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 might have believed in Santa; they might have believed in God. But neither Santa nor God saved them. And what would this have been but a reminder of how God had failed to hear the screams of these children as they were being tortured and murdered? So much for prayer when adults do not fulfill their obligation to protect children, and I know some of these children like Melissa and Julie must have even prayed for death to deliver them from the monsters torturing them! But dying in a cold black dungeon from thirst could hardly be called a merciful death in answer to their prayers. And if the “mercy of God” is not to be found in delivering children from monsters where are we to look for such mercy, for answers to our prayers? We must look to ourselves as the responsible parties.

Yes, the amendment holds enormous implications historically, sociologically, and legally; I’ve thus far had an eight year education in this and the layers of the implications continue to unfold before me. But I’m as convinced now as in the beginning our children, America needs this amendment.

It will surprise those that do not know me well or have not read my writing on the subject to learn that I do not believe in prayer. And while I do believe prayer comes as naturally as breathing to most human beings, especially in extremis, reflecting a relationship to God I do not believe in prayer as taught in the various religious systems including that of Christianity.

Quite recently in conversation with a fellow about why I do not believe in prayer I gave him an example from the film Death Hunt, where that really ugly guy demands Lee Marvin go after Charles Bronson. Marvin tells him he is going to pray this ugly fellow just goes away, lowers his head and closes his eyes for a moment; then opening them and seeing this guy still standing there says “I never did have much luck praying.” And that pretty well sums up my own experience with prayer. So years ago I gave up on prayer as an exercise in futility. If God doesn’t know by now the mess we humans have made of things he never will.

Since I’ve literally memorized the Scriptures and preached the sermons on the subject of prayer there is no need of anyone quoting Scripture as if they were going to somehow mystically transform my point of view. In short: Forget it. Not going to happen. Lived too long and know too much. Wars, religious and political hatreds continue without let, women and children continue to be the victims of monsters in human guise preying on them, and if God cannot hear the cries of children especially and deliver them from their abusers and murderers I am not about to bend God’s ears in the hope he is going to bless a lottery ticket. Not that I have ever bought a lottery ticket, but you get the point.

As a feel good exercise few things can beat prayer, and when someone says “I’ll pray for you” I understand such a thing is usually said with the best of intentions. But in most cases such a thing falls into the category of some bum on the street saying “God bless you” for your giving him a buck; whereas the Scripture clearly declares only the greater are qualified to pronounce such a blessing upon the lesser. This bum thinks he is greater than you?

And now for the anticipated qualifier: I talk to God all the time. But I long ago left off asking for anything either for myself or anyone else, I long ago stopped believing God was going to intervene on my behalf in any given situation, or for that matter on behalf of anyone else just because I ask him to.

The basic reason for my coming to this conclusion about prayer some years ago is my concluding it is the responsibility of humankind to address the issues plaguing our world, not that of God. So I stopped believing God was going to wave his magic wand and fix things that we humans refuse to fix ourselves.

At this time of year many children are writing letters to Santa, sitting on his lap and letting their requests be known, but who buys the gifts; parents or other loving adults in the child’s life. Works for me. But in my opinion God isn’t Santa Claus.

The subject of prayer does open a wide area of speculation, which is why I devoted quite bit of my writing to the subject when I began to confront it objectively rather than religiously. If we dispense with the religious notions of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, attributes that according to the Bible God does not claim for himself perhaps he does need our input about our lives and world conditions? But I don’t know. What I do know is that like Lee Marvin “I never did have much luck praying.” But if luck is a factor, go ahead and pray for that lottery ticket.

It may be that God favors some over others, but that is entirely metaphysical speculation in the same vein as my talking to God and departed loved ones, which may be of no more reality than talking to myself or the resident cat; and just as the cat is not much of a conversationalist neither am I hearing voices from God or my departed loved ones. But I do find comfort in these ongoing “conversations” with God and departed loved ones and settle for that.

But when it comes to trying to talk to living, breathing human beings and trying to get the attention of corrupt politicians it seems we may as well give in to prayer. When it comes to efficacy perhaps prayer is all we have left to give us any hope. However, it remains my belief it is our responsibility as human beings to confront and overcome evil. One of the results of my no longer believing in prayer and coming to terms with human responsibility was this:

Proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution

An adult convicted of the molestation of a child will be sentenced to prison for a term of not less than ten years.

If the child dies as a result of the molestation the person(s) convicted of the crime will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A child as defined by this article shall be one who has not attained their sixteenth birthday.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

While I have a web site dedicated to this amendment and the justification for it, I will say here when it comes to doing our part as human beings, as Americans, rather than asking/blaming God by prayer the proposed Constitutional amendment to protect children from child molesters is a good place to start doing our part. But my overriding concern is the fact that no nation can survive that does not cherish its children. I ask further: Can a world survive that does not make children its priority? Children, their future as the future of our species, should provide the basis of dialogue between nations. But we have never seen this happen.

It is my conviction that America, given its historical character and as the freest nation in history, has the obligation to lead the way in this dialogue, to open it by way of the proposed amendment through being the first nation in history to make such a commitment to children by its foundational charter of government; our Constitution.

And while it doubtless requires the kind of perseverance evidenced by those dedicated to the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage the amendment will prove to be the right and wise thing to do. I cannot think of anything of greater import or impetus that would restore the soul of America; that would create such a noble national identity and national purpose as a people than the proposed amendment.

Discounting the pompous asininity of the source being someone that had never known poverty or missing a meal, had never had to shoulder a rifle in defense of his life or America, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country” had the germ of the truth concerning prayer in my opinion; that being don’t ask of God those things which are our responsibility. And the greatest responsibility we have as Americans is the welfare of our children!

We cannot cure the ills of other nations, especially not those of Muslim nations. But We the People are responsible for our own children! And there are too many children suffering right here in America, whether suffering at the hands of monsters, suffering hunger and inadequate health care, suffering a failed educational system, suffering being born without hope of any future beyond welfare and crime, the hypocrisy of failing our own children while pretending concern for the children of other nations must be a stench in the nostrils of God! Remember that when you “say your prayers.”

The elderly are especially at risk of various scams and frauds perpetrated by those without conscience that understand the mechanisms by which they can profit from those unable to properly handle their own affairs. In his declining years my grandfather had a home in Redondo Beach, but being fiercely independent all his life continued to try to handle his own affairs long past the time he was physically able to do so. But eventually he was forced to have someone come in to do essential household chores for him as many of the elderly, especially those living alone, often do.

Circumstances of geography often prevent family members from helping their elderly loved ones, and such was the case with my grandfather. But when he passed away, much to my dismay I found the “housekeeper” had forged a deed on his home. Eventually by much dogged effort and expense on my part, including hiring a lawyer which should not have been necessary, the miscreant was eventually brought to justice. But equally to my dismay the DA involved told me his office handled hundreds of such cases on a monthly basis, that they were “routine” throughout southern California! Further, I could count myself among the more fortunate that had the education, the means and perseverance to pursue the case involving my grandfather to its satisfactory conclusion. I learned many such cases do not reach such a satisfactory conclusion and quite often the thieves are successful. In some cases, even if the thieves are caught their forgeries can cloud a title making it very difficult to clear the property involved.

Things have only become worse in the case of forgeries and counterfeiting over the years since the experience with my grandfather’s home. The problems of identity theft for example are increasing at an exponential rate, and even the Social Security numbers of children are being stolen, a theft that may not be discovered until the child reaches an age where they are employed.

The blame for such things is properly laid on a government that rewards incompetence, a government such as we have been forced to endure that puts people in charge of agencies on the basis of political connections rather than competence. How many teachers for example are forced to endure incompetent administrators in much the same way as We the People are forced to endure those in charge of intelligence agencies that don’t even know how to turn on a computer, let alone use one! “A Nation At Risk” made the point long ago concerning the failure of our schools, but nothing was done to correct the situation because of this inbred incompetence of the universities and all government agencies.

But let anyone in the lower echelons of government agencies call attention to incompetence, even outright malfeasance on the part of those in charge and they find themselves looking for another job. And despite all the laws purporting to protect whistle-blowers, black lists are maintained and often prevent future employment. And when it is made so painfully obvious politicians in particular never hold their own to account, our whole nation suffers as a result of this thoroughgoing lack of accountability.

Like the conscienceless thieves preying on the elderly, corrupt politicians are stealing wholesale from We the People for power and profits to satisfy their corporate masters; and there seems to be nothing we can do about it. Why? Because America is in the hands of terrorists! But instead of using bombs, the terrorists in America use lawyers! And the ACLU is by this definition a terrorist organization! And unlike the simple expedient of Muslim terrorists using bombs, this organization with its deep pockets funded by taxpayers who foot the bill in many cases uses lawyers to intimidate and whip into line all those who oppose the organization.

Virtually no knowledgeable person is unaware of the fact that America is the most litigious nation in the world. I was once sued by a “professional litigant” that had 22 cases to her credit in the same year she decided to make me one of her victims. Fortunately for me, as with the case of the attempted theft of my grandfather’s home, I had the education and perseverance to succeed against her. But it still cost me money and time to succeed, money and time that by definition was extorted from me in order to defend myself.

No matter what you do as a law abiding citizen of America, if you have means and property, if you try to run a small business eventually you are going to face the unscrupulous that will sue you. Quite often such suits are what are called “nuisance suits” brought by professional litigants or even worse by “professional victims” that have the resources of taxpayer funded lawyers forcing responsible people to defend themselves out of their own pockets.

But it isn’t always the money these terrorist/lawyers are after. Sometimes it is a matter of silencing opposition to their political agendas. Unlike bombs, the means of these terrorists include lawsuits, black lists, insults, threats, obfuscation, character assassination and such. McCarthyism is alive and well, practiced by terrorist/lawyers. Do yourself a favor and get out your dictionary and look at the words terrorist and terrorism before accusing me of overdrawing the theme of American Terrorists: Lawyers!

Fortunately for America, these terrorist/lawyers have not silenced all dissent. For example, those that believe a Menorah should be equated with a Christmas tree should read Michael Medved’s column today from which the following is excerpted:

The Real Hanukah: A Celebration of the Religious Right. By Michael Medved, Wednesday, December 13, 2006: Who are the bad guys in the Hanukah story? And who are the good guys? These are serious questions with serious consequences. Most Jews (and certainly most Christians) dismiss the winter holiday as a trivial, feel-good festival about candles, potato pancakes, spinning tops (dreidls),and eight nights of gifts, without coming to terms with its serious, relevant and distinctly uncomfortable messages. While frequently (and fatuously) described as a “celebration of tolerance,” Hanukah is more properly designated as an annual re-dedication to the values of the Religious Right. No wonder that so many American Jews (with their reflexive, often ignorant liberal instincts) refuse to acknowledge the real Hanukah and its politically incorrect messages. In last week’s Washington Post, a householder from Potomac, Maryland named Kenneth Nechin proudly explained that his home attempts to honor the “deeper meaning” of the holiday: “Religious tolerance, the freedom to practice religion, minorities overcoming majorities who are trying to take your rights away.” Actually, far from celebrating “diversity” or “tolerance” or “respect for every faith,” Hanukah (the name means “dedication” in Hebrew) marks a singular display of intolerance-- when religious zealots, exalting the values of “that old time religion,” came into the Temple in Jerusalem and drove out all alternate, “creative” forms of worship. In the “For the Miracles” (Al HaNissim) prayer recited at least three times a day by religious Jews during the eight days of the festival, we salute this uncompromising assertion of absolute truth: “Your children came to the Holy of Holies of Your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified the site of your Holiness and kindled lights in the Courtyards of Your Sanctuary.” No, the fervently faithful rebels did not assign a special area for other religious impulses as part of some ancient commitment to multiculturalism…

In a world dominated by religious and political hatreds, and with nuclear weapons in the hands of leaders that cannot be trusted not to use such weapons, with the increasing potential for Muslim terrorists getting and using such weapons there would seem to be nothing too fantastic to imagine happening.

There are very few throughout history that have used power and authority responsibly; on the contrary, from the lowest to the highest most have verified the axiom “power corrupts.” The basis of this axiom is the fact good people do not want power and authority over others, but would far rather live and let live peaceably exercising the Golden Rule rather than the rule of power. Good and sensible people intuitively understand the corrosive influence of having power over others and want nothing to do with this, realizing as did Jesus wealth and power are antithetical those things of the most value in life, things like peace of mind for example.

But even Henry Thoreau recognized the need for some government, though like all peace loving people wished there were no need for government, realizing even the best government would attract people unworthy of holding power. However, not being naïve Henry knew the evil that men do would always require the power of government to hold such evil in check. But he also knew as did the Founding Fathers people have the duty to rebel when government becomes intolerable as an institution of organized robbery and tyranny.

As to absolute power corrupting absolutely Caesar Bush personifies the truth of this. And like the cooler heads analyzing the damage done by those like that rabbi in Seattle cooler heads in Congress, I must say self-serving cooler heads, are attempting to distance themselves from the damage done by what I three years ago said would be known as the worst administration America has ever suffered.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an emotional speech on the Senate floor Thursday night, Sen. Gordon Smith, a moderate Republican from Oregon who has been a supporter of the war in Iraq, said the U.S. military’s “tactics have failed” and he “cannot support that anymore.” Smith said he is at, “the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up the same bombs, day after day… That is absurd,” he said. “It may even be criminal.”

While Smith’s use of the word “criminal” has caused him to do some furious back-peddling the word has been used, and there is no going back from it. He may have fallen under the spell of his own rhetoric, a typical cause of politicians putting their foot in their mouth, but many understood the enormity of such a word being used. I certainly understand it and had already written about it back in April before Smith uttered the word, knowing as I do the lessons of history and human nature teach there is nothing too fantastic to imagine happening in a world seemingly lunatic because of being dominated by religious and political hatreds:

Springtime for Bush?

     In “The Producers,” Springtime for Hitler was the centerpiece and most of us laughed. With things heating up in a hurry and seemingly in the hands of lunatics rushing to destruction I feel constrained to repeat the following, in which there is nothing funny:

The madness of leaders taking nations in the path of destruction is easily seen in retrospect, but who doubts they believed it seemed like a good idea at the time? No one can doubt Hitler believed in the righteousness of his cause, that he was following a “divine plan.” There is something about power that conveys the thought to those holding power they have a “destiny.”

Nothing could have been further from the minds of those German leaders their actions during WWII would eventually lead to that Nuremberg Tribunal. “Impossible!” each and every one of them would have exclaimed should such a thing have ever been mentioned to them as a word of caution. The very thought of such a thing to those German leaders would have seemed bizarre in the extreme. Most believed in what they were doing, most believed in the righteousness of the course they were pursuing under Hitler’s command for the sake of Germany. And the great mass of ordinary German citizens? What did they know of what was going on since all they had was a media under the control of Goebbels? The ordinary Japanese citizen fared no better. And here is the obvious danger of America’s media emasculated by political correctness in its way as dangerous and effective as any Goebbels under Hitler.

Immediately following Caesar Bush’s invasion of Iraq I wrote for my web site The American Poet he was pursuing a course of action reminiscent of Hitler’s invasion of Poland; that Caesar’s mad plan of conquest and empire could not but conjure up images of that Nuremberg Tribunal. Now one only has to turn to Aljazeera for a mock trial of Bush, Blair, and Sharon for crimes against humanity, and right here in America some New Jersey high school pupils put on a mock trial of Bush for war crimes. Silly? Perhaps not.

The toughest job for those supporting Caesar Bush is finding anything positive to say about him. Few now question Iraq is at the very least a quagmire and the stories of abuse and atrocities are multiplying. That most of these stories are of the Aljazeera variety does not lessen the propaganda value of such accusations against America.

During WWII Hollywood was doing a superb job of demonizing the “Rotten Japs” and “Stinkin’ Knocksies!” Everywhere we turned during WWII whether in films, newspapers, radio, even comic books and the funny papers those in the Axis Powers were being demonized. We children were dressed in military uniforms and our games often consisted of killing Japs and Knocksies.

But university bred political correctness will not allow putting a face to the enemies of America; will not allow the naming of our enemies. This despite the utter vacuum of any such thing as a “moderate” voice of Islam decrying murder of the “infidels.”

 While writing of Caesar Bush’s attack and invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq reminding me of Hitler’s invasion of Poland and conjuring up visions of that Nuremberg Tribunal, I also mentioned the gauntlet being cast against Islam, the most deadly foe the civilized nations face. It comes down to this: Either the civilized nations of the world will prevail against the barbarian nations of Islam, or that Nuremberg Tribunal for Caesar and America as fantastic as such a thing appears cannot be totally discounted.

Of this we can be certain; there can be no accommodation on the part of civilized nations to the barbarian nations of Islam. And only fools like Caesar Bush believe the fanatics of Islam will not infiltrate our ports, will not take advantage of our porous border with Mexico.

But at the same time Caesar Bush and Company refuses to secure our borders for the sake of slave labor thereby inviting nuclear terrorism they have plunged America into fathomless debt, so much so it cannot but remind me of the story of Babylon and the destruction of that “Great City” in Revelation, the result being the merchants of the world crying who would then buy their goods? The thoroughgoing lunacy of the whole thing cannot but call up images of an apocalyptic End Times scenario, the Presidents of both America and Iran declaring Deity is on their side, both being mad, both pursuing a course that can only lead to unimaginable suffering and destruction.

Then there is always “Fail-Safe” to consider, especially now that computers are taking the place of human judgment, the result of the potential for an accidental nuclear Armageddon becoming increasingly a possibility. (End)

While Caesar Bush seems oblivious to reality and the lessons of history Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky of Seattle equally oblivious to reality and such lessons had the power of the ACLU, largely subsidized by us taxpayers extorted to pay the bills, to stomp Christmas trees at the Seattle-Tacoma airport insisting an eight-foot Menorah be set up to “balance” the message of a Christmas tree. What this Little Caesar accomplished was making all Jews more hated and handing a propaganda coup to all professional Jew-haters like the President of Iran.

Will this rabbi and his ACLU continue to wage war against Christmas and Christmas trees, demanding equal status for Menorahs? If so, they are inviting their own destruction! While saying “Never again!” why would this rabbi invite the very things that put the sword in the hands of Hitler? But religious fanaticism aggravated by fleshly ego is not amenable to either logic or reason; otherwise the Seattle rabbi would have realized the firestorm of hatred he would engender by his typical Jewish dominated ACLU bullying tactics. Cooler heads like Burt Prelutsky and others quickly realized what this Little Caesar had done and tried some much needed damage control. But sensible people like Burt know the damage has been done and not to be undone; and the bullying tactics of the ACLU will continue to make a bad situation worse.

The lessons of history and human nature are implacable. When a minuscule minority makes itself hated by the majority there is a high price to be paid. Hitler reigns supreme as the example of these implacable lessons and the price to be paid; but that rabbi and his ACLU seem oblivious of the lessons. But you have to know the President of Iran is not oblivious to the propaganda help he is deriving from those like that rabbi and the ACLU and is making the most of it. And this at a time when America and Israel are increasingly hated by the rest of the world, being tarred with the brush of “bullies.” And everyone hates bullies!

Emerson was quite correct in pointing out “no change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.” While the witch doctors preach a hellish doctrine of “rehabilitation” for monsters and perverts preying on women and children what is true of individuals is no less true of nations. While those like our own leaders lusting for power and wealth continue to foment wars using the thinly disguised “war on terrorism” all the while refusing to secure our own borders as justification to make bricks without straw in places like Iraq, Big Oil, the corporate masters of America continue to lust for profits by way of slave labor here in America.

Aiding our corporate masters and their hired thugs in Congress are those whose own defects of character are blatantly obvious by preaching a hellish doctrine of accommodation to the evils of open borders, press one for English, ballots in foreign tongues, etc. ad nauseum, the satanic anti-American ACLU at the very forefront of such evils.

But those who recognize the evil of this infamous organization and are not afraid to confront it realize the danger it poses to America and our very freedom and existence as a nation as well as that of Israel. Reflecting my own view from yesterday’s column (and my writing is not confined to any single site here or abroad), to quote from syndicated Jewish columnist Burt Prelutsky’s The Jewish Grinch Who Stole Christmas:

It is the ACLU, which is overwhelmingly Jewish in terms of membership and funding, that is leading the attack against Christianity in America. It is they who have conned far too many people into believing that the phrase “separation of church and state” actually exists somewhere in the Constitution. You may have noticed, though, that the ACLU is highly selective when it comes to religious intolerance. The same group of self-righteous shysters who, at the drop of a “Merry Christmas” will slap you with an injunction, will fight for the right of an American Indian to ingest peyote and a devout Islamic woman to be veiled on her driver’s license. I happen to despise bullies and bigots. I hate them when they represent the majority, but no less when, like Jews in America, they represent an infinitesimal minority. (End)

I hope you will read Burt’s column of this date in full. You will be glad you did, and detractors will get a different perspective on what Jews who are true Americans really think of the ACLU, and recognize the danger this satanic organization poses to both America and Israel.

But how many Negroes do those like Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton really represent? Certainly not the majority any more than the infamous ACLU represents the majority of Jews in America. Like Burt I despise bullies and bigots. And whether the bully and bigot is a Jew, a Negro, a Mexican, a preacher, priest, rabbi, mullah, university professor or politician I will not be cowed by the enemies of America like the despicable ACLU.

And I will continue to speak out against all that vilify our Founding Fathers; that demand preferential treatment by fiat of unjust laws because of race or sexual perversion, the betrayers of America that demand open borders and amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, foreign trade agreements that betray working Americans for profits.

America was founded a Christian nation, and by far the great majority of Americans subscribe to being Christian. Anyone attacking this fact has another agenda than the truth. Anyone or any organization attempting to destroy our very heritage and culture as a Christian nation has another agenda than the truth. But one may as well attempt to persuade the Devil he is wrong than attempt to reason with those whose agenda is to destroy America’s heritage and culture as a Christian nation.

The very fact that Jews, Negroes, Mexicans, and perverts are given a pass to vilify Caucasians and sexually normal people should be a warning to those truly interested in the preservation of America and Israel. A Negro at a university calls for the “extermination of all white people” and retains his position at the school. A Muslim at a university preaching hatred of the “infidels” and America gets the same free pass. And so it goes in an America increasingly betraying its heritage and culture, its very identity as a nation that the whole world sees as a nation of lunatics led of lunatics.

But why do those in the media and those holding elected office cower in fear of alienating the enemies of America? Are these enemies to be persuaded to follow another course simply because they are not called to account by name? No more than was Hitler or any other despot or tyrant. Neither Stalin nor Hitler was to be appeased, and neither will the President of Iran be persuaded by kind words and a refusal to confront his evil for what it is. But the media and politicians seem to believe otherwise, and seem oblivious to the fact they are playing directly into the hands of our enemies by refusing to name the enemies of America like the ACLU and those in the universities and judiciary that abound right in our very midst!

Dare to call every mosque in America a breeding ground for the haters of America. Dare to call Islam a barbaric woman hating religion of the sword. Dare to use the truth and plain language to name the enemies of America and Israel and the full weight of a university bred politically correct media will come down upon your head!

Why do the attacks on churches and Christianity get a free pass but none dare speak out in the same manner against other religions? Why are attacks on the Bible politically correct, but not on the Koran? Why do those attacking Caucasians get a free pass but all who stick up for Caucasians are immediately tarred with the brush of the KKK? Why does any legitimate revulsion for perversion make one “homophobic?” The very idea that one has a “phobia,” an irrational fear of perverts is ridiculous on the face of it!

Metaphysical as it is the reason I subscribe to a belief that Satan exists is the Biblical doctrine makes sense of what would otherwise be lunacy. The world is in a real mess, and with no prospect of improvement. The very fact that we have a leadership seeming bent on the destruction of America, as well as Israel, would appear lunatic apart from Satan pulling the strings. After all, while no truly good person wants power and authority over others, those on the Devil’s payroll are neither stupid nor lunatic.

The other night the thought occurred to me that if a large hole was made through the earth from North to South Pole, if one dropped a one-ton rock in the hole at the North it would not pass through and come out at the South. Such is the power of gravity. But like “life,” science does not know what “gravity” is.

However, "A tiny magnet can lift a paper clip, even though all the mass of the earth is pulling it in the opposite direction," Randall noted in her book on the search for extra dimensions, titled "Warped Passages." Einstein tried to come up with an overarching theory that could apply equally well to gravity and the other forces, but just couldn't do it. In fact, the theories that govern gravity and quantum mechanics are totally separate, and totally incompatible in the four-dimensional world we know. Over the past couple of decades, Einstein's successors have focused their quest for a "theory of everything" on string theory — the idea that the fundamental constituents of matter are tiny stringlike objects vibrating at different frequencies. String theorists could come up with equations to cover gravity as well as quantum effects, as long as they were given 10 or 11 dimensions to work with. (End)

The problem with theories involving other dimensions is they cannot be proven. As some scientists point out there are anomalies to our universe that may not be possible of explanation; that defy every possible means available to human minds to find answers.

It would be fruitless for me to attempt any proofs of the existence of God or Satan. But as with scientists engaging in theories of other dimensions there is much room for my own speculations attempting to account for a history of humankind being one of wars, for Nature red in tooth and claw, for a leadership clearly intent on the destruction of America. A “theory of everything” would be nice, but so long as “the theories that govern gravity and quantum mechanics are totally separate, and totally incompatible in the four-dimensional world we know” so long will a theory of why the good seem incapable of overcoming the evil be equally beyond our grasp unless the Bible is correct in ascribing hell on earth being the result of the “god of this world.”

The attacks against American heritage and culture as a Christian nation and forming our identity as a nation are unrelenting. A Christmas tree has come to symbolize the birth of the Prince of Peace and the entire holiday season associated with the birth of Jesus. It is not to be equated with a Menorah or any other religious symbols. The red flags begin popping up immediately from all good “liberals” and the Jewish dominated ACLU. But at a time when Jews and Israel need all the good press they can get rather than all the propaganda advocating the destruction of Israel and hatred for America, the only friend of Israel and without which Israel would face certain destruction, we read the following that is making headlines in the news national and international. Here from the Seattle Times is what prompted my question and is causing outrage against Jews:

There will be no more Christmas trees at Sea-Tac Airport this season after the Port of Seattle received at least one complaint about them. For more than 25 years, the airport has celebrated the holidays with Christmas trees over its entrances. But overnight, the Port of Seattle ordered all 15 trees removed. ”I think it’s very unfortunate. Why lose the Christmas spirit? Christmas is for kids,” said passenger Lisa Jones. The Port allowed “holiday” decorations to remain but decided to take down all the Christmas trees after a Jewish religious leader complained they were offensive. ”It’s a Christmas tree! It’s not like they were displaying crucifixes or menorahs or anything religious, but Christmas trees that have been around here for years,” said an employee who asked not to be identified. The Port of Seattle says it had little choice. It says a Seattle rabbi with the Central Organization for Jewish Learning hired an attorney and threatened to sue if the airport did not erect an eight-foot menorah to balance the message of the Christmas trees. According to an airport spokeswoman, the two sides could not reach an agreement before the lawsuit was to be filed, so the trees were removed instead. Angry airport employees have started a campaign urging people to call the Port of Seattle to complain. The Christmas trees are now in storage or hidden in unused areas of the airport where they won’t be seen. The airline companies, which lease space in the airport, are not being required to remove decorations from their check-in counters. Rachel Garson with the Port of Seattle said they would revisit the issue of Christmas trees after the holidays are over. ”Since this is the busiest time of year we decided to take the decorations down now and consider a new policy after the new year.” said Garson. (End)

One would think that rabbi should have known the outrage he would cause by one man ruining things for many thousands of people. However, religion is fundamentally devoid of logic, as events in the Middle East prove with the unrelenting bloodshed of centuries and seeming without any end in sight. But even Joseph Lieberman was blinded to the fact that as an Orthodox Jew attempting to be President of the United States he would cause enormous damage to the image of America. The very idea of such a thing handed the Muslim enemies of America a propaganda sword, as well as causing not a little unease among non-Muslim nations.

It is not anti-Semitic to tell the truth and recognize realities. The reality is that a Christmas tree despite its pagan beginnings does symbolize the birth of Jesus even as this began, quite appropriately, with a celebration for slaves. But a Christmas tree has come to symbolize much more than the birth of Jesus; it has become a symbol of charity and peace, of hope and freedom as well, something with which no other such an icon including a Menorah can compete. America’s heritage and culture, its very identity as a nation is steeped in the Bible and Christianity. Only the enemies of America would attempt to destroy this heritage and culture, and in the process blindly attempt to destroy the one nation that holds any hope of such a continuing freedom that America because of its Christian heritage and culture represents.

Those that make a tour of our nation’s capitol cannot fail to notice the many monuments and inscriptions dedicated to our being founded a Christian nation. A national Christmas tree has been added to the celebration of the freedom and liberty America represents because it was founded a Christian nation. And attacking Christmas, attacking the celebration of the birth of Jesus and what this has meant for America is to attack the very freedom our enemies attempt to use against America.

The cautionary word today as throughout all history is that any minority that makes itself hated by the majority will eventually pay a high price for doing so. And at a time when Israel is increasingly being propagandized as the greatest threat to world peace, that rabbi in Seattle seems oblivious to the fact a Christian America is the only real and true friend Israel has.

The punch line of an old cartoon strip in the funny papers; that while I enjoyed it I was too young to get the point at times. No longer; I’ve now had years to appreciate the fact bachelors are indeed a sorry lot, and having been married am well qualified to distinguish between married and single status. And before critics jump in, I know the dictionary distinguishes between a bachelor and someone divorced. What the dictionary does not tell you is a bachelor is a person that hasn’t made the same mistake once.

Seriously, as though a bad joke isn’t, one of the reasons married men live longer than unmarried is cooking. Despite the hyperbole giving men credit for being the great chefs, it is women who rule in the kitchen. But it is that time of year when the recipe books begin to get a workout for the holidays, and when a friend recently sent me a recipe for chocolate chip cookies it could not but bring to mind my one venture into this mystic domain.

     Though not usually funny, I sometimes refer to my bachelor/unmarried way of life that does have its humorous moments. While there are many books about this fascinating subject on the market, there may be room for another. I think I can make a contribution to the body of knowledge. For example, how many married people know why bath towels are rough on one side and smooth on the other? To save on laundry for bachelors, of course. All you have to do is remember which side you used after your last shower and use the other side next. Saves water, detergent, and trips to a Laundromat. For the sake of the delicacy of ladies I must refrain from mentioning some other time and money saving hints of a similar nature.

    A visitor to my little cottage in the country might notice the collection of buttons I have on the bookshelf behind my workstation. Simple explanation. I often lose a button on a sweater, coat or shirt and keep them all in a neat pile where sometime after the Rapture or Millennium, whichever occurs first, I might actually get around to sewing them back on. In the meantime, I know exactly where they are.

    However, when it comes to cooking even bachelors have to eat occasionally. I'm not really into food as my wiry frame evidences. But I do, on rare occasions, evict the spiders and fire up my stove, an admitted ploy, my approach to the subject attempting to elicit sympathy from the ladies. I know they feel sorry for me and I can use all the sympathy I can get.

    I have visions of some lovely woman reading something I have written about my being without feminine influence here in my place and my culinary endeavors and thinking, “That poor man; there must be something I can do to help him?” There is. No, modesty forbids. But aside from cooking, I'm a fairly normal man in some respects and even Batman was constrained to tell Kim Bassinger “There is something else that you have that I want!” And we all know Batman wasn't talking about Kim's attributes in the kitchen. But to return to the subject of cooking (not nearly as interesting as Kim) I wonder if any of you other single men have had the experience of trying to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch?

    While the stories are legion about fruitcakes this time of year, some with a shelf life of eons, most people can sympathize with the need for a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie rather than those things in bags at the supermarket filled with objects that make hockey pucks and poker chips seem pliable and tasty by comparison. No, when the craving for a genuine chocolate chip cookie hits you are ready to do anything short of holding up a bakery to get one. The real addict, I suppose, wouldn't even balk at this expedient.

    So here I was, faced with the need for the real thing, a cookie fix that could only be satisfied with the genuine article. Being an adventurous and inventive sort, I decided to give this a try.

    Well, not having all the exact ingredients, like the lack of chocolate chips, I improvised. A little hard working around the lack of chocolate chips, but hacking up a couple of Hershey Bars and tossing in a few Hershey Kisses with a dusting of Carnation Chocolate Drink seemed to be satisfactory. There were also a few green M&Ms, the gift of a woman with a sense of humor (oh, maybe you haven’t heard of the aphrodisiac effect of green M&Ms?). I tossed them in as well. This might make the batter a tad lumpy, I thought, but I was quite proud of being supplied with chocolate. Very far-sighted on my part.

    I'm also used to reading directions and have never joined those pitiful creatures that, after the disaster and all else has failed, read the directions. So I staved off disaster by noticing that the recipe I had scrounged off a bag of candy called for Whole-Wheat flour. What's wrong with the white flour I had on hand, and I'm certain no more than two-years-old at the outside? What have these people got against white flour? Are they prejudiced? What real difference could it make to use white instead of brown flour? Wouldn't the cookies just come out a lighter complexion?

    Then the recipe threw me another curve. It called for oatmeal as well as flour! What to do? I had oatmeal (no older than the white flour, I think) but I didn't want oatmeal cookies, I wanted chocolate chip cookies! What was this concoction that called for oatmeal in chocolate chip cookies? Well, to heck with that, I knew what I wanted and I simply increased the amount of flour accordingly.

    Butter. I was out of butter. Ah, but I had margarine. Just add salt and presto: Okie butter, right? But the recipe called for salt. How much more should I add to compensate the substitution of my salted margarine for butter? Oh, well, about another smidgen, a technical cooking term I had picked up from one of the truly great chefs, my great-grandmother. I utterly disdained the raisins and walnuts the recipe said I could add. Wonder they didn't say to add dandelions in my now thoroughly suspect recipe.

    Mix brown sugar with white sugar? Now what? Another conundrum; why did I have to mix the dry ingredients separately from the eggs and butter (margarine)? Why get two different bowls messy? I'm beginning to suspect that like religion, cooking has its mysteries, which remain such in order to intimidate those who are not members of the priesthood.

    But I am not a superstitious person, and I am not going to be daunted by such attempts of charlatans who are trying to bamboozle me with mumbo jumbo and incantations, mystic symbols like lb., oz., cp., tsp. and tbsp. Instead, I mix the whole shebang together in one bowl and start stirring the tar out of the mess. Sometime into this procedure, I look inquiringly at my blender. No, on second thought, I have had my share of disasters with that device. And I don't feel like scrubbing down the kitchen walls again.

    Preheat oven? Whatever for? Why waste gas?

    Cookie trays— I don't have cookie trays. Why in the world would any self-respecting bachelor worth his salt have cookie trays? I go out to my shed. It is well supplied with materials and tools for doing the usual maintenance and repairs on house and car. Ah, hah! I find some sheet aluminum from a job that required cutting and fitting for replacing some steel sheeting that had rusted out. With a couple of pieces approximating the size my oven could handle, I had that problem licked. But my cookies were taking on dimensions of complexity that equaled a shuttle launch. The directions said to deposit the cookie mixture on the trays in the amount of a tbsp. for each cookie. Thought they had me there but, bright lad that I am, I knew what the mystic symbol, tbsp., stood for. Got 'em!

    But this heathen and bigoted list of instructions, symbols and incantations now said that I had to grease the trays before depositing the globs of batter! These idiots say I have to grease the trays before baking! Now I've greased many a car. But grease for cookies? What kind of grease? Bacon, wheel-bearing, axle? Nah, I really knew they meant something like Pam or Crisco. I'd read about the old Crisco parties in the past. But I didn’t have any such grease for the pan. How about WD40 or LPS? I wondered; I had that. Electrical contact cleaner? I even had some bacon grease I had saved in case I wanted to have scrambled eggs and no bacon handy.

    No sweat. I'm a good metallurgist having been a tool and die maker. Cookies were not going to stick to aluminum. Besides, I suspected the WD might leave some aftertaste and I wasn't partial to bacon-flavored chocolate chip cookies either though they might not be too bad. No, I wasn't about to risk that after my Herculean efforts up to this point.

    A final problem. How close should the dollops of batter be in order to avoid having a single cookie measuring 16 by 16 inches? Being a man used to using precision measuring instruments like micrometers and verniers, I guessed.

    Cooking time. Another obstacle. The now hated recipe said 8 to 10 minutes. I checked at 8 minutes. Not done. I checked at 10 minutes. Not done. At fifteen minutes they were done.

    Now if you are a normal person of normal curiosity, you are probably wondering how the cookies turned out. Rather than make confession, I’ll leave it to the distaff side to figure out and offer their sympathy. After all, they already know bachelors are a sorry lot.

“Maybe he’s only a little crazy; you know… like some of those men in Washington?”

Most of us enjoy the films celebrating Christmas, but I wonder how many catch that really precious line in Miracle on 34^th Street delivered to Maureen O’Hara by her boss in defense of Kris Kringle? And remember folks, the film is from 1947.

Here we were just two years following the end of WWII, just six years away from that Day of Infamy today’s date calls to mind birthing our slogan REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR, and Hollywood is saying "some of those men in Washington" are “a little crazy.” Perhaps this had something to do with the film placing number 9 on Hollywood’s list of best films; high praise for the film, and in my opinion well deserved.

REMEMBER 9/11! should have been our slogan, just as was REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR! But neither Hollywood nor Washington would have it so.

While I have written much in defense of the Bible, of its ennobling influence on Western Civilization and America in particular it would be Hollywood that eventually became the arbiter of American mores. And in many cases to give it its due Hollywood performed admirably in producing films that not only entertained, but exposed corruption and encouraged the Biblical virtues of America.

Well, Hollywood has little left to commend this American institution promoting virtue by whatever definition and we are long past believing “those men in Washington” are only “a little crazy,” they appear to be downright lunatics! But it is a lunacy driven by greed and avarice without the redeeming quality of madness found in those truly lunatic. They were recognized as a little crazy in 1947, the most charitable construction to be placed on their actions then, but while not mad in the clinical sense the whole world today sees America as a nation of lunatics led of lunatics, Hollywood and TV reinforcing this assessment, the madness of our present Federal Triune Dictatorship with our present Caesar insulated from reality clearly evident to all.

No one is likely to excuse Caesar Bush on the basis of the accusation against the Apostle Paul that “much learning” had driven him to madness. On the contrary, Bush has proven his inability to learn at all. But perhaps he does after all fit Einstein’s observation concerning insanity, doing the same failed things repeatedly expecting a different outcome; and if truly insane folks, to take a deliciously understated line from Brendan Fraser in The Mummy “We are in serious trouble!”

However, I realized we were in really big trouble when Bush did not respond immediately and appropriately by sending those cruise missiles on Kabul and Baghdad the very evening of 9/11, and I wrote Bush at the time to voice my opinion of this failure on his part. I was so angry I even posted a copy of my letter to him on my web site, informing him I was doing so. But I had the benefit of knowing how our leadership with the full support, approval and applause of We the People would have responded to December 7, 1941 had we at the time the weapons available to Bush. And if any nation had complained we would have replied: “You want some of this too?”

My mother was injured and nearly killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. I know how she would have liked to respond to the attack. All we simple folks in Little Oklahoma in Southeast Bakersfield at the time knew how we wanted to respond to the attack. But the refusal of Bush to respond immediately and appropriately to the Attack on America the very evening of 9/11 was the warning We the People were going to face another Korea and Vietnam, a war not fought to win, but a war for politicians. The ugly facts now bear this out.

Three years ago I began to run a headline on my web site: IMPEACH BUSH AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW TO SECURE OUR BORDERS! This alienated conservatives and people at FOXNEWS. Not to be outdone by those calling themselves “conservatives” those like the ACLU having bastardized the term “liberal” to their own evil ends vilified me for my insistence our troops were needed on our borders. Even now with America suffering so much under what I was then calling an administration that would be recorded as the worst in American history there are those that would burn me at the stake if that was still in vogue for heretics. Fortunately for me, burning at the stake has been replaced by simply calling me names. Well, at least for now.

But REMEMBER 9/11! should have been our slogan, just as was REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR!

The Bible is the preeminent textbook of Western Civilization, and especially of America where our very identity as a nation is inextricably intertwined with the Bible. Those that would disparage the Bible and speak favorably of the Koran for example show their ignorance; the line isn’t forming to trade American freedom based on the Bible for the ignorant and superstitious slavery the Koran has produced. The very soul of America is rooted in the Bible, all the documents of our founding as a nation are rooted in the Bible, and to my mind evidence of the miraculous intervention by God in the affairs of humankind is that such a diverse group as the Founding Fathers finally came to agreement resulting in the freest and greatest nation in the history of the world.

But the Founding Fathers were steeped in the knowledge of the Bible and its precepts, had imbibed these with their mother’s milk as were all the educated men of the time. It was no accident of history that the Bible was the foremost textbook of the schools and universities in our beginnings as a nation and long afterward, that our first universities were founded on Biblical studies.

And to repeat, no one has any claim to being educated that has not read and knows something of the history of the Bible, this one book that has had a greater impact on the history of humankind than any other. Ignorance of this book whether in espousing a religious belief while ignoring scholarly historical or textual criticism or an equally ignorant bashing of the Bible because of bias or prejudice, both are beyond any attempt to dissuade such “believers.” A civilized discussion about points of view cannot be had when confronted by ignorance or prejudice on either side of the issue.

While most Bible “studies” are a pooling of mutual ignorance, the same in my experience can be said of most of the detractors of the Bible, many of whom speak from a vast well of assumed knowledge based on some book they read or some TV presentation in lieu of studying for themselves. But then the majority of people has not had the benefits of theological studies nor is there that many schooled in the discipline of philosophy. And it isn’t that unusual to find university professors equally ignorant.

For those unschooled in Biblical studies the names of those like Matthew Henry are unknown. But when it comes to a “purpose driven life,” for a man like Henry to devote his entire life to a scholarly verse by verse commentary on the entire Bible exemplifies purpose driven. And there is a history of hundreds of such men devoting their entire lives to such scholarship of the Bible, some of their efforts extending to several large volumes while thousands more made their contributions and continue to do so.

If you have a sincere interest in the subject of Biblical studies as opposed to idle curiosity rather than “going through the stacks” we now have search engines that quickly inform of the immense amount of scholarship devoted to such studies. Choose a single word search of Soteriology, Baptism, Communion and you will be amazed at the number of references. Choose the phrase Biblical Studies, or simply The Bible or Church History to get some idea of the enormous complexity and amount of scholarship devoted to such things. Add a search of Free Will vs. Predestination and a whole world of exploration opens to you on the subject.

Spend some time looking at the extra-canonical books and writings of antiquity that did not make it into the canon of Scripture and if you have read the Bible in its entirety and are able to make the comparison you will discover why such writings were rejected by the various councils that finally decided on the Bibles used by the Roman and Protestant churches.

For the serious take some time evaluating the various translations and versions of the Bible and you will find the disagreements are very few. Granting the original writings are not available, the historical documents used for serious translating efforts show little discrepancy just as the Qumran texts verified those in modern use. And while it is true there are always difficulties in translating from one language into another, virtually no other languages have been the subject of such scholarly research as those of the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament.

The loss of the great library at Alexandria is one of the great tragedies of history. Who knows what manuscripts were lost dealing with issues like the building of the pyramids and so much more; perhaps writings dealing with ancient civilizations like that of Atlantis. Who knows what may lie buried beneath mountains, oceans, deserts, glaciers that would shed light on so many of the myths and fables of antiquity. At any given time some discovery may be made that would shake the very foundations of our beliefs about many things. In the world of “What If?” many things are possible. But this is all speculation, and like a belief in UFOs without empirical evidence, without proofs considering such things remain speculation.

Unfortunately there are many that treat the Bible as a totem, many who believe in the pneuma of Scripture, that the Bible is “God-breathed.” I was raised and schooled in this belief myself, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I was able to extricate myself from such tyranny of religion. But I continue to count it a blessing in my life that I committed so many years to a scholarly study of the Bible.

While I long ago left off a belief in the plenary verbal inspiration of Scripture many of my personal beliefs are grounded in the Bible, not the least of which is my concern for America becoming too close to the description of Babylon in the last book of the Bible, that Great City that is destroyed leaving the merchants of the world howling “Who will now buy our goods?” But it isn’t just those who credit the passage in Revelation applying to America that are concerned about our having become a consumer nation upon which other nations depend to buy their goods, and having been betrayed by our leadership making it increasingly difficult for honest Americans to earn an honest living thereby decreasing their ability to support a fast deteriorating economy favoring the rich over the poor.

The Stock Market does not show how most Americans are faring; it is however a very reliable indicator of how the wealthy are faring. But the rapidly increasing disparity between rich and poor in our nation does not paint a rosy scenario for the future of America; on the contrary it paints a threatening picture of that Great City Babylon. The pragmatic point of “Life Boat Ethics” is a very sobering one, and applies equally to nations as to the individuals comprising nations.

To kill the goose laying the golden eggs is a story of lunacy. But it is a story that aptly describes our leadership, a leadership blinded by the god of this world, Satan as described in the Bible, and given to the destructive goals of greed and avarice. Of course Satan is a matter of belief, but it is a belief that makes sense of what would otherwise leave only lunacy as the alternative. And our leaders are not lunatics though they behave as such, a prime and infamous example being the refusal of the leadership to secure our borders, the refusal to make English our national language by law, printing ballots in foreign tongues, anchor babies and so many other things that shout “Lunacy!”

However, America used to be a nation of “People of the Book.” But the Bible is now banned in our schools thanks to the universities and their product ACLU and allied judiciary, and America is all the poorer for this. The banning of the Bible from public schools opened the door to every kind of evil, not the least of which has been a loss to this generation of any real instruction in our history as a nation. It is no accident that such a failure to give the Bible its proper place in our schools has led to a Muslim now demanding his oath of office be taken with the Koran, thereby spitting in the face of our Founding Fathers and our very history as a nation.

One does not have to be a “Bible believer” to appreciate the supreme importance of it in producing the greatest of the arts and sciences, of its impact on Western Civilization in general and America in particular. But to attack the Bible while ignoring its ennobling influence is the worst kind of self-willed ignorance, an ignorance betraying the small mind of chosen prejudice.

“After reading your book I will only say this...you are so far into flagrant heresy that it is highly unlikely that you are saved...you are in the position of a self-excommunicated man...that you are on the road to hell…I would not waste even this much time on you except for my personal debt to you for having presented the gospel to me. That would be the great irony: the man who led me to Christ roasts in the lake of fire forever...you are a perpetually lawless man whose wives treated you just as you have treated the Church... be not surprised at your present lonely condition. It will get worse. Much, much worse. In hell, it will be forever... here is my counsel...recant publicly and send out a newsletter telling your readers that you have done so.”

(Comment by Gary North, friend of the author since high school, son-in-law of Rousas J. Rushdoony and founder of INSTITUTE FOR CHRISTIAN ECONOMICS and leader and publisher for CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION).

The above was in response to a book I wrote some time ago where I raised some questions that prompted my old friend’s dire warning. Among several other things, I suggested that God has admitted, according to the Bible, making errors!

If you trouble yourself to read Strong’s Systematic Theology or any comparable work you might understand why Aquinas is said to have pronounced at the end of his life “All I have done is nothing but straw.” To have devoted your life to what in the end proves only philosophical and theological speculation thinking this was empirical knowledge has to have left a great mind like that of Aquinas in despair at the end.

Of those things I count among the greatest blessings of my life was to have been born in America, and to be born into a Bible believing home and like Timothy raised in the admonition of the Scriptures which are able to make one wise unto salvation. I could, I suppose, have as easily been born a Muslim taught to hate all others that were not Muslims and become a suicide/homicide bomber.

But having been born into a Christian nation and raised in the Christian religion has certain obligations, just like the obligation I have to be a good American citizen, leading to my writing the book to which Gary referred “HEY GOD! What went wrong and when are you going to fix it?” causing his genuine concern for my soul. For that I was grateful to him.

Gary could be right. It may well be that having written some of these things my soul is destined to be stir-fried in the infernal regions. Not unlike poor old Rushdie of Satanic Verses, and I had to ask myself will this book result in some Baptist or Four Square Ayatollah putting out a contract on me? Or, at the very least, can I expect to get horsewhipped like that poor fellow in Elmer Gantry? Time will tell. Of one thing I am certain, if I am correct in some of the suggestions I make I’ll most certainly have the Devil’s attention!

To aggravate the matter of my self-excommunication even further, I have expanded considerably on the early views that earned Gary’s dire warning of my soul’s peril requiring a new revision of the book now in process. But there is something dreadfully wrong about our world, the constant turmoil and warfare, so many suffering because of the greed and avarice of those that abuse their power and authority. And this “something” seems no closer of a solution by Gary or any others in the churches than it ever was.

I used to have a very comfortable, orthodox Christian view of things. I ministered in pulpits and even started three Christian schools after years of working in the public schools. As long as I did not admit of those reasonable, legitimate but very unsettling questions of the faith like what happens to babies when they die and why so many parts of the Bible are virtually impossible to reconcile with facts and realities, I could go along to get along with the brethren.

But once I admitted these legitimate questions do exist and theologians have not answered them, that the churches themselves are filled with ignorance and superstitions, I opened the floodgates of questioning my smug, comfortable orthodoxy. All hell broke loose! as per my friend Gary and others. I had to resign myself to being a leper to the churches and the people I loved. A very lonely position that no one would choose; it is a compulsion, but whether a compulsion born of God in a search for truth that I cannot answer.

I no longer consider myself a particularly religious man. But I know the myths and fables of past civilizations have much to offer by way of understanding. The various scriptures of ancient peoples, particularly the Old and New Testaments with which so many are familiar, are of special interest. For this reason, I treat of them in some detail in the book. However, the difficulty of addressing the problems raised by the study of ancient writings like the Bible is the result of the lack of common cause and cooperation of those that think of themselves as enlightened. And especially those that think of themselves as Christians.

As to what went wrong and when is God going to fix it, I think God needs our help. A very heretical idea at best. But when it comes to the paradox of good and evil, the responsibility has to lie somewhere. Good Jews and Christians immediately point to Sin. But who, and what, made it possible for sin and evil in the world? This is not as simple a question as most good synagogue and church people have been led to believe.

In the Talmud, Rabbi Simelai makes an interesting point when he calls attention to Jewish thinking in regard to the interpretation of the Law; Moses, he says, lists 613 commandments, Isaiah reduces them to 6 (Isaiah 33:25,26), Micah reduces them to 3 (Micah 6:8) and, finally, Habakkuk to one: The righteous shall live by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4). This certainly got Luther’s attention.

It would seem that Rabbi Simelai and Christian theology are in agreement at this point. However, the fighting that surrounds a definition of this faith continues unabated. A large part of the debate and conflict centers on issues like the teleological and eschatological interpretation of Scripture. But the resulting cosmologies should not make any soteriological demands on believers, as, I fear, is coming more and more into vogue and creating widening schisms.

This book is an attempt to examine what in my opinion constitutes real understanding of God, if such is possible, and what saving faith consists of. What part is the responsibility of God and what part is that of the people who claim to worship him in working together in understanding and cooperation to fix this mess the world is in?

At a time when books about Spiritism, angels and demons, experiences of all kinds are selling as never before, I think it good to take heed to Isaiah 8:19-20: When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

I wish every proponent of the Glossalallia, especially, would take heed to the wisdom of Isaiah. You can trace this gibberish, mutterings, far back in time before the prophet. Long the stock in trade of conjurors, seers and idol-worshiping priests of every description, such “angelic language” has an ancient and ignoble history. Where it is not used to simply call attention to the practitioner as an exercise of the fleshly ego, it is simply a continuation of a religious fraud of past centuries or outright hysteria. And such people are going to condemn Joe Smith and his golden tablets and peepstone. The New International Version of the Bible perpetuates this heretical fraud by using the word tongues instead of languages in the NT. Why? Because of fear on the part of the publishers of alienating the fastest growing segment of Bible purchasers: Charismatics! This is intellectual fraud and dishonest, prostituted scholarship for the sake of profits!

It is generally agreed that a properly defined problem is half of its solution. The continuing, and growing problems of humankind are obviously the result of a failure to cooperate in arriving at solutions. This lack of cooperation comes from a distrust and lack of agreement among the peoples of the world, a failure to define a common and saving faith, if you will.

Religion, by whatever definition and however practiced, is a commonality of all people, even those pre-Homo sapiens (pre-Adamic to the religious) hominids. But it seems that most religions do not hold up very well to honest and sensible examination, much of Christianity included. Personally, I would like to credit God with more common sense than the churches seem to. For example, while I fully expect to meet my loved ones already gone on before me, I also expect heaven to include trout streams, forests, and oceans with pounding surf to delight us with the continuing magic of such things. In my opinion, heaven without the best of Creation would be a cheat. And heaven must have the laughter and wonder of children. What could possibly substitute for this? And Jesus did say: For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. I hope he was right.

There are many questions the Bible does not answer. Haven’t you ever wondered, for example, what Eve told Adam at the time of The Fall? She must have said something because God condemns Adam for listening to his wife! The Genesis creation: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. The “us/our” is the plural Elohim. Just who is the “us/our?” It cannot, according to the rules of good scholarship and the Hebrew, be the so-called pluralis majestatis. Nor is such the case where last used in the “confusion of tongues” at the Tower of Babel. And why is it that translator’s, Hebrew and Christian, do not correctly use Yahweh (or Yahvah) thy Elohim as it actually occurs in the Ten Commandments?

A difficult problem of reconciling the origins of humankind with the Bible increasingly demands the attention of Christians as well as those of other religions. Though Darwinian evolution without any evidence of the origin of Life, with no explanation or definition of Life is a fraud in the guise of science, there are certain facts of science that will not go away with fanciful interpretations or wishful thinking on the part of religionists.

Were Adam and Eve vegetarians? The Genesis narrative would lead to this conclusion. After the flood, God gives Noah express permission to eat meat, thus implying it was not acceptable previously. But Abel brought animal sacrifice to God while Cain brought the produce of the soil. What led one son to be a tiller of the soil and the other to raise sheep? And why raise flocks if you are not supposed to eat meat? Cain’s offering was rejected and Abel’s was accepted. What, then, was the real difference between the two, and a difference that led to Cain murdering Abel? I believe there is a great deal more to this than Bible commentators have offered.

A rather unique idea is that of viewing the Bible as a Romance, William Graham Scroggie notwithstanding, keeping in mind that the course of true love never runs smoothly. Perhaps God (Mother and Father God being the better pattern for the creation of Adam and Eve as well as other living creatures) is motivated by love and the Bible manifests this need and this search to love and be loved, for true worship as defined by this love.

Where did Cain, in fact, get his wife? Since God is so obviously opposed to incest, it isn’t likely she could have been a sister. Who are these sons of God as opposed to the daughters of men in Genesis 6:1,2 the commingling of the two resulting in the race of Nephilim and causing God’s great anger and the Flood? What went wrong that enabled the race of the evil Cainites to overcome the godly Sethites? Did war in the heavens brought to earth result in the monsters among us that cannot be human, monsters without any semblance of conscience that prey on women and children?

Why was astrology so important to the ancients like those magi who appeared at the birth of Christ, and even some of the church fathers? Who were those post-Neolithic hominids that buried their dead with ceremony long before Adam is supposed to have come on the scene? Did God give Satan the power to create, or was there war in the heavens between good and evil deities resulting in Satan becoming the “god of this world” as the New Testament has it? Were dinosaurs and a proto-race of humanlike creatures a part of Satan’s creative efforts that turned out so badly God had to destroy them and create man in His (Their?) image? Did this result in Satan’s great hatred of humankind and motivate him in getting Adam and Eve to fail?

Jesus says God is a Spirit. The Apostle John says no one has seen God at any time. But didn’t Adam and Eve see God? God appears to Abraham on his way to check out things in Sodom and Gomorrah. Who did Abraham see, and how is it that the Bible declares Moses and Elijah saw God, and God spoke to them face-to-face?

When I was a very young man, I had the privilege of the friendship of one of the greatest scholars of the Bible of modern times, Charles Lee Feinberg, Ph.D., Th.D. Dr. Feinberg; a “completed Jew” as he would have it, was the Dean of Talbot Theological Seminary at the time we met. For whatever reason, he took me under his wing and one of my most prized possessions is an autographed, Pilot Edition of the New American Standard Bible for which he was the head translator. A master of Semitic languages, his major area of study at Johns Hopkins University, Uncle Charles, as he asked me to refer to him, gave me much needed and expert guidance in my own scholarly study of the Bible for which I will always be grateful.

As a Christian, I firmly believed in the historicity of the resurrection. In regard to the Bible, I had always maintained that no one has any right to consider themselves truly educated who has not read the one book that has had a greater impact on civilization than that of any ever written: the Bible. In the course of my own study, I amassed a personal library of some 5,000 volumes of the finest, most scholarly works about the Bible, its history, the geography, languages, and mores of the peoples of Bible times. From earliest childhood I was raised in a church environment and taught the lessons of Scripture. The study of the Bible has been, virtually, a lifetime habit.

Because of our extraordinary relationship, Uncle Charles advised me to get a university education from non-religious schools. Which I did. As a result, I was thrust into an academic environment that saved me from many of the myths and superstitions that hold sway in religious institutions, something that Uncle Charles recognized would eventually be my undoing as a scholar in my own right.

Early on, I realized there was something fundamentally wrong with a gospel that could not discriminate between an Albert Schweitzer and a David Livingston. What kind of a gospel would allow Livingston into heaven and consign Schweitzer to hell? Both men lived sacrificially for others. Yet to watch the average minister struggle with such a question is a study in human behavior as they attempt to contrive an answer that is inevitably a conflict with the very doctrine of soteriology they espouse.

No one has a higher regard for the Bible as literature than I. But my regard for the book does not blind me to scholarly, textual criticism. One of the marvels of the Bible is that it is so free of many of the myths and superstitions that held sway during the historical period covered. One could say it is a virtual miracle that stories such as that of the fabulous Phoenix are not contained in the book (this is not to say that it is free of fabulous stories like the sun standing still for Joshua. It is not). But the book is in some ways a credible history of the times covered by it. Yet, to say that it is without error flies in the face of irrefutable, scholarly evidence to the contrary.

Orthodox Jews and Christian fundamentalists claim the book to be without error in the original autographs. But none such exist. The best manuscript evidence at our disposal shows corruption’s of the texts in several places, even some what I call “holy tampering” of the texts by both Jewish and Christian copyists and translators.

Some people make the ignorant statement that the Bible is without contradictions. I will cite only two of many examples I could give: In the 27^th chapter of Matthew, Judas goes to the chief priests, throws the betrayal money into the temple and goes out and hangs himself. They pick up the money and buy the potter’s field to bury strangers. But the story as given in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles is that Judas, personally, used the money for a real estate investment.

In the 2^nd chapter of Exodus, Moses flees Egypt in fear of his life. But in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews, Moses is portrayed as not fearing the wrath of Pharaoh. In both of these examples, the contradictions are evident. Yet the twisted and distorted attempts by otherwise honest commentators and preachers have been a history of obfuscatory language and “reasoning” that flies in the face of honest scholarship. Such attempts to reconcile the irreconcilable have brought rightful suspicion of ministers and Bible commentators. If they cannot be honest in regards to textual criticism, where else might they be practicing such intellectual dishonesty?

My years dedicated to work in the churches, to the study of books by the great Bible academics, led eventually to an appraisal of much intellectual dishonesty, and even the hypocrisy of much so-called “orthodoxy.” And in my studies I have found the attraction for the New Age Movement. Whether a stream (or ocean) of consciousness, the stream of nature, such things may have a basis in fact and often prove preferable in many cases to the mysticism and hypocrisies of organized religions that try to dismiss legitimate questions.

The greatest of the heresies of which I am accused of the brethren, the thing that brought a breach between me and those orthodox brethren with whom I used to have sweet fellowship, was my finally accepting the fact that in the Bible God has admitted to making errors. Granted these errors were made in love, they remain. The most obvious was God admitting he was sorry he made the Adam and determined to destroy them from the face of the earth. But God risked it all again, in love, on Noah only to have his love betrayed once again. The Bible is filled with such errors of love as God sought for men to do his will; men like David and Solomon who failed of God’s expectations for them.

I have made many errors of love. They are those of loving and trusting only to have that love and trust betrayed. Yet neither God nor I have given up loving and trusting again and again. If God is love, and I believe he is, love always takes such a risk. An error? If so, it is a risk all those that follow the teaching of Jesus take in practicing the real Gospel, that of loving others.

The blind orthodoxy of religious men led to the Dark Ages and some of the cruelest treatment of human beings imaginable, all in the name of God and Jesus Christ. Christianity was to be distinguished by love as opposed to the false religions of the world. Tragically, the churches took a wrong turn and are noted for the confusion and chaos of today.

In examining the history of religion, especially Hebrew and Christian, I believe I have discovered some of these wrong turns. In the words of an old friend, J. Vernon McGee: “These Christians may love God but they sure seem to hate each other!” And once the reader gets into the following chapters and discovers how misleading, even dishonest, religious history and theology, Jewish and Christian has been, I believe there will be justifiable anger.

At a time when the charismatic antics of pulpit, TV and radio so-called “evangelists” are making every attempt to make God look foolish, when men seem to think God places a premium on ignorance, the world has a right to look askance at the churches. The very superstitions and charlatanism perpetrated by some of these scoundrels would, you would think, cause reasonable human beings to exclaim: These stories are as phony and self-serving as a politician’s smile!

But many still give their money to these holy thieves and liars. Unhappily, the opinion of these divinely anointed mullahs of the folks who support their so-called “ministries” as ignorant sheep to be shorn is sadly born out by the continued ministries of frauds flying in the face of Jesus plainly stating the true prophets of God do not wear soft clothing or live in king’s palaces.

And what of the scholarly “holy liars” who perpetuate the myths and superstitions of the churches, schools and universities? An accounting of these people is long past due! Tragically, this condition will persist until Christians are willing to question their own blind orthodoxies and honestly seek answers to the legitimate questions we all have a right to ask of God if we are indeed the children of God.

Anyone who has read the Psalms knows the writers were not afraid to confront God on the issues of the pain, suffering and injustices of the world. Where did the churches take a wrong turn in attempting to make God something he is not? God is not perfect by the definition of men; he is perfect by his own. And he is a lot more human, for lack of a better word according to the Bible than the churches give him credit.

Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence are religious inventions of men; they are not characteristics God claims for himself in the Bible. Until those who profess to speak in the name of God begin to be honest, I have little hope things will change for the better in the churches. If the churches are to lead as agents of change for the better, they are going to have to get their act together and agree on courses of action rather than practice theological juggling acts of the nature that led to the dismal assessment of Aquinas.

One example of real action would be to see the churches agree on a Constitutional Amendment against the perversion of child molestation. The great majority of Christians agree the molestation of children to be the most monstrous of acts, and what better institution than the Church to take the leadership in this area?

Self-flagellation, terror and apocalyptic sermons have never accomplished anything of substantive change for the better. On the contrary, they have proven delusional and destructive. How about some leadership for positive action from pulpits for the sake of our posterity?

There is no doubt in my mind that many will join Gary in their warning that I will be consigned to the outer reaches and the eternal flames of hell by some of the things I cover in this book. However, the greatest impetus for this book came from my obligation to my children and others that responded to an essay I published under the title: THE AMERICAN POET. The response was so overwhelmingly favorable for such a book as this that I could not, in good conscience, fail to follow through. You will find that original seminal essay at the end of this book.

But there is another reason for this book. In sharing some of these ideas with others, they have expressed great appreciation for being freed from the contradictions, even superstitious fears of their own blind orthodoxy; the “tyranny of religion” as I began to call it. And there is something else, a “something” that has plagued humankind. As we look at the stars in the canopy of heaven who has not thought: What a beautiful world it can be! If only it weren’t for some of the people in it!

Could such things as the stars, of creation, of life be the result of chance, of some ethereal cosmic force without intelligence? But who will ever be able to present a sensible answer to the paradox of good and evil in the midst of any kind of divine plan, of a loving sentience as the primal cause of truth and beauty? How to make sense of the power of love being unable to gain the ascendancy over evil? Why does the evil always seem to prevail?

There are inexplicable things, anomalies for which science has no answer. But answers must come if there is to be any hope for the human race. Will they come by way of men and women taking the initiative of opening the door to new, philosophical thought? Or will they come by the advances of science? Or will they come by some amalgamation of the two? And who will be willing to pay the price of such a thing?

The images of war, the carnage of the battlefield, the mangled, bloody bodies of so many men, women and children; and to what purpose? In view of such senseless slaughter, who has not wanted to shake his fist in the face of God himself! Where is truth to be found in ideological hatred, whether religious or political? Must the seeking for truth always result in the carnage of a battlefield strewn with broken and maimed, bloody bodies? Why must truth and justice be bought with bomb, cannon and rifle, sword and bayonet?

And does an honest search for truth and justice always require the sacrifice of those innocent that don’t even know why they are being maimed and killed? Must some bloodthirsty deity such as Allah for example representing itself as “truth” demand continual human sacrifice to appease its hatred and anger toward humankind and the human failure to meet divine expectations? Insanity! Bloody religion! Bloody humankind!

Jesus used great plainness of speech and the common people heard him gladly. I have attempted to do the same.

Opinion by definition is a belief lacking positive knowledge or proof. And it is a fearful thing to ascribe such a thing to God. But does God have opinions? If you dare entertain the question it opens inquiry for every kind of philosophical and theological speculation, much of it very disquieting. So for that reason if no other since the great majority does not want to have their comfortable beliefs questioned most people would not be willing to entertain the notion. Granted such speculation begins with the assumption of there being God about whom to speculate. But beginning with the assumption could God(s) have been expecting more of Adam and Eve than they delivered? According to the Bible story God regretted he had made the Adam, and determined to destroy humankind with a great flood.

God sometimes chose people that did not live up to his expectations; that proved a great disappointment to him. As with the story of Adam and Eve, didn’t God know beforehand how such people were going to turn out? Perhaps no more than parents can do with their own children; perhaps God is no more able to predict the outcome than earthly parents?

I’m well enough schooled in theology to know the apologetics, but all such eventually devolve into things like semantics, and being for the better part only speculation cannot offer real answers for what are after all opinions without positive knowledge or proofs. Though science supports much of the Bible, when it comes to questions concerning Deity(s) we must fall back on opinions and speculation.

The Biblical account indicates God was often involved with decisions that did not turn out as anticipated or hoped for. The very lunacy of the history of humankind being one of wars and hatreds does not leave one with the impression “God is in his heaven, and all is well upon the earth.” There hasn’t been a time in history when this has been the case. So, I believe the question as to whether God has opinions is a legitimate one. Too much of the Creation evidences trial and error, a “Let’s try this and see what happens” approach. This was the basis of my book “HEY GOD! What went wrong and when are you going to fix it?” But the very title brought me no little condemnation from religious sources. Had some of these people actually read the book they would doubtless have become downright apoplectic. I recall one fellow who was anxious to have me visit his church until during the conversation I mentioned the book. His invitation was immediately withdrawn.

It is a good thing the Bible ends on a positive note, that there will be “new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness… and all tears will be wiped away.” You couldn’t ask for a happier ending to the lunacy and cruelty of what this earth and humankind has been prey to. However, not to cast stones at the Bible and discount legitimate questions about God there is enough of real world problems to deal with that involve much speculation about things scientific; medicines for example.

Neither Emerson nor Thoreau had any use for an “opium eater’s paradise,” and I have never been tempted to enhance my writing with such artificial aids despite some very admirable writers, some of great genius doing so. Nevertheless, some of the “remedies” I recall from childhood might qualify. What with so many disasters involved with medications today and so much being said of our being an “overmedicated” society it brings to mind some of the medications of yesteryear I knew as a child.

In that bygone era of my childhood homeopathic remedies were a household staple. A few I recall were really distasteful like a tablespoon of sugar dosed with turpentine; hence Julie Andrews singing “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” But the sugar did not make the turpentine any more palatable. A sore throat was treated with a rag soaked in kerosene wrapped around it. My brother and I would drink sassafras tea, chew slippery elm and licorice root for digestion, and would endure charcoal tablets “good for the blood.” Fuller’s Earth and mustard plasters were commonly used when we had a cold, as well as that nationally acclaimed Vick’s Salve, not only rubbed on the chest but made to swallow as well.

Since intestinal worms were a commonplace of that bygone era, Vermifuge was essential. But this medicine was especially deadly if misused. However, our great-grandmother having been trained as a “practical nurse” as they were called in her day was in charge of all doctoring in the family and my brother Ronnie and I felt quite secure in her capable hands.

Cod liver oil, Carter’s Little Liver Pills, Lydia Pinkham, Creomulsion were found in the medicine cabinet along with iodine and mercurochrome. Some bottles like that Vermifuge were adorned with the familiar skull and crossbones icon of death warning of poison. You won’t find such bottles in medicine cabinets today.

Among the banes of childhood, some of you will recall being dosed with Castor Oil; really ugly stuff to choke down. But it was perplexing to me as a child to be warned never to eat any of the beans from the castor-bean plant (Ricinus communis) in the yard as they were deadly poison! How could Castor Oil be considered beneficial, and the beans it came from be dangerous? Why on earth was there such a plant in the yard? I don’t know. The folks loving plants and gardening, perhaps they had it because of its beauty. And while the large, shiny and mottled beans were quite beautiful as well, being warned Ronnie and I were never tempted to eat one. We had never heard of the deadly ricin, but our grandparent’s warning was sufficient for us. Though also perplexing to me was the caution of never eating cherries and drinking milk together as this was said to be a poisonous combination. I wasn’t told of the prominent connection to the death of President Zachary Taylor.

In Little Oklahoma, when the weather turned warm off came the shoes of all the children and most of the womenfolk. After a long, cold winter it was wonderful to feel that warm alkali soil on my bare feet all summer long. But this led to many injuries from the ubiquitous and cruel goat’s head stickers, splinters, broken glass and rusty nails, sometimes leading to blood poisoning. Then there was the caution to Ronnie and me never to go barefoot in the chicken yard or anywhere there might be animal waste because of the danger of picking up diseases from doing this.

Of the folklore of the time in our neighborhood, in the case of blood poisoning was wrapping the infected limb with a dead chicken. Fortunately, neither my brother nor I were ever subjected to this “cure.” But in retrospect, many of such “remedies” were not that far removed from the practice of medicine like “bloodletting” in the past. And I’ll bet many of you oldsters out there have similar stories from the past.

Having lived long enough to look back far enough, it is a wonder to me so many children of my era survived our doctoring in childhood. The typical items to be found for doctoring in most homes of those far off days would cause horror in families today! And many of those items of time past could never be purchased today without a prescription if at all.

Yet, even with the blessings of modern medicine and the truly marvelous advances of medical practice we still face the “practice” of physicians that equate with the auto mechanic saying, “Let’s try this and see if it works,” or in the spirit of scientific inquiry, “Let’s try this and see what happens.”  And there seems to be no end of “modern” medications that prove to be harmful.

I don’t question how much better off we are today due to the advances of science and medicine, but there was a lot to be said for that sassafras tea, slippery elm and licorice root as well. At least these continue to be beneficial and leave me with the warm feeling I am not being a guinea pig for the pharmaceutical industry or a victim of the FDA’s “oversight.” And given the increasingly high cost of prescription drugs and increasing number of government boondoggles, I’m grateful I was raised with sassafras tea, slippery elm and licorice root.

As to our modern day witch doctors, psychologist and psychiatrists, “Conversation Therapy” is now suggested for the elderly. But years ago I had been pointing out just having a friend to talk to would do more good than paying for “therapy.” How sick do you have to be to believe you can “buy a friend” to listen to your problems? It was my asking God if he had an opinion about something that was troubling me that started the whole line of inquiry into this aspect of God; and if God is not my friend then why the question at all? Can we have any question of such a nature that does not reflect our own divinity and personal relationship with God? Don’t all children have questions of their parents, oftentimes questions of a most perplexing nature?

But if we are in fact made in the image of God, if the very Spirit of God works in us as his children and we reflect our heavenly parentage and are given to opinions and speculation why not our heavenly parent or parents? If much of our science is predicated on “Let’s try this and see what happens” why limit God precluding trial and error, precluding opinion? Someone had to try the first mushroom and tomato. The problem of course is mistakes are made on the way to knowledge, on the way to knowing what is good and what is bad; and since this is true for humans, why not of God?

Christmas is that unique time of year when all Christian nations celebrate the birth of Jesus; The Prince of Peace. The Christmas season is something that continues to inspire hope of “Peace on earth, to those of good will,” a time when people reflect on those things most real and of most value in our lives. And while the emphasis properly is the Christ in Christmas, Saint Nicholas has become such a part of the celebration of the birth of Jesus it is nearly impossible to separate the two; so much so that some years ago I wrote a column about this and each December since then I have continued to share it with readers:

    Two of the most endearing qualities of a child are trust and imagination. They will believe in magic, they thrill to stories of fairies and enchanted lands. Christmas, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, stories of birds and animals, enchanted islands and forests; these are the domain of childhood.

    We don't forsake these things in adulthood. We continue to want our Merlins, Camelots, and enchanted glades. As parents, we enjoy making things like Santa with his elves and reindeer, that magical fairyland of the North Pole and letters to Santa real to our children. All too quickly we find ourselves adults and learn of the fantasies of childhood, but the intent of parents in wanting their children taught and exposed to the myths is the innocence of goodness.

    Santa is the ultimate angel to a child. There isn't the slightest trace of evil connected to Santa; he could never do anything wrong or anything to hurt a child. Santa believes in children, in the innocence of childhood. Our desire, as adults, to believe in angels follows the same pattern. We grow into adulthood and have to leave the myth of Santa, but we desperately want to continue holding on to what Santa represents.

    The history of Santa Claus is quite interesting. He is generally thought to derive from Saint Nicholas, the bishop of Myra about the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century. However, while no written document attests of this, legends surround the bishop who became the patron saint of children and sailors, and these legends and devotion to the saint penetrated into every part of the world.

    Early Protestant Dutch settlers in what was to become New York replaced St. Nicholas (Sinter Claes in Dutch) with Santa Claus. The change to Father Christmas began in Germany and extended into other countries through the Reformed Churches. No other saint of the church has the popularity of St. Nicholas when it comes to children. Moreover, none other made the transition through the Reformation to acceptability in Protestantism.

    The emphasis of Santa relating to children is the basis of his enduring popularity. He personifies the love of children and the best of childhood as no other figure, historical or mythological.

    Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Who will forget these words to a little girl written by Francis Church for the New York Sun in 1897? His concluding words to little Virginia:

“Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, to make tolerable this existence...the eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished...The most real things in the world are those that neither children or men can see.

“Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

    Do I believe in Santa Claus? Of course! I couldn't be a poet otherwise; I would lose the best part of the man that makes me so, the child within. The Christmas season with the distinctive music and decorations, the buying of gifts, the celebration of the hope of peace on earth, is something none of us would want to lose. Singing Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas celebrate the season. Children write letters to Santa and hang stockings with care and we watch A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. We have added The Grinch to the story of Scrooge, there is now a Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, The Little Drummer Boy, Rudolph and so many more with all the innocence, charm and fantasy of childhood.

    The story of the North Pole, Santa's home and the workshop of elves, the magic of Santa's being able to visit every home with a child in a single night, going down chimneys, his Ho, Ho, Ho, children leaving cookies and milk for him and, very important, Santa knows if you have been bad or good, naughty or nice. Believing in Santa is as natural to a child as faith and prayer. George Beverly Shea sings a beautiful song: If I Could Pray as a Child Again. How many of us, as adults, haven't wished for this?

    Childhood is of so very short duration, such a short time in which to teach and encourage children in the things that will prepare them for adulthood. The whole concept of Santa is one of the things that will do this. We know that all too soon our children will face the realities of the denouement of Santa. Nevertheless, the lesson of goodness and the memory of the magic and innocence of childhood, like the healing power of a mother's kiss, should remain. Of the greatest importance is the fact that Santa loves all children no matter the physical or mental differences, the race, religion or geography. This is what children learn from Santa.

    The non-Christian world recognizes the Jolly Old Elf, separating him from sectarian religious beliefs. He is welcome in Turkey, China, Cuba, and even Iraq! And unlike the cruel religious wars of Judaism, Christianism, and Islamism, none have ever been fought over Santa Claus. To my Christian acquaintances I would say Santa is not the enemy of Christ; quite the contrary. Santa epitomizes the very essence of the Gospel. How I wish the emphasis of Santa on children was practiced in the churches.

   One Christmas, a store displayed Santa hanging on a cross. Many people were outraged but the storeowner said he was only trying to make people aware of how commercialized the season had become. The philosophical aspect of this revolves around the substitution of Santa for Christ. People would yawn over a crucifix, but Santa? Perhaps, I say to myself, this may be the result of the virtually non-controversial universality of the goodness of Santa versus an image that separates people and one that has been steeped in controversy and bloodshed for nearly two thousand years and is still on going?

    Some of you will remember a song, Green Christmas, by Stan Frieberg years ago that satirized the season. Many radio stations would not play it. However, Frieberg was only following Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that made the name Scrooge a household word. But many religious people reviled Dickens because the emphasis of the story, as with Frieberg's song, was on the spirit of human goodness rather than Christ, who while epitomizing human goodness in too many cases has been distorted by religious beliefs. The larger view of the whole of humankind to which the Gospel makes a universal appeal is lost to such critics. It would be interesting indeed to know the thoughts of that early Bishop of Myra about this turn of events. But unlike religious sectarianism Santa became an expression of goodness, hope and belief that transcends all sectarianism because he is the champion of children and childhood.

    Children are the basis upon which the peoples of the world can come together and coalesce for the common good of humankind… once children are made the proper priority of all nations. It is far past time that humankind grew out of and overcame sectarian hatreds. Santa represents what the attitude of all adults should be toward children and childhood devoid of any evil.

    Henry Adams said: “Politics, as a practice, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.” Had it not been for his era, I think Adams would have included religion in the statement. But only a poet or a child would point to Santa as another direction for humankind. No matter what opinion one holds, the need to believe is there in all of us. And that best part of us responds to the beliefs of the innocence of childhood Santa represents.

While taking an art appreciation course as an undergraduate many decades ago I received the only “A” grade given. Not just because the professor was so demanding of excellence in his students but because I was so obviously enthusiastic about the subject, absorbed and enchanted by the works of great artists this came through in my course work. But one thing nearly precipitated a disaster for me when I brought up the subject of Norman Rockwell among American artists. I had said in my opinion he was greatly underappreciated and art critics would eventually be proven wrong in dismissing him as an artist.

Fortunately the professor granted me some latitude for this aberration, and I was smart enough not to pursue my opinion too rigorously. Very early I had learned the lesson you do not argue with those who hold the power of the grade and your academic future in their hands. At that, it wasn’t as though I were mentioning Botticelli, Van Gogh, and Norman Rockwell in the same breath.

Nevertheless wisdom is justified of her children: NEW YORK (CNN) -- Found hidden behind a wall this year, the Norman Rockwell painting "Breaking Home Ties" broke a record for the artist when it sold for $15.4 million at auction this week… "Breaking Home Ties" was discovered earlier this year in a secret hiding place behind a wall in the Vermont home of cartoonist Don Trachte, who died last year. He had bought the work from his friend Rockwell in 1960…

For those of us raised with the Saturday Evening Post and Norman Rockwell, from the very beginning it didn’t take any great smarts on my part to know he was underappreciated as an artist. My generation knew he was a great artist from the start, and even in Little Oklahoma we knew what we liked even if we were not schooled in art appreciation. The one and only real arbiter of art, Time, would justify those of us who appreciated Norman Rockwell as a real artist. And given enough time, who can say but what Norman Rockwell will eventually hold his own against Rembrandt “heretical” as such a thought may be?

In my critique of To Kill A Mockingbird I expressed my opinion Harper Lee ranked with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. But the simplicity of her writing, a genius of simplicity hid the greatness of her work, a work that had all the subtlety of the great themes of great literature and great writers; and just so with the art of Norman Rockwell with a like genius of simplicity. But, God forbid! the professional critics ever dare expose their fear of “provincialism” for the all too often shallow thing it is.

Eventually America would hold its own against the great European and English artists and writers, though Shakespeare for example remains the standard against which all are judged. But in like manner as that of critics disdaining Norman Rockwell, so with the infamous and despicable ACLU that would destroy every vestige of our American heritage. Yet, like Norman Rockwell, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, Nativity Scenes, and so much more, these are part of our heritage; and things like these are not only evocative of our great and noble heritage as a nation, but these inspire hope in us as a people with such a rich heritage. “Remove not the ancient landmarks” remains not only good advice, but is an imperative for any hoping to maintain a national identity.

Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. However, the final arbiter of Time will invariably separate the wheat from the chaff, will cull the pretenders and exorcise them. The artistry of our Founding Fathers is evident in bringing forth a nation that came to be the standard of hope and beauty throughout the world. But the critics like the ACLU will not have such an America, and in its corruption of art and beauty, encouraging things like ugly Mexican barrios and Spanish and the destruction of all things distinctively American would make America into an ugly and corrupted image appealing to the critics setting themselves above the Founding Fathers and We the People who know what we like.