lessidiots page 6

IRAQ: Why Man Wars!

2006-12-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

My pea-sized brain can't take much more of this: the "Iraq Study Group" ... this creature is a living oxymoron, let alone a living fossil. [Image]

The Baker-Hamilton Commission neither fairly represents the left nor the right; besides, who wants to be led by a consensus. Why have elections anymore? Take a poll! Lawdy, do any of our leaders still have brains (talk about oxymoron - "our leaders" and "brains" in the same sentence)?

I, along with hundreds of thousands of others, hate war ... hate it with a passion. In fact we hate conflict altogether and avoid it at great personal expense.

But once in awhile we need to flatten a nose or two because they exceed anyone's rational definition of "in your face."

Instead of invading our ears with a lazy-man's intellect, they invade our liberties ... though even there, we remain hesitant to go to battle. When anyone threatens our wives, our kids, and our neighbors ... bar the doors Hannah, it's donnybrook time!

I say to hell with polls as a substitute for leadership; disenfranchising people is not leadership, it's a sick form of elitism.

A free and educated public does not need polls to differentiate between something which is right and something which is patently wrong.

There is a reason why good and decent people go to war. They are forced to! It is oxymoronic to think "good and decent" people want war, want death, and want destruction! It's neurotic to think the West has a fixation on war; history and the facts repudiate that notion.

With Europe staggering left, and much of Latin America leaning with them, it's hard to understand why so many people in the West still believe we can talk our way out of this global hard spot! Gawd!!!!

At this juncture of history it is Mohammad who can't control his children ... take for example this from last week's news:

The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.

The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.

Or this from FOXNews this morning ...

Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

Shops, tea houses and other public places in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court.

To make matters worse we have the news from Central and South America: Chavez is reelected in Venezuela, Ortega is back in Nicaragua, Lopez Obrador almost wins in Mexico, Rafael Correa wins in Ecuador, and a Castro is still in power in Cuba. And Canada, well, like seaweed without roots, it's been drifting for years.

At this point, Regan's "cold war victory" has no meaning in this hemisphere any longer.

You're probably wondering if I've forgotten Iran's mini-me and North Korea's mentally Il nut job? I've not! Nor have I forgotten Hezbollah, Hamaz, Indonesia, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Lybya, Sudan, Somali, Chechnya, and China ... nor the Kashmirs nor those icons of peace, Hindu fundamentalists.

As a Christian, I've no problem with pure unadulterated biblical communism (Acts 2:44-45) ... there just isn't any such animal in our world (unless we believe the UN is a prototype)! Most people wouldn't know it if they lived under it anyway!

What, in God's name, is wrong with those of you who believe you can make agreements with lunatics and megalomaniacs? History shouts at us, "Peace at any price requires liberty's Deed of Trust!"

If the West doesn't get over this hyper-myopic view of the world, it's doomed. The current problem is not about Israel or Iraq or Bush or the USA, it's about a worldview which wants to dominate and take away your God given freedoms ... or simply kill you, whichever is the quickest means to domination.

Do the names Pol Pot, Stalin, Idi Amin, or Hitler have any historical meaning to you? It really never occurred to me I'd live to see history repeat itself in this asinine way ... global suicide is sickening.

Baker-Hamilton Commission, Bush 43, Capitulation, Communism,
Despots, Fanatics, Geo-politics, Iraq, Iraq Study Group,
Islam, Mohammed, Peace, Socialism, War, War on Terrorism

RECREATION: No, not that one, the other one!

2006-11-25T21:25:00.000-08:00

What do people have to do to keep others from trying to recreate them in their image?

Atypical Types
I blog and people want me to stop blogging one way and begin blogging another; I guess it tickles some inner fuzzy. They don't blog but know more about blogging than I do. Funny, I don't get advice from the Kos or Michelle, just an occasional reader or two who could really help me if I'd just do like they say.

I preach and some plumber tells me my sermon title isn't quite right ... "It will surely offend people; besides you know you can get more honey from vinegar," they say. How do they know? They don't preach. They're not even Toastmasters!

Maybe I want to offend some of them ne'er-do-wells; maybe the Lord wants to offend some of them too, you ever think of that?

Lady says solemnly, "You know I saw how you spoke to your daughter just now. You should be ashamed. Any good parent knows you nurture your young; strictness and chastisement went out with the last century."

She never had a kid in her life, and wouldn't know what to do with one if she did; never had a church youth group, taught a kid's Sunday School class, or babysat when a teenager.

Republicans tell Democrats they should be more like a pachyderm; Democrats tell Republicans it's not good enough to act like a Jackass, they need to be one.

My father told me I should be like my mother (rest her soul); my wife says, "If you weren't so much like your mother and more like your father."

And of course I'm a Christian so everyone (especially non-Christians and non-believers) knows more about being a Christian than Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and the Apostle Paul combined.

Psychobabylonia
Then there are the thought and speech police who reside clandestinely somewhere to the left of center who want us all to talk and think just like them ... even though we don't know who they are.

And Uncle Sam, who's been a bachelor all his life, tells me my kid doesn't need a spanking, she needs a timeout. Well, there ain't enough time in eternity for that one.

Sam says he realizes spankings have worked for 6,000 years but times have changed, children respond better today to psychobabble.

Well, you can't blame them; my wife and I are only beginners after all ... we stopped at six, and those six keep reproducing.

My doctor, who died of myocardial-infarction due to radiation poisoning from his Chemo treatments and on-the-job stress, wants me to eat like him, look like Sylvester, and live like Jack La Lane.

Faux Reality
The pharmaceutical companies want me to live longer, be stronger, and be prepared for 36 hours. I'd rather be an Eagle Scout. I'll start swallowing their offal when their advertising takes on some reality.

Hollywood says I must be a "to die for" husband and father with a "desperate" wife; one who goes to the poor house trying to save his adult children from their lives of decadence, debauchery, and drugs brought on by watching too much Hollywood entertainment (even though it is a known fact they do not influence behavior).

Academia wants us to be ourselves, as long as we're like them; while Mainstream Media and Hollywood would prefer us to be blithering idiots.

The Marines want a few good men; I'd be satisfied with one or two who just want to be authentic ... for everyone's sake.

God made us the way we are, we should be rock-solid proud of that!

Culture, God, Political correctness, Psychobabble,
Reality, Recreation, Speech police, Thought police

THANKSGIVING: Bah! Yawn! Humbug!

2006-11-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

The other day I read some rubbish about some guy who gives away money every Christmas in the Kansas City area. He says he has been trying to give people hope in a hopeless world. He says he is thankful for all he has and just wants to give some of it back. Yuck! Cough! Gag! Ha!

For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he's anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It's been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?

He is Larry Stewart, a 58-year-old businessman from the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, Mo., who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

Yea! That's easy to do, when you have all the breaks.

His holiday giving started in December 1979 when he was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant after getting fired. It was the second year in a row he had been fired the week before Christmas.

I know people who have been fired three and four times a year for years ... I know others who haven't worked in twenty or thirty years. This guy ought to be glad he could find a job to be fired from.

Do you know how hard it is to get together a few hundred bucks every month to buy smokes ... lordy, man, and feed the wife and kid too! Life is not beach!

Thanksgiving week ... bah humbug! What's to be thankful for?

Seriously, tell me two things your thankful for? Your wife? Bah! Every husband has one! Your husband? Gimme a break ... your really thankful for him? I didn't just get off a banana boat you know!

Isn't he the same guy who leaves skid marks in his Jockey shorts and then makes you wash 'em? Isn't he the guy who eats what took you an hour and a half to make in 250 seconds?

Isn't he the guy who spends $100 bucks every week end for brewskis and snacks for his high school buddies when they watch sports on TV; and isn't it him that gets mad when you don't have enough money for groceries?

Your kids? Seriously? You want a few days to think about that? Have you seen what kids grow up to be? Grown ups! Yea! Have you seen what kids look like today? The Alien is less frightening!

Take a look around then get back to me on that one. Besides, every parent has a least one and look at all the food they consume ... there'd be more food for the living without them; and, hey, you could get that new LCD/HD TV!

Your friends, your neighbors? Someone get me an ASB, I'm gonna throw up! Look at your friends; would you leave your kids or your wife in any of their hands for a night or two? I didn't think so! And your neighbors? Those sycophantic slobs ... you're kidding, right?

Okay - so you are thankful you live in America and that you are free to acquire property and hold wealth? And 80% of the world hates your guts because you can.

The problem as I see it is that you are no longer free like I was free when I was a child. You are no longer free as the founders intended. Take KELO for example ... after that dimwitted decision are you sure you can be certain of property owner's rights? Think again.

Oh, you're thankful you live in a post-industrial, post-modern, post-Christian age and not in the age your grandparents survived. Hhhhmmmm!!!!!!!

Have you considered this morning you're living in a time where there are wars or civil unrest in over half the nations on earth (or where there are rumors of the same)? Have you considered that in spite of the advances of science and industry there are still famines and pestilences virtually everywhere?

And, as you toasty feet hit the cool hardwood, did you consider the increase in natural disasters the past few years? And gawd what are we going to do about global warming? What was Dubya thinking when he turned his back on Kyoto?

Oh, you're thankful for the opportunities you have living in a free world ... where have you been hiding the past couple of decades?

I don't see anything to be thankful for except this crutch I carry around with me; of course ya'al say I need that crutch because I'm a wimp between the ears and I can't get through life on my own without it. Right!!!!

One thing is for sure ... we don't need any more of these psychopathic street philanthropists upsetting the local economy by giving cash away to people who won't get a job like decent people. Why don't they just go get a job! Then this guy could keep his silly generosity to himself ... and quit making us tightwads, well, feel like tightwads. Giving to those who don't earn it is just not in my dictionary.

"Yes? Lord, is that You? It is? What was that You said? You are going to take all that I have and put it where? Aw, Lord! That's not nice. You wouldn't really do that would ........?"

Charity, Compassion, Generosity, Kansas City,
Larry Stewart, Secret Santa, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving

AFTERMATH: It's The Fallout, Stupid!

2006-11-14T23:30:00.000-08:00

I've been sitting here in a stupor for about four days ... asking myself what's going on? Today I read this ...

The head of al Qaeda's Iraq operations yesterday gloated in a new audio tape over the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and praised U.S. voters for punishing President Bush and the Republicans in Tuesday's midterm elections. [WashTimes]

I'm no dummy, just a conservative. And I'm not talking about losing the Rummy, the House, and the Senate all in one week. No! Even the Libs and the Dems are not happy with the fallout. But it bugs the hell out of me that terrorists and their governments are gloating ... as if they have some reasonable alternative to America's largess.

On more than one account the Mohammedans (Muslims) are doomed to failure ... read another reason here.

But it's not just the elections and the war or lack there of ... it's the American people; in fact it's people in general ... we are all so darn self-serving!

My mind, though it's nowhere near on par with Dennis Prager, Patrick Moynihan, or Wm. F. Buckley, it's fried ochra better than what I'm seeing among the world's leaders ... especially ours. They must have known this present chaos would result ... didn't they? But they open their mouths and shoot themselves in the foot anyway; putting all of our lives in jeopardy.

Way back in my days in corporate planning, we had a slew of oral rules-of-thumb; two of my favorites follow (my metrics):

PROBLEMS
An abundance of reporters,
Yours shall always be;
But as for lowly solvers,
These you'll rarely see

And ...

DEFINITIONS
Thy problem thou shalt not solve,
Till it thou doest define;
If it thou must resolve,
Thy definition thou must refine

Corny, huh? But oh so darn true! Why can't people see that?

Herein lies the world's present dilemma: rule number one, with the assistance of MSM, is being violated at a rate several times the ability of solvers to keep up; while rule number two is being intentionally ignored for the sake of convenience, expedience, arrogance (read: hubris), ignorance (lack of knowledge), as well as several other character flaws among the general population.

Iran and Syria say that a Democrat-controlled Congress and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could relieve the pressure on them, officials from those countries said. [CNSNews]

The American people know their actions embolden their enemies, but apparently they don't care! American leaders of every stripe (here & here for example) have screwed the people for decades in this great nation and now, I believe, the people have responded in kind with a corporate, "Screw you!"

In my opinion this election said if we can't get rid of the political scum through honest elections then we're going to go for the gusto and get what we can for our families before there is no America. This take suggests the election results were not a message to Elephants or Donkeys but rather to politicians ... just a middle finger to the whole bunch.

What else can a disenfranchised people do? (Go at once and reread the Declaration of Independence)

The Clintocrats defined their 1992 campaign for the White House by the slogan "It's the economy, stupid!" It was intended to point to the solution for a Republican in the White House ... their perceived problem. But that wasn't the problem.

The problem was that the electorate had been disenfranchised; so, beginning in the 60s (with rare exception), the diminishment of electoral power resulted in all parties fielding progressively inferior national and local candidates (note most of them are lawyers).

The people are fed up, I tell you. The terrorist in Guantanamo is getting better legal assistance than Frank Farmer in Sioux Falls or Wanda Waitress in Orlando ... and he doesn't have to pay for it. It's the fallout of all this bickering and disingenuous discourse that endangers America ... "it's the fallout, stupid!" What do I mean by "the fallout"? The unintended consequences (see also the Butterfly Effect") of our actions.

This is what has me in a funk! Apparently the American people are unwilling to learn from history but willing to use their votes to help this nation self-destruct!

No, I am not having a sour grapes rant because my brainless party lost the elections ... they deserved to lose the elections! This is not about Democrats, Republicans, or any other party ... this is about the survival of America and perhaps of Western Civilization!

I hope no one is dumb enough to really believe that the Iraqi government will now and for all time be a democratic ally of the West in the Middle East ... wouldn't happen when it was first conceived of and it won't happen now!

Like my pastor friends say, "You can put a donkey in a tuxedo but he's still a jackass when the day is done!"

"Your mission, should you accept, is to quit reporting problems and start solving them; start by trying real hard to define your problems and then work to solve them. This world will self-destruct in _____ minutes!"

Arrogance, Elections, Electorate, Expediency,
Partisanship, Politics, Problems, Stupidity

PHOBIAS: And the Human Plague of Bias!

2006-11-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is election day in the USA; people this year will not go to the polls and vote their values, their consciences, or their hearts ... no they'll go and vote their animus and hatred.

This is a season of getting even, of getting a pound of flesh, of evening the score, or taking down someone. It is a time of reflection on all that is bad in our nation.

This is a time when people need to hear something worth living for! How is it I have a great post to put up for just such a time as this, but I find myself hesitant to do so?

Because it's religious in nature and specifically Christian. It seems the minute something religious is presented to a non-captive audience they flee like las cucarachas. But you guys aren't like that ... right?

You all know I'm the pastor of a great church in San Carlso, Sonora, Mexico; you won't be surprised then if my material has a spiritual underpinning ... right? As long as I don't preach ... right? After all, LPLI is a secular blog with non-spiritual readers for the most part ... right?

I'm glad ya'al agree with me!

I've been gone for a week (thus no post last Monday), and I have returned to my adopted nation to say goodbye to one mission team and welcome another. Okay, now is the time to flee, you lying paragons of anti-virtue.

Curiously, if I were a reporter for The Washington Post or TIme Magazine you might perk up ... right? Why is that? It's because you are a Christophobiac ... the inordiante fear of and bias towards things Christian.

Well, just pretend this is a WaPo or Time article ... okay? Because this is also a really great story of human goodness and compassion.

ROC Wheels Team
The mission team we're saying goodbye to is ROC Wheels. These guys have come down here for the second year in a row. Andrew Babcock of Bozeman, Montana, is the founder, inventor in residence, and Exec. Dir. of the non-profit organization.

Babcock is the inventor of the three-wheeled baby jogger-stroller you see all the cute chicks running behind. (no pun intended) Apparently, he made his millions and, being a ~~Christian~~ spiritual man he founded ROC Wheels in order to build a better, cheaper wheelchair for the disabled in third world nations.

Andrew's teams have been to Iraq, Ukraine, Jamaica, Benin, and the West Bank (Video: WinPlayer or RealPlayer). And of course Mexico.

All the wheelchairs and trip expenses are paid for by ROC Wheels ... ain't that great? Wanna help? Go here!

Medical Team
The mission team we're saying hello to is from Canada. There are three doctors, two dentists, several nurses, and a group of about 12 volunteers not to mention the volunteers from San Carlos. The entire group comes at their own expense and use their vacation time.

This is one of many trips this group has bought down to the people of Mexico. All of the supplies and equipment are paid for by the team. Who says Canada is a spiritual wasteland with no heart for the down and out?

Well, that's what I came back to ... what will you come back to after your vacation? In fact, where will you Christophobiacs be spending your vacation?

ADDENDUM
The hosting facility is also supported by our church; it's an orphanage and medical clinic started outside the city of Guaymas, among the poor, not far from San Carlos.

It was started on and is sustained by the faith of two wonderful Americanos, Jesse and Jenny Navarro ... who left everything in the USA and came to Mexico with very little more than faith.

See! Not everything in this God forsaken world is as bad as you might think. Many people are out there doing things to honor their deeply held spiritual beliefs.

UPDATE: My bad ... I just found out Andrew Babcock is not the founder/inventor that I thought he was ... he's all the other things but Wayne Hanson is the inventor/founder. Sorry guys.

Bias, Bigotry, Christianity, Christophobia, Compassion,
Disabled, Elections, Love, Missionaries, Missions,
Religion, ROC Wheels, Wayne Hanson

HOUSES DIVIDED: What Are the Chances On One Surviving?

2006-10-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed how many people seem to believe the US will never fall; these are the same people who rarely think about their own mortality ... there has to be a syndrome for that. In my opinion, their critical thinking skills don't show up in their long suit.

Even more damning are those who know better, yet go ahead and act in ways which jeopardize a future generation's generation. Among these are those who profess a goal of unity but are in fact the most divisive. Apparently it never occurs to them they might be wrong and their opponent just might be right ... or, go figure, they might both be wrong!

And then there is the inexhaustible supply of people in positions of power and privilege who misuse that power or abuse that privilege; the thought of their numbers brings on a brain-freeze. Even more incredible is the public that continues to allow them to lead.

Mort Zuckerman wrote an editorial a while back on the subject of a "House Divided"; in his piece he expresses concern for the good old USA ...

Our national conversation has become too shrill, too polarized, too inflamed, too predictable, too divisive, and altogether too inimical to our national interest. On the larger canvas of our political culture wars, the stinging exchange of letters between John McCain and Barack Obama over ways to root out lobbying corruption on Capitol Hill is no more than a mere skirmish. It was all the more depressing, however, because these two senators represent the best hope for a real revival of centrism, the rational bipartisan consensus that expresses the nation's will with force and eloquence and that has served America so well in its worst crises.

Clearly, if those two are "the best hope for a real revival of centrism," we're in a world of hurt! Though one of them is better looking and a lot smarter than the other, medals aside.

Zuckerman gets the title of his editorial from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Lincoln from the bible ...

Let me parody the words of Lincoln, a long time hero of mine ...

If we could but first know where we are, and where we are headed, we might better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to terrorist agitation.

Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has been constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

I believe this government cannot endure permanently half progressive and half conservative. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. For the most part it will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of terrorism will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it's Shari'a shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new -- Right as well as Left.

Have we no tendency towards this latter condition?

My personal worldview understands man will probably continue to disagree on politics, religion, and morality until the end of the ages, but it insists I not fill venom sacs and bare fangs each and every time someone comes along who doesn't agree with me!

A nation's people can only flourish when a conspicuous majority live in compelling unity. The individual organizations and agencies must be employed in voluntary promotion of a common good. If divided -- so as to fail in this duty, if one part busies itself in undoing what the other has done -- that people will fall. So we see as happened to contemporary Europe, the Roman Empire, and many oriental empires.

In the original of this popular maxim we see the ...

... masterly confutation of [Jesus' opponents] reasonings, by a conclusion drawn from their own premises, [this] one would have supposed might have humbled and convinced these men; but the most conclusive reasoning ... [is] lost upon a people who were obstinately determined to disbelieve every thing good .... [Clarke]

Any nation, where irreconcilable disagreement prevails between her leaders and compelling majority of her citizens, will not maintain national comfort or flourish in that condition, but will, given time, come to nothing .... "this is a maxim that has been so often fatally verified, that no one will doubt the truth of it" [John Gill].

It is not just that President Bush is one of the most polarizing presidents in recent history. [but that] this polarization is not confined to the beltway. It has seeped out into the public at large, which now believes that the differences reflect fundamental views about who we are as Americans. [Zuckerman: A House Divided]

We cannot, as good people allow this to continue. This is not a time for winning the debate or the day, proving, so to speak, that your opponent is wrong. Nor is this the time for appeasement or capitulation with our enemies ... and my friend, we have them, you and I.

No, this is a time for national common sense, for national reasoning, and national unity to take place for the opening of opportunity's doors to oppose that which would have our foundations destroyed.

If a fire is racing toward our community and your home is between the fire and mine, it is not prudent for me to stay and wet down my home while you wet down yours. No, if we stop the fire at the homes at the edge of town we all survive. Sure the view will be less than pristine, but your house AND mine have a better chance if we take a stand side by side in front yard of the home nearest the flame.

In our marriage we have an agreement: we can disagree about anything but never decide on that thing as long as disagreement persists. Lordy, we have a lot to disagree about in this great land today, but if we don't take a stand in each other's backyards we are doomed to be overwhelmed by the shear numbers of the petty things we disagree on.

The power of "public opinion" and "popular sentiment," selectively defined in polls and focus groups, too often overwhelms individual opinion. [Zuckerman]

When I was in the business world there was a rule we followed, and many still use it today: "major on the majors not on the minors." As a nation we're so drunk on the minors we can't see much farther than our elbows. We're so close to the fuse the smoke has blinded us to the bomb. We're all so screwed up in our hubris and our isms we're going to get each other killed and destroy the Lady Liberty.

I have no idea what it will take to get rid of every last "politician" in America but we best find a way! And when we send them packing, I'd like to see a lawyer on one arm and an insurance executive on the other.

Machiavelli, in his classic "The Prince," taught this principle to his students: divide your opponent and conquer them. This has been part of the curriculum in every military school since Hannibal (and is also practiced in organized sports).

The cumulative result has been a decline in democracy toward a fragmented populism. People mobilize around smaller special interests and remove themselves from the search for the common good. [Zuckerman]

Here we are, dividing each other by law, race, nationality, religion, personality, skill, political party, and morality, weakening the very foundation upon which we stand. Look guys, we're all Americans and anyone who can't abide by that should find a nice third-world nation to inhabit!

When the values that prevail are those of the marketplace, and our political dialogue is timed to the drumbeat of the sports stadium, we are in trouble. [Zuckerman]

Zuckerman sums it up nicely for me ...

Today, America has unprecedented responsibilities, but it is difficult for a superpower to discharge these duties with its domestic political house in disarray. How different it was during World War II, which we fought as a united nation, against two enemies--Germany and Italy--that had not attacked us. Today, sadly, our divisions encourage our enemies, dishearten our allies, and sap our resolve. We must change gears.

I'll give a hearty "Here's to Mort!" at the sound of that ... now go and do likewise!

BLOGS: Right Truth

America, Common Good, Disunity, Gettysburg Address,
House Divided, Lincoln, Nationalism,
Unity, Western Civilization, Zuckerman

DATELINE: People Who Are Not Just Idiots They're Perverts too!

2006-10-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Rev., for the great intro; it is a pleasure to be asked to offer up an editorial every week, I hope I'm able to uphold my reputation.

This afternoon I read MSNBC's piece on NBC's newest episode of - to catch a predator - an excellent investigative report; it reminded me again that there are three evils in this world ... the world itself, man himself, and a supernatural darkness, a place without light!

Now you can argue with me over the details if you want but ... seriously ... what good would that do? You know you can't change my mind; you're just fearful I might change yours, so you want to argue over details.

Certainly the Amish Children's Massacre and our daily news convince you there's evil in this world; what difference does it make what we call it or how we divide it up? Admit it; you're just scared spitless it might be real! You can't deny it with any credibility and you know it!

Or you're afraid I'll trick you or brainwash you! Don't sweat it; I don't have to because I'm smarter than your average preacher! Just read this post and take inventory when you're done.

Back to evil
Depending on your generation, you'll know a version of something that goes like this: "What goes around comes around." That is so true; whether a man or a nation, as you treat others, so you will be treated yourself.

Here in America, I believe it started in the '50s, inside print media. Larry Flynt (Hustler) and Hugh Heffner (Playboy) made big pushes for their smut rags in the courts and in the court of public opinion and came out on top. The American public capitulated!

I personally remember adults talking about it as if there was nothing they could do; they said, "The courts won't allow it. It's immoral!" Yea, right! We all know how well that worked out.

Evil knew we were a tired people following WWII and the Korean War, and an economic boom was on the horizon ... besides the new mantra was "God is dead." People said, "If God is dead, then so is evil! If evil is dead, then we can do anything we want!"

Interestingly the ACLU and Planned Parenthood came into their own during this time; even though they wouldn't mature to any great degree until the '70s and '80s.

Then, in the '60s, mass entertainment thrust itself into the lives of innocent Americans everywhere - television, along with huge advances in cinematography, conjoined to produce entertainment beyond our wildest fantasies. Wow, what an era! But the boundaries of morality were being nudged to the left at a ever increasing rate.

Simultaneously, our youth came under the sway of antiestablishmentarian, narcissistic and hedonistic mentors [Leary, the Black Panthers, John Lennon, LSD dealers, leftist educators (Berkley, Columbia, Yale, UCSC, UCSB, and numerous others); the adult children of bohemians and beatniks - aka: hippies, Joan Baez, etc.]; suddenly those over 30 could no longer be taken seriously or trusted, the world according to "flower power" was born and along with it "free love."

And so children did what children do when left to their own devices sans accountability (thanks to Dr. Spock) ... they turned in upon themselves and discovered each others bodies.

Also arriving, as if on cue, was the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. It was then that all hell broke loose, with civil disobedience and riots ... as well as evil like that depicted in "Mississippi Burning." Thankfully there were some opposing forces working against forces of evil and darkness, out in the light (e.g., World Vision, Peace Corp, Campus Crusade, the YMCA and the YWCA, Little League, Pop Warner, the BGEA, the Jesus Movement, as well as new and stronger postwar religious & non-profit institutions).

Media wasn't forgotten
Oh no! This was also the era of Watergate, generating public distrust in the political system; displays of de facto racism, generating public distrust in our judicial system; existentialism and hedonism, generating trust in no one but self and even he was suspect; and the Vietnam War, generating distrust in the military establishment. Media and academia were everywhere, informing the minds of the mindless masses that their nation's government and all her leaders couldn't be trusted.

But more than that there was quiet clandestine activity in the entertainment industry's lightless sewers and inside organized crime's dank bilges in the '60s and '70s.

Veterans of WWII and the Korean War came home newly aware of the smut that was available overseas and were hungry for more of it. They imported brothel behavior into Lady Liberty's bedrooms. Smut peddlers and their pilot fish were everywhere to give our returning GI's what their lusts demanded. Now mothers could no longer teach there daughters real ladies didn't do those things, even with their husbands, because they were made to do them.

Candy Barr graduated and became more sophisticated as Deep Throat the movie and Deep Throat the source! And people became desensitized to fellatio long before Clinton entered the White House.

Riding on the wave of electronic and computing advances in the '70s, these three catalysts for evil rapidly morphed into a stealth assault on everyone: you, me, our kids, our families, our homes, our neighbors, our jobs, our schools, our institutions, our cops, our military, our clergy, our traditions, our foundations, and even our doctors.

Out of this was born feminism, the radical ACLU-ites, academic socialism, ELF, entitlement dependency, new relativism, new secularism, neo-narcissism, along with a "white collar" drug culture with its designer pharmacies.

Arriving on schedule were the trashing of school prayer, the legalization of abortion, felon rights, more political corruption than my laundry could count on an abacus, and new more liberal immigration policies ... civil rights you know!

Artificial reality and ethereality
Then in the '80s the Internet arrived; by the '90s we were moving headlong into the "dot.com" era ... you don't think the multimillionaire smut peddlers sat on their hands during this epoch do you? Of course not. They jumped in with both feet, along with the ACLU and two divisions of lawyers (a plague had arrived in the fruited plain and amongst the amber waves of grain).

"No," they told us, "porn is free speech." They said, "If it is a crime, it is a victimless crime." But it's addictive we said, and socially and culturally caustic. "Porn is not addictive!" "Show us the studies," they said. "And show us the harm!" I say, "Who in the hell are 'they' anyway?" Studies take years and we were losing our first group of kids to this evil.

Our harvest
Well, as I said, what goes around comes around; the bible says it this way, "As a man sows, so shall he reap!" [Galatians 6:7-8]

We have turned a national blind eye to what was coming for a full generation; now we have a multi-billion dollar porn industry with thousands of hardcore outlets: You Tube, Yahoo, MySpace, Google, Carl's Jr., print media, XXXXX Internet porn factories, Foley's Follies, Victoria's Secret is now known by everyone who has a television, the Amish killer's sick and twisted mind, XXX commercials for toothpaste, and young woman after young woman after young woman and young woman being kidnapped and brutally raped and murdered!

Over what ... an welcomed quickie? Something to satisfy some fantasy someone else buried in your libido? So now you can have an 8"x10" color glossy of someone's uncovered crotch ... is that what this about? Or now you can drool over a photo of someone's naked son or daughter ... a mere child gets you excited? What is the matter with you? Evil, that's what! You don't have to be a genius to know if you play in a port-a-pottie you're bound to end up smelling like one!

The people who've done this to you are on the beach in the Bahamas, drinking Mocha Lattes and mineral water.

This past Friday (6 October 2006) Dateline ran its its most recent "to catch a predator," and I was reminded me of how absolutely powerful the lust for sex is and how much a man will risk losing just for a passing moment of supposed pleasure. Pervert after pervert said "I've lost everything for being so stupid!"

This past Spring one of my kids high school math teachers was busted in a sting near where we lived in California. He lost his job, his family, and his self-respect. Dumb!

The context of my rant is sexual perversion, deviancy, and debauchery ... and its effect on our land and our people. If you can't see this, you are dumber than your mother said you were!

I have spoken only about the male's role in this destruction of the American dream but we now have Porn Addicts Anonymous for women.

Speaking of our ladies, why in God's name do you sit there and let men make you out to be a dumb sex toy for their sick depravities? I really don't get it, where is your voice in all of this madness?

Your assignment
Look folks, the Right Reverend Gisher is trying his best to do something good for his generation ... you know who you are! Stop it! Help him find a way to separate the perverts from the kids! Help us shut down the advertisers of the filth. Quit being stupid! Stop letting evil and darkness lead you around by a nose ring!

Children, Cultural decay, Deviants, Entertainment, Evil,
Organized crime, Perverts, Porn, Pornography, You Tube, You Tube Scandal

Introducing a real Reverend

2006-10-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

After this post, I will be turning over Less Idiots 6 to the right Reverend John Gillmartin, Pastor of San Carlos Community Church. In the coming weeks I will be adding additional writers to the Less Idiots franchise, and I say franchise jokingly. Gillmartin was one of the names on the very top of my list of recruits, and I have had the pleasure of knowing this man for almost a year now,

When I started Less Idiots I had the sneaking suspicion that real bona fide journalism was dead. I was also keenly aware that America is a divided country, riddled with an us versus them mentality. I believe strongly that all Americans, no matter what their party affiliation is, have valid opinions, and can make significant contributions to improve the welfare of us all. Look at the subject of abortion for instance; you would be hard-pressed to find one single American that would tell you they would like to see more abortions. The very moment you mention the word abortion, both the left and the right immediately assume the battle position, and start screaming, and stop listening to each other. Meanwhile abortions continue.

There are many issues where all Americans are not going to agree completely on every detail, but the vast majority of the problems we confront have the potential for compromise built in to them. We have been ignoring that potential for far too long now. I believe very strongly that laws attempting to regulate the morality of our republic, are doomed to failure, and if one takes a look at prohibition, and the current situation with illegal drugs in this country, there is ample proof that I might be correct.

Gillmartin is keenly aware of my stance on separation of church and state, and for the most part, I think we’re pretty much in agreement on this issue. Separation of church and state not only protects those who have chosen to forgo a religion, but a look at what happened to the Mormons in the 1800s, shows you where separation of church and state also can protect the devoutly religious.

Neither Gillmartin nor I believe that it is wise to attempt to shove one’s lifestyle down the throat of an unwilling participant, but we both agree that this is a two-way street. Somewhere along the way, many of us stopped respecting the lifestyle choices of others, and have made attempts to force their lifestyles upon others. What each person does in their private life, should stay in their private life. Gillmartin does not approve of homosexual behavior, but he is keenly aware that the Constitution does protect these people to a certain degree, and he’s also aware of the odds that he’s not likely to convert all of them over to his side.

Gillmartin is very definitely conservative, but he also has a very open mind, as well as a huge heart. This man truly loves every single person on this planet, but that does not mean that he approves of his or her behavior. I share a belief with him that amongst many other problems that we have in this country we face a spiritual crisis. Faith means many different things depending upon who you are talking to; for some it may mean a regular appearance in church, and for others perhaps a more conservative lifestyle is called for, not unlike the manner in which the Amish choose to live their life. Spirituality for another person might just mean they enjoy gardening. Spirituality is as broad a term as you can possibly find, but when you get down to the core of it, hopefully it means peace. That is something that we truly could stand to have more of right now.

On the larger issues Gillmartin and I are almost in total agreement. We have serious problems with our government; it fails the people on a regular basis. Our political parties pander to the flock, and thoroughly attempt to divide the electorate to maintain their power. As in the case of Representative Foley, we frequently have politicians pandering to their voters, and these very same politicians do not embody the ideals of the voters they are attempting to sway their way.

For far too many reasons, the fourth estate of this country, the Free Press, has been eviscerated to the point where they are no longer capable of doing their job. We have problems with the environment, that present lethal threats to us, and we have problems with climate shifts, that are being ignored. None of our leaders are looking forward to the future we will be leaving for our children, and currently it is a bleak one. It is rare that anyone looks past the here and now, and most of our politicians are focused on the next election.

Gillmartin frequently pokes fun at me, and refers to me as a tree hugger. I have never hugged a tree, well okay once, but five margaritas were involved. The reality is I float to the right on some issues, and I float to the left on some issues. The reality is just like Gillmartin; I am concerned about the future of our country. We are not going to agree on every single detail, but we do not need to. We need to find the things we do agree on and start moving forward towards solving some of these problems that are largely ignored. We are going to have to do this together, and if we choose to demand that everything goes our way, nothing will ever get done. Compromise is a word that needs to be re-introduced along with respect for others. We need to stop yelling at each other, and start listening to each other. This is something that Gillmartin and I have been able to do from the very beginning. If Gillmartin and I can pull this off, what makes the rest of you so darn special, that you do not have to? Take it away Reverend, the floor is all yours.

Note: Gillmartin's column will appear on Monday, and will thereafter appear weekly, unless of course he gets a bee in his bonnet.