Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites, It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks...
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King..
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen
.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Medical Profession Speaks out on the Financial Bail-Out Package
The Medical Profession Speaks out on the Financial Bail-Out Package:
The allergists voted to scratch it, and the dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves. The gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve, and the obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception. The ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted; the pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the pediatricians said, 'Oh, Grow up!'
The psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, the radiologists could see right through it, and the surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing. The internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the plastic surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter." The podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the urologist felt the scheme wouldn't hold water. The anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas; and the cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
In the end, the proctologists left the decision up to the asses in Washington.
.
The allergists voted to scratch it, and the dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves. The gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve, and the obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception. The ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted; the pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the pediatricians said, 'Oh, Grow up!'
The psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, the radiologists could see right through it, and the surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing. The internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the plastic surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter." The podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the urologist felt the scheme wouldn't hold water. The anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas; and the cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
In the end, the proctologists left the decision up to the asses in Washington.
.
Friday, March 6, 2009
More Legislative Activity?
After much heated debate on the house floor, legislation was passed today to allow a growing number of families to cook meals for their families in their homes. The children must have annual physical examinations to assure proper growth and weight gain. Attempts to require weekly meal plans and monthly kitchen inspections were voted down.
A spokesperson from the National Association of Nutritionists (NANs) condemns this decision."These children are being denied the rich socialization and diversity that is an essential part of the eating process. Without the proper nutritional background, it is impossible for the average person to feed their own children. We, as child advocates, see this as a step backwards and speak out for the sake of the children who cannot speak for themselves."
Homecooking parents say the benefits of eating at home include increased family unity and the ability to tailor a diet to a particular need. Elizabeth Crocker, a home cook, states, "We started cooking and eating at home when we realized that my son had a severe allergy to eggs. The public kitchens required him to take numerous medications that had serious side effects in order to counteract his allergy. We found that eliminating eggs was a simpler method and our son has thrived since we began doing so."
After this experience, the Crockers decided to homecook for all of their children, and converted their media room into a kitchen. Elizabeth says, "We have experienced so much closeness as we have explored recipes and spent time cooking together and eating together. We have a dining circle with other families where we sometimes share ideas and meals together."
The Crocker children have done well physically under their mother's care, weighing in at optimum weights for their ages and having health records far above average. It should be noted that Mrs. Crocker, while not a professional nutritionist, has a family history rich with nutritionists and home economists. "Surely the success of the Crocker children is due to the background of their mother,"responded the spokesman from NANs. "The results they have achieved should not be viewed as normative." Mrs. Crocker counters that her background was actually a hindrance to the nutritional principles she follows. "Our paternal great-grandmother was a home economist, but she prepared most meal from pre-made mixes. In our homecooking we try not to duplicate public-kitchen meals, but to tailor our meals to the needs and preferences of our children."
In a related issue, legislation is in committee that would provide oversight for the emerging homecooking movement. Says the Home Eating Legal Defense Association (HELDA): "We want to provide umbrella kitchens to aid parents in the complicated tasks of feeding their children. Many families lack the expertise of the Crocker family, yet desire to eat at home. As we have seen, the umbrella kitchens meet the needs of all concerned. We are happy to provide this service."
.
A spokesperson from the National Association of Nutritionists (NANs) condemns this decision."These children are being denied the rich socialization and diversity that is an essential part of the eating process. Without the proper nutritional background, it is impossible for the average person to feed their own children. We, as child advocates, see this as a step backwards and speak out for the sake of the children who cannot speak for themselves."
Homecooking parents say the benefits of eating at home include increased family unity and the ability to tailor a diet to a particular need. Elizabeth Crocker, a home cook, states, "We started cooking and eating at home when we realized that my son had a severe allergy to eggs. The public kitchens required him to take numerous medications that had serious side effects in order to counteract his allergy. We found that eliminating eggs was a simpler method and our son has thrived since we began doing so."
After this experience, the Crockers decided to homecook for all of their children, and converted their media room into a kitchen. Elizabeth says, "We have experienced so much closeness as we have explored recipes and spent time cooking together and eating together. We have a dining circle with other families where we sometimes share ideas and meals together."
The Crocker children have done well physically under their mother's care, weighing in at optimum weights for their ages and having health records far above average. It should be noted that Mrs. Crocker, while not a professional nutritionist, has a family history rich with nutritionists and home economists. "Surely the success of the Crocker children is due to the background of their mother,"responded the spokesman from NANs. "The results they have achieved should not be viewed as normative." Mrs. Crocker counters that her background was actually a hindrance to the nutritional principles she follows. "Our paternal great-grandmother was a home economist, but she prepared most meal from pre-made mixes. In our homecooking we try not to duplicate public-kitchen meals, but to tailor our meals to the needs and preferences of our children."
In a related issue, legislation is in committee that would provide oversight for the emerging homecooking movement. Says the Home Eating Legal Defense Association (HELDA): "We want to provide umbrella kitchens to aid parents in the complicated tasks of feeding their children. Many families lack the expertise of the Crocker family, yet desire to eat at home. As we have seen, the umbrella kitchens meet the needs of all concerned. We are happy to provide this service."
.
The 7 Wonders of Communism
1. Everybody had jobs.
2. Although everyone had jobs, no one was working.
3. Although no one was working, the plan exceeded 100%.
4. Although the plan exceeded 100%, you could not buy anything.
5. Although you could not buy anything, everybody had everything.
6. Although everyone had everything, all of them were stealing.
7. Although they were stealing, there never was missing anything.
.
2. Although everyone had jobs, no one was working.
3. Although no one was working, the plan exceeded 100%.
4. Although the plan exceeded 100%, you could not buy anything.
5. Although you could not buy anything, everybody had everything.
6. Although everyone had everything, all of them were stealing.
7. Although they were stealing, there never was missing anything.
.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Laughs
Japanese banks have been hit almost as hard as American banks:
The Origami Bank has folded, and we hear the Sumo Bank has gone belly-up too.
Bonsai Bank plans to cut some of its branches.
Karaoke Bank is for sale and is going for a song.
Meanwhile, staff at Karate Bank got the chop, and analysts report there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank, where workers fear they may get a raw deal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three guys are fishing on a lake when an angel appears in the boat with them. The first guy gets over his shock and humbly says to the angel, "I've suffered from back pain for years. Is it too much to ask that you help me?" The angel touches the man's back, and he feels instant relief.
The second guy points to his Coke-bottle glasses and asks if the angel could cure his poor eyesight. The angel tosses the man's glasses into the lake. When they hit the water, the man's vision clears, and he can see everything distinctly.
The angel now turns to the third guy, who throws up his hands in fear. "Don't touch me!" he cries. "I'm on disability!"
.
The Origami Bank has folded, and we hear the Sumo Bank has gone belly-up too.
Bonsai Bank plans to cut some of its branches.
Karaoke Bank is for sale and is going for a song.
Meanwhile, staff at Karate Bank got the chop, and analysts report there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank, where workers fear they may get a raw deal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three guys are fishing on a lake when an angel appears in the boat with them. The first guy gets over his shock and humbly says to the angel, "I've suffered from back pain for years. Is it too much to ask that you help me?" The angel touches the man's back, and he feels instant relief.
The second guy points to his Coke-bottle glasses and asks if the angel could cure his poor eyesight. The angel tosses the man's glasses into the lake. When they hit the water, the man's vision clears, and he can see everything distinctly.
The angel now turns to the third guy, who throws up his hands in fear. "Don't touch me!" he cries. "I'm on disability!"
.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Michigan Tea Party
What: Michigan Tea Party
When: Friday, February 27th, high noon
Where: Michigan State Capitol
Bring Your Tea Bags, Protest Signs and American Flags!
Questions or to confirm attendance: apackof2@gmail.com
Scott Hagerstrom
State DirectorAmericans for Prosperity
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Saturday, February 21, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
D. Stabmenow Must Really Go!
It's all over, now. The beans are out of the bag. D. Stabmenow believes that the fairness doctrine should return. Her arguments reveal a clear conflict of interest and shows her true beliefs.
What is she calling for is nothing more than an early page out of a fascist handbook. Our founding fathers were concerned about the likes of D. Stabmenow. Right in the First Amendment: D. Stabmenow, keep your fingers off the free speech. And like everything else, the left's mentality is to try to figure out a way to wiggle liberty away from the citizens; to get around the Constitution. They cannot control the content of political speech. Let's see why does it matter who is her husband:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080403/METRO/804030355/1409/METRO
Why is this relevant? He is the co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio, , the group that owned Air America. Her husband was working for conservative radio hosts' competitors. Her husband was a failure with liberal-progressive "democracy radio". They cannot compete in the free market, no matter how many millionaires subsidize them!! They're a joke! And her husband was knee-deep in all of it. She wants now to use her position as a U.S. Senator to destroy conservative talk radio, in order to help these people who failed on their own, including her husband.
How does a senator get away with that? How is this not unethical? How is this not conflict of interest? Her husband was receiving a paycheck as the VP of Air America, which failed as a commercial enterprise and now they want the government to punish these enterprises that work, including conservative talk radio. They want to use the power of government to undermine the 1st Amendment and to punish success, legitimate, law biding enterprises.
It is unbelievable that in this century they try to take control of the airways. In the name of the people, of course. They try to shut down everybody who stands up to them when it comes to these massive spending bills that is going to bankrupt this country and destroy generations to come. That's why they want to quiet the conservative radio. Not because of the Republican Party or anything else, but because conservatives stay in their way. This is about raw power, this is about a rogue regime, trying to exercises authority that the founders never conferred to any politician. The new way of Obama isn't really a new way for most who understands history. This is not socialism, this is fascism. This is totalitarianism. This is Hugo Chavez. This is Fidel Castro. This is Hamas. This is Hezbollah, getting the hold of radio stations and the TV stations, to promote their propaganda, by force, by rule of law.
.
What is she calling for is nothing more than an early page out of a fascist handbook. Our founding fathers were concerned about the likes of D. Stabmenow. Right in the First Amendment: D. Stabmenow, keep your fingers off the free speech. And like everything else, the left's mentality is to try to figure out a way to wiggle liberty away from the citizens; to get around the Constitution. They cannot control the content of political speech. Let's see why does it matter who is her husband:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080403/METRO/804030355/1409/METRO
Athans, 46, was executive vice president of Air America, which filed for
bankruptcy in 2006. In early 2006, Athans left Air America Radio, which
emerged from bankruptcy in 2007. Athans now heads TalkUSA Radio, based in
Washington,
D.C
Why is this relevant? He is the co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio, , the group that owned Air America. Her husband was working for conservative radio hosts' competitors. Her husband was a failure with liberal-progressive "democracy radio". They cannot compete in the free market, no matter how many millionaires subsidize them!! They're a joke! And her husband was knee-deep in all of it. She wants now to use her position as a U.S. Senator to destroy conservative talk radio, in order to help these people who failed on their own, including her husband.
How does a senator get away with that? How is this not unethical? How is this not conflict of interest? Her husband was receiving a paycheck as the VP of Air America, which failed as a commercial enterprise and now they want the government to punish these enterprises that work, including conservative talk radio. They want to use the power of government to undermine the 1st Amendment and to punish success, legitimate, law biding enterprises.
It is unbelievable that in this century they try to take control of the airways. In the name of the people, of course. They try to shut down everybody who stands up to them when it comes to these massive spending bills that is going to bankrupt this country and destroy generations to come. That's why they want to quiet the conservative radio. Not because of the Republican Party or anything else, but because conservatives stay in their way. This is about raw power, this is about a rogue regime, trying to exercises authority that the founders never conferred to any politician. The new way of Obama isn't really a new way for most who understands history. This is not socialism, this is fascism. This is totalitarianism. This is Hugo Chavez. This is Fidel Castro. This is Hamas. This is Hezbollah, getting the hold of radio stations and the TV stations, to promote their propaganda, by force, by rule of law.
.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Crisis of Higher Education
Many of our politicians have it backwards these days. It's not a shame to lose an election. But it is a shame to serve a wrong idea.
Conservatives, when argue for school choice, like to say that elementary and secondary schools should be financed on the same principles as colleges, where student aid follows the student to whichever school he pleases. This is true enough, but it is not the aid alone that follows the student. Title IV of the current Higher Education Act regulates colleges that accept federal financial aid. Title IV includes now more than 300 pages of regulations, and the failure of a senior college official to comply in a material respect can lead to heavy fines and imprisonment.
Since September 11, 2001, defense spending has risen 133%. There are major increases in most higher education programs, especially those regarding need-based aid. Both the amounts available, and the upward limits of the income groups to whom they are available, have risen sharply.
A great concern animating federal education policy is the miserable failures in basic skills, especially math and science but also literacy, of America's high school and college graduates. The national Commission's Draft Report offers an impressive number of ideas for dealing with this crisis. But they are all built on the same notion: that once upon a time, in the 1950s, the Soviet Union fired a rocket into space before the U.S. did, and so the federal government began funding higher education, and because of that we had a great coordinated national effort and became the leaders in science and technology. This story is told often. It is the same story that was told back at the time of Sputnik, and it was used effectively to justify passage of the original Higher Education Act.
This story is nice, but it cannot be true. Sputnik went up in 1957, after Americans had invented the telephone, the laser, the transistor, done half the work to discover DNA, settled a continent, covered it with railways, roads, airports and communications. We managed to do all of this without the Department of Education.
.
Conservatives, when argue for school choice, like to say that elementary and secondary schools should be financed on the same principles as colleges, where student aid follows the student to whichever school he pleases. This is true enough, but it is not the aid alone that follows the student. Title IV of the current Higher Education Act regulates colleges that accept federal financial aid. Title IV includes now more than 300 pages of regulations, and the failure of a senior college official to comply in a material respect can lead to heavy fines and imprisonment.
Since September 11, 2001, defense spending has risen 133%. There are major increases in most higher education programs, especially those regarding need-based aid. Both the amounts available, and the upward limits of the income groups to whom they are available, have risen sharply.
A great concern animating federal education policy is the miserable failures in basic skills, especially math and science but also literacy, of America's high school and college graduates. The national Commission's Draft Report offers an impressive number of ideas for dealing with this crisis. But they are all built on the same notion: that once upon a time, in the 1950s, the Soviet Union fired a rocket into space before the U.S. did, and so the federal government began funding higher education, and because of that we had a great coordinated national effort and became the leaders in science and technology. This story is told often. It is the same story that was told back at the time of Sputnik, and it was used effectively to justify passage of the original Higher Education Act.
This story is nice, but it cannot be true. Sputnik went up in 1957, after Americans had invented the telephone, the laser, the transistor, done half the work to discover DNA, settled a continent, covered it with railways, roads, airports and communications. We managed to do all of this without the Department of Education.
.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Hypocrite
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090122/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_suspected_terroristsObama signs order to close Guantanamo in a year.
President Obama ran his campaign demonizing Bush for the way he handled Guantanamo, water boarding and other interrogation methods. Now he is doing the same thing:
_
Required all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while
interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion,
physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of
drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics. However, a Capitol
Hill aide says that the administration also is planning a study of more
aggressive interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual — which
would create a significant loophole to Obama's action Thursday.
He is planning to study more aggressive interrogation methods. Will Obama be demonized by the media and his democrats if it will be uncovered what kind of techniques he's going to approve to get informations from the terrorists?
We'll live and see. But I think it's funny how Obama is going to do almost the same thing Bush did, but one was sent to the drains and the other is raised to a messiah level. Shame!
.
The Bad News
I keep seeing these kinds of headlines:
Dec. job toll: 524,000
Worst year of losses since 1940s puts unemployment rate at 7.2%
That's in bold type. Then, underneath, in tiny letters:
U.S. economy loses more than a half-million jobs in December and 1.5 million in fourth quarter. Jobless rate hits highest level since 1993.
Now that's more accurate. If you were to read the first headline you would think, "Holy crap! Our unemployment is the same as the end of the Great Depression!" If you read the tiny type you get a more accurate picture: there is a recession happening much like what happened in 1993. It still may get worse but that's where we are right now.
Further, the fail to tell you other facts:
- the jobless rate is at 7.2% which is obviously more than 5% but it's been fairly consistently under 5% for a good while. 5% used (back in the 1980s) to be consider the 'realistic absolute low point' for the unemployment rate. It was thought you couldn't go under 5% realistically so if you were close to 5% you were basically at 'full employment' for the population.
- 524,000 jobs is a lot of jobs but we also have a lot more total people working than we did back during the depression or before it. There are just more people working. A population of 100,000,000 working people losing 500,000 jobs is a lot different than a working population of 10,000,000 losing 500,000 jobs (I don't know what the figures were for working people in the 1920s and 1930s but our country has grown quite a lot since then so we obviously have a lot more people working).
- The Great Depression's unemployment rate topped out at around 25%. We're a long way from that. We've just gotten to the point where we were in 1993 which was a fairly minor bump. Even so, if you think about the way they portray the Great Depression it sounded like everyone was out of work. 1 in 4 was out of work. 75% still had jobs. I'm not saying it's good or that it didn't suck but it's just the way it's all spun that gets me.
- Government spending will get us out of this - What they fail to tell you is that 8 years into FDR's presidency he was pretty annoyed that the unemployment rate was the same as what it was when he took office.
There are some things that are good about recessions:
- if the government stays out of the way (which it won't but if it did) then labor prices will eventually get to the point where business people think, "hey, labor is cheap. I'll hire on a couple of extra guys and try to expand." You really can't do this like you used to because of various regulations like minimum wage. With minimum wage in place it makes it tougher to undercut the next guy in selling your product (you).
- It does give government a huge pool of people to pull from to build government work projects (like highways, bridges, military bases) at reasonable prices (again, if they got out of the way of themselves, in that example).
I don't even watch/listen to the news any longer because it's all the same, "Great Depression," crap which, at this point, really has no basis in reality. We're not even close yet. We just got to the moderately sucky times of 1993. We haven't even hit the suck-times of the 1970s yet, and we very well may not - no way to tell, with double-digit inflation and double-digit unemployment.
The biggest thing we have working against us right now is the lack of education in our own people. The current generation has been brought up to respond to any problem with, "There ought to be a law so the government can fix it." It doesn't even occur to them, "What can I do?"
I don't know how you fix that, either.
Still, the point being: We're not in a Great Depression yet - even will all the talk of it. I think it is possible that we could talk ourselves into one, though. Basically make everyone so fearful of spending any money at all that no one can sell anything and the economy, effectively, stops.
Good news, though: People are paying down their debts and putting money into savings. That's just a healthy thing to do.
.
Dec. job toll: 524,000
Worst year of losses since 1940s puts unemployment rate at 7.2%
That's in bold type. Then, underneath, in tiny letters:
U.S. economy loses more than a half-million jobs in December and 1.5 million in fourth quarter. Jobless rate hits highest level since 1993.
Now that's more accurate. If you were to read the first headline you would think, "Holy crap! Our unemployment is the same as the end of the Great Depression!" If you read the tiny type you get a more accurate picture: there is a recession happening much like what happened in 1993. It still may get worse but that's where we are right now.
Further, the fail to tell you other facts:
- the jobless rate is at 7.2% which is obviously more than 5% but it's been fairly consistently under 5% for a good while. 5% used (back in the 1980s) to be consider the 'realistic absolute low point' for the unemployment rate. It was thought you couldn't go under 5% realistically so if you were close to 5% you were basically at 'full employment' for the population.
- 524,000 jobs is a lot of jobs but we also have a lot more total people working than we did back during the depression or before it. There are just more people working. A population of 100,000,000 working people losing 500,000 jobs is a lot different than a working population of 10,000,000 losing 500,000 jobs (I don't know what the figures were for working people in the 1920s and 1930s but our country has grown quite a lot since then so we obviously have a lot more people working).
- The Great Depression's unemployment rate topped out at around 25%. We're a long way from that. We've just gotten to the point where we were in 1993 which was a fairly minor bump. Even so, if you think about the way they portray the Great Depression it sounded like everyone was out of work. 1 in 4 was out of work. 75% still had jobs. I'm not saying it's good or that it didn't suck but it's just the way it's all spun that gets me.
- Government spending will get us out of this - What they fail to tell you is that 8 years into FDR's presidency he was pretty annoyed that the unemployment rate was the same as what it was when he took office.
There are some things that are good about recessions:
- if the government stays out of the way (which it won't but if it did) then labor prices will eventually get to the point where business people think, "hey, labor is cheap. I'll hire on a couple of extra guys and try to expand." You really can't do this like you used to because of various regulations like minimum wage. With minimum wage in place it makes it tougher to undercut the next guy in selling your product (you).
- It does give government a huge pool of people to pull from to build government work projects (like highways, bridges, military bases) at reasonable prices (again, if they got out of the way of themselves, in that example).
I don't even watch/listen to the news any longer because it's all the same, "Great Depression," crap which, at this point, really has no basis in reality. We're not even close yet. We just got to the moderately sucky times of 1993. We haven't even hit the suck-times of the 1970s yet, and we very well may not - no way to tell, with double-digit inflation and double-digit unemployment.
The biggest thing we have working against us right now is the lack of education in our own people. The current generation has been brought up to respond to any problem with, "There ought to be a law so the government can fix it." It doesn't even occur to them, "What can I do?"
I don't know how you fix that, either.
Still, the point being: We're not in a Great Depression yet - even will all the talk of it. I think it is possible that we could talk ourselves into one, though. Basically make everyone so fearful of spending any money at all that no one can sell anything and the economy, effectively, stops.
Good news, though: People are paying down their debts and putting money into savings. That's just a healthy thing to do.
.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Back to the Roots!
What is most impressive in the McGuffey readers is the morality. From the First
reader through the Sixth, the morality is pervasive and insistent, there is
rarely a page but addresses itself to some moral problem, points up some moral
lesson - industry, sobriety, thrift, propriety, modesty, punctuality - these
were essential virtues and those who practiced them were sure of success...the
world of the McGuffeys was a world where no one questioned the
truths of the Bible, or their relevance to everyday conduct.
This evaluation of the McGuffey readers by Henry Steele Commanger, a Columbia University and Harvard historian, educator and scholar, confirms that America and its schools once had a Biblical foundation which shaped the nation's culture and way of life. The books and the schools promoted character, responsibility and achievement. We can agree that that it will be hard to find men with the wisdom, courage, ethics and selflessness of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin or Abraham Lincoln among the political leaders of today.
America was once a society which had its roots in the Bible. The founding fathers were the product of western civilization. That civilization developed over several centuries after Gutenberg invented the printing press and published the Bible. In a Bible-based society, America grew great on a foundation of basic concepts. They were proclaimed in the nation's churches and taught in the nation's homes and schools.
For more than half the century, textbooks and other curriculum materials produced under humanist control have attacked and undermined the foundational concepts. We want our country back!
.
Friday, January 9, 2009
AHA..
As soon as the second person appeared on earth, the rights of the first were cut in half. Now divide your rights by the total population, and that explains everything.
.
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Sunday, December 28, 2008
Constitution for the New Deal
by H. L. Mencken
THIS SATIRICAL PIECE FIRST APPEARED IN The American Mercury,, 41 (June 1937), 129-36, and was reprinted in condensed form by The Reader's Digest, 31 (July 1937), 27-29.
In order to indicate what reached the widest audience, the condensed version appears here.
The principal cause of the uproar in Washington is a conflict between the swift- moving idealism of the New Deal and the unyielding hunkerousness of the Constitution of 1788. What is needed, obviously, is a wholly new Constitution, drawn up with enough boldness and imagination to cover the whole program of the More Abundant Life, now and hereafter.
That is what I presume to offer here. The Constitution that follows is not my invention, and in more than. one detail I have unhappy doubts of its wisdom. But I believe that it sets forth with reasonable accuracy the plan of government that the More Abundant Life wizards have sought to substitute for the plan of the Fathers. They have themselves argued at one time or another, by word or deed, for everything contained herein:
PREAMBLE
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish social justice, draw the fangs of privilege, effect the redistribution of property, remove the burden of liberty from ourselves and our posterity, and insure the continuance of the New Deal, do ordain and establish this Constitution.
ARTICLE I
The Executive
All governmental power of whatever sort shall be vested in a President of the United States. He shall hold office during a series of terms of four years each, and shall take the following oath: "I do solemnly swear that I will (in so far as I deem it feasible and convenient) faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will (to the best of my recollection and in the light of experiment and second thought) carry out the pledges made by me during my campaign for election (or such of them as I may select)."
The President shall be commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, and of the militia, Boy Scouts, C.I.O., People's Front, and other armed forces of the nation.
The President shall have the power: To lay and collect taxes, and to expend the income of the United States in such manner as he may deem to be to their or his advantage;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States, and to provide for its repayment on such terms as he may fix;
To regulate all commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and within them; to license all persons engaged or proposing to engage in business; to regulate their affairs; to limit their profits by proclamation from time to time; and to fix wages, prices and hours of work;
To coin money, regulate the content and value thereof, and of foreign coin, and to amend or repudiate any contract requiring the payment by the United States, or by any private person, of coin of a given weight or fineness;
To repeal or amend, in his discretion, any so-called natural law, including Gresham's law, the law of diminishing returns, and the law of gravitation.
The President shall be assisted by a Cabinet of eight or more persons, whose duties shall be to make speeches whenever so instructed and to expend the public funds in such manner as to guarantee the President's continuance in office.
The President may establish such executive agencies as he deems necessary, and clothe them with such powers as he sees fit. No person shall be a member to any such bureau who has had any practical experience of the matters he is appointed to deal with.
One of the members of the Cabinet shall be an Attorney General. It shall be his duty to provide legal opinions certifying to the constitutionality of all measures undertaken by the President, and to gather evidence of the senility of judges.
ARTICLE II
The Legislature
The legislature of the United States shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Every bill shall be prepared under the direction of the President, and transmitted to the two Houses at his order by their presiding officers. No member shall propose any amendment to a bill without permission in writing from the President or one of his authorized agents. In case any member shall doubt the wisdom of a bill he may apply to the President for light upon it, and thereafter he shall be counted as voting aye. In all cases a majority of members shall be counted as voting aye.
Both Houses may appoint special committees to investigate the business practices, political views, and private lives of any persons known to be inimical to the President; and such committees shall publish at public cost any evidence discovered that appears to be damaging to the persons investigated.
Members of both Houses shall be agents of the President in the distribution of public offices, federal appropriations, and other gratuities in their several states, and shall be rewarded in ratio to their fidelity to his ideals and commands.
ARTICLE III
The Judiciary
The judges of the Supreme Court and of all inferior courts shall be appointed by the President, and shall hold their offices until he determines by proclamation that they have become senile. The number of judges appointed to the Supreme Court shall be prescribed by the President, and may be changed at his discretion. All decisions of the Supreme Court shall be unanimous.
The jurisdiction and powers of all courts shall he determined by the President. No act that he has approved shall be declared unconstitutional by any court.
ARTICLE IV
Bill of Rights
There shall be complete freedom of speech and of the press – subject to such regulations as the President or his agents may from time to time promulgate.
The freedom of communication by radio shall not be abridged; but the President and such persons as he may designate shall have the first call on the time of all stations.
In disputes between capital and labor, all the arbitrators shall be representatives of labor.
Every person whose annual income fans below a minimum to be fixed by the President shall receive from the public funds an amount sufficient to bring it up to that minimum.
No labor union shall be incorporated and no officer or member thereof shall be accountable for loss of life or damage to person or property during a strike.
All powers not delegated herein to the President are reserved to him, to be used at his discretion.
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THIS SATIRICAL PIECE FIRST APPEARED IN The American Mercury,, 41 (June 1937), 129-36, and was reprinted in condensed form by The Reader's Digest, 31 (July 1937), 27-29.
In order to indicate what reached the widest audience, the condensed version appears here.
The principal cause of the uproar in Washington is a conflict between the swift- moving idealism of the New Deal and the unyielding hunkerousness of the Constitution of 1788. What is needed, obviously, is a wholly new Constitution, drawn up with enough boldness and imagination to cover the whole program of the More Abundant Life, now and hereafter.
That is what I presume to offer here. The Constitution that follows is not my invention, and in more than. one detail I have unhappy doubts of its wisdom. But I believe that it sets forth with reasonable accuracy the plan of government that the More Abundant Life wizards have sought to substitute for the plan of the Fathers. They have themselves argued at one time or another, by word or deed, for everything contained herein:
PREAMBLE
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish social justice, draw the fangs of privilege, effect the redistribution of property, remove the burden of liberty from ourselves and our posterity, and insure the continuance of the New Deal, do ordain and establish this Constitution.
ARTICLE I
The Executive
All governmental power of whatever sort shall be vested in a President of the United States. He shall hold office during a series of terms of four years each, and shall take the following oath: "I do solemnly swear that I will (in so far as I deem it feasible and convenient) faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will (to the best of my recollection and in the light of experiment and second thought) carry out the pledges made by me during my campaign for election (or such of them as I may select)."
The President shall be commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, and of the militia, Boy Scouts, C.I.O., People's Front, and other armed forces of the nation.
The President shall have the power: To lay and collect taxes, and to expend the income of the United States in such manner as he may deem to be to their or his advantage;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States, and to provide for its repayment on such terms as he may fix;
To regulate all commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and within them; to license all persons engaged or proposing to engage in business; to regulate their affairs; to limit their profits by proclamation from time to time; and to fix wages, prices and hours of work;
To coin money, regulate the content and value thereof, and of foreign coin, and to amend or repudiate any contract requiring the payment by the United States, or by any private person, of coin of a given weight or fineness;
To repeal or amend, in his discretion, any so-called natural law, including Gresham's law, the law of diminishing returns, and the law of gravitation.
The President shall be assisted by a Cabinet of eight or more persons, whose duties shall be to make speeches whenever so instructed and to expend the public funds in such manner as to guarantee the President's continuance in office.
The President may establish such executive agencies as he deems necessary, and clothe them with such powers as he sees fit. No person shall be a member to any such bureau who has had any practical experience of the matters he is appointed to deal with.
One of the members of the Cabinet shall be an Attorney General. It shall be his duty to provide legal opinions certifying to the constitutionality of all measures undertaken by the President, and to gather evidence of the senility of judges.
ARTICLE II
The Legislature
The legislature of the United States shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Every bill shall be prepared under the direction of the President, and transmitted to the two Houses at his order by their presiding officers. No member shall propose any amendment to a bill without permission in writing from the President or one of his authorized agents. In case any member shall doubt the wisdom of a bill he may apply to the President for light upon it, and thereafter he shall be counted as voting aye. In all cases a majority of members shall be counted as voting aye.
Both Houses may appoint special committees to investigate the business practices, political views, and private lives of any persons known to be inimical to the President; and such committees shall publish at public cost any evidence discovered that appears to be damaging to the persons investigated.
Members of both Houses shall be agents of the President in the distribution of public offices, federal appropriations, and other gratuities in their several states, and shall be rewarded in ratio to their fidelity to his ideals and commands.
ARTICLE III
The Judiciary
The judges of the Supreme Court and of all inferior courts shall be appointed by the President, and shall hold their offices until he determines by proclamation that they have become senile. The number of judges appointed to the Supreme Court shall be prescribed by the President, and may be changed at his discretion. All decisions of the Supreme Court shall be unanimous.
The jurisdiction and powers of all courts shall he determined by the President. No act that he has approved shall be declared unconstitutional by any court.
ARTICLE IV
Bill of Rights
There shall be complete freedom of speech and of the press – subject to such regulations as the President or his agents may from time to time promulgate.
The freedom of communication by radio shall not be abridged; but the President and such persons as he may designate shall have the first call on the time of all stations.
In disputes between capital and labor, all the arbitrators shall be representatives of labor.
Every person whose annual income fans below a minimum to be fixed by the President shall receive from the public funds an amount sufficient to bring it up to that minimum.
No labor union shall be incorporated and no officer or member thereof shall be accountable for loss of life or damage to person or property during a strike.
All powers not delegated herein to the President are reserved to him, to be used at his discretion.
.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The grasshopper and the Ant
Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!
OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY : Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY : Be careful how you vote.
.
OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY : Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY : Be careful how you vote.
.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
How the Welfare State Corrupted Sweden
Old people in Sweden say that to be Swedish means to supply for your own, to take care of your self, and never be a burden on anyone else's shoulders. Independence and hard work was the common perception of a decent life, and the common perception of morality. That was less than one hundred years ago.
more on here: http://www.mises.org/story/2190
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more on here: http://www.mises.org/story/2190
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Saturday, December 20, 2008
Understanding Iran
If you read the news carefully, you will find a notable story about Iran every morning. Nine times out of ten it is hilarious.
Not long ago, Iran released a photograph of a missile launch that initially caused great consternation in the West. It showed four missiles being launched, more or less simultaneously, with wonderful contrails behind them. Upon examination, that photograph turned out to be a double phony. First, there was only one missile, and the Iranians replicated it to make it seem as if there were four. Second, the missile was two years old and was not an intermediate range missile at all. This airplane turned out to be a plastic toy made by Mattel with Iranian markings on it.
So the first thing to understand about Iran is that it is a country where lies and deception are a way of life.
We are dealing with a regime that came to power in 1979 and Iran declared war against the United States, branding us "The great Satan". Prior to 9/11 the Iranian regime was directly or indirectly responsible for murder of more Americans than any country or organization in the world.
Khomeini installed a regime in Iran which is best described as Islamofascist. It has followed, in every major detail, the model laid down by Hitler and Mussolini. To the question "Why don't we just sit down and talk with the Iranians?" we can answer with a scene from the movie Goldfinger, when asked "What is this, Goldfinger? Do you expect me to talk?" Goldfinger replies, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die." That is exactly the Iranian attitude.
In fact, we have been talking to the Iranians, almost non-stop, for 30 years. There isn't an American president from Jimmy Carter to the present who has not authorized negotiations with Iran. There is a striking tendency among people in modern Western governments not to recognize the existence of evil in the world.
If you want to know how a country will behave internationally, look at the way it treats its own people. The Iranian regime treats its people with total contempt. Consider its treatment of women. Although you will never hear the American women's rights movement complain about it, women in Iran are officially worth half a man.
The bottom line is that Iran is our principal enemy in the Middle East, and perhaps in the entire world. It is also a vulnerable regime, and it knows that - which is why it makes up stories about airplanes and missiles that it doesn't have. They want us dead or dominated. You can't make deals with a regime like that.
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Not long ago, Iran released a photograph of a missile launch that initially caused great consternation in the West. It showed four missiles being launched, more or less simultaneously, with wonderful contrails behind them. Upon examination, that photograph turned out to be a double phony. First, there was only one missile, and the Iranians replicated it to make it seem as if there were four. Second, the missile was two years old and was not an intermediate range missile at all. This airplane turned out to be a plastic toy made by Mattel with Iranian markings on it.
So the first thing to understand about Iran is that it is a country where lies and deception are a way of life.
We are dealing with a regime that came to power in 1979 and Iran declared war against the United States, branding us "The great Satan". Prior to 9/11 the Iranian regime was directly or indirectly responsible for murder of more Americans than any country or organization in the world.
Khomeini installed a regime in Iran which is best described as Islamofascist. It has followed, in every major detail, the model laid down by Hitler and Mussolini. To the question "Why don't we just sit down and talk with the Iranians?" we can answer with a scene from the movie Goldfinger, when asked "What is this, Goldfinger? Do you expect me to talk?" Goldfinger replies, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die." That is exactly the Iranian attitude.
In fact, we have been talking to the Iranians, almost non-stop, for 30 years. There isn't an American president from Jimmy Carter to the present who has not authorized negotiations with Iran. There is a striking tendency among people in modern Western governments not to recognize the existence of evil in the world.
If you want to know how a country will behave internationally, look at the way it treats its own people. The Iranian regime treats its people with total contempt. Consider its treatment of women. Although you will never hear the American women's rights movement complain about it, women in Iran are officially worth half a man.
The bottom line is that Iran is our principal enemy in the Middle East, and perhaps in the entire world. It is also a vulnerable regime, and it knows that - which is why it makes up stories about airplanes and missiles that it doesn't have. They want us dead or dominated. You can't make deals with a regime like that.
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Thursday, December 11, 2008
Jesus is Better than Santa
Santa lives at the North Pole. JESUS is everywhere.
Santa rides in a sleigh, JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year, JESUS is an ever- present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies, JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited, JESUS stands at your door and knocks... and then enters your heart.
You have to stand in line to see Santa, JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap, JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?" JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too . He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads. JESUS has a heart full of love. JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry", JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."
Santa's little helpers make toys, JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but JESUS gives you joy that fills your soul & he is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree, JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison. We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about. We need to put Christ back in Christmas.
Jesus is still the reason for the season.
May the Lord Bless and Watch over you and your loved ones this Christmas season 2008
And may He prosper and bless the work of your hands in the 2009 New Year.
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Santa rides in a sleigh, JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year, JESUS is an ever- present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies, JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited, JESUS stands at your door and knocks... and then enters your heart.
You have to stand in line to see Santa, JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap, JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?" JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too . He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads. JESUS has a heart full of love. JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry", JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."
Santa's little helpers make toys, JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but JESUS gives you joy that fills your soul & he is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree, JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison. We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about. We need to put Christ back in Christmas.
Jesus is still the reason for the season.
May the Lord Bless and Watch over you and your loved ones this Christmas season 2008
And may He prosper and bless the work of your hands in the 2009 New Year.
.
Friday, December 5, 2008
What's the grade?
In a world of plenty, a huge number go hungry. Hunger is more than just the result of food production and meeting demands. The causes of hunger are related to the causes of poverty. One of the major causes of hunger is poverty itself. There are various issues (war, famine, land rights and ownership, inefficient agricultural practices, poor crop yield) that people are unable to afford food and hence people go hungry.
At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world there are 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5) and 121 million children without education.
Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.
With all this, Christians give to charities more than anyone else. People of faith give more than non-religious people and on average they volunteer more than others. Gifts to religious causes totaled $93.2 billion in 2005, almost 36 percent of all contributions.
The question is: Can Christians do more to help the poor? What grade would you give Christians for the work they do to help thee poor and why??
Is it a B-always room for improvement, C, D or F - not enough??
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At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world there are 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5) and 121 million children without education.
Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.
With all this, Christians give to charities more than anyone else. People of faith give more than non-religious people and on average they volunteer more than others. Gifts to religious causes totaled $93.2 billion in 2005, almost 36 percent of all contributions.
The question is: Can Christians do more to help the poor? What grade would you give Christians for the work they do to help thee poor and why??
Is it a B-always room for improvement, C, D or F - not enough??
.
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