Category Archives: Uncategorized

Political Morality

May 26th, 2008 |

The recent California Supreme Court Decision to support gay marriage is an arrogant exercise in expedience that threatens the foundations of civilized society.

I do not need to resort to histrionics or homophobia – here are the clear issues.
One: No civilization or culture in the history of humankind has ever given equal status to homosexual unions.
Two: there is no incontrovertible proof of a genetic disposition to homosexuality.
Three: Civil Rights are a subset of natural rights – protecting the freedom of people who have no choice about their gender or race.
Four: The radical activists have a visceral hatred for what they see as “heterosexist oppression” and their strategy is to destroy the traditional family and substitute it with government control.
Five: If you are a traditional family man or woman and later “come out” as gay or lesbian, the world celebrates your “discovery.” But woe to the gay man or lesbian woman who wants to change – any therapist encouraging such change is subject to professional sanction!
Six: Gay/Lesbian radicals must actively recruit through schools and the media in order to swell their ranks of adherents. They often talk of the fluidity of gender and contrast the “gender assigned at birth” with the chosen lifestyle of later years. Granting Civil Rights to current chosen behavior flies in the face of the universal principles that secure real liberty!
Seven: We are creating generations of confused, narcissistic, and self-destructive people. It is one thing not to prosecute private adult behavior – it is quite another to promote identities and lifestyles that ultimately destroy our future.
Eight: We must decide what actions we are going to permit, prohibit and promote as a nation. Where do we draw the line? How young is too young for “marriage”? How many partners? The California “Supremes” have undermined the unique place of heterosexual monogamy – we now have no standard except the one we “feel” at the moment!
The current (justifiable) outrage at the polygamous cult in Texas reveals a core morality we share: 1) it is wrong to have more than one marriage partner; 2) It is wrong for adults to have sexual relations with minors; and 3) not any family setup is acceptable.
It is morally inconsistent to promote gay/lesbian unions as equal to traditional ones while condemning another group’s moral universe!
Here is Insight Nine: The deeper subversion behind the Supremes’ decision is the destruction of any religious foundations to morality and another blow to the Judeo-Christian consensus that is the bedrock of law for 400+ years in the West. 
If the Texas group has been a gay-lesbian-transgender new age/pagan/secular commune in the California mountains, outrage would last a day and be forgotten. Eventually the leaders would be the subject of term papers in “gay studies” courses at prestigious universities!
The Texas cult must be shut down and the children given all the help we can muster. The leaders should be prosecuted for statutory rape. 
Throughout history, consenting adults have privately chosen to depart from social norms. When the exceptions become the rules, the collapse of civilization is inevitable.
Please note that I have not quoted religious documents or party platforms. There is no need – thoughtful people will see through the agendas and vote to amend the California Constitution in November. 
Get involved in making sure that the California Constitution recognizes the inherent value of rightly-defined marriage – a monogamous, lifetime union between one man and one woman.
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Observations of the Obvious

April 6th, 2008 |

Are we in a recession or an adjustment?

Should we bail out folks with sub-prime mortgages or just Wall Street barons?

Israel has received over 500 missiles from territory she relinquished for peace – how many more concessions will it take?

China is buying billions of our Treasury Notes -is that good or bad?

Forty years ago the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis – who can claim his legacy? (Hint: none of the current candidates for public attention.)

We elected “The Terminator” to get rid of debt – why do we have more today?

1975: Global cooling and a new Ice Age; 2005: Global Warming and  looming disaster – maybe.

There is a dirty little secret abut Western Europe and her environmental demands on the USA: Europeans already have – and keep on building – nuclear power plants!

OK – there are lots of problems and much controversy on how to interpret and solve them. What is the big deal? Why devote blog space to the obvious?

Here is why: In my more than four decades of observing and reflecting on our human condition, I have never seen such blatant refusals to deal with reality and apply commonsense to our issues. Consider the obvious with me:

Economic progress comes from courage, not contraction, from faith, not fear. Look for creative and innovative people and companies and you will see the future.

I am old enough to remember a balanced budget and a total national debt at less than a trillion dollars. (It is now $9,000,000,000 and counting). Here is a thought – why not spend less than we take in? The dollar will go up, gasoline prices will go down and resources will be generated through expansion instead of printing more money.

Demand that Arab leaders accept Israel as a sovereign state with full recognition – or there will be no peace.

Martin Luther King appealed to real faith and universal principles, not Afrocentric hatred.

Let’s take care of God’s world – regardless of popular speculations.

Let’s also avoid UN control of anything. At best it is a forum for compassion and negotiation – anything more inhibits real freedom and progress.

Above all, we must not expect Washington to solve every problem!

Earlier I spoke of self-deception. We need to get up from the couch, put down the remotes, the computer mouse, the games cubes, the iPods, the cell phones – and talk to each other, care for each other and stop pretending that “someone else” has to take care of things.

Politicians serve at OUR behest – we can demand change. Incumbents count on our dependence, fear, guilt and ignorance. If we take care of each other, have faith in God and the possibilities ahead, care for the poor and rigorously demand an accounting of OUR money “they” spend – the way forward is much brighter.

The choice is ours – dependency and ultimate subservience to a state and world government interested in control or a country and world enjoying the fruits of freedom.

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Green Cool-Aid

February 24th, 2008 |

Soft-drink companies spend millions in R&D and market research to find the perfect color, taste and image for their beverages. When I was a child, you could choose Coke or Pepsi and maybe “Tab” diet soda if you wanted cola. There was “Tang” (the astronauts drink it!) for the orange-color set and, for every class party and scouting troop, the ubiquitous “Kool-Aid.” (OK, remember “Fizzie” tablets?). 

Today, we are overwhelmed with choices in every drink category. Even Coke has multiple formulas for every palate and nutritional fad.
In 1979, however, a tragic identification with propaganda and a soft-drink entered our vocabulary. The horrific mass suicide of the Jonestown followers of Jim Jones involved drinking poisoned Kool-Aid. Every since that moment, pundits have used the soft-drink as a euphemism for blind followers swayed by empty promises and deceived by a dynamic leader. “Drinking the kool-aid” has become a metaphor for blindly following the manipulations of of deceitful leaders.
We are watching a large part of the American electorate drink political poison as Senator Obama wows the crowds on the campaign trail. While Obama has recently distanced himself from some of the unsavory comments of his friends and mentors (former Weathermen Underground terrorists and Afrocentric racist religious leaders), he remains the darling of the Left and the hope of America’s enemies abroad.
Let’s assume that Obama is sincere in his profession of Christianity, his denunciation of Rev. Wright’s anti-patriotic and racist rhetoric and that his patriotism that is so deep he does not need to wear a flag on his lapel. Let’s also assume that his wife’s incendiary comments about America were overly-enthusiastic campaigning. The “green kool-aid” is still being dispensed. Consider the following facts about Obama:
Fact: He has never been poor and has lived a life of relative privilege. Any racism has been minimal and his rise to prominence rivals any white candidate. Yes, he experienced a broken home – just like nearly half of American children. 
Fact: he has almost no real world experience in business or even in law. “Community Activism” is hardly reality when it comes to understanding the needs of most Americans.
Fact: He cannot bring himself to give unequivocal support for Israel or place an necessary preconditions on negotiations with nations and organizations dedicated to the destruction of Israel, and, in the long run, the USA as well.
Fact: He knows nothing about economics, limited government or the real dynamics of delivering goods and services. 
Fact: He is no better or worse that other politicians who have unsavory friends and supporters. What makes Obama distinct is his refusal to engage in any real discussion of his associations or issues that he cannot control.
Fact: Obama has no immigration or NAFTA policies. He is proclaiming the current situation broken while winking at leaders on our northern and southern borders.
Fact: Obama is a brilliant orator in the tradition of JFK and RFK. Contrary to recent comments by Geraldine Ferraro, I think Obama would be successful regardless of his color – the populace is eager for something fresh.
If Obama actually believes all of his rhetoric, he is naively being manipulated by a variety of global forces: EU leaders, global capitalists, leftists who want to see the America humbled and even dismembered and Arabs who believe he is still secretly a Muslim. Obama’s comments one year ago that his middle name helps him understand Muslims cannot be squared with the current campaign kool-aid that any mention of Hussein is inflammatory. 
Senator, change your name and change your tune and we might believe you.
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“Please Destroy Our Freedom”

February 9th, 2008 |

The Archbishop of Canterbury advocates grafting facets of Islamic Shari’a Law onto the vine of English Law.

Former President Clinton counsels that the USA needs to “slow down our economy to save the planet.”
Arab leaders and the Mad Mullahs of Iran are breathing murderous threats against Israel, in spite of Israel’s continual concessions of land for peace.
Democratic Presidential candidates proclaim that they can solve all the intractable domestic  and international issues through revivalistic sloganeering and appeals to “change.”
A well-respected professor is denied tenure for suggesting that the Universe may be intelligently designed instead of randomly arranged. 
Conservatives are urged to “forget” the Reagan era, change their heart-felt convictions and gleefully back an “inevitable” nominee.
The latest federal budget over more than $3 trillion dollars still manages to have a 12% deficit. Anyone advocating spending restraint is “starving the children.”
“Family” is being redefined, one state at a time – even though no civilization in history has ever defined marriage and family in other than traditional terms.
Democrats and Republicans look the other way on immigration, NAFTA superhighways and economic competition from Europe and Asia.
Personal character – especially marital and sexual fidelity – is labelled “irrelevant” if a leader has “competence” and “vision.”
Freedom is now defined as almost unrestrained personal behavior – any objections are seen as “judgmental.”
What has happened?
When did morality, truth, virtue and practical work stop being important?
Why is the federal government the answer to local problems?
When did infidelity and immorality become “just private behavior”?
When did we forget that government money is our money?

What we are watching is national self-destruction, one foolish accommodation at a time. 
The erosion of truth and virtue is no longer gradual and imperceptible. It is now a torrent of fatalistic nihilism that will open the door to global totalitarianism unless thoughtful and virtue-loving people intervene.
How do we start? Three steps begin the long journey home to personal and national sanity and stability:
First, each of us must take personal responsibility for our lives and hear the call of conscience to add good to the world every day.
Second, we must affirm that their is real good and real evil in the world. A man recently confronted my condemnation of terrorism with the notion, “Well, we have to understand why some people are terrorists.” It sounds so good until we realize that the terrorist leaders threatening our nation and Israel are not just members of the impoverished “Arab Street” but well-educated, well-financed radicals with a thirst for blood and a callous willingness to send the naive to their deaths. This is evil, pure and simple.
Third, we must reaffirm the principles of our Founders – limited government and maximum personal virtue; common moral norms and freedom of religion and the importance of local and state governments to be prudent and wise.
Our reckless moral and political behavior is saying to the extremists – religious zealots and secular elites alike – “Please destroy our freedom – all we ask is that your do it in HD and that we each can play video games while a civilization collapses.”
It is time to fight – not with IED’s, but integrity. We fight with reason and urgency, not fear and threats. 
A better future is ours to create – one wise decision at a time.
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