Book Talk

A request to present my “favorite book of the year” prompted me to put together a Book Talk for my fellow teachers. I offered it at faculty meeting along with two others presenters.

President Obama’s dependence on his teleprompter was much in the news [I note that Joe Biden made a joke about it today, May 27, 2009] so I began with a bit of a rib, “This may be a little rough without a teleprompter.”

I went on to warn them that they wouldn’t be able to use their ray guns to take the quiz at the end. Some classes at Layton High have recently been fitted with electronic test taking devices which allow students to answer questions from power-point presentations by pushing buttons on a hand held remote. Their scores and other data are stored for displayed and contemplation.

I pointed out that teaching is my second carrier. After seven years as a professional Boy Scout – I admit I have never had a real job – teaching looked very attractive to me. It has proven to be everything I had hoped; I am paid to talk and read books.

I have read several books since last May, including the DC comic book version of the Iliad, and the Truth about Muhammad by Robert Spence. As we have a teacher at our school named Robert Spence I noted that it is rather exciting to find an author avoiding fatwa here at Layton High

I pointed out that books come in different sizes: and I think Einstein would have agreed that the length has nothing to do with the number of pages. Indeed the longest book of the year was Relativity, the Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein.

I read it on the insistence of my son in law; who graduated last year from the U’s college of Engineering with a degree in Computer Science and who started work the next week earning more than any one in public education CAN ever make. He wanted me to read the book so that I would be able to talk with him about something on his level! The page count is 178 – but I was much relieved to find the last 47 pages were appendices; which I felt justified in avoiding. Having “finished” the book we held the long awaited discussion. It ended badly when he discovered I had the audacity to disagree with Einstein. I told him not to feel so bad – when I read the Bible I find myself arguing with God.

I also read a very short 801 page Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. Our school Librarian made the mistake of asking me how I liked it. There is half an hour of her life she will never get back. I had attempted to read the book in high school, tantalized by the promise of so much sex. However I found that when ever Tom got a woman in bed, Fielding would sum up the chapter with, “I will leave the rest to the reader’s imagination.” Not much to visualize there at age 16 – so I gave it up. However, now, after thirty years of marriage, I found it far more titillating.

I then explained that these are not the books I want to talk about!

The best book I read this past year was Drawing and Sketching in Pencil by Arthur L. Guptill. (Here I held up my copy for display) One opinion I have gained over the past 30 years is this: those who can – do, those who can’t – teach, and those who can’t teach - teach teachers. In this book I have finally found the exception that proves the rule: a great teacher teaching – and doing it in the best way, by example. Guptill teaches us how to teach by masterfully teaching. I believe that if all the time and treasure poured into grants and programs, accreditations, standardized testing, and “No Child Left Behind,” had been otherwise invested and every teacher in America given a copy of this book and the inclination to read it, American education would have been, in truth, improved.

I directed them to a page of my notes taken while reading Guptill; confessing that I haven’t really gotten the computer thing down; I gave them all copies, pointing out that I am just getting going with the copy machine. I warned them that if they actually read the quotes I supply below they would see that I haven’t gotten the “spell check” down. I explained, if you would look at this last page you’ll see my notes on the detail Guptill went to in explaining how to sharpen a pencil.

I can share only a glimpse of Drawing and Sketching in Pencil with you. But I have attempted to do just that. Please read some quotes. You can grasp the extended impact of this book by substituting any other life activity for drawing; the maxims are equally as true. Please note that most of these quotes are single sentences, Guptill had never heard of Ernest Hemingway.

Pg. XII D – For the beginner needs a teacher and no book or books can take the place of personal instruction. - - in fact, a book of this sort can do little but offer general instructions and suggest a bit of knowledge and a little inspiration; - - if the reader gains a few thoughts that are new or has ideas which were partly forgotten brought back to him or is made to see familiar things from an enlarged viewpoint, this work will have served a useful purpose. (This is what teachers do, we take what books have and enlarge our students.)

Pg. 78 B – It is impossible to over-emphasize the need for constant practice if one is to acquire more than ordinary skill in drawing. Many students with considerable innate ability fail to make the best use of it because of their lack of interest or perseverance, whereas others, who show at first far less natural talent, but who work for it, often gain such skill as to far outshine those students with greater inborn aptitude. It is deplorable that so many persons fail to make the most of their natural abilities, but is, on the other hand, most gratifying to find others who force themselves to the front through their persistency and commendable effort. (Those who work, and can be inspired to work hard, will advance.)

Pg. 184 A&B – There are students, for instance, so imbued with earnestness and enthusiasm, so passionately found of drawing, that they seize with avidity every hint or suggestion which is offered as an aid to the development of their talent, and who at the same time possess enough commonsense to realize their own shortcomings and weaknesses and to direct their own energies to the best advantage in their attempt to over come them, so planning their study and practice that they move on step-by-step up a road of steady progress. (The students we all wish we had; we all wish we were.)

Pg. 184 B – Needless to say men of this type [see the quote above] are scarce, however, the average student falling into one or another of three classes, the first including such as either underrate their own ability or are easily disheartened, the second and largest class consisting of those having a fair amount of ability and confidence coupled with a willingness to work, and with an excellent attitude towards the acceptance of instruction and criticism, the third being made up of a few such vain and self-conceited individuals as hold the egotistical opinion that their work is the acme of perfection ignoring with thinly masked ridicule the suggestions of their instructors and fellow students, seemingly ignorant or careless of the fact that their attitude of antagonism is deterrent to their own progress. (The students we have to deal with. This book was written in 1922; this problem is not new.)

Pg. 184 – So make your choice with care, but once you go to a teacher, put yourself under his direction unreservedly, and even though you sometimes fail to agree with him or his corrections or criticism, try to get his viewpoint, to see from his eyes may be broader than you own. (Find a teacher – be a teacher.)

Pg. 186 B – So in closing let us repeat, then, that each man should study his needs and straightway commence to correct his faults and overcome his weaknesses, seeking instruction, inviting criticism, comparing results with drawing by others and so striving constantly for greater perfection, remembering that one never reach the point were it is not possible for him to advance still further, - - and let it be remembered, too, that even though one fails to acquire exceptional skill, what ever of dexterity is gained will always prove a source of pleasure and satisfaction. (This is the last paragraph of the book; we should find joy in our efforts, and help our students to find joy in doing their best.)


“Now,” I told them, “is the time to applaud.”

Books read from May 2008 through May 2009

Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition, Wendell Berry, 153 pgs

Drawing and Sketching in Pencil, Arthur L. Guptill, 186 pgs.

Perspective Made Easy, Ernest R. Norling, 203 pgs.

Age of Bronze A thousand Ships, Eric Shanower, 206 pgs.

Age of Bronze Sacrifice, Eric Shanower, 214 pgs.

Age of Bronze Betrayal, Eric Shanower, 162 pgs.

The Truth about Muhammad, Robert Spencer, 195 pgs.

The Never Ending Story, Michael Ende, 377 pgs.

The Iliad of Homer, Marvel Classic Comic, Adapted by Roy Thomas & Miguel Angel Sepulveda, 180 pgs. (I counted)

Relativity, the Special and General Theory, Albert Einstein, 129 pgs.

Tom Jones, Henry Fielding, 801 pgs.

The 10 Big Lies about America, Michael Medved, 262 pgs.

The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, 87 pgs.

Between You and I, James Cachrane, 132 pgs.

The Dream of Achilles

Achilles had the choice of two fates. He could choose to die young, battling before the walls of Troy, and gain eternal fame; or he could live to be old, beloved of his grandchildren, but forgotten when they were gone. He chose his grandchildren. Achilles is the archetype of all heroes; he is the personification of greatness, because, although he dreamed of his grandson’s love, he fought for justice, knowing his victory would cost him his dream.

I was recently one of the judges tasked to select four graduation speakers from a field of twenty-two eager high school seniors. The topic was based on a quote by Henry David Thoreau challenging all to reach for their dreams. As the tryouts wore on, speech after speech full of references to Lincoln, King, Mandela, and Obama, of blind men climbing Mt. Everest and dying men giving “Last Lectures,” I found myself questioning my life’s accomplishments. It is one thing for kids of 18 to contemplate hitching their wagons to the stars, but when there is not realistic way to calculate one’s pile of birthdays into anything corresponding to the middle-age of any human that has lived outside the Old Testament, such dreaming is depressing. Then I had a thought that brought great pleasure and peace.

I recalled how the weekend before, I had been on a “Fathers and Sons” camping trip with my eldest and his four year old son. I hate camping, and the night was particularly uncomfortable, most of it spent in a fight to keep my grandson warm while I froze; wrapping his sweet perfection in my old arms beneath a pile of quilts. We got up early and played hide-and-seek with his invisible dragon. As I carried my beautiful grandson across the camp lawn, he suddenly placed his hands to either side of my face, brought his eyes close to mine, and saying, “Grandpa, I love you,” kissed me on the lips.

Sitting in that classroom, awash in the accounts of the great men whose deeds have changed the world, and buffeted by the daring of youth reaching for their dreams, I realized I already had the “Dream of Achilles”!

Talking Points and Questions on Detention at Guantanamo Bay and the Enhanced Interrogation of Terrorists

Current issues discussions in my Government Class have naturally led to a dust up over water-boarding and detentions at Guantanamo. I organized my thoughts and shared them with my students. Only one got up and walked out. I have recorded my thoughts below.

The argument that claims that water-boarding has been classed as torture by past US judicial action is based on references to lists on which true torture techniques; actions such as beating, clubbing, and burning with cigarettes have been delineated. It is at least questionable as to whether water-boarding alone would have been considered torture. Be that as it may; it is instructive to note that Congress could not pass a law against water-boarding, nor has the Supreme Court ruled it as cruel and unusual punishment or as torture. The Constitution gives one person, the President of the United States, the prerogative to act in the extraordinary circumstances encountered in defending the nation. President Bush made one decision, President Obama seems to have made another; does that mean that either man was wrong?

Detention of enemy combatants has long been acceptable under the rules of war – including the Geneva Convention. At one time the solution for dealing with enemies captured on the battle field was to massacre them, make them slaves, or exhibit them in bloody obliteration at the Coliseum.

The Geneva Convention treaties are applicable within certain express criteria which, terrorists do not fit, (fighting for their country, wearing a uniform, acting under orders of a legitimate and recognized chain of command), therefore the US is not bound to treat terrorists in the same way they are required to treat enemy soldiers captured in treaty relevant conflicts. It should be remembered that spies can be shot or hung, a rather severe violation of their human rights, because they are not covered by treaty protections and because they are in violation of the rules of war. Since none of the terrorists captured wore uniforms, and therefore were all in violation of the rules of war, could they not have been tried at the “drum-head” as spies and hung?

There is a difference between an enemy combatant and an accused criminal prisoner. Enemy Combatants are not entitled to the presumption of innocence, there is no due process requirement in relationship to them, and there is no obligation to provide them with a speedy and public trial. No trial is required at all.

Similar differences apply to POW’s. (Although enemy combatants are not POW’s, POW’s are referenced here to show that there are accepted exceptions to US Constitutional standards.) POW’s do not receive trials; they can be exchanged, but need not be released as long as “the War” continues.

I note that some enemy prisoners have been tried for “war crimes” after their capture – a clear violation of the Geneva Convention – and some have been executed by US and other tribunals. It is curious that many of those who decry “harsh interrogation” cite these acts with glee.

Many things done to prisoners, criminal and otherwise, are painful and humiliating. Besides the horrors of imprisonment; hard labor, solitary confinement, restricted diet, imposed schedules, the loss of First Amendment rights (no free speech , assembly, press, the right to vote, etc.), not to mention execution, surely the cruelest form of punishment imaginable; are all inflected on American Citizens with full Constitutional rights. It is because imprisonment is torturous that the threat of it can be used to coerce criminals into plea-bargains and confessions. Obviously, we are capable of drawing lines. Prisons are for punishment as well as rehabilitation and all punishment seems cruel and unusual to those who are being punished.

When one is battling enemies on the battle field, it is apparent that one is justified in using any tactic necessary to destroy the foe or render him harmless. Once an enemy surrenders, morality dictates that he be treated differently. However, if he, by his refusal to cooperate, continues to threaten lives, he is not rendered harmless, and one is forced to consider what actions can be taken to eliminate such a continuing threat. This sets up the “ticking time bomb” scenario.

It is reasonable that an enemy rendered harmless has a certain just claim to humane treatment, even protection; however, if they are not harmless, can the drastic measure we use to render enemies safe be considered for use against them? Realize that in order to make enemies “harmless”, we have fire-bombed cities full of civilians, we have sunk ships packed with thousands of conscripted soldiers and sailors, we have unleashed atomic bombs and vaporized thousands of innocent children. To protect our nation and its citizens, our heroes – on the battlefield and in law enforcement –stab, beat, club and shoot people everyday. Police officers even shoot down common thieves who appear to threaten them and kill burglars in high speed chases. Lawmen have shot down drunken innocents who simply found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. We impose blockades, starving millions; we cut off medical supplies to entire nations, allowing disease and suffering to spread; and we destroy economies, ripping apart families and devastating generations. We send our own children into violent service which often damages their physical and mental health for the rest of their lives; all too often they are killed. We require our police and firemen to run into burning and collapsing buildings, our pilots to complete dangerous training and frequently perform life threatening maneuvers so that they can be prepared to defend us.

An applicable analogy?

Child abuse is wrong. Burning a child with cigarettes, or hot irons, or burning coals would be child abuse. Whipping them with a lash, cutting them with knives, breaking their bones or joints is recognizable abuse. What about spanking, or grounding? I know some children who feel they are “verbally abused” when scolded by a parent, or even when their opinions are questioned by a teacher. There are those who think having to do their homework is torture, learning made into punishment. Can we draw lines between abuse and actions which coerce children into right behavior by practices which are painful, disagreeable; even humiliating? Are such actions ever made permissible by the greater issues to be considered?

How are these lines drawn – who draws them – can reasonable people disagree on them? Should the consequences of a child’s disobedience or a terrorist’s subterfuge be considered in drawing such lines? Who gets to decide?

Universal Recognition of Right and Wrong: Self Evident Truth and Man

On January 31, 2009, an event gave evidence to the equality of all men. The media, obsessed with fluctuations in economies, football games, and the misbehaviors of celebrities, chose to all but ignore it; there was a short AP story; buried on page A7 in the my local newspaper. As a student of History, I have hope that the significance of the day will be recognized and celebrated when the politics of “hope” and “change” return to the governance of reason. The event – the peaceful and democratic provincial elections conducted throughout Iraq - demonstrates the existence of Truths which are self evident to all reasoning beings. In spite of years of terrorist atrocities, decades of brutal dictatorship and centuries of superstitious indoctrination: given their freedom, the Iraqis behaved, quite naturally, like humans.

While the Iraqi miracle gives empirical evidence that neither geography, climate, race, religion, culture, nor language can override the common nature of men, it is in the study of our history that we can find proof of our common mind and expose the truths reason reveals. Faced with the horrific evil wrought by those whose glory and power rested on the thralldom of others, George W. Bush proposed that, given freedom, people would choose the right. President Bush followed up his words with deeds, crushing oppressive terror states in Iraq and Afghanistan to let in the light of truth and gave fifty million the chance to be human and thus humane.

His distracters, sadly more interested in political power for themselves and their causes than in the safety of Americans or the freedom of mankind, have actually gone so far as to argue that democracy and freedom are American ideas not suitable for Muslim states or necessarily desirable for all nations. I actually heard an MSNBC talking head equat bringing freedom to Iraq and Afghanistan to British Imperialism, and the emergence of democracy; a right for which thousands of Iraqis gave their lives to procure for their fellows; compared to the imposition of puppet monarchies by the French and British in their mandates carved out of the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire. Such opinions are either disastrously uninformed or dastardly deceptive. The unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not an expedient concoction scribbled down by Thomas Jefferson to justify war; they are an incantation invoking eternal truths.

In spite of the universal failure of Marxism, and the exposition of the abominations perpetrated in desperate attempts to impose communism on mankind, it is still fashionable, in some circles, to cling to the baseless myths of historical determinism, the pseudo-social science that Marx invoked in his attempt to bind all things to his phantasm of economic progress. Marx claimed that new truths come into existence marching lock step through history with his arbitrary truncations of human existence. Such a view shows a simple lack of study. It is still fashionable about the halls of academia to ascribe the ideas of capitalism and democracy to the “age of Enlightenment” and claim that the “natural rights theory” was crafted by European men: Hobbs to Lock to Montesquieu to Voltaire to Jefferson; linked to Adam Smith. Once this silliness appeared in the text books and became enshrined in the generationally regurgitated lecture notes of professors; now dutifully posted on Wikipedia; it became accepted by those whose learning is limited to listening to lectures. It is far from the truth. None of these men would have claimed to have invented the ideas attributed to them any more than Copernicus would have claimed to have originated the idea of the heliocentric model, nor to have himself, placed the sun at the center of the world. The truths which Lock and Jefferson evoked not only predated their time, but have quite simply always existed, and have been recognized, if not realized, by humans as long as they have had the capacity to reason.

Words allow the communication of ideas and writing allows for the communication of ideas over time and space. From the day when the most ancient of oral traditions were put down in written words, the historic evidence of the universal existence of human reason and the reasoned recognition of universal truths has been documented.

The events recounted in Homer’s Iliad, as attested to by the archaeology of Schliemann and records found at Nineveh, occurred about 1200 BC; approximately the same time that Moses climbed Sinai. In this “oldest of books”, a poem four hundred years in the making, we clearly see the truths recognized by Jefferson and aspired to by the free peoples of Iraq. The day came when Agamemnon, King of Men, unjustly took the woman Briseis from Achilles. The words of Achilles, the archetypical hero, demonstrate his understanding of the natural laws which enable justice and underpin all good governments. His affirmation is the same as Jefferson’s. Any king who does not fulfill his duty to protect the rights of his people is no king. It is the right and the duty of free men – of heroes – to desert such tyrants. Achilles speaks:

"Why must we battle Trojans, men of Argos? Why did he muster an army, lead us here, that son of Atreus? Why, why in the world if not for Helen with her loose and lustrous hair? Are they the only men alive who love their wives, those sons of Atreus? Never! Any decent man, a man with sense, loves his own, cares for his own as deeply as I. I loved that woman with all my heart, though I won her like a trophy with my spear. . . But now that he’s torn my honor from my hands, robbed me, lied to me – don’t let him try me now. I know him too well – he’ll never win me over!"

Three hundred years after Homer’s poem recorded Achilles’ “revolution”, Sophocles wrote the tragedy Antigone. Neither the story recounted in the play nor its Truths were original to the poet. Sophocles tells of a princess’ act of civil disobedience; the justice of which rang as true to the Athenian audience then as the acts of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela made sense to reasoning minds in the twentieth century. It is this universal recognition of justice, this conscious acceptance of Truth that is demonstrably common to the experience of all free people. The two brother kings of Thebes had fought for power. Eteocles defended his city with his warriors; Polyneices attacked his own people with foreign troops. At the end of the battle, both kings lay dead. Creon, their uncle, took the throne. Eager to demonstrate his power and judgment, he decreed that his nephew, Polyneices, should be left unburied; his purpose was to damn the young man’s soul. Whether one believes that leaving the body of the dead to the dogs condemns the soul to eternal wanderings was not the issue – it was that Creon believed it would and determination to usurp that power; placing his man-made law at odds with Laws of nature and nature’s God. Antigone defied injustice and buried her brother. Dragged before her uncle, Antigone confronted the tyrant with reason, the unfailing and logical proposition that one must place eternal Laws above the whims of men. When Martin Luther King defied the statutes of segregation, thinking people knew he was right and that the legislators and sheriffs who decreed otherwise – even though they represented the will of the majority - were wrong. The wrong opinion of the many collapsed before the power of the Truth. Sophocles gives voice to reason:

Creon (to Antigone): "You – tell me not at length but in a word.
You knew the order not to do this thing?"

Antigone: "I knew, of course I knew. The word was plain."

Creon And still you dared to overstep these laws?

Antigone: "For me it was not Zeus who made that order.
Nor did the justice who lives with the gods below
Mark down such laws to hold among mankind.
Nor did I think your orders we so strong
That you, a mortal man, could over-run
The gods’ unwritten and unfailing Laws,
Not now, not yesterday’s, they always live,
And no one knows their origin in time."

Confucius, contemporary with Sophocles but a world away, admonishes his disciples, “Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.” Confucius brings his wisdom to bear on unjust government and the obligations of all men to recognize tyranny and act. “If what he [the ruler] says is good and no one goes against him, good. But if what he says is not good and no one goes against him, then is this not almost a case of leading the state to ruin?” The inclusion of Confucius as a none-western example of “world wide” recognition of these Laws may be rather skimpy. May I suggest another?

After the over through of the Grand Magus (522 B.C.), the Persian revolutionaries met to discuss the future government they would craft for their empire. In the end, Darius was chosen king by the neighing of a horse, but the debate, as recorded by Herodotus, is instructive. The actual leader of the rebellion, Otanes, after outlining the evils of monarchy and oligarchy, begged his cohorts to choose democracy. His words, “A tyrant disturbs ancient laws, violates women, kills men without trial. But a people ruling – first, the very name of it is so beautiful; and secondly, a people does none of these things.” Note the phrase “disturbs ancient laws”. It is instructive to note that we now call Persia, Iran, and that the center of the Persian Empire was Babylon – just down stream form Bagdad. It seems that a long time ago, someone from Iraq could comprehend freedom.

At the same time, the wisdom recognized in China and Iran was stirring action in Rome.
Confident of the power his position gave him, the son of the king of Rome raped Lucretia. Once she had revealed the crime to her husband Lucretia killed herself. Lucius Junius Brutus, the savior of the Roman people, took action. With the bloody knife in hand, he brought the truth to the oppressed people. They would recognize the same natural Laws that were self evident to Achilles, and would inspire Jefferson. Livy recounts Brutus’ words:

"By this girl’s blood – non more chaste till a tyrant wronged her – and by the gods, I swear that with sword and fire, and whatever else can lend strength to my arm, I will pursue Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, his wicked wife, and all his children, and never again will I let them or any other man be king in Rome."

In the waning days of the Roman Republic, Cicero appealed to the same reason in his defense of Justice in his dialogue On the Laws. He and his brother Quintus discuss the nature of natural and eternal Law as opposed to the often unjust statues of men. They conclude that one can actually judge a state and its laws by their agreement with universal Truths. Cicero also makes the same conclusion I am seeking to espouse; that the Truths upon which just nations are based are eternal and recognized naturally by all men. When men are free to choose, they will naturally choose justice and right.

Marcus: "Ever since we were children, Quintus, we have learned to call, “if one summon another to court”, and other rules of the same kind, laws. But we must come to the true understanding of the matter, which is as follows: this and other commands and prohibitions of nations have the power to summon to righteousness and away from wrong-doing; but this power is not merely older than the existence of nations and states, it is coeval [of the same age] with the God who guards and rules heaven and earth. For the divine mind cannot exist without reason, and divine reason cannot but have this power to establish right and wrong . . . Even if there was not written law against rape at Rome in the reign of Lucius Tarquinius, we cannot say on that account that Sextus Tarquinius did not break the eternal Law by violating Lucretia, the daughter of Lucretius! For reason did exist, derived from the Nature of the universe, urging men to right conduct and diverting them from wrongdoing, and this reason did not first become Law when it was written down, but when it first came into existence; and it came into existence simultaneously with the divine mind. Wherefore the true and primal Law, applied to command and prohibition is the right reason of supreme Jupiter."

Quintus: "I agree with you brother, that what is right and true is also eternal, and does not begin or end with written statutes."

Cicero wrote before the birth of Jesus, before the reign of the first Roman Emperor, before the Anglo Saxons reached England, before Muhammad, the invasions of the Huns, or the Mongols. An ocean of time and space separate Cicero and the people of Iraq, but they recognize the same truths. Clearly, Cicero predated the Enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century. But, there can be little doubt that all of these men had read their Cicero, and it is just as certain that when he is read in Bagdad his words will ring as true. I have a friend in Bagdad today, a Coast Guard officer, instructor of military law, and a lawyer who is teaching the Rule of Law to the Iraqis. It will not be easy – the Achaeans, the Romans, the Chinese and the Americans have often fallen short of their duty to the Truth, but after so much sacrifice and so much wisdom, we can hope they too will choose the right, they will realize their humanity. For as Cicero says:

"Law is the highest reason, implanted in Nature, which commands what ought to be done and forbids the opposite. This reason, when firmly fixed and fully developed in the human mind, is LAW. And so they believe that Law is intelligence, whose natural function is to command right conduct and forbid wrongdoing . . . Now if this is correct, and I think it to be in general, then the origin of Justice is to be found in Law, for Law is a natural force; it is the mind and reason of the intelligent man, the standard by which Justice and Injustice are measured. . . But in determining what Justice is, let us begin with that supreme Law which had its origin ages before any written Law existed or any State had been established."

A new state has been established in Iraq, its constitution crafted by the will of the people, its freedom bought by their blood. If it succeeds, it will be a great victory for justice and reason; if it fails it will be a harbinger of man’s inability to reach his divine potential. Either way, that so many have tried so hard and achieved so much is empirical proof of the ancient arguments that reveal the eternal nature of Truth, Justice and the human way!

Testing the water

I'm back!

“All we are is dust in the wind, Dude.” Ted to Socrates in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

I wonder if one can be bemused and saddened at the same time. Socrates claimed that sensation at his trial; the day he left the Agora for what he hoped would be a better world.

My last post before the summer break was a rather hurried and terse pictorial observation on the differing fates of Congressman Jefferson of Louisiana and Paris Hilton of inherited millions. My point was that Jefferson's “sins” were eagerly set aside by a Democratic controlled Congress and media while Paris got a taste of what she deserved; despite her parent’s money.

I return from a paradisiacal summer to find that my message had been read and commented on by two blogers who claimed to have known me in their youth. I am forced to ponder who they really are. I will quote them here:

“Steve said...

Lysis,I'm assuming your initials are D.C. I worked at Camp Bartlett for seven summers, including one summer when you were the Camp Director. I quickly grew to love and admire you. That was one of my favorite summers.Luckily, we didn't talk about politics at camp.What a shock to look you up years later, only to find your blog filled with such vitriolic nonsense, cloaked in a veneer of nationalism and self-righteousness. I would have thought that of all the figures of my youth, you would be the one to show a little compassion toward humankind.To say I am extremely disappointed is putting it mildly.
1:48 PM”



I have known several Steves in my years as Camp Director. But since this one gives no real information as to his identity, I am afraid I cannot even guess who he is. I am inclined to think that the post is a fraud . It is a sad truth about the blogger’s world that most anyone can claim most anything and then watch the effect of their mischief from the shadows. Anyway – Steve uses the term “vitriolic” to describe my questions and comments here in the Agora. If he really is a “former” friend, perhaps he could consider that the purpose of this forum has been to stir debate and that the taking of controversial stances in a method of stimulating thought. Argument leads us to truth; the gadfly stirs us to thought. On the other hand, I can only smile at one to whom the truth is bitter. That is the hallmark of the relativists; devoid of substantive positions; they are forced to deal in half truths, innuendo, name calling, and outright deception.

For tens of thousands of words I have presented arguments and facts; Steve neither cites nor challenges any of these; he simply spits bitterness from the dark recesses of cyberspace.

As for the poster who calls himself, “Enlightened Former Saint”; his post reads:

“Enlightened former saint said...

I echo what Steve said,In my youth I looked upon you Lysis as someone thoughtful and free. I was surprised to stumble upon this festering pile of ultra right wing nonsense. Indeed you have sucked down the kool-ade of those you seemed to ridicule. I don't know where the change came from. Perhaps you were just this loopy anyhow and adolescent passion, or as you termed it "romance" clouded my youthful mind. When did you abandon reason and inquiry for obstinate proclamations of fear and hate.
2:20 AM”
Once more the poster gives no clue to his real identity – sad indeed – and once more he also fails to provide a single example of the nonsense or proclamations of fear and hate he claims to find here in the Agora. I am forced to ask him if it is the truth that is “Right Wing”? As he calls himself a “Former Saint” I must assume that he abandoned his “romantic” faith in God along with his adolescent passion for me. He and Steve should have a good time echoing each other’s empty accusations.

Should either of them care to give examples from the materials posted here in the Agora of the “nonsense” they claim exists, I would be willing to attempt to explain or defend my positions. I have little hope of such a reasoned exchange, but I invite it in all optimism.

Now on to things more important, at least to me.

The end of my thirty-sixth summer at Scout Camp – my thirty-first as a director - has put me in a mind for ending things. I began this web-log as a kind of lark, a dabbling in the computer world of a friend. I had no idea I would spend so many pleasant and thought provoking hours at the Agora. In the past years I have learned much from many who have taken the time and trouble to post here. I have honed my own writing skills, and even improved my spelling – though I must admit that it takes a caring eye to detect that refinement.

I have spent the entire summer at camp,“cold turkey”, without news; no papers, no Fox , nor CNN, no internet, no hours following CSPAN, nor listening to Carl Castle and gang on the NPR. Monday, I came “down from my mountain” to find that the world had gone on the same without my tending to its problems. President Bush has continued to defend our nation and the West, - for this I thank God continually - the Democrats continue to choose party and personal power over county, over reason itself. Murder and lies are still the tools of the enemies of humanity, and salvation is still bought with the precious blood of loving heroes.

I am inclined to leave the Agora, to take a dose of symbolic hemlock, and pass into the unknown, seeking the reasoned company of whatever gods and heroes I find populating my next fields of endeavor.

For those who might be interested, I am planning to open a Web Page for the Camp Loll Alumni Association. There I will confine my efforts to happy memories of days without bitterness, and to dreams of future service in the Elysian Fields of Yellowstone. Perhaps some of you will join me there. I will post information on this string, should this dream come true.

Justice?

If Paris Hilton wanted to “get away with it” –

she should have been a black Democrat Congressman!

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This will be the end at the Agora until August. I am most grateful to all who have read and especially commented here this past year. I will occasionally think of you all as I spend my summer in paradise.

Two Thousand and Nine Words on Michael Moore

Michael Moore brought down by young Republican in Alabama.

Outrageous

Jimmy Carter is unbelievable – literally. The only people stupider than those who voted for him for President are the ones who now believe his lies about President Bush.

This past weekend Carter claimed that President Bush’s administration is “the worst in history”. It is particularly shameful that this unfounded and ridiculous claim comes from the mouth of the man who truly did preside over the worst American administration in History. Admittedly Clinton set out to give Carter a run for his money – but Billy’s blunders prevented him from doing the same degree of harm that four years of Carter brought on the world.

Carter is among the most subtle and consistent liars in history. This particular calculated lie by Jimmy Carter is on a par with Adolph Hitler, the only other democratically elected leader of the twentieth century to be responsible for as much death and misery as Carter.

Americans of the twenty-first century are venerable to Carter’s lies because they are abominably ignorant of history. A partial list of the foreign policy disasters precipitated by Carter includes:

Communist expansion in Africa, Asia, and America:

Nicaragua was handed over to the Communists and Guatemala and El Salvador placed on a slippery slide to disaster from which only Ronald Reagan could save them.

The USSR invaded Afghanistan and established a Communist dictatorship.

Panama Canal handed over to Manuel Noriega.

The Shah of Iran was deserted and overthrown by Khomeini – and the world’s greatest terrorist exporter nation was born.

The Killing Fields of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot reached full effect.

Iraq / Iran War

Terrorists hijacked airplanes and even ships at will.

Carter tries to this day to take credit for Anwar Sadat’s courageous efforts to end war in the Middle East, but stood by and did nothing as Islamic terror reached out to control the Levant.

Oil embargos crippled the American economy and put enormous power in the hands of Islamic fanatics.

Carter’s entire Presidency was a deception. On the domestic front he presided over double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, and coined the word stagflation and dragged America into malaise. In other words Carter made America sick and the world almost died.

By the time Carter was done with America the world was looking to the USSR for leadership and his administration was ready to announce that America was through.

Because of the obvious and utter failure of Carter's Presidency he has spent years trying to redeem himself. He has the blood of millions on his hands, and he can do nothing about it but lie. The farce that is a type of the entire Carter phenomena is the “agreement” he worked out with North Korea to end their development of nuclear weapons. Kim must have felt he had found a kindred spirit as he spun the lies that would allow him to develop an A bomb. It is easy to see them in one's mind, sitting around one of Kim Ill’s pleasure palaces; (Carter allowing himself to be tempted) as he spins the lies he hopes will buy his redemption. It does not matter, to him, whose or how much blood it will take. Had it not been for the vigilance of the Bush administration the nuclear ambitions of North Korea would have remained unchecked. What is particularly telling is that Carter was nominated (even received) a Nobel Peace prize for this tissue of lies. This is an honor he shares with Yasir Arafat - who likewise lied to get a Nobel Prize for Peace while his hands dripped with the blood of the innocent. Carter and Arafat share the dubious distinction of being nominated for the Noble Peace Prize with Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, North Vietnamese liar murderer Le Duc Tho (actual winner) Henry Kissinger (also a winner), Criminal General of the Oil for Food scandal – Kofi Annan (who also won) and Al Gore!!!!

Now Carter plays into the hands of the American enemies and the terrorists by attempting to paper over his own failures by savaging the reputation of President Bush. It is outrageous

Attitudes

I can’t motivate you – other than perhaps make you angry. I have long realized that one can no more motivate people to do things they do not want to do than one can get a movie star to be your lover. So when asked to speak to my colleagues on their “attitude” for the new Advisory Program at our school I found myself facing a rather dismal prospect. Still, it mattered to me, and I thought perhaps I could get my fellow teachers to at least think a new thought; reaching into their own experience to find the desire to do this new and difficult thing.

The speech outline that follows attempted to use my experiences to remind them of their own, my reasons for wanting to succeed to help them find their own.

I. I began by admitting that I would probably get emotional because, I explained, I can remember when I didn’t have a job. I remember when being a teacher was a dream. There are 2 and ½ accredited Social Studies teachers for every open position in Utah, and prospects are better now than they were years ago; and for all these years I have lived my dream come true. (Earlier in the morning a gentleman from Ken Garff Auto Dealership had given us all a nice coupon for auto service and a discount on a car – but, I pointed, out that I did not become a teacher to get a new car.)

II. I asked them all to remember why they became teachers. How wonderful it is to be paid – and quite well - to study, to actually live, in the field one is interested in. But that is not my motivation. I want to share my love for history with others. There is a universal truth, we get greater joy from giving to others the things we love than in keeping them to ourselves. How many times I have reminded myself of the pleasure of looking at Union Falls for the first time – and how soon the sixteen mile hike to that place became more of a price than I wanted to pay for that pleasure. But the joy of seeing someone I love see the falls for the first time – that is worth hikes and much more.

III. I pointed out that I remembered when one of my colleagues didn’t have a job. How he was willing to take over the supervision of the auditorium and the sound and light crew in order to get into the school.

IV. I told them I first taught at a Jr. High. There, my Principal required a faculty meeting every week and a mandatory after school party once a month. I taught the same forty-five minute lecture six times a day. Then one day the choir from the very high school I now work at came to sing Christmas carols at my school. I was so impressed with the beauty and talent of the young men and women who performed that I turned in a transfer request at the district office – asking for a high school – any high school. Some weeks later I got a note in my box to call Paul Smith. I had never heard of Paul Smith, I assumed he was an angry parent. I failed 49 of my 200 students my first quarter as a teacher – I was accustomed to calls from angry parents. Of course, Mr. Smith is still the principal at the high school at which I work. In my interview he asked if I would be the debate coach. “I’ll be the best debate coach you’ve ever had.” I confidently replied. The truth is I knew nothing about debate. The interview was in late February, and I was promised a response within two weeks. It was May before I got the call. During that time I am sure many far more impressive applicants to the job were interviewed. After making every effort to do better – the boss settled for me, perhaps because I was the only one who said yes to the debate coach job.

The previous debate coach is still at our high school. I would never have made it that first year had it not been for him. He is my hero forever. I remember when I first found out about the job, I told it to one of my staffers who had worked for me for several years, a beautiful, brilliant student from Davis High. When I had told him how I hoped to make our team a winning team, he laughed at me. There was no way Davis could ever be beaten in Debate. It took a couple of years to get there but I took great pleasure in beating Davis High nine times at the region and NFL district level.

I pointed out to my colleagues that only the other former debate coaches in the room (and there were five – including my mentor) could understand the difficulty of that task.

V. I really enjoy attending our school musicals – they are nothing short of marvelous. But I must confess I often sit in the audience burning with jealously for our school Drama Coach. To be able to make such an important and lasting impact on all those students – to bring out so much excellence in all of them. That is truly something I want – MY ADVISORY will give me such an opportunity.

VI. I have had five of my own children pass through my high school. I am grateful to all the teachers who have made them better people. My second son came to the school a rather chubby child looking for himself. He joined the wrestling team. Our wrestling coach changed his life for the better, and pretty quickly too. Coach didn’t keep my son long – because my boy is such a pacifist that he didn’t like fighting, and especially not beating other kids. Still the awareness of health and the fitness inspired by those few weeks on the wrestling team are manifest today in his healthy life style. I am amazed at what coaches have, that bring students to sweat and struggle through the long summer months – through the year - in a myriad of sports and activities. I use the coaches and the sports at our school as examples of how to suffer for success to my students all the time. I pointed out that my son had written a paper for one of the English teachers in the audience entitled – My Father Never Played Catch with Me – What is catch- too complicated a sport for me. But coaches do this all the time for so many kids. I want to use my advisory to touch lives like that, but in my own way and with my own talents.

VII. I held up a newspaper with a picture of a derailed train on it; a train carrying the components to the Space Shuttle; I pointed out that none of the assembly parts had been damaged and that the protective structures on the railroad cars were my son’s job to inspect. How he had become a mechanical engineer and a mathematics master. In Jr. High he had been tested and assigned to a basic math class – he wanted to take Algebra so he could get on the “math track” at high school. One of my fellow teachers had actually called the Jr. High and promised to help my son if they would let him into the Algebra class. He went on to take the most demanding math classes. It was not always easy. I remember nights of intense homework frustration. But he went on to master. Another teacher in the room had inspired my daughter in her Chemistry class – had taught her that she could do the most difficult things if she worked very hard at it. That same daughter has gone on to study sign language – has built her life goals around the inspiration given her by the sign language teacher at our school.

There were so many other teachers I could have mentioned – the great English teachers, the history, the LITE team advisors, the internship director that sent my one son to work with camels and yaks, a daughter, now working in the University Special Collections, to her first experience in a bookstore, and my other daughter to help with sign language interpretation in another high school working with a deaf student.

Time was more than up. I pointed to the two “handouts” I had prepared:

The first was given to us years ago by a Vice Principal, who left our school to become an LDS mission president, and later a principal at another school


“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a person humanized or de-humanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”

Goethe

I read the first line. Then asked them to read and consider the rest.

On the back was Edward Sill’s poem “Opportunity”. As a teacher I must always explain poetry before I recite. In this story a man sees a battle field – either in a dream or for real. Along one side of the battlefield the banner of the king’s son is going down, collapsing in defeat. On the other side of the battle field there was a craven, that’s a coward or a quitter. He wants to help his prince – but he looks at his sword, and thinks what a piece of junk. If I only had a better sword, [if I was only drama director, the football coach], but this piece of junk! He breaks his sword and sneaks off the battle field leaving his prince to die. Now let me give you the poem.

Opportunity by Edward R. Sill

“This I beheld or dreamed it in a dream.
There spread a cloud of dust across a plain,
And underneath the cloud, or in it,
A furious battle raged; swords shocked upon swords and shields.
A prince’s banner wavered then staggered backward,
Hemmed by foes.

A craven hung along the battle’s edge and thought,
Had I a sword of keener steel, that blue blade the king’s son bears,
But this blunt thing, he snapped; and throwing it from his hand,
He loweringly crept away and left the field.

Then came the kings son, wounded, sore bested and weaponless,
And saw the broken sword, lying hilt buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran; and snatched it up.
And with battle shout lifted afresh, he hued his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.


Right now this Advisory Program is indeed a broken sword lying buried in the dry and trodden sand. Which will we be; a craven or a king?

Two other presenters followed my efforts. One presented the what an advisory is and what it is not material, and the other introduced the actual mechanics of our program. They did a wonderful job, but the young teacher who spoke of structure did preface his remarks by what must have been a sentiment in the room. He pointed out how he had been brought up on a farm and that my speech had reminded him of a spreading manure. That got a laugh. But the first liar never has a chance you know – he soon had to turn the time back to me for a short presentation on Rituals and Routines and I was able to point out that as a historian I would like to remind him that before the farmers started spreading the manure THE WORLD STARVED.

Stooges and Patsies

Some villain murdered 32 people last week. This evil aberration deserves no more notoriety than a gas leak – no more to be named in the news or in the history books than the Crimean rat that carried flees into Medieval Europe.

But our media stooges – the idiots of NBC and all the parroting patsies of the press - have splashed his name and face, like an obscene smear all over our national consciousness. Whose goal was this? Who wanted to make this nothing – this passing stink – famous? He did. That was his only goal. He dressed in costume, recited his lines, performed in his own farce, and T.V. made him a superstar. How dumb can they get?

The mass murdering terrorist thugs, the 21st century plague, oozing like vermin out of the Muslim Middle East; seek to infect the West and defeat civilization. They are no more capable of defeating the American Military than they are of being loved for eternity by 72 virgins, but the patsies and stooges in American Politics have declared them winners. Whose goal was this? Who wanted to make this gust of bad air the wind of history? They did. That was their only goal. They murder like cowardly rats and sucking flees, and Harry Reid proclaims them victorious.

General Petraeus is forced to come before Congress to explain to the fools in the Democrat party, and some galactically stupid Republicans, how the United States of America is actually defeating the Islamo-thugs, and Nancy Pelosi – the pretending leader of the House of Representatives of the People of this nation - claims she doesn’t have time to listen to the truth. How dumb can they get?

But NBC – may its peacock die like the vermin infested pigeon it has become - and the Democratic Leadership have been witless accomplices of evil. Their blind appetite for ratings and votes has played into the hands of the infections that would kill and conquer.

I was blessed to spend some time this past week with some real heroes. Monday afternoon – before the mindless media had made a Darth Vader out of a slime mold, a real American Hero came to visit my classroom and my home. This Sergeant in the U.S. Army holds a Law degree, is a medic and trained in dealing with the horrific explosives and terror weapons to which Reid and Pelosi are ready to abandon civilization. He spoke with reasoned optimism of the growing effectiveness of the Iraqi Army and of the inevitability of victory against the terrorists; if our troops and their Iraqi allies are just left to do the job. I asked if Reid’s words had a negative effect on our soldiers. He said the main effect was the support they gave to our enemies. He told me that many people have asked why he joined the Army rather than pursue a career at law; his reply is that he wants to serve his country. Many who read here at the Agora know this great man. It is not the practice of this forum to use names, but his life is truly a celebration of what is right with America.

On Thursday evening I had the privilege to pick up another American Hero at the airport. A lawyer serving in the U. S. Coast Guard who has chosen to invest his infinite talents in the daily service of those of us who take for granted the prosperity and safety in which we live. He had traveled from his home to help coordinate state and federal efforts in improving the safety and operation of inland interstate waters. Many of us who read at the Agora know this great man; whose achievements and dedication to the service to his country are the real story of what makes American Victory against evil inevitable.

Friday morning, in the last moments before the first bell rang; I looked up to see two beautiful U. S. Marines in full uniform walk through my door. They too were former students whom I had had the privilege of teaching. Their faces and forms could justly fill our T. V. screens, the front pages and the magazine covers. They stayed for the first forty minutes of my Civics class to tell my students of their struggles and successes. I was so proud of my students, and the respect and honor they paid these heroes. During the course of the discussion the young PFC told how he was studying electronics and communication. He humbly implied that he was not always at the forefront of the battle. I was able to remind my students of that terrible storm that struck our forces as they fought their way up the Euphrates River Valley. How the media and the Democrats had predicted that the dust clouds and the wind would cripple and defeat the American Military; while Saddam’s hardened and desert savvy warriors would soon be picking the bones of America’s finest. Then I reminded them that it was the electronic communication and positioning ability of our military that made it more than a match for the dust that blinded and engulfed the vaunted terror troops of Saddam.

The young corporal spoke of the "endless" hours, days, weeks of training and the countless challenges he had endured to prepare him to be our defender. He was asked if he ever felt that the American people didn’t support his efforts. He recounted how one time, as he left his base in uniform, he was confronted by a crowd of sign wielding “protesters”. One of them actually spit on him. His wonderful response -- “Well, I’m glad you have the freedom to express your opinion.” As he recounted his heroism, he said that he was just a rifle man, that he wasn’t learning “anything” applicable in the real world. I was blessed with this opportunity to point out to my students that the lives of comfort we have in our world, our dreams and aspirations, are all the gift of those who serve in the real world. It is that line of rifles that defends America in the real world which makes our dream world possible.

As these young men stood before my class, my Principal came to give me some information. He is a Marine, and for a few minutes my great boss talked with our heroes and explained some facts about them to my students. I was and remain in awe of their service and excellence.

What a contrast these five; Solider, Coastguardsman, and three Marines present to the nothings made powerful by the stooges and patsies in the media and in the very halls of Congress.

Not Nice News

In the many events of the past week and the “News” stories about them – the one which seems most typical is the collapse of the “Duke Rape Case”. After over a year of slanderous attack by racists and media profiteers and a brutal political assault by one of the most dangerous anomalies in American Jurisprudence, a rogue prosecutor, three innocent men are left to pick up the savaged pieces of their lives. I hear there will be a 60 Minutes appearance, and no doubt there will be much talk generated among talking heads and blogers, but most will miss the point. An agenda driven politician can do great harm to a nation by overt lies and only the truth can stand against such tactics.

It is now obvious that Mike Nifong knew almost from the start that the three student athletes accused by the real criminal in this case, Crystal Gail Mangum, were innocent. It made no difference. Guilt or innocence, rape or racism were never the real motivators in this case. What was really at stake was political power. A multitude of power grubbers jumped in to feed on the carcass of Justice that Nifong’s slaughter of innocence had created. Professional racists like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton scrambled to be identified with Nifong’s lies. The membership challenged hate group – The Black Panthers – swore violence and mayhem in an attempt to garner gore, and even the professors at Duke University sought to rip off a chunk to bolster their “liberal” credentials, by canonizing with their signatures the lie that casts “white males” as the rapists of the universe.

Panthers, Politicians, Pundants, and Professors all refuse to apologize for their feeding frenzy.

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Like a pack of hyenas the media turns to devour its own internals in an attack on Don I’m Ass, the so apply named, most recent victim of racial bias in America, and the lesson of the liars is lost on the witless American masses

A Thought for Easter

It is always interesting to hear the chorus of voices raised to claim that Mormons are NOT Christians. Last weekend I spent a good deal of time listening to LDS General Conference. Many of the speakers marshaled reason and faith to dispel this ludicrous claim, but several others seemed to go out of their way to support it.

I was dismayed that several of the speakers found it necessary to disparage the Nicene Creed. They talked very authoritatively about its “misbegotten” origin and its “errors”, but I was forced to wonder if the good brethren, who were so busy attacking this foundational doctrine of Christianity, had ever read it. That Mormons would try so hard to be accepted as “Christian” and then spend a good deal of the conference insisting that all other Christians are wrong in their understanding of God seems to be painfully self defeating.

Here is the Nicene Creed. Repeated readings have failed to reveal anything that contradicts Mormon Doctrine. If anyone can see a contradiction to the LDS articles of faith – which seem to be patterned to some extent after the creed – or to Scripture, please explain it to me.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father (and the Son*) who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Change proposed 6/1999

In my salad days – The LDS Church used to present a parody of a sectarian minister teaching something about a God without body parts or passions, whose circumference is no were and center was everywhere, who was so large He filled the universe and yet was so small he can dwell in one’s heart. I have never found a religion which teaches that version of God, in fact, that Mormons no longer present the parody seems to indicate that Church leaders have also abandoned the notion.

As food for thought, in comparing Mormon beliefs to those outlined in the Nicene Creed consider these Scriptures from the “Standard Works”.

1st Nephi 13:41 [On God and Jesus being ONE God]

41 And they must come according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, as well as in the records of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; wherefore they both shall be established in one; for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth.

From Mosiah 15: 1 – 5

AND now Abinadi said unto them; I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.

2 And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the SON—

3 The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son—

4 And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth.

5 And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.

2nd Nephi 31: 21

21 And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen

3rd Nephi 9: 15

15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God, I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.

D&C 130: 22 [On the nature of the three manifestations of God – and His ability to live in our heart]

22 The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

Please also consider that the most sacred of all prayers and oaths– the ones that have truly saving power are offered in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In this name of God were all Mormons baptized and promised all their eternal blessings.

It seems to me that the Mormon Church could make more headway in its effort to be an accepted Christian faith by carefully considering the Nicene Creed and pointing out to all who will listen that it is the very doctrine of the LDS faith. What stronger bona fideies could the Church display?

DUTY

I went to 300 for a second time this week. There is an image in the graphic novel showing Leonidas keeping watch over his people by moon light. It seemed a fitting form for the heavy burden our President must bear as champion of Truth, Justice, and the American Way!

Iran: Appeasement not Peace - Carter's Call

Jimmy Carter has recently written a book called Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. But long ago Jimmy Carter wrote the book on failure in Iran. His example should be a warning to the world. Saturday night I was at a Missionary farewell party. The kids, teens, and tweens went outside with the ice cream mixer and I was left in the family room with my grandson and the toy trucks. I met the missionary’s grandparents and was interested to find out that they had spent six years in Iran. As an expert in the fighter jets, he was sent to Iran to assist the Shah’s forces in building an Air Force. The couple told of the wonders that the Shah had struggled to bring to the people of Iran, of the amazing progress they made and of that people’s horrific fall into the hands of Islamic extremism. I told them of my friend at the High School, Kazz; a former Iranian Air Force officer who taught welding. They knew him and we exchanged stories. I told how during the build up to the First Gulf War Kazz had met me in the hall and told me Saddam would win the war. He didn’t like Saddam, but he said quite simply that the U. S. could not win. Why, I asked? “Because Bush has no balls,” Kazz replied. Those were the days when I taught Debate, and I invited him to come up to my varsity Debate Class to debate the point. I pointed out that I would be busy for the following few days, as we were holding the NFL District, tournament over the weekend at Woods Cross High. “Come up on Monday,” I suggested. “It will be great fun.” Over the weekend the Gulf War took place. Interestingly enough it coincided almost exactly with the District tournament. The only thing more decisive than Bush’s defeat of Saddam was Layton’s victory over the rest of the District. Come Monday, I waited Kazz’s arrival. After ten minutes it appeared he was not coming. I sent one of my students down to the welding shop. “Tell Kazz he’s got no balls.” Kazz was in the class two minutes after the delivery of the message. He literally ran. We spent the hour talking about the greatness of George Bush . . .

Who had taught Iran and Iraq to believe that America lacked the courage to defend itself? It was Jimmy Carter. Carter deserted the Shah and facilitated the take over of Iran by the Ayatollah Khomeini. And how did the religious fanatics Carter put in power reward his acquiescence? They took the embassy, abused Americans and dragged the West through the mud for a year. World Oil prices shot up and our military – forced to pussy foot its way around in the desert – was made the laughing stock of the world.

Now that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sees Carter and his ilk rising in influence in America, again the terror state, the hub of the Axis of Evil, is emboldened once again. Now they have taken hostages in an attempt to relive their glory days with fifteen British Hostages. The monsters that have held the people of Iran hostage since the ouster of the Shah now seeks to hold the world hostage once again.

And the party of Jimmy Carter rushes to their support. There are even those who are recomending Jimmy Carter to bargain for the Hostages. What do the Democrats expect? That once they have again placed power in the hands of the Mullahs they will be rewarded with peace. Peace never comes from appeasement, all the cut and run contingent will earn for their submission to the Iranian funded terrorist in Iraq and the hostage holders in Tehran is a repeat of the failures of the Carter Administration’s dastardly defeat.

It's No Double Standard; It's No Standard At All

Thinking people cannot help but be frustrated at the apparent and obscene “double standard” in judgment.

The most recent and ridiculous is the media generated hysteria over the firing of eight federal prosecutors. When the Clinton administration fired 93 federal prosecutors for declared political reasons, it was jubilation.

When General Gonzalez is “linked” to the firing of these substandard lawyers; which by the way is his job; his resignation is demanded in the median and on the floor of Congress. When Janet Reno grandstands her power and orders the murder of a bunch of kids in Waco and openly refuses to pursue needed investigations, the Clintonists in the Media and the Congress, circle the wagons to defend her and her boss.

When a Republican Senator checks with a prosecutor on the progress of a prosecution it is a “dangerous” violation of the separation of power. When Chuck Schummer, a Democrat, demands prosecution and demands action, it is considered his job.

When General Pace expresses his opinion of homosexual activity as immoral, the media and the Democrat jabbermouths insist that he has insulted American values and must resign. When Democrat Candidate John Edwards expresses his repugnance at being called a homosexual in a joke he is presented as the injured party.

When big budget Hollywood movies (Syriana) portray America, it's President, and the CIA as evil, they are touted with Oscar Nominations and praised as examples of open minded realism. When a low budget movie (300) tells the truth about the need to stand against tyranny, Hollywood and it's critic legions go bananas and rush to condemn the movie, those who made it, President Bush, and America. The present mass murdering Dictator of Iran takes offense at the portrayal of the ancient mass murdering Dictator of Iran being revealed in all his obscene arrogance and perversion, and the critics in Hollywood make him out as an offended hero, who needs our sympathy and support. This while the monster is killing any free thinking minds in his own country and making WMD designs on the freedom of the rest of the world.

The following clips are from Ruthless Review, posted by Matt Cale. They are typical of the rage of the left at facing the fact that the American movie going public actually can think for itself. This is a continuing disappointment to them.

Clip one: “While I have no direct evidence linking either director Zack Snyder or graphic novelist Frank Miller with the Bush administration, their booming, fascistic, searing flesh feast, 300, achieves what many had thought impossible: making a case for Bush’s war in Iraq so clear, distinct, and fanatical that I half expected an Army recruiting station to be erected at the theater’s exits. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a battleground orgasm; a homoerotic parade of tight abs, facial hair, oiled chests, leather, steel, gritting teeth, and phallic weaponry so overpowering that it’s just about the best movie ever made with jingoistic intent."


Clip two: "That Leonidas is a stand-in for Bush is clear from the first scenes, as this man refuses to accept an emissary from Persia, which is obviously itself Bush’s very defiance of the United Nations. Leonidas is a “go it alone” sort, and he hits back at the messenger, which he knows will bring about a great battle. Still, Spartan law requires that the king must secure the approval of a group of mystics (called Ephors) before waging war, which frustrates his manly sense of honor. Yes, folks, the mystics are the U.S. Congress, and once Leonidas screams, “Why must the very law I am sworn to protect prevent me from doing my duty?” the table has been set: Bush will go around Congress (using lies and tricks, brilliantly redefined as “tough choices”), never secure a declaration of war, and send his men to battle, the law be damned. Needless to say, the mystics/Congressmen are ugly, repellant, and literally isolated (they live on a hill, for chrissakes, as in Capitol Hill -- come on guys, don’t make this so easy), which further demonstrates that the king/president is the true guardian of the people. Congress is simpering and weak; Bush is muscle-bound and bold, dashing about with flight suit and codpiece, all in service of the greater good."

Clip three: "And if Bush’s gamble mirrors Leonidas’ own example, future generations will hail Bush as a hardened genius not quite suited for his own flaccid times. Such men as Bush will at last be appreciated in the world to come, which could only be the motivation of one who conceives of himself as a savior. Did not Bush claim to seek God’s guidance? Has he not been quite forthright about his conversations with the Almighty? Bush’s historically low popularity rating is a heavy burden, to be sure, but one worth bearing if Iraq is to be the 21st century equivalent of Jeffersonian America. I’ll be damned if Leonidas didn’t also look skyward as his death approached, knowing full well that though his earthly body would be riddled with arrows (leaving a glorious crucifixion pose; you know, to erase any lingering doubt about the film’s message), his soul would live on in the spirit of his people. “Tell others what happened here,” Leonidas instructs the one-eyed messenger (and narrator), and so he does, producing an eternal legend that blurs history into myth, recast as ultimate truth. The ambitions of our current commander in chief are no less grandiose." (end quote)

Add to all this the most ridiculous howler of them all; when a host of scientists with no conclusive proof launch a speculative - human caused global warming claim - they are hailed as heroes set on saving the world, with motives above question let alone reproach. When a number of qualified scientists raise objections to the aims, methods, and conclusions of this Chicken Little school of science, their arguments are called ridiculous and shouted down, they even face death threats.

For those who seek the truth, the process is baffling; some wonder why the double standard? The answer is simple. To those who preach these claims there is NO STANDARD, there is no truth, there is only the goal.

One could be at a loss as how to react but the way is to realize that the debate is not between two rational camps seeking to apply a reasonable standard in the search for truth. Thinking people face a people who will say anything in the confidence that no one will ever dare challenge them while they challenge the existence of truth itself.

It is difficult for minds that seek to find the right to deal with those who do not acknowledge the existence of right. It does no good to decry the “double standards” of those who have no standards at all. The only answer is to expose them to the light.

300 - A Movie Review

All right, I went to the movie 300 and I liked it. Yes it is violent, how could it not be; it is the story of 300 men killing 10,000 other men in hand to hand combat, cut and thrust. No, it is not accurate history, Herodotus is spinning, but Leonidas and his band, where four thousand against three million once did stand, have surely not been forgotten. Herodotus is pleased with that.

A gigantic and determined enemy, sworn to their god, to acomplish the utter destruction of all freedom; their greatest weapon, terror. Against this seemingly insurmounterable power, a determined leader, willing to risk the anger of the masses, the ridicule of those who should share his burden, and danger to his life; for the preservation of liberty. Power grubbing politicians grasping for their devious agendas at the expense of their country’s very existence. It is America today. It is the story of the 300 Spartans.

It is impossible to present the story of Thermopylae without drawing comparisons to America’s fight for survival against the fanatic devotees, the mindless slaves of fear, who are the terror warriors of deviant religion; the monsters determined to steal the freedom of the people of Iraq and dominate the world.

















I have heard that the director of the film (Zack Snyder) was actually asked if George Bush is Leonidas or Xerxes? He reportedly replied, he just wanted to make a movie. He did – but in spite of the liberties taken with history, that George Bush is our Leonidas is obvious to any rational observer.

The Ephors were misportrayed in the film, but the fact that these ancient ghouls look and act like mystic versions of Ted Kenney and Robert Byrd got right to the point.

I also felt the Athenians could have come off a little better – although it is quite clear Athens’s refusal to submit in part inspired Leonidas defiance, he goes on to call them faggots. In the epilogue, which takes place at Plateia, there is no mention of Salamis, without which the “wall of men” could not have stood.

It also irked me that the young king, and other Spartan youths, were presented with shaven heads. The Spartans never cut their hair.

Still, the film catches the essence of the epic struggle of freedom against tyranny. Where it best catches the essence of today's struggle is in the debate before the Council of Elders, the ruling representatives of the people of Sparta. Actually chosen from among warriors who have lived past sixty, they are also misrepresented in the film; presented as the US congress of 2007. It is as if the writer (Frank Miller) set aside his Herodotus and took his script from the rantings of John Murtha, John Kerry, and Nancy Pelosi.

300 does not pretend to be history, it is a comic book brought to the screen, but it is powerful. Unlike Troy, and Alexander the Great, both of which bit off more than they could chew in three hours running time, this movie sticks to a simple story and tells it very visually and very well. I thought it better than Gladiator – the violence is less gratuitous and although comic book graphic, more believable.

Those who find fighting for freedom become passé, who would rather live as slaves than die free men, who believe that world consuming evil can be stopped by appeasement, surrender, and flight; will find all sorts of things to be offended about in 300.

Those who agree with Queen Gorgo, “that freedom isn’t free” will find hope and motive in the actions of three hundred men and their great leader, who stood their ground although betrayed at home and beset by seemingly insurmountable odds upon the field.

We are left to wonder, will the free peoples of the world have the wisdom to unite once more in the face of Persian perfidy, or will we give up the “earth and water”, and at last allow the 300 to have died in vain.

It All Comes Down to Rocks!

I have been interested in all the revelations about linage, genealogy, and ancestry that have popped up in the news this past week. It seems that Mitt Romney’s ancestors were polygamists; that Strom Thurmond’s ancestors owned the ancestors of Al Sharpton, and most recently that Barack Obama’s white ancestors owned black slaves.

If we are to cast stones at others for the behavior of their ancestors we would indeed be presented with some interesting ironies. First, note that Al Sharpton’s last name is the name of the slave master who owned his enslaved ancestors. Check out Alex Haley’s account of the conception of his ancestor Chicken George and it becomes perfectly logical to assume that Al Sharpton’s own ancestors owned Al Sharpton’s ancestors.

Even if that is not the case – realize that many black Africans were eagerly involved in rounding up other black Africans for the slave market. Europeans – even Arab slave traders very seldom dared or needed to go into “Black Africa” to get slaves, black slavers delivered them conveniently to the cost. As terrible as the Middle passage of the Triangular Trade must have been, try to imagine the atrocities committed by those black slavers as they rounded up their neighbors to trade for pots and pans, muskets and shot, and strips of calico cloth and jugs of rum. It is particularly ironic when we consider that the cotton in that cloth and the sugar in that rum were produced by the labor of slaves. Dare I demand that the people of modern Africa apologized for Slavery! I mean, look at all the evil it caused to my country!

It is the same with blaming the white man of today for the destruction of the Indian nation of yesterday, or to insist on punishing the Germans and Japanese of today for the war crimes of their fathers. It amazes me that the Chinese demand apologizes from today’s Japanese for the crimes of last century while conveniently overlooking the far greater murder of Chinese committed by Chinese in the twentieth century.

Last week the State of Virginia apologized for supporting slavery. I’m sure that made the hundreds of thousands of boys from Pennsylvania and Vermont who died to end slavery feel better.

We need to get over this “punish the children for the sins of their fathers” mentality, and the just as foolish “I inherit special privileges or blessings from God because of my fathers’ righteousness” mindset. How quickly the murder and mayhem in the Middle East could come to an end if people would just require justice of those who have done evil and quit blaming their children, and the folks who speak the same language or live on the same piece of dirt. Today’s paper reports the execution of a group of men in revenge for the alleged rape of a woman. That these men were not the rapists did not matter to the unjust lunatics who murdered them; they were related.

Before Athena taught the Greeks justice, the blood feud ruled. The Furies demanded the blood of children to cover the crimes of their fathers. But reason came, and Law, and the Furies were contained.

"When the young sons of a man who had betrayed his city to the Persians were brought to the general commanding Spartan forces after Leonidas fell at Thermopylae, he dismissed them. “They are boys,” Herodotus reports him as saying. “What part could boys have in the guilt of siding with the Persians?”" (Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way, W. W, Norton & Company, Inc, New York, 1930, pg 173)

How foolish to believe that either virtue or vice can be passed over the genes from one generation to another. It is as foolish as believing that one can inherit the blood royal and the divine right to rule. We applied some “Common Sense” to that silliness and life has been all the better for it.

The Jews of Jesus’ time operated under a similar delusion. They claimed that their ancestor had made a deal with God and that the blessings of that covenant were mystically passed by blood from one generation to the next. Jesus shot that down”

“ . . . begin not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (St. Matt. 9:3) also (St Luke 3:8)

Let’s start judging men for their own sins and not for any ancestor’s transgression. Let’s stop casting the stones of blame and realize the only stone to consider in the culpability of a child for the sins of his father is a clean slate.