On the basis of historical facts no one can legitimately dispute the Bible and the Christian religion giving rise to a Christian Western Civilization wherein the best of the arts and sciences began to flourish is the basis for the founding of America as a Christian nation beginning with those early Pilgrims for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. There is no disputing the finest charitable organizations in the world given to serving humankind have their basis in the Christian religion, and one need not be a Christian to acknowledge these facts and own their debt to the Bible and the Christian religion for these things.

However, to acknowledge the historical significance of the Bible and Jesus quite obviously should not divorce the mind from reason, nor ignore the facts of human nature being such as to emphasize Emerson’s remark that men like George Washington leave no class. Reading the New Testament narrative of Jesus and the early beginnings of the Church one can only shake their heads over how far those naming the name of Christ could have descended from a promising beginning into the Dark Ages.

But despite the twists and turns of the Christian religion, even the most heinous crimes being committed in the name of Jesus at one time or another, the burning of heretics and other cruelties of great notoriety in history men like Luther would arise to confront these things and the benefits of the Christian religion once becoming civilized far outweigh the negatives. Without the Christian religion and the Bible one might well imagine the enormous loss to the world, and there might well have never been an England or America upholding and advancing the finest benefits of Christianity in literature and education, the arts and sciences, in charitable works, benefits none profiting from would exchange for those of Islam for example.

The many years I gave to the study of the Bible were years well spent, such a study leading to other areas like history, geography, languages, cultures and mythologies of ancient civilizations and so much more. It was in such a manner I acquired a personal library of some 5,000 volumes dedicated to such studies and it was for this reason Theology became known as the Queen of the Sciences while Philosophy remained the King of Disciplines. The two were joined since those like Copernicus and Newton were a product of both, as have the best of thinkers throughout the history of Western Civilization realizing one cannot separate science entirely from the spiritual which alone accounts for life. Science gives us understanding about much of our physical world, but offers nothing as an explanation for life or its origin, cannot tell us what animates at birth and departs at death.

Here in America we enjoy the greatest freedom to express ideas that often conflict with the majority opinion; and this freedom of such dissent we owe to the Founding Fathers who built into our government the right to dissent. But it is regrettable that political correctness shouts down what is often the majority opinion of We the People the great majority expressing a belief in Christianity in some form, but the MSM often crediting the opinion of minorities having far greater weight than they do in fact. It seems politicians are far more given to such minority opinions than the will of We the People. And in just such manner do the Bible and Christianity suffer attack from the minuscule minority that would denigrate all those who credit our debt as a nation to the Bible and Christianity for our being the freest and most powerful nation in the world.

But to repeat, one need not be a Christian as defined by any one belief system to acknowledge this fact of America’s history; though for the sake of intellectual honesty one must separate what one believes from what one knows as empirical fact. And it is here in the matter of beliefs as opposed to facts we find so many schisms often setting otherwise good people against one another. And here as elsewhere the cautionary word should be exercising discretion when pronouncing beliefs, and there is no room for bullies in a sharing of differing beliefs and I refuse to be cowed by bullies of any kind or provide them a forum to attack me. They are free to write and speak as they will elsewhere.

While I may not share the belief of some that lighting candles for the departed is of any benefit I welcome the thoughtfulness of those who do believe such a thing, but the best of such people are not going to attempt to force their belief in the efficacy of such a thing on me. When someone tells me they will pray for me, I don’t try to disabuse them of the notion but express my gratitude for their thoughtfulness.

One would think the goodness of people ought to eventually overcome the evil that men do. But such is not the case. And because this is not the case, but the facts are a history of humankind being one of evil ever in the ascendancy I give myself over to often thinking and writing about the cause of this, and the Bible is a primary source on the subject notwithstanding The Great Books and The Great Conversation.

And so I do resort to metaphysical speculation about the reason there are monsters in our midst in the guise of human beings, monsters without conscience preying on women and children, monsters without conscience perpetrating the most fiendish of acts against the most defenseless of victims like children. And while only a belief, I believe war of some kind in the heavens is visited upon the earth, that the world being Satan’s domain offers a plausible explanation for hell on earth with a history of conflict and no end in sight. And what can possibly account for human beings believing the murder of the innocent that simply do not believe the way you do is glorifying to any other deity but Satan?

But to even give a voice to such expressions of belief or disbelief is one of the benefits of living in America, an America founded on the Bible and the Christian religion that despite my heterodox beliefs and the fact I don’t belong to or attend any church I give thanks and I am duly appreciative. And even for those that disagree they can be thankful they were not born in Iran, but are the beneficiaries of the Bible and Christianity.

Yes, regardless the belief system hypocrisy abounds. But to attempt to discredit the good of the Bible and the Christian religion with all the benefits accruing is to ignore the facts and refuse to give credit where credit is due.

Few would disagree that our elected leadership needs a strong dose of reality; but from the polls and statistics there isn’t any lack of reality on the part of ordinary American citizens who vote for things like secure borders and live from one paycheck to another. But will the source of such a reality check for politicians be a terrorist nuclear bomb going off at LAX?

While working as a machinist for North American Aviation at LAX during the Saberjet project I confronted some jerk for being a jerk. Afterward, he went around the shop exclaiming to everyone “I don’t care what Sam says!” Well, while everyone agreed this guy was a jerk what confounded us was why he would go around telling everyone he didn’t care what I said then go on at such length proving he did in fact care a great deal about what I had said? But, I suppose, some of you folks have experienced the same kind of thing; something along the line of “methinks the lady protesteth too much.”

But had it not been for the Californian the story about the elderly couple whose van and wheelchair were stolen would not have had such a happy ending. This is where our local paper did a bang up job of civic responsibility and we the citizens of Kern County are grateful. But the blight on our county of those who would stoop so low as to steal that van and wheelchair remains, and our police need all the help and encouragement they can get while attempting to serve and protect law abiding citizens. Laws are only as good as their enforcement, and despite the happy ending to the story we hope the thieves will yet be caught and punished as a full and happy end to the story.

The Bible has it “Fools make a mock at sin,” and when laws are mocked as they are by the despicable thieves stealing that van and wheelchair we want them caught and punished. But when laws are mocked as they are by our elected leaders the result is they betray themselves for fools, but fools that are threatening America’s very existence as a nation, as in our leadership’s refusal to secure our borders while allowing our immigration laws to be flaunted with impunity. And then the media will encourage this flaunting of our laws by turning illegal aliens into “immigrants” while demonizing those like Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan for pointing out the obvious, even glorifying those that throw around the term “racist” with impunity at anyone sticking up for secure borders knowing the media will encourage this tarring with the racist brush as well. Mexico for Mexicans is permissible, but America for Americans is racist?

Armchair revisionists that did not live the events of WWII, did not make the sacrifices and experience what this did to Americans right down to the very marrow of our being because of Pearl Harbor conveniently have it we who did live those events were evil people because of those internment camps and the dropping of those atomic bombs. Well, perhaps if there had been no need of demonizing our enemies in order to pull Americans together in common cause against the Axis foes there would not have been the camps and bombs. But reality doesn’t work that way.

The reality is that the only reason the Axis Powers did not prevail was the very act of successfully demonizing our enemies, putting a face to them, recognizing them and treating them as our mortal enemies! That is how wars are won; and from the very beginning of Caesar Bush’s wars I knew such a thing would be impossible because of a politically correct media that would not permit any demonizing of the enemies of America. Further, it quickly became painfully obvious We the People had been lied to in order for our leadership to have its wars; including a Congress that claims it was so easily taken in by a Bunko artist with a gift for flimflam. That is a stretch for even the most gullible that must realize by now there was never any plan for prosecuting a war to win even had it been justified. And a Congress whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans, the only thing We the People can be assured of is politics as usual, lying to get elected and lying to stay elected.

Well, December 7, 1941 was a different America, my America, reviled by some as a “Norman Rockwell America.” But it was an America that saved the world at the time. None can point to America today and have any confidence this America can save itself, let alone the world. And if that terrorist nuclear bomb goes off at LAX none of us want to think of the kind of America arising from that. But like December 7, 1941 it will be in today’s parlance a “reality check,” one that will leave no room for “Press one for English.”

When it comes to things like sausage “Don’t ask; enjoy” is good advice. And were it not for the importance of the issues and so little to enjoy one might apply the same advice to politics. Superficially the present disarray of our political “leadership” would make good comic opera were it not for the consequences of such a comical farce and the lack of a good score and conductor.

Certainly the words coming out of Foggy Bottom are comical, and one might be excused for thinking given the inanity of the speakers they are intended to be funny. Surely, we ask ourselves, these people don’t truly believe they are to be taken seriously, do they? So, are We the People to laugh or cry?

The wars of Caesar Bush are dead serious business given the enormity of the consequences in human sacrifices and economically. It is no less dead serious business that we have come to expect no one in government is ever to be held accountable for greed, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, even stupidity resulting in danger to America and the loss of lives. Rather, such things when discovered are referred to committees; another act of our “leadership” Republican and Democrat that we have come to learn is dedicated to either whitewashing or even exonerating the guilty.

A good comic opera would at least have consequences attendant on words and actions, and with a good musical score and conductor we enjoy the play and anticipate a happy outcome. But many a comic farce has a dark side, typical of the best of humor. However, we are not even being offered the best of humor, only the dark side of the players on the DC stage. Try as we may, there seems nothing comic about this except for the fact so many of the players seem to really believe their words are to be taken seriously all the while their actions belying and contradicting their words.

But it appears the nations of the world are in little better case than America. However, while other nations act in their own best interests when it comes to things like national heritage, culture, identity, national sovereignty and borders, trade agreements, the same cannot be said of America where our leadership seems far more intent on the next election than actually solving the growing problems right here in America reflecting the problems one would usually associate with third world nations. And this better lends itself to a Grand Opera Gotterdammerung Armageddon than anything approaching comic opera.

Reading in the Californian today about the theft of that elderly couple’s van and wheelchair normal people are left wondering how anyone could be so low down and mean? Such a thing clearly points out how cowardly bullies continue to prey on the elderly.

But for those who post regularly to the Californian blog you have to wonder as well why the same bullies continue posting derogatory comments on what are supposed to be personal blogs, then when you delete they continue reposting. That van and wheelchair were the personal property of that elderly couple. And we are naturally incensed that anyone could be so low as to steal these things. It comes down to civilized behavior, and the bullies invariably expose themselves for what they are.

We hope good Samaritans will come to the aid of that elderly couple. And many of us hope the webmaster will come to the aid of those of us who would like to maintain our blogs without being bullied by the comments “re-posters.” If enough of us speak out, perhaps this cancer on these blogs will be cured.

To repeat a point already made by the webmaster, these blogs belong to the individuals, they should maintain and delete as they choose and they should not be harried by the bullies.

The taunt was hurled at Jesus on the cross: “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” And if America cannot save itself, how is it to save others?

I don’t have any answers to my personal grief over the loss of loved ones, to the questions of why they are gone and I remain, of whether I will rejoin them when I die, whether life itself has any real meaning. There are things I believe that bring me a degree of comfort, but not answers.

Seeking for answers to the death of loved ones, untimely or not, is a commonality to all those that grieve over such a loss. And the answers, if answers there be are no closer to us now than they have ever been throughout human history. But most of us find some degree of comfort through friends who mourn with us whether it be by their presence, letters, gifts, prayers, the lighting of candles or any other form of sharing our grief. Good people remain good people whatever their beliefs, and good people do not attempt to force their beliefs on others. The distinction is one of major consequence throughout human history, one by which some convinced they serve God may find themselves actually serving the Devil.

There was no mistaking the credit those in the time of Emerson and Thoreau gave the Bible and our Constitution as the basic instruments of the very foundation of America and American society, Henry crediting those standing wisely by these and drinking from the stream of truth to be found in them. Are some naysayers now over nearly a hundred and seventy years later to revise the very history and common thoughts to which Emerson and Thoreau were closest, to which they gave voice and credited? I think not.

But the fault those like Henry gave voice to in his tract on The Duty of Civil Disobedience lay in the inability of the best of those in government not only seeming to be unable to further improve conditions despite this “stream of truth,” but seeming intent on denying it by their actions. Henry’s criticism extended further to the seeming inability of those in positions of leadership to progress because of their stopping at the stream and not seeking the very source of the headwaters feeding the stream, the result being Henry’s declamation despite the genius of the New Testament teachings to be found on the subject “No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America.”

But genius and politics have never seemed to keep company. And it isn’t a lack of the product of genius that could properly be brought to bear on politics, it is as I have said many times that politics not only does not attract good people, especially not good people possessed of genius, but attracts the very worst, those that are drawn to positions of power and authority over others. And what is true of politics is equally true of religion, where Jesus himself said his kingdom was not of this world and warned those who would follow him not to make their home in this world if they were honestly seeking a better.

Henry credited others besides Jesus for having genius, he even went so far as to write of those like Confucius and Eastern philosophers, even remarking the credit Zoroaster some gave him for establishing worship among men. But whether religion or politics, the way each seems despite often noble beginnings to degenerate into systematic organization of hatreds has plagued humankind throughout the history of our species.

Throughout my own studies of world religions there is a general theme to be found of people attempting to reach out beyond themselves to the metaphysical realm, and these attempts have been marked from the very earliest even among pre-Homo sapiens. If there is any one thing that credits life seeking answers for itself and its purpose it is this thing of reaching out beyond ourselves to the metaphysical. But in too many cases has the metaphysical resulted in systems of cruelty and brutality in attempts to appease the diabolical rather than elevating the good.

For longevity none have ever surpassed the ancient Egyptians as a civilized society. But to study their forms of government and religion while offering some hints of how the ancient Egyptians remained such a cognate civilization provides no conclusive evidence. Certainly geography played a major role, but no matter how much of that ancient civilization you study the only thing you come away with is the sense of their recognizing that there were good people and bad people and in the afterlife this would be the basis of final judgment. And every civilization worthy of the term “civilized” has followed this same pattern of metaphysical belief usually reflected in their methods of governance.

Thanks to the marvel of the Internet and search engines one no longer has to spend years “going through the stacks” to gain an overview of ancient Egypt and other like subjects. But you quickly discover there are major differing opinions among scholars on several points, whether it be ancient Egypt or any other of the ancient civilizations.

But one thing about which you will not find much in the way of disagreement is the fact that it is only when the words of men are taken for the words of some deity, men purportedly speaking for some god or gods that we find the extremes of cruelty and brutality practiced by followers of various systems of religion. In the worst cases such as those of Islam teaching all but followers of Islam are the enemies of God, such teaching easily lending itself to the extremes of brutality and cruelty to appease a bloodthirsty deity, and in its own way no different than any of the ancient superstitions requiring human sacrifice.

I choose to call Christianity a “civilized religion” because once past its bloody beginnings and early history, Christianity provided the basis for the very best of the arts and sciences, and as those like Thoreau credited them the Bible and our Constitution became a “stream of truth” by which America flourished. Christianity had become civilized, and from this arose the greatest of Western Civilization in general and America in particular.

However, this tremendous advance of the arts and sciences had to do with the education Biblical Christianity emphasized such as the building of universities in Europe, England, and America. And as the general populations became educated as a consequence, so with increasing education came the ability for increasingly large numbers of people to contribute to the general welfare. America has been enormously blessed by this emphasis on education with its Biblical beginnings, and the loss of such an emphasis on education is something for which we are paying dearly.

It is regrettable beyond words that politics attracts the worst rather than the best. It is beyond dispute that the most civilized practice birth control, giving needed thought to the future of their children. But this is a product of education by which a civilization worthy of the term establishes itself and progresses in the arts and sciences. But nowhere do we see education worthy of the term being given the needed emphasis in the nations of barbarism. And right here in America we see increasing barbarism being the result of a failed educational system.

But our leadership being politicians refuse to acknowledge America’s heritage, culture, language and secure borders are essential to educating and providing for our own children. America cannot possibly be of help to other nations if we lose our own children. And I would offer this is not a matter of belief, but of hard empirical and pragmatic truth. And if America cannot save itself, how is it to save others?

In the following I need to explain that I called my brother Ronnie “Dee Dee” from earliest memory. We called our grandmother “Tody” though I never really understood why? And while Ronnie and I had lived in some large cities like San Francisco, Cleveland, and others Bakersfield remained our hometown to us.

During our trips from Little Oklahoma, Southeast Bakersfield, to downtown Ronnie and I would see a few Zoot-suiters and scantily clad women wearing lots of makeup, strange hairdos and hair colors, and Tody would make disparaging and warning remarks about them. A few of the women would elicit the phrase Painted Hussy from Tody, a phrase with which Ronnie and I had become well acquainted from earliest memory.

I recall the time shortly after we had moved from Weedpatch to our grandparent’s place and grandad and Tody had taken us to the American Legion Hall for a special Christmas Eve event. The program was very well attended and the auditorium was packed. Some man got up and gave a speech, after which a lady came on stage and started singing. Ronnie and I had never seen such a beautifully dressed lady. She was in some kind of long, flowing, red gown and as she was singing I leaned over to Ronnie and exclaimed in a loud voice Dee Dee, I think that’s a painted hussy! Dee Dee replied just as loudly I think she’s a painted hussy too.

Neither of us, of course, had the foggiest notion of what a painted hussy was; but we had heard the expression often enough, and somehow we had gotten the idea that anyone with lots of makeup and a red dress was a painted hussy. The roar of laughter that surrounded us by the occupants of the other seats made the poor distressed lady halt her song. I can only guess at the embarrassment of grandad and Tody. I don’t recall any other excursions into polite society for quite some time afterwards.

The Scripture has it, “A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” In the case of my brother and I, two little boys left to themselves can cause their mother to contemplate mayhem, even at Christmas time.

At one point shortly before WWII our mother having married a sailor we found ourselves living in San Pedro near the waterfront. It was Christmas morning and my brother and I decided to do something especially nice for our mother. There always seemed to be a lot of people, especially sailors, coming and going until very late at night. There were a lot of parties and a lot of drinking. So mom slept in very late, and Ronnie and I often were left to our own devices when we awakened. But this particular Christmas morning the place was a real mess and we hit on the idea of doing the dishes for mom.

But the usual silverware, plates, glasses and cups were too mundane and pedestrian for our well-intentioned and inventive enterprise. So we filled the bathtub, added a copious amount of bubble bath, and proceeded to plunge into the soapy depths of the tub mom’s waffle iron, her toaster, curling iron, the electric iron, a clock and a few other things that slip my mind for now. All this in addition to the more ordinary and insignificant items like glasses, silverware, and dishes. Of course to do the job properly, nothing would do but that we climb into the tub as well. It might have been the noise from our joyous enthusiasm in doing mom a good turn that Christmas morning that finally awakened her.

I mercifully do not recall much of the events following, but one picture stands out clearly in my mind: the sight of our mother in the doorway of the bathroom. Her mouth and eyes were astonishingly wide open, and she was making gasping and gurgling sounds like you would imagine a fish might make when pulled from the depths of the ocean. As I lifted the waffle iron from its soapy environment and held it aloft for approving display of our Christmas “gift” to her our mother seemed to be straining to gain the power of speech and movement.

But, as I said, I mercifully don’t remember much else of the event. I do not, however, believe Ronnie and I were rewarded for our gift to mom in proportion to our intentions. However, I do remember our mother, when she regained the power of speech, turning to a girlfriend who had stayed the night and exclaiming to her You take a hairbrush to them; I’m afraid I’ll kill them! Alas, the too often misunderstanding on the part of parents leading to the failure of rewarding their children’s good deeds.

If you were among the “fortunate” to have lived a pioneer life you would understand that in such an environment there is little room for political correctness; in many cases not even room for the normal sensibilities of those possessed with a genuine love and concern for the critters of the forest.

Having long ago left off hunting and fishing, even I have difficulty dealing with some of the things that were a commonplace back in those years living on the mining claim here in the Sequoia National Forest. Today it would not cross my mind to shoot an owl for example. The particular raptor in question, a great horned owl, had killed one of our turkeys and doubtless had its eyes on the chickens as well, so grandad and I were out to get it. However, having found what it believed to be an ideal hunting preserve, the owl obliged us by precipitating its untimely demise. That it was coming on Christmas at the time did not deter us.

It was evening as I started to step out the back door to the privy and spotted the owl perched on the roof of the outhouse. Carefully withdrawing while leaving the door open, I went and whispered to grandad, “That owl is perched on the roof of the outhouse.” As quietly as possible, grandad got the .410 and walked slowly to the back door of the cabin. The obliging predator remained on its perch, thoughtfully silhouetted in the evening twilight, obligingly making itself an ideal target. Boom! went the .410. Scratch one owl.

Bringing the now deceased bird inside the cabin, I stretched it out on the hearth of the fireplace; it had an impressive nearly four-foot wingspan. Big owl. It was at this time while grandad and I were looking at the deceased owl that we began to discuss the merits of cooking the critter. After all, as grandad opined, it had dined on one of our turkeys we had planned on for our own Christmas dinner and what could be more fitting than to cook and eat the critter?

My grandmother was of a different opinion, however, forcefully pointing out owls were ever bit the scavengers and carrion-eaters as vultures and ground squirrels, neither of which would ever find their way into the family pot, and she was not about to lend herself to the enterprise of cooking and eating an owl. To this day I do not know but what my grandmother’s fastidiousness and picky eating habits may have deprived me of a culinary delight and one very memorable Christmas dinner.

I sincerely hope many children will find books under their Christmas trees this year. Even after all these years I can think of few things better to give children for Christmas. I can still recall such gifts of Cinderella, Black Beauty, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates and many others. Here in America there is a tradition of giving children books for Christmas and this is a tradition well worth observing.

While living on the mining claim as a boy, I built a platform high in the branches of an old digger pine. When the weather was nice, I would often take a book or a National Geographic, climb up to my aerie and there with the wide vista of the Sequoia National Forest surrounding me unspoiled by fences or rooftops, I would lose myself in the world of literature and far off exotic lands of adventure and excitement.

So, no I did not spend all my time in this forest fastness hunting and fishing; as important as these were. I was raised to the great literature of Western Civilization, and great books became great friends. Some of you may recall times as a child, reading by flashlight under the covers at night. Where the heritage of such great books that fire the imagination of children in like fashion today? Where the families that make such great literature of such importance to children today?

There is an indelible picture in my mind of my great-grandmother reading a book late at night by the light of a kerosene lamp; and no one could read the stories from books, from The Saturday Evening Post and Colliers and make them come so alive to my brother and me like our great-grandmother.

From his interview as to why she never wrote again after To Kill A Mockingbird Roy Newquist concluded in part: “Harper Lee having told the truth about the deplorable state of writing in America, the failure of the universities to truly educate and pass on the heritage of great literature that has blessed Western Civilization, England and America, perhaps she may have realized she would be spitting into the wind to attempt any further attempts.”

Jesus said, “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” But when it comes to things like the great books and literature of Western Civilization, there is this admonition in Scripture as well: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”

My copy of the annual Toys for Tots calendar for 2005 had a quote from Winston Churchill: “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” I wrote at the time that while most would agree with Churchill, it seems only a matter of time before the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, started in 1947, comes under attack because it is inextricably associated with Christmas. In fact, the pocket calendar for 2005 I received shows two Marines posing with a child holding gifts, however there is a gaily decorated Christmas tree in the background and the words “Every child deserves a little Christmas” printed below the picture. This invited criticism from those opposed to any celebration of Christmas. It won’t do folks. Make no mistake; America’s heritage and culture are rooted in a Christian Western Civilization. But such a heritage and culture is coming under increasing attack by those opposed to any and all expressions of a distinctively Western culture, let alone a Christian one.

Grandad enjoyed telling the story of a relative that was so religious he believed in the strictest form of “Sabbath-keeping,” much in the Orthodox Jewish tradition. This meant that he could do no work on Sunday. But the man had chickens requiring they be fed each day. So, on Saturday evenings the man would place a pan of feed on the top of a gatepost for the chicken yard. Then, the following Sunday the man would “accidentally” bump into the post causing the feed to spill into the yard for the chickens.

I would laugh at the story, and grandad enjoyed telling it. But the thing that troubled me even as a child was how could the man actually believe he was fooling God? While legitimate objections are raised to any confusion of the separation of Church and State, and the rational mind rejects many of what may be called the superstitions of religion resulting in things like the man feeding his chickens, there is no discounting the fact that Christianity may be rightly called a “civilized religion” as opposed to many others.

Toys for Tots, our distinctive music and films emphasizing the essence of the Gospel in Christmas celebrations should not be confused with or attacked based on objections to religion. The Christmas message remains, “Peace on earth among those of good will.” It is that promised peace among those of good will Christmas celebrates, something the world can ill afford to lose. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Jeff Daniels’ “The Crossing” was so well done I bought a copy of it when it was made available so I could watch it whenever I wanted. It will be exactly 230 years ago this Christmas that this historic event took place. Being a supporting member of the Mount Vernon Historical Preservation Society I have a very handsome print of George Washington on the wall here where I write together with a print of the famous painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. The engraving by Paul Girardet is one of the scenes in the beautiful calendar I receive each year from The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association which I also support.

The success of Washington’s dangerously audacious decision to make the crossing and attack Trenton on Christmas day cannot be overestimated in its importance, but it drew much criticism from some quarters for being a “sacrilege” against the celebration of Christmas. However, Washington was not deterred by such criticism, believing the cause of freedom and liberty, his own duty and responsibility to fight the War for Independence to win of more importance than observing Christmas in a manner approved by the churches.

There are many beautiful stories surrounding the celebration of Christmas, like the truce during WWI and others of a similar nature. The Christmas season has become one of gay lighting, of so many beautiful carols and stories, the giving of gifts, the stories of Santa believed to have originated with Saint Nicholas the Bishop of Myra.

But despite all the commercialism of the season each Christmas my thoughts turn not only to the birth of Jesus, but to Valley Forge and The Crossing. It is difficult to overdraw the suffering of those soldiers at the time, the hardships endured. And over the many years since, it is now even more difficult to imagine the kind of man Washington had to be that could command such loyalty of his soldiers. Whatever any one else’s opinion I’m convinced Washington knew how to keep the spirit of Christmas in his own heart, and this accounted for his greatness.

The various interpretations and presentations of “A Christmas Carol” are something many of us look forward to during the Christmas season. But Dickens was castigated by some church leaders of the time for his emphasis on the goodness of the human spirit rather than on the birth of Jesus. What they chose to overlook, as do many today, was the fact that without the birth of The Prince of Peace there would never have been the story by Dickens with its emphasis on the goodness to be found in humankind.

As with the charming story by Dickens, while it is generally a subject for academia curiosity is aroused when considering why the noblest thoughts of men and women throughout history are largely ignored of putting into practice, and as Emerson pointed out such people make disciples but leave no truly representative class. And no Jacob’s Ladder to heaven has resulted from the pile of books, the heritage of the best of humankind representing the noblest thoughts of good people and philosophers.

A broad hint of why the worst and not the best are elevated to power in America is that while there is so much of real moment, so much real suffering going on throughout America and the rest of the world the MSM seems captive to the inane like celebrities and thereby making America and Americans appear shallow and self-absorbed with wealth and fame. Perhaps you become as disgusted as I am with what the MSM considers “news.” But what is the driving force for this absorbing fascination of the media with celebrity and the propaganda supporting it as of real interest to Americans? Are Americans really as shallow as the MSM would have everyone believe? We are told it is the ratings that prove this. But is this really true? It certainly is not what we want to believe, but can it possibly be true? And if so what does this say of America, of the future for America?

If one were to look for a conspiracy in this, perhaps it involves Henry Thoreau’s comment about unjust governments making war: “Thus, under the name of order and civil government, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness… The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it.”

It seems the “Bully Pulpit” has become a bully in the White House. It is no accident the MSM is cooperating with Bush by elevating the inanities of celebrities to captivating TV and thereby taking attention away from the debacle in Iraq. But will the Clinton henchman Berger be held to account for his thefts, stealing security documents unflattering to Clinton in an attempt at revisionist history? What is this but bullying? And every drunk behind the wheel seems to believe it his “right” to drive while drunk. And the drunk is encouraged in believing this because our leaders will not allow the punishment to fit the crime when the drunk maims and kills people. The failure of good people to elect good government because of bullies shouting down every attempt at standards of good and decent behavior results in the meanness Henry wrote about due to the “disinterested virtue” of too many good people thereby allowing the “drunks” to keep getting behind the wheel.

And how is it that every attempt to defend a truly distinctive American heritage, culture, language, and secure borders is met by the bullies attempting to shout down such attempts to hold on to a distinctively American identity and American sovereignty? If one were to look for a conspiracy of evil look to those that attack all that speak out against those that appear to believe America can survive without its identity as a nation based on our heritage, culture, language, and secure borders.

“U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., said he will not apologize for criticizing the use of the Koran for swearing in government officials. Goode came under fire for sending his central Virginia constituents a letter criticizing a request by Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., to be sworn in using the Koran instead of the Bible next month.”

The hypocrisy of politicians swearing an oath of office with hand on Bible is obvious to all and the subject of a lengthy essay of mine. Harper Lee has the evil Ewell and his daughter swear an oath their hands on a Bible with the clear intent of lying in order to send an innocent man to his death. But to introduce a Koran leaves me with the most uneasy feeling this will not be hypocrisy, but an oath taken to do everything possible to advance the cause of Islam in America. But the Devil’s attorney has no trouble pointing out the fact politicians do not serve the interests of America, but their actual oath of office is sworn to their own selfish interests, hands on a Bible notwithstanding.

It has come to this; a seeming mad man in the White House aided by the MSM glorifying celebrity no matter how debased, cooperating in making those who believe America should not forsake our heritage, culture, language and borders to be the mean-spirited while those attacking these things are made to look like the noble defending America. But because of the success of the bullies due to “disinterested virtue” the rest of the world sees our nation being driven by a drunk at the wheel; and as is usually the case the innocent will suffer the consequences of such madness while the drunk goes on to maim and kill again and again.

Those of us who recall Christmas during WWII know that metal toys were scarce due to the war. In fact, many of us children at the time contributed our metal toys for scrap drives. Naturally I don’t know what girls were looking forward to, but one of the first things boys were looking for after the war was cap and BB guns being made available again.

My maternal grandparent’s small church on the corner of Cottonwood and Padre in Southeast Bakersfield was the social center for the Dust Bowl folks in what we called “Little Oklahoma.” Grandad (John Bradden Caldwell) had built the church himself largely from the material of a wrecked boxcar at the nearby rail yard. It is my good fortune to have some “before and after” photos of it, one showing it as a structure wrapped in the ubiquitous tarpaper, the primary construction material throughout our small community. I had the privilege of driving some of the tacks attaching the tarpaper to the studs. Another shows the completed structure with an actual belfry with bell which I enjoyed the honor of ringing Sunday mornings. Such pictures and memories I put into the writing of books have enabled me to make a contribution to the Weedpatch Memorial Library. I do, after all, have bragging rights having been born in Weedpatch.

As to Christmas in Little Oklahoma during the war years, not only cap guns but toys of any kind were scarce. Not that it took a war to make them so to the folks commemorated by Steinbeck; at a time when pennies were real money and any kid with a quarter was rich, poverty was endemic to our small community where women actually did make dresses of flour and grain sacks, and both women and children often went barefoot. One thing about poverty, it does not discriminate among the poor and there was never any stigma attached to making do with what one had, or did not have. “Learn to do with or do without” was a mantra heard and used from childhood on.

But despite the cruel poverty in our community Christmas was a time to celebrate the hope of peace that the birth of Jesus declared to the world. Of the utmost hope was the peace of a successful end to the war because of the many small flags in windows with their blue stars proudly declaring for all to see some loved one in the service; and, tragically, sometimes the blue stars were changed for gold.

As all us natives know Kern County can be bitterly cold at Christmastime. But even during WWII Christmas was Christmas, and kids have a remarkable facility to deal with freezing temps at this time of year especially.

My brother and I escaped most of the real poverty of our little community because of our grandparents being so very industrious and entrepreneurial. They had an ice house on the corner of 4^th and Chester, a small grocery store, four small rentals, and my grandmother had a dress shop in Arvin next to the theater. My grandfather also had a job with the post office, so it isn’t surprising we were considered “rich” by the standards of Little Oklahoma.

But grandad really related to Santa Claus. Before the church was built he would dress like Santa and all the neighborhood children would come to our house where grandad dressed as Santa would dispense toys to them. And where did the toys come from? Most of them came from a magical place called “Owen’s Toy Store.”

While Ronnie and I loved our place in Little Oklahoma, we always looked forward to trips into Bakersfield. One of the reasons for this was that no trip to Bakersfield was complete without a visit to Owen’s Toy Store. A magical place with more toys than you ever thought existed outside the North Pole! It seemed to me that grandad enjoyed trips to the toy store as much as Ronnie and I did. He would pick up various toys examining them with genuine pleasure, all the while laughing and joking with Mr. Owen

Every Christmas Grandad would be given a large amount of toys by Mr. Owen to distribute to the children in our dirt poor community. Many children of Little Oklahoma would never have gotten a toy for Christmas had it not been for this. And grandad always made a delivery of toys to the Negro church across the railroad tracks to the north from us for distribution to the children there as well. As you can well imagine this endeared grandad and grandma to that whole community as well as our own.

Grandad did have real influence with the powers in Bakersfield, and often helped some of the Negro people in his official capacity as a Special Deputy Sheriff for Kern County. His reputation for being fair and never patronizing together with being a preacher enabled him to mix freely in both communities separated by the tracks from one another without trouble from either.

When the church was built, remarkably grandad would still dress as Santa for this distribution of toys Christmas morning from the church. His reasoning was he did not want the giving of toys to children confused with his role as a preacher, nor did grandad want to give the impression that Mr. Owen favored his church over any other.

Many children would show up for this giving of toys that we would never see in our church otherwise. But grandad would never question this. As “Santa,” his genuine concern was making children happy; and there was no mistaking the joy it gave him to play the role of Santa.

Since I am a writer and author and write for some “mega sites” as well as local I’m familiar with the gargantuan task webmasters have trying to deal with hackers, worms and viruses of many kinds, and just plain old fashioned courtesy. But we read and hear from many sources good manners are not being taught children anymore, and this would seem to be the case in homes and schools throughout America. Apart from declining good manners, the subject of bullies in the schools is drawing some much needed attention, and if you as a child suffered from a playground bully you can certainly relate to the problem

Recently the threats were made on the Californian blog that if I deleted any of their comments some of these local “net bullies” would keep reposting their same comments over and over until they wore me out and I gave up. Jason attempted to ameliorate the situation pointing out quite correctly a person should have the right to maintain their own blog and delete comments as they please without such threats, but was largely ignored; one person even taking it upon himself to tell Jason he was missing the point. Well, the point was really the self righteousness of the critic. But by now most who contribute their thoughts on this local site know the bullies, and like all bullies they prefer to gang up on their victim. The really distressing thing about this is the fact some I know personally have given up writing to this blog, as well as others with which I am familiar, because of the bullies. And the loss is to be lamented.

There are the usual caveats to be expected from the bullies, those that make a pretense of their self-assumed “duty” to keep other people honest by their opinion of “honest.” Nevertheless, over time the bullies expose themselves for what they are and this local blog as well as many others with which I am familiar suffer as a consequence. There is a commonality identifying the net bullies: “Freedom of expression for me, but not for you.” Then they will go on at length defending their attacks in the usual high-flown rhetoric one expects of politicians. But as with politicians bullies remain bullies no matter how fine a face they try to put to themselves.

Beyond this local problem there are the mega sites like CNN and MSNBC that have teams of people attempting to stay ahead of the curve, not to mention the financial industry and others. I get my share of spam and hate mail, there is even one site to which I contribute that seems to invite hackers attempting to destroy it, and is beyond mere frustration for the webmaster and his crew to work so very hard attempting to protect the site.

Many of us have heard the latest that 90% of email is spam. Unless you are a professional with Verizon, AOL, EarthLink, or other similar organizations you can’t know the sheer magnitude of the problems of spam, much of it pornography, drugs, stocks, loans, scams of every description net personnel have to deal with 24/7. The worrisome thing is how long the Internet and email programs are going to be able to function with the ongoing onslaught; especially when the techs don’t speak English.

But like the subjects of criticizing the ACLU, making English our official language by law, demanding government secure our borders and take a stand against amnesty, to stop printing ballots in foreign tongues, demanding legitimate documentation with photograph in order to vote, standing up for our Christian heritage, any criticism of Jews or Israel, here come the bullies to gang up on you. And even the net bullies and hackers are to be protected in too many cases, citing their own “freedom of expression.”

Today at Townhall I read a column about the dangers inherent to “Holocaust deniers.” And the point was well made. Here is America and Israel vs. the rest of the world. If those denying the holocaust get the upper hand the danger is self-evident; but the frustration on the part of the rest of the world perceiving Israel as the kid threatening to sic his big brother on you, is this a problem of America and Israel’s making? Or is it a problem where the bullies of propaganda are gaining the upper hand? But we see throughout the world the anger being fomented against America and Israel and the manifold dangers growing.

Freedom of expression is a fine thing. But when any subject becomes a taboo of those wielding and abusing power, like those close to Bush never daring voice criticism of his policies, this creates an environment where the bullies thrive. We know nations like China, North Korea, and Iran are doing all they can to stifle dissent, global corporations cooperating with these bullies. But if we look about America today, it is self-evident you don’t dare sing Christmas carols or say “Merry Christmas” in our schools. “Happy Holidays” has become a politically correct Grinch and a little here, and a little there, and before you know it political correctness whether that of China, North Korea, Iran or America, the bullies have won.

But the bullies of China and North Korea, of Iran all have the advantage of a national identity. America has lost that advantage. And America has lost that advantage because of the politically correct bullies of America ganging up and shouting down dissent, attacking everything of America’s heritage, culture, and language, attacking any that would secure our own borders with the usual shouts of “racist.” But how can America sustain itself, let alone Israel, without a national identity, without national sovereignty? It can’t. And the bullies will have won; but at what cost; and what exactly is it that they will have won?

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Did you know that 53 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply committed Christians? The other three all believed in the Bible as the divine truth, the God of scripture, and His personal intervention.

It is the same Congress that formed the American Bible Society. Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of scripture for the people of this nation.

Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, '"Give me liberty or give me death."' But in current textbooks the context of these words is deleted. Here is what he actually said: '"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."'

These sentences have been erased from our textbooks. Was Patrick Henry a Christian? The following year, 1776, he wrote this '"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here."'

Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his well-worn Bible: '"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator. "' He was also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest and most important role.

On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, '"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."'

Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, '"The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."'

In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: '"The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools."'

William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in 1963. President Lincoln called him the '"Schoolmaster of the Nation."'

Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: '"The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our notions on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible I make no apology."'

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures: '"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments. James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: '"We have staked the whole future of our new nation not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."'

If anyone naively believed that rabbi in Seattle had pulled in his horns and the issue of Christmas tree vs. Menorah had been settled they must know by now how very mistaken they were. The ACLU continues to generate hatred by attempting to destroy Christmas through the mechanism of forcing their Menorah on a Christian America despite the best efforts of Jews with common sense attempting to defuse the situation. The threat remains: “Either a Menorah or no Christmas tree!”

It is certainly no secret the nations of the world for the greater part see Israel as the greatest threat to world peace. And, by extension, America’s support of Israel. So it should come as no surprise Iran’s mad man found so many willing to attend the Holocaust Conference in Tehran. Israel’s Olmert stating publicly Israel had nuclear weapons certainly added fuel to the fire of controversy over the painfully obvious double standard America has concerning Jews vs. Muslims. Nor did this help matters: JERUSALEM (Reuters) – “The Iraq war was a boon for Israel's security,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said voicing fresh endorsement for a Bush administration sapped by the unpopularity at home of its Middle East policies…"Thank God for the power and the determination and leadership manifested by President Bush…"

Apparently PM Olmert dismisses the idea God may not be on Bush’s side in prosecuting his “war on terrorism,” something made blatantly obvious by our President’s refusal to secure our own borders here in America. And as events are unfolding, just how much more “secure” has Israel become by the toppling of Hussein? And just how secure is Israel going to be once terrorist bombs start going off in America’s shopping malls, especially if Muslim propagandists are successful in blaming America’s support of Israel as the reason for such bombs? “Happy Chanukah” and pictures of a Menorah being flashed on TV screens here in America are no doubt greeted with glee by our Muslim enemies with a “See, we keep telling you so!”

I have said many times the barbaric woman hating religion of Islam is the greatest threat the civilized nations face. But Americans are not going to sacrifice their sons and daughters to fight wars under the flag of Israel or for a Menorah. But it is nearly impossible to defuse the situation when a Christian America has lost its identity as such and is being made to appear a Jewish America, dominated by a miniscule minority dictating to the majority of Americans. And no matter where you look throughout America it is easy to see where our enemies are finding too much justification for the accusation, especially in the American media.

When Dolly Parton thought she had a great idea for a TV sitcom with a Christian theme she went to Hollywood in an attempt to find support for it. One would have thought someone with Dolly’s experience should have known better, but her disillusionment over her idea meeting such resistance goaded her into making one of the all-time politically incorrect statements to come out of the entertainment industry: “They’re all a bunch of Jews out there!”

Dolly, as with Burt Reynolds and a few others, the latest one of note being Mel Gibson was quick to retrench with numerous apologies. But words have consequences no matter the number of apologies. That Jews have become their own worst enemies in fostering the view they have power in America far beyond anything their actual numbers would justify cannot escape the notice of anyone, least of all the enemies of America using this to their own evil ends.

Few doubt that in the beginning the powers in our government encouraged the creation of the modern state of Israel with the intention of it being a gateway to the Middle East oil fields, something the Bush dynasty has always had in view. That this bargain with the Devil was a double edged sword seemed to have escaped the notice of our leadership that was blinded by the lust for power and profits. But the chickens are coming home to roost.

It seems human nature just works to the detriment of humankind in general. Once any minority demands preferential treatment on the basis of becoming “professional victims” the majority begins to resent this, and where hatred was not engendered by just laws protecting minorities, when laws begin to punish the majority unjustly, when the terms “racist, bigot, anti-Semitic” begin to be used as weapons against the majority the outcome is easily predictable. So it isn’t to be wondered such resentment will eventually turn against that minority, and too often throughout history with devastating consequences for that minority. But now with nuclear weapons being a factor, the stakes are too high for any minority to make itself hated by the majority and thereby invite retaliation by the majority.

While words have consequences, no less do actions have consequences. And wherever Christmas trees and nativity scenes are attacked by the Jewish dominated ACLU, such actions have the obvious consequences giving the propaganda advantage to the enemies of both America and Israel. To repeat: A Christian America that acknowledges its debt to a Jew, Jesus, is the only real and true friend Israel has. And those Christmas trees and nativity scenes, not Menorahs, represent all that is good about America; represent the real strength of a good America with a Christian identity; not Buddhist, Jewish, or Muslim. For any minority demanding America be anything but Christian, to demand all religions be given equal status with Christianity in America is to attack the very basis by which those of other religions enjoy their own freedom to worship in America!

And though I am not a religious man by definition, I am a product of a Christian America. Philosophically I acknowledge the tremendous contribution the Bible and the Christian religion has made to America becoming the freest and most powerful nation in history. Europe and England are paying a price for inviting the venomous serpent of Islam to their breast. But America cannot afford to make it appear the protagonist of Judaism is the tail wagging the dog. Especially when our own President is handing the propaganda advantage to the enemies of America, and is supported in this by the Prime Minister of Israel.

If perception is everything in politics the perception of America by the rest of the world is not a pretty picture. It has come down to the perception of America and Israel vs. the rest of the world. And our leadership, as well as the ACLU, had better take this to heart and begin to deal with realities, not wishful thinking in terms of political correctness for the sake of power and profits. In the end the truth will out and by far the better course for America is for our leaders to start dealing with and telling the truth. But because of the evil men do the truth is often an ugly and brutal thing, and calling people names, trying to tar them with the brush of “racist, bigot, anti-Semitic” because they choose to deal with and tell the truth only serves satanic ends. Still, if I believed in Christmas wishes…

In one Calvin and Hobbes strip they are using a Ouija Board and Calvin asks whether he will ever become President? When the words “God forb-“ begin to be spelled out Calvin kicks the board exclaiming “Stupid thing!”

Folks, I don’t need a Ouija board telling me “God forbid!” I should ever become President. Among the many things I would do with such power is attempt to legalize marijuana and prostitution. As though making it known I don’t believe in prayer were not enough, kiss off any “conservative” base right there on those two things alone.

Not that I have ever been in danger of winning the highest office in the land, but my heterodox ideas and opinions seem to conflict with just about every group you can name. Much like Thoreau who wished there were some document he could sign absolving him of any organization he had not signed on to, I wish there were some way of absolving me from our Federal Triune Dictatorship that obligates We the People for many things we have not signed on to. The fault is often voting for scoundrels, or not voting at all, but when the “choices” are nothing but scoundrels what are We the People to do?

Among a host of things that separate me from both camps, conservative and liberal, are my thoughts about abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and gun control. As to the latter, I’m a life long supporter of the NRA and favor every law abiding citizen owning and carrying a gun. “Don’t leave home without it” makes sense in a lawless society, which America has become. After all, the barbarians terrorize at will because they know they can. But faced with an armed law abiding citizenry it would be different. That is if the ACLU would ever allow of such a thing and both citizens and police were not hauled into court for defending themselves against the barbarians. There is no doubt in my mind the Founding Fathers intended law abiding citizens be armed, and not just a militia.

What about abortion? There is no question to my mind abortion on demand has had the effect of desensitizing life, encouraging a callousness concerning society’s value of life. Unquestionably the pervading violence taught children by Hollywood, TV, so-called “games” all make their satanic contribution to an increasingly violent American society. But for those opposing abortion I wonder if many would object to having aborted Stalin, Hitler, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Bush, members of Congress, lawyers… well, you get my point. If we had the power to distinguish between the children of God and the children of the Devil I’d be more than willing to drop the hammer on those born to do evil. Take those that are going to turn out to be the monsters preying on women and children, who wouldn’t want to abort such monsters?

And what of the multiplied hundreds of millions of “human weeds” worldwide born to misery and suffering, born only to hopelessness and despair, born only to die, the unproductive mouths demanding to be fed by the productive; at what point does the earth itself lose the potential to feed teeming billions of people? What exactly is the basis of any “moral imperative” to feed these multiplied hundreds of millions that not only contribute nothing, but take from those who responsibly limit births in order to properly care for the resulting babies? Birth a “gift of God?” If so, I have to wonder who exactly is minding the store? Or has God assigned the responsibility for births to some heavenly committee like those of Congress. That would explain the lunacy of it. But what if a future Mozart, Washington, or Einstein were aborted? When you have the ability to tell how any given baby is going to turn out then you might have a legitimate argument.

But as a matter of speculation, for which I herewith claim the copyright for any resulting book or film, suppose there are children of God and children of the Devil as one might believe from the account in Genesis. Does it come down to which is responsible for the greater number of offspring in contention with each other, the never ending struggle between good and evil resulting in the history of humankind being one of nothing but wars and misery for the greatest number?

As to good vs. evil one has to wonder why any person possessed of sound mind would be inviting the invasion of America by the teeming hoards from Mexico, knowing full well that if not stopped Mexicans do not assimilate in America but will only contribute to growing illiterate millions demanding bread while offering nothing of real value to American society. The only obvious answer is the wealthy profiting from the slave labor of these growing millions of illiterate and far too often violent Mexicans. And just try to convince Mexicans and their La Raza they should accommodate themselves to either birth control or “multiculturalism.”

Bush and his supporters have dreams of an empire built on the backs of slaves from Mexico to Canada. And those wealthy with dreams of empire worldwide built on the backs of slaves care nothing about the trade agreements with nations like China so long as the money keeps going into the “right” pockets. After all, who in their right mind believes the real motivation of Bush and Company was “democracy” in the face of the intractable and incontrovertible facts making such an idea ridiculously impossible in the Middle East?

In a world where the ignorant and illiterate unproductive outbreed the educated productive there has to be an eventual reckoning. Even in the most prosperous nation in history, America, the widening gap between the haves and have nots is growing at an exponential rate, due in no small part to the invasion by illiterate millions from Mexico that practice no means of birth control whatsoever, but demand bread of legitimate American citizens for the resulting babies. Madness! I would like to see the proponents of abortion on demand try to make that fly with Mexicans! How about the proponents of abortion on demand marching in the streets of Mexico?

Somewhere you would hope common sense would trump the seeming lunacy of it all. But wherever we look worldwide there seems little to offer hope such will ever be the case. Take global warming for instance. Even if Gore and Company is correct, who in their right mind expects nations like China and India or any third world nations to cooperate in controlling their environments at the expense of feeding their hungry mouths; not to mention keeping the wealthy warm a’ la mode as per Henry’s observation.

As to euthanasia I favor the law in Oregon. As long as I’m possessed of my faculties I want my death to be my decision should I face an otherwise miserable and painful end without hope. And I don’t favor an end in the hands of politicians whose only “credentials” are wrapping themselves in the flag and waving the bloody shirt with hand on Bible only to get elected and stay elected.

President? "God forb-"

Whether a child in Africa, China, Mexico, Iraq, Iran, or America there are some demons I know from experience even Lunesta’s butterfly won’t drive away. The horrible things that happen to children are among those demons, the image of a little girl running and screaming in pain while burning from napalm in Vietnam, the images of two little girls left alone to die of thirst in a cold black dungeon in Belgium where monsters kept them imprisoned while making videos of one of the monsters repeatedly raping these little girls for distribution to other monsters are not demons of the mind easily exorcised.

When I first proposed the amendment for the protection of children from molesters eight years ago copies were sent to President Clinton, every governor, every U. S. Senator, a number of U. S. Representatives and lesser politicians, print and TV media personalities including Oprah and Montel; a copy was even sent to the Pope, since I believed in view of the Roman Church being so actively involved with pervert priests preying on children I owed him the courtesy of being informed of the amendment.

The resulting archive of responses over the years has been quite educational. Some who responded recognized the enormity of the historical aspect of the amendment together with the profound social implications and quite correctly expressed their concern about these. Those at the UN and the CDC also were informed of the amendment because of the far reaching implications that would impact on those organizations. And while UNICEF answered very diplomatically, the intent was clear enough: “We are afraid where this might lead.” Those at the CDC did not respond because of the minority implications, particularly the evidence of molestation leading to early puberty, something of which UNICEF and virtually every pediatrician is fully aware.

Since I have a web site dedicated to the amendment and the justification for it I won’t belabor the issues here. But one thing became increasingly clear to me; whether conservative or liberal most persons and organizations were actually fearful of the amendment ever becoming the Law of the Land. And this fear was shared among those one might expect would support such an amendment, even among some conservative church leaders and women’s and child advocacy organizations.

In the beginning, I wanted the death penalty for convicted molesters should the child die as a result of such monsters murdering children. But I changed my mind on this, coming to realize the death penalty is too capricious state-to-state, just as are the laws concerning the abuse of children. It isn’t I have changed my mind as per Ma Joad that some people simply need killing, but I realized what was needed in respect to capital punishment was a national standard to be applied, and just so with child molesters where the laws state-to-state are capricious to the point of maliciousness, of actually hating children! It only acerbates the situation to have so many blatantly perverted judges accommodating their fellow perverts and a politically correct media that makes “immigrants” of illegal aliens afraid to confront perversion for what it is in fact. A “pedophile” for example is in fact a pervert!

Ben Shapiro: According to Mel Gibson, his new movie, "Apocalypto," is a metaphor for the death of American civilization. "The precursors to a civilization that's going under are the same, time and time again," Gibson explained at a film festival in Texas. "What's human sacrifice if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?"

While agreeing with Mel, I say what’s human sacrifice if not refusing to do all in our power to protect children from the monsters preying on them, often with the help of complicit legislators, judges, and media? And while Mel together with a number of others including me see America heading toward extinction, politicians sacrificing our young people to the wars politicians make for profit is no more an obscenity against America than the failure to protect children from the monsters preying on them! Who but those that choose to be blind to the facts would disagree our children are our future? And America has evolved into a nation that behaves as though it actually hates children!

When the demons began to torment me to the point of first proposing the amendment, I put a four by eight foot sign out front of my little cottage here in the country reading in stark black letters: IT SHOULDN’T HURT TO BE A CHILD! This became a theme of several child advocacy groups.

It was while considering the Vietnam Memorial Wall it occurred to me; why shouldn’t the murdered children have their own memorial wall also? Having two sheds on my property I started such a wall on one of them with the names of Melissa and Julie, those little Belgium girls, along with those of children like Polly Klaas and JonBenet Ramsey. In no time at all I had dozens of such names on what I call my “Memorial Wall of Shame” to America!

At first the local paper took notice, and pictures, of what I was doing. But in the course of time I simply became that peculiar fellow with the signs out front of his house. But several people commented privately to me that it kept them mindful of how children are mistreated and abused, and had kept some of these people from acting in anger against their own children, such anger often the cause of hurting children.

The first Christmas following my starting the Memorial Wall of Shame I was tempted to put up a Christmas tree with some colorful lights in front of it. But then I reconsidered. This would have been an obscenity to all a Christmas tree symbolized to children. These murdered children