It's 12:42 on Friday September 3, 2010

The wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.

Keith Ellison, the Bible, and the Koran

Dennis Prager has written a scathing indictment of Representative Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Apparently Representative-elect Ellison wants to use a Koran for his swearing-in ceremony, instead of a Bible. Prager is outraged, and now the AFA is calling for Christians to floods Congress with demands for a law requiring the use of the Christian Bible during oaths of office for federal officeholders.

Hmm.

Yes, well, as soon as Mr Prager and Mr Wildmon can get around the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution(You know, that pesky part about “making no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof), they’ll have to deal with Article VI, which states in part:

no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States

Go on all you want about how this nation was founded by Godly men on Christian ideals. I won’t argue much with you.

But the keystone for this country’s founding was freedom, not faith. The founding fathers wanted to be free to things they weren’t allowed to do under the King’s laws. The Pilgrims were seeking the exact same thing: a place to practice their faith in freedom, without fear of persecution.

In looking at Representative-elect Ellison’s website, I certainly wouldn’t have voted for him. But I support his right to use whatever religious text he chooses for his swearing-in. Remember that he’s not swearing or affirming to uphold the Koran. He’s swearing or affirming that he will uphold the Constitution.

November 29, 2006 | Filed Under Faith, Politics | Leave a Comment 

U.S. Involved in Iraq Longer Than WWII

This AP article points out that we’ve now been involved in Iraq longer than we were involved in :

  • the Vietnam War (eight years, five months)
  • the Revolutionary War (six years, nine months)
  • and the Civil War (four years)

    • Consider this, then. In the American Revolution, we were overthrowing a monarchy, declaring independence, and bringing forth a new form of government. Not unlike what has happened in Iraq. True?

    It’s also interesting to note that, if you ask the troops, more are saying that we should stay there than are saying we should get out. Who should we listen to? The boots on the ground, or the suits in DC?

    November 29, 2006 | Filed Under Military | Leave a Comment 

    Thanksgiving Proclamation

    This Thanksgiving Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln is the origin of our modern-day holiday orgy of meals, shopping, and football.

    This was posted at Global Affairs (Thanks, Sarge), and as I read it, I was struck by the tone of the proclamation. Can you imagine the uproar today if a president wrote such piece? And I mean any president, not just President Bush.

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

    (Emphasis added).

    Wow. How our world has changed. A government official who invoked God in such a way today would be ridiculed by the opposing party (and perhaps by their own party), sued by the ACLU, and publicly berated by most non-Christian religious leaders. But then, there was no question of acknowledging God’s hand in our lives.

    I don’t know how atheists and agnostics felt at the time. It would be interesting to explore that idea. So often today as Christians, it seems we are under attack for publicly expressing our beliefs. I’d be curious to look into how things were in that regard so many years ago.

    November 23, 2006 | Filed Under History, Politics | 1 Comment 

    Where to send the sex offenders?

    “My intent personally is to make it so onerous on those that are convicted of these offenses . . . they will want to move to another state.”

    Georgia House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R) who sponsored a new Georgia law that forbids registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, playground, church or school bus stop, doesn’t care where sex offenders go, as long as they leave Georgia. After that, they’re someone else’s problem. Gee, Ohio thanks you, Representative Keen.

    Sex offender residency restrictions aren’t all that new. 17 states currently limit where registered sex offenders can live. Here in central Ohio, one city councilman is trying to prevent registered sex offenders from even working in his city.

    I’m not sure these laws are the best thing for the situation.

    Why do I have an issue with this? How could anyone be against the idea of banning sex offenders from living next door to a school, right? You’re asking yourself if I’m really crazy, or what, right? It’s about keeping the children safe, isn’t it? If we don’t let them live in certain places, that will keep the children safe, right?

    Well, for starters, do you know where every school bus stop is in your city or county? Is it going to be in the same place next year? Will the school board add a new stop in front of your house in two years? That’s one problem. I know in Franklin County, school bus stops are not fixed objects. In most cases, the board decrees that the bus will stop in front of 1234 Any Street, but there’s nothing to demonstrate that it’s a school bus stop unless you happen to notice the kids congregating there in the morning.

    The Georgia law is affecting some 10,000 or so offenders, including an 81-year-old man in late-stage Alzheimer’s, and a terminally ill man who is being forced from his hospice. In same cases, the sex offenders were so designated because they were caught having oral sex as a minor, or because they allegedly didn’t do enough to stop their 15-year-old daughter from having sex! How are they supposed to stop that?

    I feel for the families of victims. I really, truly do. I know first-hand how sex offenses can damage a family.

    But what good are these laws doing? Does anyone really, honestly, believe that a law keeping someone from living next door to a church will keep them from walking by that church? Just because an offender can’t live by the bus stop, will that really keep her from driving by? When you prevent someone from working in your city, and restrict where they can live, where are they going to go? What if their entire support system lives in your city? Are you going to force them to move someplace without a support system, where they might not have a job? What happens then? If they end up jobless, they’ll run out of money eventually, then they won’t have a permanent place to live. Then what? Kind of hard to restrict where they live if you can’t find them because they’re homeless. And consider this: a Realtor may have an office in one suburb, but list houses all across the city. How are you going to control where they “work?” What about blue-collar workers? You know, like they people who clean your drains, or do your landscaping, or paint your house? Their work address may be 40 miles away, and they’re fine there. But are they allowed to do that sub-contracting job in your house?

    And what about the damage to the offender’s immediate family? Do you tell your 3- and 6-year-old kids that Daddy is camping out. Every night?

    So what’s the solution?

    I think part of it has to include better checks by the post-release control authority. Yes, that means more money. But until the probation and parole authorities have the staff to check up on sex offenders, you’re going to run into problems. Registries are a good idea. But they can also provide a false sense of security. Remember, just because you know where they live doesn’t mean they’re going to stay there 24 hours a day. They have a life. And if you don’t want them to have a life, then why release them from prison?

    November 22, 2006 | Filed Under Law & Order | Leave a Comment 

    Veterans Day

    I’m a bit disappointed in my inability to come up with anything special or original to say about the 11th day of the 11th month. I’m always humbled when I consider the sacrifices so many have made to give me what I’ve got today.

    Our World War II veterans dying at a rate of 1100 per day. Korean War vets are in their 70′s and 80′s, and we’re losing them, and their memories, all too quickly.

    I’m posting a piece I got via email several years ago. I think it bears repeating, especially now, as our country is at war, and facing an internal acrimony that concerns many. After the essay, there’s a great short video I found on Google.

    Read, watch, and consider the veterans in your life. You might not even know how there are.

    Earn This

    A wave of patriotism swept through this land of ours nearly 60 years ago. Nobody under the age of 50, myself included, really knows what it was like to live in America at that time. Americans were united in purpose in a way that this country hasn’t seen since. Children collected tin cans, rubber and paper. Women planted Victory Gardens, saved fat, and hung service flags in their windows. Men were called to become soldiers.

    They were called from their lives as farmers, accountants, carpenters, doctors, and all professions. The rich and the poor alike were called away from their homes, their jobs, their families and their friends to take an oath to defend the Constitution. To leave behind everything, and swear to God to defend something that many of them had never read before. This meant training to become soldiers, and being a soldier means that you are trained to kill. Good men, reluctant men, were told that they would be shipped to Europe, or North Africa, or to the middle of the Pacific Ocean; to fight and to kill the enemy of the Constitution, the enemy of Freedom. To fight against tyranny.

    It is said that, “All of them gave some, and some of them gave all.” There are 9,386 of the men who gave all, buried in a cemetery at St. Laurent-sur-Mer. This cemetery is located on a bluff, overlooking a beach in Normandy, France; which, in June of 1944 was known, simply, as Omaha.

    It is in this cemetery that a recent film makes its start. Saving Private Ryan is a story about a squad of Rangers who are ordered to penetrate enemy lines to locate and retrieve a soldier named Ryan. This soldier had three brothers who, unbeknownst to him, were all killed in action and it was determined that the last Ryan should be returned home, lest his mother lose all her sons in the war.

    So eight rangers risk their lives for one man. One man that their commanders decided was more important than any one of them. Needless to say, not all of them are thrilled with the prospect of piercing the enemy’s line to bring back just one man. These men had sworn an oath though, and so they went. Reluctant warriors.

    As it is in war, it is also in war movies, not everyone in the squad survives to the end. When one of the rangers is hit with enemy fire, he motions Ryan over to him. He says two very important words to him. Two words, before he dies.

    “Earn this.”

    In that moment, that soldier became every Veteran speaking to every American. “Earn what we all fought for and what many of us died for. Think of us often. Remember our names. Do not forget us.” And that is the request of all the young men who have died in all the wars ­ from Normandy to the Cho-sin Reservoir. From Da Nang to the Gulf. From Somalia to Kosovo.

    “Earn this.”

    I have since realized that my own free and bountiful life has been baptized in the blood of the soldiers of World War II, and of all other wars. I have realized that the 9,386 men buried at St. Laurent, though a fraction of the total that died, did for me in a very real way, what those Rangers did for Ryan. I have realized that the men who fought, and lived, and came home and are living out their lives right now did the same… For me. Perhaps I owe all of them an accounting of how well I’ve lived, of whether I’ve earned what they’ve bequeathed to me and the world.

    I struggle today, wondering if I can ever make the equation balance. Deep down I know that there is nothing that I can ever do to earn what they did for me. There is no accounting, to balance the equation of even one man dying… for me, let alone… thousands.

    But it is worthwhile to try.

    How do we even begin to give an accounting? We begin by remembering. Remembering the fallen soldier who never returned. Remembering those that did return, scarred and scared, and different somehow.

    Then we must be thankful. We must express our thanks to those men and women who fought against tyranny so that we may be free. Don’t assume that they know the world is thankful. Do your part, tell a Veteran today that you are thankful for the sacrifices that they made, on the altar of freedom.

    Finally, we must let our light shine. You know the children’s song, “This little light of mine.” Well that is also what we need to do to begin to “earn this.” Don’t hold back any action that is good. No matter how small and insignificant it may seem, do it. Edmund Burke once said that, “All that is required for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.” The gift that we have all received from our Veterans is Freedom, and the cost of Freedom is eternal vigilance. We must guard and protect this rare and costly gift. We must be vigilant, we must not allow evil to triumph easily. A small bit of good now may prevent a great evil later.

    On Veteran’s Day, on Memorial Day, and everyday, this is what we all need to do, to “earn this.” Remember; Give Thanks; and Let Our Light Shine. Remember all the men and women who gave their lives for us. Give thanks to all the men and women still with us, who gave of themselves when it was required. And finally, don’t let the torch go out. Keep the light of the torch that they passed to us burning brightly by adding just a little of our own light to it.

    These are the things that we all need to do as Americans; so that we may continue to enjoy Freedom, Liberty and Justice for All.

    © 2001 by David J. Miller All Rights Reserved. Permission to freely distribute is granted by the author.
    david-j-miller@usa.net

    November 10, 2006 | Filed Under General | 1 Comment 

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