A caller to the Rush Limbaugh radio show on December 2, 2015 made a brilliant observation. He said that the Left is offended by people like Limbaugh and Cruz because they are truth-tellers. Rush took it further by suggesting that Progressives have so thoroughly replaced reality with their own deceptions that they can't recognize Truth anymore!
How else can we explain the latest delusions of Harry Reid, who accuses Republicans of being the party of racism? Or President Obama, who, mere weeks after the Paris attack, shocked his host country of France during the Climate Change Conference by repeating the lie that mass shootings don't happen anywhere but the U.S.?
This is a moral failing that endangers us all! 1 John 1:8 identifies those who cannot embody Truth as those who cannot recognize their own failings. Galatians 4:16 accuses unbelievers of being offended by the Truth. 2 Timothy 3:13 says evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Liberal leaders are creating a fantasy land in their own minds, expecting us all to buy into their dystopian delusions. No wonder the U.S. economy, morality, and geopolitical influence have been crippled - the Progressive agenda is based on the workings of delusional psychoses!
How else could they think that printing money to shore up the stock market, neglecting to count over 90,000 potential workers in the unemployment numbers, defending organ donations after infanticide, equating homosexual unions with holy matrimony, blaming guns for murders, trusting Iran to stop their nuclear weapons program, blaming Israel for unrest in the Middle East, preaching that Climate Change is more of a national security threat than Islamic terrorism, etc, are grounded in anything that resembles Truth?!
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Sunday, August 9, 2015
The Progressive Utopia
U.S. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was invited to speak to a gathering in Seattle, Washington, "the most progressive city" in the nation. That's when his own ideology slapped him upside the head.
You see, Progressivism (a "purer" form of Democracy) preaches equality of outcomes regardless of circumstance, with everyone having an unfettered voice in government. Sounds lovely (until the screaming starts).
Here's a glimpse of reality. Video: A Progressive Utopia
I couldn't have illustrated it better myself.
What can you expect after nearly eight years of fomenting economic, geopolitical, and moral decay, coupled with relentless class and racial warfare, under the Obama administration?
And this, dear children, is why we can't have nice things under Democratic Socialism.
Our Founders, in their divinely inspired wisdom, gave us a Constitutional Republic, in which the People retain the power over limited government, electing representatives accountable under the restraint of a strict separation and balance of powers. Monarchy wasn't the only form of government they found revolting. Thomas Jefferson was a student of historical world governments. Pure Democracy, like pure Communism, is a fantasy, unrealized in this world (unless you count the bloody tyrannical dictatorships that they became).
Yet Progressives keep pushing it under the guise of Democratic Socialism. Why?
Being a student of history, Jefferson and the other Founders knew why. Because, in the real world, Democratic Socialism is the user-friendly term for Oligarchy. Definition: "a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few." This arrangement is best obtained by the advice and consent of those governed. In other words, if the masses can be duped into begging for it, well, someone should oblige! Get a boisterous, unemployed minority so worked up about "social justice" that they wreak havoc in the streets and the majority will demand drastic measures. And who better to "restore order" than the elite, who know best how to mold and shape the masses into demanding bigger government ruled by elites?!
The plan is working perfectly.
Be careful what you ask for.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
The Affordable Food Act
The ACA is working so well (eyeroll), I propose a new scheme, I mean - program.
The Affordable Food Act mandates that everyone must pay an average of $400 per month for food insurance.
This program will provide the same awesome benefits that the Affordable Care Act does for health care!
If you are receiving any kind of welfare already, you won't have to pay a dime - you'll get another $400 worth of food on top of all the benefits you're already receiving. Don't worry - the poor shlub down the street who doesn't get any welfare benefits at all will be paying your premiums!
Those that have a job or two and are already paying house and car and health insurance premiums every month, must pay $500 per month for AFA (you know - to help pay for those who aren't paying anything). This provides a $400 food credit at any approved grocery stores (located at least 20 miles from your home and only opened weekdays from 9-4, and anything under $30.00 per item won't count toward your deductible, and restaurant bills are not covered.)
So, after paying your $500 premium, you'll only have to pay an average of $300 for food each month! (This is the average amount spent on food per month without food insurance.)
What a deal!
The Affordable Food Act mandates that everyone must pay an average of $400 per month for food insurance.
This program will provide the same awesome benefits that the Affordable Care Act does for health care!
If you are receiving any kind of welfare already, you won't have to pay a dime - you'll get another $400 worth of food on top of all the benefits you're already receiving. Don't worry - the poor shlub down the street who doesn't get any welfare benefits at all will be paying your premiums!
Those that have a job or two and are already paying house and car and health insurance premiums every month, must pay $500 per month for AFA (you know - to help pay for those who aren't paying anything). This provides a $400 food credit at any approved grocery stores (located at least 20 miles from your home and only opened weekdays from 9-4, and anything under $30.00 per item won't count toward your deductible, and restaurant bills are not covered.)
So, after paying your $500 premium, you'll only have to pay an average of $300 for food each month! (This is the average amount spent on food per month without food insurance.)
What a deal!
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Political Entropy
So this is how it ends.
The Founders had such good intentions. Build a new nation based on unalienable human rights, and limited government ruled by the citizens, not the other way around. Codifying those rights redundantly, in the Bill of Rights, prioritizing a free press as the vigilant watchdog over the public sector. Mandating public education for the purpose of teaching literacy of the Bible and the Constitution, for the express teaching of morality and civics.
Within my lifetime, the Left has succeeded in violating the Constitution with both impunity and approval of the mainstream media, redirected Education to push social agendas, and redefined Truth to become Lies that the masses must believe or risk ridicule, persecution and labelling as bigots.
Marxists will always win the political game because they are willing to sacrifice their integrity to undermine Truth, morality, and true Justice, while the Conservative Right is not.
In a fallen world, evil motivations win. Give them enough time and they will hang us all.
John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams is a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our second President.
Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence said:
"[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind."
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary said, "[T]he Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence."
Gouverneur Morris, Penman and Signer of the Constitution. "[F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy . . . the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. [T]herefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God."
Fisher Ames author of the final wording for the First Amendment wrote, "[Why] should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the Sacred Book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind."
John Jay, Original Chief-Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court , "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts."
James Wilson, Signer of the Constitution; U. S. Supreme Court Justice, "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. . . . Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other."
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary stated, "The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. . . All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House, "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."
George Washington, General of the Revolutionary Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, First President of the United States of America, Father of our nation, " Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society."
Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence" O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof." Continental Congress, 1778
The Founders had such good intentions. Build a new nation based on unalienable human rights, and limited government ruled by the citizens, not the other way around. Codifying those rights redundantly, in the Bill of Rights, prioritizing a free press as the vigilant watchdog over the public sector. Mandating public education for the purpose of teaching literacy of the Bible and the Constitution, for the express teaching of morality and civics.
Within my lifetime, the Left has succeeded in violating the Constitution with both impunity and approval of the mainstream media, redirected Education to push social agendas, and redefined Truth to become Lies that the masses must believe or risk ridicule, persecution and labelling as bigots.
Marxists will always win the political game because they are willing to sacrifice their integrity to undermine Truth, morality, and true Justice, while the Conservative Right is not.
In a fallen world, evil motivations win. Give them enough time and they will hang us all.
John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams is a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our second President.
Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence said:
"[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind."
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary said, "[T]he Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence."
Gouverneur Morris, Penman and Signer of the Constitution. "[F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy . . . the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. [T]herefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God."
Fisher Ames author of the final wording for the First Amendment wrote, "[Why] should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the Sacred Book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind."
John Jay, Original Chief-Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court , "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts."
James Wilson, Signer of the Constitution; U. S. Supreme Court Justice, "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. . . . Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other."
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary stated, "The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. . . All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House, "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."
George Washington, General of the Revolutionary Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, First President of the United States of America, Father of our nation, " Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society."
Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence" O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof." Continental Congress, 1778
Sunday, June 28, 2015
R.I.P. U.S.A.
It's been an historic week. The Supreme Court upheld the "Affordable" Care Act by usurping the Legislative Branch and rewriting the failing law, and violating the 10th Amendment. The next day, by a 5 to 4 margin, they ruled that every state must honor homosexual marriages, redefining matrimony and violating states' rights.
I have to admit, the plan was brilliant (diabolical). In 7 short years, the Left has used a variety of weapons to destroy our Republic. Yes, I know it was fragile with abuse and neglect before this current administration, but the agenda was exponentially advanced under Obama. Making lies and deception the norm, devaluing objective Truth, labeling dissent as bigotry, and flouting Constitutional Law, we have suffered the 4-pronged attack that brought US down. See Alinsky's Rules for Radicals
We are now an Oligarchy.
For those uninformed citizens who believe the U.S. is a Democracy, (democracy definition: A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives. Note: Democratic institutions, such as parliaments, may exist in a monarchy.), you are mistaken. The Founders established a Constitutional Republic. A constitutional republic is a state in which the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people. They must govern according to the existing constitution. In the U.S. constitutional republic, executive, legislative, and judicial powers are separated into distinct, co-equal branches.
On Thursday, the benefits of 6.5 million people outweighed the rest (315 million), violating the Commerce Clause by forcing every citizen to purchase health care insurance. On Friday, the wishes of a mere 3% outweighed the other 98% of the American population by forcing every state to honor homosexual marriage. The 10th Amendment was sacrificed both times to achieve these rulings. The 14th Amendment was twisted out of proportion to justify it. (The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War.) For some time now, the majority of states have honored homosexual marriage or offered civil unions that guarantee equal protection under the law.
SCOTUS and this current administration have forsaken the Constitutional Republic and turned our nation into an Oligarchy of the few and elite.
ol·i·gar·chy - äləˌɡärkē/
noun
a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.
The saddest result of this past week is the way it has divided our nation. For this reason alone, we will fall (and it is impossible for me to believe that those who fomented this division don't know it.)
Rainbow lights illuminated the White House after the Gay Marriage ruling, just to rub it in. I'm sure the 3% homosexual population was touched by the gesture, and I wonder when the Straight Pride flag is scheduled to fly over The People's House. (I won't hold my breath.)
I have to admit, the plan was brilliant (diabolical). In 7 short years, the Left has used a variety of weapons to destroy our Republic. Yes, I know it was fragile with abuse and neglect before this current administration, but the agenda was exponentially advanced under Obama. Making lies and deception the norm, devaluing objective Truth, labeling dissent as bigotry, and flouting Constitutional Law, we have suffered the 4-pronged attack that brought US down. See Alinsky's Rules for Radicals
We are now an Oligarchy.
For those uninformed citizens who believe the U.S. is a Democracy, (democracy definition: A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives. Note: Democratic institutions, such as parliaments, may exist in a monarchy.), you are mistaken. The Founders established a Constitutional Republic. A constitutional republic is a state in which the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people. They must govern according to the existing constitution. In the U.S. constitutional republic, executive, legislative, and judicial powers are separated into distinct, co-equal branches.
On Thursday, the benefits of 6.5 million people outweighed the rest (315 million), violating the Commerce Clause by forcing every citizen to purchase health care insurance. On Friday, the wishes of a mere 3% outweighed the other 98% of the American population by forcing every state to honor homosexual marriage. The 10th Amendment was sacrificed both times to achieve these rulings. The 14th Amendment was twisted out of proportion to justify it. (The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War.) For some time now, the majority of states have honored homosexual marriage or offered civil unions that guarantee equal protection under the law.
SCOTUS and this current administration have forsaken the Constitutional Republic and turned our nation into an Oligarchy of the few and elite.
ol·i·gar·chy - äləˌɡärkē/
noun
a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.
The saddest result of this past week is the way it has divided our nation. For this reason alone, we will fall (and it is impossible for me to believe that those who fomented this division don't know it.)
Rainbow lights illuminated the White House after the Gay Marriage ruling, just to rub it in. I'm sure the 3% homosexual population was touched by the gesture, and I wonder when the Straight Pride flag is scheduled to fly over The People's House. (I won't hold my breath.)
Monday, June 8, 2015
What If My DNA is Wrong?
The Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner kerfuffle got me thinking.
What if my DNA is wrong?
What if my brain tells me I'm a fabulous feline? Like, for years?
I am now convinced that I'm a courageous cat!
From now on, I shall stop shaving, walk on all fours, adopt a human to take care of all my physical needs, get a tail surgically attached, move and reshape my ears, and forsake clothing.
Who's gonna stop me? The bigots? The haters?
I bet I'll get my own Reality Show.
Meow, Baby.
What if my DNA is wrong?
What if my brain tells me I'm a fabulous feline? Like, for years?
I am now convinced that I'm a courageous cat!
From now on, I shall stop shaving, walk on all fours, adopt a human to take care of all my physical needs, get a tail surgically attached, move and reshape my ears, and forsake clothing.
Who's gonna stop me? The bigots? The haters?
I bet I'll get my own Reality Show.
Meow, Baby.
Monday, May 25, 2015
Heroes Need Boys
I work as a Paraprofessional Librarian at a public Intermediate school. Our mascot is a Knight. So, of course the 6th graders go to Medieval Times for their final field trip. This year, their matching T-shirts had an impressive knight in school colors on the front, and a quote from one of their required reading books: "There are fair maidens to rescue! Dragons to slay!" - Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick.
Since this school year is almost over, I can't help thinking about after school activities I might host for next year. (Educators never stop thinking of ways to educate.) Observing the destructive frustration of 10-12 year old boys who don't fit the Schooling Mold and are assigned to a Behavioral Intervention Classroom (B.I.C.) makes me wonder if our boys don't have enough opportunities to release their inner heroes.
Recently, I made the mistake of posting a status on Facebook, outlining a plan for a Heroes Training Club for those boys who resent what they perceive as wasted time in the classroom. You'd think I'd taken a personal swipe at every teacher. Defensive, much? I'm a rebel, I know - I'd rather pick D - All of the above, when it comes to education.
I cowered from the stinging rebuke for a few days, but I am still compelled to reach out to students, especially boys, who need something more than grade-gratification from written assignments. Here's what I'm thinking:
H.E.R.O. Training
H - Helping
E - Everyone
R - Realize
O - Opportunities
An 8 - week after-school "club" teaching skills and attitudes that cultivate the Hero in every boy (or girl), including prepping for emergencies and survival and making habits of recognizing and meeting needs of others around them.
If nothing else, I want them to realize that, in any and every situation and circumstance, they will be either a blessing or a burden. Choosing to be the blessing is the stuff of heroes.
If you have any ideas for activities or information for this endeavor, please let me know.
Since this school year is almost over, I can't help thinking about after school activities I might host for next year. (Educators never stop thinking of ways to educate.) Observing the destructive frustration of 10-12 year old boys who don't fit the Schooling Mold and are assigned to a Behavioral Intervention Classroom (B.I.C.) makes me wonder if our boys don't have enough opportunities to release their inner heroes.
Recently, I made the mistake of posting a status on Facebook, outlining a plan for a Heroes Training Club for those boys who resent what they perceive as wasted time in the classroom. You'd think I'd taken a personal swipe at every teacher. Defensive, much? I'm a rebel, I know - I'd rather pick D - All of the above, when it comes to education.
I cowered from the stinging rebuke for a few days, but I am still compelled to reach out to students, especially boys, who need something more than grade-gratification from written assignments. Here's what I'm thinking:
H.E.R.O. Training
H - Helping
E - Everyone
R - Realize
O - Opportunities
An 8 - week after-school "club" teaching skills and attitudes that cultivate the Hero in every boy (or girl), including prepping for emergencies and survival and making habits of recognizing and meeting needs of others around them.
If nothing else, I want them to realize that, in any and every situation and circumstance, they will be either a blessing or a burden. Choosing to be the blessing is the stuff of heroes.
If you have any ideas for activities or information for this endeavor, please let me know.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Growing With God
Gardening is not for sissies.
You'll work muscles you didn't know you had (and they'll hurt tomorrow). Dirt and sweat are part of the package. You'll discover slimy, slithering and squirming things. After busting your gardening budget preparing the soil and planting the seeds, a 15 minute hailstorm will devastate all of your efforts. Foliage will spring up overnight and get chewed down the next day by unseen mandibles. You'll sunburn the tops of your feet making sure your garden never dries out. Fire ants will eat your root vegetables before you harvest. Squirrels will strip your corn, melon and nectarines.
Or - you'll get more zucchini and tomatoes than you can deal with! You'll eat a tender beet salad (with their steamed greens) garnished with pod peas every week all summer. You'll finally get to smell the warm-honey fragrance of pear blossoms. You'll make new friends swapping potato recipes. You'll learn that planting sweet potatoes in huge patio containers lets you harvest them much more easily and you'll enjoy their bright green vine foliage into the fall.
There's nothing like planting a tiny seed, nurturing it with your hopes and perspiration, and enjoying the fruits of your labor, recognizing that the whole process involved a complexity of miracles. It's a work of faith.
Garden is for the spirit.
You'll work muscles you didn't know you had (and they'll hurt tomorrow). Dirt and sweat are part of the package. You'll discover slimy, slithering and squirming things. After busting your gardening budget preparing the soil and planting the seeds, a 15 minute hailstorm will devastate all of your efforts. Foliage will spring up overnight and get chewed down the next day by unseen mandibles. You'll sunburn the tops of your feet making sure your garden never dries out. Fire ants will eat your root vegetables before you harvest. Squirrels will strip your corn, melon and nectarines.
Or - you'll get more zucchini and tomatoes than you can deal with! You'll eat a tender beet salad (with their steamed greens) garnished with pod peas every week all summer. You'll finally get to smell the warm-honey fragrance of pear blossoms. You'll make new friends swapping potato recipes. You'll learn that planting sweet potatoes in huge patio containers lets you harvest them much more easily and you'll enjoy their bright green vine foliage into the fall.
There's nothing like planting a tiny seed, nurturing it with your hopes and perspiration, and enjoying the fruits of your labor, recognizing that the whole process involved a complexity of miracles. It's a work of faith.
Garden is for the spirit.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
What Heroes Leave Behind
On April 1, 2015, a hero passed on.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article17187011.html
Les Williams was one of the few remaining Tuskegee Airmen. He achieved the rank of Captain in the first class of Black bomber pilots.
But that's not why he's my hero.
After WWII, Captain Les Williams overcame the remnants of racial prejudice in his home town of San Mateo, CA, to open a dance studio. He was my first tap-dance teacher. He was 45 years old when my twin sister and and I became his 5 year old students. I remember him as a patient, kind and smiling teacher.
In fact, I remember him so fondly as my first tap-dance teacher that I wasn't even aware he was a famed Tuskegee Airmen until a few years ago. I wanted to tell my students about my first hero. Knowing he was a famous dancer in the San Francisco Bay Area in my youth, I searched his name on the internet and was puzzled when references to Tuskegee Airmen kept popping up. Mr. Williams never marketed himself as a WWII and Civil Rights hero when advertising his dance studio. When I asked my father if he knew, he said he had no idea. He just saw a dance studio near his workplace and, probably because of the popular influence of his childhood neighbor, Shirley Temple, decided to enroll his young daughters for tap-dance classes.
I didn't dance again until high school, then taught dance in a small town in Nebraska as a young adult.
Since I have learned of Les Williams' rich life story, I have woven it into lessons I give as an Intermediate public school Librarian. When he and his daughter, Penny, wrote his autobiography, I purchased several copies and he was kind enough to autograph them for circulation in my school. At the beginning of this school year, I did a book review featuring his book, Victory. Several students, especially boys, asked about learning more about tap dancing. I recommended books from our library, then decided in the new year to offer a Tap Dance Club, even though I had not danced in over 30 years (I'm 55)! Happily, the skill returned quickly - it's kind of like riding a bike - and I think I'm having more fun than my students. About a dozen students joined. Some dropped out, but there are almost as many boys as girls learning the Stray Cat Strut. Three of the girls are learning so quickly that they want to perform at the school Talent Show in May.
Because of a Tuskegee Airman who invited me into the joys of tap dancing, I continue to tell his inspirational story and teach fancy footwork as I remember his impression on my life, hoping to inspire hundreds, even thousands of young students.
What do heroes leave behind? Gratitude.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article17187011.html
Les Williams was one of the few remaining Tuskegee Airmen. He achieved the rank of Captain in the first class of Black bomber pilots.
But that's not why he's my hero.
After WWII, Captain Les Williams overcame the remnants of racial prejudice in his home town of San Mateo, CA, to open a dance studio. He was my first tap-dance teacher. He was 45 years old when my twin sister and and I became his 5 year old students. I remember him as a patient, kind and smiling teacher.
In fact, I remember him so fondly as my first tap-dance teacher that I wasn't even aware he was a famed Tuskegee Airmen until a few years ago. I wanted to tell my students about my first hero. Knowing he was a famous dancer in the San Francisco Bay Area in my youth, I searched his name on the internet and was puzzled when references to Tuskegee Airmen kept popping up. Mr. Williams never marketed himself as a WWII and Civil Rights hero when advertising his dance studio. When I asked my father if he knew, he said he had no idea. He just saw a dance studio near his workplace and, probably because of the popular influence of his childhood neighbor, Shirley Temple, decided to enroll his young daughters for tap-dance classes.
I didn't dance again until high school, then taught dance in a small town in Nebraska as a young adult.
Since I have learned of Les Williams' rich life story, I have woven it into lessons I give as an Intermediate public school Librarian. When he and his daughter, Penny, wrote his autobiography, I purchased several copies and he was kind enough to autograph them for circulation in my school. At the beginning of this school year, I did a book review featuring his book, Victory. Several students, especially boys, asked about learning more about tap dancing. I recommended books from our library, then decided in the new year to offer a Tap Dance Club, even though I had not danced in over 30 years (I'm 55)! Happily, the skill returned quickly - it's kind of like riding a bike - and I think I'm having more fun than my students. About a dozen students joined. Some dropped out, but there are almost as many boys as girls learning the Stray Cat Strut. Three of the girls are learning so quickly that they want to perform at the school Talent Show in May.
Because of a Tuskegee Airman who invited me into the joys of tap dancing, I continue to tell his inspirational story and teach fancy footwork as I remember his impression on my life, hoping to inspire hundreds, even thousands of young students.
What do heroes leave behind? Gratitude.
Monday, March 9, 2015
In My Dreams
On the first day of Spring Break, I woke up this morning from a dream in which I was being punished and ridiculed for not following instructions at an afternoon Professional Training class. Nevermind that I hadn't received the instructions because I had spent the morning class with other Librarians, instead of classroom teachers.
Here is how I would have finished my dream:
After enduring the ridicule of the instructor as she berated me for (literally) missing the directions to use a different browser for the online quiz I walked into, I answered her snarky accusation by saying, "Actually, I spent the morning at a Librarian's meeting, where we learned the finer points of cataloging non-fiction books. Have I got a test for you!"
Upon waking, I realized that this is the nightmare too many kids walk in and out of every day. In my school alone, we have had dozens of students either enroll or withdraw sometime during the school year. Because of the weakened economy, many families are in a perpetual state of transience, looking for work. Their children walk in to the neighborhood school without a clue as to what their classmates have been learning.
No wonder a standardized curriculum like Common Core is so attractive to many.
Unfortunately, this remedy just adds to the problem of educational mediocrity. Because in order for every child to get the same instruction, and mastery thereof, students will have to endure endless repetition as students come and go through the revolving doors of classrooms.
In an effort to satisfy the "high expectations" of legislators and stakeholders, our most recent state standardized tests managed to skip a year of instruction and add meandering paths of exploration for lesson plans. Now, I'm all for meandering paths of exploration in education - that's why I unschooled my daughter. But she didn't have to take or pass standardized tests for matriculation.
Tests only reveal what you don't know - they don't reveal the vast deposits of learning that may not be on the test. What if students were encouraged to meander down paths of subject exploration, then produce methods of sharing that information with others. This system would look more like an Unschool than a School, however, and would not feed the Education Machine (see blog post "Starving the Education Machine").
Standardized tests will continue to point out the failings of our current Compulsory Education system until the tests are reduced to bare minimums and radical assimilation. This is, by necessity, where we are headed.
In my opinion, true education and standardized tests are mutually exclusive. Legislators, parents and administrators can pretend they aren't, but classroom teachers know it's true.
Here is how I would have finished my dream:
After enduring the ridicule of the instructor as she berated me for (literally) missing the directions to use a different browser for the online quiz I walked into, I answered her snarky accusation by saying, "Actually, I spent the morning at a Librarian's meeting, where we learned the finer points of cataloging non-fiction books. Have I got a test for you!"
Upon waking, I realized that this is the nightmare too many kids walk in and out of every day. In my school alone, we have had dozens of students either enroll or withdraw sometime during the school year. Because of the weakened economy, many families are in a perpetual state of transience, looking for work. Their children walk in to the neighborhood school without a clue as to what their classmates have been learning.
No wonder a standardized curriculum like Common Core is so attractive to many.
Unfortunately, this remedy just adds to the problem of educational mediocrity. Because in order for every child to get the same instruction, and mastery thereof, students will have to endure endless repetition as students come and go through the revolving doors of classrooms.
In an effort to satisfy the "high expectations" of legislators and stakeholders, our most recent state standardized tests managed to skip a year of instruction and add meandering paths of exploration for lesson plans. Now, I'm all for meandering paths of exploration in education - that's why I unschooled my daughter. But she didn't have to take or pass standardized tests for matriculation.
Tests only reveal what you don't know - they don't reveal the vast deposits of learning that may not be on the test. What if students were encouraged to meander down paths of subject exploration, then produce methods of sharing that information with others. This system would look more like an Unschool than a School, however, and would not feed the Education Machine (see blog post "Starving the Education Machine").
Standardized tests will continue to point out the failings of our current Compulsory Education system until the tests are reduced to bare minimums and radical assimilation. This is, by necessity, where we are headed.
In my opinion, true education and standardized tests are mutually exclusive. Legislators, parents and administrators can pretend they aren't, but classroom teachers know it's true.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Global Warming is Not About Climate Concern
Here, in Fort Worth, we just woke up to another multi-inch dump of snow overnight. Just a week ago, in late February, we were paralyzed by 3 inches of snow and ice. Must be Global Warming.
As a "Climate Denier", I'm amused by the irony of the deep freeze of Global Warming our nation is experiencing this winter. But I'm also aware of a more serious side to the debate.
What if the vast taxpayer-funded efforts to thwart the myth of Man-Made Global Warming is actually doing more harm than good?
http://www.environmentamerica.org/programs/ame/global-warming-solutions
Besides the fact that many of the Obama administration Clean Energy projects have been money pits, the obsession with reversing the imagined disasters that one or two degrees of heat might cause may be contributing to the "Winter from Hell" many of our states are suffering.
http://dailysignal.com/2012/10/18/president-obamas-taxpayer-backed-green-energy-failures/
What conditions are better for life? In warmer climates, more food can be grown. (Don't be surprised to find much higher prices for food this spring.) In warmer climates, local economies are not literally frozen into paralysis for weeks at a time. And who benefits from "Climate Crises"? Where do states turn when they declare emergencies? The Big Government Machine gets fed at an even faster rate.
Newly-elected President Obama promised that "We are four days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America!" Considering our failed geopolitics, radical uptick in terror attacks against Americans here and abroad, reduction in economic strength, and blatant disregard for the Constitution by forcing radical EPA rules, promoting IRS abuse of conservative groups before the 2012 election, and lying to pass the doomed ACA law, it should be obvious to all by now that he had a multi-angle plan that would give us what he thinks we deserve.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/359967/obama-transforming-america-victor-davis-hanson
I have to credit Mr. Obama. He has accomplished more to promote Socialism in less than eight years than even I thought possible.
http://jonathanturley.org/2014/03/10/the-constitutional-tipping-point/
As a "Climate Denier", I'm amused by the irony of the deep freeze of Global Warming our nation is experiencing this winter. But I'm also aware of a more serious side to the debate.
What if the vast taxpayer-funded efforts to thwart the myth of Man-Made Global Warming is actually doing more harm than good?
http://www.environmentamerica.org/programs/ame/global-warming-solutions
Besides the fact that many of the Obama administration Clean Energy projects have been money pits, the obsession with reversing the imagined disasters that one or two degrees of heat might cause may be contributing to the "Winter from Hell" many of our states are suffering.
http://dailysignal.com/2012/10/18/president-obamas-taxpayer-backed-green-energy-failures/
What conditions are better for life? In warmer climates, more food can be grown. (Don't be surprised to find much higher prices for food this spring.) In warmer climates, local economies are not literally frozen into paralysis for weeks at a time. And who benefits from "Climate Crises"? Where do states turn when they declare emergencies? The Big Government Machine gets fed at an even faster rate.
Newly-elected President Obama promised that "We are four days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America!" Considering our failed geopolitics, radical uptick in terror attacks against Americans here and abroad, reduction in economic strength, and blatant disregard for the Constitution by forcing radical EPA rules, promoting IRS abuse of conservative groups before the 2012 election, and lying to pass the doomed ACA law, it should be obvious to all by now that he had a multi-angle plan that would give us what he thinks we deserve.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/359967/obama-transforming-america-victor-davis-hanson
I have to credit Mr. Obama. He has accomplished more to promote Socialism in less than eight years than even I thought possible.
http://jonathanturley.org/2014/03/10/the-constitutional-tipping-point/
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Making the Case for Professional Jurors
The dreaded Jury Summons.
Stored in my purse for a month.
The day comes - bitter cold and snowing during a record-breaking worst week of winter weather in Fort Worth. My never-before used navigation phone app gets me downtown, then fails me after I get hopelessly lost trying to find an open parking garage close enough to the courtroom that I won't freeze to death or get lost before finding my way to the cattle call. I give up, trying to ignore the sweet Navi voice telling me to turn left on a right-only street, praying I find a road I recognize and the city hasn't rerouted it completely since I was downtown for jury duty over 10 years ago. Lancaster! I-30! An exit for University! I'm headed home with a stabbing headache and slight dizziness that started overnight with the rollercoaster temperatures.
Thanks to laundry, my day is not a total loss as I nurse my allergy symptoms, content in the knowledge that if the city really needs me to dispense a trial verdict, they know where I live and can give me a ride downtown. I whisper a prayer of gratitude for getting home safely on slick roads filled with crazed drivers seeking escape from the cabin fever of school closures, and the fact that I don't have to spend most of the day packed with other sardines waiting to get dismissed. Or, in the case of one of my jury summons adventures, completely forgotten.
Story Time: Over a decade ago, when I was homeschooling and being summoned for jury duty regularly every 2 years, I waited with 300-400 people in a room with Fire Department warnings that we were sitting (some of us on the floor or in the restroom) in a room with a designated Occupancy of 212 (or some such, lower, number), until two dozen of us were told to return after lunch. Dutifully, we did so, after paying more for lunch than the whole $7 the city would be generously bestowing upon us (and declared to the I.R.S.) at the end of the day. Two hours later, a janitor entered the courtroom, incredulously asking, "What're y'all still doin' here?!" Apparently, the judge had telepathically dismissed us hours ago. In another instance, I was chosen for a jury pool, told to return the next day, then, once seated, informed that the plaintiff had settled the case. "Have a nice day!"
Why have I been summoned so regularly and others I know NEVER been summoned? My twin sister, for instance, who lives for Court TV, has never received jury summons. Why do we continue to allow such an inefficient system of jurisprudence?!
Besides disrupting the lives and economies of millions of people in the vast and various jurisdictions of our nation each day, those that arrive are disgruntled and disagreeable. I would wager than the majority of the people inconvenienced by a jury summons on any given day are ignorant of much of the law they may be expected to adjudicate! Why does our legal system persist in requiring angry, uninformed citizens to sit on juries?
We pay judges to oversee trials, entrusting them with the knowledge of the law without bias. Why can't we have professional jurors, whose job is to be willing, available and educated, to serve responsibly on juries? This practical solution, in no way deprives the accused of "a jury of his peers", and may even render more just decisions, delivered by those that have higher aspirations than merely getting home before supper
(without getting lost).
Stored in my purse for a month.
The day comes - bitter cold and snowing during a record-breaking worst week of winter weather in Fort Worth. My never-before used navigation phone app gets me downtown, then fails me after I get hopelessly lost trying to find an open parking garage close enough to the courtroom that I won't freeze to death or get lost before finding my way to the cattle call. I give up, trying to ignore the sweet Navi voice telling me to turn left on a right-only street, praying I find a road I recognize and the city hasn't rerouted it completely since I was downtown for jury duty over 10 years ago. Lancaster! I-30! An exit for University! I'm headed home with a stabbing headache and slight dizziness that started overnight with the rollercoaster temperatures.
Thanks to laundry, my day is not a total loss as I nurse my allergy symptoms, content in the knowledge that if the city really needs me to dispense a trial verdict, they know where I live and can give me a ride downtown. I whisper a prayer of gratitude for getting home safely on slick roads filled with crazed drivers seeking escape from the cabin fever of school closures, and the fact that I don't have to spend most of the day packed with other sardines waiting to get dismissed. Or, in the case of one of my jury summons adventures, completely forgotten.
Story Time: Over a decade ago, when I was homeschooling and being summoned for jury duty regularly every 2 years, I waited with 300-400 people in a room with Fire Department warnings that we were sitting (some of us on the floor or in the restroom) in a room with a designated Occupancy of 212 (or some such, lower, number), until two dozen of us were told to return after lunch. Dutifully, we did so, after paying more for lunch than the whole $7 the city would be generously bestowing upon us (and declared to the I.R.S.) at the end of the day. Two hours later, a janitor entered the courtroom, incredulously asking, "What're y'all still doin' here?!" Apparently, the judge had telepathically dismissed us hours ago. In another instance, I was chosen for a jury pool, told to return the next day, then, once seated, informed that the plaintiff had settled the case. "Have a nice day!"
Why have I been summoned so regularly and others I know NEVER been summoned? My twin sister, for instance, who lives for Court TV, has never received jury summons. Why do we continue to allow such an inefficient system of jurisprudence?!
Besides disrupting the lives and economies of millions of people in the vast and various jurisdictions of our nation each day, those that arrive are disgruntled and disagreeable. I would wager than the majority of the people inconvenienced by a jury summons on any given day are ignorant of much of the law they may be expected to adjudicate! Why does our legal system persist in requiring angry, uninformed citizens to sit on juries?
We pay judges to oversee trials, entrusting them with the knowledge of the law without bias. Why can't we have professional jurors, whose job is to be willing, available and educated, to serve responsibly on juries? This practical solution, in no way deprives the accused of "a jury of his peers", and may even render more just decisions, delivered by those that have higher aspirations than merely getting home before supper
(without getting lost).
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Starving the Standardized Testing Machine
A co-worker came to me yesterday to ask about the best methods for protesting standardized testing in schools. I cautioned her that letter-writing campaigns to the Texas Education Agency (T.E.A.) and state legislators were ineffective - I was knee deep in those efforts fifteen years ago, to no avail. It compelled me to unschool my daughter instead.
The truth is, Public Schooling is the biggest corporation in any state. It was the original Obamacare. When you force the populace to purchase a product, you're in the money for good. Compulsory Education transferred the monetary responsibility and accountability of education from the parent to the State, creating the perfect environment for inflation. TESTING is the lazy way for state legislatures to hold the Education Administration accountable for the huge education expenditures. Nevermind that anytime the government gets involved in "quality", the standards reflect minimal expectations and outcomes.
"Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number of K-12 public school students in the United States increased by 96 percent, while the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent. Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers’ numbers increased 252 percent, while administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students." http://www.edchoice.org/Research/Reports/The-School-Staffing-Surge--Decades-of-Employment-Growth-in-Americas-Public-Schools--Part-2.aspx
TESTING feeds the Public Education Machine, keeping legislators off the backs of state administrators while appropriating more tax dollars to hire teachers, aides, district and school administrators, architects, construction workers, curriculum and test writers, publishers, etc., let alone the latest greatest teaching model inventors and trainers that have to be rewritten every two or three years. Just imagine how many jobs depend on public education. Retailers LOVE Back to School season. Why, even the typical American's social calendar is based on the school year!
Public Education was a huge part of the economic revival plan for the U.S. after WWII, creating a need for women in the workforce as public school teachers, and instant "free" day care for other moms (so they could get jobs and pay income taxes too). The reason School Choice Week (this week, by the way) is hardly discussed is because our state and federal economy would literally collapse if a majority of parents chose private schooling for their children.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html
To reduce TESTING, we must starve the Machine. You won't convince your representatives or administrators. You must convince Parents to take back their educational authority. After decades of parental dependence upon the "free" day care and abdication of their educational role, this will be difficult, especially now that so many active, dedicated parents have already transferred their children to private or home schooling. The majority of parents don't really care what their children are doing during school hours as long as they are safe and they make decent grades.
There are a few parents who are beginning to resent the repetitive testing because of the sour moods of their children and the pressure by the school to practice perfect attendance and tutoring (even this is provided "free" to low-achieving students, continuing to feed the Machine) so that the school can achieve or sustain high rankings in the district. These parents might be willing to demand changes if they knew how easy it is, merely by submitting a yearly letter stating: "In accordance with Texas Education Code, Title 2, Subtitle E, Chapter 26, I hereby exempt my child from all standardized tests for this school year." http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.26.htm
If enough parents choose to opt out of standardized tests for their children, the state education agency will find other ways to spend their billions, especially if parents stay engaged and demand things like school gardens, workshops, mentorships and field trips.
We won't succeed in dismantling the Machine, but we can choose what to feed it.
The truth is, Public Schooling is the biggest corporation in any state. It was the original Obamacare. When you force the populace to purchase a product, you're in the money for good. Compulsory Education transferred the monetary responsibility and accountability of education from the parent to the State, creating the perfect environment for inflation. TESTING is the lazy way for state legislatures to hold the Education Administration accountable for the huge education expenditures. Nevermind that anytime the government gets involved in "quality", the standards reflect minimal expectations and outcomes.
"Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number of K-12 public school students in the United States increased by 96 percent, while the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent. Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers’ numbers increased 252 percent, while administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students." http://www.edchoice.org/Research/Reports/The-School-Staffing-Surge--Decades-of-Employment-Growth-in-Americas-Public-Schools--Part-2.aspx
TESTING feeds the Public Education Machine, keeping legislators off the backs of state administrators while appropriating more tax dollars to hire teachers, aides, district and school administrators, architects, construction workers, curriculum and test writers, publishers, etc., let alone the latest greatest teaching model inventors and trainers that have to be rewritten every two or three years. Just imagine how many jobs depend on public education. Retailers LOVE Back to School season. Why, even the typical American's social calendar is based on the school year!
Public Education was a huge part of the economic revival plan for the U.S. after WWII, creating a need for women in the workforce as public school teachers, and instant "free" day care for other moms (so they could get jobs and pay income taxes too). The reason School Choice Week (this week, by the way) is hardly discussed is because our state and federal economy would literally collapse if a majority of parents chose private schooling for their children.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html
To reduce TESTING, we must starve the Machine. You won't convince your representatives or administrators. You must convince Parents to take back their educational authority. After decades of parental dependence upon the "free" day care and abdication of their educational role, this will be difficult, especially now that so many active, dedicated parents have already transferred their children to private or home schooling. The majority of parents don't really care what their children are doing during school hours as long as they are safe and they make decent grades.
There are a few parents who are beginning to resent the repetitive testing because of the sour moods of their children and the pressure by the school to practice perfect attendance and tutoring (even this is provided "free" to low-achieving students, continuing to feed the Machine) so that the school can achieve or sustain high rankings in the district. These parents might be willing to demand changes if they knew how easy it is, merely by submitting a yearly letter stating: "In accordance with Texas Education Code, Title 2, Subtitle E, Chapter 26, I hereby exempt my child from all standardized tests for this school year." http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.26.htm
If enough parents choose to opt out of standardized tests for their children, the state education agency will find other ways to spend their billions, especially if parents stay engaged and demand things like school gardens, workshops, mentorships and field trips.
We won't succeed in dismantling the Machine, but we can choose what to feed it.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Is Obama Cursing our Nation?
Scripture promises:
"I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:3New King James Version (NKJV)
Has our nation had an administration that dishonored this promise more than the Obama White House?
From the inhospitable rudeness by our President to the Israeli Prime Minister in March of 2010 when he abandoned Netanyahu in order to enjoy a meal with Michelle and his daughters:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/7521220/Obama-snubbed-Netanyahu-for-dinner-with-Michelle-and-the-girls-Israelis-claim.html
continuing with repeated judgments against the protection of Israel:
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Our-world-Israel-Hamas-and-Obamas-foreign-policy-369338
it is clear that "Obama is siding with Hamas, and its Muslim Brotherhood patrons",
including Iran.
http://www.god1st.org/why-bless-israel
"I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:3New King James Version (NKJV)
Has our nation had an administration that dishonored this promise more than the Obama White House?
From the inhospitable rudeness by our President to the Israeli Prime Minister in March of 2010 when he abandoned Netanyahu in order to enjoy a meal with Michelle and his daughters:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/7521220/Obama-snubbed-Netanyahu-for-dinner-with-Michelle-and-the-girls-Israelis-claim.html
continuing with repeated judgments against the protection of Israel:
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Our-world-Israel-Hamas-and-Obamas-foreign-policy-369338
it is clear that "Obama is siding with Hamas, and its Muslim Brotherhood patrons",
including Iran.
The U.S. continues to bribe Iran NOT to end their nuclear plans to destroy Israel,
as the White House promises revenge for the invitation from our newly elected Congress to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu.
If Obama is a Christian, as he claims to be, why wouldn't he choose to bless Israel? Why does he surround himself with those who have no love for God's chosen people? Our President has appointed members of the Muslim Brotherhood to his cabinet! His closest advisor (some say the Power Behind the Throne) is Iranian!
No wonder "conspiracy theories" persist that Barack Hussein Obama is a closet Muslim!
It's one thing to forsake Israel for religious reasons - he'll have God to answer for in that regard.
But Obama took an oath of office to defend and protect our Constitution. Instead, he has worked tirelessly to diminish our geopolitical standing, enrich enemies of our Republic and THREATEN OUR BLESSINGS AND VERY EXISTENCE BY CURSING ISRAEL!
Sunday, January 11, 2015
There Are Worse Things Than Death
In the summer of 2003, my husband, daughter and I traveled through southwest Oklahoma on our way to visit my son in Nebraska. We stopped at Indian City, located in Anadarko, OK. Once a small group of tourists had gathered, our tour guide began his memorized narration of the various tribal dwellings featured along the path. It was a warm day and some chose to take a short rest on convenient benches beneath a shady arbor while others took a closer look at the Pueblo display. J. J. Lonelodge broke from his rote speech to answer questions from the mostly Caucasian visitors. He told us about his recent survival treks, adding that current Native American leaders are encouraging their young men to relearn the old ways of living off the land. When asked why, J. J. told us that many tribal leaders are convinced that there is a great disaster coming upon the earth that will force humanity to survive as hunter/gatherers once more.
As a student of eschatology, this was quite intriguing, especially in light of recent “end time” pronouncements from evangelical teachers as well as a growing consensus among rabbinical leaders of an imminent messianic era.
After relating J. J.’s revelation to friends who join us once a week for unschooling learning adventures, we all decided to pursue an education in survivalism. We discussed edible vegetation, necessary equipment, farming skills, animal husbandry, natural medicine, and developing a commune in the event that we would not be able to purchase our necessities. Since we study current events, especially in light of prophecy, we were also learning about the sub–dermal microchips being implanted in humans for the purposes of healthcare information, security, and financial transactions. If these chips became the prophesied mark of the Beast, without which we could not buy or sell, we would choose to disengage ourselves from an economy enslaved to the government of Antichrist.
A popular radio personality that expounds on his interpretation of prophecy keeps warning his audience about the dangers of taking the mark of the Beast and swearing allegiance to the one–world government. Many people call in to his program, concerned that a national ID card or biometric techniques constitute “taking the Mark”, but this preacher reassures them that as long as they don’t proclaim an oath or “bow the knee” to the regime of Antichrist, they have not stepped over the line into apostasy.
Personally, I seriously doubt that diabolical agents wearing 666 insignia will come to pound on my door one day, demanding that I swear fealty to the UN flag under threat of snatching my credit cards, confiscating my property and sentencing me to the guillotine.
I can’t help recalling Christ’s warning: “You cannot serve both God and Mammon (money)”. Yet, that’s exactly what our culture does, doesn’t it? Besides blatant materialism, don’t we even rely on money to further the Kingdom of God? Christians use their luxurious homes, automobiles and technology to serve their communities and glorify God. But what if we had to make a choice: God or Money? Could we choose just one?
I believe Jesus was warning his future disciples that, in the end time, materialism would encompass all aspects of idolatry. Consider the manner in which every lust is employed as a sales pitch! Beauty, sexuality and competitive pride lure us to purchase the latest, greatest necessities and luxuries.
I’m sensing an escalation in another area of idolatry as well. We’ve become enslaved to convenience. Bartering evolved into the exchange of coins; money evolved into checks; and checks evolved into credit cards. Because credit cards are easily lost or stolen, sub–dermal microchips are the next logical step in financial convenience and identity theft protection. (Notice how one’s “identity” has become synonymous with economic veracity!) 1 Timothy 6:10 tells us of a love of money “for which some have pierced themselves with many sorrows”. Could this be the prophesied “Mark of the Beast” enslavement to economic idolatry? (During the Roman Empire, a slave was recognized by a hole through the earlobe.)
Our nanny government, wanting to protect and nurture us from cradle to grave, now mandates that everyone must have "health care" insurance to expedite improved healthcare (don't be surprised if the embedded microchip is next), forgetting to mention that more people die each year from medical malpractice than cancer. Thanks to a culture obsessed with youth, sex and materialism, death has become the ultimate enemy, avoided at all cost. And I do mean all cost.
Deceiving society into believing that they have conquered death, the medical profession squeezes as much money as possible out of its patients before they expire. (The patients of even the best doctors have a mortality rate of 100%.) It’s money that purchases more time to pursue youth, sex and possessions! Medicine flourishes as an idol today, especially among believers, just as in the time of Moses, when some of those who were healed from snake bites established a cult, worshipping the snake on the staff! The same caduceus that identifies the medical profession today.
Although nothing on this earth will last, we insure everything against loss and theft, including our health and lives, forgetting that all we enjoy is a temporary gift from God for the purpose of sharing with others.
The time will come when we must choose God or Money. The middle ground of mediocrity will be eliminated during a season when God’s people will be strong and do exploits in His strength and provision alone. Will we be like the Israelites who complained that life was more pleasant under the yoke of slavery? Or will we trust the Lord in the wilderness, willing to gather our daily bread from His merciful hand with undivided devotion?
Thursday, January 8, 2015
21st Century Religion
This morning, on the Bill Bennett Show on 660 The Answer, I caught bits and pieces of an interview with Samuel Tadros, the author of this new book:
This radio interview, juxtaposed with the heinous jihadist attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper employees and officers in Paris, causes many to wonder why radical Muslims continue to uphold 6th century traditions and religious tenets.
Islam is actually the latest interpretation of monotheism, based on the whims and “insights” of one man: Muhammed (c. 570-632 CE). Many of his writings reveal an amalgam and corruption of the monothestic Jewish and Christian faiths.
While Charlie Hebdo was an equal-opportunity religion-basher, printing cartoons poking fun at Jewish and Catholic representatives as well as the Muslim “Prophet”, murderous assault was not perpetrated upon the French news agency by adherents of the Bible, but by those who revere the Koran.
If Coptic Christians are considering the wisdom of modernizing their practice, why hasn’t the world-wide Islamic population risen up to condemn violence wrought by their own fundamentalists, and committed themselves to updating their sermons to exclude bloody jihad? This unanswered question condemns the Islamic religion as a whole.
By extension, one might wonder whether secular Judaism has replaced strict adherence to the commandments in the Torah. Even the most pious Orthodox Jew does not obey the vengeance taught in the Old Testament.
What about “Fundamental Christianity”? Is this religion stuck in the 1st century? Or would it be more relevant, dynamic and attractive (let alone potent!) by allowing its teachings to include the 20th century truths found in the study of particle physics?
“Heresy!”, you say? (I’ve actually been told that combining Science and Faith is heretical.) I contend that if everything does not prove the truth of Christ, then nothing will. I don’t believe in the Divine Creator and Savior, I can scientifically prove Christed Metaphysics.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Federalist Paper General Introduction
Are the Federalist Papers relevant today? In the famous words of Sarah Palin: "You betcha!"
At a time when we are witnessing new, insidious efforts to divide our nation by punishing tax-payers and rewarding the "entitlement" demographic, widening the socio-economic gap by thwarting job creation and vilifying the industrious, advocating victimhood and promoting punitive wealth-redistribution, usurping states' rights and expanding executive power, and fomenting racial discord, the Founders, in their divinely-inspired wisdom, addressed these dangers in the Federalist Papers.
True, the very Federalism proposed by its advocates create the delicate tensions that make the above dangers possible, but in the words of Capitalism apologists, "it's the worst system until you consider all the rest". So it is with Federalism. The faults of the system are revealed in the base nature of man, not in the ideal. What we are seeing, and will see from time to time in the history of our great nation is the fault of Man as the Republican ideal is manipulated to the benefit of a few and the detriment of the whole.
"Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men, who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of elevation from the subdivision of the empire into several partial confederacies than from its union under one government." - Alexander Hamilton (Emphasis mine.)
THE UTILITY OF THE UNION TO YOUR POLITICAL PROSPERITY THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERATION TO PRESERVE THAT UNION THE NECESSITY OF A GOVERNMENT AT LEAST EQUALLY ENERGETIC WITH THE ONE PROPOSED, TO THE ATTAINMENT OF THIS OBJECT THE CONFORMITY OF THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION TO THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT ITS ANALOGY TO YOUR OWN STATE CONSTITUTION and lastly, THE ADDITIONAL SECURITY WHICH ITS ADOPTION WILL AFFORD TO THE PRESERVATION OF THAT SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT, TO LIBERTY, AND TO PROPERTY." (Emphasis mine.)
In the last six years, we have witnessed a concerted effort to recreate a confederacy of political and cultural division based upon deception and domination. It behooves us to revisit the "evidence of truth" for a Constitution that preserves our Federalist Republic.
At a time when we are witnessing new, insidious efforts to divide our nation by punishing tax-payers and rewarding the "entitlement" demographic, widening the socio-economic gap by thwarting job creation and vilifying the industrious, advocating victimhood and promoting punitive wealth-redistribution, usurping states' rights and expanding executive power, and fomenting racial discord, the Founders, in their divinely-inspired wisdom, addressed these dangers in the Federalist Papers.
True, the very Federalism proposed by its advocates create the delicate tensions that make the above dangers possible, but in the words of Capitalism apologists, "it's the worst system until you consider all the rest". So it is with Federalism. The faults of the system are revealed in the base nature of man, not in the ideal. What we are seeing, and will see from time to time in the history of our great nation is the fault of Man as the Republican ideal is manipulated to the benefit of a few and the detriment of the whole.
"Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men, who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of elevation from the subdivision of the empire into several partial confederacies than from its union under one government." - Alexander Hamilton (Emphasis mine.)
Writing to the constituency in New York, Hamilton wisely proposed: "It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force." (Emphasis mine.)
Federalism, while strengthening the whole, is firmly based on the will of We the People, not the whims of current power-hungry politicians.
"[T]he vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people". (Emphasis mine.) Boy, this sounds familiar!
The "vigor of government" presupposes its authority in the will of The People, a foundation that our current politicians have nearly succeeded in crushing. "Sound and well-informed judgment" has been replaced with blatant propaganda and lies from this administration, as "dangerous ambition" under the guise of social justice, or "zeal for the rights of the people".
"[T]hose men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants." Wait - was this written in the 18th century or today?!
Again, Mr. Hamilton admonishes our young nation's citizens: "In the course of the preceding observations, I have had an eye, my fellow-citizens, to putting you upon your guard against all attempts, from whatever quarter, to influence your decision in a matter of the utmost moment to your welfare, by any impressions other than those which may result from the evidence of truth." (Emphasis mine.)
Again and again, in the short history of the Obama administration, citizens have been enticed to make legislative decisions based on lies.
Hamilton invites the reader to consider the proposal of a Federalist Constitution based on the "evidence of truth":
"I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars:
THE UTILITY OF THE UNION TO YOUR POLITICAL PROSPERITY THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERATION TO PRESERVE THAT UNION THE NECESSITY OF A GOVERNMENT AT LEAST EQUALLY ENERGETIC WITH THE ONE PROPOSED, TO THE ATTAINMENT OF THIS OBJECT THE CONFORMITY OF THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION TO THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT ITS ANALOGY TO YOUR OWN STATE CONSTITUTION and lastly, THE ADDITIONAL SECURITY WHICH ITS ADOPTION WILL AFFORD TO THE PRESERVATION OF THAT SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT, TO LIBERTY, AND TO PROPERTY." (Emphasis mine.)
In the last six years, we have witnessed a concerted effort to recreate a confederacy of political and cultural division based upon deception and domination. It behooves us to revisit the "evidence of truth" for a Constitution that preserves our Federalist Republic.
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