ANZAC Day is a national day of remembrance observed on April 25th each year in Australia and New Zealand to honor the fallen on the battlefield. Originally, the holiday was to recognize those who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire in the Great War (a.k.a. World War I). While the Gallipoli campaign failed to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) after an eight month stalemate, but the allied troops from Down Under distinguished themselves. In fact, Turkish President Kemal Atatürk said of the opposing troops in 1934:
Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives.
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers,
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears,
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace
After having lost their lives on this land they have
Become our sons as well
The ANZAC Legend created a powerful legacy which shaped how Aussies and Kiwi's saw their past and their understanding of the present. The tradition is to remember their valor to the sounds of a bugler playing the last post, reciting the final lines of Lawrence Binyon's poem "For the Fallen" (1914), also known as "Ode To Remembrance".
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
While ANZAC Day is a solemn day of remembrance, surely the ANZAC Legend contributes to Australian and New Zealand good cheer, which should appreciate Charles Schultz world ending witticism .
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St. Andrews & Edinburgh
During his Easter homily, Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien urged Catholics to make the cross a more prominent thing in their lives by wearing crosses.
The Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh’s reflections on the “Triumph of the Cross” observed:
I hope that increasing numbers of Christians adopt the practice of wearing a cross in a simple and discreet way as a symbol of their beliefs. Easter provides the ideal time to remind ourselves of the centrality of the cross in our Christian faith.
Cardinal O’Brien contends that the sign of the cross is not a morbid way of looking back but acknowledging the path set out for us by Christ Himself.
Although O’Brien did not reference it in his homily, the theme of proudly wearing our cross is influenced by the cases before the European Court of Human Rights about two British women who were dismissed from their jobs by wearing cross pendants while at work.
Cardinal O’Brien’s exhortation that the faithful take up their crosses and wear them is a stark contrast to the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who urged Anglicans to attend church on Sundays, even if they are “a bit vague” about religion. As Williams celebrated his final Easter as the spiritual head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury revealed that he does not lose any sleep about cultural Christians who just attend at Easter and Christmas. Williams hopes that the Christian story will wash over them but that there would not be a doctrinal examination.
It would not be surprising if such pusilanimous expressions of faith from Archbishop of Canterbury Williams inspires another wave of orthodox Anglicans joining the “Our Lady of Walsingham” Ordinariate in England that Pope Benedict XVI created in his 2009 Motu Proprio “Anglicanorum Coetibus”.
According to secular calendars, today is April First, a time when it is acceptable to play pranks, hoaxes, practical jokes and other good natured humor. The origins of April Fools Day can be traced to the Nun’s Priest’s Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392) when Chaucer described as “Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two” (meaning March 32, or April 1), but there may be some roots in the Roman festival of Hilaria (March 25th) as a feria stavia when masquerades and amusements were allowed. But some might question whether comedy is suitable to commingle with spirituality. In Umberto Eco's "Il nome della rosa" (The Name of the Rose, 1980), the Italian academic spins a medieval murder mystery that a palimpsest of the plot was made into a major Hollywood film (1986). The premise of the novel involved a Franciscan friar William of Baskerville along with his novice sojourning to a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy in order to investigate a theological disputation as to whether Christ laughed.
There were hidden power that be in the monastery who wanted to conceal a lost volume of Aristotle's Poetics about comedy, as that threatened their weltanschauung that laughter is diabolical thus not belonging in the spiritual life. Admittedly, there are strong currents in the monastic tradition (Pachomius, Anthony, Augustine and Benedict) which frowns up laughter in the spiritual life. However, there are many instances in the Old Testament in which humor unlock the hidden meanings of seemingly contradictory truths in scriptural wordplay. When the Lord told Abraham that he would have a child, his wife laughed as Sarah was ninety years old. Since anything is possible with the Lord and Sarah gave birth to a son, he was named Isaac (Yitshaq meaning “He will laugh”). Some other gems are lost in translation from the Hebrew. For example, during the first creation story in Genesis, God fashioned man (adham in Hebrew) from clay (adham?), and the woman created from one of his ribs was to be called woman (ishsh?) because she was produced from man (ish).
In his recent book, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Humor and Joy Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life (2011) , Fr. James Martin, SJ takes on the gloomy, pessimistic approach to spirituality. Fr. Martin argues that having a "Frozen Chosen" approach to theology is both antithetical to the teachings of Christ, but is harmful to evangelization.
If hearing that humor is healthy for a spiritual life sounds jesuitical (sic.), then consider the series of “Bad Catholic” Guides written by John Zmirak which take a loving look at the lighter side of faith. While there certainly should be a place for Laughter with the Lord, as the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under heaven. Levity is less appropriate this week as most persuasions of Christendom are celebrating the Messiah’s Passion and sacrificial death on Mount Calvary. Holy Week is not the proper time to persiverate on Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the Life of Brian (1979). But after the solemnity of the Triduum, believers revel in the joy of the Resurrection. Celebrating this joie de vie for theology is not limited to the “wrong” side of the Tiber. As Presbyterian seminarians blew off steam before taking their ordination exams, a video went viral which lauded and laughed about things within his tradition. This epitomized the great Quaker scholar D. Elwood Trueblood’s quote about “Never trust a seminarian without a sense of humor".
Such examples of joy filled, self effacing examples of faith stand in stark contrast to dour doctrinarians or smarmy and snide secular humanists. This joyful approaches to teleological things could set the set hearts on fire, even without candles.
How fitting that Johann Sebastian Bach was born on the first day of spring (at least on the old style calendar). J.S. Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach (Thurgia) in 1685. Johann was the eighth child born into a very musical family.
While J.S. Bach was widely acclaimed as an accomplished organist during his lifetime, his reputation declined as the Baroque style of music became considered old fashioned with the advent of the classical period. However, there was a revival of J.S. Bach’s reputation in the early 19th Century, and Bach became acclaimed as the quintessential Baroque composer. Some compare Bach as the musical equivalent of the literary genius of Shakespeare or the mathematical teachings of Isaac Newton.
JS Bach was known his fervent Lutheran faith as expressed in his compositions. Much of his music became part of the Lutheran hymn book. Along with his acclaimed organ works, Bach wrote famed cantatas, chorals and sacred songs, including: St. John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion, and a Christmas Oratorio.
Bach was also prolific in his parenthood. Bach fathered twenty children, four of which became famous as musicians. Despite assertions to the contrary, PDQ Bach is no relation, but a musical parody vehicle for musicologist Peter Schickele during a five decade career.
The musical genius of JS Bach had a two track revival in the late 20th Century. Orchestras committed to playing period piece reveled at playing the master of Baroque composition. Moreover, Wendy (ne Walter) Carlos transformed many rock listeners into unwitting Bach boosters with her groundbreaking Moog synthesizer Switch On Bach series in 1968. The original Switched on Bach was the first classical album which sold more than 500,000 copies.
And then there was Virgil Fox’s Heavy Organ, where the flamboyant classically trained organist would play before hippies at the Fillmore East (in Greenwich Village, NYC) and the Fillmore West (San Franciso, CA).
In that spirit, let us celebrate J.S. Bach’s 327th birthday, with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull pipping the Bach prelude in C minor.
It is amazing that in just over 37 months of the Obama Administration, unemployment rates have been officially above 8% during that entire time period (and significantly higher if one includes discouraged workers that dropped out of the workforce). Congress passed a $837 Billion Stimulus (a.k.a. "Porkulous") package to abate the rising unemployment rate to no avail, while raising the National Debt by over $4 Trillion in just three years. Moreover, since President Obama was elected, gasoline prices have more than doubled nationally. But the Obama energy policy has generally prohibited drilling on federal lands or off-shore and rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline from Canadian petroleum sources . Instead, the Obama Administration continues to bolster green energy initiatives, which results in wasteful subsidies for mature but inefficient alternative energy producers, or making bets on new technologies that supplement crony capitalism, a la Solyndra.
Despite these damning facts, Obama continues to poll support in the low 40s%, which roughly corresponds to the number of registered Democrats. Some cynical political observers liken Obama's undying support to being akin to an Obama Cult of Personality. There was the meme in 2008 of treating Barack Obama as the Chosen One or a political messiah.
Right wing partisans have long recognized Barack Obama's 2008 campaign of Hope and Change as cult of personality propaganda. Viral videos capitalized on the funky hard rock fusion sounds of Living Color to score their point.
Glenn Beck went further, by composing an Obama Anthem to the tune of the Soviet National Anthem (Song of Stalin).
But the American people spoke in November 2008 and sent the candidate whose claims to fame were being a community organizer and a United States Senator for two years to the Oval Office.
Even after three years of Obama in power, Obama seeks to blame shift to his predecessor while banking on a perpetual campaign of class warfare to gain re-election. These themes can be seen in director David Guggenheim's adoring campaign video "The Road We've Traveled" (narrated by Tom Hanks).
While promoting his upcoming campaign agiprop film, Guggenheim was asked by CNN's Pierce Morgan on whether his film reveled any negatives about Obama. Guggenheim's response was that there were too many positives to put into a 17 minute film. This laughable response was followed by Guggenheim's admission that the director was in awe of Obama.
This star eyed response seems proto-typical of the block of Obama's invincibly ignorant who love the ideas espoused in the candidate of Hope and Change, but never consider the facts. People may choose to believe in what they want, but that blind faith is aided by the Lamestream Media, which never seriously vetted Barack Obama and which serve as the White House stenographers instead of being a Press Corps.
There are several things which voters need to do to survive the onslaught of Obama-Zombies. Firstly, do not give up hope, as it is not Zombieland-USA. The Lamestream Media is wont to report polling in ways that are favorable to their interests. Many of the polls cited probably have skewed questions or over-sample Democrats (or under-sample Independents)
Secondly, do not allow the opposition to succeed in Saul Alinsky tactics of framing the argument by smearing your opponent. For instance, the HHS Contraception mandate is now being spun by Obama sycophants as being a war on womens' health with Georgetown Law School student/political agitator Sandra Fluke as its martyr. The argument against the Obamacare HHS Qualified Health Plan Mandate should continue to be presented as an unprecedented and unconstitutional attack on the First Amendment's right of religious liberty.
Thirdly, Republicans must not allow themselves to be sidetracked by ad hominen, wedge issue attacks like outlawing contraception. This is really a false flag attack by the media which deserves some response, but by lingering on the issue drives candidates off point and colors the candidate. For instance, former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is being tarred by the Contraception questions which give casual spectators of political theater the impression that he is just a social issues candidate, when he really has a strong blue collar Conservative economic platform that gets shunted to the side. Not everyone can be as convincingly combative as Newt Gingrich during debates, but Gingrich's slap-down of Meet the Press host's David Gregory's extraneous lead question can generate earned media and inspire others to straighten up and fly right.
Lastly, keep hammering home the shortcomings of the Obama Administration. The curtailment of basic liberties to accommodate Obamacare, the real pocket-book effects of encroaching environmental policies, the diplomatic fecklessness of Obama's State Department may not convince the invincibly ignorant to your camp, but they may not be motivated to go to the polls on election day. But by contrasting the Obama Administration's dubious record with a concise, concrete and positive platform, Independents can be inspired to walk over broken glass to exercise their franchise. While Republicans are engaged in an intense Presidential Primary fight, there can be a sense of disunity. But disgruntled conservative partisans ought to remember Benjamin Franklin's entreaty: "We must all hang together or else we will all hang separately" in November as we contemplate FOUR MORE YEARS OF THIS?
As we celebrate George Washington’s birthday, it is worth considering a myth about the father of our country. It is said that after serving as the Supreme General of the Continental Army, George Washington turned down being king of America after winning the War of Independence. Historians scoff at the Nicola Affair, which were correspondences between Col. Lewis Nicola, a five year veteran of the Revolutionary Army and George Washington in 1782. Nicola was distraught at the relative chaos of Continental governing under the fledgling Articles of Confederation. Nicola favored monarchism and suggested that Washington stage a coup d’etat and make himself king, which Washington quickly rebuffed.
While Col. Nicola may not have had the power to give Washington the throne, it should not be dismissed as merely a myth. Myths are legendary stories without a determinable basis of fact which convey essential truths. Only 40% of colonial Americans supported the Revolutionary War and 20% of populace were Loyalists who supported the crown. Democratic Republics were not the norm among Europeans and the messiness of the Articles of Confederation may have fostered many to yearn for stability through autocracy under the guise of a monarchy. In this fluid environment, Washington could have seized the reigns and crowned himself king.
Not only did Washington rebuff this pretorian proposal, Washington taught by example. After winning the War of Independence, he returned home to Mount Vernon, Virginia to live as a Gentleman Citizen. When his nation needed him, he reluctantly came out of public retirement to preside over what became the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Washington was the natural choice to be the first U.S. President. But Washington severed two four year terms and then left office. Washington established a tradition of term limits for the Chief Executive which lasted 144 years until F.D.R. in 1940 and was later enshrined in the Constitution by the 22nd Amendment in 1951.
This aversion to autocracy which Washington fostered is exemplified by the public reception to a statute that Congress commissioned for the Centennial of Washington’s birth. Sculptor Horatio Greenough created a 30 ton marble which symbolically depicted Washington as an exemplar of liberty. Greenough’s sculpture of “Enthroned Washington” (1840) was fraught with symbolism. Washington was depicted as a demi-god (perhaps modeled after the great statue of Zeus) in the motif of classical Greece, which was birthplace of democracy. The figure of Washington points upwards towards the heaven. More importantly, Washington is depicted cradling a sheathed sword in his outstretched hands, showing how he relinquished power after the American War of Independence.
Greenough’s “Enthroned Washington” statue has an inglorious history. The commissioned statue was intended to be the centerpiece of the Capitol Rotunda. But many Americans found the bare chested Washington as offensive and even comical. Enthroned Washington was soon moved to the East Lawn of the Capitol in 1843. Continued derision moved the statue to the nearby Patent Office until 1908 until it was moved inside of the Smithsonian Castle. In 1964, Enthroned Washington was finally moved to the Smithsonian American History Museum, where docents suggest that the public viscerally could not respect an “Enthroned” father of the country.
Based upon the news of the day, it is dubious if Americans still have an inherent aversion to autocracy. President Obama’s style of governing seems imperial as he seizes upon opportunities to be above the rule of law or the Constitution. Such arrogance of power is reminiscent of monarchical excesses in the History of the World Part 1.
For example, the Obama Administration has decided not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which it believes is unconstitutional for the Federal government to force same sex “marriages” among states through the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution. Obama officials may not like the law, but is it the role of the Executive Branch to determine what is constitutional?
Much of the Obama Administration has been marked by complaints about the prior administration. So it was no surprised that President Obama sought to circumvent inconvenient aspects of President George W. Bush’s education achievement, the No Child Left Behind Act. In September, 2011 the Obama Department of Education indicated that it would start granting waivers to exempt states which do not meet the minimum standards. Congress had been trying for a year to craft legislation to correct some of the flaws of the NCLBA. But the Obama Administration would not wait for the legislative process to work.
The Obama Education Department decreed that it would exempt states from the law so long as it met the Obama Administrations preferred policies. Two problems with this educational ukase. First, the enacted NCLBA legislative language does not contain provisions for exemptions. Moreover, what the Obama Administration issued were conditions based relief that further tethers states to the whims of the powers that be in Washington.
President Obama had been frustrated by the lack of confirmation by the Senate of his choices the new U.S. Consumer Protection Bureau which was authorized by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Obama’s first designee in July, 2010 was Elizabeth Warren but she could not overcome Senatorial opposition to confirmation, so Warren acted as a Special Assistant to the President implementing the bureau. President Obama shifted his choice to Richard Cordray in July 2011, but he could overcome a successful filibuster for his confirmation. The Senate was meeting in pro-forma sessions to avoid a recess appointment but President Obama chose to sidestep Congress and the Constitution.
While in speaking in Shaker Heights, Ohio in January 2012 at what seemed more like a taxpayer funded campaign rally rather than a policy speech, President Obama said that he refused to “take no for an answer” while noting that he felt that he had an obligation to act when Congress does not. Obama assessed that the Senate was not in session hence he could make a recess appointment of Cordray to the USCPB. This Executive decision abrogates a century of precedent and ignores the Senate’s exclusive constitutional power of advice and consent to Executive Office appointments.
The use of such unilateral power strikes at the very heart of our system of government and dangerously tips the balance of power. President Obama clearly wanted to make a point about his effort to protect consumers. But for the Constitution, that political point comes at too high a price. Replacing an intransigent Congress with an imperial president is no bargain for those who value our constitutional system.
Then there is the HHS contraception mandate in Obamacare. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued her findings that qualified health plans which included all employers but houses of worship must cover contraception, sterilizations and abortifacients. After two weeks of political turmoil where religiously affiliated employers, such as Catholic hospitals and schools, objecting to paying for services to which their free exercise of religion objects, President Obama announced a contraception “compromise”. Such family health services would not be paid directly by objecting employers but would be given free to requesting patients, with the costs being absorbed by their insurers. Of course, this sleight of hand means that the religious institutions would have to pay for them indirectly through increases in rates. And certainly this institutions would still have to violate their consciences by informing their employees where to get the free family planning stash from Obamacare.
Yet there are two ironies that stem from Obama’s contraceptive “compromise”. On the same day Obama held his press conference, the Federal government published the very regulation that drew the religious objections. Quoting the Federal Register “Accordingly, the amendment to the interim final rule with comment period amending 45 CFR 147.130(a)(1)(iv) which was published in the Federal Register at 76 FR 46621-46626 on August 3, 2011, is adopted as a final rule without change.” Apologies for the bureaucratic legalize but the language is important for the other irony in the contraception “compromise”. The implementing language adopts “the final rule without change”. Yet the Obama Administration is trying to foil court challenges to this HHS decree by arguing that it is not yet a final rule. As Mel Brooks would say “It’s good to be the king.”
Although there are autocratic impulses demonstrated by President Obama, America is not necessarily fated to imperious tendencies. Progressives like Presidents Woodrow Wilson and F.D.R. have imperiously attempted to overplay their hands while in the Oval Office. And during the Watergate era, President Richard Nixon opined: “When the President does it, it means that it is not illegal”, yet he was convinced to resign from office before he was impeached.
For any hope of change, citizens who love liberty must be educated and have the audacity to tell the truth to power.
And they must not worry about toiling in the muck, being impressed by a “superior” who gives the illusion of being unsullied or a farcical aquatic ceremony where some moistened bint lobs a scimitar at a political savior.
January 22nd is the 39th Anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade which open the floodgates across America for abortion on demand. Associate Justice Harry Blackman mooted some state anti-abortion laws in his 1973 majority opinion under the guise of an unwritten “right to privacy” that was contained in penumbras and emanations of the bill of rights as applied to states via the Fourteenth Amendment. This vague and confusing “logic” was the legal modus operandi for the judicial branch to legislate from the bench by imposing progressive moral sensibilities as "choices".
Pro-Life protestors have demonstrated in our Nation’s Capitol every year around that January 22nd anniversary to protest this perceived injustice to the unborn. Tens of thousands (organizers estimated up to 400,000) to take a stand for anti-abortion policies. But you would never know it if you relied upon the elite Lamestream Media. For the fifth year a row, the print edition of the New York Times ignored this story, yet they were happy to highlight the motley meager mob of Occupy Wall Street protestors for months on end. Perhaps because the 99% redistributionists are the cat’s paw of Obama Presidential re-election campaign.
From my vantage point at a staging area and comfort station on Capitol Hill, it is impossible to give precise numbers. But I can note that 200 dozen donuts were ordered and by 5 p.m. that 95% percent were consumed just at one small church basement. The Immaculate Conception National Shrine is the second largest Christian church in America, behind Washington’s National Cathedral, so it can comfortably seat 4,000 worshipers. But the Vigil for Life prior to the March typically draws a crowd of 8,000 strong in the Upper Church. That does not account for the Mass for Young People at Verizon Center that hold 19,000 faithful nor the Mass at the DC Armory. And that’s just part of the Catholic contingent. But when the Washington Post runs a story about the event, the picture is cropped to hide the crowds size. Even better is CBS Washington newsite which “covered” the March for Life but all five of their photos were Pro Abortion supporters. Could the media be biased or shaping the news? Maybe such dissenters to the secular humanist norm are not really persons. Heavens (sic).
Although the large numbers of pro-life participants are impressive, they are not as important as speaking truth to power. As Soviet dissident author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn affirmed in his 1970 Nobel Lecture-- “One word of truth outweighs the world”.
The commitment that March for Life participants made to represent their beliefs were impressive. A group of 180 students traveled 24 hours on a bus from outside Naples, Florida to live their faith for the sanctity of human life.
What was truly touching for me was the earnestness of an adult leader from Springfield, Illinois. Our conversation was prompted by the distinct graphic on the group’s tee-shirts. The gentleman proudly showed me a picture on his cell phone of his grandson who only lived for fifteen minutes before dying. Presumably, it was a difficult pregnancy, yet the mother insisted on taking it to term as every human life is precious. The youth group surprised the leader by adopting his deceased son as their “mascot” by dedicating their march to him and using footprints as their symbol. To reinforce that they did not just care abstractly about life in the womb, their banner was emblazoned with footprints of children from an early day care center.
A placard from another group echoed preciousness of all human life by using Dr. Seuss’ Horton as a symbol with the message: “A person’s a person no matter how small”. For those who may have trouble stomaching the gruesome realities of ripping a fetus from a womb, this childrens’ literary conceit ought to make the same point.
The 2012 March for Life was even more poignant, especially after the Obama Administration utterly abrogated religious liberty by bureaucratically dictating that all American health plans must include no-cost contraception, despite earlier assurances that there would be a conscience clause. During his homily at the National Shrine, New York Cardinal designate Archbishop Timothy Dolan was a happy warrior yet he pulled no punches in speaking his peace. Dolan acknowledged that most of the worshipers had been there all night in a vigil for life so they might not be aware of two items in the news. Dolan ad-libbed from his prepared text that the first piece of “good news” is that the NEW YORK Giants were going to the Superbowl [ed.- apologies to Vice President Biden and the San Francisco Giants (sic)]. The other news is that due to icy roads, the Federal Government will be opening three hours later. Dolan joked that was three hours fewer that the government could take away more American religious liberties. That was both amusing yet too true.
Social media was another forum for considering the merits of personhood. An evocative picture revealing the reality hidden in the womb was accompanied by a “Modest Proposal” styled story about a beleaguered mother who was pregnant again but instead of a being offered an abortion, the gynocologist was willing to kill her firstborn instead. A dissenter from this pro-life parable was an earnest student who “crossed the pond” to pursue course-work on evolutionary biology. The abortion friendly interlocutor objected to equating a child who can dream and experience with a cluster of “biochemically-active tissue”. Hoping to bolster a spirited yet thoughtful colloquy, I pressed the budding scientist pro argumento for a probative test for WORTHY human life and how such a standard could be applied today.
As the exchange evolved, the B.S. candidate admitted that he was also in favor of eugenics for defects like Downs Syndrome. His definition on “real” human life (my words) centered on development of the embryo’s nervous system, for which he admitted that a simple probative test could not be cited. I noted that his supposed baseline on worthy human beings as having dreams and experiences was mooted by the application of eugenics. If the community decides whether a person is worthy, it is not likely to be delimited to genetic defects. What if the proto-person is the wrong sex or race–after all, it’s a woman’s body (sic)? What if that being is deemed handicapped? Moreover, why why should community standards on worthy human life stop at the womb?
Absent moral or ethical standards, anything goes. Progressives are convinced that they are so much smarter than “flawed” traditional thinking. But not everything is easily measurable. Einstein postulated “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted”. When I noted that the science was unconvincing and in that case we ought to err on the side of caution. That sentiment prompted the well worn bromides over a woman’s right to her body and being free to choose etc...
What the cyber chautauqua showed me is that abortion advocates can not bear to consider to discern personhood. Although aborted fetuses are the most dramatic victims of the callousness of character to deny personhood, it seems that liberals deem conscientious objectors of their progressive sensitivities as also not being worthy of attention or protection.
Rescue operations on the U.S.S. West Virginia after the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941
December 7th 1941, a date that will live in infamy. Those words uttered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his address to Congress have resonated in the 70 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii.
Americans were shocked out of their inclination to isolationism during the 1930s by what was understood as being a sneak attack by Japanese forces.
In anticipation of open conflict with this country, Japan is vigorously utilizing every available agency to secure military, naval and commercial information, paying particular attention to the West Coast, the Panama Canal and the Territory of Hawaii.
Unlike Loose Change 9/11 conspiracy mongers, Shirley does not purport that FDR knew of the attack and did nothing or blew the response. Instead, the author of December 1941 suggests that there were more pieces to the puzzle.
This was certainly true on the diplomatic end. American and Japanese diplomats had been engaged in a tense series of negotiations over a US embargo of oil shipments to Japan in the three months prior to December, 1941. FDR’s Secretary of State Cordell Hull had presented Tokyo with a 10 point ultimatum on November 26, 1941 which stunned Japanese diplomats who had just suggested a 90 day cooling off period.
Most American history books key on the difficulty of translating the Japanese cable that delayed delivery of the demarche, which was supposed to have been handed over just as the attack on Pearl Harbor began. But American sources had intercepted a Japanese Foreign Ministry draft memorandum that was tantamount to a declaration of war. But FDR saw nothing new in the message and took no further preparations. In addition, Japanese researcher Takeo Iguchi debunks the myth that war was caused by a misunderstanding, as internal Japanese government documents indicated that Japanese Army and Navy prevailed over the Foreign Ministry to keep their war aims secret.
Another interesting angle of the Day of Infamy is why President Roosevelt only asked Congress for a declaration of war against the Empire of Japan. On the evening of December 7th, FDR was shaken as he expected America to be hit but not hurt in any conflict with Japan. Historian Shirley pointed out that FDR and his War Cabinet considered declaring war against all three Axis powers, Japan, Germany and Italy. But in the end, FDR only chose Japan, as America was still healing from the Great War and isolationism. Oddly enough, it was German Führer Adolph Hitler who declared war against America in self written speech before the Reichstag on December 11, 1941. There might have been a markedly different outcome had America kept its attention towards the Pacific and Europe had to fight for itself aside from Lend Lease with the British Empire.
That being said, many still consider Thanksgiving as a celebration of the harvest and remembering the gifts that God has given us. Thanksgiving took shape across America due to persistence of Sarah Josepha Hale. “The Lady Editor” campaigned for 17 years to five Presidents to make Thanksgiving a unifying national festival that would be a therapeutic holiday. President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation of 1863 started a national tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving and the holiday was fixed to the fourth Thursday in November by Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941.
But the First Thanksgiving was not a celebration an autumn cornucopia but to thank God for his Providence in persevering in the New World.
The Scrooby separartists were Christian idealists who to evacuated England to avoid their perceived popery of the Church of England . These pilgrims moved to Holland in 1607 where religious tolerance was permitted. But the Dutch moral permissiveness and foreign culture threatened the long term survival of their sect. So the Pilgrims decided to sojourn to the New World to follow their faith and fortune.
These 120 Pilgrims contracted themselves to work in community for the London Virginia Company in the for seven years in the New World. Initially, they departed Southhampton England in August 1620 with the Speedwell and the Mayflower ships for “Northern Virginia”. They planned to anchor at the mouth of the Hudson River (a.k.a. Manhattan). But the Speedwell was not seaworthy and caused the Pilgrims to turn back twice before abandoning the Speedwell. The delayed voyage caused 17 settlers to drop out and the rest to cram onto the already crowded Mayflower for a brutal two month transatlantic voyage.
With winter approaching and treacherous waters between Cape Cod and Nantucket Island, the Pilgrims abandoned their original landing plans. The Mayflower anchored at what is now Providencetown and sent out a scouting party. After a month of exploration, the Pilgrim decided to settle at Plymouth Rock at an area that was providentially cleared (which had been mysteriously abandoned six months before Patuxet tribe six months before).
The first winter in the Plymouth Colony was brutal as 45 of the 102 settlers perished which included 13 of the 18 women. In fact, by November 1621 only 53 settlers remained.
When the Plymouth Colonists had their first contact with Native Americans in , an Indian brave named Samoset (a.k.a. Squanto) boldly walked in the midst of the settlement and proclaimed in English “Welcome Englishmen...Got any beer?”. Alas, the colonists did had run out of their casks but they did offer Squanto some whiskey. As it turned out, Squanto had been captured and enslaved by both the English and Spanish explorers but he became a Christian and twice returned to his native land. Alas he learned that his tribe had been felled by a case of smallpox so he been temporarily staying with Chief Massasoit and the Wampanoag tribe.
After Squanto’s encounter with the devout Christian colonists, he arranged for a meeting with Massasoit which resulted in a peace treaty and mutual defense pact. Squanto spent the rest of his life with these pious Pilgrims and he taught the European settlers how to fish and cultivate the fields in the New World.
The first “Thanksgiving” in 1621 celebrated their survival by the hand of God, but it was probably called a “harvest festival” as the Scrooby separatists were quite particular in celebrating their solemnities (for instance they neither celebrated Christmas nor Easter). Despite a meager harvest, Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford, invited 90 Wampanoag braves to join in a feast. The colonists menu of wild fowl, vegetables and corn was supplemented by five dressed deer, cod, sea bass. The true heroines of the first Thanksgiving were: Elizabeth Hopkins; Eleanor Billington; Mary Brewster and Susanna Winslow. These ladies were the only women survivors from the Plymouth colony and were responsible for feeding 140 for the three day Thanksgiving feast.
While it is wonderful to celebrate a feast of plenty, it is worth considering the origins of Thanksgiving. It is a holiday that unites Americans in thanking God for our bounty. But Michael Medved suggests a deeper religious context:
Thanksgiving in that sense doesn't celebrate religious freedom, but rather coexistence. We remain a nation of impassioned, fiercely committed, openly competing believers who have nonetheless established a long tradition of letting other faith communities go their own way. We can be pious and uncompromising at our own Thanksgiving tables, without menacing, or even questioning the very different proceedings in the home next door. The limitless boundaries and vast empty land of the fresh continent, plus the challenges of a long Revolutionary struggle, gave the faith-filled fanatics of the founding the chance for a freedom more profound than mere religious tolerance: the right, in their own communities, to be left alone.
This Thanksgiving Thought acknowledges the religious nature of our nation’s origin but does not impose a particular faith but a national religious tolerance that allows for faith groups to co-exist and to be left alone.
They tell me
'Freedom is never free.'
I know that-
More than most realize.
Freedom cost us more
Than we should have to give.
Freedom cost us blood.
It cost us the lives
Of our fathers,
Our sons,
Our brothers.
But while freedom is never free,
Remember-
It has been bought at great price,
And so is a thing of great value.
We must defend it,
From those who would take it away.
The defense of our freedoms
Will cost us-
More than we wish to pay.
But we must pay, to defend,
For if we try to make freedom free,
We forget-
True freedom is never free.
~James Grengs
Numerologists may revel that the calendar shows 11-11-11. There is a similar significance in Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day), as it is traditionally celebrated on eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, which marked the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front that ended the First World War in 1918. Many Allied nations mark November 11th as a day to commemorate the fallen veterans who were amongst the estimated 60 million people who died in the Great War.
The horror that Continental Europeans hold for the first major modern war is embodied in "Le Monument aux Morts" in Trévières, France by sculptor (and Mayor) Edmond de Laheudrie (1921). The sculpture is Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory, which is also wearing the utility belt and helmet of the French version of Doughboys. The original placement of "Le Monument aux Morts" is significant for two reasons, as its position near the Church of St. Aignan links it to the bishop who defended Orleans from Attila the Hun in 451. During the D-Day attacks from Allied Forces against Occupied France in World War II, a round of shrapnel struck the head of the sculpture which removed its face below the upper lip along with most of its throat. So all at once this statue represents both the the fleeting valor of victory, the fragility of peace as well as the destructiveness of war. This statue was cast in situ for placement at the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.
President Franklin Roosevelt's Prayer on the eve of the D-Day Normandy Invasion implores the Almighty for divine aid for our troops defending our freedom:"Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith".
It is saddening to learn that the Obama Administration objects to the inclusion of this FDR radio prayer to being included in the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. Obama Bureau of Land Management Director Robert Abbey claims that inclusion of this prayer would "dilute" the central message of Memorial as well as violating the Commemorative Works Act. The real reason may be a politically correct attempt to erase any vestige of public religiosity which expressly alludes to Christianity. The evolution of Armistice Day into Veterans Day was spearheaded by Alvin King, a cobbler from Emporia, Kansas in 1953 who campaigned to include all who served the nation as part of the November 11th commemoration. Within a year, Congress changed the holiday to Veterans Day. Alas, today people could claim this change was contrary to the spirit of the Commemorative Works Act.
Among the many memorials between the beltways, one of the standouts is the Korean War Memorial, which was dedicated by President George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992. The "central theme" of this Memorial is the polished marble reminder "Freedom is Not Free". The memorial recognizes the contributions and loss of troops by the 22 nations which comprised the United Nations forces during the hot war between 1950 and 1953 (N.B. there was an Armistice but never a Peace Treaty so technically there is still a state of war with North Korea). The Memorial includes a wall created by Louis Nelson that has photographs of 38 soldiers sandblasted into the granite (representing the disputed 38th parallel). The polished granite wall draws visitors into the memorial as they can not see the memorial to the troops without also seeing themselves and remembering that freedom is not free.
The hallmark of the Korean War Memorial is the squadron of 19 stainless steel soldiers (technically 14 US Army, 3 Marines, 1 Navy Corpsman and 1 Air Force Forward Air Observer) on patrol. The sculptures by Frank Gaylord has also sparked some civil conflict. The artist was so intent on protecting the intellectual property rights on his work that he sued the USPS for $775,000 for using the image on a first class stamp. Gaylord won all of his claims in Federal Court in 2010 save a fair use claim which is appealable to the US Supreme Court or US Court of Federal Claims. So a tribute to the Veterans who epitomize the phrase "Freedom is Not Free" must be a sketch of a snowy memory.
The rest of the Korean Memorial is a Pool of Remembrance, which bears the inscription
"Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."
As Veterans return from the hot spots of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Central Africa, we must recall the wise words of President John F. Kennedy "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." We should honor those in the armed forces who by their very service were on the front lines of defending liberty. But we must also remember that we are all called to defend the freedoms that we cherish.
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence [or By God's mercy] he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Hulloa boys, Hulloa boys, let the bells ring.
Hulloa boys, hulloa boys, God save the King!
A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!
Today is Guy Fawkes day in the UK. Today it seems treated as just another bank holiday to enjoy carousing and fireworks. Despite the 400 years that separates them, the Gunpowder Plot is analogous to the Islamists attacks on 9/11/2001.
The Protestant Reformation in England was not simply King Henry VIII making himself the supreme head of the English church in 1534. After Queen Elizabeth I assumed the English throne after the Catholic Queen Mary, there were a series of Sixteenth Century laws enacted to reinforce Protestant dominion over England. The Act of Uniformity from 1558 forced subjects to attend Anglican Churches and use the Book of Common Prayer. Fines for following one's conscience became exorbitant for most Catholics, it became treasonous to be absolved from schism, Jesuits were banned and priests were executed.
After the death of the "virgin" Queen and the demise of the Tudor dynasty, King James I was settling into power under the aegis of the Stuart dynasty in a de facto united Kingdom of Scotland, England and Wales. Aggrieved Catholic partisans hoped to restore a Catholic monarchy to England. Guy Fawkes was a Catholic convert who fought in religious wars on the continent. When he returned to England, he plotted with others to attempt regicide. Fawkes and his cohorts leased an undercroft which was directly beneath the House of Lords. The plan was to blow up Westminster Palace (the Houses of Parliament) with 36 barrels of gunpowder. Black humorist quip that Fawkes was the only man to ever enter Parliament with honest intentions.
[The Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot/ Henry Peronnet Briggs c. 1823]
The plot failed in part because Parliament delayed meeting for several months due to threats of the Plague. Some of the gunpowder had decayed during the delay. Concerns about Catholics being in the chambers may have tipped off security. In the end, an anonymous tip turned Guy Fawkes in on November 5th as he was guarding his stash of explosives.
Fawkes was not cooperative after he had been taken into custody. In fact, he earned some admiration from James I for his "Roman Resolution". Fawkes was transferred to the Tower of London where his interrogators were authorized to start easy and proceed to the worst, hence starting with manacles to potentially the rack. After a few days of torture, Fawkes told all and was forced to sign a confession.
Almost three months later, Fawkes and seven cohorts had a pro-forma trial at the Star Chamber. Fawkes and three others were slated for public execution. The others were hanged, drawn and quartered. Fawkes begged for forgiveness from the King and the state while still keeping his "crosses and idle ceremonies". Afterwards, Fawkes unexpectedly jumped from the gallows which broke his neck. Nevertheless, Fawkes lifeless body was still quartered and his body parts scattered to the four corners of the Earth.
Alas much of contemporary consciousness of Guy Fawkes stems from the "V for Vendetta" comic series that was also adapted into a feature film released in 2006 directed by James McTeigue. V for Vendetta is a dystopian tale about a post nuclear war England which is ruled by fascists. "V" is an anarchistic revolutionary who dresses in a Guy Fawkes mask who embarks on a theatrical campaign to murder his former captors, bring down the government and advocate self rule.
While several centuries may have dulled the severity of the Gunpowder Plot, this was a vigilante attempt to decapitate the Government by destroying the seat of power. This is the same plot lines as 9/11 although the Al Qaeda hijackers used airplanes missiles instead of kegs of gunpowder to try and achieve their ends.
Today, "Guy Fawkes Day" is made light be burning effigies and lighting fireworks. But this was a violent reaction by a persecuted religious minority intent on a paradigm shift. While western nations have become secular and there is a separation of church and state, Islamists intent on building a Caliphate and imposing Sharia law do not make that distinction.
As for Guy Fawkes "enhanced interrogation", it shows how the state can be ruthless when it felts its very existence is threatened. While there would certainly be a consensus that Sixteenth Century interrogation brutalized the detainee, it employed a technique of et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur ("and so by degrees proceeding to the worst") which shows the effectiveness of Club Gitmo privileges for cooperating with the threat of "waterboarding" for high value targets.
KSM Capture 2003
The public executions of the Gunpowder Plots in January 1606 was quite brutal but the crown did get across its point. While the Obama Administration first sought to contrast itself from the George W. Bush Administration by disavowing torture, promising to close Club Gitmo, effectively treating battlefields as crime scenes where Miranda rights needed to be given and vowing to try high value targets in Manhattan in our criminal justice system (where the military might not be able to reveal enough information to convict the terrorists). Now the Obama Administration is thumping its chest over the attacks that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and the drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. Killing rather than capturing and interrogating forgoes valuable intelligence for the Long War as well as makes a mockery of prior Administration claims of trumpeting the justice system. But unlike the capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammad in 2003, these military kills would not have the chance to demand a lawyer before talking.
While there are no longer sectarian battles in Christendom, a strong case can be made that political correctness is zealously being mandated as a state secular religion in America. In 2010, President Obama had a spate of incidents where he could not read his own teleprompter well enough to utter "One Nation…Under God" when echoing the Declaration of Independence. Now the Obama Administration is fighting to prevent FDR's National Prayer on the eve of D-Day be incorporated into the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Lest one dismiss this assertive secularism as being merely rhetorical, consider how the implementation of Obamacare is eviscerating the right of conscience clause for Catholic health care workers.
The Gunpowder Incident of 1605 shows the stakes and consequences of imposing state religions. But even the most onerous of laws did not shake the faithful. Some groups like the Puritans left England to follow their conscience in tolerant Dutch territories before becoming Pilgrims to the New World. Others stayed within the Church of England but their Anglo-Catholic worship retained most of the vestiges and spiritual orientations of traditional "Papists".
Now the Church of England is a shadow of itself, with miniscule church attendance, schisms and faithful accepting the invitation of Pope Benedict XVI in Anglicanorum Coetibus to join with the See of Rome while retaining their Anglican patrimony. In essence, a state religion that was forced upon the public had shallow roots and is being burned by the scorching sun of secularism. While America was a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles, the founders avoided establishing official state religions (while letting the existing ones peter out) which allowed the faithfulness of the American people to flourish.
Perhaps the lessons that we should draw from the residue of the Gunpowder Plot is that we ought to cherish our liberties, such as the freedom of religion and the rights of the individual over the tyrannical predilections of the state so that we do not have to wait for a masked avenger to lead us to freedom.
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