I Think the Professor Doth Protest Too Much

I recall the first time I realized the power of history; it was my freshman year of high school. In a discussion on the Puritan’s persecution of the Quakers and the Salem Witch Trials, my teacher had said that it seems that when ever a persecuted religion gains power itself, it begins to persecute those who disagree with it. In the simple faith of my youth, I protested that my religion had never done that. Mr. Nielson assigned me to read Wauneta Brooks, *Mountain Meadows Massacre*. How my eyes were opened.

Wednesday, Sept 20, 2006, I attended the Arrington Lecture at the LDS tabernacle in Logan Utah. There Professor Thomas Alexander of BYU presented his spiel concerning the efforts of Brigham Young and the brethren to investigate and “deal” with the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

The highlight of the evening (for me) was Alexander’s reference to Professor George Ellsworth as his mentor and example as a great teacher. I believe I recall Alexander saying that, George Ellsworth was the greatest teacher he had ever had. The same is true for me!! I don’t believe I ever stand before my students but that George Ellsworth is somewhere in my mind.

Unfortunately Alexander was no Ellsworth. He must have done his best in the crowded hour long power point presentation, but it soon became obvious that his agenda did not agree with the facts or with his knowledge of them.

It comes down to this.

Q – Did Brigham Young order the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

A – We can never know, but he had definitely set the stage in the minds of his fanatic followers necessary to carry out the slaughter. He had sent his minions throughout the territory to preach resistance to the American Army on its way to the Great Basin. He had been preparing the “Saints” for a siege in the mountains and told them that this time they would not retreat but would stand and fight. He had sought and made treaties with Indian tribes to fight against Americans and had even contracted with them to steal the cattle of immigrant companies to run off to the mountain strongholds he planed to build.

Q – Did Brigham Young do every thing he could have done to find out what happened at Mountain Meadows?

A – We can never know, but we do know that what he told, or allowed his surrogates to tell, the world did not describe what actually happened. I believe that Brigham Young knew exactly what happened immediately after the massacre. He promulgated other stories, while he was himself getting different information, the truth. The point here is that if Brigham Young was as deceived as he claimed to be, he was not doing his best to find out the truth, and if he did find out the truth, he intentionally obfuscated. He sent George A. Smith, whose preaching had stirred up the Furies requisite for the massacre in the first place, to investigate it. The details of Smith’s investigation and of the four other investigations Young ordered between 1859 and 1870 are unknown. The official reports did not enlighten the truth. His motives for doing this would be worthy of consideration but that does not alter the fact that he was not telling all he knew or was not finding out all he could. Young was Governor of the Utah Territory at the time of the Massacre and President of the Church. He surly could have mounted an adequate investigation had he wanted to. I believe he did and then covered up his findings.

Q – Were the people responsible for Mountain Meadows adequately dealt with?

A – Absolutely not. The Civil War interrupted the government’s ability and desire to investigate the massacre; which occurred in Sept. 1857 but was not widely know for a year afterwards. When efforts to find the truth were re-initiated in the 1870’s the trail was either cold or well covered.

Although the actual activities of “that terrible day” were well known by 1870, as were the names of the culprits, only one man – Jon D. Lee – was made the scapegoat for the murders, and executed. Case closed?

Professor Alexander Summarized his presentation on four points. Here are my notes on his summation questions and answers:

1. Did the leadership investigate? Yes.

2. Did the leadership try to help the federal government? Yes.

3. Could they have done more? Yes.

4. Did they deal fairly with those involved in the incident? No

Here are Professor Alexander’s summery questions with my answers:

1. Did the leadership investigate? Yes, but they either intentionally chose not to do so properly, highly unlikely, or they found out the whole ugly truth within days and spent a century covering it up.

2. Did the leadership try to help the federal government? They said they had, but they did not help the government as much as they could have had they really wanted the government to know the truth. They then blamed failure on the feds. The truth is that Brigham Young was himself governor until 1859 and neither needed nor wanted the permission or support from other federal officials to discover the truth and punish the perpetrators.

3. Could they have done more? Yes, in fact, I believe they did do more. Brigham Young and Church leaders surely knew the truth, but buried it rather than bring it to light and punish all who committed murder in God’s name. They misled and then hid under the cover provided by the Civil War. When the war was over, they did not bring forth the truth but rather offered up Jon D. Lee as a scapegoat sacrifice for the benefit of the Church and its Leaders.


4. Did the church leadership deal fairly with those involved? [in this mass murder carried out by religious fanatics?] No. The President and Apostles who preaching had instigated the hatred and the circumstances requisite for murder never publicly took responsibility for their actions; in fact they hid the truth from the world for generations. Those who actually took part in the murders (save one) were never brought to trial, and the Stake President and Bishop who ordered the massacre were never punished. Although Haight, the stake president, was excommunicated for a time in 1870, he was eventually reinstated in the church. The bishop, (Lee was not the Bishop!) who had supreme secular authority over the killers, was not disciplined by church or state. The men who did the actual killing were not brought to justice or ever put on trial for their crimes; they hid their secret throughout their lives and died thinking they had gotten away with murder. The only one to pay for his sins, in this life, was Jon D. Lee. His show trial was to end the issue, and once it became clear he no longer intended to go like a lamb to the slaughter; he was taken to Mountain Meadows, forced to sit down on his own coffin, and shot. [It is interesting that Jon D. Lee, excommunicated at the time for mass murder, has had all of his priesthood blessings restored. It gives me hope for Judas.]

NOW WE HAVE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF OBFICATION AND DECIETE: That Bill Clinton’s cowardice, inaction, and preoccupation with a young girl “working” in his office set the stage for 9/11 is well know. Now comes Clinton claiming he did everything he could to get bin Laden. I heard him today claim that he tried to get bin Laden – and the failure was everybody’s fault but his own.

I have long chuckled at the 9/11 commission. One of the members was Jamie Gorelick, the very Clintonista who put up the wall between the CIA and the FBI that prevented our national intelligence agencies from detecting and stopping the September attacks. Talk about sending George A. Smith to investigate the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

I wonder what answer Fox News would have expected to get from Brigham Young if they had been able to ask him if he had ordered the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The same one they got by asking Bill Clinton if 9/11 was his fault.

I think the “lady” doth protest too much!

Come On; Think About It

Once upon a time, in Sunday school, we were discussion tithing. The discussion veered into why people do not pay their 10% to God. The “consensus” answer – because they want the riches, the evil money! The discussion bumped along until it had come round to why people do pay tithing. The “consensus” answer – because if they do God will bless them with riches, the blessed money! I couldn’t help but ask, “What is the difference between a person whose motive for not paying tithing is to get rich and the person whose motive for paying tithing is to get rich?”

Many a sermon has been preached about the evils of wealth. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter into heaven.” Unless it’s a pretty big needle or a well ground camel, that sounds impossible to me. And yet this call to righteousness by rejecting the evils of wealth always ends up with a promise that a mortal life of sacrifice and poverty will end you up in a palace on a golden street in heaven with infinite plenty – and some promise, infinite power. Doesn’t it seem a little odd that God would teach us something is evil and then reward our abstinence by heaping that “evil” on us for eternity?

Now consider the Islamic fascist’s position. Sex is so evil it cannot be displayed or discussed. Movies that display it must be censored, music that invites contemplation of it must be banned, books that mention it must be burned, people who indulge in it stoned, and women who represent it must be covered head to foot in bags and buried out of sight – and if they show themselves, buried alive. And what is the reward for such abstention, for a life of celibacy and a death achieved by detonating one’s self to kill the immoral Western culture that flaunts it? Seventy-two virgins and a heaven of sex. Doesn’t the hypocrisy of such a belief cry out its falseness?


The Pope quotes a medieval ruler whose world was being torn apart by the “holy warriors of Islam”. The emperor said that teachings that inspire murder to spread a belief system bring violence to the world. And what is the response to the Pope by those who insist that Islam is a religion of peace? Violence! Think about it!

In The Crucible

I am preparing to cast my version of the *Crucible* - and launch myself on two and a half months of what counts for work in my life. It is challenging to keeping a cast of teenagers focused on a play – to get them to do their best through readings and memorization and character development, to get them to give their best through night after night of repetitive performance. But it is my hope that the message of this play, and this day, will steal us all for the challenge; and that those who come to see our offering will use it for a moment of contemplation, a point of reference in a world gone mad. Thus I seek to do my part.

In the last tragic moments of the play John Proctor seeks to save his life by confessing to the foolish charges pushed on him by a bunch of screaming girls and the mindless superstition of a fanatic religious cult. Read with me the last few lines of Aruthur Miller's *The Crucible:

DANFORTH: Come, then, sign your testimony. Give it to him. Come, man sign it.

PROCTOR: You have all witnessed it – it is enough.

DANFORTH: You will not sign it?

PROCTOR: You have all witnessed it; what more is needed?

DANFORTH; Do you sport with me? You will sign your name or it is no confession, Mister!

(His breast heaving with agonized breathing, Proctor now lays the paper down and signs his name.)

Parris: Praise be to the Lord!

(Proctor has just finished signing when Danforth reaches for the paper. But Proctor snatches it up, and now a wild terror is rising in him, and a boundless anger.)

DANFORTH: If you please, sir.

PROCTOR: No.

DANFORTH: Mr. Proctor, I must have—

PROCTOR: No, no. I have signed it. You have seen me. It is done! You have no need for this.

PARRIS: Proctor, the village must have proof that—

PROCTOR: Damn the village! I confess to God, and God has seen my name on this! It is enough!

DANFORTH: No, sir, it is—

PROCTOR: You came to save my soul, did you not? Here! I have confessed myself; it is enough!

DANFORTH: You have not con—

PROCTOR: I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!

DANFORTH: Mr. Proctor—

PROCTOR: You will not use me! I am no Sarah Good or Tiuba [think France and Spain, who offer obeisance to Terror], I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!

DANFORTH: I do not wish to—

PROCTOR: I have three children—how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?

DANFROTH: You have not sold your friends—

PROCTOR: Beguile me not! I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence!

DANFORTH: Mr. Proctor, I must have good and legal proof that you—

PROCTOR: You are the high court, your word is good enough! Tell them I confessed myself; say Proctor broke his knees and wept like a woman; say what you will, but my name cannot—

DANFORTH: It is the same, is it not? If I report it or you sign to it?

PROCTOR: No, it is not the same! What others say and what I sign to is not the same!

DANFORTH: Why? Do you mean to deny this confession when you are free?

PORCTOR: I mean to deny nothing!

DANFORTH: Then explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why you will not let—

PROCTOR: Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!

DANFORTH: Is that document a lie? If it is a lie I will not accept it! What say you? I will not deal in lies, Mister! You will give me your honest confession in my hand, or I cannot keep you from the rope. Which way do you go, Mister?

(His breast heaving, his eyes staring, Proctor tears the paper and crumples it, and he is weeping in fury, but erect.)

DANFORTH: Marshal!

PARRIS: Proctor, Proctor!

HALE: Man, you will hang! You cannot!

PROCTOR: I can. And there’s your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs. (Elizabeth, in a burst of terror rushes to him and weeps against his hand.) Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it! (He has lifted her, and kisses her now with great passion.)

REBECCA: Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!

DANFORTH: Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption!

…

Now a fanatic religious cult has shown their true intent with us. Today, Saturday, September 02, 2006 the Islamic-Nazis call on all Americans to confess to the truth of Islam or die. We stand before the “judgment bar of terror”. In the days to come Nancy Pelosi and Harry Read will coax us to sign away the truth for the promise of peace. What proofs will al-Zawahri demand of our submission? Such confession may well be easy for the relativists among us – but how for those who love the truth!

What will be the last tragic lines in the story of the West? Where will we stand on that day, when the terrorists come to use us? Will we be ruled by our reason or by our fears? Will we fight or give them the pleasure of our tears?”

No One Is So Blind. . .

Three incidents of the last week give me pause – much reflection – some frustration.

Shortly after I returned from camp I answered the phone to kindly voice; it conjured the picture as a sweat faced, elderly woman. After establishing who I was, she told me she was the daughter of ________ and asked if I knew who _____ was. I said I knew him well, but before I could finish my thought, she interrupted to say, “Well, your father did.” Since I could not deny my father knew ______ better than I, I did not contradict her. She continued, “I hear you tell a very funny story about my father shaving a hippy.” I knew the story she meant at once, but I thought sadly – it is not about her father at all, though I do mention his name at the very beginning of the story as someone who once offered me a job. I was thinking she perhaps wanted to hear the story or to get a copy of it and was trying to think of a way to tell her that unfortunately the story was about someone else, when she launched into a vindictive. She accused me of hurting the feelings of _____’s numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren by making light of his alcoholism. She then demanded I stop telling the story. I was flabbergasted. I assured her that I made no such implication about her father, that the story was about someone else entirely and that I only mentioned _______ in an absolutely true and benign reference to someone who once tried to help me. She would not believe me. Her voice was never raised, but she assured me that she knew the truth – that I was saying hurtful things about her father. She said she had been told this by people she believed and insisted that I stop using his name. Then she hung up. I couldn’t recall her name. I had no way of getting her back to tell the story and give evidence of her father’s totally innocent role in it. So she is left believing that thousands of people have heard her father defamed, and I am left to contemplate ______’s hither to unknown drinking problem and his daughter’s determined ignorance.

I intended to finish Ann Coulter’s book *Godless* sometime over the summer, but never had time to read. I did lend the book to one of my staff. After much reminding, he finally returned it to me the day he left for home. It was warped and growing mold. He assured me he had read it and that it was all “bunk”. Last week I picked up reading where I had left off in the spring. To my surprise Coulter spends the last several chapters of her book debunking Darwin. For years I have been a staunch supporter of Darwin. With great affection I recall Carl Sagan’s calm and quirky voice assuring us that evolution is not a theory – but a fact – that the mechanism of evolution is Natural Selection as put forward by Charles Darwin. I read and reread *Origin of the Species* years ago – and it seemed utterly reasonable, and piled on top of it were the text book pictures of spotted English moths and “The Cosmos” series reenactment of the “growing amino acids in a flask” experiment. From the same PBS program there were all those cute little line drawings that “evolved” in forty seconds from a bunch of squiggled molecules to Eve standing at the foot of the tree of life. I have directed the play *Inherit the Wind* twice at our high school. It seemed so logical; who could challenge it? For years the “brothers across the road” have tried by sending over their photocopied articles and issues of the “Ensign” to dissuade me. But there was never any answer in their harangue, never any challenge in their contentions. Then came Ann Coulter and there went Darwin. Friday, I lent my moldy copy of *Godless* to the Principal of the Seminary. I am left to contemplate the shallowness of my long held positions, marvel at the power of truth, and wonder if there is still another page to turn.

Thursday, in a very hot classroom full of cranky and resentful sophomores, I tried to stir an argument. Somewhere along the line to the idea of “Absolute Truth that exists but cannot be known,” one student blurted out, “Why do you keep attacking Saudi Arabia?”

“Don’t you mean, why do WE keep attacking Saudi Arabia?”

“No you!” – he replied bitterly.

“Why would we attack Saudi Arabia? They are our ally in the war on terror.” I ventured.

“Then why did we blow up Saddam Hussein?”

“We didn’t blow up Saddam Hussein, we arrested him, besides, Saddam is not from Saudi Arabia, he is from Iraq.”

“No he’s not” the student insisted, “He’s from Arabia.”

“Well, maybe his ancestors, but he was the dictator of Iraq,” I ventured.

“No he wasn’t. Why should we believe you? You could just be telling us anything.”

This was a perfect segue into the quote on the board, the same one that is on the masthead of the Agora, and I took advantage of it to move the discussion that direction. At the end of class I called the student forward, hoping to seek together the origins of Saddam Hussein, and perhaps learn something on which to reason. But he replied, as he stalked toward the door; “I’ve got things to do!” I was left alone, in the stuffy heat, to contemplate how difficult it is to get the blind to see.

My father’s words came to me, “No one is so blind as he [or she] who will not see!”

From Heaven to Earth

It has been difficult to leave Paradise and I am still a little empty with the separation, but I must admit; there is one think I have been looking forward to back here in the real world. That is to check up on our Anonymous’ predictions of stories in the summer
NEWS. It has proved as pleasant as I had hoped. Here are Anonymous’ predictions with the truth of the summer NEWS to contrast:

“Let me give you some of the headlines you will miss while we will be gone this summer Liesis:ROVE INDICTED! Cultrure of Corruption Runs Deep in White House
***The TRUTH – Rove was acquitted and the culture of corruption has died as a Democrat talking point as the REAL crimes of Democrat politicians are revealed daily.

Iraq Civil War Broadens; Bush Signals Cut & Run
***The TRUTH – The war on terror in Iraq continues – it is painful, but the increasing abilities of the Free Iraqi army every day takes on more and more of the burden of the war. Rather than running Bush has proved himself right!

Bush Approval At All Time Low (To be run weekly until your too soon return)
***The TRUTH – Bush’s Approval rating of 37% - 40% is higher than in the Spring and continues to rise as the elections near. Go figure!!!!

Debt Ceiling Raised; Spending Deficit Projected To Grow
***The TRUTH is that the deficit has been cut in half after only two years of the Bush plan – this in spite of War and disaster. Bush predicted it would take ten years to cut the deficit in half. He’s so humble!!! Reaganomics still works. Anonymous – needs a new crystal ball.

Trade Deficit Still Out of Control
***The TRUTH: U.S. Economy: Trade Deficit Narrows as Exports Rise (Update1)
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June as exports rose to a record, helped by a pickup in economic growth abroad and a weaker dollar.
Imports exceeded exports by $64.8 billion, following a $65 billion shortfall in May that was larger than previously reported, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. American imports of cars and consumer goods such as televisions and clothes also rose.

Cheney Continues To Say Deficits Do Not Matter - President Agrees
***The TRUTH – A lot of people agree with this statement, but I can’t find any quote from Cheney.

Dollar Continues To Fall (Down 7% last week alone - that was a true headline from last week as investors decided the Republican majority is not serious about deficit control.)
***TRUTH – the dollar is mixed in it’s relations to the Yen and Euro – but the economic consequences Anonymous predicts have been proven as specious as the rest of his predictions.

Cheney STILL Insists Iraq Has WMD, Calls For Nuking Anbar To Be Sure Of Their Destruction ***TRUTH – I love this one!!! as Iraqi WMD possession has been proven this summer. Of course you had to trust to Silver Lining to get the truth. We also now know that Saddam was spending billions on bribes and preparing to launch a nuclear build up that would make Iran’s and North Korea's look like a joke. One will look hard in the liberal biased media for these truths – but then, they were too eagerly hoping that Anonymous would be proven right. Wrong again Anonymous!!!

Cheney Demands U.S. Nuke (insert country or Blue State here)
***TRUTH – this never happened, but the democrats dropped their own bomb on a “blue state” by turning Lieberman into a sure win independent and a sure loss of a seat in the Senate for the Democrats.

No One Held Accountable In White House
***TRUTH – The person that is being held accountable here is Anonymous – for his silly predictions and his sad dreams for the destruction of his own country.

Oil Prices Record High, America Still Addicted To Oil -
***Truth: CRUDE oil prices slumped overnight to levels last seen in June, amid signs of an economic slowdown in the United States and a lowering of tensions in the Middle East, dealers said.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, closed down $US1.83 at $US70.06 a barrel.
It had tumbled as low as $US70 in earlier trading, hitting its lowest point since June 21.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for October delivery settled down $US1.25 at $US71.58 after earlier dipping to $US71.31, its lowest level since June 28.
Crude futures have shed around $US4 over the course of the week

Bush Continues Erosion Of Democracy At Home
***TRUTH – Thanks to George Bush Democracy is safer than ever in America and spreading throughout the world. Go George GO!!!!

Taliban Resurgent In Afghanistan As Coalition Forces Struggle To Keep Up Pressure With Limited Resources (that was a headline last week too, maybe you saw the General in charge of Asian ops give that press conference.)
***TRUTH – NATO has taken over the war against the Taliban and is mopping them up in southern Afghanistan. Sadly the war on Terror goes on, on all fronts – encouraged by the nay-sayers like Anonymous, but the Taliban victory Anonymous is hoping for will not happen!!!

Former White House Officials Call Bush "Twit"
***TRUTH – Can’t find this quote in the NEWS either. How about you Anonymous?

Bin Laden On The Loose; Al Queada Still Plotting
***TRUTH – Bin Laden and his Al Queda were foiled again in Britain just over a week ago. What a great victory for the West - Yesterday one of Bin Laden’s closest confidants was caught in Pakistan. Can Bin Laden’s demise be far behind? Many hope he will be gone soon – but of course Anonymous is rooting for him!


-It's a shame I won't be able to tune in here every week and read your ridiculous apologizing and rationalizing about how all of this news is actually great and not the sign of some of the worst leadership this country has yet endured. But it isn't that big of a shame. We still got six months of ridiculous Republican control to hear the same stupid type of things being said in the news almost every day.
***TRUTH – America continues to benefit from the courageous leadership of President Bush. In the weeks to come we will see how well it (The US) follows that leadership. Anonymous – would you care to make some predictions on the November elections? That should give us something to look forward to on November 8th. As for “not being able to tune in every week” Well now you can give us a try!

Muse Misused

I believe in the Muses in the way I believe in all the gods. It is hard to deny them when their workings are everywhere manifest in the world. There is something “supernatural” in the production of beauty; rules applied by mere mortals that allow the creation of beauty worthy of God. I often explain this to my students by referencing one of the exceptional English and Writing teachers at our school. She has inspired my own children as they have participated in her classes. I ask the class if any have had poetry from Ms. Merrill. When those lucky ones raise their hands I remind them of the time she taught them the basic rules of poetry and then had them apply those rules to some random words and; what occurred? Yes indeed – they created something wonderful. I continue the point by asking if they ever wrote something – in answer to a question perhaps - and then found in their answer nuances of understanding, even insight, that they of themselves did not possess. Most everyone attests to such a miracle of the Muses. I myself have painted human figures, and found myself staring into their eyes, “how beautiful you are,” I have thought, “and I made you out of mud (pigment) and tree sap (gum Arabic binder). It must be the Muse! This is why the Greeks placed the poets above the prophets. A prophet merely recites the words of god; a poet, under the inspiration of a Muse, transforms words into new creations of beauty that have life beyond the artist. Often the writer does not even understand the power he creates; the magic is beyond his mortal comprehension. I have often thought of Twain’s disclaimer in *Huckleberry Finn* as an example of a wise author acknowledging that the might of the Muse is beyond his design, and his book will reach beyond his vision.

This manifestation of the magic of the Muses and the mortality of the Poet is found in the works of many playwrights, from Aeschylus to Arthur Miller. Next fall I will be directing the Miller play, *The Crucible* at our high school. I have avoided the work for years because of its over utilization by English teachers, and its misapplication in the Social Studies. The story, of how fanatic religion over powers reason to result in the most ungodly atrocities in the universe, is misread by most Social Studies teachers and political spin misters. Everywhere they misapply the horrible atrocity in colonial America to the anti Communist zealousness of Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activity.

It has always troubled me that McCarthy was made into the villain of the Cold War. I don’t excuse his wrong doing; he failed at his noble cause of defending freedom when he became what he hated. But Miller fails when he dismisses the evils of Communism to condemn McCarthy, as if McCarthy was representative of America. To quote Miller’s own words from http://www.playbill.com/ (An article furnished me by our Drama Director at the high school). Miller says, “There were monuments in those days when there was no way to respond logically or reasonably to what was happening. Yes, we were in a cold war with the Soviets, and the Communists had taken over China, and there was the fear of nuclear destruction. But the cure for the fears was false, taking people who had no connection to sabotage and throwing them all together and calling them traitors and destroying a lot of lives.” Reducing the atrocities of Communism to the Cold War and the fear of nuclear attacks, elevating the atrocity of blacklisting and name calling above that of the mass murder of tens of millions of human beings, and the enslavement of billions more, demonstrate that Miller ‘s Muse speaks beyond Miller’s mind.

The real monsters of the “Cold War” were in Moscow, Peking, and Hanoi, not in Washington. Thankfully Miller’s Muse allowed him to write an allegory of fanaticism that applied to the gulags and the death camps of Stalin, Brezhnev, Mao, Ho, and Pow Pot. Sham on the small minded who could not see the divine truth, but rather choose to imagine that *The Crucible* told a story applicable to their petty concerns. The real witchcraft in this misunderstanding of Art is that the monster of Communism could be transformed by the pampered liberals of America into the victims. The true devilry was that the term “McCarthyism” became a sledgehammer pejorative, while decrying Communism became a social crime.

Now the mystery of Miller’s play will be made manifest in the present world. This summer Liam Neeson and Laura Linney are staring in a reprisal directed by Sir Richard Eyre. Eyre speaks inspired truth when he says, *The Crucible* will “always be pertinent to any society of whatever political leanings, because it’s about something fundamental – the tension between freedom and repression .” Now we will see if the miracle of the Muses will be recognized or denied. Will the critics see in the religious fanatics of Salem, fiends who crushed a man under stones to force him to confess to a crime that cannot exist and hanged 19 men and women for being witches, as an indictment of fanatic Islam that buries women alive for seeking education, and the tyranny of the cult of Saddam that instigated the murder of millions, or if the Art of Art Miller will be reduced to a political screed against the champions of individual liberty and freedom of choice that struggle to end “murder in the name of God” – surely the most damning manifestation of the Devil’s possession of mankind.

It will be revealing to see how Eyre’s version of *The Crucible* plays with the critics, if they notice it at all. I will be interested to see what the dark memories of Puritan fanaticism conger. Will it be the truth about the Islamic Fascists who murder and terrorize their way to power, or a misrepresentation of the forces that stand against them?

I will attempt to present things with less ambiguity with my production at the high school; which will get no press at all. I have been toying with the idea of dressing my actors as Taliban fanatics and placing the trial in Kabul before its liberation. I will have the summer to think it out. At the very least I will enlist the Muse in revealing the truth about where the real religious fanatics of today are to be found.

Summer is upon us; summer takes me away from the Agora. I would like to thank all who have read and contributed to our discussions over the past months. Next week, our house will be in remodel mode; Computer piled in a back room. I will keep in touch from one of the computers at school but I will not be able to compose another post for a while. In a few weeks I will be leaving computer terminals and the internet links behind for over two months. I will also be away from newspapers, radios, and televisions. The world will go on without me, but I like to think that I will be doing my part to make it better. I am grateful that such places as the one to which I am going can still be found. I am humbled by the fact that for nine weeks I will be blessed to spend 24/7 in a place of peace and bliss; Heaven with challenges. My thoughts and prayers will always be with those who defend our precious peace and freedom. As I enjoy the privileges that my heroes purchase at such great cost, I will do my best to give to those I serve the joy that America offers to the world. See you in September!

Perceiving Perception

Zeus must have been disappointed with the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Not only did the U. S. come in second overall AGAIN – but those “Arian Supermen” from Germany came in first AGAIN. More importantly – nobody paid attention. What was the name of that city anyway?

On the other hand, all the Gods were probably very pleased with the 2002 Olympic Winter Games held in Salt Lake City. First, while the rest of America and the world were still cowering in fear from the attacks of 9/11, Salt Lake City joyously received the winter version of celebration of Zeus through athletic excellence. On the opening night President Bush stepped forward and stood in the midst of the U.S. athletes to give respect to their efforts and congratulate their courage. The inspiration of the President’s class and courage reverberates to this day. The most important homage paid to the Ancient Gods was what happened on the figure skating rink. The world watched as a young couple, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, skated circles around the Russian favorites, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. When the judges – some of whom (notably the French) later admitted to making deals – cheated by choosing the Russians, the challenge to their falsehood was immediate. Although the vast majority of spectators worldwide were in no way ice skating experts; quality was obvious to all and the outcry was powerful and unrelenting. The Olympic Committee accepted the judgment of truth, not the biased judges, and awarded gold medals to Sale and Pellertier as well. What pleased all who value divine reason was that the truth was recognized and justice demanded, in the face of those who would have lied, by the power of humans to recognize truth. When that truth prevailed, justice was done, and humanity’s ability to PERCIVE the true and the beautiful was vindicated.

We are able to apply that same perceptive ability to judging and acting of certain challenges to the President placed before the people of the US.

With several early May polls showing Bush’s popularity on the rise, it appears that more and more Americans are beginning to recognize the truth in several areas. Admittedly some polls show Bush at new lows – but it is telling that most reports fail to note the positive growth in the other polls and fail to point out that President Bush has still not fallen as low in the polls as most other Presidents since polling data has been compiled. He has still not fallen as low as Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, or Bush the first (who is now more popular than Bill Clinton).

Here are some stories that are beginning to become clear in the public’s conscience and from which the divine reason common to all mankind will yet perceive the truth.

1. The incongruity between the angry out cry by the media over Scooter Libby’s alleged leak about Valerie Plame (allegations which did not result in any direct charge by the grand jury which investigated them) and the rush to defend and even glorify CIA Agent Mary McCarthy whose leaks have undoubtedly cost the lives of Americans and prolonged the war against terror.

2. Consider the attacks on President Bush over the price of gasoline while it was President Bush who fought to allow, and the Democrats in the Senate who blocked, the recovery of energy from Alaska’s oil fields. Had this nation been able to follow the Bush energy plan we would now have our own crud oil flowing into our refineries today. It is also note worthy that it was the enviro-radical lobby that prevented the building of refineries that would be able to provide cheaper gas even under present supply conditions.

3. Many people are beginning to marvel at the fact that, although the economy is better than it has ever been; with unemployment and the trade deficit down, personal income up, and the stock market about to reach all time record levels on real not (e)maginary business; Democrats keep talking about the fiction of American economic troubles.

4. How ironic that weeks after taking the word of “has been” generals calling for the ouster of the civilian head of the Defense Department as though silver stars gave ability to the wearer to speak no wrong, the same people are now saying that a lifetime of military service and four stars disqualify Michael Hayden from holding the post of CIA Director.

5. It is shocking that while the President is the only one to offer any workable and realistic plan for handling immigration concerns between the US and Mexico, the “ hate Bush crowd” attack the President as having failed the nation on this issue. The blocking of the President’s agenda is at last being noticed; perceptive Americans are beginning to lay the blame where it belongs, on the obstructionists in the Congress.

6. While the chant of “culture of corruption” is still the number one Democrat talking point, a Democrat Congressman, (Kennedy by name) has been given a free pass by capital police for driving under the influence and reckless driving. At the same time Louisiana Democrat Congressman Bill Jefferson is facing indictment on bribery and his cohort in crime, Vernon Jackson is facing 7 – 9 years in prison after confessing to bribing Jefferson. It does seem reasonable that if the briber is going to jail for bribing the Congressman, the Congressman should be going to jail too. In spite of her incessant attacks on Republicans, for unsubstantiated and unproven allegations, Nancy Pelosi insists that the Jefferson case is different from “Republican corruption”. It is a line that won’t hold up to the scrutiny of the perceptive.

In the end, the truth will prevail. Every day the prejudice of the media becomes more and more evident to the same thinking human beings who called foul to the misjudgments of Olympic judges in 2002. There is hope for those who have the ability to perceive truth in the miscalls and politics of those who push lies in the name of news. We must all seek to perceive the misperception that is being foisted on us, to sense the bias and the bogus. We can all have hope in the ultimate success of right; Reason will celebrate the triumph of truth.

Legacy

Last Tuesday morning I had the chance to attend the Engineering Day displays at the U of U. My son’s project was on display and I took the day off from class to go and see it. It was about 7:30 in the morning when my wife and I headed for the nearest “on ramp”. From a distance we could see the parking lot at the end of it. We headed for the old highway and down toward Farmington. There, where the long neglected Legacy Highway bridge passes over the Freeway, we decided to give I-15 a try. We were barely past the “last chance” exit when every thing bogged down to stop and go gridlock. As we sat there, I contemplated the frustration, pollution, waste, and danger imposed on us and the thousands around us each day. This filthy dangerous disgrace is the Legacy of Rocky Anderson’s political ambition; an example of and fitting metaphor for all the evil caused by those who put their political gain above the good of their fellows and the success of their communities.

The Legacy Highway fiasco is particularly vexing when we consider that after all the wait and all the legal wrangling and all the money lost and the expense increased that the highway will still be built. For ten years it will have phony restrictions placed on it, and then the Legacy Parkway will become a Freeway at last, with much more money spent to up grade it, with much more time wasted and lives lost all to gratify Rocky’s political ambition and the arrogance of some litigious professional protesters.

Now consider the next time you buy gas at inflated prices that President Bush has been trying for years to open the vast reserves of Alaska to our use, and the same political motivations have placed us in economic distress and at the mercy of our enemies. What a waste, what a gridlock, and what a “legacy” for the Democrats in the Senate who bought their power at the expense of the Nation they pretend to serve. Someday the oil will flow from the Artic to the people who need it, but the cost will be greatly increased by the delay forced upon the enterprise by those who could manipulate the mob to support their power.

Twenty Years of spineless immigration policy have allowed a flood of illegal aliens to cross into America, now our border policy has crashed. The politicians in Congress are afraid to take the steps to fix the mess that the President has suggested because they are still seeking political gain at the expense of their nation. Pandering to one side or anther on the issues – succumbing to threats and intimidation - the price of politicizing the immigration policies of our nation may now prove too high to pay. What a legacy!

Consider how day after day Democrats, Clintonistas, professional protesters, seek to bog down the liberation of Iraq, the growth of Democracy in Afghanistan, and the war on terror so they can hurt the President to gain their own power. Their legacy is built on the suffering of our soldiers and the lives of our allies in Iraq who suffer day in and day out at the hands of fanatics, murderers whose hope for world conquest is maintained by the constant obstructions thrown up by the “party out of power” and their media masters.

The high road to world peace will some day be built, but the cost will be greatly increased and the suffering of the peoples of the world will be greatly increased by those who throw up obstructions for the votes of fools.

Grunts

I began my carrier as a School Teacher instructing eighth grade American History classes. I taught the same lecture six times a day to large classes of barely pubescent boys and girls with very little light behind the eyes. My lunch break was a chance to escape the “adolescents” and fraternize with my colleagues in the faculty lunch room. There, for 180 plus lunch breaks, I sat and listened to the teachers at our school complain about the administration, the parents, the students, and the School District. Their most pointed attacks were always against the Principal and his Vices; how they did nothing, didn’t know what they were doing, and how our principals were paid too much for doing too little.

At the end of the year I was lucky enough to escape the Jr. High and take up my present position at the High School. The physical and mental changes that occur in students between the ages of thirteen and fifteen are truly miraculous. I will always be thankful to the dedicated Elementary and Jr. High teachers that prepare my students for high school and forever be grateful that I get to work with these students once they have achieved cognition.

That first year at the high school I determined that I would not eat my lunch in the faculty room. In the twenty plus years of lunch alone I have perhaps sacrificed some friendships, but I have also spared myself thousands of bitch sessions

My small but intense administrative experience, I run Boy Scout Camps, has taught me that for all their sincerity, those who are not in charge cannot possibly understand all the challenges faced by those who are. It is so easy from the narrow point of ones own daily experience to fault those who have responsibility for and a grasp of much more. Thus it became too painful for me to listen to the same old, same old attacks on my Principal by those who had no comprehension of what he has to face.

One afternoon I was listening to a local radio talk show, the commentator was complaining about the salaries of administrators in the schools, insisting that they did nothing while getting paid more than the teachers “in the trenches” doing the real work of the school. My phone call actually got through to Mr. “Right”. I told him that it would be impossible for me to do my job as a teacher if it wasn’t for the Vice Principals that deal with all the problems of the school day in day out while I spend my time doing exactly what I want to be doing. The radio guy hung up on me.

I watch as our Vice Principals organize and coordinate all the “programs” placed on the school by National, State, and County officials; while they organize activities, attend all extracurricular activities and then have to deal with gangs, fights, drugs, angry parents, my mistakes, my disruptive students, and on and on and on. And then they get spit on by the students whom they seek to keep in school, the parents whose children the administrators seek to serve, and the teachers whose classes are made possible by these Principal’s service.

Last week, I was in the final session of the class I have been taking at WSU on Colonial America. The lecturer had been assigned to discuss modern manifestations of Colonial thought. While pointing out that the American military was now using military techniques developed to fight Indians in the French and Indian war, he mentioned Robert D. Kaplan’s *Imperial Grunts* claiming that the only way to really know how the military worked was to do as Kaplan has done - as my Professor put it - to talk only to privates, corporals, sergeants, and first lieutenants. I have not read *Imperial Grunts* nor, do I believe, has the Professor. His one reference to “using French and Indian War tactics” was no doubt fished off the internet. Be that as it may, I strongly disagreed with him that only the underlings have a true picture of “The War”. When I voiced my objection, a crusty old fellow who is quite open about his military service, jumped in to scold me. “If I have never been there, I don’t know what I am talking about.” To which I gave the above explanation of the faculty room grumblers. Of “teachers” who know nothing about the general operation of the “plant”, griping continually about things they do not fully understand. Later reference by the Professor to the implementation of the Injun fighting techniques in the War on Terror clearly indicated top down as well as “bottom up” adaptability in our military. But the point was made; those who gripe the loudest are often those who understand the least about “the big picture”. While the concerns of the “privates” must be addressed, as they are indeed the ones in the trenches, doing away with the folks on top just because the grunts don’t see the need for them is extremely short sighted, whether dealing with the operation of a school, an Army, or a Nation.

Of course, when enemies of those “in charge” are seeking allies in supplanting them, they can often find disgruntled, and usually ignorant, underlings ready to complain bitterly about the “management”. Yeas ago, when I was called on to fix a broken Boy Scout Camp in California, those who wanted to seem me fail actually held secret meetings “up canyon” with my employees looking for those who would complain against me in order to get ammunition to call for my removal. Fortunately for me, and I dare say for the camp, there were loyal “grunts” in the crew who were willing to put their faith in my efforts, even though they did not understand them completely. Thus the griping of the dissatisfied was countered by the support of the faithful.

Years ago, at my camp in Wyoming, a boy died of a heart attack. A few weeks later I had a disagreement with one of the young staffers who worked for me. In the week following his reprimand, he told a flood of lies and half truths to the scout master of the troop he had been assigned to as camp friend. That scout master returned home to write a letter to the National Office accusing me of a flood of failures that seemed to indicate that my crew and I had failed the boy who died and had somehow caused his death. The letter was forwarded to my Scout Executive and he brought it to me. Though each of the lies was easily dispelled by the presentation of the truth, the hurt and damage done by such disloyalty and bitterness was great. By the time the letter came to light, I had already sent the staff member home for other reasons; so I was spared any direct confrontation with him on the subject. Years later I received a letter from him. He was on an LDS mission and wrote of how guilty he felt for what he had said and done in a fit of anger and a desire to hurt me. “Would I please forgive him?” The letter is still in my files – it has not been answered.

It is with such experiences, of no real significance in the world, that I watch the attack by those out of power and out of the know on President Bush, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and others in positions of responsibility. The truth of their successes is manifest in the safety and success of our nation, but the bitter bitching around the lunch room table continues by those who are out of the loop and long for self aggrandizement, a bigger “paycheck”, or to do malicious mischief to those who bear the real burdens of responsibilities. It would be wise for the people of this nation to consider the motivations and the knowledge of those who find fault.

If the Wine Is Sour, Through It Out

Last Tuesday night I rushed home from my Book Binding class at the U. After weeks of waiting my wheat paste had arrived and I would finally be able to attach the carefully selected cloth cover to the book I had built. I had cut and folded each pair of pages from the heavy watercolor stalk, built the two leaf signatures and allowed them to sit under weight over night. I had carefully measured and punched the holes for the thread and double stitched the text block together. I had used up the last of the ‘class issued’ wheat powder gluing the spine and had waited two weeks for the arrival of the bright colored silk threads I needed to create the hand sewn head bands. The wheat paste was supposed to arrive with the silk but the company from New York had sent starch instead of paste and I had had to wait anther two weeks for the right stuff. My wife, knowing how eager I was, had called me at school to tell me it had arrived. I had rushed home to hold it in my hand before heading off to the University. The instruction on Japanese book boxes seemed interminable. I have little interest in Japanese bindings or boxes, I wanted to get home and finish the “round spine” binding which filled my dreams with art books to paint and build.

When the professor released us to work, I asked some final questions about attaching strings to the head and foot of the spine and about placing extra PVA along the spine to insure the cloth would stick. Then I left. At home, I mixed the paste, searched up my biggest brush, and spreading the mixture across the precisely measured and cut cloth; began to cover my painstakingly prepared text block. Then reality met my dreams. I couldn’t get the cloth centered, I had trouble with the pasted cloth sticking to itself and not laying flat on the book. In frustration I abandoned the mounting method I had been taught and laid the book on the table to try and center the cloth and get it mounted smoothly. It did not adhere properly to the spine and in the morning the cloth had not shrunk to fit the cover as I had hoped. Ugly creases and wrinkles ruined my dream. At first I had told myself it didn’t look too bad – it would pass, but I fretted about it all day, and that night I ripped the covers off and started over again. The boards warped when I took off the cloth and I had to relax them with water then press them for a day to get them straight again, I bought and cut to size a new sheet of cloth, reattached the covers to the spine and let them dry over night; then sanded the paper hinges smooth. Friday night I was ready to try again. With the help of my daughter and wife I followed my teacher’s instruction the best I could, and the cloth hung straight on the spine. I pressed it flat with my bone folder and got it trimmed and tucked. It looked promising as I put it under pressure for the night, but in the morning the same ugly wrinkles had appeared along the spine, only a few this time – but my dream had been the perfect form I had managed on the small practice book I had made weeks before. I ripped the covers off and set out to build the whole thing over again. I have abandoned the old boards, cut new ones, glued and sanded, and prepared a new piece of cloth. Tonight I will take the carefully assembled components to my “master” and get his help. I took the class to learn to do this difficult thing right. I’ll keep you posted.

We all want the easy way. We dream of doing wonderful things then get bogged down in the difficulty of process, and all too often fail. We either settle or give up. We long for the easy way. Yesterday, I took the easy way on the *Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe*. As I sorted through the hundreds of folders that make up the “paper work” for Camp, I put in the new DVD of the movie and watched the adventures of Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy. Even in its movie form; C S Lewis’ masterpiece teaches the important lesson needed by a frustrated book binding student. There is no easy way to perfection!!! It would be so easy to settle for Turkish delight, but that is not the way to real happiness. True happiness and success in life, to paraphrase Norman McClain, comes through Art, and Art does not come easy.

I have been dismayed as the people of America lose their resolve in the war on Terror; as they think of abandoning Iraq and Afghanistan to the clutches of Islamic Fascism; the “cut and run” scenario that would leave “Narnia” forever in winter. Evil has always offered the easy way out but the “not one will be lost so give me all the glory” plan has been a lie from the beginning.

I am dismayed by elected officials that think that a vote on the floor of Congress declaring this or that about the illegal immigrants that have flooded our boarders will solve the problems that thirty years of feasting on Turkish delight has wrought.

I am dismayed by “educators” who think that more money and new strategies cooked up in University Education programs and Teacher Union discussion groups will replace hard work and high standards in the classroom.

I am dismayed that in the wake of hurricanes and other disaster, "spoiled children" demand more Turkish delight without being willing to rebuild and go on by their own sacrifice and the welcome service of others. They want every thing at once and perfection from the start.

In a nation accustomed to instant gratification, in a society used to having others do the hard work, where everything, as Saint Exupery explains in *The Little Prince*, can be bought in the shops; it is hard to get people to stay the course and do the difficult things necessary to build dreams into reality.

I have aspired to draw and paint for decades. At last I am beginning to produce some minor works that please me, my harshest critic. Now I have this dream of binding them in perfect “round spine” books. In my struggles I am often inspired by the words Irving Stone gave to Michelangelo in *The Agony and the Ecstasy*. The great artist had been struggling for weeks to cover Julius’ ceiling with the Apostles and appropriate designs. Discouraged, he went to the wine shop of a friend. The cup he was given had just been filled from a newly broached cask. One sip and he spit it out. The host was offended. “I can’t drink this swill,” the artist informed the innkeeper. The man took a cup himself, tasted the wine, and smashed the cask. As the sour wine gushed out onto the floor, he shouted, “If the wine is sour throw it out.” Michelangelo went back to the Sistine Chapel and scraped his carefully made frescos off the wall and went on to dream, plan, and produce the work that will be his master piece.

Some years ago the Drama Department at our high school put on the musical *Working*. It was well done, of course, but there was one scene that bothered me. In it a young man was singing as he pantomimed a steal worker lifting bars from one pile to another. The “worker’s” line went something like this, “If Michelangelo had had to paint the Sistine Ceiling a thousand times; even his mind would have been dulled.” As an aspirant to Art I knew the truth of this. In his life long struggle to become an artist Michelangelo had painted the Sistine ceiling a thousand times, many thousand times. He had spent months dissecting rotting corpses to master the details of human anatomy, and a life time copying the drawings of his masters to learn the craft necessary to place Adam and his Creator in the center of heaven.

Now there are some that will mistake, “throwing the sour wine out” for quitting. I can imagine the "Cut and Run" in Iraq crowd saying its time to throw the President out! But such “take the easy way out” types miss the entire lesson of mastery; one must stay the course to perfection through many a failed effort. What if Michelangelo had only painted the Sistine one time? What if Julius had fired Michelangelo after the artist had scraped his mess off the ceiling? What if Aslan had left Edmond to die on the stone table? What if I had placed my round spine binding on the heap of failed projects that litter my life? What if we had all accepted that Lie in the beginning?

Americans have hard choices in many things. The answer to the hard choices is never the easy way out.

I Saw a Black Man Once

I have two sons graduating from University next month. I am proud of their accomplishments and of the futures they will make for themselves. When they were little boys, four and three years old, we lived in Jackson Hole Wyoming. My third son was born while we lived there. Jackson is a great place to visit art galleries, but not extremely diverse racially. In fact, for the two years we lived there, two formative years of my son Lafe’s life, we saw no black people at all, with one notable exception. My boys were big fans of the A Team T.V. show. And their great hero – right up there with He Man, was Mr. T.

Our two year tour in Jackson ended and we headed for Logan and classes at USU. Not long after arriving in the “big city” Lafe and I were standing in line in the Safeway when a big black man pushed his cart up behind us. “Mr. T! Mr. T! squealed Lafe in delight. We all had a good laugh; I think our new friend was a little flattered. I explained to my precocious child that, “there are many kinds of people in the world, some,” I explained, “are black, some are white, but they are all people.” Winter passed, student teaching was completed, a job teaching American history to eighth graders procured, and the family was off for our traditional summer at Scout Camp. We were headed for Camp Bartlett above Liberty, Idaho. The camp director the year before had been less than diligent in putting away the facility. He had not drained the water lines in either the Lodge or the family living quarters. When we charged the lines we discovered broken pipes everywhere.

In those days (as in these) our council was blessed with a truly great man as its “Director of Camping”; the man over all the camps, and the one who always shows up when there is an emergency. His name was Jed Stringham, and he had been my boss or my bosses boss for most of my years in scout camp. When Jed was younger he had had cancer in one ear and the ear had been removed. He had a “glue on” prosthesis which looked fairly close to the real thing, and if you over looked the great scar on to which it was pasted, his head looked quit natural once he got “put together”.

That day Jed and I were under our little cabin cutting breaks and soldering patches into copper pipes. In the cold, wet mud of the crawl space Jed’s ear fell off. He stuffed it in his pocket and we kept right on working; yelling up to wife and kids through the back bedroom window for aid in testing the lines. When everything was water tight we crawled out from under the cabin, Jed stood up directly in front and only inches away from the bedroom window out of which my three beautiful blond boys were leaning. Lafe looked in wonder at Jed’s head and exclaimed, “Grandpa Jed, you have a hole in your head, Grandpa Jed, you only have one ear.” Then with a a profound look on his handsome face he opined philosophically, “Some people have two ears, some people have one. I saw a black man once.”

Lafe had learned this important lesson of his youth very well. All people are people and physical differences just don’t count. There are plenty of hysterical folks right here in the USA who could take a lesson from my wise son. American is a multiethnic state. Our unique nationalism is not based on race, or religion, or customs, or favorite thing to eat. It is based on the acceptance of universal truths that are common to all men. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is this all inclusive creed that binds all Americans together. The truth is that all people in the world are joined by these same Natural Laws. Discord among peoples is generated by the unjust abrogation of any of these tenants of human living.

I am amazed that there are Americans, who, living under the shield of Freedom, and bound to their fellow Americans by these universal precepts, cannot see their universal application. There are those to left and right who seek to exclude and to divide rather than to include and unite. Some examples:

1. Types like Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton who benefit from churning up racial separation and hate. Whose wealth and power are based on convincing people that the bigotries of the past entitle them to victim status today.

2. Many anti-war types who believe that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are American aspirations, shunned by Middle Easterners who prefer living in slavery, repression and fear.

3. “America for Americans” types who cherish the blessing of America for themselves but refuse to share this land of opportunity with those who aspire to the same hope that brought their ancestors across seas and mountains to partake of the miracle that is a land of prosperity, justice, liberty and peace.

4. Those who cannot tell the difference between Islamic terrorism and Islam. Who talk about war with Iraq, or fighting Afghans, when what we are really doing is liberating and bringing the Universal Opportunities enjoyed in America to the courageous people of Iraq and Afghanistan who are our closest allies in the defense of those very values. Selfish political interests that attack Dubai in order to drum up votes, who pray on racist misconceptions of the ignorant to procure power.

5. Old fashioned nation states who define their self interest as more important than the betterment of the world as a whole, whose shortsightedness leads them to take bribes from terrorists and to stand as obstacles to world peace in order to court the favor of terrorists or escape their wrath. Red China, Russia, France, Spain, and a host of other third world nations who are governed by powers engendered by hate for America and hate Bush propaganda. I am encouraged that I have been able to remove Canada and Germany from the list above. It is encouraging that in both of these nations the Pro-Bush, Pro-American parties have come to power.

It will take some real education to prepare a generation of Americans wise enough to see that people are people and to engender and defend the common human values that bring the world toward the day when we can all be one world, under god, with liberty and justice for all.

Right Here Waiting for You

Last week was Jr. Prom week here at the High School and I was asked to give a “Heritage Speech” on our Roman Lancer Mascot. The theme of Prom 2006 was “Right Here Waiting for You”. As I considered the lessons to be learned from this song title it occurred to me that wonderful things in life are waiting for those who will pay the price of excellence. This is not only true in personal accomplishments, but applies directly to the struggle between freedom and terror our nation is facing in today’s world. The speech ran like this:

“Our Lancer Heritage reveals that each Lancer has a wonderful future “Right Here Waiting for You”. The potential for good, for greatness, and success can be found in our legends. Great things often have humble beginnings; it is the mastery of potential that produces excellence.

Rome began as a single boy; one facing troubles and challenges. There was a day when the unwanted baby Romulus, who had been abandoned to die, was Rome. Romulus and his twin brother were conceived by rape, his mother, imprisoned for un-chastity, could not protect him when murderous thugs took him to drown in the flooding river. He was saved from death by a she wolf who nursed the twins until they were discovered and raised in poverty by a swineherd and a prostitute. Romulus grew up tending pigs. He was forced to educate himself. Gangs of bullies and criminals infested the hills around his home. He lived in a land without law.

But as Plutarch explains of Romulus, [in his] very infancy, the size and beauty of his body intimated his natural superiority; and when [he] grew up both [he and Remus] proved fair and manly, attempting all enterprises that seemed hazardous, and showing in them courage altogether undaunted. Romulus seemed rather to act by counsel, and to show the sagacity of a statesman, and in all his dealings with their neighbors, whether relating to feeding of flocks or to hunting, Romulus gave the idea of being born rather to rule than to obey. To their comrades and inferiors they were therefore dear; . . . [Romulus] used honest pastimes and liberal studies, not esteeming sloth and idleness honest and liberal, but rather such exercises as hunting and running, repelling robbers, taking of thieves, and delivering the wronged and oppressed from injury. For doing such things [he] became famous.

It was Romulus’ courage that restores his grandfather to the throne of the city of Alba. When he became a man, Romulus took his many friends and established the city called after his name. He created Rome, not just as walls and buildings, but as a people and a government based on respect for law; a haven for all who value justice and peace.

Romulus was the first Lancer, he built himself and his city to greatness in spite of the challenges of his youth; he overcame his limitations by realizing that success and greatness are just waiting for those who will pay the price of excellence.

Let’s all remember the struggles and triumphs of the first Lancer, of Romulus, whose example of excellence out of hardship reminds us all that what we want most in life is “Right Here Waiting for You”.”


There are always those who are looking for the easy way out. Right now for the Democrats the easy way out is to Bush bash while presenting no plans or policies of their own. The world neighborhood is full of brigands and we have an entire political movement which is hanging its hopes on America’s wanting to take the easy way out. As the life of Romulus demonstrates, the easy way out is death.

Romulus took on the evil doers around the Tiber Hills. His courage made many enemies among those who profited from brute force, and their angry plots nearly ended his life. His willingness to do the difficult thing laid the foundation for 1200 years of Rome, for the civilization that still guides the world today.

The world neighborhood of today is full of evil doers. There are those who council caution; who promise, as Kipling said that – “if we give up our weapons, the wars of the tribes will cease.” But Kipling finishes this stanza in “The Gods of the Copybook Headings” with – “And when we disarmed they took us and led us bound to our foe, and the Gods of the copybook headings said, ‘stick to the devil you know’.”

Saddam was one of the world’s greatest evil doers (he is the devil we know). His removal has dynamically changed the out look in the Middle East. It takes no imagination at all to recognize the nightmare that would be Iraq dominated by Saddam. Romulus was “made famous” by his defeat of the neighborhood thugs. The American people have given their support to President Bush’s courageous removal of the monster Saddam from our world, “The American public was certainly entitled to make up its mind whether or not Bush had made a mistake and to fire him if it felt that he had done so. The electorate chose not to do so, implicitly accepting either the administration’s rationale for invading or the irrelevance of the discussion to the matter at hand.” (Frederick Kagan, American Enterprise Institute, Myths of the Current War; thanks Reach!) The American People have been wise enough to recognize the need to do the difficult thing now so that the bright future waiting for the world can be crafted.

Many challenges lie ahead. There are those who would “cut and run.” The bullies have found support in the likes of John Murtha (D-Pa), who pretend that turning Iraq over to
al Qaeda would be in America’s interest.


A group of brigands is trying to create a base for world-wide terror in Iraq. Some would blame the current insurgency on US led liberation of Iraq. This is like blaming the anger of the brigands defeated by Romulus on the boy hero himself. But this is not true in either case. I further quote from Kagan’s article: “In 2005, a number of insurgent groups decided to prioritize attacking collaborators and members of the Iraqi Security Forces over hitting coalition troops. Insurgent literature regularly distinguishes between civilians, who are not to be targeted, and traitors or collaborators who are legitimate targets. This differentiation and refocusing of targets priorities clearly showed that the presence of coalition forces is by no mans the only – or even the main – catalyst driving the insurgency.”


Romulus’ enemies tried to regain the hold of terror that the twins had broken. Too weak and cowardly to face Romulus in battle, they turned to tricks and lies. President Bush’s enemies must rely on falsehood to weaken his successes. One of the most incredulous lies is that the War in Iraq is a distraction to the War on Terror. Kagan presents some excellent explanation of the flaw in this argument:

“This question, however, is no longer relevant to the problem of determining U.S. strategy in the war on terror. Al Qaeda’s second-in-command? Ayman al-Zawahiri, has repeatedly said that he now sees Iraq as the central front in the struggle with the West.[11] Zarqawi has linked his ideological program with that of Zawahiri and bin Laden to make plain that he has no intention of stopping with success in Iraq, should he attain it. Above all, the key question is: will chaos in Iraq help or hinder al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in their struggle with the United States and the West? The answer is, of course, that it will help them.” (ibid)

“The real issue about the popularity of American forces is the degree to which their presence fuels the fighting or contains sectarian conflict. As we have already seen, the evidence that the U.S. presence is the key driving force in the insurgency is thin, and the evidence that that presence is an essential precondition for avoiding civil war is strong. Iraqi attitudes about that presence only really matter if they change this calculation in some important way. These attitudes are therefore worth monitoring, but should not be allowed to drive coalition strategy by themselves.” (ibid)

If the President’s enemies have their way all the gains of his Romulen efforts will be lost and the monsters will seize back the gains of our heroes. This cannot be allowed. More from Kagan:

“. . . those who argue for an immediate (or rapid) withdrawal of American forces to ?refocus? those on the war on terror have the burden of showing that such a withdrawal will not lead to the sort of chaos in which terrorist organizations thrive. There can be no question of the inability now and for some time of the Iraqi government to control its territory fully. Nor is there any question of the resources potentially available to terrorists in Iraq--as they were not readily available in impoverished and war-torn Afghanistan. Those resources include not only money and weapons, but access to military specialists, technology, and scientists who had been working on Addams WMD programs. This is a recipe for catastrophe on a greater scale than September 11, and there is every reason to believe that a premature withdrawal of American forces would precipitate such a catastrophe. Whatever the relevance of Iraq in the war on terror in 2003, it is a critical front in that war today.” (ibid)

The people of Iraq want to grab the chance for freedom. Kagan further argues:

“. . . hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have volunteered for the most dangerous duty in their land, fighting insurgents with inadequate training and equipment. Those volunteers have frequently come under attack at recruiting stations and in their barracks, yet their numbers have not flagged. Iraqi units no longer shirk combat or run from battle. They have fought toe-to-toe with insurgents on many occasions, have been badly bloodied, and have returned for duty the next day. Iraqi government officials have persevered despite improvised explosive devices (IEDs), mortar and rocket attacks, kidnappings, and assassination attempts. It is difficult to see how it might be necessary to ?incentivize? people fighting bravely in the face of greater danger to themselves and their families than Americans have faced since the Civil War.” (ibid)

The example of Romulus and the reason and evidence presented by Kagan are further supported by a Washington Post op-ed by Ibramim Al-Fafari, the Prime Minister of Iraq. (Not the “former”, or “want to be” Prime Minister, but the one actually chosen by democratic process by the Iraqi people.)

“My vision for Iraq Includes Overcoming Many Major Challenges” (March 26, 06)

The elections last December in Iraq were a monumental stage in my country’s history and a testament to the courage of its people, who refuse to bow to any dictator or terrorist. . . the war against the terrorists cannot be won by military means alone. It is paramount that all Iraqis work together to build a democratic, free Iraq. . . The other major challenge my government will face is reviving Iraq’s economy. Iraq has been drowned by decades of Baathist socialist policies that have made millions reliant on government handouts. We must encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise, while establishing adequate safety nets for the less privileged. . the reality of a democratic, liberal, peaceful Iraq – a beacon for freedom in the Middle East This is not merely a wish but an article of faith. Having lived in London for the majority of my years in exile, I appreciate the importance of liberty for both guaranteeing democracy and ensuring human development.”

Romulus was not discouraged by the attacks of murderers or by the challenges of founding Rome; and Rome was not built in a day. We must recognize and deal with those who attack the march of freedom in the world today.

The idea that one can gain excellence without struggle, that we can overcome evil without sacrifice is so foolish that no one can honestly claim to believe it. The idea is antithetical to the self-evident and absolute laws of nature that we were born knowing. Therefore I am forced to conclude that those who call for it are motivated by other factors, those who support it are either deceived or deceivers. The good people of the world must put aside their fears, reject the lies, and follow Romulus to the great things that are “Right Here Waiting for You”.

There Is No Debate

For eleven years I coached high school debate. I took the job to get my position in the history department. I knew nothing about it. It was a long slow learning process, but I feel I reached some small level of mastery before I passed the “torch” to a colleague who was also desperate for a job. Oration and Value Debate, (called Lincoln Douglas) were my favorites. At first I was excited about Policy, (called CX debate); it seemed to be what “debate” should be. It wasn’t. I soon learned that skills in thinking, speaking, research, and reason, were completely superfluous to CX debate.

For those of you who are uninitiated let me explain. Policy debate teams are made up of two speakers, called first and second. Two teams meet to present and debate a policy. Each year the National Forensic League comes up with a topic to be debated in all high schools all year long. I read a lot of books about CX debate, attended seminars and State Training conferences; I talked to some excellent teachers, Kim Birmingham, at Bountiful High, Dave Smith from Hill Crest, and Dennis Hadley from Weber High were among many who were helpful and supportive. I learned that the basic format required each team to prepare a Plan or policy to solve the problem presented in the “resolution” (known as the Affirmative Case), and then Negative briefs and arguments to counter all possible plans that other schools or teams might present, (know as the Negative Case). The Affirmative case was to revolve around such things as Needs and Harms, Workability and Solvency, and such mundane items as funding, and implementation. The Negative case was to attack the above positions and present disadvantages that might outweigh the advantages, there were also legitimate challenges of topicality to prevent the Affirmative from creating far-out plans that had nothing really to do with the resolution and therefore would not be legitimate. In spite of all the possibilities for teaching learning skills, research mastery, and reasoning and speaking skills, I soon found that CX debate was a fraudulent game that revolved around tricks and a bizarre speaking style called spew that had nothing to do with speech or debate. Here is how a typical “round” would go.

The first Affirmative speaker delivers the plan. He drops all the proper words and established topicality; but the truth is it mattered little what he says, neither his opponents, his partner, nor the judges are at all interested in the plan. Once the 8 minute “Plan” speech was presented one of the Negative team stands to ask questions. Most are pointless and redundant, but there was always one killer question, which no matter what answer the unfortunate Affirmative Speaker gives sets off an avalanche of events that become the entire performance. The question is so crafted that it would elicit a yes or no answer, and which ever answer the hapless One Aff. Speaker spoke the entire plan would be forgotten and the rest of the round would be totally devoted to that question and its answer. Let me give an example:

Let’s say the topic is on Global Warming (It doesn’t really matter, the arguments against the Plan has been crafted years ago, most likely at Baylor University, and are generic to be affective in all cases)

Neg. CX question: Will your Plan improve the U. S. economy?

Aff answer: Yes or No – it doesn’t matter, but the second he says it the First Negative Speaker begins frantically digging through his brief boxes pulling pre-written arguments, and piling up an avalanche of attacks, goal – to put out so many that the Second Aff speaker can not possibly answer all of them in his eight minutes.

If the Aff. Speaker says yes, the Neg. response is to read a card by some professor or erstwhile expert to say that an improved U. S, economy will lead to trade war. A shouted tag line is then followed by a “card” claiming that trade war leads to real war then a final card which has an expert claiming that all war’s eventually lead to nuclear war. Then, with a straight face the impassioned negative speaker explains to the judge that such a disadvantage (world destroying atomic war) will outweigh any advantage the Affirmative can present.

If the Aff. Speaker says no, the negative response is to read an “expert” card that “proves” that without substantial improvement the U. S. economy is headed for a recession. Card 2 – recession leads to depression. Card 3 – depression leads to war. Card 4 – all war leads to nuclear war = mutual mass destruction.

I have judged this debate hundreds of times, even after the end of the Cold War unplugged the “nuclear clock”. I always dropped (gave a losing ballot) this ridiculous DA, unless the Aff accepted it and spent the rest of the debate arguing nuclear war. Sometimes I was a member of a three judge panel, in which case I often squired. That means the silly war D.A. actually picked up the two other ballots. I found that college debaters acting as judges always picked up this case. I have come to understand that it was the only one they understood.

President Bush is dealing with a generation of such “debate” trained opponents. They could care less what “plan” the President puts forth, what actions steps he takes, or on what issue he acts. They always have two briefs prepared. Examples:

Let’s say the president takes a stand against terror and brings U. S. military might to bear against terrorists and all who support, shelter, or sucker them. Then the Democrats read the card that has some “expert” claim that America is a bully, invading “innocent” countries, and terrorizing women and children in their homes. Had the president failed to invade Afghanistan the Democrats had their briefs ready. They would have accused him of inaction and cowardice while blaming every Taliban-directed murder, every woman buried alive for wearing fingernail polish, on the President.

Let’s say the President takes the route of diplomacy and international cooperation to stem the development of WMD in Iraq. Then the democrats pull the brief that calls Bush a coward and points to the ever rising threat of developing nuclear weapons. (By the way, they are using this brief right now concerning Iran.) And they blame the rape rooms and the mass murders of the tyrant on Presidential inaction. Let’s say that instead of waiting for Saddam to develop an a-bomb and hand it over to al-Qaeda, Bush sends in an army and frees Iraq from Saddam and puts the mass murdering monster in prison. Then the cards used, read – unjust war without a purpose, lies and miss-calculations, not enough troops. (They have already used the card that he was sending too many.)

Let’s say that the President authorizes NSA wiretapping of known al-Qaeda operatives to prevent a repeat of 9/11, then the card reads – the President is spying on innocent Americans, on his way to becoming a dictator with monarchical power to assassinate any American at will. Let’s say that the President decides not to listen in on known al-Qaeda operatives so he can protect the “civil rights” of American’s who might be plotting with them. Instead he relegates the surveillance to time consuming judicial review process. Then the Democrats read the “just like 9/11” card.

It doesn’t even matter if the cards that are spewed by the Democrat politicos are true or that they are understood by the spectators. It is only the shouted taglines noted by the nightly news shows that matter. Nothing of any value can ever be generated by this “debate game”, but it does weaken the ability of any who try to truly act against the real harms that face the world. The Democrats are not interested in finding solutions to the problems that face the world or our nation. They are not even interested in what is best for America. All they want is a win at the game they mastered in high school, desperate for a ballot from the biased and misguided judges who have been trained in gamesmanship but can’t be expected to put forth the effort necessary to reason or to recognize the truth.

Art History

My career as an “Art History Teacher” is over. The “No Child Left Behind Act” has caught up with me. Not “Highly Qualified” to teach Fine Arts; my class, my students, and my lecture notes and materials will be passed on to another with the proper paperwork. I am now “relegated” to teaching History or Biology. As is always the case, I learned far more from the classes I taught in Art History than from the ones I took at the University. I am inclined to give a last lecture, or if you will, a last discussion, on what a dozen years of teaching Art History taught me.

Twentieth century Art, perhaps all Art, comes down to Rockwell and Picasso. Some summers ago, while prowling a secondhand store in Rexburg Idaho, I found a 1960’s *Life* magazine totally dedicated to Pablo Picasso. I bought it; along with a swivel chair for my desk at camp.

Back at School that fall, my magazine got shared around the Art Department and I had to go fetch in from a colleague. As she handed it back to me she said, “I just love Picasso!”

“No you don’t.” I replied.

She was indignant! “I do too!’’ she insisted, “I know what I like.’

“No, you really don’t.” I explained, “You’ve been told you’re supposed to like Picasso, so you say you do. It’s like a five year old standing at the pulpit at testimony time and saying, “I know the Church is true.” I could practically see her “mother” standing behind her.

She was angry with me for weeks. I finally apologized for hurting her feelings, but it was the truth that hurt!

In 1995, ten year old Alexandra Nechita astounded the world with the “genius” of her painting. She was proclaimed the “Child Picasso”. Nechita pumped out a Picasso every few days and sold them to California decorators for tens of thousands each.

A couple of springs ago *CBS’s 60 Minutes* amused viewers with an even younger Picasso prodigy. A four year old “genius” named Marla Olmstead that smeared out Picassos under the direction of her father. He father was an “artist” who couldn’t sell his own efforts. Again, the frauds were gobbled up as prices as high as $24,000. These young “artists” are more like Picasso than they, or the “art world” which worships them, would care to comprehend.

As one who has spent a life time aspiring to Art, I can understand what happened to Picasso. Picasso’s father painted pigeons and taught Academic Art. Pablo tried to learn the rules, but his malevolent habits and lack to talent presented an insurmountable obstacle to the creation of beauty. Picasso tried, in fits and starts, throughout his life to master the basic rules and techniques that would have made Art, but he never paid the price requisite to be an artist. Instead, Picasso discovered a substitute for mastery, fraud. He stumbled upon a “frantic relativism” that was searching for a physical manifestation; a rebellion against all order, including the natural laws of beauty. Picasso jumped on the bandwagon; he soon found himself in the catbird seat.

Norman Rockwell, in a deliberate choice, left high school to attend the Art Academy. His natural talent and desire to master the principles and elements of art soon enabled him to produce works of quality that were in demand throughout his life. Rockwell was never out of work; his creations captured the truth of human experience and the beauty of the human soul. Rockwell also met the fanatic relativism attacking the laws of art, the rebellion of modernism. His art stood as a massive barricade to the avalanche of rule breaking and denial of truth in beauty. The screaming of the driven mob, the testimonies of children, challenged his resolve but never daunted his genius.

With the Twentieth Century now history, many have been told that “modernism” and Picasso will be the artistic legacy of that age, that Picasso was the great artist of the era. But a careful study of Picasso’s efforts reveals the folly of a century that sought to find foundation in fraud. Norman Rockwell’s works will stand; not only representative of that century but as manifestations of the human spirit; created by a master artist who’s own soul is evident in the soul of his work

Picasso was told throughout his career that he was a master artist but Picasso knew he was a fraud; he lived and died a miserable man. Rockwell was told throughout his career that he was “just an illustrator” not a real artist at all but Rockwell knew he was. He lived a full and happy life.

As humanity matures, the recitations of infants will lose their sparkle, the truth will out. The older but wiser world will look at Picasso’s productions and see the fraud. They will look at Rockwell’s art and see the mastery; mastery of eternal laws and principals that testify to the truth and beauty at the heart of the Twentieth Century and the triumph of the soul of the greatest artist of that century, Norman Rockwell.

Keep off the Grass

I went to BYU; for one semester; then I had had enough of it. All of my experience there can be boiled down into one metaphor, one pervasive dictum: “Keep off the grass!” Broad sidewalks run across that characterless campus and you are expected to stay on them. It wasn’t the signs or the "brown shirts" (campus security) always on the prowl. It was my fellow students who were always condemning me for venturing out onto the green that most pained my rebellious soul. I noticed that, up on the “designated” playing fields dormward, large gangs of tee shirt clad collegians frolicked at football and Frisbee. There the grass seemed to survive, but venture a step onto the lawns between classes and the cries of “keep of the grass” from all quarters from my concrete bound colleagues were instantaneous and merciless. The semester ended and I fled to USU. In Logan, things were different, students went where they chose; teachers encouraged the adventure; grass was a thing for walking on. In winter time, when muddy trails appeared, students tracked else where or slogged through, and the grounds crew brought in sod with the spring. Also with the spring, shirts came off and shorts got shorter. Campus was a beautiful place to be with the grass between your toes. I have often thought back on the difference between the paths students were expected to walk and the way students were expected to think and learn. At BYU, when the Professor spoke, all the thinking had already been done. Minds were herded down concrete walks, preplanned and posted. At USU minds ran everywhere, got muddied up, wondered off, or found the truth on their own. I was happier there, with crumpled grass and sun tanned skin.

I listened with some interest this past week as the lawn protection squads, many of whom pretend to value free speech to the point of dying for it, went berserk over comments made in a High School Geography class by “teacher” Jay Bennish. Bennish’s rant against George Bush was one lie after another. His students knew it; one of them taped him, and revealed his lesson in fiction and spin to the nation. It was the screams from the sidewalk crowd that most concern me. Students whose minds are never allowed to stray from the crafted trails are in danger of losing the lust to striking out on their own. When minds rely only on “established” trails for truth and are never allowed to feel the “grass between their toes”, they are in danger of losing their ability to challenge falsehood when it comes at them masked as the “straight and narrow way”.

Years ago I expressed my frustration about BYU to a friend at Scout Camp. His reply, “You don’t let anyone walk off the trails at camp; afraid you will damage the “beauties” of nature. Why should you so harshly judge the “lawn protection rules” at BYU?” I see a difference. The purpose of imported Kentucky blue is for walking, the purpose of class rooms is for enticing treks into the unknown to craft new trails for others to follow on a journey to truth. Perhaps there are sacred bounds of thought; delicate ways of woodland wonder, forever lost if tread upon. Perhaps there are minds too delicate to face the challenges of bigotry, prejudice, and deceit, of obscenity, anger and hate; but I have not met them in the wide world. At camp, where the green things get one chance to live in a four month summer, I say, “If the trail will get you there, take the trail, but if you want to go beyond trails end, walk softly and wisely on the land.”

I was pleased to see my students, who had heard the President's State of the Union speech, laughed Bennish to derision for his lies. The way to encourage new thoughts, to thicken the grass, is to give minds the truth and let them stand the test of lies.

The Trial of the Generals: Poison Politics

After long years of war between Athens and Sparta, the Athenian Navy won a battle on stormy seas. The ten generals who had commanded the victory returned to Athens expecting a hero’s welcome. Instead they were thrown into prison and put on trial for their lives. Because of the terrible storm the fleet had been forced to withdraw before it could pick up soldiers who had fallen overboard during the battle.

For political reasons, enemies of the generals accused them of murder, delivered stirring speeches in the assembly; played on the sorrows of those who lost loved ones; stirred the ignorant and angry masses and demanded death by hemlock for the saviors of the city.

Not only did they sway the masses in this outrage, they convinced the people to set aside the Constitution of the City and try the Generals all together and in one day, lest reason return and thwart their scheme.

We know of only one man who spoke out against this idiocy, one voice raised in defense of justice and of the city, Socrates. He warned the assembly of the immorality of their vengeance driven attack and warned of the dire nature of the precedent they would set. But he was only one voice in a maddened multitude. The generals were poisoned, Athens’ war effort decimated, and the deadly precedent of mass trial and summery execution established.

These political poisonings precipitated Athenian defeat. Their armies killed, their empire destroyed, their long wall of defense pulled down, their citizens enslaved, their children murdered, their freedom taken; the people paid the price for political pollution.

Under the oligarchy established by the Spartans; mass trials and summery executions, legitimized by the murder of the generals, took the lives of over 4,000 innocent Athenians. Now to the present:

Week after week the political enemies of President Bush plot to poison and pollute. The dangers of partisan injustice can only be averted by wisdom. As wisdom is knowledge of truth let me present some truths for your consideration:

1. The present problems with Iran and much of Islamic terrorism can be traced to Jimmy Carter’s naive or pernicious politics. Finding the Shah of Iran’s methods of governance unacceptable to his politically popular “rose colored glasses” pacifism, Carter allowed the monster Khomeini to seize Iran and establish the “Islamic” dictatorship that spawns and supports terrorism throughout the world and seeks nuclear weapons and world domination. For over a year Carter broadcast American impotency by allowing Islamic fanatics to hold American hostages and humiliate our nation on a continuing basis. The election of Ronald Reagan cowed Khomeini, but fanatic Islamic-fascism found its home in a former American ally. The consequence of Carter’s cowardice is the Long War we must now fight. For political gain, Carter played to the mob; his lack of leadership has murdered millions.

2. Bill Clinton’s bungling gave hope to al Qaeda and purpose to bin Laden’s quest to become the new Caliph of an Islamic Terror State.

The fruits of George Bush I’s world-wide coalition against aggression were realized when American Marines ended years of Islamic Warlord imposed famine in Somalia. Twenty thousand U.S. Marines brought hope to a brutalized people and the world after tens of thousands of deaths by starvation and terror. But Bill Clinton came to office through the insane politics of Ross Perot. To appease his anti-military political base and perhaps in fruition of the anti-war infatuation of his youth, Clinton began the destruction of U.S. military might. Pillaging the Pentagon provided the “Peace Dividend” Clinton needed to purchase political power.

His anti-military pension led Clinton to withdraw the Marines from Somalia. It was his plan to conduct a low key “unnoticed” action through a few Special Forces troops (Rangers and the hither to secret Delta Force). As conditions on the ground got worse, commanders pled for armor and the force necessary to fulfill their mission. Clinton ignored the requests; choosing to play the role of American pacifism and rely on Pakistani troops from the U.N.

Clinton, having hamstrung U.S. forces in Mogadishu, then demanded a super human task of capturing a group of warlords in the city center. When helicopters went down and U.S. forces were pinned down, there was nothing to do but work the miracle. U.S. forces brought the captured warlords out and the wounded to safety; but not before the naked bodies of American soldiers were dragged and mutilated through the streets of Mogadishu and before the cameras of CNN.

Clinton rewarded the sacrifice of American heroes by releasing the terrorists our troops had died to capture and deserting the people of Somalia to starvation and tyranny. America watched in shame; others were watching too!

Osama bin Laden marked American weakness and postulated that faced with even minimal losses America would turn and run. The remaining years of the Clinton Administration validated Osama’s belief.

Clinton did nothing as the Taliban devoured Afghanistan.

Clinton did nothing as Rwanda drowned in blood, 500,000 to a million people hacked to death by machetes.

Clinton sat back until 250,000 Yugoslavs were slaughtered in a religious genocide. When at last Clinton did act, it was with high altitude bombing and casualty “free” confrontation.

Osama watched as a mob of thugs drove the U.S. Navy out of Haiti.

Osama watched as Saddam murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people in his bid to reestablish his despotic control of Iraq.

Osama watched as Saddam ignored Clinton’s hollow threats and bribed his way into control of the U.N.

Then Osama went on the offensive – to test his hypothesis: U.S. embassies across Africa were destroyed and nothing but ineffectual cruise missiles and cowardice from Clinton, from America.

A direct attack on a U.S. warship and Clinton called the Yemeni Police for help.

Now Osama “knew” the kind of enemy he faced. What could an American election have meant to Al Qaeda? Osama thought that when he took the measure of Bill Clinton, he understood America. So he crafted and carried out the 9/11 attack, confident that America would abandon Israel and the Islamic world to Osama’s rule.

How telling that within days after 9/11 Bill Clinton delivered a speech blaming the attack on America!

But Bill Clinton was gone, and Al Gore never came, and Osama soon learned the difference!

3. Under George Bush II, America’s response was swift, successful, and decisive. Within months Afghanistan was free, al Qaeda on the run and freedom on the march in West Asia. The WMDs that would have been bin Laden’s only hope were denied him in the four week removal of Saddam Hussein from Iraq. Mission accomplished!

Saddam is gone, bin Laden in hiding, constitutional governments allied with the United States surround Iran, but the Long War is not over. The infection of Islamic Fascism and terrorism still threatens the world. However, in the four plus years since Osama’s big mistake, the American homeland has remained secure. Osama’s threats come out on scratchy audio tapes crafted in caves, and have never yet come true.

But in the face of so much success, in the very hour of victory, a new enemy appears. President Bush’s success itself makes him vulnerable. As Americans who no longer live under the threat of attack, they open their ears to the political poison of those seeking power at the expense of their country. The very enemy that aided Sparta in its struggle with Athens now threatens America. Determined to gain power at any cost, politicians motivated by self-serving ambition launch unfounded attacks on America’s war effort. Counting on ignorance, prejudice, fear, and hate to propel them to power. Americans are not as foolish or as uninformed as the Athenian mob, but aided by their powerful allies in the “antique” media, power seekers spread their poison:

1. In a painful parallel to past perversion, Cindy Sheehan and her crowd count corpses and chant blame. Appealing to sorrow and loss they seek Senate seats and presidential power.

2. Seeking gain in the 2006 election, Democrats and their media masters shark up a “disaster” a week to attack the President and those who serve the nation.
1) Misrepresented photos of criminal conduct at Abu Grab are blamed on the President and the military, though the discovery and prosecution of these crimes was by the very military that the media and the terrorists try to blame for the actions of fools. 2) Lies about torture chambers and secrets prisons fill the press, though not a fact is to be found, nor a reason for anger articulated. 3) Crooked lobbyists are dug up to scandalize until the search uncovered Harry Reid. 4) Deception and misreporting over NSA surveillance endangers the nation and sows confusion, and then is proven unfounded. 5) Dick Cheney’s hunting accident is called a metaphor for Administration failures though all that happened was an accident, properly reported to the authorities, but not taken to the press. 6) And now, relying on racist fears and ignorance a phony attack against the Administration is concocted over the sale of a company to a valuable U.S. ally in the war on terror.

Week after week, the Democrat office seekers concoct a tissue of events that exist no where but in their lies, and lacing the poison of half truths about hurricane relief and economic trends they poison the nation.

Some would say that President Bush needs to get ahead of these attacks. construct a “bullet proof” policy for every action taken. Such a process would endanger America. That was Clinton’s way; finger in the air, Billy was always dancing ahead of every issue; carefully polling his way to nowhere.

Bush’s method is more direct and is the only real option he has; the only real course to lead America. He goes forward and waits for his enemies within to take their shot of the week. His time is better spent continuing to combat terrorists rather than spinning and researching every possible lie that might attack him. When the lies come, he deals with them by showing the truth. So far he has been able to rely on the wisdom of the American people to comprehend the truth and recognize the folly.

Wouldn’t it be tragic if America, like Athens, could defeat its enemies in battle only to be poisoned by politics at home?