All posts by anniel

THE PRACTICE OF ADVERSARIAL MEDICINE

Medicine,

“NEVER TRUST YOUR PATIENTS, THEY ALWAYS LIE TO DOCTORS.”  House, M.D., played by Hugh Laurie

Of all forms of medicine, the most destructive is what is known to me as Adversarial Medicine. The doctor meets the patient for the first time, shakes his or her hand, asks, “What can I do for you?”, then proceeds to aggressively challenge what the patient says, calls their symptoms silly, and/or does a cursory physical exam while not paying attention to the patient at all. If a parent and child are involved the parent may be marginalized completely by sneering references to their assertions about the child. And Munchausen’s Syndrome By Proxy almost always rears it’s ugly head.

The Hippocratic Oath, “First Do No Harm”, is regularly trampled by doctors who truly do believe their patients and parents regularly lie to them.

I am going to begin a series of posts which are highly personal in nature, having to do with an illness which has afflicted my family for at least five generations. My grandmother Aina Jarvi, came to the United States from the Karelia Region which belonged to either Finland or Russia, depending on the last war fought. She brought with her genetic disorders which followed through to my father, Henry, his three half-sisters, then to me and at least one brother, then on to my two daughters and one son, and now one of my grandsons.

It has been a long journey discovering all of the permutations of these conditions, and a large part of that journey has been discovering the strengths and weaknesses of the American medical establishment.

Americans tend to think in terms of our “great” doctors and medical system. We think all doctors are intelligent, caring, kind, and self-sacrificing, and many of them are just that. But many are mediocre at best, and some of them are horrible. Depending upon your need, it might be just the luck of the draw which you will get.

I don’t wish to come across as pessimistic about the future, but even without the specter of ObamaCare hanging over our heads, many changes need to be made in what passes for medical care in many facilities.

I will start this story tomorrow writing of my father and what I know of my grandmother. I hope to be hopeful.

LATER. RETHINKING THE MATTER: I wrote several posts on my family’s medical experiences, however I have now decided not to put them out, at least for now. Instead I will be pursuing my critique of the medical profession as it exists at the onset of ObamaCare. One of my daughter’s main doctors told me a few years ago that the doctors being trained are, for the most part, not very good, and that we will look back soon and realize that the “golden age” of American medicine has passed. I think he is right.

DEFENDING SARAH PALIN

Politics, ,

“THE NEW MAYOR OF WASILLA IS GREAT TO DEAL WITH, SHE ALWAYS KEEPS HER WORD.”  My husband’s early take on Sarah Palin

My husband had ongoing land use negotiations with the city of Wasilla, Alaska, where he had once lived, and felt that the mayor was never up front on what he said and seldom honored verbal commitments. My husband was often frustrated, so when Sarah Palin was elected he was relieved to find she was a person of honor.

I don’t always agree with some of the things Sarah did as Governor of Alaska, but overall I do like and trust her as a person. When I made the decision to defend her when I was in Chicago I had no idea where that would take me. We stayed at a Ronald McDonald House when our daughter was undergoing treatments for her illness and I chose not to participate in political discussions while we stayed there. I felt that politics should have no place in a house meant as a retreat for people whose children were ill, but there were others who indulged in loud and often insulting political discussions. You know the kind, all white people are racist, etc.

When we got to the house following the elections we were hit right away with sneering references to Sarah. I calmly said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t appreciate my friend being lied about, and she is really a very smart and lovely person.” One of the worst offenders jumped up like a scalded cat and ran from the room. I could hear her almost screaming about how awful Sarah was and how could I possibly be friends with her? The woman was a House volunteer who spoke to me only grudgingly thereafter.

A few days after our arrival, a good friend invited me and my daughter to attend a local Women’s Club meeting. I am not that kind of “joiner” but the speaker sounded interesting so we decided to go. On our early arrival we were introduced to a few women and sat down. One of the women came to sit beside me and told me she had been the first person in Hyde Park to hold a Tea and Fundraiser for Barack Obama and we were so lucky he had won the election, blah, blah. Me, “Ummm.” Suddenly she took my hand and said, “I’ve never met anyone from Alaska before.” “Well,” I said, “Here I am.” The usual questions followed, “How long have you lived there?” “Fifty years.” “Is it really dark six months a year?” “No.” “Do you eat seals?” “Some people do.”

Then she switched gears, “Maybe I shouldn’t ask this but, well I just want to know if the rumors are true and maybe you can tell me.” She sat there looking at me expectantly as if I were a mind reader. Finally I had to ask, “What exactly are the rumors?” Looking slightly embarrassed she said, “They say that Alaska is horribly polluted and that’s why Sarah Palin is so stupid.” By that time she was positively salivating for my answer. I was so stunned I could hardly think, so all I could come up with was, “I’m sorry about such a rumor because Alaska is one of the most pristine places on earth, and my friend Sarah Palin is very intelligent.”

She gave me a sad, pitying smile as the meeting was gaveled to order, and  she went to sit by friends while I thought of all the answers I should have given. How about, “You really think Alaska is more polluted than Chicago?” Or, “Gee, I just told you I’ve lived there for fifty years, shall I drool on you in my abject stupidity?”

One of my sons met this woman later and she told him she has been a long-time Socialist. Big surprise there.

She also has a PhD in psychology, but I won’t hold that against her.

BOREDOM BY BORES

Politics,

“Mommy, I’m boring.”  Three year old.

For the past ten or eleven years Chicago has become almost a second home to me and several members of our family. Our youngest daughter has suffered from a rare neurological disorder and her needs, we feel, can only be met by a wonderful neurosurgeon there.

After Obama won his first election, I knew I would be facing two problems when I had to go to Chicago. One was the inevitable Sarah Palin ugliness and bashing and the other was my distaste for Obama and what to say to my many friends in his “hometown.”

Our first trip came just a few weeks after the election and I made a decision I could best defend Sarah Palin by saying that not only was she not stupid, but that I resented my friend Sarah being lied about. I would just mumble, “Ummmm”, about Obama.

We went to pick up our rental car just out of O’Hare and I sat down to wait while my husband took care of business. A gentleman I assumed worked for the rental agency came over to me and said, “I hear you’re from Alaska. Do you know Sarah Palin?” “Yes, and she’s lovely,” I said.  He broke into a big grin and told me he thought she was so beautiful and he hoped she would run for president someday. So far my plan was going well. Then he asked, “What do you think of Obama?” Before I could even get the “Ummm” out, he looked furtively around and said, quietly, “Some of us here have his number. He’s not as smart as you hear, but his real problem is he’s lazy and he gets bored very easily. You watch, he’ll last only a few weeks, maybe a month, and he’ll hate being president and start looking around for excitement. He’ll also be following the ways of crooked Chicago politics.” He then recounted to me the stories of how he won elections and his shady land deals. The stories that would later come out were never any surprise to me.

We were in the middle of all this intrigue when my husband came to get me. The gentleman shook our hands, raised his finger to me and said, “You watch. What I told you is true.”

Apparently Valerie Jarrett has said that Obama has been bored his whole life. That’s at least part of his problem.

I laughed when my friend’s three year old said she was “boring.” When my own children came along I tried to teach them that only “boring” people get  “bored” and that really “smart” people don’t get bored. Not one of them now ever tells me they’re bored. Evidently the President was not taught, or at least has never learned, that lesson.

To me he has always been a boring bore.

I did use my defense of Sarah Palin several times, so I’ll post a couple of those funny stories tomorrow.

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, BOSTON

Medicine, ,

“Don’t go there, whatever you do.”  Warning from my daughter

For the past few weeks the news has covered the story of the 15-year-old girl who has been taken from her parents by doctors at Children’s Hospital, Boston based on the theory that only the doctors there know what is wrong with the girl and how to treat her. She had been a patient at Tufts University Hospital and diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease, for which she was being treated and was doing well. Apparently she also has a sister with the same disease.

She became ill with the flu and her parents took her to Children’s, Boston, where the docs decided she did not have Mitochondrial Disease because it is “not a real disease”, and actually is suffering from some psychiatric disorder caused by her parents being “too involved in her illness”, and “over medicalizing her.” The hospital went immediately to court, had the parents rights revoked and took legal custody of their daughter. She has now been under guard as a prisoner in the psych ward, and on harmful anti-psychotic medications, for over 9 months, with the threat being that the hospital will keep her there until she is 18.

The Court has gagged the parents right to speak on their own behalf, and they are able to visit their daughter, under guard, only once a week. No other visitors are allowed.

The girl was still able to walk when she entered Children’s Boston but can no longer do so. With no teachers or friends allowed to visit she has regressed to the mental level of a second grader. The arrogant SOB’s at Boston’s are hunkered down on their diagnosis and legal position to the certain detriment of the child. The tame judge seems also to be some sort of fool, or tool of the docs, even though the doctors from Tufts University also testified before the judge to confirm their diagnosis and treatment.

The parents are under court order not to discuss their case with anyone since they are no longer legal custodians of their daughter. The hospital representatives refuse to speak out of court because of HIPPA rules. Catch 22. So much for free speech and any recourse for the girl or her parents.

This is not the only case of this sort happening today, but Children’s Boston seems to be the most egregious example of this kind of thing. This is a case that should make every parent’s blood boil. We can only hope enough money is raised to fight for the rights of the family, and that the hospital, their doctors and lawyers pay big time for what they are doing. The judge also needs to be investigated for her role in the matter.

I feel especially out of sorts because of my daughter’s experience at that hospital in 2004.

Our youngest daughter is afflicted with a rare neurological condition called Pseudotumor Cerebri (PTC), also known by some practitioners as Intracranial Hypertension (IH). The condition is characterized by the production of too much cerebrospinal fluid, leading to pressure within the brain, causing horrendous headaches, blindness, deafness, nerve damage and other problems. She also has a Chiari I Malformation at the base of her brain, making the PTC much worse.

One of the symptoms of PTC is swelling of the optic nerves, or papilledema. However, about 30 percent of the cases do not exhibit with papilledema and our daughter is in that group.  Over the past ten years she has had many central nervous system surgeries at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Chicago, including shunts in both her brain ventricles and spine.

She also has what she chooses to call “Pervasive Autoimmune Disorder,” and has been diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythmatosis, Ehlers-Danlose Syndrome, Sjogren’s Syndrome, and now possibly Myesthenia Gravis, etc. and etc. She is ill most of the time. I will undoubtably address the issues of medical practice aside from ObamaCare, but not yet.

At one point our girl pulled herself together in spite of her pain and was attending Northeastern University in Boston when she became severely ill. She was told by her local physician to go to Children’s Hospital, Boston, even though she was already over the age of 18 (barely). Her father left Alaska for Boston as soon as he could, but she had to be alone in the hospital for three days. The doctors of Boston Children’s went to work on her, with questionable intent which, I think, became malice, probably because she is so medically knowledgable and argued her points. A letter later written by the Chief Neurosurgeon at Boston’s indicated her medical acumen was not proper and made her suspect. He also accused her of just wanting to “. . . use up all her parent’s money.”

To make a long story short, the docs finally ganged up on her and told her she could not possibly have PTC because she did not have papilledema. When she protested that not everyone did, more of the big guns were sent into her room to berate her, while she was lying in bed, for not listening to them, and then they lied to her by saying they had contacted her neurosurgeon in Chicago who now agreed with them that she was not sick at all and just wanted attention. The psychiatrist who was on staff was particularly insufferable.

When she asked why her neurosurgeons had operated on her so many times  when she supposedly had nothing wrong, the docs became even more arrogant and condescending. They let her know she was just a lowly peon who had no standing in their august company, that she had no business questioning THEM and then left the room. When her father reached the hospital just a few hours later, he found a thoroughly demoralized and sobbing girl who was being kicked out of the hospital. I guess we were lucky she’d just had her birthday. Her personal medical records, which she had brought in and requested be left in her room, had been confiscated by a nurse and were never found, then or later, and they discharged her from a CHILDREN’S hospital at 2 A.M. while the good citizens of Boston were tearing up the town after a World Series win. It was a mess.

Two days later as our daughter and her father were preparing to leave for Chicago, she remembered she was scheduled to see the hospital’s neuro ophthalmologist, whom she liked, and decided to keep the appointment. His diagnosis? Pseudotumor Cerebri, WITHOUT PAPILLEDEMA. The OFFENSIVE doctors probably never even read his report.

As you can tell, our family has no love for Children’s Hospital, Boston nor any respect for the competence and attitudes of their staff. And, no, the Chicago Neurosurgeon did not agree with their findings, the doctors at Children’s were just lying.

It’s long past time for the Board of Directors at Children’s Hospital, Boston to demand a complete investigation of all policies and personnel at their institution and clean the place up.

One can always hope that the physicians and other personnel involved in the present case, and, of course, the not-so-wonderful-judge, will get their just dues.

In the meantime, our advice is to think twice, and NEVER, EVER take your child to that hospital if you can possibly help it.

ECONOMIC SURVIVAL IN AN ERA OF STUPIDITY

Economics, Politics, , , , ,

“IF THE DEVIL HAD FINGERS, HIS PRINTS WOULD BE ALL OVER THE WORLD.”  Anonymous

I keep hearing Speaker Boehner and Mr. Ryan touting their silly, disloyal and self-defeating Budget deal, and in my mind in the background I hear the Odious Harry Reid, Nancy (“embracing” her own “suck”) Pelosi, and the very juvenile Obama laughing all the way to where ever it is they think they are heading. I recently coined the term “complicitors” to cover such people as these, who try to destroy all of us out of a desire for power but who also destroy themselves out of sheer stupidity. I think with this “deal” we can add many names to the list of complicitors, some because they are fools and others because they have no backbone.

The Devil is always in the details, and that is where his fingerprints are to be found. It’s time for us to “find out what’s in the bill”, in part at least. All the “fingerprints” have not been seen yet.

1.   $85 Billion in Cuts, spread over ten years. It starts “down the road”, so don’t hold your breath.
2.    The Sequester is gone for now.  $63 Billion restored here. Doesn’t this leave just $22 Billion in supposed cuts? Remember that the “draconian” Sequester was the idea of Obama and was really just a reduction in the rate of INCREASE to the Budget. To have honesty in our budgets we must move to zero-based budgeting, and get a Balanced Budget Amendment.
3.   ObamaCare is NOT defunded. In fact it is funded for two years.
4.   Extension of Unemployment Benefits is Out. But only for now. First we have to see what the Senate does. Odious Harry Reid will tackle this.
5.   The Military Budget Is Increased. One can only hope.
6.   No Changes to Entitlements. We can always print more money. Right?

And the whole deal, by design, does not even address the Debt Ceiling. Undoubtedly many details are yet unseen and unanalyzed.

The Senate will now do the bidding of their Master, Harry Reid, and add, add and add again to the bill. And all the purported savings? Hey, those are W-A-Y W-A-Y down the road and are never meant to be real, so forget them. Mr. Ryan, you have been royally sucker-punched, along with everyone in the House who admired you enough to follow your lead. Perhaps the people who voted for you and those who wished you well will feel as though they got punched by a sucker.

Since it only happens in Fairy Tales, there is nothing like spinning straw into gold.

Whom do you name RUMPLESTILTSKIN?

GOVERNMENT SPENDING (and Barbarians) – YET AGAIN

Economics, Politics, , , , , , , ,

“Conservative groups . . . are ridiculous”  “. . .they are misleading their followers . . . I think they’ve lost all credibility.”  John Boehner (R), Speaker of the House
 
Here we are, over SEVENTEEN TRILLION  dollars in debt with more piling on every second of every day, idiots like Mr. Boehner in charge, lies and cowardice running rampant, and what are we to do? Send off yet another blast-fax? Is anyone at all even THINKING, let alone LISTENING?

When John Boehner can speak so crassly and stupidly of the Conservatives in his party, why should they support him in anything he attempts to do, even if it looks OK on the surface? What rocks and shoals await the unwary? I agree totally with defunding the Republican Party and have not given to them in years.

I, personally, am not a member of the Tea Party, but wish I were in a position to join and support them. I often think about the good things they do in standing up for the Constitution and that they are the adults in the room, toilet trained, respectful, sane, cleaning up after themselves, what more can we ask?

That Occupy Wall Street group, who seem to be in love with their bodily excretions (does this prove Freud’s anal phase?), especially in public places and smeared on cop’s cars; their disrespect for persons and property; their general filth and lack of thought, leave me with the proverbial “chill up the spine.”

Now we have ObamaCare tearing the nation apart while said Obama goes to South Africa and again reveals himself as not only a narcissist but a horny juvenile to boot, with no sense of proper behavior or decorum whatsoever. One can only hope his wife does read him the riot act and teach him some manners. I also hope the people of Denmark chastise their ostensible “leader” for her actions on such a supposedly solemn occasion.

The charming Nancy Pelosi (DEMOCRAT), House Minority Leader, has told the Democrats they’ll just have to “embrace the suck” over the budget deal and ObamaCare. What is that party thinking, having such a woman as one of their “leaders”? Are they really proud of her, or of themselves for that matter? Yuch!

The very people who should set the standards of morality and manners (at least) are the very ones who embarrass both themselves and their countries. The barbarians are not just at the gates, they are HERE.

It was Patrick Henry who said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
Lately I have begun to think that we are in the midst of those “times” again and there are few willing to confront our condition in any honest way.

WHAT ARE WE DOING TO OUR CHILDREN?

Musings, Politics, , ,

“. . . whoso shall offend one of these little ones . . . ” Matthew 18:6

The radio wakened me this morning to the news that a six year old boy in Colorado was being charged with “sexual harassment” for kissing the cheek of a little girl he liked. The principal of the school said the charge would be permanent on his school records. I was rolling my eyes at such stupidity when the news played the little boy’s voice saying, “I did something wrong.” At that point I almost cried and wanted to scream, “NO, YOU DIDN’T!!” It was not a good beginning to the day.

What in the world are we doing to our children? Six years old and this child thinks he did something “WRONG”, when he did no such thing. And now he faces the threat of this idiocy hanging over him for the rest of his school years. At some time or other every little boy innocently kisses a little girl. Most big boys sometimes innocently do the same thing, too. Almost all women have male (and female) friends who hug them and kiss their cheek. That’s just who they are – huggers and touchers.

Doctors and nurses know that all patients, from birth to death, crave human contact; that preemies are more likely to thrive and survive if they are held, caressed and spoken to. Some hospitals have volunteers who feed and rock babies so they receive important touching.

I have heard parts of, but not read in full, a report about developing a conscience in children. One researcher said that the first step is to hold and talk or sing to babies so they learn they can trust and care for those around them. Another researcher said that trust is the cornerstone of conscience. Sounds about right to me.

The war against boys is such a farcical thing it makes one want to laugh and cry at the same time. And what does this war do to little girls? Can they grow up happy when they are forced not to trust any of the boys, or men for that matter, around them? And yes, I do know you have to teach children to recognize inappropriate behavior, but there are correct ways to do so without scaring them to death.

My grandmother died when my mother was barely six years old, and mom’s father was a rather shy and undemonstrative man who didn’t quite know how to rear his four little girls by himself, so he made sure they were fed and clothed, and left the loving to visiting aunts and friends. My mother missed the love and touching of a parent and grew up craving human touch and contact so much. Sometimes when I would visit I would reach out and scratch her back or hold her while we watched TV. She would sigh and open like a thirsty flower. I could feel her wrap herself around in my expressions of love through touch.

What happens to this little boy and girl in Colorado now that they have been shell-shocked by the so-called adults around them? Do they feel that all people who hug them are evil? That if they want to hug or kiss someone they themselves are bad? Do they ever trust anyone at all? What are the long term consequences of cutting off completely normal actions of the people around them?

Fathers and mothers need to stand up for the right of their children to be children and do the normal things that all little children do. It is really past time to attach shame to the so-called professionals who don’t use common sense and indulge themselves in bringing harm to little children.

THE QUICKSAND THAT IS GOVERNMENT

Politics, ,

“The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good, but nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity and until they do (and find the cure) all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.”    Richard Feynman

Today we once again find ourselves in the dirt and muck of government stupidity, and because the swamp that is Washington D. C. needs to be seriously drained, quicksand has entrapped us all. Just try to lift your feet out of the mud and find someone who will help you to solid ground. Chances are not too good that anyone will be there. It all depends on who you know, how much money you “donate” to whom, and how well you know how to play the political games.

There are so few who win elections and actually attempt to correct the problems that beset this country. Those who do are attacked mercilessly, even by their supposed friends. What are we, the patriots who stand by the law of the land, the Constitution, to do in this situation?

Some throw up their hands in despair, and it is tempting to withdraw from all public and political life, but I am reminded here of a statement by Plato: “The punishment that the wise suffer who refuse to take part in government, is to live under the government of worse men.”

Can it get much worse? The worse men and women are in charge today and they tell lies on top of lies on top of even more lies, ad nauseum. They even seem to believe their own lies. Again, what do we do?

Study history, not just about our land, and the founders, but also about people who would be our leaders today. Study their records. What are the outcomes of programs or laws they have championed? Are they constitutional? Have the programs worked? If not, should we get rid of them? Right away or over time so people can adjust? Should we get rid of the people who continue to do the same things in spite of failure and ask for more and more money?

Learn to question everything. Look between the lines. Check serious meanings, imagine outcomes.

Don’t be afraid to question your most deeply held beliefs. Have the courage to change yourself if you need to. Walk away from any group or person who will not be civil to your opinions and your right to express them.

One thing people loved about Richard Feynman, who is quoted above, was his “no nonsense” approach to life and his joy in living. Remember the hullabaloo after the Challenger explosion? Mr. Feynman was the gentleman who, on a national TV report by the investigating committee, placed the “O” ring in a glass of ice water to show how the ring failed because of cold during take-off. There were many members of the committee unhappy with his actions. Apparently some of them thought such a “simplistic” approach was demeaning to them personally and to the company who had failed in their specs for the flight. There were those who would have white-washed the whole matter if they could.

Mr. Feynman knew government stupidity when he saw it and didn’t pull any punches about what he saw. Listen carefully to those who speak up, listen even more carefully when they are attacked. Maybe some of them are as smart as Richard Feynman, who also said we need to find the cure for government stupidity. Want to bet on when that will happen?

THE GREATEST EVIL

Politics, , ,

The greatest evil is not done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see the final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars, and cut fingernails, and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.
                                                                      C. S. Lewis

This is such a frightening thought, that evil comes with soft voices and under the guise of well-meaning, reasonable men (and women) who want only the “best” for every one. The thought alone makes one feel — slimed??

How do real people fight against such evil? You and I, who have no voice in such offices, or with the hollow men who glide on silent feet to enslave the world and make it in their own image, where do we go and what do we say to their unhearing ears and dead hearts and minds? How do we reject such ends? Sometimes it seems that war becomes the only weapon left.

Only bumper sticker mentality thinks that “giving peace a chance” will halt the progress of evil. Does no one remember the wars to end all wars? The  agreements to never forget, to scrap our weapons and disband our armies and live in peace forevermore? Evil smiles and goes underground in such times, lulling peaceful people to sleep.

Wake now. Anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear truth must have the heart and courage to face facts: our nation and world are in perilous times. Times where, once again, the hollow men and women are in charge of the institutions meant to protect freedom and law. Look and listen carefully, you will know who they are.

They are the liars and oath breakers who no longer care to even hide their tracks. As their power seems to grow, we are left in wonderment at their ability to lie so smoothly, with such facile ease. No shame attaches to them, and yet they point the finger of shame at anyone who has the courage to speak out and confront the lies.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has promised to fight our battles if we will but trust in HIM, repent of our evil doing and follow HIS ways. If we will but ask for guidance for the safety of our land and people is there still time to stand fast and free? Will we need to fight, and will we have His blessing if we do? Only He can answer that question, but our hearts need to be open and brave to fight if we must.

LOOK TO THE STARS

Musings,

How often at night when the heavens are bright
With the light of the glittering stars,
Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed,
If their glory exceeds that of ours.

Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
and the skies are not cloudy all day.
. . . . . . . . . .

Laying on the lawn at night gazing at the stars and learning the constellations from our father and mother, who had learned them from their fathers and mothers, and they from theirs, back, back into the past, was one of the joys of me and my brothers. We loved learning the difference between stars and planets and finding the Pole Star of true north. There was Orion with his gleaming sword, the Great and Little Bears, Cassaeopia’s throne, and yes, we did learn the Latin names, too. Do parents still lie on the ground with their children and show them the heavens? Or are their children so enthralled with Social Media, texting, computer games and the like that they never look up at the heavens, still less what might be at their own feet?

I can’t help but ask myself when I see the Mall Zombies wandering down the halls, rude and foul mouthed, not even seeing or caring about other other people, what they will do when the plug gets pulled and the lights go out. Are they even prepared to take care of themselves if the need arises? How will your children fare? Do they know how to work or even be responsible in any way?

I think we have many people who will succumb to despair and fear in straitened circumstances, while others will turn to crime and violence to get what they want.

Lest you think I have not seen such circumstances, I was living in Alaska on March 27, 1964 when the Good Friday earthquake struck. We were fortunate in Anchorage then because for the most part people were somewhat prepared and helped each other. But there were certainly others who indulged in uncivil and criminal acts.

We need to strengthen our children, homes and communities to prepare them for what they may face.

Parents and children need to bless the ties that bind them and learn together the things of glory that surround them.

Even now, living far north, where one cannot even see stars in summer and it’s so cold to be out in winter, our children show their children the stars and northern lights, rousing them in the middle of the night, bundling them and carrying them out to SEE.

I love to sing the forgotten verse of “Home On The Range” to remember those beautiful times and the questions of creation. Do any of the other stars’ glory exceed that of our own?

Why are we so afraid to acknowledge all the beauty around us, to be thankful for creation’s miracle? Make time to teach your children of wonder. Caring parents used to do that in order to humanize their children, to pass on their own love and wonder.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY

Biblical Wisdom, , , ,

THOU SHALT KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY. (Part Five)

. . . it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.  Matthew 12:12

The question we are left with is whether the commandment to keep the sabbath day holy applies to us today, and, if it does, how do we keep the commandment?

Let’s back up and read again a charge given by Moses to the Children of Israel and then the sabbath day commandment itself:

“The Lord spoke those words – those and no more – to your whole congregation at the mountain.” Exodus 5:10.  “Be careful then to do as the Lord has commanded you. Do not turn to the right or the left.”  Exodus 5:29

THE COMMANDMENT:

“Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work — you, your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God freed you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.”

In the commandment there is the charge to keep the sabbath holy; for you and your family to do no work, nor are you to require anyone else, including strangers and slaves, or even animals, to do any work on the sabbath day. The third charge is to remember that the Israelites had been slaves and that God had made them free. Those three things and no more.

Jesus and His disciples were always sabbath keepers, but their enemies put forth that they were sabbath breakers, mostly because Jesus often healed on the sabbath. It was in answer to one such charge that Jesus said: “Wherefore, it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.” On another occasion He declared:  “ . . . the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: therefore the Son of man is also Lord of the sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28). If Jesus is Lord of the sabbath then Christians must be under the sabbath law.

After the death of Moses, the Israelites soon encumbered sabbath day observance with rules and ideas far beyond those three simple thoughts.  Of course there are always questions: Who feeds the chickens and milks the cows? Who does such essential chores and cleans up after the children and the sick? Apparently those matters did have to be clarified, and so “rules” were made. This led to such sensible things as being able to “pull your ox out of the mire” on the sabbath. It also led to many things that seem  inconsequential to us in our day but which are still debated in many fundamentalist circles. Which is the real sabbath, Saturday or Sunday? How many steps may one walk on the sabbath? Is flipping on a light switch work? What is carrying a burden? May one drive a car? Depending on the religion one follows, the questions – and answers – seem endless.

So what are you and I to do? The “essentials” have multiplied so much in our time. We still must “heal” on the sabbath, so hospitals and health care people are on duty. Communications must run. The list can be extended. Some people just cannot have their sabbaths free from “work.”

So how do we keep the sabbath day holy? For our family the answer is to make things simple. As much as possible we attend church on the sabbath; we don’t go to movies or other entertainments; we don’t participate in or attend sporting events; unless we are traveling we don’t eat out so others don’t have to work for us; we do no shopping on the sabbath, unless it’s an unavoidable emergency; we try to study the scriptures and just keep things as simple as possible. In short we attempt to devote our time to God. To do well on the sabbath.

I have met people who must work on Saturday or Sunday so they set aside another day as their sabbath. I think God would honor such a commitment. Another good friend studies and prays each morning of the week for at least an hour and feels she keeps the sabbath all week. I can’t say she’s wrong.

Each of us Is faced with the sabbath day challenge if we wish to return to the laws of God.

These are the three charges to Israel: Keep the sabbath holy, require no labor from anyone on the sabbath and remember you were a slave so you know where your liberty comes from. The basic premise of God’s laws is to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land.” (Lev. 25:10). There are Jewish commentaries that indicate only free people are capable of redemption and that is why the Israelites had to be removed from slavery in Egypt. That third requirement of the law, to remember you were a slave, means that sabbath day worship and liberty are somehow inextricably connected.

We can be slaves to many things in this life. Maybe what we need to remember as part of our sabbath is that truth, which comes from God, is what sets us free. Is that part of the link between the sabbath and liberty? This is a matter I have not fully been able to understand, but I feel that it is true and someday someone will be able to explain it.

If we develop faith that the sabbath is made for man as a blessing, then the day will come when we will ” . . . call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the  Lord, honorable.” (Isaiah 58:13).

How and why was the sabbath made for you and me?

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY

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THOU SHALT KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY (Part Four)
                            
THE CURSING AND ITS RESULT

Continuing the message of Jeremiah, the Prophet, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 17 KJV):

27. But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; THEN I WILL KINDLE A FIRE IN THE GATES THEREOF, AND IT SHALL DEVOUR THE PALACES OF JERUSALEM AND IT SHALL NOT BE QUENCHED.
. . .

And guess which offer the inhabitants of Jerusalem chose?

So war came. People outside of the city of Jerusalem were carried captive to Babylon and the city itself was besieged. In spite of having supplies of food and underground cisterns of clean water, after two years of siege people starved, fought each other for food, and parents killed and ate their own children. When Jerusalem finally fell, most of the remaining inhabitants in the city were killed by the sword. Over 1,500,000 people perished as a result of the siege. Thereafter the temple was desecrated when the priests were forced to sacrifice pigs on the altar, it was then razed and its treasures taken to Babylon. The remaining people were carried captive as slaves into Babylon.

King Zedekiah was forced to watch all of his sons be ceremonially killed, after which his eyes were put out. The blind king was then taken to Babylon to live as a prisoner in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace where he was also made to eat at the King’s table with the very man who murdered his family.

And they could have been saved had they simply kept the sabbath day holy.

The people of Judah would not be allowed to return home for forty years, and the Kingdom would never again be whole and strong. When the forty years were fulfilled, Cyrus, the Persian, would send some Jews home, and the prophet Ezra and a few others would return and rebuild some of the walls of the temple and establish a presence in the land. Priests were ordained but served in a conquered land. As was their custom, the Babylonians would move captives from other conquered lands into the former Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. These displaced persons decided to worship the same God as the previous inhabitants so they pretended to be Israelites. They were called Samaritans and were hated by the Jews who were left in the land. Even in the time of Jesus the Samaritans were outcasts from life among the people of Judah.

Again, the question for us remains. Do we still need to keep the Sabbath Day holy? Will our land and people change if we do? How will it help us as individuals?

Do you know how to keep the Sabbath Day and do you believe it would help our land remain free?

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY

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THOU SHALT KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY (Part Three)
                                           
THE BLESSING PROMISED BY GOD TO JERUSALEM

The message of Jeremiah, the Prophet, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that Great City: (Jeremiah 17 KJV)

21. Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;

22. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, nor do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
. . . . . . . . . .

24. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein:

25. THEN SHALL THERE ENTER INTO THE GATES OF THIS CITY KINGS AND PRINCES SITTING UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID, RIDING IN CHARIOTS AND ON HORSES, THEY, AND THEIR PRINCES, THE MEN OF JUDAH, AND THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM: AND THIS CITY WILL REMAIN FOR EVER.
. . . . . . . . . .
And so the great blessing was promised. Think of it, all they had to do was keep the Sabbath Day holy and their city would remain forever.  Does such a promise apply to us? Is keeping the Sabbath Day holy the best thing we can do to keep our land free and safe?

When God sent angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah He revealed His plan to Abraham, and Abraham argued with God to spare the cities if he could find 50, then 40, or 30, or 20, or even 10 righteous souls therein. There were not enough righteous people to spare the cities from destruction. How may our righteousness work to save us and how many of us need there be? Is the righteousness of the people in our land at least partially determined by our Sabbath Day observance?

Three BIG Questions:  What is it about Sabbath worship and observance that would have made the people of Jerusalem worthy of God’s blessing? Does such observance change us to make us worthy of those blessings, too? How do you think such observance can change you and me?

More tomorrow.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY

Biblical Wisdom, , , ,

THOU SHALT KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY (Part Two)

The following brief history of the split Kingdoms of Israel and Judah may be helpful in understanding the importance of sabbath day worship for the children of Israel, and the decision we must make about whether or not it applies to us.

The Children of Israel split into two kingdoms after the death of King Solomon, the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel was the first to fall into idolatry and wickedness, and the people were conquered and taken away captive by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. They have not been found since, hence the “lost Ten Tribes of Israel.”

By about 600 B.C., the Kingdom of Judah had also turned away from God. Under King Zedekiah, and others before him, the people had become idolatrous, indulged in fertility rites to heathen gods, sacrificed their own children by burning them alive before Baal and Moloch, and the poor and needy were abused and neglected by all, including the judges and the rich. At that time the City of Jerusalem was referred to as a “great” and indestructible city, though many today think of it as a dusty little backwater. In truth over 1,500,000 souls would perish there during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.

God sent many, many prophets to call the people to repentance. Not only did the people refuse their messages, they also stoned and killed any prophets they could. Jeremiah was the chief prophet from that period. He was told by God that He, God, had known Jeremiah before He had formed him in the belly and that he was called as a prophet to the nations, plural, even though he left the land of Judah only once when he was forced to go to Egypt with some Jewish escapees and was killed there. Were his words to the nations also meant for us?

Jeremiah never relented from his calling even though he was beaten, threatened continually, and was at one time imprisoned for a long time in a hole in the ground where people could come to spit and urinate on him, throw garbage and mock and stone him, until the King heard the words Jeremiah spoke even from the pit. Zedekiah felt threatened by the situation and released the prophet.

It is important to know that everything with God is a two-sided coin, a commandment comes from Him with a promise of blessings IF the people are obedient, or with a cursing if they break the commandment.

The time came when God sent Jeremiah to both King Zedekiah and all the people of Jerusalem with a message that informed every one of the choice they would have to make, and what the consequences of that choice would be.

What Believers now need to decide for our land is if that same message is valid for us. When the angels of God come to sift our cities, will the words of Jeremiah stand against our nation, too?

Consider the words of the prophets well.

Part Three coming up.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY

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THOU SHALT KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY (Part One)

I had thought of beginning at the beginning, but I think if we really want to do something of worth for our country the following may be more urgent.

There was a time in the United States, not that long ago, when so-called “Blue Laws” were in effect in almost every State. Businesses were closed on the Sabbath, alcohol could not be served, church-bells rang out and called the faithful to commune in prayer. Why was such an “unconstitutional” thing ever allowed?

The people who settled America, contrary to popular revisionist history, were, by-and-large, a God believing and God fearing people, steeped in Holy Biblical Scripture and Judeo-Christian ethics. Central to worship of God was the belief that it was He who created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time (what those “periods” or “days” meant will be argued until we “know all things”), and that even the Great God Himself rested on the seventh day. And when He gave to man his reckoning, He commanded all men to also rest on the Sabbath Day, the first Holy Day.

There is a question here that is not fully answered by the biblical text. Were all people from the time of Adam under command to keep the Sabbath day holy? Were people like Noah and the Patriarchs under the Sabbath day law? When the Israelites left Egypt they were told not to gather manna on the Sabbath before the commandment was codified on the stone tablets. So it would seem that the law existed from the beginning.

Why would God be so concerned for His creatures that He would assign them a day of rest? What blessings would accrue to man from that law? Why did our forebears in America think that such a law was so important they codified it beyond the Scriptures and enjoined it upon their children? In short, why did we have those “Blue Laws” for so many decades?

These are not specious questions, but are as relevant today as they were in the beginning. God required not only Sabbath Day worship, but also established sabbaths upon the land when it was finally granted to the Children of Israel. Modern man knows that those Sabbath Years were important in caring for the land, to let it rest and again become fertile and productive. Also in those Sabbath Years the poor shared in what the land produced without aid. So two important functions were put into effect.

God blessed the land with His protection and divine grace, so long as the people loved and honored Him and kept His commandments.

What is so important in keeping the Sabbath Day holy? Should you and I even be concerned with such  question? How does breaking this commandment affect our homes, cities and states today?

More tomorrow.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS – Overview

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“Be careful then to do as The Lord has commanded you. Do not turn to the right or the left.”  Moses to the Israelites, Exodus 5:29, Tanakh, JPS

The text of The Ten Commandments was codified by the hand of  The Lord while the Children of Israel were encamped in the desert at a place they called Horeb. Moses, the great prophet and lawgiver, went up to Mount Sinai, where he conversed with The Lord for forty days and nights and The Lord wrote His commandments on two tablets of stone, even while the people turned their hearts away from God and convinced Aaron, the brother of Moses, to make them a golden calf to worship. The Lord told Moses to return to the camp because the people were rebelling. Moses saw the people dancing and cavorting about their idol and in anger he threw the stone tablets to the ground, completely destroying them.

God said He would destroy all the Israelites and start over with Moses and his descendants to make a great people. Moses turned down that offer, and pleaded with the Lord to spare the Israelites. Thereafter Moses again spent forty days and nights on the mountain in the presence of The Lord and returned with new tablets containing the Commandments, which formed the basis for all Judeo-Christian laws, the laws upon which Western Civilization was founded.

Today there are many people who deny the part those Commandments have played in the development of modern society and seem to hate any reference to them in the public square. The very thought of The Ten Commandments is an affront to their tender sensibilities, and so they demand not freedom OF religion, but freedom FROM religion. This demand means that believers in the word of God must acquiesce to the total surrender of any public statement of their faith. It also means the complete denial and rewriting of history and the complete obliteration of the very existence of the Word of God.

Why such hatred and fear? Can they not just turn their heads if something is so offensive? That’s what the rest of us are forced to do when we are offended. Is it that their behavior is so shameful they cannot stand to be reminded of what they are and they no longer want to be held accountable for their actions? Do they seek to justify their evil?

If the TRUTH will make us free, then the opposite is also true, we are slaves to the lies we believe. Our children deserve to know the truth of their own history and we can no longer stand still for the loss of historical truth.

Here is the Tanakh text of the Ten Commandments as translated into English by the Jewish Publication Society. It reads a little differently than the standard King James Version, but the changes are interesting.

The Ten Commandments -Tanakh Version

Deuteronomy 5:1-17

Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the laws and rules that I proclaim to you this day! Study them and observe them faithfully!

The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our fathers that The Lord made this covenant, but with us, the living, every one of us who is here today. Face to face the Lord spoke to you on the mountain out of the fire – I stood between the Lord and you at that time to convey the Lord’s words to you, for you were afraid of the fire and did not go up to the mountain– saying:

I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods beside me.

You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters below the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the Lord your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God; for the Lord will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.

Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God freed you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may long endure, and that you may fare well, in the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not crave your neighbor’s house, or his field, or his male or female slave, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
. . . . . . .

There you have the Lord’s simple prescription to save a troubled society.

More to come.

POSSIBILITIES

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“With God all things are POSSIBLE.” — Matthew 19:26
“Without God all things are PERMISSIBLE.” — Fyodor Dostoyevski
“Without God all things are INEVITABLE.” — Gertrude Himmelfarb (?)

When I first read it, I thought the scripture in Matthew meant that since GOD was all powerful anything was possible for HIM, and it was a novel concept to begin to understand that if we have GOD with us then all things are possible for US. It certainly makes our human possibilities more profound.

Around us are people lost and struggling because they have cut themselves away from any moorings to God and think they have the right, the permission to do anything they wish. When there is nothing beyond his own will to consult it is easy for any man to become a law unto himself. When a man reaches that point in his life, anything at all becomes permissible, and there is no price to be paid except in the lives of others who run afoul of those who so believe.

Beyond being permissible, though, is the inevitable result of having no mooring in the reality of what happens to one’s soul when a person exercises unrighteous dominion over others, and the havoc one evil man or woman can cause to a nation and its people. When people with no moral foundations reach positions of power they pose a danger to everyone and everything within their sway.

Understanding how another can sear his or her conscience to the point where it no longer exists, to become a psychopath, is beyond the experience of most people, and they fail to recognize the danger in the facile charm that seems to be a trademark of the psychopaths among us.

The inevitable result when such people gain power is the loss of liberty and goodness for all they touch. Truth becomes one of the first casualties in the battle, and lies become coin of the realm.

You and I, in order to protect truth and integrity, must follow God, understanding that if HE is with us, all things truly are possible. Through study of the doings of men, prayer about all matters that face us, and honesty in our assessments, we need to ask ourselves, “What would HE have us do?” Sometimes facing that answer will cause us pain and fear. Repentance and a return to virtue are certain to be required. Great courage to repair our own lives will be needed in the task before us if we are to maintain our liberty.

In repairing our lives perhaps Herman Melville said it best: “IN THIS WORLD . . . SIN THAT PAYS ITS WAY CAN TRAVEL FREELY AND WITHOUT A PASSPORT, WHEREAS VIRTUE, IF A PAUPER, IS STOPPED AT ALL FRONTIERS.” (Moby Dick)

Virtue is truly a pauper in our world, but it is also said to be it’s own reward. It seems then that virtue is an internal and personal matter between each man and God. External frontiers, such as public scorn and ridicule, should not deter us from holding on to and having faith in virtue as one source in our search for the truth that makes us free.

Will enough people repair their lives and regain faith in the possibility of having God help our nation in its struggle?

“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.”  DeToqueville

MY FATHER THE RACIST?

Musings, ,

“Those people get cold and hungry, too.”  Henry, my father

My father was a young man during the real Great Depression. He was a “hobo” who “rode the rails” all over the western United States, sharing boxcars with other men also in dire circumstances. He drifted from place to place looking for any work he could find and working hard for every penny or food he earned.

He also made life-long friends, both among those who helped him and those he rode the rails with. He and his friends referred to each other in racial terms that are totally unacceptable today and they thought nothing of it. In fact, they were terms of endearment for his group. Dad was known as “that hard-headed Finn”, usually accompanied by some other more colorful expletives, and almost all of those he knew referred to themselves by their pejorative racial identities.

Daddy finally found work in a copper mine, married and settled down a few years before World War II began. Times were still tough but with the beginning of the war the depression officially ended and dad found what was considered a defense job as a night shift switchman for the Denver and Rio Grand Western Railroad. He still loved being around trains and worked for the Railroad until his death.

When I was a child there was only one black family in our community and we children never met them. They were spoken of by the adults we knew in terms that today would be very derogatory. I think we children heard every racial epithet in the book. By today’s standards, daddy and his friends would certainly be considered “racists” by referring to all groups in such language.

Coming from the Depression generation, money was a huge factor in dad’s life. He never wasted a penny if he could help it and he lived by the maxim “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” So when he came home from work one extremely cold winter morning and announced that he had “lost” his winter coat and “broken” his thermos my mother was completely baffled and kept trying to get him to tell her how in the world such a thing had happened. He told her to stick to her own problems and just get a new coat and thermos for him.

The next payday mom took me with her while, as usual, she went to railroad accounting to pick up dad’s paycheck. One of dad’s co-workers was also there and came out to our car laughing and said, “Henry nearly froze to death when he gave that black hobo his coat and thermos and fed him his lunch.” He also said dad brought the man into the switchmen’s shed to “warm up and hide from the railroad dicks until the train left and then he even helped him get aboard a boxcar without being seen.” When mom told daddy what she had learned he looked embarrassed and muttered, “Those people get cold and hungry, too.”

Since I had never met any black person I had assumed daddy didn’t like them. But what I heard that day left me with a very different perspective about my father.

My youngest brother, Dave, told me about our father taking him to the airport when he left for Vietnam. He said that everyone leaving on the flight had family and friends seeing them off except for one young black man from out-of-town. Dave walked around greeting friends when he realized dad was no longer with him. He found him sitting with his arms around the black kid, who was homesick, lonely and scared. Our father and Dave stayed with the boy right up until the boys boarded the plane and daddy hugged and kissed them both goodbye.

So, tell me, did my father’s words make him a racist? If so, what did his actions make him?

BETRAYAL

Politics, ,

“Traitors are the lowliest of God’s creatures, despised by those they betray, and secretly loathed by those they serve.”   Richard Paul Evans

Once again the odious, slimy Harry Reid has struck against the liberty of the American people. I know that eternal judgment belongs to God, but as free people we need to remember what the term judgment really means. Eternal judgment belongs to God, but here on earth and under our laws, generally a jury of the accused’s peers hears the evidence and decides guilt or innocence, then a Judge decides the punishment or doom of the guilty. We are the jury, not the judge.

With that in mind you and I need to know that each citizen has not only the right but the duty to decide if there is enough evidence to say an elected official has betrayed the country and broken his or her oath of office. I have decided for myself that we are surrounded by too many liars and oath breakers in all offices of our government. They need to be held accountable for their deeds and delivered to the judges.

To repeat: Once again the odious, slimy Harry Reid has struck against the liberty of the American people by changing Senate rules under the direction of an even more odious President, who is also guilty of lies to the people.

It is disenheartening to remember that the mess we presently face with Obamacare could have been avoided save for the actions of one man, Chief Justice John Roberts. What I hear from others indicates they suspect John Roberts and/or his family was threatened, that he had  been caught in some shameful act and blackmailed, that he wanted to be “accepted” by those in power, or that he is simply a traitor. It is a terrible thing to believe that any of those things could be true. Perhaps it is simply a sign of our times that not only are such suspicions voiced, but that they are so easy to believe.

How many other officials or bureaucrats in government service need to face a jury of their peers so that a judge may pronounce RIGHTEOUS judgment?

LANGUAGE III

Language, , , ,

“. . . within an established totalitarian regime the purpose of propaganda is not to persuade, much less to inform, but rather to humiliate.” Theodore Dalrymple

In the early stages of a totalitarian political upheaval, propaganda is always used to win the hearts and minds of the people being groomed for take-over, so it sounds soothing, reasonable and just. Once a core of supporters is established within a society, propaganda takes on a different purpose and is used to shape minds and make sure no one questions the purposes of the movement or its leaders. This is a very dangerous time for anyone on the inside who wavers in their commitment to the movement.

Once a totalitarian regime is established, propaganda takes on yet another purpose. The people as a whole now need to be controlled so new methods are set up for everyone but the strongest leaders. They control by trusting no one and intimidating and humiliating everyone below them. Any one who questions will be destroyed by any means at hand, whether it means blackmail, loss of home and fortune, threats to family, exile, prison and even death if deemed necessary.

This is also a dangerous time for the leaders because a Strongman will always arise and destroy any one he perceives to be a threat. No one is ever safe.

Eventually everyone in such a society is forced to participate in the evil used against them in order to assure their own survival. They are afraid to speak out against what is happening and give their silent assent to the destruction of their neighbors. They will eventually bear witness against even such neighbors and friends out of fear for their own safety and prosperity. All children are taught to turn against their parents and siblings. And the propaganda includes visible punishment so that everyone knows what awaits them if they speak up. Everyone is humiliated by the lies and ugliness they are forced to participate in. Few people in such circumstances have the strength or will to resist and so they suffer even greater personal shame.

Solzhenitsyn’s novel The Third Circle paints a horrifying picture of people caught in Soviet communism and how they are all subverted by their leaders. In The Black Book of Communism actual first hand witnesses retell the true history of communism in several societies during the time they were under USSR domination and the Soviets were militarily meddling in other countries (which they still seem to be doing).

Why no one pays attention to the histories of the USSR and those countries left within their control after WWII,  or China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea and all other countries who have endured communism (you can safely read “socialism” here) is a continuing mystery to me.

What but soothing propaganda from on high keeps us believing we will never face such a fate?