...especially galling today

Tomorrow, one my former students, Steven, is shipping out to Iraq for his first deployment since joining the Marine Corps after High School.  Mind you, Steven was our valedictorian, a very solid athlete, and a leader among his peers, so today, I am especially angered by the political cartoon published by Pulitzer nominated cartoonist Ted Rall.  I am not posting the cartoon because I find it far too vile a smear on American servicemen and women.  Our local paper does not usually print Rall cartoons, but if you so inclined, you might want to voice your opinion of Rall's work by going to his blog....remember, be polite, be clean, and if you are going to go to the effort, put forth a well reasoned argument rather than a rant.  You may feel like ranting(I know that I do), but I promise you, if all he gets is rants, he will use selective quotes from them to reinforce his own obviously twisted worldview.

...especially galling today

Tomorrow, one my former students, Steven, is shipping out to Iraq for his first deployment since joining the Marine Corps after High School.  Mind you, Steven was our valedictorian, a very solid athlete, and a leader among his peers, so today, I am especially angered by the political cartoon published by Pulitzer nominated cartoonist Ted Rall.  I am not posting the cartoon because I find it far too vile a smear on American servicemen and women.  Our local paper does not usually print Rall cartoons, but if you so inclined, you might want to voice your opinion of Rall's work by going to his blog....remember, be polite, be clean, and if you are going to go to the effort, put forth a well reasoned argument rather than a rant.  You may feel like ranting(I know that I do), but I promise you, if all he gets is rants, he will use selective quotes from them to reinforce his own obviously twisted worldview.

Why I am glad my Boss has me teaching Ancient History

....because if he didn't, I would not have understood what this guy was referring to.
But since he did, I thought it was hilarious.

1918

A topic that my HS US Class will be dealing with is the 1918 Influenza Pandemic that ravaged the globe, leaving in it's wake a sea of death and suffering.  Scientist are just now beginning to understand the mechanism that this virus utilized to kill as many as 600,000 Americans, and by some accounts, 50,000,000 people worldwide.

The Surge

DC is abuzz with discussion of President Bush's proposed troop surge in Iraq.What has been missed by many is that this initiative deals with more than just increasing the number of troops in Iraq.  In particular two key facts jump out.  First, the 21,500 number appears to be far too small to significantly impact what is currently happening in Iraq, until it is realized that right now there are only about 7,000 combat troops in Iraq, and at least 80% of those being added will go into a combat role in Baghdad, meaning the force within the city will nearly 300%. Second, the Rules of Engagement (ROE) have been radically altered with this new initiative (see page 10 of the PDF).  The President's new plan gives troops a more liberal ROE to operate under, instead of the highly restrictive one that has been tying the hands of many in the field, and has led to the frustration of some of the troops, and subsequent actions which have opened some of those troops to legal action. (See:Pendleton 8)
We do not know whether the Surge will in fact work, but something does have to be done. 

For those who think it has no chance, I do have one question....Do you hope that you are wrong, and that it does work?

Celebrating MLK

I am an MLK fan. I disagree with several of his positions, but I still find his overall message to be important for America. 

As I was watching television this morning, I heard a commentator asking the question "What would Martin Luther King Jr. be talking about if he were here today?"

Well, first, at 78, he might be talking about all of things he has witnessed in his life.  (That is what quite a few of the 78 year olds I know talk about.) ...but in light of what I personally consider to be his greatest speech, he might also have some very interesting thoughts on what is really happening in America.

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition."

It is hard to imagine that MLK would not be heartened by the level of equality that our nation has embraced.  The concept of segregation has become anathema to the vast majority of American people, and the material gap between the races continues to diminish.

"In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges."

The years that followed this speech gave voice to his words....and America is a different place than it was in 1965.

"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

The nation is not perfect...but man have we come quite some distance from the days of Jim Crow...and well we should have.

"I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair."

I think he would reiterate these word....

"I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today."

Okay...I admit it....my views are filtered by some element of partisanship...but it does not lessen the possibility that I am correct on this one...but I have to think that Martin Luther King Jr. would be amazed that a black woman is the US Secretary of State...and that if she would consent to run, that she would have an excellent chance to become President of the United States of America...and that she would have the overwhelming support of the South...that she, a woman who was born in Birmingham, Alabama...in 1954...and who has a biography that is similar in many ways to his own has become one of the leading voices in our country.  He would likely disagree with her on many issues...but disagreement is part of what makes our country interesting.

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

We have not reached full actualization of his dream...and we should not be satisfied until we have...but I have to think that Dr. King would be happy with where we are...and he would have some great stories to tell us about what the journey has been like.
  

Hmmmm....What will be Charlie Rangel's Excuse for this one?

Here we go again...a promenient Democrat, Congressman Charlie Rangel of NYC, has once again decided to stage frontal assault on the American military with this gem...

"I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq."

source

Rangel has had a busy time of it lately, he has insulted Mississippi, is currently pushing for reinstating the draft...despite the fact that when he last proposed this idea, the measure got two votes...and Rangel was not one of them.

Just to point out, the study cited by the Chris Wallace contradicts Congressman Rangel at almost every turn.

Going to Class

I am sitting here at the ACSI Convention, preparing to listen to a lecture on the Fall of Czarist Russia, and Historical Comparison to our current regime by Dr. John Mark Reynolds, once again considering the fairly idiotic meme that all Christians are somehow intellectually vapid. I will readily admit that I am not even close to being as informed as I would like to be, but it has been my faith, and my job in Christian education that has driven my hunger for more knowledge, more understanding, and more learning.

Live Blogging the Lecture

11:30...the projector has disappeared, so it looks like we might get JMR unplugged.

I love it....first thing...this is not a classroom help session...it is a long term practical lesson.
There is a pragmatic value. We often forget why we work in liberal arts high schools. We work in the model the colleges operate under. Why? Most of the reasons that are used to justify this type of education...it increases critical thinking (It doesn't).A successful argument is that the curriculum was developed to help young men and women who are good people.

This isn't votech, this may not improve their technical skills.

History has lessons...if we do not study them, then we will have to discover ourselves.
Most of our students are not on a path to commit genocide...so what lessons can they really learn? We do this to give them moral, political, and philosophical structure to build their worldview upon.

High School education should be education in virtue...it should be moral education.

Czarist Russia was a Christian culture (probably not like the type of Christian culture that we are used to). Czarist Russia had wealth, it had had upward mobility, it had a growing middle class. After the Revolution it was not the wealthy that suffered, but rather the lower class(who were already suffering under the Czar).
Something went horribly wrong with Russia. The stereotype is that the Czarist government was so corrupt that it had become horribly unstable, and was ripe for a fall.
It was not self-evident...there were indicators, but most people did not really anticipate the Revolution. Russia did endure WWI for three years before the Revolution actually claimed it. If the Russians had lost the war right away, had the Russians decided not to back France, the entire history of Russia may well have been different.
The current situation in Russia is far harsher than during Czarist Russia. Crime and Punishment was actually banned for some time in Russia because it was causing Pro-Czarist feeling to spread in the USSR. Russia had plenty of problems, but it was not the catastrophe we tend to think it was.

The current American regime (no judgement on politics) is quite stable right now. The Constitution is intact (regardless of the cries of some), we will change our government in a mostly peaceful manner, and we will survive for some time. But there are lights flashing brightly that are warning us of problems if we do not address structural weaknesses in the system. What happened to Russia is a cautionary tale for us...it probably will not happen...but it could if we do nothing.

Evidence of Dry Rot in Czarist Russia

1) Leadership class that still believes in the old regime (in our sense, that means those who have never moved beyond 1789....Full Faith and Credit may be an outdated idea) Nicholas II was absolutely willing to allow the status quo to dominate Russian political thought at the time.
2) Failure of the intellectuals to support the old regime or propose new groundbreaking ideas. (Tolstoy, a leading thinker of the time, offered no practical thought to the debate of the time.) Owww...this condemns our time in a grand manner.
3)Nominal adherence to a secularized religion. 90% of Russians would have defined themselves as Christians (the number here is over 80%). Inertia, not belief fueled their spiritual development. (great line: A growing religion produces heretics, a dead religion produces maggots)
4) Rise of the occult and spiritualized religions.
5) End of Progressive-Conservatism (not a political, but an idealogical concept) The past has been good, but it is passed (Disreali)Save the good, but kill that part of the old regimes that are beyond saving. Save the great cathedrals, but let the Church of England die if death is what it deserves....Kill it if necessary. Those who headed the Conservative-Progressive movement in Russia were sneered at or killed.

Kill the relative...save the Truths.Have a plan! The status quo will only suffice for so long, sooner or later, external pressures will expose the weaknesses.

What the soldiers say...are we listening?

I can take no credit for this, but it is an excellent blog detailing some of the feelings of America's fighting men and women.  I for one am tired of stories portraying American military personel as barbarians (sorry, I will not link any, do a search if you do not believe they exist)...I will however link just a few of the best blogs from Iraq that do a fine job of telling the truth about them.


This one from Michael Yon entitled Gates of Fire actually was nominated for a pulitzer, the first blog entry ever to be nominated for that award.  If you haven't read it, make sure you have some time, get comfortable and be prepared to be immersed.  This story, when read aloud to my students last year left them dumbfounded and stunned.


Blackfive (Matthew Currier Burden-Author of "The Blogs of War") presents this compelling story of the level of brotherhood in our armed forces with Saving Specialist Gray.

btw...I highly suggest Burden's book.  It tells about the war in an unvarnished, sometimes grisly, sometimes profane manner.  It isn't always pretty, and it is rarely polite, but it is deeply moving.  Here is an interesting review of it.



Below is AVC Grad Easton Taylor on patrol in Fallujah during Operation Phantom Fury

Well, so much for those Science Textbooks we read

As we are down here on Earth, gorging ourselves on Starbucks and watching endless newscasts about JonBenet Ramsey (haven't we already gone through a round of endless reports on this case?)....now we find out that Pluto is not a planet...or more to the point, it has apparently been demoted. Yesterday, Pluto was a happy little place in the top nine (okay, really it was a very cold, very lonely place, that isn't the point), now it has been named a dwarf....A DWARF...think about that, a dwarf. I feel bad for Pluto. Can we not come up with something better than dwarf status, I mean, for 76 years Pluto was one of the big guys, number 1 for farthest from the Sun, now, Dwarf. How about Hall of Fame Retired Ex-Planet? There just has to be something better than being called a dwarf if you were a planet yesterday?

The Bell Lives

The bell has returned safe and sound...and no ransom has been paid.

I do now public apologize to Adam for accusing him wrongly...evil men framed him.