A rock dove with a pin through his brain, a ‘pinhead pigeon’

This little essay is about a turn of phrase used by the prophet Hosea in regards to some mistakes being made by the leaders of his day; and it is about the similarity of the mistakes being made by our leadership right now.

In the mid-700’s BC, the chickens – or should I say, the pigeons - were coming home to roost for the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They had been warned about the coming destruction by Amos earlier but they hadn’t changed. Hosea arrived on the scene to plead with even greater urgency, because now the horrible threat of the Assyrian Empire was becoming clear to everyone, not just prophets.

The Assyrians were the first great world empire, centered in Nineveh in Northern Mesopotamia. Their standard modus operandi was the use of intimidation and terror to cow their subjects; they were universally feared and hated and their cruelty was calculated and legendary. [They would eventually get their comeuppance at the hands of the Babylonians.] They were beginning to bully and hector the Kingdom of Israel. What were the leaders of Israel going to do?

Now, the advice of Amos and Hosea was to ‘turn to the Lord’. The cause of the nation’s problems was their lack of identity and social cohesion. Israel’s unity, uniquely, was not purely racial or ethnic; it was centered on a belief in one God and a moral code not mere genetics. In turning to the worship of the fertility gods and goddesses, they were also engaging in the immoral practices associated with them. Since those primitive religions were divorced from moral requirements and did not involve a sense of a personal relationship with their gods (using a magical or instrumental approach) the Israelites began turning away not just from their unifying belief in one God and their common set of moral values, but also from their personal obligations to the needy among them as emphasized so often in the Law of Moses. If what unifies you is weakened, the result is weakness, disunity and chaos. Read the rest of this entry »

Having endured the shocking spectacle of the first two months of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid debacle, another historical parallel occurred to me. This one might not seem so obvious at first, but there is a real lesson to be learned from the latter parts of the reign of the biblical King Solomon.

We have probably all heard of WISE Solomon and the many references to the wisdom of the third king of Israel, the son of David. True enough, Solomon began with humility and asked for wisdom to serve his people and we are told that he was given it. There is much evidence given in the First Book of Kings for this wisdom of his. He wrote many proverbs and he promoted knowledge and arts. His shrewd insight into human motivations and character was revealed when he judged the case of the two women and the baby. He did oversee the creation of the First Temple, one of the most beautiful edifices ever created. He did build a seeming political peace with those around him. The Queen of Sheba traveled from far away to see this astounding wisdom for herself and was suitably impressed.

But there is more to the story than that. God warned Solomon ahead of time of TWO main dangers to him and thus to his people. He must avoid IDOLATRY and the immoral practices associated with it; and he must not OPPRESS his people or put unreasonable burdens on them. If he did not heed this warning, his kingdom would be split at his death.

You would think he would have studiously avoided any hint of these two dangers. But human nature being what it is, very gradual change can fool us. If you put a frog into boiling water, it jumps out, but if you simply put up the heat slowly by degrees, the frog will boil to death without realizing it. What was it that fooled Solomon into his fatal errors? Faith in the power of Government! Read the rest of this entry »

Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables is a massive tome which has gained massive attention because of the blockbuster musical theatre phenomenon that is based upon it. There have been lessons and parallels aplenty drawn from this story but I have another take of my own here.

Here is a thumbnail sketch of this wonderful tale. Jean Valjean, a woodcutter, is imprisoned for stealing a piece of bread. Because of failed escapes he ends up being imprisoned for nineteen years; he reenters the world in a hell of hatred and desperation until the good Bishop of Digne ‘buys his soul’ back for him and commissions him to live for others the rest of his life. Taking a new identity, he becomes a prosperous business man in Montreuil-sur-mer and becomes a pillar of the community through his factories and private charity. Eventually, his secret identity is discovered by the maniacally legalistic public servant Javert. Javert pursues Valjean relentlessly through much of the rest of the story, but Valjean’s mystical moral depth triumphs in the end over the harsh legalism of Javert.

Hugo himself was a ‘liberal’ Bonapartist and that does come out in some places in his novel. However, I think everyone agrees that’s not really what he was pushing or talking about in his classic. Like Dostoevsky and Dickens in that time, he was making a spiritual and cultural point about our need for God in a secular age and how that affects how we treat each other.

As I was recently reading this great work, this was the thing that struck me quite hard. Jean Valjean in his first new incarnation after his escape is a CAPITALIST HERO! He comes up with a great idea. He reworks a marginal process into a truly useful one and sparks the growth of an industry. He provides jobs and prosperity for his town and the entire area. Far from being the stereotypical greedy magnate, he uses his private charity to build a non-governmental framework of community and social support. He promotes a spirit of solidarity while respecting the subsidiarity of all the small groups. The respect and trust he earns propels him into the office of mayor, where he presents us the ideal ‘public servant’ very much in the traditional American model as opposed to the controlling bureaucrat. Read the rest of this entry »

The story of Immaculee Iligabiza is destined to be, I think, one of the defining stories of our time, like that of Anne Frank or Solzhenitsyn. Her story has been featured on “60 Minutes” and PBS; her books “Left To Tell” and “Led By Faith”, as well as her new book on Our Lady of Kibeho in Rwanda have been international bestsellers. I urge you to read them. They will sweep you away; I read each in one day apiece.

Her story is a truly amazing one. She came from a fairly well-to-do, religious Catholic family in a small town in Western Rwanda. Her parents were educators, heavily involved in charities and community-minded. Then the horrible genocide of 1994 began. She got home from college just as the maelstrom of killing began. Her father sent her to the local Protestant pastor in hopes he would hide her from the machete-wielding Hutus bent on wiping out the Tutsis. The pastor did hide her with seven other women in a tiny bathroom (see the picture above) where she spent three months praying and becoming transformed in mind and heart. It is a story replete with miracles and palpable evidence of the Providence of God. Her entire family (save one brother) and most of her friends were wiped out and at several times she really should have met their fate, too. But she feels she was saved for the purpose of warning the world at large about the dangers she saw herself. Her remedy?: Faith, Family, Forgiveness, Fortitude. These are the most powerful forces in the world building a Kingdom that is unshakeable. Read the rest of this entry »

Speaker of the House Pelosi clearly thought she was going to walk into the Vatican and dominate Pope Benedict XVI. Predictions were made how the two would get beyond the narrow pro-life issue and that terrible “micro-obsession with abortion” as Jon O’Brien, head of the so-called “Catholic for Choice” liberal front group put it. Well, according to reports, the ENTIRE 15-minute meeting was a lecture from the Successor to St. Peter to Pelosi, solely devoted to what the Church really teaches about the right to life and the DUTY to defend the unborn.

This tack taken by the Pope is in obvious and conscious contradistinction to the very public & loopy statements of ‘theology’ put out by Pelosi on the topic of human life.

Way to go, Pope! This is the sort of things leaders are SUPPOSED to do! Now it’s time for the U.S, Bishops to follow up, because the media will obviously try to hush this result up. Let’s do our best not to let them, too.

And let’s pray for Pelosi or some other unforeseen stalwart to have a change of heart and step forward on this and all the other important issues. Whittaker Chambers was a sold-out undercover Soviet spy who had given up everything to destroy capitalism and democracy, the sort of fanatic who doesn’t get turned from their path. In his classic autobiography, “WITNESS” it was the party’s demand that he and his wife abort their child which began his slow Exodus to sanity. He was forced to think about what he believed. “I felt like I was joining the losing side,” he commented. Yet, he and others like him helped to turn the seemingly inexorable tide of Marxism. Maybe this meeting will be the sort of shock to Pelosi’s moral system that she needs.

This is another time we need to turn the tide. We need more ‘witnesses’. Can I get a witness?

Here is an excerpt from the Catholic News Agency:

He opposed the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000 as counsel of record for an amicus brief supporting the American Library Association in a case that challenged mandatory anti-obscenity internet filters in public libraries.

In the 1986 case American Council for the Blind v. Boorstin, he successfully sought a court order forcing the Library of Congress to use taxpayer funds to print Playboy Magazine’s articles in Braille.

Ogden also successfully challenged laws requiring pornography producers to personally verify that models were over 18 at the time their materials were made. According to the Fidelis brief, he argued that the decision would “burden too heavily and infringe too deeply on the right to produce First Amendment protected material.”

In other areas, Ogden has argued for homosexuals in the military and an unlimited abortion license. Read the rest of this entry »

On the very first day in office, the new administration announced it would rescind the ‘Mexico City policy’ Thursday. (This banned tax dollars from going to non-governmental agencies that perform abortions.)

Thursday is the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, when thousands of Pro-Lifers annually descend on Washington for the March for Life.

So, it is “above his pay grade” to decide what human life is, but he can use MY TAX DOLLARS to kill human life without bothering his conscience a wit. That is the logic of Goebbels, not Lincoln or anyone else.

Further, how is this any big “change” from the same old confrontation we’ve always had? This is what Clinton did too with the same “in-your-face” timing. Obama had a great opportunity here. What a chance to be truly different. Sad to say, I knew this would happen. Obama tipped his hand early on that his mind and heart are the most radically pro-abortion of anyone who has ever entered the Office.

Poor John Adams! He said: “I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” It seems the noises Obama made about “change” and ‘reaching out’ do not apply to me and so many like me, and, in my opinion, that is neither honest nor wise.

We stand at a crossroads in America. The government seems to be proposing that all citizens basically lose their faith in capitalism and liberty. Let the government take over the wealth and make it fairer and easier for everyone. Hmmm, sounds familiar. Weren’t the liberal press in the Fifties urging us to follow the example of that benign paragon, the “agrarian reformers” of Communist China and the Soviet Union? Well, in my opinion, we need a hero – or two – or more! We need a lot of good people to step forward. We also need good examples to follow. A very proper patron for this pickle comes to mind: St. Laurence (or Lawrence).

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, Joan of Arc was a loser. Moses was a failure. Churchill was an outcast and then an outcast again. The Lord Jesus himself was defeated. This is an important thing to remember at times like this. The election has been lost. But even the defeated never lose - even when they do - if they preserve that core of self deep within that no one but our Creator can touch.

Yes, as we probably all know, Joan of Arc did have some success. [Her story is one of the best and well-documented of any medieval saint (save Francis of Assisi, perhaps) in historical terms and would be worth anyone’s time to investigate further. Mark Twain devoted 14 years of his life to research his version of her story under another pseudonym and considered it his best work.] By 1428, the Hundred Years War had been going on since 1337 and the social and moral effects were devastating to the country in countless ways as war usually is (mercenary war in particular!). Then along came this young girl from Domremy. Within a few months, she energized the ‘useless’ Dauphin, handed two major defeats to the English and Burgundians and got Charles crowned at Rheims. She accomplished more in this short time than had been done in a century, and with relatively little loss. This seems like success to us, but we have the benefit of seeing from afar and knowing what followed. Yes, by 1453, the ‘cowardly’ Charles would personally lead the conquest of Calais and complete the eviction of the English invaders; and we can look back to what Joan did as the crucial turning point.

But in 1428, that was far in the future. What did it look like to those at the time? Joan’s influence at court was quickly undermined after her initial success and she was looked down on as an uneducated country rube, despite the fact she had just given the country a new start. A whispering campaign motivated by this disdain and jealousy, defeated her insights and probably prolonged the war for many years more. (By the way, I think there are parallels with Sarah Palin, who was despised by insiders for her appearance and demeanor and lynched in a media show trial. And Palin, unlike her persecutors, actually accomplished things worthy of praise and, I feel, has good insights for going forward!) In any further efforts to lead within the court, Joan was seen, and rightly so, as a failure. Read the rest of this entry »

“How in the world did we get ourselves into this mess?” Have you been asking yourself this question a lot the past couple of weeks? You’re not alone. During this time, quite fortuitously, I’ve been reading a book that I think is giving me the straight answer. The book is “10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn’t Help” by Benjamin Wiker. Reading this, especially with Obama’s words still ringing in my ears was truly eerie and chilling. It sums up fifteen books that have cumulatively helped create the poisonous culture and atmosphere that made it possible for the unthinkable to happen. Re-reading the alluring logic of Mein Kampf was especially unnerving.

I don’t want to give too much away, but I can say this much: although at the time each of these books seemed to make sense, looking back, we can now see these books were replete with Pseudo-science and outright fantasy, but it was very base motives and vice that really impelled their logic and themes. Here are the books:

• The Prince Machiavelli
• Discourse on Method Descartes
• Leviathan Hobbes
• Discourse on Inequality - Rousseau
• The Manifesto of the Communist Party - Marx & Engels
• Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill
• The Descent of Man - Darwin
• Beyond Good & Evil - Nietzsche
• The State & Revolution - Lenin
• The Pivot of Civilization - Sanger
• Mein Kampf - Hitler
• The Future of an Illusion - Freud
• Coming of Age in Samoa - Margaret Mead
• Sexual Behavior in the Human Male - Kinsey
• Dishonorable Mention: Feminine Mystique - Friedan

We should say his problem with Darwin has nothing to do with the theory of evolution per se as discussed elsewhere, but the radical eugenics espoused in Descent. Many have tried to foist off crude “Social Darwinism” on Spenser and absolve Darwin, but it’s clear Darwin espoused “Social Darwinism” most himself and had a profound effect on both Sanger and Hitler. Also, the point is not that Freud did not have some valid insights, but that his background blinded him significantly in his anti-God diatribe, Illusion. In short, the point is not that everything in every book or author is bad, but that a discernible pattern of errors has led us to where we are today: with an ‘education’ system that does not educate and a culture of death and dehumanization.

For anyone becoming even slightly curious as to ‘how we got here’, this would be a great place to start. Let’s keep spreading not only knowledge but wisdom as much and as far as we can.

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops is meeting at this very moment (November 14, 2008) and I was just watching some of the Bishops’ comments on EWTN (the world Catholic cable network). Perhaps the immense gravity of this situation has finally woken them up, but they are absolutely expressing straight out the immense danger the Church faces in this country in a way we haven’t seen. It fills me with rage that they haven’t spoken more openly before, but, by God, it seems to finally be sinking in what is facing our Church and believers in general.

Much has been said already about many facets of this awful “Freedom of Choice Act”, but I would like to underline one aspect of this bill that should chill the heart of every believer of any kind in this country. The Bishops have apparently begun to realize one thing: this bill will FORCE Catholic hospitals to provide abortions. ALL conscience clauses will be obliterated, invading the inner sanctum of the freedom to practice religion, trampling the First Amendment. “You must burn infants alive over the course of hours; you must tear and cut them apart while they are still alive”. The draconian choices facing over 600 Catholic hospitals: closing the Obstetrics wing of all of them, or closing all of the hospitals altogether. The alternative is allowing the government to force Catholic physicians to perform these heinous actions which, to their credit, the Bishops seem to be refusing to countenance at all. This amounts to an anti-religious war which will destroy something which is invaluable, not only to Catholics, but to all Americans.

Anti-Catholic bigots must be wondering what the problem is. Religion is the major impediment to progress, after all, etc. etc. I think most fair thinkers, even unbelievers, will conclude, like the non-practicing Benjamin Franklin, that the free exercise of religion is crucial to the political health of the nation. How can anyone think it is good to exclude the services of highly trained, motivated moral professionals and institutions? Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a composite conversation based on several post-Election Day discussions with friends and acquaintances up here in the Granite State of New Hampshire. The Great Stone Face, The Old Man on the Mountain, was once a symbol of our fierce independence: Live Free or Die! We were a rock island of red sanity in a sea of blue madness. Now with our deficits, spending, new laws and liberal leaders, we are no longer unique; we are well on our way to becoming Massachusetts North, if we’re not there already. It seems we ‘lost face’ and our identity the past four years since our great symbol, the Stone Face, fell off the mountain.

Hearts of stone and heads of granite: O Lord may you take them from us and give us hearts of flesh and minds which no longer take life for granted.

“Isn’t this just great? The first black man has been elected President! What a great day! You can celebrate, right? You’re happy, right? ”

“No, I’m sorry, I’m not happy. I’m glad we broke the barrier, but, for me, this day is a like a tragedy.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, I’m pro-life.”

“What’s that? Oh yeah, that has to do with being against abortion, right?

Yes, somebody actually said that. I found out that some people voted for Obama without knowing some bare basics about what he believed about this and other things.

“You mean Obama’s not ‘pro-life’? I figured he was. He seems like such a nice guy.” Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve got to hand it to Joe Biden. Sir Gaffe-a-lot tried to warn us about this guy, Barack Obama. For whatever reason, subconscious guilt, knowledge that he had made a dreadful mistake or whatever, he guaranteed a “generated crisis” for Barack within six months. He hinted heavily at what he had said openly several times before: Obama is not ready and there is something very disquieting about him.

Well, that “Stand Up, Chuck!” realization is spreading like wildfire. [To see the original “Chuck” incident, go here]. Take a look around. A record 10% post-election stock drop did not really match any new information except for Obama’s election. Chris Matthews looked like he was about to soil his trousers, this time out of fear. Newsweek’s brave investigators are suddenly squeamish about not knowing who Barack is or what he wants using the words “creepy” and “deeply manipulative”. (See what they had to say on Charlie Rose). There are several other examples like the Cult of Personality. Read the rest of this entry »