Happy Halloween

It’s the evening before a holy day, hallow’s eve, All Saints Day, November 1st. As with many holidays, the origin is religious but the end result is conspicuous, irreligious consumption. Christmas is now the Holiday season. I can proudly assert that my participation in Halloween is de nada. No candy purchased or distributed, no costume assumed or displayed, no party attended or missed. No personal contribution to billions of dollars lost to a day like any other day except for the fact that my evening precedes an annual, morning trip to church. Why is a Halloween greeting determined be a happy one? The holiday, pray tell, reminds us of the accepted and hoped-for destination of us mortals - heaven - where all the saints await our arrival. What trick or treater, what beggar tonight has a clue?

War - for good or evil?

"Let it flame or fade, and the war roll down like a wind,
We have proved we have hearts in a cause, we are noble still,
And myself have awaked, as it seems, to the better mind:
It is better to fight for the good, than to rail at the ill;
I have felt with my native land, I am one with my kind,
I embrace the purpose of God, and the doom assign’d."
Alfred Lord Tennyson’s British poem MAUD about the Crimean war, 1854-1855.

According to an author, Charles Royster, in the War between the States about a hundred years later, two Generals, William Sherman and Thomas Jackson, representing the North and South respectively, saw that "God was the ultimate guarantor of the intelligibility of war, "... But they saw God working in different ways."

One defender of the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War (1861-18650, who was running for Governor of Ohio, argued that the public should accept the law. He said, "like a soldier fighting in the ranks, I hold it to be my duty to obey him, my commanding officer, in all things, without questioning his policy in this great contest."

In 1864, a black leader, Mr. Randolph told his people, "the dead heroes of those and other bloody fields (of battle in the Civil War) are the seeds of mighty harvests of human goodness and greatness, yet to be reaped by the nations of the world, and by Africa’s sable descendants on the soil of this, our native land."

1865, the CHICAGO TRIBUNE newspaper reminded Americans that "All war is retaliation - suffering - punishment of the innocent for the sins of the guilty."

1880, in Columbus, Ohio General William Sherman warned against hailing its glorious side, when he said, War...is Hell." "Wars are not all evil." Sherman also said late in life, "They are part of the grand machinery by which this world is governed."

Long after the Civil War ended, poet and essayist Oliver Wendell Holmes, argued that people "will fight and die to make a different world."

So is War a force for good or evil? A double-edged sword at its worst, war is a blessing in disguise at its best. Contending forces always perceive their causes justly anointed by God and victory, even in an uneasy peace, to be a force for humanitarian progress.

Rachel who?

In this year, the centenary of Rachel Carson’s birth, we need to reconsider the significance of initial letters of certain words. S.. S... for silent spring, S... F ...F ... H... for simple, fair, flat and honest, and S... P... N... B... S... for solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. The first two words consonant with a lie, were perpetrated by the environmentalist author in her book SILENT SPRING. The next four words describe the qualities of a fair tax system so sorely needed in this country today. The last five remind us of the consequences of living without cooperation and enterprise between individuals in a civilized society. The five words used by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, described man’s pathetic existence in the undesirable state of nature. The results of Rachel Carson’s cause celebre - the eradication of D.D.T - a chemical that killed the malaria-bearing mosquitoes, brought about solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short lives for millions of children and adults around the world since the 1960's when her book was first published. She preferred a state of nature. Would that nature lovers, politicians, academics and scientists practiced simple, fair, flat and honest analysis of this influential woman’s crusade which favored birds, beasts and insects over mankind.

Perfect

A cloudless Robin’s egg at morn-
A glistening emerald gauze-
A windless hush, a touch of fall-
His momentary pause.

WAR/PEACE

War is hell but its remembrance is about heroes.

"Generally war is destruction and nothing else," according to William Tecumseh Sherman during the American Civil War fought between 1861 and 1865.

"And the war came,’ was Abraham Lincoln’s conclusion about the War Between the Northern and Southern states.

"The pseudo right of secession is a national wrong," according to Thomas Stonewall Jackson about this national conflict over slavery and union.

"I could have taken no other course without dishonor," was Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s conclusion.

A hundred years later, in the 1960's, Craig Ventner, a corpsman in Viet Nam said the war zone was a "university of death."

"It’s about death and dying," according to Marcus Luttrell, a lone survivor of a Navy Seal operation called Redwing, in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan in 2005.

Enough empirical evidence proves that war is hell, but its memory should be about its heroes.

Two observers of the grand review of the Union armies in Washington D.C. in 1865 following the end of the Civil war wrote: "The whole country claimed these heroes as a part of themselves, an infinite gratification forever to the national self-love; and the thoughtful diplomats who looked on the scene from the reviewing stand could not help seeing that there was a conservative force in an intelligent democracy which the world had never before known."

America fights wars to preserve our freedom. Will there ever be a permanent peace? Though we "contend against evil" and make "no peace with oppression", according to the Book of Common Prayer, will we be able to "reverently use our freedom," and "employ it in the maintenance of justice among men and nations?" Your guess (and hope) is as good as mine.

Predatory Spending

Trick or treat?

Predatory lending or spending: Money spent by the food police for an agenda driven study to prove that even a small weight gain in childhood triggers diabetes.
Predatory lending or spending: This weekend A.T.&T. will waive the activation fee of $100 when an entire family signs up for their cell phone services.
Predatory lending or spending: Fashion bullies in middle school pressuring parents and pre-teens to buy the proper, popular clothes and accessories.
Predatory lending or spending: Classical music, a genre of the spiritual, becomes a casualty to pop music that answers the call of commercialism.
Predatory lending or spending: Payday loans are being targeted for legislation which will restrict their free market response to the public’s demand.
Predatory lending or spending: Lenders of mortgages in default are being asked to ‘forgive’ some of the payments of customers in arrears.

The trick is not predatory lending and the treat is what people hope to derive from spending. Lending is not predatory; rather it is risky, competitive and market driven. The trick, the prank, the deception, the joke that Americans play upon themselves, is predatory spending or self-inflicted irresponsibility. Instead of practicing self-control and common sense, Americans have become credit junkies, masters of living beyond their means. Excuses for the poor and stupid are always raised by liberal heads. Liberal politicians without critical or realistic thinking just play into falsehoods about predatory lending. Their blame of predatory lending is misplaced. Rather than sponsor efforts to limit or minimize the tricks that predatory spending play on the ignorant and misguided, politicians and do-gooders take the easy way out and just treat themselves to a repetition of the mantra ‘protect the poor.’

It’s still spooky - this Halloween.

PARTY TIME

"I can party with the best of ‘em, but I’m afraid I must party with principle," signed yours truly . Principle involves refraining from a waste of time and money. But ordinary Americans, philanthropic groups and politicians in Washington know how to party. A pink ribbon on my quick rise yeast packet accompanies the words "bake for the cure." Locally a red ribbon campaign hopes to encourage teenagers to adapt healthy life style choices. Yellow ribbons represent money spent in support of our troops. Employees at IBM are given $150 if they sign up a child for an online program on diet and exercise. A top University sponsors a study about the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and diets, both red meat and vegetarian. These examples merely waste of resources (time and money). Their concessions to good feelings trump reasoned behavior. Ribbons, free money, phoney studies and health and environmental concerns cause warm and fuzzy vibes that distract from reason and common sense. Like a party - unless thrown at home for two, where it saves me time and money.

bored

Here are some family suggestions for getting ‘unplugged’ from the television tube which I copied from the back of a corn flakes cereal box.
You could...
volunteer your time at a soup kitchen
work on a jigsaw puzzle
try a new recipe
go for a walk together
play catch
arrange photos into a family scrapbook
plan a day trip
research your family tree
play board games
Or:..
clean out your closets and hold a family yard sale
ride bikes
fly kites
plant some flowers
go for a drive
play cards
go on a picnic
play charades
catch fireflies
go bowling
roller blade
ice skate
If you’re still bored...
go to a park
visit a museum
go to the zoo
window shop
read aloud a chapter from a book
play miniature golf
have a water balloon fight

Or like my neighbor you could , in the pouring rain, pick dead bark from a dead tree plunking the pieces into a barrel.

Or like me who has tried all of the temporary solutions listed above at some time or other, you could choose the ultimate, self-satisfying past time - reading a book. AND NEVER BE BORED.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Let’s consider three players of the week:

High School scout team award for player of the week

High School special team coordinator award for player of the week

Navy Seal reconnaissance team member awarded posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor

None of the three above recipients spoke English aloud. The first two mumbled unintelligibly in front of a radio mike; the third shouted eloquently from beyond his grave.

Only one of the three could inspire tears. What were once the admired adjectival qualities in a man by Yankees during the Civil War, direct, competent, courageous, devout and patriotic, have now become bifurcated in their meanings and applications. A football team on the battlefield trivializes such character traits; another military team represents their legitimate definitions.

A casualty rate of two- thirds is unacceptable and sad. Two insignificant players vs. one heroic one. Thank God a young man, Lieutenant P. Murphy, was recognized for his contribution to America’s traditional greatness even though he died heroically in Afghanistan in 2005.

Additionally I must factor in the politically correct and misguided wherever I shop or whenever I hear the ‘news.’ My quick rise yeast packet asked me to "Bake for the cure" with its pink ribbon. My local radio station announced that it was red ribbon week to ask high school students to "make healthy life-style choices."

Thank God one young man, Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy did in Afghanistan in 2005.

FOLLIES

Officers on the Japanese Battleship the Yamato - saki-inspired - felt that the three great follies were the "pyramids, the Great Wall of China and the Yamato. A worldly philosopher suggests that is "conspicuous material consumption." I contend it is the U.S. Congress. Each monumental folly signifies a death.

4,100 men were lost April 7th, 1945 in World War II, in a sea battle which culminated in the sinking of the largest warship ever built, the Yamato. The pyramids housed significant dead pharaohs. The Great Wall of China was built at the cost of thousands of lives. The habit of conspicuous consumption in America today represents the death of both savings and personal responsibility. Lastly, the death knell of personal freedom, stripped away by continuous legislation, has been sounded by our U.S. Congress - both parties ringing it loud and clear.

Is any good folly worth the price of a death? Or should it teach us a lesson in common sense? One thing is certain - people never learn.

PREPARING

Sunlit my view
Swoop to the stump
Pecks with red head
Flies to a tree.

Masters the action
Falls to the task
Sunflower the seed
Sought out of need.

Larder somewhere
Winter on call
Flicker red-bellied
Brightens my day.

THE OWL OF MINERVA

Hegel the philosopher said that " Whatever happens, every individual is a child of his time; so philosophy is its own time apprehended in thought." "As the thought of the world, it appears only when actuality is already there cut and dried, after its process of formation has been completed ... The Owl of Minerva (Roman goddess of Wisdom) spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk."

A literary reviewer of On the Road , praised Jack Kerouac for "setting his sentimentality to the mad rhythm of an ebullient new language." With admiration the reviewer called the manic-depressive author a missing link between Thomas Wolfe and Tom Wolfe. Words from the wise bird about the free verse poem, however, should be heard as pornographic filth. The reviewer was a self-professed child of Kerouac’s time so his present views unwisely dredge up his past.

A female columnist suggests "there isn’t a woman in America who hasn’t been patronized - or worse - for being a woman." I can prove her major premise wrong with an exception, myself. She draws her lesson from history, the history of the 60's revolution with its feminist philosophy. But I have never been there or experienced that. As a child of her times, she believes that the wise owl should hoot for everyone, including me.

Why can’t we learn the lessons of history and move forward after we have found answers through our love of wisdom (philosophy)?

BUYER BEWARE!

Review of lethal injection procedures has resulted in the lowest level of executions in a decade. This illogical state of affairs costs American taxpayers extra money not only to keep killers alive, but also for litigation that enriches lawyers who steal from the pocketbooks of ordinary tax-paying citizens. Perhaps there is some correlation between the number of non-tax paying citizens and the violent crime rate; a legitimate study ought to be conducted. Nevertheless, victim hood that once was relegated to the abused and dead, today is applied to criminals, already damned, if their actions are judged over their lawyers’ words.

From one inhabiting the state with the University with the largest athletic budget in the nation and in the history of college sports, 109,000,000...

From one reading a national newspaper catering to rich elites who are totally irrelevant to my life...

From one who has never visited any of the 8 popular world-wide Web domains patronized by over 280 billion viewers...

Come words with Biblical reference. Since the fall of Lucifer and Adam and Eve, the perpetual scream will always be for justice. God’s creatures need capital punishment for egregious crimes in order to atone for sins against humanity. Yet, we commute virtually all death sentences to life imprisonment as well as reduce virtually all prison terms in one way or another. Swift and sure justice has been swept aside. Let the buyers who compromise justice beware!

TRUTH

Truth is obviously the secret ingredient of eloquence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority, the highest summit of art and of life. These words cry out for two clarifying examples.

A mother of four who works full time hires a "family coach" to help her organize her life. She worries about the nutrition in ‘fast food’ meals served to her ‘family.’ She rises at dawn for her workouts.

I visit a modern art museum, not a small enclave where unintelligible representations of squiggly lines in a mishmosh of colors occupy framed spaces on the walls. I immerse myself in a cheery space with uplifting, representational displays of art. Creative logos and images adorn bottle after bottle of nutritional spirits arranged appealingly on shelves. What to choose? Labels shout of fruits, berries, animals, trees, symbols and romance in hues and words, each artistic message clear, not subliminal.

I bought a work of art to hang one on in testament to the loss of truth, to the fact that the busy, working self-absorbed, hedonistic modern mother is - sadly - completely nuts and engaged in a life of lies.

WHY FOLLOW THE NUMBERS

An average of 90,000 fans attend football games each year at the Cleveland sports stadium. This number is twice the average of baseball attendance, four times the average of basketball and hockey. Footballs’ numbers obviously betray its popularity. Even locally, a sports equipment technician is needed to check over nuts, bolts and the air pressure of football helmets at the close of a high school playing season.

About 20,000,000 people patronize some Walt Disney theme parts each year. The same number is the average take at theaters for movie-going each week and for T.V, viewing of network programs. Such data demonstrate what entertains the masses.

I never suspected. I never cared. I won’t attend a ballpark or theme park in my lifetime because of lack of interest in both the venues and the foolish expenditure of money. Even though these decisions mean that tailgating and its accompanying rowdy behavior will pass me by, each won’t be missed. My choices mean that I do not follow the laws of large numbers. Marching to that "different, distant drummer" championed by writer Henry David Thoreau, I have long, lonely rows to hoe.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

A cosmological observation from philosopher Emmanuel Kant, approx. 1781
"Two things fill me with awe because of their sublimity - the starry heavens above us and the moral law within us."

An opinion from philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841
"With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." He must "reconcile with that Over-Soul within which every man’s particular being is contained and made one with all others" ... "yielding to the spirit of prophecy which is innate in every man."

The law of evolution according to philosopher John Fiske, 1902
"We are now prepared to show inductively that wherever, as in organic aggregates, the conditions permit, the integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion, which primarily constitutes Evolution, is attended by a continuous change from indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to definite, coherent heterogeneity of structure and function, through successive differentiations and integrations."

An evolutionary thought from philosopher C.S. Peirce, 1902
"Sundry far less tenable hypotheses of lacunae between inviolable laws have been proposed."
A consideration of God by philosopher John Dewey, 1934
"We may well ask whether the power and significance in life of the traditional conceptions of God are not due to the ideal qualities referred to by them, the hypostatization of them into an existence being due to a conflux of tendencies in human nature that converts the object of desire into an antecedent reality."

The homeowners defense act according to Democrat Tim Mahoney, 2007
"Our bill addresses this problem by allowing states that have tough building codes and an actuarially sound catastrophe program to be eligible for market competitive bridge loans to cover shortfalls in their catastrophe funds and in extreme disasters, access to low interest, long term loans."

Seems to me the lacuna between words and the comprehension of them has gradually enlarged over time always leaving us with word scat. Somewhere along the years the Transcendentalists reached the insight that through thought and will we can transcend the material level to a higher one of inspiration and miracle called the ideal. Yes, wonder at the world’s offerings is where we should begin; living a good life is where we should end. Anything in between will always remain just as unintelligible as the five confusing and incomprehensible quotes above.

A THOUGHT

Why oh Why on October 15th do I hear a XMAS concert advertised on local radio? Why oh Why on this day have Wal-Mart and other retailers already begun to stock the shelves with holiday season merchandise? Why oh Why other than to confirm what Carolyn Wells wrote sometime around the turn of the last century: "I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give!"
A lovely thought indicative of the spirit of giving component of Christmas. The author’s winning slogan in a contest "The smile that won’t come off," even more appropriately captures the spirit of the Christmas season. Yet, Christmas measures America’s ‘albedo.’ Rather than gauge the percentage of illumination reflected from the surface of the Earth by the Sun, Christmas measures America’s percentage of conspicuous, material consumption in proportion to the true meaning of the holy occasion. It (albedo) shows the ratio of incoming money reflected into the economy relative to length of time for marketing. In other words, the longer the shadow of Christmas, the darker the depths into which Americans sink into debt. Are the gifts and the smiles worth it?

A SURVIVOR

Dignity - an inward resistance to determination by external forces
Transcend - to surpass the limits or possibilities of a system
Survival - to live beyond the death of another or an event
Compassion - pity for suffering with a desire to help or spare
Victim hood - bondage only transcended in death

The meanings of the above words could be explored in relation to life in a Nazi or Soviet concentration camp where death or survival depended upon preservation of self-interest. However, they also inspire me to consider my anomie. The U.S. spent $5,700 a person on health care in 2003 but thank goodness, I was not included. Where, therefore, is my refund of $5,700? I used up not a cent on my health care. Justice requires that the government or the medical community reimburse me for their theft. Liberals, socialists, progressive democrats, elitist politicians, dictatorial plutocrats and misguided do-gooders, have it all wrong. A healthy person -or an unhealthy person - has a right to choose health insurance, access health care or not.

I not only do not need heath care but I choose not to ask my neighbor to pay for it. With dignity, I transcend the system of victim hood, surviving without compassion for others who are not in solidarity with me even though I am not suffering. After immersing myself in readings about the quotidian grind of a concentration camp, I am strengthened in my resolve to go it alone.

1984

"The best dystopian books take the seeds of contemporary trouble and raise them, so that we can contemplate the scary futuristic fruits of the way we live now." In words other than from a book reviewer, I say, pay attention to our present ills. Idealism masquerading as Jihadist ideology or liberal socialism threatens our civilized, Western world. Winston Churchill granted that "the human race cannot make progress without idealism," but ideals from the ‘brain’ of Beelzebub don’t count. When past President Franklin Roosevelt expressed the ideals he held for America as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear, the Devil was not in the details. Today, our four freedoms are jeopardized. The intolerant left often legislates against politically incorrect speech or religious utterances and practices. The freedom to choose or ignore certain foods, drinks, jobs or material possessions is supplemented by unnecessary and unnatural external, governmental help. Security and peace of mind that we should enjoy as we go about our daily lives, are threatened by moral lapses in our culture and lack of backbone in our leadership.

Suffering and death constituted the details of Adolph Hitler’s and Joseph Stalin’s dreams of their ideal worlds. The Holocaust in Germany and the Great Purges of Russia produced an endless scream. Its echo was heard around the civilized world. Silence from the survivors would have been the real crime against humanity. But America’s ideals, past and present emanate from the ‘mind of God’ not from some unholy place. We concerned citizens need to speak out. I say "semper paratus," because it’s better to live in an imperfect utopia than in 1984.

Whack! Whack!

Whack! A ranting feminist wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
Whack! An atheist and mathematician debate, "Does God Exist?"
Whack! An American 5th columnist lawyer delivers a college lecture on ethics.
Whack! The Turks are condemned for their Armenian Genocide a century ago.
Whack! Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize

These five nails are being driven into the coffin of a dying America.. These few whacks are sufficient to mark the first day of the fall of our homeland, our Rome. These five whacks initiate the collapse of Western Civilization founded on the dual tradition of reason, Athens, and faith, Jerusalem. Each driven nail represents a disregard for the pursuit of truth, an embrace of the lie and a step down an alternative path, toward the East, where intolerance and compulsion are the bulwarks of enforced religiosity, anti-intellectuality and socialism.

The fifth nail of political correctness driven by Al Gore, the present winner of the the United Nation’s Peace Prize represents an endorsement of socialism, anti-Americanism and liberal dictatorship. It reprises the whacking sounds when Arafat, the terrorist, and Carter, the incompetent boob, sealed the fate of democracy around the world and here in America.

Whack! Whack! Read these musical thuds and weep because they are nails driven into the coffin of America, once beautiful, brave and free, but being buried alive.

"Bear the Unbearable"

How much longer can Americans "bear the unbearable?" Emperor Meiji used these words to tell his people to endure defeat in 1894 at the time of a treaty following Japan’s surrender. About 50 years later, his grandson, Hirohito, in 1945 re-iterated this phrase to his people, "Bear the unbearable," following VJ day and the defeat of Japan in World War II. Now more than 60 years later, our President Bush must continue to "bear the unbearable from the political left. The unbearable behavior of liberals ( and some ‘turncoat’ Republicans) involves lies about the right wing’s conspiracy (it’s actually the left’s and the media’s), the poor economy (actually it’s great since Bush’s tax cuts), the status of illegals ( they are actually useful for democrat votes), the state of public education ( actually it’s a failure), the quagmire in the Iraq war ( actually we ared winning the war) the deprivation of freedom of speech ( actually it’s out of control in our culture of hedonism and promiscuity) and the value of sports and exercise ( actually these manias dumb us down.). To further exemplify the last left wing falsehood, I quote from a sports interviewer and high school player of the week - to get my jollies laughing off the sad state of current affairs. The adult says, he hopes the boy will "give some spirit uplift to" his teammates. The player notes "there’s some big linemen and stuff these guys."

I "bear the unbearable" each time I hear local talents speak. Our President endures the slings and arrows of politics’ outrageous fortune. America bears the burden of children murdering and being murdered each day and so-called adults litigating out of greed and victim hood. Who doesn’t know the Devil himself is the author of such confusion and lies? Yet who can sort out the truth? God help America "bear the unbearable" present condition until solutions can be found.

Cal Speaks

If I were President I would tell each American to "Put your brain in gear before you engage your mouth." Meaning? Think first, then act. Get the data before the feeling. Ask what your common sense can do for you before seeking help from others. Understand that there is no such thing as junk food only an excess of delicious choices.

If I were President I would ask each American to consider this: The virtue of selfishness preached by Ayn Rand should not be controversial. When Ayn said that the individual is an end in himself or herself - regardless of her anti-religiosity - she was instinctively preaching the moral Gospel, based on natural law, according to Jesus Christ.

If I were President, my lack of pretension would be fair game. I would remind each American that America’s culture, America’s economic policies and America’s position on defense - each an important issue in the pursuit of happiness- call for a position in support of the right to freedom for the individual along with its incumbent responsibilities.

And what might my lack of pretension require? Optimism. And sheer courage of each and every American to assume individual responsibility and to keep America’s cup ½ full, not ½ empty. To fly our flag lit in its exalted position, coruscating on the hill.

In threes

"We got a lot of first time kids is played." Coach speaks.
"He holds up a card and I do what it says," High school football athlete speaks.

The margin of literacy between the two is narrow, scarey.

When Christian fundamentalists speak, they are denigrated for their version of the creation of man and the earth. When Native Americans speak about their fundamental, animalistic myths about the circle of life, they are honored and respected.

The margin of error between the God and primitivism is filled by liberalism or political correctness.

An ongoing 9 year study, concluding in 2009, costing 200 million dollars, will determine whether CT scans of lungs should be standard care if they can detect lung cancer. No agenda-driven politician or researcher asked the public to approve this waste of their money. Nor did any scientist ask the common sense question, "Would smokers quit after they were scanned and knew that cigarettes were harming their lungs or even killing them?" The obvious answer is "No!"

An error in realism and fundamental economics lies behind the agenda-driven avoidance of truth.

No warrior on the gridiron today acting defensively or offensively (coach neologisms) could write With the Old Breed.. This is a literate memoir by a soldier in World War II, E. B. Sledge. He was just a boy, quickly turned man, from a lost generation, but he reminds us of how far back we have slid since a time when literacy, God and truth (a dynamic trio) were safely acknowledged in American culture.

THREE DEATHS

What has our America come to? A former surfer and psychologist now holds the position of head
librarian at a state university. He refers to research assignments into gun control and global warming coming from students as if these two issues were legitimate. He discusses a "completely wireless campus" as if books no longer exist. "Gilly, golly," the internet is exciting, he contends.

Then I hear on the radio’s national news that there were heat strokes - and one death - forcing the shutdown of Chicago’s marathon, a marathon itself a vivid representation of how far America -and the world - has receded from common sense and rational intelligence.

Deaths come in threes, so within 5 minutes, I am told that a local agency will sponsor 5 and 10 k walks and runs to support the worthy cause of homeless veterans, of which there are 250,000 in the United States. Of course, no connection will ever be made between the cure behind the cause, the false numbers or the lack of logic behind excessive, unnecessary and injurious exercise.

Give me a break from politically correct insanity. A reality check proves that bookishness is due for a comeback because surfing the Internet is the present wave on which we ride. The pursuit of some mental exercises is also long overdue because people jog along pathways to death and deadening of the brain. Respect and care for our veterans is at an all time high unless the homeless is victim (?) of mental illness or drug addiction wandering about aimlessly, no doubt eventually encountering other victims of modern manias like running and (Internet) browsing. In each case America sponsors deadheads in the making.

Leave it to Him

Heinrich Himmler, the mass murderer and member of the Nazi SS during World War II, and 2nd most powerful man in Germany under Adolph Hitler, said of his idol, the Fuhrer, "He is the greatest genius of all time."

A Catholic priest said of the Holocaust perpetrators, "Leave criminals to the judgment of God."

Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor who hunted down Nazi war criminals in order to bring them to justice, said, "Friendship ends where a crime is concerned."

None of these three statements about crime and criminals can be rationally understood, emotionally embraced or completely understood. So why not leave the problem to Him? The Devil at work in the world, daily demonstrates his ability to convert fire into ice and ice into flame. How the greatest criminal can be transformed into the greatest genius is a mystery, best left to Him. And when atheists and agnostics deny Him, they just highlight Himmler’s words, consigning justice and hope to darkness.

REGIMES

ONE WHO KNOWS SAID OF IRAN'S ISLAMIC REGIME: YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND
THE EVILS OF A REGIME UNLESS YOU KNOW THE DETAILS OF EVERYDAY LIFE.
DR. DEAN EDELL, AN OBVIOUS CALIFORNIAN ONCE THE DETAILS OF HIS
PHILOSOPHICAL STANCE ARE KNOWN, ADVOCATES GETTING RID OF UNDESIRED
OR UNDESIRABLE CHILDREN THROUGH ABORTIONS. THESE ARE SIMILAR TO
MISCARRIAGES, HE SAYS, IN WHICH NATURE DISCARDS ITS IMPERFECTIONS.
THIS DR. WHO PLAYS GOD, HATES GOD AND DENIES GOD IS ONE EXAMPLE OF A
PARTICIPANT IN THE LIBERAL REGIME.

THE SS, SCHUTZSTAFFEL, ORIGINALLY A PROTECTIVE SQUAD THAT WAS
BODYGUARD FOR GERMANY'S ADOLPH HITLER, REPRESENTS A DIFFERENT KIND
OF COMEDY OF HORRORS. ITS MENTAL JUSTIFICATIONS LED TO PHYSICAL
EXTERMINATION OF UNDESIRABLES, NAMELY JEWS, RELIGIOUS, CAPITALISTS,
COMMUNISTS, POLES, ELITES, EDUCATORS, HOMOSEXUALS AND GYPSIES.

THEN THERE IS THE RED-BLOODED AMERICAN WHO HAS FOLLOWED BRUCE
SPRING STEEN, KNOWN AS "THE BOSS", FEVERISHLY FOR 30 YEARS, ACQUIRING
HIS EVERY NEW RELEASE FROM ON 8-TRACK TO VIDEO iPOD AND PATRONIZING
HIS EVERY NEW CONCERT. THE DESIRE TO IMPOSE HIS MANIA ONTO THE NEXT
GENERATION, HIS SON, IS STRONG BECAUSE WHAT IS DESIRABLE TO HIM
SHOULD BE DESIRABLE TO ONE LESS INFORMED.

THE DEVIL IS ALWAYS IN THE DETAILS OF A REGIME, WHETHER THAT OF A
LIBERAL MIND, NAZI GERMANY OR "THE BOSS." PERHAPS FOLLOWING "THE
BOSS" STRETCHES THE MEANING OF EVIL, BUT IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T DEVIATE
FROM THE CONCEPT OF A REGIME. IT BEGS THE QUESTION, HOWEVER, "WHAT
CONSTITUTES A USELESS LIFE?"

2 AMERICAS

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE TWO AMERICAS. THE WEALTHY AND THOSE WHO HAVE LED LIVES TO NOT BE. LIBERALS WHOSE MIND SET PREVENTS THEM FROM CHOOSING TO CROSS OVER INTO CONSERVATIVE THINKING. WRITERS WHO INCORPORATE ELITIST BUZZ WORDS INTO THEIR TEXTS, SUCH AS SHEPHERD, NAVIGATE, SHUTTER AND SEAMLESS, OR ERUDITE ALTERNATIVES SUCH AS NARTHEX, CONTUMACIOUS OR NUGACITES AND THOSE WHO EXPRESS THEMSELVES LIKE PLAIN FOLKS WOULD UNDERSTAND USING SYNONYMS SUCH AS GUIDE, MOVE, CLOSE AND SMOOTHLY AND SIMPLER TERMS, VESTIBULE, REBELLIOUS AND USELESS. THE PARENTS AND CHILDREN WITH ENTHUSIASM AND COMPETITIVENESS IN A PARTICULAR SPORT THAT LEADS TO MANIC BEHAVIOR AND DRUG USE (MARION JONES, THE OLYMPIC RUNNER, IS THE LATEST TO BE OUTED FOR STEROID USE) AS OPPOSED TO THOSE WHO SEE THEM AS UNREASONABLE. THE PITIABLE CONDITION OF EDUCATION TODAY IS READILY UNDERSTOOD WHEN THE COACH OF A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM CARRIES ABOUT A 37 PAGE SCOUTING REPORT AND A VIDEO REPORT AND HIS PLAYERS REVIEW THE ACTIONS OF A SCOUTING TEAM THAT HAS BEEN PLAYING IN THE MANNER OF AN OPPONENT. NO STUDY OR LEARNING CAN OCCUR BEYOND THE ATHLETIC ARENA WHEN SUCH SERIOUSNESS PREVAILS. YET PARENTS AND FANS SUPPORT AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL, LOCAL AND NATIONAL SPORTS. ONCE UPON A TIME AMERICANS WERE ASKED TO PRAY FOR THE CONVERSION OF RUSSIA, SUPPOSEDLY A WORTHY CAUSE. INSTEAD, DURING THE COLD WAR WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOOKING AROUND THE COUNTRY AT THE GREAT DIVIDES EXPRESSING THEMSELVES AND SLOWLY TEARING US APART.

WARRIORS

A NEWSPAPER PRINTS THAT "PEOPLE WHO FEEL CHRONIC STRESS AT WORK MAY FACE AN INCREASED RISK OF DEPRESSION, A LARGE STUDY SUGGESTS." AGENDA-DRIVEN POPPYCOCK, I SUGGEST. "I'M A WARRIOR," A BATTALION COMMANDER IN IRAQ, SAID. "IT'S MY JOB TO FIGHT." HIS JOB DESCRIPTION MAY CONTAIN THE POTENTIAL FOR STRESS AND DEPRESSION, BUT HIS JOB IS ACCEPTED, NECESSARY AND AGES OLD. WHAT WARRIORS DO IS FIGHT. A PROFESSOR AT YALE SUGGESTS THAT "ONE CANNOT LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE UNLESS THERE IS SOMETHING ONE IS PREPARED TO GIVE IT UP FOR." ROBERT KAPLAN A WAR SCHOLAR AND WRITER AND I AGREE THAT PATRIOTISM REQUIRES HEROES NOT VICTIMS; WARRIORS FIRED UP WITH A JUST CAUSE CONCUR WITH US

YET THE CULT OF VICTIM HOOD SPAWNED IN THE 1960'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION HAS TRIED TO FOIST ITS AGENDA UPON THE PUBLIC BY DENOUNCING WAR AND APPLYING VICTIM HOOD STATUS TO SELECTED MINORITIES, THE MISLED SOLDIERY AND EVEN THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN POPULACE. THIS SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO WORK, BUT IT IS WORKING THANKS TO THE AMERICAN MEDIA TODAY WHICH HAS REPORTED ON TWO MILITARY, ABUSE STORIES AS OPPOSED TO HEROES' AND MEDAL OF HONORS' STORIES WITH A RATIO OF 10,000 TO 90.
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UNION GENERAL WILLIAM SHERMAN JUSTIFIED HIS DESTRUCTIVE MARCH THROUGH THE SOUTH TO THE SEA IN 1864; CONFEDERATE WADE HAMPTON CALLED IT BARBARIC. SOLDIERS ON THE FRONT LINE IN WORLD WAR II AND FAMILIES BACK HOME, FELT THE DROPPING OF THE ATOMIC BOMBS DROPPED ON JAPAN IN 1945 WAS JUSTIFIED; THOSE WITHOUT SUFFICIENT DATA AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE SAID NAY. SHERMAN ALSO SAID THAT WAR IS HELL. HELL, HOW COULD IT BE OTHERWISE? WARRIORS VS. WARRIORS. CAUSE VS. CAUSE. AN AFTERMATH OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION VS. PEACE AT GREAT PRICE. GOOD VS. EVIL. WAR IS SOMETIMES AS GENERAL EISENHOWER REMINDED US BEFORE WE LANDED TROOPS ON THE SHORES OF NORMANDY, JUNE 6, 1944. "A GREAT CRUSADE." WHAT GOOD COMES OF WAR AT LAST SINCE WARS WILL NEVER END? IS IT A TEMPORARY PEACE THAT IS WORTH DYING FOR HERE ON EARTH? OR IS IT A LASTING PEACE AFTER THE FINAL CONFLICT OF ARMAGEDDON?

PHONEY SOLDIERS

WHO ARE THE PHONEY SOLDIERS? THOSE WHO GEAR UP FOR BATTLE WITH ARTIFICIAL MEANNESS AND KILLER INSTINCTS AS TOUCHY-FEELY PARENTS AND A COMMUNITY OF SUPPORTERS RALLY BEHIND THEIR CAUSE? OR ARE THEY THOSE WHO PLANTED VICTORY GARDENS DURING WORLD WAR II, PRACTICED DAILY SACRIFICES AND MASKED WORRY AND PAIN BEHIND THEIR BRAVE FACADES?

TODAY'S INARTICULATE HIGH FOOTBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK WHO CONFRONT EACH OTHER ON THE GRIDIRON, CONTRAST WITH THE GRUNTING AND PROFANE SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT AT THOUSANDS OF FRONTS DURING WORLD WAR II.

WHAT'S MY POINT? THOSE WHO HAVE CHOSEN OR FAILED THROUGH IGNORANCE OR LAZINESS NOT TO WATCH THE MARATHON TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY BY KEN BURNS ON WORLD WAR II, NEITHER VISIT HISTORY NOR APPRECIATE THE PASSING OF A GENERATION OF TRUE SOLDIERS.

"THINGS HAVE A TERRIBLE PERMANENCE WHEN PEOPLE DIE." MRS. JOYCE KILMER SAID. SHE NEVER KNEW THE TERRORS THAT ENHANCED THE TRUTH OF HER WORDS, BECAUSE SHE DIED IN 1941 WHEN WORLD WAR II JUST GOT ROLLING. HER SOLDIER HUSBAND DIED; PHONEY SOLDIERS INHABIT OUR HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS’ PROGRAMS.

WHICH "T"

WHICH 'T' IS BEING CROSSED? THE FINAL CONSONANT OF COMFORT OR TORMENT? OR BOTH. BOTH WORDS APPEARED IN A BIBLE SCRIPTURE READING THAT I ENCOUNTERED RECENTLY. EACH WORD REMINDED ME OF THE SMEAR CAMPAIGN IN FULL SWING AT THE PRESENT TIME AGAINST CONSERVATIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST, RUSH LIMBAUGH. HE CAN TAKE COMFORT IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS BECAUSE THE SMEAR IS BASED ON A LIE DELIBERATELY FOSTERED BY LIBERALS AND THEIR MINIONS, THE MEDIA. RUSH'S "PHONEY" SOLDIER WAS LITERALLY, A "PHONEY" SOLDIER, YET LIBERALS, TOOK THE PHRASE OUT OF CONTEXT AND DISTORTED REALITY FOR THEIR POLITICAL ENDS. NAMES, OF COURSE, CANNOT HURT A PATRIOTIC AMERICAN LIKE MR. LIMBAUGH ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY REPRESENT PERVERSION OF TRUTH IN THE PURSUIT OF POWER. RUSH CAN ALSO TAKE COMFORT IN THE SUPPORT OF HIS CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS AND LISTENERS AT HOME AND IN THE MILITARY ABROAD. RUSH CANNOT, HOWEVER, ALLOW HIMSELF TO SUCCUMB TO ANY MENTAL TORMENT EVEN THOUGH THE SLUR ON HIS NAME WAS PRESENTED ON THE FLOOR OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE - AS IF IT CARRIED GRAVITAS. TORMENT IS THE BEDFELLOW OF THE GUILTY. THE 'T' IS BEING CROSSED ON TORMENT FOR THE LIBERALS WHO CROSSED THE LINE OF CIVILITY AND HONESTY.

RUSH, BE AWARE THAT AMERICANS KNOWINGLY CROSS 'T'S ON BOTH COMFORT AND TORMENT AS THEY THINK ABOUT YOU NOW, AND THEY ADD A THIRD CROSSED 'T' ONTO INNOCENT.

MOTTS MILITARY MUSEUM II

A TREASURE EXISTS IN CENTRAL OHIO IN GROVEPORT, NEAR COLUMBUS. MEMORABILIA FROM NUMEROUS ANABASES ARE ON DISPLAY BEHIND AND BENEATH GLASS. ALSO, SOME ITEMS FROM OHIO'S ANTIQUITY AND THE FRONTIER TIMES. DURING MY VISIT, I DELVED BACK INTO THE FRENCH & INDIAN WAR, CUSTER, NATIVE AMERICANS, WILD WEST, REVOLUTIONARY WAR, WAR OF 1812, MEXICAN WAR AND CIVIL WAR. INTO RECOLLECTIONS OF LINCOLN, LEE, GRANT, PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG VIA A HUGE DIORAMA. INTO WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR I IN FRANCE, EDDIE RICKENBACKER AND FLYING ACES. INTO WORLD WAR II, ITS ALGERIAN FRONT, ITALIAN FRONT, WESTERN FRONT, EASTERN FRONT OF BOTH THE AXIS AND ALLIES. INTO MC ARTHUR, EISENHOWER, THE SKI TROOPS OF THE 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION, THE TUSKEEGEE AIRMEN. INTO THE HOLOCAUST, HITLER, MUSSOLINI, ROMMEL, DOOLITTLE, TIBBETS AND THE ENOLA GAY. INTO THE KOREAN WAR, BRIEFLY VIETNAM, THE GULF WAR, DESERT STORM AND THE DESTRUCTION OF TWIN TOWERS ON 9/11/01.

MEMORABILIA INCLUDED CONTRABAND FROM AMERICAN SPIES, PHOTOGRAPHS, LETTERS, CHINA (EVEN LINCOLN'S), PAINTINGS, UNIFORMS, WEAPONS, GUNS, BULLETS, MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, TORPEDOES, BOMBS, ROCKS, DIRT, EVEN A GATE FROM THE OLD OHIO PENITENTIARY. AND TRIBUTES TO ELVIS AND ARNOLD SCHWARTZENEGGER IN UNIFORM DURING THEIR TIME IN THE MILITARY IN THE U.S. AND AUSTRIA RESPECTIVELY. AN OUTDOOR AREA FEATURED ARNOLD'S TANK FROM 1965, A HIGGINS BOAT, A PLANE, A HELICOPTER FROM VIET NAM, TANKS, HOWITZERS, CAISSONS. AND A REPLICA OF EDDIE RICKENBACKER'S HOME. A GIFT SHOP FEATURES RELATED GOODIES; THE AMERICAN FLAG REPEATEDLY ON DISPLAY. THE MUSEUM’S SQUARE FEET ARE FEW BUT THE VENUE IS JAM PACKED.

MY EMERSION OVERLOAD AND PATRIOTIC CONFIRMATION LEAD ME TO QUESTION WHETHER OUR PRESENT GENERATION OF WARRIORS ON THE GRIDIRON - HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYERS, THAT IS - WITH NAMES LIKE DREW, BASIL, LOGAN AND BRANDON, HAVE A FAINT CLUE WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME A WARRIOR ON A LIFE AND DEATH EXPEDITION. ALSO, WITH TODAY’S LIBERALS SPONSORING ‘COLLECTIVE REPENTANCE’ FOR EVERY REAL AND IMAGINED INJUSTICE IN AMERICA’S PAST AND PRESENT, WHAT CHANCE DOES AN HONEST FIGHTER FOR JUSTICE STAND?