OF OUR SOLDIERS AND COSTS AMERICAN TAXPAYERS ONE MILLION DOLLARS FOR REPAIRS TO ONE DETAINEE CAMP.

GEORGE WEIGEL, A CHRISTIAN WRITER AND THINKER, PREFERS THE PHRASE MORAL TRUTHS TO MORAL VALUES WHEN REFERRING TO WHAT AMERICA STANDS FOR IN THE WAR AGAINST THE ENEMY, RADICAL JIHADISM. HE CLAIMS THAT WHAT WE HOLD DEAR IN OUR CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION ARE: " THE INVIOLABILITY OF INNOCENT HUMAN LIVES, THE SANCTUARY OF RELIGIOUS CONSCIENCE, THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON AS THE BEARER OF INALIENABLE RIGHTS AND THE MORAL SUPERIORITY OF CONSENT OVER COERCION AS A POLITICAL METHOD." NEGATE EACH OF THESE MORAL TRUTHS AND YOU HAVE THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH RADICAL ISLAM OPERATES: DESTRUCTION OF INNOCENTS, DICTATORSHIP OF CONSCIENCE, ELIMINATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FORCED CONSENTS. THE GRIMNESS OF THIS FOUR-FOLD REALITY SHOULD OUTRAGE EACH AND EVERY RIGHTEOUS SOUL.

MORE OUTRAGES

I OBSERVED SEVERAL USES OF THE WORD OUTRAGE IN MY RECENT READINGS.

SENATOR JOHN KERRY, YES THE FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FROM THE ULTRA-LIBERAL STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS, CLAIMS THAT IT WAS THE OUTRAGE OF REPUBLICAN SENATORS THAT FORCED THIS ADMINISTRATION - READ GEORGE W. BUSH - TO APPLY THE GENEVA CONVENTION TO ENEMY PRISONERS - READ TERRORISTS DETAINED AT GITMO - IN ORDER TO BEST PROTECT CAPTURED AMERICANS. MR. KERRY AND HIS LEFTIST DENIERS, DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THE ISLAMOFASCISTS DO NOT GIVE A PRAYER FOR THE GENEVA CONVENTION; IT IS NEITHER FIRST NOR LAST ON THEIR MIND WHEN THEY BEHEAD AND SLAUGHTER THEIR INFIDEL ENEMIES - READ ESPECIALLY AMERICANS. SO OUTRAGE IS A LOADED WORD FROM THE GUN OF A DELUSIONAL AND PACIFICIST JOHN KERRY.

A BOOK REVIEWER NOTED THAT MOST OF THE WORLD IS OUTRAGED AT MONSTERS LIKE STALIN AND POL POT BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT HAVE SHED A TEAR FOR THE MILLIONS THEY MURDERED. OUTRAGE IS THE APPROPRIATE WORD HERE. TO FORMER TERRORISTS LIKE UNCLE JOE AND THE CAMBODIAN MADMAN, WE MAY ADD CURRENT LIARS AND FORCES FOR EVIL LIKE THE PRESIDENT OF IRAN, THE DICTATOR OF NORTH KOREA AND OSAMA BIN LADEN JUST TO NAME THREE.

THE FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL (CDC) THINKS THERE SHOULD BE AN OUTRAGE OVER CANCELLATION OF FUNDING - READ TAXPAYERS' MONIES - FOR A PROGRAM CALLED VERB WHICH INCREASED EXERCISE FOR PRETEENS AT SCHOOLS. HE COMPARES VERB TO A VACCINE THAT HAS BEEN SHELVED. OUTRAGE HERE IS THE IMPROPER SENTIMENT - READ JOY IN MUDVILLE INSTEAD - FOR THE ELIMINATION OF A POLITICALLY CORRECT BAND-AID TO THE WOUNDED BODY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. IF SCHOOLS HAD NOT DROPPED THE REQUIRED P.E. CLASSES BECAUSE OF THE THREAT OF LAW SUITS FROM LAWYERS THAT HOVERED OVER THE SCHOOL GROUNDS WAITING FOR AN ACCIDENT TO HAPPEN, A V. E..R.B. PROGRAM WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY AS A RE-INSTATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS. EXERCISE AND COMPETITION ON THE PLAY YARD WOULD SOLVE THE CALORIE CRISIS. IT WOULD ALSO HELP IF LUNCH WERE THE ONLY OCCASION FOR PARTAKING OF FOOD AND DRINK ON THE SCHOOL PREMISES AND IF TEACHING INFORMATION WERE THE ONLY ACTIVITY IN THE CLASSROOMS.

MY EXAMPLE OF OUTRAGE IS THE INSANE HUMANITARIANISM ON DISPLAY AT CAMP GITMO. WHY IS AMERICA COURTING WORLD OPINION THERE WITH 1000 LAWYERS FOR 400 INMATES, WITH DIETARY AND RELIGIOUS CONCESSIONS, WITH FREE MEDICAL CARE ( AS DOCTORS WEAR BODY ARMOR TO PROTECT THEMSELVES)? SEEKING INTERNATIONAL APPROVAL IS AN OUTRAGE. EVEN AS AMERICA TRIES TO PROVE ITSELF HUMANE, THE TERRORISTS ATTACK THE GUARDS AND PLOT REVOLTS AT GITMO. I BELIEVE HUMANENESS STOPS SHORT OF KILLING; FOR OUR ENEMY IT DOES NOT. WHERE IS INTERNATIONAL OUTRAGE AT THE TERRORISTS WHO PRACTICE NO HUMANITY? LASTLY, IS IT AN OUTRAGE FOR PRESIDENT BUSH TO CALL OUR PRESENT CONFLICT WITH ISLAMOFASCISTS A WAR AND NOT TREAT PRISONERS AS PRISONERS OF WAR RATHER THAN GUESTS AT A GITMO RESORT?

DIFFERENCES

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ELITIST AND AN ENTREPRENEUR: THE ELITIST USES SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY TO DO GOOD; THE ENTREPRENEUR USES HIS OWN MONEY TO MAKE MONEY DOING GOOD.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN AND A REPUBLICAN ONE: WHEN OIL PRICES ARE DOWN, THE STOCK MARKET IS NEAR ITS ALL-TIME HIGH AND 12,000 MORE DOLLARS WERE SPENT AT THE COUNTRY FAIR THIS YEAR OVER LAST, THE DEMOCRAT DECRIES THE STATE OF AMERICA'S ECONOMY FOR THE LOWER CLASS WHO PAY NO TAXES AND THE MIDDLE CLASS WHO DO NOT PAY THE BULK OF THEM AND SAYS WE NEED MORE INVESTMENT (TAXES); THE REPUBLICAN WAVES TO AN EXPECTANT AUDIENCE AND TELLS THEM TO SHOW THEIR APPRECIATION FOR THE STATUS QUO BY GOING OUT TO SHOP.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN SOPHISTICATED, ART CRITIC AND A PROLETARIAN, NASCAR FAN: THE FORMER DESCRIBES A PAINTING'S GREENERY WITH THE UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE, A "NASCENT VOCABULARY OF REPETITIVE LEAF SHAPES"; THE LATTER LIVES IN THE CONTEMPORARY PAINTING OF A RACE TRACK GLEAMING IN THE AFTERNOON SUN, SURROUNDED BY THOUSANDS OF FANS CHEERING, UNDERSTANDABLY, FOR MOTORIZED FUN.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEFTIST LIBERAL AND A RIGHT-WING CONSERVATIVE: IMMATURITY CHARACTERIZED BY A DESIRE FOR POWER, CONTROL AND ATTENTION, COWARDICE IN THE FACE OF A FIGHT AND A TEMPER TANTRUM WHEN A 'PRESIDENT' OR A POPULAR ELECTION WON'T LET YOU HAVE YOUR WAY; AN OAK THAT ROY HELTON IN A POEM, "COME BACK TO EARTH," CALLED A TRUE CONSERVATIVE BECAUSE IT HOLDS "OLD LEAVES TILL SUMMER GIVES A GREEN EXCHANGE." CONSERVATIVES ARE LIKE AN OLD OAK, HOLDING ONTO THEIR BELIEFS IN A STRONG DEFENSE, IN FREE TRADE AND IN OLD-FASHIONED VALUES, WHICH ARE NOT SHED ANNUALLY, BUT ARE MERELY RE-CYCLED IN RECURRING ELECTIONS.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO OPPOSING IDEOLOGIES: THE ISLAMO-TERRORISTS WHO WANT TO RULE THE WORLD WITH A MUSLIM CALIPHATE; CAPITALIST DEMOCRACIES WHO FOLLOW THE RULE OF LAW. BENJAMIN DISRAELI, A FORMER TWO- TIME BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, FELT THAT "A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT IS AN ORGANIZED HYPOCRISY"; INTERJECT LIBERAL GOVERNMENT INTO HIS STATEMENT FOR A VALID, ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINT WITH WHICH YOURS TRULY AGREES. LEFT-WING LIBERALS VS. RIGHT-WING CONSERVATIVES: STALEMATE.

OUTRAGE

WHEN DR. LAURA SCHLESSINGER SAYS SHE IS "ENRAGED BEYOND ALL MEASURE," BY THE CONDUCT OF A SPECIFIC YOUNG WOMAN, DOES SHE LEGITIMATELY DEFINE OUTRAGE? OR IS OUTRAGE THE BODY OF A DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIER DRAGGED THROUGH THE STREETS OF A FOREIGN CITY? OR IS OUTRAGE THE 23 MILLION DOLLAR SALARY TO A BASEBALL PLAYER OVER 5 YEARS? OR IS OUTRAGE THE UNJUSTIFIABLE COMPENSATION TO A STAR REPORTER OR HAS-BEEN DIVA OF SONG?

THESE INDIGNITIES TO MY SENSIBILITIES COME NO WHERE CLOSE TO THE MY OUTRAGE OVER AN INTERVIEW WITH A YOUNG, 20 SOMETHING, FEMALE, MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER WHO REPEATEDLY COPULATED WITH A 14 YR. OLD MALE STUDENT. A SPECIAL RELEASE FROM HOUSE ARREST (HER PUNISHMENT FOR THIS OUTRAGE) FACILITATED A MEETING WHICH PANDERED TO THE INTERPLAY OF PULCHRITUDE AND THE PRURIENT. I WAS OUTRAGED AT THE REPORTER, OUTRAGED AT THE NEWS NETWORK, OUTRAGED AT THE REPEATED, MEDIA COVERAGE, OUTRAGED AT THE LACK OF PARENTING TO THIS WOMAN WHO WAS SEXUALLY ACTIVE SINCE THE AGE OF 13, OUTRAGED AT THE RESPECTABILITY GIVEN TO THIS SINFUL 'HOTTIE', OUTRAGED AT THIS INSULT TO THE MORAL FABRIC OF A SOCIETY. SURE, SEX SELLS AND SEX SCANDALS SELL EVEN BETTER. BUT THAT OLD-TIME TELEVISION GAME SHOW'S TITLE, CAPTURES THE SINKING OF SHAME IN AMERICA BEST. "DOWN YOU GO." GUILT IS PALPABLY ABSENT FROM OUR POPULAR CULTURE AND PROUDLY NOT ON DISPLAY.

RACE OF HEROES

A WRITER, SPOILED AS AN AMERICAN, A DEMOCRAT LEFTOVER FROM THE PRESIDENT CARTER CROWD OF THE 1980'S AND NOW A DELUSIONAL LEFTIST, LIBERAL COMMENTED THAT THE INTELLIGENT THING THE U.S. COULD DO NOW WOULD BE TO "DECLARE VICTORY (IN IRAQ AND OVER THE TERRORISTS ) AND GIVE THE CONFLICT A REST" BECAUSE "A STATE OF WAR WITH NO CLEAR END POINT MAKES IT MORE LIKELY FOR A COUNTRY TO OVERREACT IN WAYS THAT HURT ITSELF." WHAT GIBBERISH! IF AMERICA FOLLOWED THIS ADVICE, IT WOULD ENTER DANTE'S HELL WHERE, AS THE POET'S MEMORABLE PASSAGE DESCRIBES IT, YOU "ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER." THE IMPLIED GOAL OF ANY CONTENDED, FRIENDLY GAME OR DEADLY CONFLICT IS THAT ONE PARTY WINS. OUR SWORN ENEMIES, OFTEN SWEARING TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DECADENT, INFIDEL, CHRISTIAN, WEST, ARE COUNTING ON NO "RACE OF HEROES" TO WITHSTAND THEM. THEY AWAIT THE DECISION TO 'CALL IT A DRAW.' HESIOD, AN ANCIENT GREEK POET, PORTRAYED FIVE RACES OF MAN IN A CONTINUAL, DOWNWARD SPIRAL. EVEN THE GLORIOUS ONE OF HIS FIVE, THE RACE OF HEROES JUST DIED OFF. LUCKILY, HE WAS WRONG IN HIS ANALYSIS OF THE PROGRESSION OF CIVILIZATION FROM HIS 8TH CENTURY B.C. PERSPECTIVE. HOW LONG WILL OUR WORLD'S LUCK HOLD OUT IF WE CANNOT RESURRECT OR DEVELOP A "RACE OF HEROES" TO FIGHT THE CURRENT WAR WAGED UPON US?

THE ENEMY OF AN ENEMY IS A FRIEND. TO THE LIBERALS, THE UNITED STATES IS THE ENEMY. THE ISLAMIC JIHADISTS ARE OUR ENEMY. ERGO, THE LIBERALS BEFRIEND OUR TERRORIST ENEMY. OUR ENEMIES ON THE LEFT, HOWEVER, LIVE WITH THE DELUSION OF ACCOMMODATING AND RESTING, GHANDI-LIKE, BEFORE OUR ENEMIES, THE TERRORIST JIHADISTS. WINNERS ARE THOSE WHO THINK REALISTICALLY AND ACT BECAUSE THEY ARE RIGHT.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

PERSECUTION IS ONE OF THE EVER-PRESENT MARKS ON CHRISTIANITY IN GENERAL AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN PARTICULAR. WESTERN CIVILIZATION’S RISE HAS PERENNIALLY BEEN CHALLENGED BY THE MUSLIMS OF THE EAST. GIVEN THE FACT THAT IN 2006, THE FOLLOWERS OF MOHAMMED HAVE A GREATER NUMBER OF JIHADISTS WILLING TO DIE FOR THEIR FAITH THAN THEIR OPPOSING WESTERN DEFENDERS, WHO WILL SURVIVE?

5 YEARS AFTER 9/11, AN IMAN OF ALLAH STILL PREACHES DEATH AS THE MEANS TO RESTORE THE ANCIENT CALIPHATE. YET, IN A WAR OF IDEOLOGIES THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE VICTOR, THE ONE WITH THE CORRECT, WINNING, UNWAVERING, MORAL POSITION.

HAD THE MUSLIMS TURKS NOT BEEN DEFEATED AT THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO IN 1571, WESTERN CHRISTIANITY WOULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED. HAD SAINT PIUS V, POPE GIVEN IN TO APPEASEMENT OF HERETICS IN HIS 16TH CENTURY COUNTER REVOLUTION, NO ROCK OF CHRISTIANITY WOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT STANDING TO WITHSTAND FUTURE ASSAULTS. HAD DEFENDERS NOT FOUGHT AGAINST COMMUNISM, BIRTHED IN THE 20'S, REGNANT IN THE 50'S AND ENTRENCHED IN THE 80'S, IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DEFEATED BY WARRIORS STEADFAST IN 1989. HAD RONALD REAGAN AND POPE JOHN PAUL II, NOT PRACTICED G.K. CHESTERTON'S "EXALTED EXCITEMENT OF CONSISTENCY," THE SOVIET UNION WOULD NOT HAVE COLLAPSED. HAD GEORGE W. BUSH'S NOT MAINTAINED HIS STANCE AGAINST FASCIST JIHADISM SINCE 9/11, WHERE WOULD AMERICA BE TODAY?

THE 16TH CENTURY MYSTIC ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS WHO EXPERIENCED HIS "DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL" WHEN IMPRISONED AND ABUSED, WAS WILLING TO DIE WITHOUT DEFENDING HIMSELF, TO SUFFER IN THE SANCTITY OF DEATH. ANNIHILATION THROUGH SAINTHOOD COULD BE THE INEVITABLE END OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION IF MURDEROUS AGGRESSION IS MET WITH RESIGNATION WILL THE UNITED STATES FIGHT OR WILLINGLY DIE AT THE HANDS OF MUSLIM ENEMY OF THE 21ST MILLENNIUM? THAT IS THE QUESTION.
DONALD RUMSFELD'S RECOLLECTION OF 9/11 REFERRED TO A "GRIEF THAT HARDENED INTO RESOLVE" AFTER THE TRADE CENTER'S ATTACK. IN CONTRAST, ACCOMMODATION AND APPEASEMENT OF TERRORISM DISSOLVE GRIEF INTO RETREAT.

THE WRITER D.B. WYNDHAM LEWIS CALL ON ST. PIUS V WITH PRESCIENT WORDS APPLIED TO TRYING TIMES AFTER WORLD WAR II: "NERVE US FUMBLERS AND WEAKLINGS, PIUS, WHEN THE STORM BREAKS HERE."

HOW WILL AMERICA HANDLE ITS "DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL?"

THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS ANOTHER CHILDREN'S CRUSADE TO CONVERT THE 'HEATHEN' MUSLIMS. HOWEVER, IMPLEMENTATION IS THE PROBLEM. ON AUGUST 15, 1534, THE SOCIETY OF JESUS WAS INFORMALLY INAUGURATED BY A FEW PRIESTS INCLUDING IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA AND THE YOUTHFUL FRANCIS XAVIER. IT FOLLOWED THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF ITS FOUNDER IGNATIUS. BOTH IGNATIUS AND FRANCIS WERE EX-ARISTOCRATIC SPANISH YOUTH WHO REJECTED THE TRAPPINGS OF A SPOILED SOCIETY TO DEDICATE THEMSELVES TO GOD. FRANCIS XAVIER BECAME A JESUIT MISSIONARY PROSELYTIZING CHRISTIANITY TO ALIEN LANDS. HE EXCHANGED HIS SOUTANE FOR REGIONAL GARB AND CIRCULATED AMONGST THE CROWDS. HIS SUCCESSFUL, CONVERSION TECHNIQUE WAS THREE FOLD. FIRST, TO KNOW THE LOCAL PEOPLE ON THEIR OWN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TERMS. SECOND, TO WIN THEIR FRIENDSHIP. THIRD, TO ADOPTED THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE TO THE EXISTING IDIOM AND TRADITION. WITH WHOM DID THE JESUIT BEGIN? THE CHILDREN. GIVEN THE FACT THAT MUSLIM SOCIETIES ARE CLOSED TODAY, IS IT POSSIBLE TO AGAIN LIFT THE VEIL OF IGNORANCE? IS IT POSSIBLE TO ENTER OTHER WORLDS AND CONVERT FROM WITHIN? HOW DO MISSIONARIES NOW FIND THE FASCIST JIHADISTS HERE AT HOME AND ABROAD? THESE QUESTIONS REGARDING CONVERSION OF THE 'HEATHEN' HAVE BEEN ASKED MANY TIMES OVER, OVER MANY MILLENNIA AND THE ANSWER HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME. TO SPARE THEIR SOULS FROM HELL, WE MUST GO FORTH. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA CALLED ST. FRANCIS XAVIER, THE "GREATEST ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY OF MODERN TIMES." 450 YEARS HAVE ELAPSED SINCE THE 'APOSTLE OF THE INDIES' WALKED THE EARTH. WHO WILL WALK IN HIS SANDALS AGAIN? OR IS THIS NEW CRUSADE IMPOSSIBLE?

SAUDIS ARISE

ORDINARY PEOPLE OF THE ARAB WORLD, ARISE! THE RECENT BAN ON OWNERSHIP OF PET DOGS AND CATS PROFANES THE PROPHET WITH ITS PROFOUND INTOLERANCE. IN 1945, THE PHILOSOPHER KARL POPPER SAID THAT "UNLIMITED TOLERANCE MUST LEAD TO THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TOLERANCE." THE REVERSE IS EQUALLY TRUE. IN YOUR COUNTRY OF MANIFEST INTOLERANCE, THE BAN ON ANIMAL COMPANIONSHIP IS MANIFESTLY INTOLERANT. YOUR RELIGIOUS LEADERS PRACTICE SELECTIVE AMNESIA WHEN THEY FORGET MOHAMMED'S LOVE FOR CATS. ARISE, AND LET THEM NOT FORGET. LET THEM KNOW, TOO, THAT THIS BAN SETS BACK YOUR CIVILIZATION RATHER THAN ADVANCES IT. DEMAND A THINNER VEIL RATHER THAN A DENSER CLOTH OF REPRESSION. MEN'S AND WOMEN'S BEST FRIENDS ARE NOT THE IMANS INFLICTING THEIR INTERPRETATION OF THE KORAN UPON THE PEOPLE. DOGS AND CATS SUCCOR AND SATISFY BASIC HUMAN NEEDS. ANIMAL LOVERS UNITE! YOU HAVE EVERYTHING TO GAIN FROM YOUR CHAINS OF LOVING BONDAGE TO YOUR BELOVED PETS.

THEY DIDN'T GET IT

HOW ODD OF GOD TO CHOOSE THE JEWS, BUT NOT SO ODD AS THOSE WHO CHOOSE A JEWISH GOD BUT SPURN THE JEWS. ODD STILL IS THE FACT THAT THEY DIDN'T GET IT. COULD THEIR HISTORY OF NEVER-ENDING PERSECUTION AT THE HANDS OF CHRISTIANS, NON-CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS ALIKE BE RELATED TO THE SAD FACT THAT THEY REJECTED JESUS AS THEIR PROPHESIED SAVIOR, THE FULFILLMENT OF THEIR COVENANT BETWEEN THE CHOSEN PEOPLE AND THEIR GOD? IN A.D. 70, THE APOSTLE PAUL TWEAKED OLD TESTAMENT TRADITION BY DECLARING THAT THE GENTILE CHRISTIANS DID NOT HAVE TO OBSERVE THE MOSAIC LAW OF THE JEWS. SUCH A CHANGE OPENED THE RIFT BETWEEN THOSE WHO GOT IT AND THOSE WHO DIDN'T. GOD'S CHOICES FROM DAVID TO SOLOMON TO JACOB AND LEAH AND TO JUDAH AND BENJAMIN CLEARLY FORESHADOWED THE A NEW KINGDOM SUPERCEDING THAT OF JUDAISM. ALSO, JESUS DIED FOR THE JEWS (AND GENTILES) TO FOUND CHRISTIANITY. YET THE JEWS DIDN'T GET IT. THE CHRISTIANS WRESTED THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM FROM THE MUSLIMS IN THE 1ST EUROPEAN CRUSADE, HOLDING THAT CITY UNTIL 1291, BUT TO WHAT PERMANENT AVAIL IF THE JEWS DID NOT GET IT? JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY HAVE EQUALLY SHARED THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM IN PALESTINE. THIS IN SPITE OF ONE FAITH THAT DIDN'T GET IT.

I HAVE PICKED AT THE WHY OF THIS TRAGEDY LIKE A SCAB THAT WON'T HEAL ITSELF. WHERE IS THE LOGICAL AND SATISFACTORY RESOLUTION? I WISH THE JEWS HAD GOTTEN IT. COULD MILLENNIA OF PERSECUTIONS HAVE BEEN AVOIDED? WOULD JESUS HAVE BEEN BETTER SERVED AND GOD MORE PLEASED? OR BOTH APPEASED?

NO WAY

I DON'T WATCH TELEVISION
WHERE THE GLITZ OF PANDERING
BLINDS,
WHERE THE WHEEL OF WHORING
SPINS, THE STRING OF VIOLENCE
UNWINDS,
WHERE THE GLORY OF KILLING,
CHEEKY WORDS AND THINNESS
PREVAIL,
WHERE SEXUAL INNUENDOS,
PROFANITY AND VOYEURISM
UNVEIL,
WHERE MOTORING IN INANE WATERS
INDECENCY TRAILS AS JETSAM
IN THE WAKE,
WHERE KATIE COURIC IS SUCCUBUS
AND TERMINATOR REIGNS, WHEN RATINGS
ARE AT STAKE.

STEVE IRWIN- GOOD VS. EVIL

IS A ‘PRINCESS DI MOMENT’ FOR AUSTRALIA A GOOD OR AN EVIL? NOW IS A TIME OF OVERWROUGHT SENTIMENTALITY AND MOURNING CONCERNING THE DEATH OF STEVE IRWIN. WHEN I HEARD THE NEWS, I SAID, "WHO IS HE? IF HE'S 44, HE CAN'T BE CROCODILE DUNDEE PLAYED BY PAUL HOGAN IN THE MOVIES. HE'S TOO YOUNG." THEN REPORTS ON THE RADIO TELL ME ABOUT THE FLOOD OF REMEMBRANCES FOR A MAN CONSIDERED TO BE AN UNQUESTIONABLE HERO TO THE WILDLIFE CAUSE. JAY WINIK, THE WRITER, SAID THAT ANDRE AGASSI IS "ONE OF THE MOST TREASURED ATHLETES ON THE PLANET. A TRUE CHAMPION." OVER-THE-TOP RHETORIC LIKE THIS FALLS FROM THE MOUTHS OF IRRATIONAL HERO-WORSHIPERS. IT IS NOT GOOD BECAUSE ENCOURAGES BLINDNESS TO ANY BAD SPOT ON A PERSON’S CHARACTER, WHICH IS A DANGER AS MENACING AS A CROCODILE IN A BACK YARD.

AS PART OF THE MINORITY 20%, I HAVE NOT TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF POPULAR CULTURE'S OFFERINGS FROM THE MEDIA OR THE WIDESPREAD SELECTIONS FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. TO ME STEVE IRWIN WAS HITHERTO UNKNOWN. YET WHEN I HEAR FROM MOURNERS THAT "WRESTLING ANIMALS IS A GOOD WAY TO SHOW YOU CARE FOR THEM," I REJOICE THAT I STILL POSSESS COMMON SENSE. I DON'T FEEL I HAVE MISSED MUCH BY NOT BEING IN TUNE WITH THE MASSES- THE OTHER 80%. I HAVE HEARD PAEANS TO A FAMOUS DARE-DEVIL, CONSERVATIONIST AND CELEBRITY FROM FANS WHO BROOK NO CRITICISM OR REALISTIC EVALUATION OF MR. IRWIN'S LIFE CHOICES. TALK OF A STATE FUNERAL IN AUSTRALIA BEGS FOR A REPRISE OF THE PRINCESS DI PHENOMENON BY MASS HYSTERIA DELUDING CROWDS. WILL ELTON JOHN WRITE A NEW SONG?

BURNISHING A HERO PRESERVES AN ANCIENT TRADITION THAT SPRINGS FROM DEEP WITHIN THE HUMAN PSYCHE. THE GODS FORBID THAT I OR ANY 'INFIDEL' SPEAK TO THE CONTRARY. BUT STEVE IRWIN WAS NOT A GOOD FATHER BECAUSE HE CHOSE HIS LOVE FOR ANIMALS OVER HIS DUTY TO AND LOVE FOR FAMILY. HE REPEATEDLY PUT HIMSELF INTO HARM'S WAY WITH HIS HIGH-PROFILE EXISTENCE GARNISHED WITH FAME AND FORTUNE. WHEN I HEAR ABOUT HIS "SIGNIFICANT DEATH," (BECAUSE I PRESUME HE LIVED A SIGNIFICANT LIFE), I THINK OF THE LOW-PROFILE POLICEMEN, FIREMEN AND CARETAKERS OF ANIMALS IN HUMANE SOCIETIES ACROSS THE WORLD, WHO LABOR UNOBTRUSIVELY DAY BY DAY. ARE THEY INSIGNIFICANT? IS LIVING DANGEROUSLY AN EFFECTIVE AND GOOD WAY TO TEACH CHILDREN TO RESPECT ANIMALS OR IS IT JUST ENTERTAINMENT?

STEVE IRWIN ( LOVED DANGEROUS ANIMALS) AND JOHN BROWN (HATED SLAVERY). THEY BOTH LIVED AND DIED DEDICATED TO A SELFISH CAUSE. HEROES TO MANY, MAY THEY R..I.P. I, HOWEVER, WHO OBSERVE THAT HUMANITY ACTS STUPIDLY AND IRRESPONSIBLY. IRRATIONALLY ROUNDS OUT THE TOP THREE FLAWS IN HUMAN NATURE. IRRATIONAL HERO WORSHIP FLOWS FROM IRRATIONAL GRIEF. STEVE IRWIN'S ACCIDENTAL DEATH - AND HERE IS FINALLY A LEGITIMATE ACCIDENT THAT CANNOT BE PERVERTED INTO A PUNISHABLE GUILT - IS BEING TRANSFORMED INTO UNREASONABLE GRIEF ' IS THIS GOOD? OR IS EDGAR ALLAN POE'S THE LITTLE 'IMP OF THE PERVERSE' SMILING?

NO ACCIDENTS

WHY IS THERE NO SUCH THING AS AN ACCIDENT? I WONDER. BAD THINGS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE, TO INNOCENT PEOPLE, TO ANY POOR SCHMUCK. GUILT MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO SOME ONE OR ENTITY THAT IN TURN MUST PAY WITH MONEY OR LIFE. ONLY THE MILITARY IN WARTIME ALLOWS FOR MISTAKES. SELF-RIGHTEOUS (AND TYPICALLY GREEDY) LAWYERS FILL THE ACCIDENTAL VOID WITH ALLEGED CRIMES.

IF FATE OR PROVIDENCE EXISTED, A 90 YR. OLD MAN COULD HAVE ACCIDENTALLY PLOWED HIS CAR INTO A CROWD AND NOT COMMITTED MURDER. I GRANT THAT 90 YR. OLD INCOMPETENT DRIVERS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED BEHIND THE WHEEL, THAT PERHAPS SOCIETY COMMITTED A CRIME. NEVERTHELESS, THE OLD CODGER IS RELEGATED TO THE STATUS OF MURDERER BY LAWYERS WHO STEP IN TO PUNISH SOMEONE. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ACCIDENT. BLAME MUST BE ASSIGNED.

AT A CLUB, A FIRE CAUSED BY PYROTECHNICS COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN AN ACCIDENT EITHER. A TOUR MANAGER HAS ALREADY BEEN IMPRISONED SINCE 2002 FOR THIS CRIME AND THE CO-OWNER OF THE NIGHTCLUB IS NOW ON TRIAL FOR DOUBLE COUNTS OF MURDER FOR EACH OF THE VICTIMS OF THE INFERNO. SELF-RIGHTEOUS (AND TYPICALLY GREEDY) LAWYERS AGAIN HAVE MOOCHED OFF OF PUBLIC SYMPATHY PARLAYING IT INTO PUNISHMENT, PUBLICITY AND PROFIT. THERE IS SUCH THING AS AN ACCIDENT. MURDEROUS INTENT MUST BE FOUND.

IF A NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY CAN WASTE TIME AND MONEY ON A 10 SECOND MUSIC CLIP TO INTRODUCE KATIE COURIC'S CBS NEWS SHOW, HOW LIKELY IS IT THAT OUR NATION CARES ABOUT THE INJUSTICE OF AMERICA'S GUILT TRIP? MEANINGLESS WORDS ARE USED TO DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS MUSICAL INTRODUCTION: "FLEXIBLE YET MEMORABLE, SERIOUS AND URGENT YET LIGHT." OUR CRIMINAL SYSTEM OFTEN METES OUT PUNISHMENTS THAT ARE FLEXIBLE YET MEMORABLE, SERIOUS AND URGENT YET LIGHT, EXCEPT IN SPURIOUS CASES THAT PERVERT AN ACCIDENT INTO A CRIME.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. KNEW HOW TO COIN AN APPEALING AND SIMPLISTIC SOUND BITE. HE SAID, "INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS INJUSTICE EVERYWHERE." DR. KING, HOWEVER, HAD NO FORESIGHT WHEN HE REFERENCED RACISM. IF WE DEFINE LAWYERS AS A RACE OF PERVERTS WHO DENY ANY CITIZEN HIS OR HER RIGHT TO AN ACCIDENT, WE MUST ADMIT THAT THEY PRACTICE THEIR REVERSE RACISM AS "AN EXCESSIVE AND IRRATIONAL BELIEF IN OR ADVOCACY OF THE SUPERIORITY OF A GIVEN GROUP, PEOPLE, OR NATION( THEMSELVES) ON RACIAL GROUNDS ALONE." SELF-RIGHTEOUS AND GREEDY FOR FAME AND/OR FORTUNE, THEY HAVE REPLACED ACCIDENTS WITH EVIL INTENTIONS. IS THIS GOOD?

THE KISS OF DEATH

IF SPECULATORS BUILT A BASEBALL DIAMOND, FANS WOULD COME; IF I LIKE A FOOD MAKE A DELICIOUS DISCOVERY, IT WILL GO OR PROBABLY HAS ALREADY GONE OUT OF CIRCULATION. I HAVE CONCLUDED THAT MY APPROVAL LEVEL OF A PRODUCT RUNS COUNTERCLOCKWISE TO THE TASTES OF THE MASSES. WHENEVER I DISCOVER SOME EXCELLENT PRODUCT, I CAN ASSUME IT HAS BEEN OR WILL SOON BE REJECTED BY THE ARMIES OF SHOPPERS, WITHDRAWN FROM CIRCULATION OR PASS INTO THE VOID. I’M JUST A LONELY SOLDIER WHO HAS REASONED TO THIS CONCLUSION AFTER YEARS OF INDUCTIVE EXAMPLES.

TAKE TRUE LICORICE FROM SWITZERS, WITH THE 1ST INGREDIENT MOLASSES AND CONTAINING NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. EVEN WAL-MART DROPPED ITS AUSTRALIAN VERSION. NOW IT’S GONE.
I FOUND DROSTE 72% DARK CHOCOLATE, A HEAVENLY CLOSEOUT FROM BIG LOTS. I PURCHASED A YEAR'S SUPPLY. NOW IT TOO IS GONE.

TORENGOS CORN SHIPS FROM FRITO-LAY WERE THE BEST SNACK CHIP EVER, ESPECIALLY DELICIOUS WITH SALSA AND CHEESE AND POPPED INTO THE MICROWAVE. EVEN WAL-MART DROPPED THEM. NOW THEY ARE GONE.

TEXAS BEST BBQ SAUCE DISAPPEARED, WITH 1ST INGREDIENT TOMATOES AND NO CORN SYRUP INVOLVED. IT’S NOT EVEN KNOWN ON THE INTERNET.

A GREEN CHILI SAUCE, SWEET AND CREAMY, DISSIMILAR TO KROGER OR WAL-MART VARIETIES, I FOUND AS A BIG LOTS CLOSEOUT. GONE. PRESENT VERSIONS ON STORE SHELVES ARE FAR INFERIOR.

SESAME STICKS WITH GENUINE SESAME AND A MINIMUM OF WHEAT FLOUR FOR CONSISTENCY ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLY IN INFERIOR GRADES AND ONLY ON 'SPECIALTY' SHELVES.

CHEWY, CHERRY DOLLARS WITH NATURAL, RED RASBERRY TASTE WITHOUT THE GLYCERIN FEEL OF CORN SYRUP. THEY WERE LAST SEEN AND ENJOYED AT AN OUTDOOR FLEA MARKET YEARS AGO. PERHAPS SOME EQUIVALENCY IS SOLD SOMEWHERE, PERHAPS ON THE WEB , BUT I’M SURE THE PROHIBITIVE COST WILL TELL ME THAT MY THRILL SHOULD BE GONE.

MEIER'S 44 SHERRY, ITS SUPERIOR TASTE, TESTED BY MY PEERS, WON OUT OVER HARVEYS BRISTOL CREAM AND TWO OTHER PREMIUM BRANDS. I NOW MUST ORDER IT DIRECT FROM THE WINERY BECAUSE MARKETS DO NOT STOCK IT WITH THEIR OTHER SPIRITS.

TRUE BARLEY MALT FOR MALTED MILKS. A LEFT-OVER FROM THE YESTERYEAR OF MALT SHOPS, SODA COUNTERS AND JUKE BOXES. IT CAN NOW ONLY BE SPECIAL-ORDERED FROM HEALTH FOOD STORES OR OFF THE INTERNET, BUT I’VE CONCLUDED THAT IT IS JUST TOO EXPENSIVE.

AN ORIENTAL PLUM SAUCE, SUPERLATIVE TO NAME BRANDS, THE LAST GALLON A CLOSEOUT FROM BIG LOTS. WHEN IT’S GONE, I DOUBT THAT ANOTHER STANDOUT WILL TAKE ITS PLACE.

A CREAMY, GENERIC VODKA PASTA SAUCE, LIMITED IN SALT CONTENT SO THAT THE FLAVOR OF THE ALCOHOL FLOWED THROUGH EACH SERVING. AGAIN FROM BIG-LOTS. OTHER VERSIONS EXIST, BUT THE BEST MUST BE FORGOTTEN.

A NATURALLY FERMENTED OFF BRAND SOY SAUCE, COMPETITIVE WITH KIKKOMAN'S AT HALF THE PRICE. AGAIN FROM BIG LOTS. KIKKOMAN'S IS NOW MY ONLY RECOURSE.

YEAST RAISED DONUTS, UNSEEN AND UNFELT IN MY MOUTH SINCE THE 1980'S. APPARENTLY THEIR LIGHT CONSISTENCY AND THEIR FROSTING WITH SPRINKLES WERE NOT AS UNPOPULAR AS TODAY'S HEAVY CAKE-LIKE VARIETIES. I’M LUCKY I CAN LIVE WITHOUT SUGAR AND CAKE IN THE MORNING.

BUTTER FLAVORED SHORTBREAD COOKIES, LIGHT AND FLAKY. THEY WERE 99CENTS A BOX AT ALDI'S AND $5.00 FOR A HUGE, 3 LB. BOX AT THE CLOSEOUT OF BIG LOTS. NOW THEY’RE BOTH GONE. I LIVE WITH THE HOPE I'LL FIND THEM CHEAP AND REJECTED SOMEWHERE AGAIN.

THE DEFUNCT, 2-PLY WHITE CLOUD TOILET PAPER, DEFINITELY HANDS ABOVE THE MODERN VARIETIES - AND THERE ARE MANY TO CHOOSE FROM. TODAY’S ULTRA UNROLLS AT A DISTANT SECOND.

THE DOUBLE-SCENTED CARAMEL CANDLES WITH AN INTOXICATION TO DIE FOR THAT FILLED MY HOUSE. I’D PAY A PREMIUM PRICE FOR A YEAR OF THEIR DELIGHT, BUT MY FIERY PASSION WAS CUT SHORT WHEN THE FACTORY CLOSED BECAUSE OF A FIRE. WHAT LUCK!

A CHEAP, CHICAGO, THIN CRUST PIZZA, THE TAKE-OUT KIND WITH SAUSAGE, CHEESE AND SPICES . AVAILABLE AT MIDNIGHT BACK IN THE 70'S WHEN GREAT TASTE DID NOT INCLUDE NASTY PEPPERONI. THOSE DAYS ARE GONE, BUT NOW REMEMBERED WITH A VOW TO NEVER AGAIN BUY A PREPARED PIZZA.

PICKY EATING AND CLOSE-OUT SHOPPING HAVE OBVIOUSLY LED ME TO VALES OF TEARS OVER SOME OF MY LOVE'S LABORS' LOSSES. MY FINDS, HOWEVER, WERE SPLENDID WHILE THEY LASTED, ALTHOUGH WHAT I LIKED I OFTEN GAVE THE KISS OF DEATH.

HOW LONG WILL IT BE UNTIL BEEF LIVER, CHICKEN LIVERS AND RUTABAGAS DISAPPEAR FROM GROCERY CASES EVEN AS I’M STILL DROOLING?

PPP AGAIN AND AGAIN

WHAT SPECIFIC COULD PROTECT A THREE YEAR OLD DISABLED CHILD FROM A DEATH ENCASED IN ROPES IN A CLOSET? THE ACLU ADMITS TO THE "COMPLEX" EFFORTS OF CHILD-PROTECTION AGENCIES THAT STILL NEED "STRONG TRAINING, OVERSIGHT AND RISK ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS ...TO DETERMINE WHAT'S BEST FOR A NEGLECTED OR ABUSED CHILD"

WHAT SPECIFIC COULD NEGATE THE NEED FOR A FIBERGLASS DOME VILLAGE TO HOUSE THE HOMELESS IN A BIG CITY LIKE LOS ANGELES? AFTER 13 YEARS THE EXPERIMENT COULD NOT ACHIEVE FISCAL SUCCESS, CLOSING FOR LACK OF FUNDS
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WHAT SPECIFIC COULD REPLACE THE NURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP NURSES WHO TRY TO TEACH YOUNG, POOR, FIRST-TIME MOTHERS HOW TO BE GOOD PARENTS? UNMARRIED AND SEXUALLY ACTIVE TEENS ARE ILL-EQUIPPED TO COPE WITH PREGNANCIES AND CHILD-REARING WHEN BOTH THE MOTHER AND FATHER ARE DROP-OUTS FROM SCHOOL AND SHARE A HISTORY OF SMOKING, UNEMPLOYMENT, IRRESPONSIBILITY AND IMMATURITY.

WHAT SPECIFIC COULD PREVENT YOUNG, FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM HARASSING A HOME OWNER TO A TIPPING POINT OF EXASPERATION WHEN HE DELIBERATELY SHOOTS ONE OF THEM? REPEATED COMPLAINTS TO AUTHORITIES AND VISITS TO HIS HOME BY PARTYGOERS APPARENTLY DROVE HIM OVER THE EDGE OF SELF-CONTROL AND DECENCY.

ONE CITIZEN COMMENTING ON THIS LAST TRAGEDY, EXCUSES THE YOUNG WOMEN AS "TEENAGE GIRLS"... JUST "BEING KIDS." THIS DEFENSE IS AN APT ASSESSMENT OF THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF AMERICA'S CULTURAL AND SOCIAL CRISIS. CHILDREN ARE NOT EXPECTED TO GROW UP.

THE SPECIFIC I HAVE IN MIND IS PPP - PROPER, PRIOR, PARENTING. NEITHER NATURAL PARENTS NOR FOSTER PARENTS IN THE PRESENT GENERATION OR IN SEVERAL PAST GENERATIONS, HAVE PRACTICED WHAT FATHER KNEW BEST - DISCIPLINE. IN SPITE OF SOME OF ITS WORTHLESSNESS, THE IDEALIZED WORLD OF OZZIE NELSON AND BEAVER CLEAVER ON TELEVISION, EMBRACED A CODE OF DISCIPLINE ROOTED IN THE 10 COMMANDMENTS. DEATHS FROM STUPIDITY - LIKE THOSE OF 6 CHILDREN IN A CHICAGO FIRE RECENTLY CAUSED BY CANDLES BURNING IN AN UNHEATED AND UNLIT RESIDENCE - WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE PRICE PAID FOR ABANDONING PPP.

DISCOMFORT ZONE

JONATHAN FRANZEN WOULD NEVER EXPERIENCE A "DISCOMFORT ZONE," AS IN THE TITLE OF HIS RECENT MEMOIR, IF HE UNDERSTOOD ONE OF HIS COLLEGE PROFESSORS WHO (IN FRANZEN’S WORDS) "FELT FOR LITERATURE THE KIND OF HEADLONG LOVE AND GRATITUDE THAT A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN FEELS FOR JESUS."

AS A SAD AND GLOOMY LIBERAL, MR. FRANZEN CANNOT INTERNALIZE THE MEANING OF HEADLONG LOVE, A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN OR POSSIBLY EVEN JESUS. THEREFORE, HE CANNOT COMPREHEND THE DELIGHT, COMFORT, HOPE AND SUSTAINING SATISFACTION THAT READERS FIND IN GREAT LITERATURE. CLASSIC WORKS OF FICTION - NOVELS, POETRY AND SHORT STORIES - AND SUPERB EXAMPLES OF NON-FICTION WRITING - ESSAYS, SPEECHES AND MEMOIRS. AT THEIR CORES, THEY VICARIOUSLY TRANSPORT VICTIMS OF COLERIDGE'S "WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF," INTO ALTERNATIVE AND INSTRUCTIVE WORLDS WHICH UPLIFT SPIRITS OR ALTER SOULS. THE READER IS WELL AWARE THAT HE OR SHE IS INCAPABLE OF SUCH SUPERB EXPRESSION, BUT NEVERTHELESS, HE OR SHE KNOWS THAT SOME INEXPLICABLE FORCE, SOME INSPIRATION, CAUSES UNIQUE AND MAGNIFICENT WORDS AND THOUGHTS TO OOZE FORTH.

AS A LIBERAL, MR. FRANZEN CAN NEVER COMMIT TO UNEXPLAINED PASSION ROOTED IN TRUTH. LIBERALISM, PER SE, DISALLOWS FOR ANY SUBMISSION TO UNDENIABLE TRUTHS. BECAUSE A LIBERAL IS A LIBERAL FIRST, WHAT'S IMPORTANT WILL ALWAYS COME IN SECOND. GREAT LITERATURE ENGAGES OUR IMAGINATION AS WELL AS ENLISTS OUR MINDS IN THE WAR FOR UNIVERSAL TRUTHS. IT QUESTIONS HUMAN VALUES, BASIC FREEDOMS, WHO WE ARE AND WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO BELIEVE. IMMORALITY, IMMORTALITY, COURAGE, COWARDICE, MATERIALISM, LOVE, CRUELTY AND DEATH FLICKER THROUGH PAGES OF PRINT AS GOODS OR EVILS. ELITISM, LIBERALISM AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS OBFUSCATE THIS PROCESS OF DISCOVERY AND ENLIGHTENMENT. AND JOY. AND COMFORT IN LIFE.

GET A LIFE

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SAY, "I HAVE NO LIFE?" DOES IT MEAN GETTING 5 HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT LIKE RYAN SEACREST BECAUSE HE IS AN INCREDIBLY BUSY CELEBRITY? OR GETTING 6 HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT LIKE A TEENAGER WHO HAS CHOSEN TO STAY UP TILL MIDNIGHT EVEN THOUGH 6 A.M IS HIS TIME TO RISE FOR SCHOOL? OR GETTING A PROFESSORSHIP BECAUSE AS AN INTELLECTUAL ONE WILL GAIN CREDIBILITY DENYING THE EXISTENCE OF THE WAR ON TERROR ON THE BASIS OF SEMANTICS ALONE? OR BECOMING AN ELITE PRIVILEGED TO LIVE IN A MILLION DOLLAR HOME IN A COMMUNITY OF WELLNESS-FILLED LIVING? DOES IT MEAN EARNING A NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS AS A THINKER WHO OPINES THAT THE "GOOD REASONS" FOR LOW BIRTH RATES AROUND THE WORLD ARE THE "HIGH TIME COST OF RAISING CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY FOR EDUCATED WOMEN AND THE DESIRE OF PARENTS IN KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMIES TO INVEST MORE IN EACH CHILD?"

DO THESE EXAMPLES REPRESENT HAVING "NO LIFE"? I DON'T THINK SO. ON THE CONTRARY, THEY EXEMPLIFY LIFE CHOICES. MR. SEACREST DEFINES HIS LIFE BY FAME AND FORTUNE; HE WOULD HAVE IT NO OTHER WAY. TEENAGERS TRADITIONALLY CHOSE TO BURN THEIR ADOLESCENT CANDLES AT TWO ENDS - ONE WICK FOR PEER RELATIONSHIPS AND THE OTHER FOR PERSONAL GRATIFICATION. PROFESSORS ASPIRE TO A RESPECTED PLACE IN THEIR ISOLATED, IVORY TOWERS. THE ELITE DELIBERATELY REPLACE BASIC LIVING WITH OSTENTATION, ARTIFICIALITY AND FALSE SPIRITUALITY. AN ECONOMIST DELIBERATELY FOCUSES ON SPOILED PARENTS FOR HIS RATIONALE ON LOW BIRTH RATES, NEGLECTING THE OVERWHELMING NUMBERS OF PARENTS AROUND THE WORLD FOR WHOM CHILDREN - WITHOUT CONSIDERATIONS OF MONEY - REPRESENT GENUINE MEANING IN LIFE.

A COMPLAINT ABOUT HAVING "NO LIFE," RATHER THAN INDEXING ABSENCE OF MEANING, ILLUMINATES SURVIVAL CHOICES. IT REVEALS EVERYTHING ABOUT WHAT FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON APTLY TITLED HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, "MY LIFE."