Give No More Money For Schools!

Giving money to the school system is like giving money a bum on the street: It might briefly feel rewarding, but deep down you know they’re not going to spend it wisely because they never have. In the case of the bum, your dollar is likely going to support some global distillery, while, in the case of our schools, your dollar is going to support some politician’s agenda.

Schools now enjoy four times more money per student than they did in the 1960s. Have they gotten four times better? No, they have not. Have graduation rates improved? No, they have not. Do you think throwing even more money at the problem will improve all that? No, it will not—though the teachers’ union will probably send you a Christmas card.  …

It’s not that the schools don’t have enough money, it’s that they’re forced by politicians, lobbyists, and special interests to spend it in ways that don’t further their primary goals.

Glenn Beck, Arguing With Idiots, pg.71, 72

The Problems of Public School

With very few exceptions, our public schools are costly disasters based on an antiquated tenure system and unmotivated teachers using overstuffed classrooms inside decaying buildings to pass on much of what they don’t know to their undisciplined, uninterested students. . . . Those students then enter the workforce or college with a subpar education that is slowly but steadily costing America her standing in the world.

Glenn Beck, Arguing With Idiots, pg.62

Disarming Gun Control Laws are Dangerous

According to [Italian Marquis Cesare Beccria] and [Thomas] Jefferson, gun control laws “disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, the most important code . . . will respect the less important and arbitrary ones, which can be violated with was and impunity, and which, if strictly obeyed, would put an end to personal liberty. . .  Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants . . . [These] laws [are] not preventative but fearful of crimes, produced by the tumultuous impression of a few isolated facts, and not by thoughtful consideration.”

Glenn Beck, Arguing With Idiots, pg.44

The Nanny Government is Unconstitutional

I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan, as proposed by this bill [1887 bill appropriating money to Texas farmers suffering through a catastrophic drought], to indulge a benevolent and charitable sentiment through the appropriation of public funds for that purpose.  I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government the Government should not support the people.

President Grover Cleveland, cited by Glenn Beck, Arguing With Idiots, pg.6-7

It Is a Baby From Conception

Preserving a Culture

Laws still supporting a public morality of self-control have, as their primary justification, the goal of maintaining an environment where men and women can form enduring, monogamous bonds. For instance, prohibitions against prostitution, incest, polygamy, open displays of pornography, public nudity, and public fornication remain. Each of these remaining elements of a robust ethic promoting self-government deserves careful reflection.

Consider the bans on public nudity and fornication. Such acts take the mystery out of sex, emphasizing humans’ kinship to animals instead of our distinctive, personal relations with others; such prohibitions reflect a belief that there is something special about human sex rooted in our capacity for love and shame. Public display of such things would tend to liberate erotic passions even more from their moorings in enduring, loving relations and liberate eyes to wander even more. Our proscription against public nudity and fornication makes sense as an element promoting enduring, monogamous relations.

Scott Yenor, “Marriage and Family Life Cannot be Privatized”

No Neutral Moral Law

In truth, however, there is no such thing as a neutral law. Laws make some thoughts more thinkable and some actions more doable. When the public treats all forms of adult relationships as equally valid (as privatizers must insist that it do), mores change as well, so all relationships are accorded what Ronald Dworkin calls “equal concern and respect.” This affects behavior and attitudes by detaching honor or shame from actions. The choice of whether to allow choice in marriage matters is itself a choice—a choice that is shaped by particular moral considerations and has inevitable long-term moral ramifications. To decide that the state ought to leave people free to choose on matters of marriage and sexuality is to decide either that this realm is truly private and hence unimportant—like the choice of hairstyle—or that one elevates individual choice over the common good—like the choice of how to define marriage.

Scott Yenor, “Marriage and Family Life Cannot be Privatized”

The People ARE the Militia

For advocates of gun control who feel the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution applies only to the military, I submit the following:

The first ten amendments were added by popular demand to give “the people” specific guarantees. The amendments clearly indicate reference to individual rights, not states’ rights.

The term “militia” as used in the 2nd Amendment referred to all able-bodied male citizens at least 18 years old.

In 1903, an act was passed creating the federal control, funding, and training of state forces as organized militia.  It designated all other adult male citizens as the unorganized militia.

An act of 1916 designated the organized militia as the National Guard. This was further clarified by the National Defense Act of June 4, 1920, and this act again designated all other adult male citizens as the unorganized militia.

Title 10 U.S. Code, Section 246, states that the militia consists of all able-bodied males 17 to 45 years old. It also specifies two classes of militias exist, the organized (i.e. National Guard) and unorganized.

In U.S. vs Miller, 1939, the U.S Supreme Court said that when militia members were called to service, they were “expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use” at the time.

Notice that making it illegal for males under 21-years-old to purchase a pistol, or making it illegal for any male at least 17-years-old to buy any rifle "in common use," is a violation of Federal law.

Data gathered by Glenn E. Chatfield, blog owner.

ALL Laws Legislate Morality

A country always legislates morality. The only question is which morality. Will the laws promote an ethic of self-control or an ethic of self-expression? Will the laws embody the idea, anchored in expressive individualism, that marriage is a convention that individuals can mold to suit their desires? Or will they embody the idea that marriage is an institution with particular goals (procreation and education of children) that are best accomplished through monogamous unions between a man and woman? The halfway house of neutrality is a Trojan horse to advance a commitment to expressive individualism.

Scott Yenor, “Marriage and Family Life Cannot be Privatized”

How to Destroy People

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.

George Orwell

Think About It

Note that shattering conclusion: we become like what we worship.

Vinoth Ramachandra

A Slave to Self

A miserable slave is he who makes himself a garment of his pain.

Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938)

Pain

The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body.

Publilius Syrus (b.85 B.C)

It Might Have Been

For all the sad words of tongue or pen, 

the saddest are these: “It might have been.”

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

Happiness

Happiness is inward, not outward, and so it does not depend on what we have, but on who we are.

Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

Some Quotes About the 2nd Amendment

The Militia is composed of free Citizens.  There is therefore no danger of their making use of their power to the destruction of their own rights, or suffering others to invade them.

Samuel Adams, Writings, pg. 251

The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.

Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788

The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry.  An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom.

Robert A. Heinlein, Chapter 9, “When we die, do we die all over?”, p. 97

A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined…

George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms

Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to to John Cartwright, 5 June 1824

On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823

I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.

George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788

Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.

James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.

James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789 (delete 5/10/17)

A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms…  To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.

Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.

Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.

St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1803

The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like law, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves.

Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive War" in Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775

What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.

Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. In a single state, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28

[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, January 10, 1788

The Darkest Day

The darkest day, if you live tomorrow, will have passed away.

William Cowper (1731-1800)

A Powerful Force Affecting Everything

We live in a world that has been bent and twisted by a force so fundamental, so powerful, that it literally impacts every human thought, every human intention, every situation, every experience of society and every moment of history. This force is the inescapable pathology of the created universe. It is sin. One syllable, three letters in English, yet a concept without which it is impossible to every understand your life or mine.

Paul David Tripp, Lost in the Middle, pg.16-17

Emotions are not Illnesses

The brain is a physical organ; the mind is not. With this subtle semantic twist, the mind (disguised as an organ of the body) was elevated as a scientific and medical concept in contrast to the soul, which is a theological reality. A choice was made between a so-called scientific concept and a theological one. The average person does not see that both mind and soul are abstract concepts. One is an abstraction of psychotherapy and the other is an abstraction of religion.

At the same time that a physical organ (the brain) was replaced by an abstraction (the mind), another change took place. Whereas the church had believed that there was a relationship of sin and circumstances to mental/emotional disorders, the psychotherapist introduced the medical concept of sickness to explain such disorders. Nevertheless, mental suffering is not synonymous with sickness—we’ve only been deluded into thinking that it is. We easily accepted the word “sickness” to refer to mental-emotional problems because that was the “loving” and “understanding” way to cover up moral responsibility—ours as well as theirs.

There’s a serious problem when people confuse emotions with tissue and sin with sickness. Such confusion of words leads to erroneous thinking. This very confusion and error virtually ended the cure-of-souls ministry in the church.

Dr. Martin and Deidre Bobgan and T. A. McMahon, Psychology and Psychotherapy (Part 2)

There is No Evidence for Effectiveness of Psychotherapy

Today people wholeheartedly believe that psychological counseling theories, dressed in a wide variety of styles and shades, contain the secrets and answers for helping troubled souls. Their confidence in the curative power of psychotherapy has increased in spite of the absence of substantial proof of any great degree of effectiveness. Persuaded by the claims of psychotherapists, they fail to question the validity of those claims, refuse to examine research, and blindly believe popular myths about psychotherapy.

Dr. Martin and Deidre Bobgan and T. A. McMahon, Psychology and Psychotherapy (Part 2)

Psychotherapy is a Hoax

According to sound research, not only is psychotherapy less effective than it is purported to be, but in many cases it’s even harmful. After examining numerous efficacy (effectiveness) studies on psychotherapy, university professor and widely recognized researcher Dr. Robyn Dawes says, “There is no positive evidence supporting the efficacy of professional psychology.” Dawes further says “Evaluating the efficacy of psychotherapy has led us to conclude that professional psychologists are no better psychotherapists than anyone else with minimal training—sometimes those without any training at all; the professionals are merely more expensive.” In fact, Dr. Lawrence LeShan, when he was president-elect of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, said: “Psychotherapy may be known in the future as the greatest hoax of the twentieth century.”

Dr. Martin and Deidre Bobgan and T. A. McMahon, Psychology and Psychotherapy (Part 2)

A BIG Lie of the LEFT

Admittedly today’s left-wing fascism differs in one important respect from Hitler’s and Mussolini’s left-wing fascism. The old fascists at least used the name; they called themselves what they were. Our fascist Left, by contrast, purports to be anti-fascist. I know, it’s crazy. The very people who champion the centralized state, have a long history of racism and racial terrorism, used the power of the government against their political opponents while they could, and continue to use cultural intimidation and street thuggery to enforce their ideology, insist they are the ones who are anti-fascist.

Dinesh D’Souza, The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, pg.231-232

The LEFT’s Conspiracy

The Left can work together, and does so naturally, to get its message widely disseminated.  This is how big lies get told and come to be widely accepted as incontrovertible truth. Typically, the lie originates in academia, where one left-wing academic concocts it and other left-wing academics whoop it up.  Then the media adopts it, invoking the academic theory for validity and then drumming it into the popular mind as a proven truth. Periodically Hollywood then converts the story into a sitcom or feature film and builds emotional support for the cause while also making it seem fashionable and cool. Finally, all three institutions gang up on anyone who questions the big lie, seeking to discredit them, ruin them, and ideally drive them out of public life altogether.

Dinesh D’Souza, The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, pg.197-198

The LEFT’s Real Power

The Left’s real power does not derive from any covert conspiracy but rather from a state-within-a-state that is very much in plain sight.  He Left doesn’t need to rely on the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA because it already has three of the most powerful institutions of our society.  They Left dominates academia, Hollywood, and the media.  These are the three most powerful megaphones of our culture and they are the primary instruments for disseminating information to people, especially to young people. In a democratic society, whoever controls the flow of information controls public opinion that ultimately decides all questions.  This state-within-a-state is the strongest, deadliest weapon of progressivism and the Democratic Party. Without it neither progressives nor Democrats could get as far as they have, or mount the kind of scorched-earth opposition they have against Trump.

Dinesh D’Souza, The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, pg.196

Like the Liberals in America, Hitler Was Against the Family Unit

Hitler is sometimes characterized by the Left as a social conservative dedicated to marriage  and the traditional family. Let’s listen to what Hitler actually says in Mein Kampf about the purpose of marriage: “Marriage cannot be an end in itself, but must serve the one higher goal, the increase and preservation of the species and the race. This alone is its meaning and its task.” So marriage is not primarily for uniting people who love each other nor is it for giving them the joys of parenthood; rather, marriage exists largely to serve the collective goals of the state and the species. No traditionalist will agree with this, but many progressive did and still do.

Dinesh D’Souza, The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, pg.158

The “One Drop” Rule is Alive With the Left

The “one drop rule” is very much with us, not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of personal identity.  Think about Obama: he’s half white and half black, yet he identifies as black.  Many African Americans have white ancestry, yet they consider themselves black. Why?  Because of the one-drop rule. If any of these people tried to self-identify as white—or refuse to racially classify themselves at all—left-wing groups like the Black Caucus and the Southern Poverty Law Center would condemn them for it. The Census Bureau, even today, counts blacks and whites according to the one-drop rule and uses it to implement a host of affirmative action and other race-based programs.

Dinesh D’Souza, The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, pg.137-138