The Preacher's Mistake
Topic: Christianity
The Preacher's Mistake

by William Croswell Doane

The parish priest
Of austerity,
Climbed up in a high church steeple
To be nearer God,
So that he might hand
His word down to His people.

When the sun was high,
When the sun was low,
The good man sat unheeding
Sublunary things.
From transcendency
Was he forever reading.

And now and again
When he heard the creak
Of the weather vane a-turning,
He closed his eyes
And said, "Of a truth
From God I now am learning."

And in sermon script
He daily wrote
What he thought was sent from heaven,
And he dropped this down
On his people's heads
Two times one day in seven.

In his age God said,
"Come down and die!"
And he cried out from the steeple,
"Where art thou, Lord?"
And the Lord replied,
"Down here among my people."

William Croswell Doane
First Bishop of Albany
1832-1913

New Year's Resolutions Worth Making
Topic: Christianity
Some Resolutions Are Worth Making

New Year's has come around again, and what do people think of at New Year's?  Resolutions.

But New Year's resolutions, or what passes for them, are not what they used to be.  People don't often take resolutions seriously anymore.  We hear about resolutions that have been broken than those which have been kept.

However, there are some resolutions that are worth making, and keeping.  Many of these we find in the Word of God.  Allow me to mention just a few:

1.  "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19).  The Bible says that God's ways lead to life, but man's ways lead ultimately to eternal death.  Jesus said, "I am the Way the Truth, and the Life; no man comes unto the Father except by me" (John 14:6).  God gives us the freedom to choose which way we will go.  Resolve to choose life in 2008.

2.  "Choose you this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15).  After the death of Moses, Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land and helped them conquer it.  Then he called all the people together.  Joshua reminded them of what God had done for them, and that they must remain faithful to Him.

Like Israel did later, we often play games with God.  We figure we can do our own thing now, and serve God later.  But later is often too late.  God calls us to choose--get off the fence, get in or get out.  God hates lukewarm believers (Revelation 3:15-16).  Resolve to serve God in 2008.

3.  "Repent and be baptized . . . and you shall receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).  On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood and told the crowd that Jesus, whom they had crucified, was in fact the Son of God.  It was Jesus, now exalted to the right hand of God, who produced the miracle of speaking in tongues that they had just seen and heard.

Troubled, the people began to ask, "What are we to do?"  Peter told them, essentially, that they must repent of their sins and undergo a conversion experience; and about 3000 were saved that day.  Even saints need to repent now and then.  Resolve to be repentant, to live a converted life, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit in 2008.

4.  "I do not want you to be ignorant!" (Romans 11:25, etc.).  Again and again, both Peter and Paul admonish the Church not to walk in ignorance, but in knowledge and truth.  The Bible and the preaching of God's Word are readily available to everyone today.  Willful ignorance of God's will is inexcusable (Romans 1:18-32).  Resolve to study God's Word faithfully and to know God's perfect will for your life in 2008.

5.  "Present your bodies a living sacrifice . . . and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:1-2).  Someone has said that the problem with a "living sacrifice" is that it keeps crawling off the altar.  God does not call most of us to die for Him, but He calls all of us to live for him.  Resolve to keep sacrificing your selfish will and lending yourself to do God's will in 2008.

6.  "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16).  Paul recognized his own physical weakness and inability to be perfect before God in his own strength, try as he might.  He said, "What I want to do, I do not do; but what I hate, that I do" (Romans 7:15).

Paul knew he needed the power of God to work through him in order to overcome sin.  Desire to obey God and willpower are not enough (see Galatians 3:3).  Serving God absolutely requires the power of the Holy Spirit working through us.

How do you let the Holy Spirit work in and through you?  It involves all I have said before:  choosing life in Christ, choosing to serve God faithfully, being repentant and undergoing a real conversion experience, being knowledgeable of God's will for your life, offering yourself up to God continually and sacrificially to do His will, and much more.  Walking in the Spirit means being motivated by the Spirit of God rather than by your own desires.  Sure, it's hard, but it must be done.

There are many more great resolutions which we can draw from the Bible.  For instance, just look at those listed in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22.  We can learn a great deal from these admonitions.

So let us resolve together to walk by God's Spirit, not by our flesh, in 2008.
__________________________
©1992, 2008 Paul A. Hughes.  First Published in the Polk County Enterprise, January 5, 1992, p. 5B.

Al Gore, Ban Ki-Moon, and Environmental Hypocrisy
Topic: Global Warming
Al Gore made a show of taking public transportation to his Nobel ceremony in Oslo, but his extensive luggage was transported by a Mercedes van.  Rumor has it, he took a private jet to Oslo in the first place.

In his Nobel speech, Gore likened "Global Warming deniers" to those such as Neville Chamberlain, onetime British prime minister, who tried to appease Adolf Hitler before World War II:

"We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency, a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here.  However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world's leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler's threat, and I quote, 'They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved only to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.'"

Gore did NOT note that Global Warming advocates are largely Socialists, whom Churchill would consider a far greater threat than the weather.

When asked by CNN correspondent Jonathan Mann, "The Associated Press, among other sources, is reporting that your family home near Nashville, Tennessee, used $1,200 a month in electricity, which is 10 times the average for homes nearby. . . .  Is it true?  Are you a little less green than you seem?" Gore replied, "There's a global warming denier group that put out misleading information."  Pressed by Mann, Gore continued with a rather extensive "non-answer":

"No, [AP] reported what that group said.  And the, the, look, when you try to make a case like this, you are going to have, you're going to have people try to attack the messenger in order to get at the message.  They have not been able to succeed.  But the most important element of this is the message.  And part of what they, part of what these deniers try to communicate is that the only way to solve this crisis is for individuals to make changes in their own lives."

Even the editor of the Harvard Crimson, Peter W. Tilton, takes Gore to task:

"Many Americans would naturally assume Gore follows the green lifestyle he widely promotes, and they would be wrong.  Gore and his wife Tipper, whose children all live elsewhere, reside in a behemoth 20-room mansion outside of Nashville that used nearly 23,000 kilowatt-hours last August, more than twice the annual -- yes, annual -- energy usage of a typical American home.  Gore's preferred mode of transportation between stops on his international publicity tour is his private jet, which spews out CO2 emissions at the rate of a small army of SUVs."

Meanwhile, world leaders have gathered in Bali to talk about climate change, traveling in more private jets than can be parked at the local airport.  The "experts" are calling the Bali conference "the world's last chance to avoid disaster."  The US has been severely criticized for not acceding to the Kyoto accords, by which developed countries are heavily fined for not meeting strict, arbitrary emissions reductions.  In November, however, Weather Channel founder John Colement called Global Warming "the greatest scam in history."  Economist Noel Sheppard calls it a "tax the rich scheme," noting that "rich countries" really means "United States."

Early in December, recently elected Australian prime minster Kevin Rudd, a liberal who had promised to sign on to Kyoto, backed out when he found out the tremendous economic cost his country would incur, noting that other countries "do not necessarily accept those targets, nor do they accept those targets as binding targets for themselves."

Peter Foster of the Financial Post (Dec. 6) writes, "The real theme of this United Nations gabfest . . . is whether globalization and trade liberalization will be allowed to continue . . . or whether the authoritarian enemies of freedom . . . will succeed in using environmental hysteria to undermine capitalism and increase their Majesterium."  He continues, "Just at the point where Marxism was being consigned to the dustbin of history, the more or less concealed power lust that had fed it found a new cause in the environment."

Reporters from more conservative newspapers, namely Environment & Climate News, were denied press credentials and entry to the Bali conference.  Critics also question the intent of Ban Ki-moon, head of the United Nations, to take an around-the-world flight immediately after the conference, including attending a music concert at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Similarly, Al Gore was isolated from the press at a London fundraiser by an efficient force of bodyguards; and invited guests, who had paid £1,000 to £50,000 to attend, felt insulted by his lack of access, in addition to his £100,000 fee.

On December 13, Gore told an international audience that it is the US that is the biggest obstacle to rescuing the planet, drawing enthusiastic applause and cheers.

"I am going to speak an inconvenient truth.  My own country the United States is principally responsible for obstructing progress in Bali."

Red State Voter Bumper Sticker
Topic: Politics
Remember those famous Red/Blue state maps that revealed the voting distribution in the last two elections?  They clearly demonstrated that the heartland of America (red) voted for the conservative candidate, and only isolated but populous areas voted for the liberal candidate (blue).

Red State Voters are conservative values voters.  Now you can stand up for your voting values as candidates are still being chosen.  Download my Red State Voter bumper sticker free (click the link below).  It features the 2004 red/blue state map of the United States, with the words "Red State Voter."

The download is a Word file designed to print two bumper stickers per sheet on Office Depot bumper sticker stock, product no. 922-811.  It may be freely distributed for non-commercial, private use.  Copyright notice may not be removed.  Note that I have no deal with Office Depot, but have only made use of their product (not included) because it is readily available.

Paul
http://phugh.tripod.com

Trombone/Trumpet Music Video
Topic: Music
I have just posted a music video on YouTube in which I play "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" on both trumpet and trombone.  Click:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rWJ1tX0C2E

Paul Hughes

Those who can - play
Topic: Music
How is this for a musician's bumper sticker?

Those who can - Play
Those who can't - Listen
(and geniuses compose)

I created a Word file to create the sticker.  You can download it free if you like from my Web site, and print it on standard bumper sticker stock.

Paul
http://phugh.tripod.com

The Golden Compass - Atheist Subterfuge
I pass along a warning I have received from several quarters about the fantasy movie, "The Golden Compass," set to come out at theaters at Christmastime.  Word is, it was written by an Atheist activist as a reaction against faith-based fantasies like those from Tolkien and Lewis.

Links:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Assembly-of-God/post

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Paul

The ENRON Acrostic
Topic: Christianity

In discussing the recent ORU scandal and others past, the Prophecy News Watch Newsletter offers the following acrostic, using the word ENRON, describing the roots of scandal in Christian organizations:

"E is for entitlement. Do leaders in your church or organization feel they deserve to be treated like kings? That style may work OK in a monarchy, but Jesus said that in His kingdom leaders must behave like servants. Those with a spirit of entitlement should be disqualified.

N is for nepotism. When leaders show favoritism to family members, they create arbitrary double standards. Christian organizations must stop building spiritual dynasties.

"R is for robbery. If a Christian leader is using donor funds to purchase lavish perks for himself, he is stealing from God. Let's call it what it is. Though the Bible makes it clear that a Christian worker is worthy of his hire, it also condemns ministers who have their hands in the coffer. When the prophet Malachi asked the probing question, 'Will a man rob God?' (Mal. 3:8 NASB) he was not just addressing people who didn't tithe. He was pointing to greedy priests who stole part of the offerings meant for the poor.

"O is for overinflated egos. Too many leaders today are drunk with power. Like Nebuchadnezzar, their pride has caused them to go insane. When an egomaniac drives an organization, you can be sure he will eventually crash and hurt a lot of people in the process.

"N is for negligence. God looks for integrity in the little things. He judges leaders not by the size of the crowd or the volume of their preaching but by the way they conduct themselves when no one is looking."

[Kade Hawkins, Prophecy News Watch Newsletter, October 25, 2007, http://www.prophecynewswatch.com]

Paul 

Christ, Our Easter Lamb
Topic: Christianity

Christ, Our Easter Lamb

Beginning as early as Genesis, God used the symbol of the innocent lamb as an example of the Christ who was to come.

Technically, this use of prophetic symbolism is known as "typology."  The spotless lamb is a "type" of Christ.

As a shepherding people, the lamb was a symbol with which all Jews could identify. They viewed the lamb as the embodiment of sweet, beautiful innocence, much as we would view a puppy or a kitten.

The prophet Nathan once told King David a story about a poor man who had raised a lamb as his own child. Unfortunately, a greedy rich man stole the lamb and had it slaughtered to feed his guest. David, a former shepherd, was incensed. He declared that the man who had done such a deed was worthy of death (2 Samuel 12).

In his Word, God chose to give us numerous pictures of just such an
innocent Lamb who would be slaughtered undeservedly, sacrificed for the sins of the guilty.

In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to take his beloved son Isaac to Mt. Moriah and sacrifice him. At the last moment, God substituted a ram in place of Isaac. As Abraham had told his son, "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

When Israel was captive in Egypt, God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians to force Pharoah to let them go. In the final plague, God sent the angel of death to kill all their first-born.

But God gave Israel a way of escape. They were each to take a spotless, first-born lamb and slaughter it. They were to smear its blood upon their doorposts, and eat its flesh in a memorial dinner.  When the death angel saw the blood, it would pass them by. This was the first Passover (Exodus 11-12).

God instituted various animal sacrifices as an object lesson in sin and forgiveness. When Adam and Eve sinned, God declared that every man would have to die for his own sins. "The soul that sins shall die," He said (Ezekiel 18:4).

But through sacrifice, God showed us that innocent blood could cover our sins. Of course, the blood of animals could never truly pay for human sin. But those paltry sacrifices pointed to the One who would be the ultimate sacrifice.

On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) came a truly special sacrifice. At this annual event, the High Priest would make a sacrifice for the nation as a whole. He would take two goat kids, one of which would become a burnt offering.

The second kid was a sin offering, called the "scapegoat." The High Priest would place his hands on the goat's head and confess over it the sins of the nation. Thus Israel's sin was symbolically transferred to the goat. Then the goat was released in the wilderness, to die in the wild (Leviticus 16).

Both these goats were types of Christ. The first died for Israel's sins. The second, the scapegoat, symbolized the carrying away of their sin, where it would be lost and forgotten. Like the first, Christ died for our sins. Like the second, Christ carried away our sins "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12).

Christ could have called legions of angels to save him from death on the cross. But He had the ultimate task to perform, to die as the spotless Lamb for sinners slain, "who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).

Christ submitted to this ignominious death. "He was brought like a lamb to the slaughter; and like a sheep that is mute before its shearers, He did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

In the end, the risen Christ is triumphant. He comes as both Lion and Lamb before the throne of God. He alone is worthy to open the seven seals of judgment (Revelation 5).

Jesus Christ is the spotless Lamb who was killed on that first Easter for my sins and yours. Because He has arisen from the dead, He has conquered death and the grave. His sacrifice long ago has become an eternal sacrifice for all who will believe and follow him, now and forevermore.

"God so loved the world that He gave his firstborn Son, so that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:16-17).

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

We ought to love and serve, with every fiber of our beings, the kind of God who loved us so much.

Reprinted from Christ in Us: The Exalted Christ and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (2006) by Paul A. Hughes
http://www.lulu.com/godstrombone and online bookstores.

Lincoln Declarations Ignore Separation Principle
Topic: Original Intent

In October 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared the first National Day of Thanksgiving.  Earlier that year, he had declared a national day of fasting and prayer.  Both proclamations, below, definitely violate the so-called “separation of church and state” and, in many minds, militate against that notion.

Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation of a National Fast Day, March 30, 1863:

“It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

“We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

“But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

“(signed)

“A. Lincoln”

 

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation:

“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful Providence of Almighty God.

“In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

“Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility (sic.), and union.

“In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

“Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

“Abraham Lincoln” 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Liberalism_Unmasked/

Democrat Hypocrisy and Dirty Politics
Topic: Democrat Watch

The Democrats are digging for all the dirt they can get, hoping to take over Congress three weeks from now.  They have demanded that heads roll over the Foley scandal, adopting much higher standards than they exercised in the Democrat-controlled House of 1983, when they let Gerry Studds off with a censure.  Massachusetts liberals continued to re-elect him until his retirement in 1996.  Moreover, no one has dared blame these scandals on homosexuality, which was obviously a major influence.

Now an FBI investigation of Curt Weldon (R-PA) has been conveniently "leaked" to the media.  "What I find ironic," says Weldon, "if there is an investigation, is that no one would tell me until three weeks before the election.  This incident was 2-1/2 years ago."  According to Weldon, there is no substance to the allegation that he helped his daughter win government contracts.  The leak prompted a timely FBI raid of 4 locations.

Meanwhile, Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid, lead critic of the Republicans and the Bush Administration, has been caught in a sweetheart land deal in which he grossed $1.1 million on land he had not legally owned for three years.  Besides the nature of the deal itself, Reid did not properly report his profit to the Ethics Committee.  In a separate scandal, also not as widely reported and sensationalized by the mainstream media as Conservative foibles, Reid was caught having paid Christmas bonuses amounting to $3,300 out of campaign money -- also an ethics violation.  The money went to staff associated with his $750,000 condo at the Ritz Carlton.

Reid was quick to reflect the blame back to Conservatives, calling it the "latest attempt" of Republicans to win the upcoming elections.  "I am reimbursing the campaign from my own pocket," Reid said, "to prevent this issue from being used in the current campaign season to deflect attention from Republican failures."

Either Reid is ruthlessly partisan, or the darkness in his own heart is so great that he assumes that his political opponents must have equally dark motives.  As Jesus Christ said, "The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23, NIV).  

Furthermore, He said, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed" (John 3:19-20).

[News Source: Associated Press]
_______________________________
Copyright 2006 Paul A. Hughes

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Liberalism_Unmasked/

The Other Congressional Page Scandals
Topic: Democrat Watch

Democrats are currently trying to milk the Mark Foley congressional page scandal to regain Congress in the upcoming elections and to destroy Speaker Dennis Hastert.

But in 1983, there were two sister scandals that did not cause Dems so much concern. Gerry Studds (D-Mass) and Dan Crane (R-Ill) had been found to have had consentual sex with 17-year-old congressional pages. Though neither instance was technically illegal, they were egregious in regard to relations between authority figures and subordinates (now well known as sexual harassment) and of course sex with a minor.

Newt Gingrich urged the expulsion of both members, but the Democrat-controlled House voted instead to just censure them. Crane showed remorse but was defeated in his next re-election bid. Studds, however, was unapologetic and turned his back during the censure. He continued to be re-elected to office until his retirement in 1996. One might assume that voters in Massachusetts were less concerned than those in Illinois.

The Foley scandal is not fundamentally different from Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky, except that she was not a minor, though she was a subordinate. Note that Foley did not actually have sexual relations with the page. In Clinton's case, Democrats managed to turn the scandal into a negative for Republicans by engaging public sentiment.
_________________________
Copyright 2006 Paul A. Hughes

The Devilish Symbol
Topic: Texana

The Devilish Symbol 

Jenna Bush flashed the "Hook 'em Horns" symbol and ignited a Norwegian tempest. During the televised Black Tie and Boots gala at the presidential inaugural festivities, while a band played "The Eyes of Texas," the Bush daughter held up the hand sign for her alma mater, the University of Texas.

Contrary to propaganda, by the way, "The Eyes of Texas" is NOT the Texas state song, but a UT ditty based on the tune, "I've Been Working on the Railroad." The state song is "Texas, Our Texas." 

"Sjokkhilsen fra Bush datter," read the headline on Nettavisen, a Norwegian news website. In Norway, the horn sign is associated with Satanism, or more particularly, the Death Metal music movement, which in the 1980s was shocking, violent, anti-Christian, and sometimes deadly.

The same hand sign is also known to have been used by homosexuals to identify themselves. 

The "Hook 'em" sign is attributed to Harley Clark, now a retired district judge. Clark was a UT cheerleader in 1955 when originating the sign to counter the "Gig 'em" sign used by the archrival Texas A&M Aggies.

Commenting on the hand signs, Clark betrays considerable animus. "Surely everybody in the world takes offense at the Aggie Gig 'Em sign. I can't think of anything more repulsive than that hand gesture." 

The "Gig 'Em" sign is probably based on the "thumbs up" sign prevalent in the military in World War II or earlier. A pilot, for instance, would give the signal from the cockpit to mean, "Go ahead" or "All systems go."

So why the acrimony? Texans would understand. Texas is divided between Aggies and Horns, like Democrat versus Republican or Liberal versus Conservative. They coexist in two different worldviews. Wherever one went to college, or not at all, everyone has an opinion, and everybody chooses sides. 

UT was the state university written into the Texas Constitution of 1876, but Texas A&M was the first to hold classes, that same year. UT has been the elite school, located in the state capitol, claiming to represent the state, and receiving the lion's share of state funding.

A&M was a land grant college established under the Morrill Act to provide a place for the children of farmers and the working class to go to school. A&M was a military school until after World War II, when it allowed veterans to return out of uniform. Its Corps of Cadets continues to be the heart and soul of the university, and to provide the largest number of military officers outside the official military academies. 

Female students were allowed in the 1960s. Because of phenomenal growth, A&M has been forced to keep raising entrance requirements, since it is required by law to admit all qualified students. Consequently, A&M has often been unjustly accused of limiting minority enrollment for racist reasons.

UT is a liberal school, located in the state's most liberal city. A&M is conservative, located in a small town that grew up around the campus. Austin was the hotbed of anti-Vietnam protest in Texas, there were no major protests at A&M. The same people who hate A&M tend to be the same left-wingers who, in Bill Clinton's words, "loathe the military." 

So the difference is ideological. Hmm, maybe the UT handsign is evil, after all.

[Source: Andrew Dansby, "Norway Reads Something Sinister in 'Hook 'Em' Sign," Houston Chronicle, January 22, 2005, pp. A1, A10; and the author, with an A&M degree and 30 years of personal experience.]

©2005 Paul A. Hughes

Lottery Tempts the Poor Most
Topic: God Help Us!

The Texas Lottery, along with parimutuel betting, was pushed through by one-term Democrat governor Ann Richards on the promise that it would fund education in the state.  Not only has it failed to live up to that promise, but a recent study of the lottery by Texas Tech University shows that the lottery appeals most to those who have the least, amounting to a regressive tax on the poor.

The figures are as follows:

$44.55 the average risked by players per month in 2004
$38.13 the average risked 2 years ago

GENDER
$48.65 males
$41.66 females

RACE
$30.76 whites
$88.98 blacks
$64.83 Hispanics
$72.73 other

EDUCATION
$62.55 non-high school graduates
$67.19 high school graduates
$42.28 some college
$26.82 college graduates

According to Brian Cannon, in charge of the survey at Tech, "Rates of participation are down.  So we have fewer people reporting having played, but they're actually spending more money when they're playing."

Gerald Busald calls the scratch-off game, "the crack cocaine of the lottery."  A professor of mathematics at San Antonio College, Busald has concluded that "There is a greater percentage of people who have a gambling problem with the Texas Lottery than ever before."

"The less education you have," says Busald, "the more you are spending.  The people who are supporting the Texas Lottery are those with the least amount of education and the least amount of income."

But seriously, didn't we know this would be the case going in?  Huh?

[Source:  Jeffrey Gilbert, "Those with Least Chance It Most, Texas Lottery Player Study Shows," in Houston Chronicle, February 1, 2005, pp. B1, B5.]

©2005 Paul A. Hughes

CO Court Denies Jury Right to Bible
Topic: Anti-Christian

Robert Harlan raped and murdered Rhonda Maloney, a waitress, in 1994.  In 2005, his death sentence was thrown out by the Colorado Supreme Court because jurors had used Bible passages to help determine their sentence.

The Court, in doing so, has:

1.  Denied the jury the right to use primary documents relative to the historical development of law to inform their decision.

2.  Violated jurors' First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion by denying the use of Scripture to inform their decision.

3.  Denied the jury's right to make a free decision in good conscience, without undue external interference.

Note:

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here" (Patrick Henry, 1765).

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions . . . upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God" (James Madison, 1778).

"In contemplating the political institutions of the U.S., if we were to remove the Bible from schools, I lament that we would be wasting so much time and money punishing crimes and would be taking so little pains to prevent them" (Benjamin Rush, Educational Policy Papers, 1791).

"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws . . . .  All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible" (Noah Webster, "History of the United States," 1832).

"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind.  It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian" (U.S. Supreme Court, 1892).

[Reference:  "Bible Use Voids Death Sentence," from unnamed wire reports, in Houston Chronicle, March 30, 2005, p. A4.]
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©2005 Paul A. Hughes

ttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Liberalism_Unmasked/

Media Distorts Iraq News
Topic: Media Watch
Columnist Austin Bay knows first-hand that U.S. forces have been winning in Iraq all along.  He writes,

"Collect relatively isolated events in a chronological list and presto:  the impression of uninterrupted, widespread violence destroying Iraq.  But that was a false impression.  Every day, coalition forces were moving thousands of 18-wheelers from Kuwait and Turkey into Iraq, and if the 'insurgents' were lucky they blew up one.  However, flash the flames of that one rig on CNN and, 'Oh, my God, America can't stop these guys,' is the impression left from Boise to Beijing.

". . . .  [Terrorists'] strategic power was based solely on selling the false impression of nationwide quagmire -- selling post-Saddam Iraq as a dysfunctional failed state, rather than an emerging democracy."

He continues, "The Jan. 30 election provided the broad and deep perspective the police blotter obscures:  This is a war of liberty against tyranny, and it's a war we are winning."

[Austin Bay, "Chapter and Verse Prove Why We're Winning in Iraq," Houston Chronicle, March 26, 2005, p. B11.]

Hillary the Chameleon

"All things to all people" -- the Clintons are known for making outlandish claims.

In the past, Hillary Clinton has claimed to be a Yankees baseball fan, to be named after Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary and, in 1996, to be considering adopting a second child.  Moreover, she claims to have once hunted ducks; but when challenged by NRA member Holden Clous, she was unable to describe her weapon.  She declined to say whether she had killed any ducks.

Now Hillary has been awarded a Purple Heart, "in recognition of her inspirational leadership and dedicated service to America's military service members and America's veterans."

In 1994, Hillary told ABC News that she had once tried to join the Marines, and had considered the National Guard.  The Marines, she said, told her that she was too old.

Husband Bill was once quoted as saying, "I loathe the military."  Hillary has demonstrated considerable disdain for the military in the past.  

Veterans often say that they consider the Purple Heart to be the highest of all military honors.  Many were highly offended by the idea that John Kerry might have received one for a minor, accidental wound.  To award such an honor to Hillary Clinton is a slap in the face to those who truly served and risked their lives.

[Source:  Newsmax, Feb. 17, 2006.]

Copyright 2006 Paul A. Hughes 

Hillary the Chameleon

"All things to all people" -- the Clintons are known for making outlandish claims.

In the past, Hillary Clinton has claimed to be a Yankees baseball fan, to be named after Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary and, in 1996, to be considering adopting a second child.  Moreover, she claims to have once hunted ducks; but when challenged by NRA member Holden Clous, she was unable to describe her weapon.  She declined to say whether she had killed any ducks.

Now Hillary has been awarded a Purple Heart, "in recognition of her inspirational leadership and dedicated service to America's military service members and America's veterans."

In 1994, Hillary told ABC News that she had once tried to join the Marines, and had considered the National Guard.  The Marines, she said, told her that she was too old.

Husband Bill was once quoted as saying, "I loathe the military."  Hillary has demonstrated considerable disdain for the military in the past.  

Veterans often say that they consider the Purple Heart to be the highest of all military honors.  Many were highly offended by the idea that John Kerry might have received one for a minor, accidental wound.  To award such an honor to Hillary Clinton is a slap in the face to those who truly served and risked their lives.

[Source:  Newsmax, Feb. 17, 2006.]

Copyright 2006 Paul A. Hughes 

Owe My Soul to the Company Sto'
Topic: Economics
I come from a small town an hour from Houston, Texas.  In the 1970s, a regional chain called Howards BrandDiscount moved in and soon drove most of the "mom and pop" dry goods stores out of business.  In the 1980s, Kmart built a store up the road and soon drove Howards out of business.  In the 1990s, Wal-Mart built a little further up the road and soon drove Kmart out of business.  They used the power of their other profitable stores, which allowed them to operate at a loss and under-price the competition, until this was accomplished.  Now they are about to build a new Super Wal-Mart yet further up the road.

Also, there was once a popular grocery store called Minimax in the same town, which was a locally-owned franchise.  An aggressive regional chain called H.E.B. Pantry came and told the owner to sell the store to them, or they would build down the street and drive them out of business.  They sold out.  Now there is just one other full-service grocery in town, another regional chain.

I expect the Super Wal-Mart, which will include groceries, will drive the other groceries out of business.  There are not many jobs in town these days except low-wage retail.  Soon they will become like one of those infamous "company towns" where one can only shop at the "company store."

Paul
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Liberalism_Unmasked

Mexico's Undemocratic History
Topic: Mexico
Anyone who knows Mexico's history knows that it has always been prejudiced and undemocratic.  At first, the Conquistadores ruled the Indigenas ("Indians").  Then the Peninsulares, Spaniards born in Spain, kept government power to themselves, in league with the Catholic Church, while subjugating Criollos, those of pure Spanish blood but born in Mexico.

Spaniards married or raped Indigenas women, creating the Mestizo class of mixed race.  In 1810, Miguel Hidalgo, a Criollo, led a largely Mestizo democratic uprising in the district north of Mexico City called Bahio.  Mestizos in the area felt they were discriminated against economically.  Hidalgo was captured and executed, and his revolution failed.

The revolution that succeeded in 1821 was actually an anti-democratic one instigated by Spanish-blooded powers and the Catholic Church, a reaction against the liberal coup d'etat that overthrew Spain's monarchy.  Nevertheless, democratizing forces soon took power and in 1824 instituted a democratic constitution based on the U.S. Constitution.

The democratic constitution created conditions favorable to Anglo-American settlement in Texas, at that time nomadic Indian territory more or less written off by the Mexican government, possessing a tiny Tejano population, and serving largely as a buffer zone between Mexico and the United States.  Mexico looked to the Anglo-Americans to control the Indians, particularly the Comanches, who made frequent incursions south to steal horses from Mexican haciendas.  Notably, however, the 1824 Constitution suppressed all religions other than the Catholic Church.

In 1829, Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña, a military hero, staged a coup and briefly seized the presidency.  A Mulatto born near Acapulco, Guerrero saw to it that negro slavery was outlawed -- a fact of which Mexico is very proud.  However, the ruling class continued to treat the Indigenas much like slaves, and the Mestizos little better.

Antonio López de Santa Anna, who had helped Guerrero in his coup, now helped Anastasio Bustamante overthrow Guerrero.  In 1833, Santa Anna got himself elected to the presidency.  Soon he disbanded Congress, overthrew the Constitution, and began to centralize government power in Mexico City.  This spawned a Federalist movement among Tejanos in Texas, who suddenly found themselves disenfranchised and Texas attached to the neighboring state of Coahuila.  Elsewhere in Mexico, open rebellion broke out in San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Yucatán, Jalisco, and Zacatecas.  In May 1835, Santa Anna defeated the Zacatecan militia and planned to move next to Coahuila-Texas.  His actions in Texas and fate at San Jacinto are better known.

Today, Mexico maintains a small wealthy elite and a vast lower class.  They provide few social services.  Mexican politics toward the U.S. is a cynical exercise in which the lower classes who need work and seek a better life are used as pawns.  Thereby poverty is exported and U.S. funds, which are worth 10 pesos per dollar on the street, are funneled into the Mexican economy -- according to conservative activist and Texas congressional candidate Dan Patrick, amounting to $44 billion sent by wire alone in 2004.

Copyright 2006 Paul Hughes
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Liberalism_Unmasked/