It seems I've been tagged (I had a hard time explaining to my wife what was attached to my ear - and the radio collar was even worse).

Ok. I'll play.

The rules are as follows:

People who get tagged need to write a blog stating 6 weird things about themselves as well as state this rule clearly. In the end of the post, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names and links. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

I don't have anything weird that I can talk about in a family post, so here are...

SIX INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT TOM "PAPA" BRYANT


1. As a single man, I was always attracted to brunettes. However, brunettes never seemed to be interested in me. It seemed that blondes found me attractive (as a younger man, right now I have a face like seven miles of bad road and have a hard time attracting flies, much less women).

So what color is my wife’s hair?

Red.

2. My father has been doing some genealogical work recently and my family has some interesting members.

Starting with my grandfather and working back:

Frank “Speedy” Bryant, a WWII Army medic in the Pacific theatre

Moses Bryant, who sat out the War of Northern Aggression, and fathered children into his 80’s.

William Smith Bryan, the first and only “king” of Ireland, who was deposed by Cromwell, who is reputed to have been the first Englishman to bring horses to the New World

Francis Bryan II, the “Vicar from Hell” (in the words of Cromwell)

Francis Bryan, a confidant of King Henry VIII, who “spoke to the king in plain language”

Jean Count de Brienne, Latin Emperor of Constantinople and King of Jerusalem, a Crusader King who petitioned the Pope to start the Fifth Crusade, and was the architect of the victory at the first battle of Damietta. He has been called by a few scholars “the most Noble Crusader in medieval history”. He arranged for his daughter Yolanda to marry Fredrick II of the Holy Roman Empire. Big mistake; Fredrick simply wanted the title of King of Jerusalem and cheated on Yolanda within a month of their marriage. When Jean learned of this, he marched into Fredrick’s audience hall and in front of Fredrick’s own guards grabbed him by the throat, stuck his sword in Fredrick’s mouth, and said “Were it not for fear of sin I’d run you through right NOW!” He was 80 years old!

Charlemagne

Pepin II

Charles Martel (I don’t need to say anything about these three – they’re pretty well known)

In addition, the wives of Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Sgt. Alvin York are all Bryant/Bryan/de Brienne’s. And we are tracing down the connection to Bear Bryant (since relatives went on the Trail of Tears through Fordyce, Arkansas where he was born).

3. I wrote a screenplay, The Penance of Michael Stonebreaker, which was a semifinalist in the 1998 Austin Heart of Film festival screenplay competition. I landed an agent based on that script (the agent went out of business six months later – so much for Hollywood!), and have been read by Lauren and Richard Donner (Superman movies, Lethal Weapon Movies) – who liked it, but didn’t think it was suited for a Tales from the Crypt movie. I later directed industrial training films.

4. I am a three time National Dean’s List honoree. The NDL is run by Who’s Who (so there is book sales involved) but is by recommendation only. Only .05% of all American college students make the NDL once in their academic career.

5. I’m from Florida and I can’t speak Spanish.

6. I have nothing else to say.

As for the six victims…err, taggies, they are:

http://bamapachyderm.townhall.com/

http://christophobia.townhall.com/

http://jewishpride.townhall.com/

http://lawdawg.townhall.com/

http://arandomguy.townhall.com/

http://coulternation.townhall.com/

Pass it on folks – it just drives your readership up!!

My buddy Lou Rose has a thread on the Florida Student Philosophy Blog that may be of interest. He is analyzing an article by Dr. Bernard Gert of  Dartmouth on the Golden Rule. He gets some interesting replies. (With all due respect to Jennifer, I'm with Lou on corporal punishment. I trust 3500 years of Judeo-Christian child rearing instruction to 50+ years of Dr. Spock any day.)

http://unfspb.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/dr-gert-and-the-golden-rule/#more-77

NewsMax.com has a story about Venezuelans getting ready to flee their country once the sweeping anti-democratic reforms instituted by President Hugo Chavez are implemented. One man sums up the problem:

"What we're seeing happen here is not good," Jose Manuel Rodriguez, 42, an accountant seeking travel documents at the Spanish Consulate, told the Washington Post.

"What we see here is the coming of totalitarianism, fewer guarantees, fewer civil rights. I want to have everything ready to leave."

Chavez's ties to Iran and North Korea are well documented (see Here and Here), including forming a monetary fund aimed at deliberately countering US interests (see Here). History shows us this is very similar to the pledges , pacts and promises that the old Soviet Union made to Cuba  when Fidel Castro first came to power (see Here).

The Monroe Doctrine specifically states that the interference of foreign powers in the internal workings of nations of the Western Hemisphere would bring about action on the part of the American Government.


Iran, by its own admission, seeks to destroy the US. The question I put forth to Townhall is "Does not Iranian-Venezuelan ties warrant a restatement of the Monroe Doctrine?"

 

If you are the parent of a college age kid then you will completely understand what I'm about to say:

18 through 24 year olds are, as a general rule, stupid.

Case in point from the website for Channel 4 in Greenville, SC.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Clemson University's president and several campus organizations have reacted quickly after photos of students at a racially themed party ended up on the Internet.

The party was held over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend at an off-campus apartment.

Some students said it was just for fun. Others say that it was racist.

The theme of the party was "Living the Dream," but some Clemson students are calling it a nightmare.

Pictures of the party were posted on facebook.com, showing at least one person in black-face paint, with others dressed in knitted caps and jerseys and some girls with stuffing padding their pants to make their behinds look larger. There's an image of party-goers holding 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor.

The story goes on to say that the party was "gangsta" themed, and that the intention was to parody the "gangsta" image.

I'm not opposed to making fun of the "gangsta" image; in fact, I say make fun of it until it goes away. The "gangsta" is nothing more than an orgiastic embrace and celebration of every negative stereotype about Black people that our popular culture has ever presented. I find no difference between the images of African-Americans in a Jay Z video and the images in Griffith's Birth of a Nation, and if that sounds like a rough statement, I MEANT it to be.

If it is shown that the intention of these party goers was to mock Black people in general, there should be repercussions. Free speech does not mean freedom from ramifications of said speech. (More on this in a moment.) But something tells me that mocking all Black people wasn't their intention.

There were African-Americans at the party.

Bigots of any variety aren't known for their courage. In fact, it’s only when in large groups or positions of high authority that bigots lose their fear of being recognized for what they are. They must utilize force of numbers or the privilege of status to get them out of trouble when their viewpoints are challenged - and this is true whether the bigot is a Klansman or Neo-Nazi marching through Wisconsin or a former minister turned activist calling New York City "Hymietown". A college frat party is not a sufficiently large enough number of people to overcome the fear of recognition, even with free flowing alcohol present.

No, the more likely scenario is these dumb you-know-what frat boys were so intent on making their parody more and more outrageous and thus more funny (as if people who think South Park or National Lampoon's Van Wilder is high humor actually know what funny is), that they failed to realize their idea was, in fact, offensive.

Neal Boortz once had a link to a site that showed that human beings brains do not fully mature until age 25, and that until they do mature the person is more prone to poor decision making. This is why so many kids get into automobile accidents - they cannot reason that trying to beat the light or drag racing down a busy street is an unacceptable risk - their brains cannot comprehend that at their age. These kids who dressed in blackface and padded their bohunkases with toilet paper aren't racist, but stupid - incapable of seeing what those of us over the age of 25 would have seen as obviously offensive and wrong, until it was too late.

Clemson's President James F. Barker, in an email to Clemson students seems to have struck a positive chord so far. By that I mean he hasn't called for suspending the students (some who have come forward apologetically) or mandating diversity courses.

That would be a troubling response. While perhaps suggesting classes on the history of African Americans would be appropriate (my misgivings about Afro Studies programs in general not withstanding - education is always a proper response in situations like this) to mandate such things would be trying to swat a fly with a Louisville Slugger. Lets for the sake of argument say that these kids ARE racist. Guess what; regardless of how offensive you or I might find that they have the legal right to believe whatever they want, and to express it as long as they don't infringe on our right to express opposition views or advocate violence.

And it’s that simple! No "mitigating circumstances"; no "commitment to diversity", no nuthin'... They have the freedom of their own flawed conscience. If Clemson were to mandate certain corrective matters such as diversity training, that constitutes viewpoint coercion on the part of government - government telling citizens what is proper or right to think. And that is one Hell of a lot more frightening than frat boys in shoe polish and drunken sorority girls who don't realize the toilet paper goes down the front of their shirts, not the back of their pants.

Contrast this with the story about actor Isaiah Washington, from the show Grey's Anatomy.

It seems that Washington and fellow actor Patrick Dempsey got into a shouting match on the set of the show and almost came to blows. In the course of that completely verbal fight an epithet for homosexual men was used. The story made the wire services...and wouldn't go away, despite show sources saying it was just steam venting and everyone on the show had moved past the event within 30 minutes. On Oct 19, 2006 another actor on the show, T.R. Knight announced on the Ellen Degeneres Show that he was gay, and was the source of the argument between Dempsey and Washington (Knight was late for the shoot).

ABC got involved, and in a very frightening way. Rumors surfaced that ABC would fire Washington unless he checked himself into rehab to discover the source of his "homophobia".  A statement from Shonda Rhimes, Executive Producer of Grey's Anatomy reads in part: "We've been working within the Grey's family as well as with ABC and Touchstone Television to address the issue in a way that underscores the gravity of the situation while giving us all a foundation for healing. We applaud and encourage Isaiah's realization that he needs help and his subsequent choice to seek immediate treatment for his behavioral issues."

I don't know about you, but that paragraph sends chills down my spine. That may be the most covertly totalitarian PR statement to ever come out of a Hollywood studio, and there is no doubt in my mind Washington was ordered to rehab for his un-politically correct thoughts. The Soviets used to say that they had freedom of thought, but somehow when your thoughts didn't match what the government thought you should think, you were deemed mentally ill and sent to a hospital to discover the deficiencies in your thought process. ABC Television is not a government, but the principle is the same. If I were packing Isaiah Washington's bags to go to rehab, I'd have tossed in a copy of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and hope he understood the reference.

When people get angry and argue, they often say things that are hurtful that they really don't mean. Husbands, have you ever used the "b" word in an argument with the mother of your children? Wives, have you ever called the man you swore to love for eternity a sorry SOB? Doesn't make it right, but we know where it comes from - frustration and anger. Its not mental illness. Even if Washington were a homophobe, where does ABC get the right to pronounce what this man thinks and believes as being symptomatic of mental illness? What other beliefs might generate a similar response? All I know is Joy Behar should be careful who she thanks next time she talks about her diet.

There are two victims in this case - T.R. Knight's right to privacy was violated (I don't approve of homosexuality, as you know, but this man chose to keep this matter private, and circumstances drug it out in the open against his will. His "coming out of the closet" was not of his choosing, and he's handled it with as much grace as possible.) The other victim is Isaiah Washington, and his right to the privacy of his thoughts. I don't believe he meant to say what he did, but he shouldn't be made to feel he's insane for saying what everyone on the set forgave instantaneously.

Which brings us back full circle to Clemson and the case of the bad Stepin Fetchit impressions. Regardless of whether these idiot children are truly racist or not, if Clemson pulls an ABC here we have something truly monstrous on our hands - a state agency not only telling people what to think but enforcing it. Remember in my second letter to Neal Boortz how I said that Gramsci's philosophy would lead to not just a willing surrender of freedom but that people would actually Riverdance into the gulag?

Well, if Clemson mandates diversity training over this regrettable issue, it not only means that the gulag beckons us... It means we've laced our shoes as well.

Dr. Rico Vitz of the University of North Florida (my former school) has created a new, student-led blog focusing on philosophical issues for Florida college students. Students from UNF, Florida, FSU, FAMU, and all Florida based colleges are invited to contribute. The URL is

http://unfspb.wordpress.com/

The comment area is open to everyone, not just Florida University Students, and so far it has garnered a lot of attention. (There is a really good post by student Linda Harris on existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and the definition of faith. )

Check them out and lets give these students a good Townhall welcome!

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53902

The best description of the environmental movement I have EVER heard:

"The environmental extremists' true agenda has little or nothing to do with climate change. Their true agenda is to find a means to control our lives. The kind of repressive human control, not to mention government-sanctioned mass murder, seen under communism has lost any measure of intellectual respectability. So people who want that kind of control must come up with a new name, and that new name is environmentalism."

Follow the link. Its worth it.

The Detroit News reports that the leader of a Michigan Atheist group opposed to the introduction of a Bible as Literature class in the Howell Michigan schools "acknowledged Friday that she spread misinformation about the legality of the plan."

Seems that Ms. Arlene-Marie (her Legal name), had claimed that the Biblical text curriculum proposed for use had been declared unconstitutional in four other school districts, when in fact the curriculum had never received any complaints at all.

We're not talking about a Church being asked to send missionaries into the classroom - although given the state of most public education institutions I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to that - but a Biblical literacy program so that students can understand the Biblical references that abound in Western Culture. Who could possibly be opposed to that?

Well, the answer to that is the radicals who have hijacked the Atheist movement, that's who. The ultimate goal here is an increase in political power; remember what Gramsci said about the importance of undermining cultural heritage as a means of increasing the attractiveness of socialism?

Read the original story here:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/METRO04/701060323/1015

 As you know from my previous post I took some time off from my relatively short blogging career just before Christmas. Well, as Paul Harvey says, now for the REST of the story....

As many know, I was a student at the University of North Florida. To facilitate that, my wife Kelly and I took a job managing a self storage facility that provided us and the kids with a free apartment, with free electricity and water. It didn't pay much, but concidering we had no housing-related bills and a very flexible work schedule it seemed like a good deal.

It wasn't. I cannot go into all the details, but both Kelly and I are currently suing said former employer concerning exposure to black mold.

We moved, and since we didn't have a lot of money to find new housing while I looked for work, we moved in with my parents. In Spartanburg, South Carolina.

I thought that would be the end of my college career. But I applied to a college near Spartanburg, and to my surprise, I was accepted. I am now...

a Clemson Tiger!

But it was not without sacrifice. Because of the health issues with my wife concerning the mold, I live on campus while Kelly and all three of my children live in Spartanburg with my parents. Its only an hour away, but since the commute daily would entail almost 200 miles round trip, we thought it would be better to sacrifice now and try to find both work and family housing in Clemson for next term.

Its not been easy on the youngest kids. Hannah and Travis, as some of you may know, have Aspberger's Syndrome, a form of autism that affects the emotional development of children. For those who have never heard of Aspberger's Syndrome, it was the reason Albert Einstein, Issac Newton, and Steven Spielburg had difficulty in school in their early childhood. It is hard to recognize, but many AS sufferers go on to productive lives, and a few, such as those I listed, go on to do great things. But they miss their dad, (and their dad misses them.)
 
If you, dear reader, would be so kind as to keep the Bryant family in your prayers, I promise to post more often (as often as class allows me to). For those who don't think that more writing by me is such a good deal, please keep us in your prayers anyways. ='D

Thank you and God bless,
Tom

(and Kelly, Sierra, Hannah and Travis)

My first post back from finals and Christmas break and it's Saddam falling through the floor!

Michelle Malkin found the video, so the link is to her site. Its rather grusome, so get the kids out of the room - NOW.

This video apparently was made with a Camera Phone, and shows the events in the more pollished video from a different angle. This is good, since we can now say there was no "faked" execution. (And Orlando Bloom was more than 5000 miles away, so its a good bet Saddam wasn't standing on the edge of a sword either...)

http://hotair.com/archives/2006/12/30/video-saddams-execution-uncut/

Merry Christmas.

PS, Osama, you're next.

Due to having four 10 page philosophy papers. Keep my in your prayers. 

 equus pallidus, posting over on Vox Day's blog, provides evidence that Richard Dawkins may be closet Nazi:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/nov/06112103.html

            LONDON, November 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A leading 
            international anti-religion crusader and supporter of Darwinian 
            theory, Dr. Richard Dawkins, has said that the pseudo-science 
            of eugenics that drove the Nazi regime’s genocidal project “may 
            not be bad.”

            Since the end of the second world war, the name of eugenics, 
            the social philosophy that the human species or particular races 
            ought to be improved by selective breeding or other forms of genetic 
            manipulation, is one that conjures instant images of the Nazi death 
            camps and “racial hygiene” programs.

            In a letter to the editor of Scotland’s Sunday Herald, Dawkins 
            argues that the time has come to lay this spectre to rest. 
            Dawkins writes that though no one wants to be seen to be in 
            agreement with Hitler on any particular, “if you can breed cattle 
            for milk yield, horses for running speed, and dogs for herding 
            skill, why on Earth should it be impossible to breed humans 
            for mathematical, musical or athletic ability?”

The article Vox was originally posting to was equally frightening:

          LONDON, November 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a 
          statement yesterday Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor 
          of England has warned doctors that they may face prison 
          sentences if they refuse to starve and dehydrate patients 
          to death. Criminal charges of assault could be laid against 
          doctors or nurses who refuse to allow patients to die, even 
          by removal of food and hydration tube.

          The Labour government unveiled its new guidelines for doctors 
          to follow the Mental Capacity Act that is to come into effect 
          next spring.

          The guidelines instruct doctors that a patient’s “advanced 
          decision,” what is often called a “living will,” that includes a 
          request for cessation of medical treatment must be followed 
          even if it means the patient will die. To fail to do so, in other 
          words, to take action to keep a patient alive, could result in 
          criminal charges or heavy fines.

I said in the post "Insufficient Postage: "Letter To A Christian Nation", the Deutsche Christen Movement and This Election", that our current times look like 1930s Germany reborn.

It sure sounds like the same arguements the Nazi's used to justify the Aktion T-4 program and efforts to Aryanize the German nation through eugenics: end the sufferering of those afflicted and the burden on those left behind, and the cost of medical care, and "quality of life". And now we add "I wonder whether, some 60 years after Hitler’s death, we might at least venture to ask what the moral difference is between breeding for musical ability and forcing a child to take music lessons. " And this one too: "I don't think one ought to bring a clearly disabled child into the world.”

I hate being right like this.

Lord Jesus, come quickly. Before these fools do something stupid.

Dear Mayor Peyton,

Sunday afternoon at 5:43 P.M., I turned off the power at my parent's...

I can't call it ''my parent's home'' anymore; that wouldn't be accurate. Ugly Houses owns my parent's home now. They take full possession next Friday. From now until then, the hookers and drug dealers that have been trying to run my parents out of their former home since Cecil Field left will get free use of it. My parent's are leaving Jacksonville to live near my brother Chris in Spartanburg, SC, and my brother Roger and I packed their truck for them.

I was three when we moved into the house at 5423 Tampico Rd. The earilest memory I have at that house is digging up the grass on the side of the house under the electric meter so I could get dirt for a sand castle. The sod at that location never recovered. Its still a dirt patch right there.

My brother Roger and I used to take our toy guns and go behind the hedges and pretend it was a fort. We had battles against imaginary enemies - Russians, Nazis, fire-breathing dragons, machine gun toting dinosaurs, the girls we knew at Oak Hill Elementary School - that would make Steven Spielburg green with envy.

Then there was the time Roger and I tied up a couple of water hoses between two pine trees in the back yard. We would cross between the trees our feet on one water hose and our hands hanging on the other about 25 feet in the air. When the hose stretched too much we would pull the hose tight again. Those 50 ft water hoses were 150 feet long when we were through with them.

Football was big in the back yard until we got Nicey. I loved that dog. The kindest disposition of any dog I've ever known. He died of a kind of canine arthritis when I was eight. There are three very good dogs buried in that huge backyard, Mr. Mayor, including my late grandmother's chihuahua, Pedro, two hamsters and the goldfish who should hold the world's record for living in unclean water.

I remember rearranging my room so I could look out the bedroom door and down the hall to watch TV after bedtime. The Red Skelton Show, Flip Wilson, SWAT, and Space 1999 (my favorite) all came on after bedtime. But I saw them all. And on Friday nights Dad would stay up late and watch the CBS Late, Late Movie, where twice a month they would play Forbidden Planet. I always managed to stay up for that movie. I think Dad knew though.

Mom bought three rosebushes from K-mart and planted them in the front yard. Only one survived the first winter, but it lived until two years ago. It was planted in 1969. And in the back yard, right where the clothesline pole was at, every Easter lillies would bloom. They were natural - no one planted them.

My parent's house was where all our friends would end up at. Walter and Joel Parker, Dale Hutchinson, Maurice Mattelski, Sean Carr, Ricky Smart, and Roger and I would load up for the day, then head out to the basketball court at the other end of the street. It didn't matter that Dale, Sean and Ricky lived at the other end of the street, or that they had to pick up Walt and Mo on the way; everyone met at our house to plan out the day.

We were an inseparable group. You never saw a closer knit group of friends. Everyday after school it was down to the basketball court. On Friday night it was a movie at the Cedar Hills movie theatre. Lots of girl's phone numbers were collected there if the movie was a good one.

And the walk home was always eventful. In America race still mattered, but here we were, 3 black guys, 3 white guys, an asian guy and a hispanic guy and we would have DIED for each other if needed. We were the good guys; we never went looking for trouble. But NO ONE messed with one without messing with us all. We lived what Dr. King only dreamt about.

Not every memory was a pleasant one. The time my Father's lungs started bleeding from years of smoking. The sight of my Father's blood hanging from the ceiling from coughing it up is one memory I would rather not have. But he survived. He has an artificial heart valve now that clicks audibly. My children love hearing their Grandfather's heart tick louder when they come over.

Came over. Past tense, Mr. Mayor.

Walter and Joel both joined the Marines. Joel was one of the Marines Clinton failed to salute in the early days of his presidency, and was left to stand at attention for a couple of hours. Walter married, divorced, then married again. I haven't seen him in... I don't want to admit how many years.

Maurice married a girl from Macclenny, then moved to Miami to work in construction. Whan I last saw Walter, he said he had spoken to Mo six months earlier, and he had asked how Roger and I were doing.

Dale was a hero; he was tied up during a robbery attempt at that supermarket on Beaver Street near the viaduct, but he escaped and flagged down the police while his hands were still tied behind his back. He made the newspaper. He, Sean and Ricky moved from their parent's house, then Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson moved as well. I ran into him and his wife and kids eight years back. He was studying to be a preacher, just like me. Sean and Ricky were doing fine.

And in each case they asked if my Mom and Dad were still living on Tampico Rd. Though we all have moved on to new lives, when we do see one another, its as if we all were 15 years old again.

Mom had a stroke a few years ago. She's recovered nicely but both her an Dad are not in the best of health.

Which brings us to you, Mr. Mayor.

All of my life I had seen planes flying overhead - P-3 Orions, F-4 Phantom II's, A-4 Skyhawks. They were simply part of growing up on the Westside within rock throwing distance of 103rd St.. I remember when 103rd St. was a two lane road. It was widened to its present size specifically for Cecil Field.

The neighborhood I grew up in was filled with Navy and retired Navy families. It was a working class neighborhood with a collective 120 I.Q.. More importantly, it was a neighborhood whose families were honor bound to live according to certain standards of behavior, because the Navy demanded they do so. That translated into a neighborhood where crime was very low, people had traditional values, and where the only threat to your children were from outsiders.

Those families moved away, Mr. Mayor. And someone had to buy or rent the houses around 103rd St..

Gangs now frequent Sweetwater (they burned a Church there), English Estates, and Westwood.

Down at the other end of Tampico Rd., there are drug dealers. They've shot out my parent's windows, because they would like to move their lucritive business up closer to 103rd St., and you can't get any closer than the first house on the street. My parent's home. Excuse me... What used to be my parent's home.

Hookers ply their trade in front of what used to be my parent's home. They take their johns into the little wooded area behind the Doctor's office across the street, and service their clients in full view of what used to be my parent's front window.

When the Base Reallignment Committee closed Cecil Field it did so for national political reasons. It wasn't the first time they did this to Cecil Field, and everyone figured the Navy would reopen it. All the talk about business parks and Six Flags or Busch Gardens was just that - talk.

Land developers - you know the ones, Mr. Mayor, the ones who convinced you to change your mind on the Navy's return - were the only ones not wanting the Navy to come back. These are the same people who built ''upscale'' houses in Argyle Forest, whose property values would have been hurt by the Navy's return. These are the same people who wanted an Equestrian Center that only people rich enough to afford owning a horse could or would want to use.

But the neighborhood around 103rd St.? What about them, Mr. Mayor?

Bringing the Navy back was more than a financial winfall for the city - you talked of millions of dollars from businesses in Cecil, but the Navy would have brought BILLIONS, both in reconstruction costs and operating dollars. But bringing the Navy would have brought Navy Families back to the neighborhood. The drug dealers and hookers would have left.

Families would raise their children in comparative safety, once again. Little boys would have big back yards to defend from those pesky gun-toting dinosaurs. And once again little white boys, little black boys, little asian boys and little hispanic boys would have ran down to the end of Tampico Rd to play basketball and talk about girls, and build friendships that would affect the kind of men they became.

And Richard and Dolores Bryant would have watched them, with fond memories of their own sons doing the same thing, until the end of their days.

And now they are moving away. Unforgivable, Mr. Mayor.

You should be ashamed.

Philosophy for Christians has an excellent primer on Kantian Philosophy and a Christian response to Kant and his disciples - Mill, Hegel and Marx.

This history/philosophy double major recommends it. Check it out.

Happy 201st birthday greetings to the United States Marine Corps!

God bless the Marines. Semper Fi.

The headline, quite frankly, scared the Hell out of me. The story by Jonathan Wynne-Jones, scared me worse.

“Christians ask if force is needed to protect their religious values” from the UK Telegraph.

I was asked recently why, in the face of the elections yesterday, I have devoted so much time in the weeks preceeding the election to public religious issues.

Well, in part its because that's what interests me. I am, after all, studying for a ministry calling in apologetics. Another reason is because Katie and Josue have had the election angle covered pretty darn well.

But there is another reason.

I see some disturbing trends in the world around us, and the ones that stand out the most are the religious trends. They are like traffic accidents to me, and I cannot help but watch them and stare. My history background allows me to see parallels that most people might miss otherwise. That's not bragging but a curse - in many ways I'd rather not know. Ignorance is bliss, and all that.

The UK story is a parallel. In my post "Daddy, Who's Your Hero?" I said one of my heroes was Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and pacifist who later came to realize that pacifism in the face of unrepentant evil was complicity with evil by default, and joined the Abwehr assassination plot of Hitler as a liason between the Abwehr and Allied Millitary Intelligence. His story was the story of hundreds of other Protestant and Catholic ministers just like him in Germany that the Nazis wanted to regulate.  

The ability to preach from an open pulpit was one of the first things the Nazis sought to control. The pressure to conform to Nazi standards of religious expression was tremendous, and some otherwise decent men, like Paul Althaus, tried to reconcile Naziism and Christianity. Still others saw the problems but were unsure of their actions and failed to stand together, and as a result died or were muted.

Laws like the ones mentioned in the UK discrimination story, where it is concidered a hate crime to denounce social trends, movements, and lifestyle choices, even if they are against your own religious beliefs, are simular to the ones the Nazis used to control the pulpit for their aims. And it seems that just like in Nazi Germany, Catholics and Protestants are slow to see the danger and band together. (See my post Insufficient Postage: "Letter to a Christian Nation", the Deutsche Christen Movement and This Election for a full description of the religious and social parallels as I see them.)

I could get really theological right now and claim that I'm just watching the "signs of the times". But truthfully, no one knows for certain if any eschatological ramifications are on the horizon. I believe they are, and I trust God that he will fulfill what he's said. But that doesn't mean I'm right. After all, British preachers in the 1600's screamed that "Jesus was coming soon" because the right of a father to kill his son if he became unruly was taken away by law. "How will a man keep order in his house!?! THIS is proof of the soon return of the Lord!" And Jesus didn't return. They were wrong. Granted, Israel had not been reformed as it is now, but the point is that, as the Bible says, no one know when the Lord returns but God the Father.

But lets avoid the direct preaching for the moment.

We have just had an election in which the party that represents those whom seem to exhibit the greater totalitarian traits has won control of the government. For the next few months conservative pundits will lament and the MSM and Democrats will push their agenda. Among all the impeachment proceedings, tax cut repeals, and Gramsciite social engineering efforts, there will be quiet debates on laws limitting what can be said from the pulpit about the world in which we live.

Call it a prophesy, if you will.