A Thought

As Husserl's phenomenology stresses, prior knowledge and beliefs play a constitutive role in determining what we observe and experience.
-Alister McGrath. The Genesis of Doctrine. (71)

And Still More Dobie

In the days of Washington and Jefferson and on through the years till the Civil War, the ambition of able- and many not able- young lawyers was to be a United States senator and to help in a grand way to govern their country. By the time big business took over government, the usual ambition of a bright young lawyer became, as it still is, to get himself retained by some corporation. The desire to serve his country had changed to a desire to sell his soul to a rich corporation....Not all of the first age could be John Randolphs or Websters, or all in the second age draw salaries from Standard Oil, but all got the kind of thing they wanted to get.
- J. Frank Dobie. A Texan in England. (79-80)

More Dobie

I have been struck how through the repeated decades of American history the people have got what they wanted. In the beginning they were greatly concerned with "the rights of man" and with not only freedom but enlightenment. They got noble Washington, great and thoughtful Jefferson, righteous and unyielding John Quincy Adams for their leaders. A hundred years went on, and the people were all mad for "normalcy." Democracy consisted no longer in their "unalienable rights" of man to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" but in having things. The American way of life became the business way of life. And the people got as their leader a business man- Warren G. Harding, as sorry and muddleheaded a character as ever occupied the sorriest throne of the most rundown principality of Europe.
-J. Frank Dobie. A Texan in England. (79)

Dobie on Government

What a decent world it could so easily be if public spokesmen, instead of stirring up the people to distrust and shortsighted grasping, would allow the natural goodness in human hearts on both sides of the Atlantic to operate. The kind of people we can trust humanly are the kind of people we can trust governmentally.
- J. Frank Dobie. A Texan in England. (94-95)

William Hogarth

Men's passive submission to the temptations of the corrupting material world was one of Hogarth's prime concerns. He was an artist whose social agenda was focused on alerting his peers to the dangers of being morally devoured by a world of material consumption. His art marks the emergence of a world in which consumer goods came both to define personal aspirations towards free will and to subjugate the individual in a new system of slavery, conformity to fashion and irrational codes of taste.
-Michael Craske. William Hogarth(12-13)

A Tidbit

Socialization has to be transmitted from the old to the young, and habits and ideas must be maintained as a seamless web of memory among the bearers of the tradition, generation after generation. If this does not happen, community will break down into factional wars and the new generation will be faced with the task of rediscovering, reinventing, and relearning by trial and error most of what it needs. No one generation can do this.
-Walter Lippmann. The Public Philosophy

Vintage TV Christmas Cartoons

I want to take a look at four Christmas classics and define what is the message they are sending out at this time of the year. Specifically, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and The Little Drummer Boy. Each of them had an impression on me in childhood but what is the message relating to Christmas?

The Little Drummer Boy is not shown much anymore. The story of a little boy who loses his parents in a fire, the only joy he has in life is playing his drum. He happens to be present at the arrival of the Magi who bring the gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. The Little Drummer Boy wants to present a gift too. All he has is his music, which he proceeds to play (rumpaparum). The message is it is not the size of the gift it is the heart and it is presented in a biblical manner.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas also relates to gift-giving, albeit in a much more secular context. The Dr. Seuss character decides the Whos in Whoville are entirely too joyful on Christmas Day. He believes it is due to the toys, the food, and the music. His devious plot is to steal all these things and thus steal Christmas. Lo, to his surprise the Whos greet the day not with tears but with joy. It is then that the Grinch realizes Christmas is not a matter of things but love. Amazing how in the world of 2011 this cartoon is still shown.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is actually prophetic. It was politically correct 35 years before there was such a thing. All the people who don't fit in have a place at the table. Rudolph, Herbie, Yukon, and even the Abominable are just misunderstood or different. We won't even go into the Island of Misfit Toys! But is there a message related to Christmas here?

Finally, we have A Charlie Brown Christmas. At first glance, this might seem similar to Rudolph in its emphasis on the other, but it is actually the most Christian of them all. It is an attack on materialism and aluminum Christmas trees. It is also the only one that directly references Scripture with the story of the Shepherds and the Angels.

People today may gripe that Christmas has lost its meaning, but that is nothing new. The four animated features discussed above are all more than forty years old. It has been a long time coming.

Mormons

One of the issues of the 2012 Presidential Campaign has been the faith of two of the Republican candidates. Mitt Romney and John Huntsman (yes he's still around) are both Mormons. It is a controversy, yet it also displays a high degree of religious ignorance.
First, are Mormons the members of a cult? Are they Christians or not? These two questions bring up the need for definitions. What is a cult? If we define a cult as a small, highly disciplined religious unit, do the Mormons fit since they have more members than The Episcopal Church? Is a cult a group that is outside the religious mainstream? In 21st century America is there a "religious mainstream"? Are Mormons Christians? Again, it depends on what is one's definition of a Christian. If a Christian is defined simply as someone who believes in God and Jesus then they are Christians. It is when we get more specific about the details that the trouble starts.
A good starting place is the Holy Bible. Joseph Smith (the Prophet) believed that the King James Bible was filled with inaccuracies. This is true. But Smith reedited the Bible to suit his own proclivities. This puts him in the category of Thomas Jefferson who edited the New Testament into something he could believe in. Jefferson and Smith are not alone in this. Since the end of the First Century people have disputed what belongs in the New Testament and what is spurious. There are those who still engage in this today. Orthodox Christianity holds that the Bible is not like the menu in a restaurant, something you pick and choose what you like. That defeats the purpose.
Then we move to the Book of Mormon and other additional texts such as The Pearl of Great Price. Mormons claim that these were additional revelations outside the so-called Orthodox canon. Orthodox Christians call it gnosticism: a special knowledge revealed only to the Chosen.
From this point we can move to some of the revelations received by Joseph Smith and his successors. The most controversial is multiple wives, or polygamy. Now, this alone, in a monogamous society is shocking enough. I learned, while reading Robert Remini's biography of Smith that this practice, in its original intent, was only to be confined to the leaders of the church. Nice deal.
Finally, the general theology of Mormonism must be brought into question. In its outline, it is not that different from other groups that arose in the United States during that period known as the Second Great Awakening. In other words, it is a reaction against rationalism. Mormonism imbibes fully the idea of the personal religious feeling. It is Pelagian to its core.
It would appear, in conclusion, that Mormons are Christians, but with qualifications. They are not Christian by the orthodox definition (neither would Unitarians), yet the American definition (that Jesus is special) they do fit. So, we can say Mormons are not orthodox Christians but they are American Christians. Go figure.

AMR Files for Bankruptcy

One day after I announce this is going weekly, I am compelled to write about the news of the day. AMR, the parent corporation of American Airlines filed for bankruptcy today. Having gone through a corporate bankruptcy 25 years ago, the feelings and memories come back easily.
The first thought is always "will there be a tomorrow?" The answer is always yes, but it won't be the same. Job security in the short term is a given but once the releases begin it seems as though they will never end. Pay will continue but is no longer a long term given. Eventually your job will be downsized or outsourced. The job market is not good. Start looking now for the next job. You will be fortunate if you are given any sort of notice that you are being let go. Especially in today's market, do not expect to find a job with comparable pay. Start downsizing your lifestyle now in the expectation of what is to come.

A Change of Plan

For the last year and a half I have attempted to keep this updated daily. For instant response to news of the day this is great but it ends up reading more like a journal. I want to take this deeper. I want it to be more thought-provoking less reactive. To that end I will be updating this once a week, fewer articles, hopefully more depth.

BCS

It has come down to Alabama and LSU as the two best teams in college football. I should state that I have a vested interest in this, having done graduate work at Alabama. Some say it should not be this way, it should not be a rematch. If that is the case then the whole BCS is invalid. It is supposed to be the two best teams, not a beauty contest. As for those who claim it is unfair that LSU has to play one more game, they're using the floating definition of fair again. It's fair because those were the rule going into this season.

November 22

This is the anniversary of the John Kennedy assassination. A whole generation of Dallasites have had their memories seared by that day. I guess we will all have to pass away before in order to stop the maudlin attitude. There are certain elements in the society of this city to whom the recollection of that day provides some sort of validation. There are the conspiracy theorists whose whole existence is predicated on that event. And then there are those who like to make us all feel guilty about it, which is like the "Bloody Shirt" strategy in politics.

American League MVP 2011

The Texas Rangers are the Rodney Dangerfields of the American League: No Respect at all!
Yesterday, Justin Verlander was named MVP for 2011. As the argument against a pitcher as MVP goes: you're giving the award to someone who only played every five days. A player from the Red Sox finished second. The injustice was done to Michael Young. All he did was finish second in the batting race, was the most consistent player for the American League champions and redefined utility infielder by starting at least ten at all four infield positions plus some games as DH.

More Baseball News

It appears that Major League Baseball knows how to play hardball. There has been a desire for some time to balance the leagues at 15 teams each (which makes the move of Milwaukee to the National League years ago a head scratcher). In order to achieve this balance it was made a condition of sale for the Houston Astros that they move to the American League West. There is a lot to be said for this. The I-45 rivalry begins. As it stands now, the Rangers can use another team in the division to beat up on. But before we get too giddy, remember that the Astros were in the World Series several years ago. If Major League Baseball decided to rename the divisions for people instead of geography (like the NHL used to do) would the American League West, with the addition of the Astros, and already having the Rangers and Angels, become the Nolan Ryan division?

Texas Rangers Hot Stove

Good news for the Rangers, bad news for the Cubs. Yesterday the Cubs announced their new manager would be Dale Sveum. This means Mike Maddux will remain the pitching coach for the Rangers. When one realizes what he has done with that pitching staff, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that he is not leaving for the (other) Windy City.

American League Manager of the Year

Baseball writers are notorious for being one of the last bastions of a "boys club" atmosphere. They have their favorites and they stick with them. Take the voting for American League manager of the year. Now, I will not contest Joe Madden of Tampa as the winner. After all, the man got his team to the playoffs again this year with virtually no star talent. But Jim Leyland as a close second is a joke. He has a great pitching staff, headed by the winner of the American League Cy Young award, Justin Verlander. He has a powerful lineup that includes the American League batting champion. And then, Ron Washington finishes a distant third. Could they still be getting on Wash for his little indiscretion two years ago when he tested positive for a controlled substance?

'Tis the Season part 2

Christmas is forty days away and already several houses have their wreaths, bows and lights up. It is not worth getting angry about anymore. One has to feel pity for these people who have been sold this kool-aid about things buying happiness. That is not what it is about. Now I am not one of those people who go around saying the United States was founded as a Christian nation but it was founded with an understanding and acceptance of Judaeo-Christian ethics. There was something more to life than that old bumper sticker, "He who has the most toys wins."

The Agrarians

They do force all southerners, as well as Americans as a whole. to look closely, and critically, at present institutions. They remind us of what people lost in the transition from a proprietary to a collective economy, even as they provoke moral doubts about the consumptive returns that most, but not all people, gained. In so far as we have accepted the bargain, tacitly consented to the new order, they at least force self-examination and create a sense of guilt. Only the most insensitive and shallow person can listen, really listen, to the Agrarians without a poignant sense of loss. This is true even for those who know all about the dark corners in the proprietary past. -Paul Conkin. The Southern Agrarians. (178)

An Economic Prophet in 1979

The case against government-guaranteed loans and mortgages to private businesses and persons is almost as strong as, though less obvious than, the case against direct government loans and mortgages. The advocates of government-guaranteed mortgages also forget what is being lent is ultimately real capital, which is limited in supply, and that they are helping identified B at the expense of some unidentified A. Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably means more bad loans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to "buy" houses that they really cannot afford. They tend eventually to bring about an oversupply of houses as compared with other things. They temporarily overstimulate building, raising the cost of building for everybody (including the buyers of homes with the guaranteed mortgages), and may mislead the building industry into an eventually costly overexpansion. In brief, in the long run they do not increase the overall national production and encourage malinvestment.
-Henry Hazlitt. Economics in One Lesson (46-47).

'Tis the Season

It all began when Macy's announced they would open at midnight the "day" after Thanksgiving. They were quickly followed by other stores of their caliber. Today I heard that Wal-Mart will open at 10 pm Thanksgiving night. Have to stay one step ahead I suppose. This is the deadly table dance of capitalism unencumbered by morality.
People will gripe about it but they will be there lined up ten deep as sardines in a can to get the best savings on the big ticket items. The local news will interview a woman who has just bought the latest Elmo doll and she will state that her purchase of that toy at 10:30 pm on a Thursday night makes her a "good mother". Next they will interview a man toting a big-screen television and he will proclaim that one can't beat those savings! Actually he could. True savings would come if he didn't buy the item at all and instead used the money to feed the poor. This is all symptomatic of the belief that things can bring true happiness.
If people refused to show up at these insane hours the stores would stop opening in the gloom of night. One can not convince Macy's or Wal-Mart to stop this using moral arguments. For them the bottom line is the finish line. Profit is what matters most. They are just as greedy as the Wall Street nabobs that have led to the Occupy groups.
It will take something more than just telling people to be nice and/or fair. This season presents a God-given opportunity to turn people away from this materialistic frenzy. After all, isn't that the REAL reason for the season?

Economics

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but the longer effect of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequence of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.
Henry Hazlitt. Economics in One Lesson. (17)

FDR and World War II

The political issues that FDR and Truman launched during the war and postwar recovery have dominated the political arena for two generations, and may persist well into the twenty-first century. But few people have studied the origins and results of these issues. Therefore, we need a deeper understanding of the presidencies of Roosevelt and Truman, and the effects of their programs, if we are to know the best course to follow.- Burton W. Folsom. FDR Goes to War. (2011)(p. 312)

Bank Transfer Day

Tomorrow is "Bank Transfer Day" and reportedly, in advance of this, 650,000 people have transferred their money into Credit Union accounts. I saw this happening myself as I went to my Credit Union this morning and witnessed two people opening new accounts. I think this is a great idea. People should shop their money to where they can get the best deal. This could result in some lower banker salaries. But I also agree that the regulations instituted in the last three years were an over-reaction to 2008.

The Newest Conspiracy Paranoia

Next Tuesday, at 1 pm CST, the FCC is running a complete test of the Emergency Broadcast System. As the press release states, for a period of up to three and a half minutes, the government will take over all the airwaves. Suppose they don't give it back?

Walker Percy

Culturally speaking, our posture is something like the cat in the cartoon who ran off the cliff and found himself standing up in the air. Maybe he can get back to earth by backing up: on the other hand, he might be in for a radical change of perspective.
-"The Culture Critics" in Signposts in a Strange Land (270)

2011 World Series Game 6 (and 7)

To have it all come down to needing one more strike, not once but twice, is the most painful way to go. Twice the Rangers were one strike away from World Champions and twice they came up empty. After Game 6 (where the Cardinals came back five times) one could see the scenario for Game 7: Rangers take a two run lead in the top of the first, Cardinals come back to tie it in the bottom of the first and it was over.

2011 World Series Game 6

One word: @#$$%%^^&!

2011 World Series Game 6 Postponed

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Not to belittle an historic event, but I understand a little better those guys who were all set to go to France the night of June 4/5 and got called back to go again the next day.

2011 World Series Game 5

Na-Po-Li!
Once again the catcher hits a double in the eighth inning (appropriate for the number eight hitter) to give the Rangers the lead, 4-2, in the game, and to lead the Series three games to two with Game 6 in St. Louis. It was a game of sin and redemption. David Murphy bobbles a ball in left field allowing the runners to advance but gets two key hits. Mitch Moreland Bill Buckner's a ball at first allowing a run but then hits a mammoth shot to right that gets the Rangers back in the game. No sins from Adrian Beltre, just the usual vacuum cleaner style of play at third and a homer to left on one knee. And then there is Napoli... thank you Mike Sciosia!
The strange thing/controversy about the Napoli double is that LaRussa didn't bring in his closer to face Napoli. This made the game worthy to be mentioned on all the ESPN shows this morning. LaRussa claims that no one in the bullpen heard the phone ring to get Mott up and throwing...it was too loud. Very few people are buying it. Perhaps LaRussa got flustered because he was being outmanaged. If Mott wasn't ready and he was supposed to be there is an easy way around it. Claim your pitcher is feeling tightness in his arm and can't pitch anymore. The reliever who comes in due to injury is given all the time he needs to warm up. According to the rules:

8.03 When a pitcher takes his position at the beginning of each inning, or when he relieves another pitcher, he shall be permitted to pitch not to exceed eight preparatory pitches to his catcher during which play shall be suspended. A league by its own action may limit the number of preparatory pitches to less than eight preparatory pitches. Such preparatory pitches shall not consume more than one minute of time. If a sudden emergency causes a pitcher to be summoned into the game without any opportunity to warm up, the umpire-in-chief shall allow him as many pitches as the umpire deems necessary. (source mlb.com)

'nuff said.

2011 World Series Games 3 and 4

Game 3 was horrible, enough said.
But Game 4 made up for it. Derek Holland pitched 8 1/3 innings allowing only two hits, no runs. When he's on, he's one of the top starting pitchers, but when he's bad, look out. Mike Napoli's three run homer was awesome.

2011 World Series Game 2

The Series is now tied at two games apiece. I think Wash said it best, this is not one for the faint of heart. I have to admit I was concerned. When he brought Ogando in to face Craig it looked to be a repetition of the first game...and it was. A single hit to right field. I suppose the numbers say that is the best bet but what about that elusive quantity known as "feel"? Lewis was surviving, and if you're looking to get one out, the man is Gonzalez. If this was a mistake, it was the same one Tony "the Genius" LaRussa made in the top of the ninth. Men on second and third, none out, a gimpy Josh Hamilton coming to the plate. The only power Josh has shown is a deep fly out against Arthur "Tuffy" Rhodes. So what does LaRussa do? He plays the percentages, takes out his virtually unhittable closer and brings in a lefty: Tuffy. Result: Fly ball to right field, Kinsler tags and scores, Andrus tags and reaches third. Michael Young then flies out, deep enough to score Andrus, and then its Feliz time.
The two heroes are Kinsler and Andrus. Their defensive play kept the game close and the two hits in the ninth and a stolen base by Kinsler won the game.

World Series 2011 Game 1

So, on a cold, rainy night in the middle of October, the World Series began in St. Louis. It was a close, well-played game, but, unfortunately the Rangers lost. C. J. Wilson had his best postseason outing but it wasn't enough. The only question I have for Wash is why he brought Ogando in basically to face one batter. Isn't that Gonzalez's role? Game 2 is tonight.

Texas

When [Texans] have lost [their Texan-ness] altogether, and when the office-working, car-driving Texan is completely indistinguishable from his Northern counterpart, the history of Texas, as Texas, will be done.
-T. R. Fehrenbach. Lone Star: A History of Texas and Texans. (717-718)

Take that Socrates!

Know thyself? If I knew myself, I'd run away.
-Goethe

World Series 2011

The Texas Rangers clinched a berth in this year's World Series with a convincing 15-5 win over the Tigers. Their opponent will be the St. Louis Cardinals. I would have felt more comfortable playing Milwaukee, whose pitching staff was weak. The Cardinals look too much like another version of the Rangers. Add the fact that they are the wild card entry, like the Giants last year, and it spells trouble. But who am I to complain. Over forty years of never tasting the Series and now, two years in a row!

Ten Years

Ten years ago was the best day of my life. The day I married Cynthia.

ALCS 2011 Game 5

I think the Rangers missed an opportunity in this game: bases loaded, one out, Verlander on the ropes, and what happens...Double play! I am also concerned about C. J. Wilson. His pitching in these playoffs has been sub par. Of course that concern will only matter if the Rangers can win one of these next two games at home.

ALCS 2011 Game 4

Can we get a refrain for Nelson Cruz. Fantastic throw from rightfield to get Cabrera tagging up from third and then a three-run insurance blast (which I called, just ask my wife) in the 11th to put away Game 5. And while we're at it, how about Mike Napoli: standing his ground to apply the tag to Cabrera, and driving in Josh Hamilton with a single after the Tigers intentionally walked Beltre to get to him.

ESPN

ESPN has sold out. Why does the NFL need its own network when there is ESPN? Last night Nelson Cruz hit the first walk off grand slam home run in postseason history and did it in the eleventh inning. Was that the lead on this morning's Sports Center? Did it even get mentioned on First Take? No! Fifteen minutes into Sports Center, after extensive coverage of the Bears-Lions Monday Night game, there was three minutes about the ALCS. Why? Because ESPN does not have the rights to postseason baseball, therefore it does not exist. That's not news coverage, that's advertising.

To Live and Die with the Rangers

Bases loaded, none out, bottom of the ninth and what happens? Murphy pops out and Moreland hits into a double play. Should have pinch hit with Torrealba.
A postscript: Nelson Cruz. Enough said.

ALCS 2011 Game 1

So we found the solution to the drought in Texas: Bring in Justin Verlander to pitch.
The Rangers won last night in a game broken up by two rain delays. The winning run was a Nelson Cruz homer. If he's back in the groove, that's good for Texas. The bullpen was, once again, awesome. Ogando, Martinez, Oliver, Adams, and Feliz were all outstanding. The only concern is another rough outing for C. J. Wilson. Is the pressure of being a number one starter getting to him? Too many pitches, too many walks has been the story of his starts in the postseason this year.

ALCS 2011

So, it's the Rangers and the Tigers in this year's ALCS. As usual, I am worried. The Tigers and the Brewers seem to be the sexy picks now. We've just gone through a week of the genius of Joe Madden, now it will be a week of the genius of Jim Leyland. Once again, Ron Washington gets ignored.
The Yankees lost to the Tigers in Game 5. Alex Rodriguez striking out was particularly sweet. The Phillies lost 1-0 to the Cardinals (also in Game 5). Cliff Lee, how's that Philadelphia thing working out for you? The Brewers beat the Diamondbacks in extra innings in Game 5. Pretty exciting.

Rangers Defeat Tampa Bay 3-1

Here we go again. The Rangers are in the American League Championship Series...again. This could be habit-forming. Adrian Beltre's three home runs yesterday were certainly the most replayed highlight, but I think the most memorable from yesterday came from Johnny Damon of the Rays. He was in the dugout as the Rangers were celebrating. He caught the attention of someone in that mob, pointed at him and saluted him. That is a class act.
All the experts say this team is better than last year's. There is certainly more depth and experience. Yes, there is no Cliff Lee, but the pitching staff is still better. Yet, if they don't survive the ALCS, it won't be considered a success. We take it one win at a time.

Barbarians

Today the barbarian is the man who makes open and explicit rejection of the traditional role of reason and logic in human affairs. He is the man who reduces all spiritual and moral questions to the test of practical results or to an analysis of language or to decision in terms of individual subjective feeling.
-John Courtenay Murray. "The civilization of the Pluralist Society." in Bishirjian, A Public Philosophy Reader. (150)

Power and Liberty

It [American Society] had not yet got a glimpse of the elementary truth which was so clear to the mind of Mr. Jefferson, that in proportion as you give the State power to do things for you, you give it power to do things to you; and that the State invariably makes as little as it can of the one power, and as much as it can of the other.
-Albert Jay Nock. Memoirs of a Superfluous Man. (175-176)

Freedom

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We did not pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
-Ronald Reagan

Baseball's Great Debate

http://www.americanheritage1.com/assets/images/sports/ted-williams-joe-dimaggio-photo-1.gif

The great thing about baseball is the arguments. Not with the umpires, but who is the greatest hitter, player etc. One of the greatest arguments relates to the American League MVP for 1941: Williams or DiMaggio?
Williams hit .406 that year, the last hitter to reach .400. He led the league in home runs. He would have won the Triple Crown but fell five RBI's short.
DiMaggio had the legendary 56-game hitting streak, and after the streak was broken, started a 16-game hitting streak. He led the league in RBI's and his team won the World Series.

Most disputants in this argument will concede that at the time Williams' feat was more common as several players had hit .400 in the previous forty years. DiMaggio, on the other hand, broke a record of over fifty years.

Instead of looking back from 1941, let's look back over the ensuing seventy years. The closest anyone has come to 56 occurred when Pete Rose hit in 44 games. Proportionately, that means he got eighty percent of the way there. Now look at batting averages. Eighty percent of .406 is .3215, say .322. How many hitters have reached that number since 1941?

Rangers Clinch Home Field in the First Round

And the new magic number is 22? Eleven wins by the Rangers, eleven losses by their opponents. Whatever. We have a new candidate for the Herschel Walker award. The LA Angels, who traded Mike Napoli to Toronto for Vernon Wells (who was horrible this year). The Rangers traded Frankie Francisco to Toronto for Napoli, who ended up the hottest hitter in baseball since the All Star break, and to top it off, hit four home runs in the last two games against the Angels.

Cultural Literacy

Many Americans who have graduated from high school in the recent past have been deprived of the cultural vocabulary that was commonly possessed by educated persons in past generations. Some repair work is necessary for them and the members of the current school generation. They must be reintroduced to the cultural vocabulary that continues to be the foundation for literate national communication. The new illiteracy is sometimes excused by the argument that our schools are now educating larger proportions of our population. The point is that we are not educating them. We undertook the great task of universal education precisely in order to produce a truly literate population, but we have not succeeded in that task in recent years. We must assure that new generations will continue to be enfranchised in our medium of national communication as securely as they are enfranchised at the polls.
-E. D. Hirsch. Cultural Literacy. (107-108)

The Magic Number is Zero

The Texas Rangers have won the American League West!!!!!!!!!!!

Education

The adherence of the universities to the military involve the neglect and have carried far enough the betrayal of the university's fundamental reason for existence, which is the advancement of man's search for truth and happiness. It is for this purpose alone that universities receive and and should receive the community's support. When the university turns away from its central purpose and makes itself an appendage to the government, concerning itself with techniques rather than ideals, dispensing conventional orthodoxy rather than new ideas, it is not only failing to meet its responsibilities, it is betraying a public trust.
-J. William Fulbright

It's Magic Number Time

For the Texas Rangers, the number is 5.

Economics and How Green Was My Valley

Last week there was a mine accident in Wales. What caught my eye was the following quotation:

As of June 2011, 1,500 people in Wales worked in the mining industry, according to government sources.

1,500 people. That makes the automobile or cattle-ranching businesses look healthy. But the end of coal mining in Wales is more catastrophic to the identity of her people than Detroit jobs going overseas. Mining has been the lifeblood in those valleys for centuries. And its gone. Time moves on but can the people keep up with her?

My father grew up in a town with two industries: the railroad and a Celanese plant. As my father entered high school, the Celanese closed down. By the time he got out of college, the railroads were dying. There was no future for him in the town of his birth. Like others in his high school class, he left only to return when he was dying.

Wales is an example of that writ large: When the major job source left, there was a brain drain. What was left behind lives on the charity of the government.

Henry Adams

Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.
-Henry Adams

Ignorance

To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.
-Bronson Alcott

The Heat

So on September 13, 2011 the temperature reached 107 degrees. 70 days of 100 or above beating the record of 1980. Let's hope it is another 31 years before we break this record.

An Example: When Bad Criticism Meets Great Literature

Howard Zinn argues that the telling of America in terms of heroes and their victims, which entails "the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress," functions as "only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders." If On the Road is about defining America, it is also about staging an intervention into official definitions of history and nationhood.
-Penny Vlagopoulos. "Rewriting America" in Jack Kerouac. On the Road: The Original Scroll. (60-61).

On History

One of the chief tests of the quality of historical work lies in its readability. History, even serious history, is interesting, and the historian who makes it dull deserves the pillory. One of the few benefits that advancing years bring to the historian is an increasing right to refuse being bored by his colleagues.
-G. R. Elton Return to Essentials (70-71)

The Big 12

Has anybody thought of the economic impact on Dallas-Fort Worth if the Big 12 is history? No Big 12 Championship (Football and Basketball) and no Texas-OU?

Last Visit to a Dying Friend

I visited a friend today for what will probably be the last time. I've known him for nearly twenty years and we have shared a lot of memories in that time. But now he is wasting away, a shadow of his former self. Yet he still had something to give me. And those memories will never die.
AVE ATQUE VALE BORDERS BOOKS AND MUSIC!

Values

And yet we do need, individually and as a society, some values, some belief in the foundations of our conduct, in order to make life bearable. If these too are lies, they are, as Holmes' great contemporary, Joseph Conrad, thought them, true lies; if illusions, then indispensable one. To abandon them is to commit moral suicide.
-Alexander M. Bickel. The Morality of Consent. (77)

Home

Mississippi is like my mother. I am allowed to complain about her all I want, but God help the person who raises an ill word about her around me, unless she is their mother too.
-Kathryn Stockett. The Help: A Novel. (528)

Higher Education?

Since the purpose of higher education is-yes-education, all other activities should be made to justify why they exist on campuses at all. Examples of extraneous activities that impede teaching and learning include new administrative officers (like a "director of collaborative engagement"); varsity athletics (the University of Vermont sends its softball team 2,533 miles to play against Stanford); and undergraduate amenities (five-story climbing walls). Top-heavy faculties should also be scrutinized (75 percent at Stanford have lifetime appointments, as do 73 percent at San Jose State) since senior professors are less involved with teaching.
-Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus. Higher Education? pp. 237-238. (2010)

Prescient?

The American people seem to be doing less and less thinking for themselves and they seem to have less and less knowledge of the history and basic principles of the American Republic....It seems to me that the people have come to form their opinions, not from facts and their own thinking, but the thinking and opinions of others. Perhaps it is due to the development of motion pictures and radio. To listen to either requires only the slightest mental effort. They are a kind of education or recreation which gives knowledge without thought....The truth is that there is hardly one [commentator or columnist] who has not a strong bias for one philosophy or another, for one party or another, for one man or another. This they attempt to conceal, and the unthinking are likely to take them at their own estimate of impartiality....The radio is a peculiarly plausible instrument, more so than the written word....But even the news today in many newspapers is given a strong slant in the direction of the paper's policy....Public opinion is formed without any real knowledge or analysis of the facts of the issues.
-Robert A. Taft (1947)

Hurricanes

No, not the University of Miami.




Hurricane Irene has made landfall in North Carolina as a category 1. The cable news channels are covering this like its Katrina revisited. I realize the damage may be great, but we will not have an idea of how much until the storm passes. I know this is one of the really slow news seasons but there is Libya to cover. It is as if they had never been through a hurricane. I have been through five, one full-blown (Agnes), four that were remnants (Camille, Doria, David, and Frederic). It is not worthy of 24/7 coverage.

Sports Violence

So there was a small riot in the stands during a preseason (fake) football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders. Why am I not surprised? The behavior of American football fans has been deteriorating to the level of the English in recent years. There are numerous reasons not the least of which is overall moral decay. But what has aggravated this? Unfortunately, the dear old tailgate party is a culprit. These have become little more than excuses for massive drinking binges. But there are other perpetrators: the National Football League and the media. During any football game, there is the standard shot of some "fan" who has obviously made the supreme effort to be seen. This glorification of attention-getter is counterproductive. As for the NFL, their glorification of violence and the hype surrounding it, is just fuel for the fire.

Heartbreak

The East Coast earthquake yesterday was quite a surprise. While I am thankful it appears no one was seriously hurt, the damage done to the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral are painful. The Cathedral lost the top of its spires and some angels. The irritating thing is there was no insurance. Way to go Diocese of Washington!

Baseball

G. Edward White. Creating the National Pastime. (1996)

Baseball did not spring from the brow of Zeus as America's pastime. As Ed White details, it was created through the trials and errors of the men who had the most impact on the game in the period 1903-1953, the Owners.
Mostly it appears to be the errors. Slow to recognize the value of newspapers and radio, reluctant to end the color barrier, owners stumbled into a great moneymaker. This is a history of the business side of baseball and is very entertaining.

Election 2012

The candidates should heed the advice of the Clinton campaign of twenty years ago: "It's the economy stupid!" Anything else is merely a distraction.

College Football

First, I must preface this by stating that I received my graduate education at the University of Alabama. Granted this was in the mourning period for Bear Bryant but being at Alabama was a football education in itself. I am not, however, going to write of the glories of the Crimson Tide. Instead, I will focus on the general stink that is College Football circa 2011.
A week does not go by where there is not news of some football program under investigation for some sort of rules violation by some major program. USC has had to forfeit a national title, Ohio State fired its head coach and so on. Now we have revelations and accusations about the University of Miami, the "U". Miami has one of those programs that has long tiptoed around the border of compliance. The most recent accusations do not look like tiptoeing, but, rather, obliteration. Payoffs to large numbers of players, prostitutes, abortions, and so on. If the accusations are validated, it would make SMU's violations of the mid-1980s look juvenile.
What is the solution? The usual suspects call for stipends to be paid to players and end the folly of amateurism. This does not solve the problem. There will still be boosters willing to give bonuses.
There is one alternative that no one dares mention.
BLOW IT UP!
End big-time athletics. It all goes back to the basic question: what is the mission of the university? Is it to be a farm system for the National Football League? Let the NFL spend some of its billions on a farm system and let universities get back to their priority.

Religion and Culture

Having finished Philip Lee's Against the Protestant Gnostics, I decided to read Harold Bloom's The American Religion for a different take on the same subject. I will leave my critique of Bloom's work to another time. But the two books have prodded me into thinking of the relationship between Religion and Culture. More specifically, is a particular style or form of worship part and parcel of an appreciation of certain art forms? For example, if your church has a choir that sings works by Bach and Mozart, are you more likely to listen to their secular works?

Heat Wave

So the streak ended at 40 days, 40 days of unrelenting, mind-numbing 100 degree heat. I am certain this was a serious disappointment to at least one of our weather boys. As for me, it was time to pop the champagne, toast 1980 and move on.

Protestant Gnostics

The foes of genuine Protestantism have been, to use Matthew Arnold's term, the philistines, middle-class Christians who have refused to take authentic knowledge seriously because they are certain they already know or else already feel whatever must be known or felt to accomplish their goal. What they, in fact, know or feel is very akin to what Irenaeus called pseudo-gnosis, a knowledge that appears to be what it is not at all. It is a kind of knowledge that involves escape from reality. - Philip J. Lee. Against the Protestant Gnostics. (114)

Question

When did the media start calling special interest groups "advocacy groups?"

Economics, History and the Economy

The Great Depression started with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It worsened until 1933 when many banks failed. Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933 and promised the American people a New Deal. By putting a lot of money into the economy there were signs of recovery but total recovery did not come until the United States became involved in World War II.

This is the conventional wisdom. In fact this would be a decent test answer. Unfortunately there are a number of gaps in it as I will point out when appropriate. But that is not the reason for this excursion. There are two questions that have been on my mind of late and I am seeking the answers. First, are we in a similar situation to the U.S. economy of 1937-1938? Second, and more profoundly: Did we ever totally recover from the Great Depression or are the props still in place?

First, a more detailed and accurate account of the events of the Great Depression. A financial bubble came to the surface in 1929. This bubble was caused primarily by the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. Interest rates were too low which led to too much money in circulation, money that went into items of speculation such as the stock market and increased production. Now, here is an instance where I have gone against the received wisdom. I see increased production as a form of speculation. Somebody (or some committee) makes a conscious decision as to production. They estimate what will be needed in the coming months or years. That is speculation. Anyway, with this speculation the Stock Market reached unheard of heights: I call it Fantasyland. When the market broke (or began a correction if you will) money disappeared from circulation. What did the Federal Reserve do? Instead of compensating for the dwindling supply by dropping rates, they aggravated the problem by raising interest rates. Lack of money means lack of purchasing power. People (consumers) are focusing on the basics. Goods go unsold. What do we do when we have too much of something? We sell it overseas. But Congress decides to get involved by passing one of the most restrictive tariffs in history. Our trading partners respond accordingly and the problem at home only gets worse. By 1932 the situation is so bad that banks are dropping like flies. A program is created to give money to banks that are in trouble but in the interest of openness the names of the banks asking for this help will be made public which makes the program worthless. Roosevelt is elected and pushes through reforms of the banking system and programs meant to stimulate the economy. By 1936 this becomes nothing more than targeted vote-getting. When Roosevelt is re-elected comfortably, he begins to show concern for the deficit and cuts back on spending to try to balance the budget. Neither is Congress interested i n throwing more money at the problem. The result is the Great Recession of 1937-1938, from which the nation only emerges with the onset of World War II and increased government spending. This is the standard interpretation. Some say that the Depression did not end until 1947-1948 with the end of the war adjustment.

Here is where I disagree. If one posits the idea that artificial government stimuli boosted the economy but did not technically end the Depression until 1947, how can you say that it ended even then. What was happening in 1947? The Cold War with increased defense spending. The Marshall Plan and massive foreign aid for rebuilding. The GI Bill with college tuition and loan payments. In the 1950s you have the beginnings of the Interstate Highway System, a massive infrastructure project, and then in the 1960s there is an enormous increase in entitlement benefits such as Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security. If one looks at the number of people who work directly or indirectly for the government, it is a high percentage of the employment figure. The percentage of GDP related to government spending is also still high. Is that recovery?

What Is the Key to Capitalism?

This is the mystery of capital. Solving it requires an understanding of why Westerners, by representing assets with titles, [my emphasis] are able to see and draw out capital from them. One of the greatest challenges to the human mind is to comprehend and to gain access to those things we know exist but cannot see. Not everything that is real and useful is tangible and visible....Throughout history, human beings have invented representational systems- writing, musical notation, double-entry bookkeeping- to grasp with the mind what human hands could never touch. In the same way, the great practitioners of capitalism, from the creation of integrated title systems and corporate stock to Michael Milken, were able to reveal and extract capital where others saw only junk by devising new ways to represent the invisible potential that is locked up in the assets we accumulate. -Hernando de Soto. The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. Basic Books. (2000). p. 7

It's Too Darn Hot...

when you get gas at 9:30 at night and the temperature is 101 degrees.

Have Things Changed?

The diploma madness has infected students and schools with a constant concern for getting the correct number of credits in the required areas of schooling. Diplomas turn schooling into working for grades in required courses to achieve a piece of paper for entrance into the job market. - Joel H. Spring. "Sociological and Political Ruminations", in The Twelve-Year Sentence. (1974) pp. 152-153.

Just a Thought

Does it bother anyone else that our country's financial future is dictated by our ability to borrow money and that the decision of an accreditation bureau can make or break us?

The Dallas Sports Scene

Oh happy day! The Cowboys are in training camp and we can forget about all those irritating things like the drought and the debt standoff. Who needs it when we can hear pearls of wisdom from the Great Arkansas Guru (GAG for short) Jerry Jones.
It never ceases to amaze me how the sports media in Dallas fawns over the Cowboys. This is a team that has not won a Super Bowl in sixteen years. They have not had a Hall of Fame player since Emmit Smith retired. Since the Cowboys last won the Super Bowl, the Stars have been to two Stanley Cup Finals, winning one. The Mavericks have been to two NBA finals, winning one. The Rangers have been to the World Series. FC Dallas has been to the MLS Final. SMU has won a bowl game. TCU has won the Rose Bowl. All that and yet the Cowboys are still the main attraction, a carryover from the day when they were the only game in town and winning Super Bowls. Mark my words, the Dallas Cowboys will not be serious contenders until people stop going to the games and stop buying the merchandise. Until that happens GAG has no reason to win.

The NFL Lockout

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news? The NFL lockout is over. Whoopee. Better yet, who peed? What does it say when the ending of a lockout of millionaires by billionaires is a bigger news item than the debt crisis? The millionaires have said all along that they just want to play. What a load of hypocrisy! It has all been about the money. Your money. Not just ticket sales. Advertising, jerseys, shoes etc. It is not a sport, it is a business. Bread and circuses.

Why Can't They Learn?

Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. (2011)

Almost everyone wants to get into college, but how much do undergraduates really learn once they're there? According to Academically Adrift, the answer for many students is not much. The extensive research of the authors draws on survey responses, transcript data, and the College Learning Assessment, a standardized test administered to students in their first semester and again at the end of their second year. Their analysis reveals that a significant proportion of students demonstrate no significant improvement in a range of skills including critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing. Arum and Roksa argue that for many faculty and administrators they will come as no surprise- instead they are the expected result of a student body distracted by socializing or employment and an institutional culture that puts undergraduate learning close to the bottom of the priority list.

This is not a disturbing work to anyone who has spent time in a college classroom. There exist many deep problems but they are not insoluble. Colleges and universities suffer, not from a lack of vision, but from what is known as 'mission creep". 'Mission Creep" is trying to do so many things that none of them are done well. For the institutions of higher learning, there needs to be a return to First Principles: what are we here for? Are we involved in higher learning or vocational education? Are we something to fill the schedule for 18-21 year olds? Students also need to have a concrete idea of why they are going to college, something more than delaying major life choices after high school. Parents must also have an idea of what getting a college education entails. They must be more actively involved.

Borders is going away

The news that Borders is going into liquidation hit me hard. It was no surprise, the patient had been on life-support for four months and the chance of recovery was slim, but it still hurt. Why? I could go on like Greg Kinnear in You've Got Mail how the world will be a less friendly place without Borders but that would only be ironic. Will there be a sequel to You've Got Mail, where Meg Ryan leaves Tom Hanks destitute when Fox Books shuts down?
The end of Borders means the end of a phase of my life. Borders first arrived in our neighborhood when my parents were still alive. It was Heaven as we were all bibliophiles. The selection was always light years ahead of Barnes & Noble. You could find, on the shelf (pre-Amazon) obscure books from University presses. More than just the latest bestsellers, their philosophy and religion sections were unmatched. DVD selection was just a fringe benefit.
And soon it will be gone, except for the memories.

I can be whatever I want!

For the power of man to make himself what he pleases means, as we have seen, the power of some men to make other men what they please.
-C. S. Lewis. The Abolition of Man. (72)

C. S. Lewis on Education

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.
-C. S. Lewis. The Abolition of Man. (24)

America's Obsession

No, not the Debt Crisis. Not the women's World Cup either. Media attention is focused on a courthouse in Florida, awaiting the release of America's most vilified mom, Casey Anthony. I am probably the last person in this country to weigh in on this matter. She was found not guilty of the murder of her daughter and that has ignited a firestorm. Actually, a lynch-mob is a better term. Headline News has been all Casey all the time. Jane Velez Mitchell and Nancy Grace are handing out pitchforks and torches. My own belief is that Casey Anthony knows full well what happened to her daughter. The state of Florida did not prove that they did, according to the jury. So she is set to go free in a matter of hours. How free? She will have to go into something like witness protection because there have been so many threats. Some consider that just punishment. What is more disturbing than the verdict is the misperception, encouraged by the media, that there is no justice in this case. They do not understand the American system of law. It is more than " better that ten guilty people go free than one innocent person is incarcerated. Our system is based, not on catching every single criminal, but enough to convince most that it is not worth it. Justice is administered in the hereafter. Bluntly, if you don't believe in a day of judgement, our legal system cannot be just. This is one of those things we will have to deal with in a nation that appears to be less religious.

Politics July 2011

Of course the big political news this month is whether Congress can reach some sort of agreement on the debt ceiling and the budget. What we have here is...failure...to communicate. Republicans and Democrats alike are entrenched in their positions. Republicans don't want to raise taxes, Democrats don't want to cut entitlements. If we look back at the earlier entry from T. Harry Williams, we are reminded that politicians need to compromise and cut the best deal possible for the most people. Failure on the part of Congress means they are not doing what we elected them to do. Unfortunately, what is happening in Washington at this time falls into the category of J. H. Plumb's definition of politics: it is all about power. A more earthy way to put it: the Debt Crisis has devolved into a dick-measuring contest.

Another Political Truism

It was patronage that cemented the political system, held it together, and made it an almost impregnable citadel, impervious to defeat, indifferent to social change. And yet there are historians who dismiss eighteenth-century patronage as little more than private charity. This is absurd, and arises from considering the pecuniary awards of place only. Place was power; patronage was power; and power is what men in politics are after. After 1715, power could not be achieved through party and so the rage of party gave way to the pursuit of place.
-J. H. Plumb. The Origins of Political Stability: England, 1685-1725. (189)

Political Truism- Possibly Archaic

If the politician is not a philosopher putting into effect eternal principles, what then is he? He is, and here we may speak of what may be termed the ordinary or average politician, an adjuster and a broker of the many conflicting and competitive interests in a democratic society. His role is not to ram one set of interests through but to compromise with all of them so that everybody can live with the settlement. When the politician is considered in this framework, he immediately appears in a much more favorable stance-he is the man who makes democracy work.
-T. Harry Williams. "Trends in Southern Politics. " in The Idea of the South, Frank Vandiver editor. (60)

Bad History

Matthew Algeo. The President Is a Sick Man. Chicago Review Press. (2011)

The author has a good grasp of the story but that is all. From a technical standpoint, the complete and utter lack of footnotes compromises irreparably the value of this work. He understands the complexity of the health issues but as to the political, economic, and historical issues he is, like the surgery he describes, "at sea."
Politically, Algeo does not comprehend the mood of the era. In the wake of the death of President Grant, Cleveland and his advisers deemed it was better to do this in secret, away from the public eye. Like Louis in Casablanca, the author is shocked to discover that a government would do this sort of thing.
Economically, he understands the issues of the Depression of 1893 only in part. He does not realize, or fails to acknowledge, the downside of the pro-Silver argument which colors his interpretation of the President's response to the crisis.
Historically, Algeo has only a vague familiarity with the history of presidential illness, mentioning the usual suspects: Washington, Jackson. Wilson, FDR. He lauds the Roosevelt cover-up, does not mention Eisenhower, Kennedy, or Johnson, but excoriates Reagan.
For a better reading of presidential illness, one should turn to Ferrell's Ill-advised. As for Grover Cleveland, Jeffers' An Honest Man is still the better choice.

Honor

Honor is a luxury for aristocrats, but it is a necessity for hall-porters.
-G. K. Chesterton. Heretics. "Celts and Celtophiles." (89)

Committees

God so loved the world that he didn't send a Committee.
- Marion Montgomery. The Truth of Things. (155)

Teaching

The good teacher emulates Socrates and Christ, neither of whom was popular with the majority of his hearers, nor wrote articles or books, nor held degrees-honorary or earned-from recognized institutions of lower or higher learning.
-Marion Montgomery. "The Segregation That Is Needed." in The Truth of Things. (39)

Robert Taft

The American way of life certainly does not guarantee equality in mental power or in character or in energy. It has only guaranteed that a man who had the necessary qualities might rise in public life and acquire a greater influence, a greater fame, a greater power than his fellows; that he might rise in material wealth and acquire a greater comfort and luxury, if he desires it, for himself and his family; that he might earn a simple living on which he could base the development of true happiness for himself and his family without either wealth or power.
-quoted in Russell Kirk and James McClellan. The Political Principles of Robert A. Taft. (38)

Irony or, that's the way the world is

I drive past a certain construction site on my way to work. For the past two years, they have had the right lane blocked off to allow trucks access onto the road. Never saw a truck there in two years. This morning the cones blocking off the lane were gone and, of course, I saw my first truck trying to get on the busy road.

More on Tocqueville

Tocqueville's one fundamental purpose: the preservation of human freedom and dignity. (218)
-and-
Tocqueville never swerved from his conviction that one of the greatest dangers to democratie was the trend toward the concentration of power. (220)
-James T. Schliefer. The Making of Tocqueville's Democracy in America.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Give common interests to men, join them in common affairs, facilitate their association, give a practical and simple character to this development, constantly draw them closer together, elevate their spirits and their hearts as much as possible. Govern them honestly and prudently. I can imagine making ourselves guardians to the communes if we want to emancipate them. That the government, if it wishes may treat the local powers like children, I allow; but not like fools. Only fools are kept under supervision throughout their lives.
-excerpt from a note quoted in James T. Schleifer. The Making of Tocqueville's Democracy in America. (217)

Community

Faulkner at a crucial point in midhistory of the southern renaissance as a community-affirming idea, like Allen Tate at the beginning, came upon its impossibility. It would only work if no one thought about it.
-Michael Kreyling. Inventing Southern Literature. (144)

The NBA Championship

It was fun today, basking in the glow of the NBA Championship. First major sports championship in this area for twelve years (the Stars won the Stanley Cup). In fact, of all the major sports franchises in DFW, the Cowboys have gone the longest without an appearance in a championship. Can somebody buy Jerry Jones a clue?
This victory was so satisfying on so many levels. Beating the "chosen one", for starters. All the hype means nothing without the ring. And how the Mavs won. One superstar, and a lot of committed veteran role players.
The turning point of the series may have been the Wade-James show to put them up by fifteen in game 2, but the turning point last night was Stevenson's bump of a Heat player after Miami took the lead in the 2nd. Instead of a quick timeout for the Mavs to settle down, it took fifteen minutes for order to be restored, bu which time the adrenalin of the Miami players and fans was gone.

MAVS Win NBA Championship

To borrow from Muhammad Ali: They shocked the world!

The Quotation

In the previous entry, I mentioned a quotation and I could not remember if it was from Bull Durham or Mr. Baseball. After some intrepid Internet research, here is the quotation:

Baseball is grown men getting paid to play a game.

NBA Finals Part 2

The comeback on Thursday night was certainly one for the ages. I think the Wade-James celebration after the lead was extended to fifteen points was one for the ages. It was like waving a red flag in front of a German bull. A writer in the Star Telegram pointed out that it was also the storyline of this series: old school vs. new school. In an old movie, either Bull Durham or Mr. Baseball, the lead character reminds his teammates that one should treat the game with respect because they are being paid to play a kid's game. It is humility versus arrogance. Certain players act as if they are entitled to all the attention. As my Dad used to say, "if it wasn't for sports, he'd be pumping gas in East Keokuk."

How True

We will never have a nation of cultured and reflective citizens as long as the press keeps printing The Sentence: "Neighbors described the gunman as a quiet person who kept to himself."
-Florence King. Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye.

Mind Your Own Business

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.
-Eric Hoffer. The True Believer. (14)

NBA Finals Game 2

Okay, so game 1 was pretty bad. Not that the Mavs were blown out or fell apart, but they lost. To make matters worse, Dirk has a torn tendon in one of the fingers of his left hand. Even so, he still had 27 points. But where was the rest of the team? Dirk can only carry them so far. Tonight's game is critical, yet I believe there is still a lot of pressure on Miami. If they lose, it will be more "LeBron can't win the big one." If the Mavs lose, the media will offer consolation by saying it was to the greatest team ever (a questionable proposition if there ever was one).

The Bombers Were on the Runways

David A. Nichols. Eisenhower 1956. Simon & Schuster. 2011. 346 pp.
In the fall of 1956 my father was the Machine Accounting Officer at Sculthorpe, a US Air Force base in England. This was during the combined crises of Suez and Hungary. The base was on full alert, or as he put it, "the bombers were on the runway, fueled, armed, and ready to go." World War III was a distinct possibility. Yet historians have for years downplayed this incident. Perhaps because the danger did not seem as immediately threatening as did the Missile Crisis six years later. Or, could it be that Eisenhower was a more behind the scenes type of leader?
With the publication of Eisenhower 1956, that oversight has been rectified. Not only does the author restore the Suez Crisis to prominence but in so doing he demonstrates this as the starting point of American full-scale involvement in the Middle East. In tying in the election campaign of 1956, Nichols shows that politics did not end at the water's edge even in 1956 and that game playing and posturing were just as much a part of the scene as they are in 2011.

The Best Years of Our Lives: A Different Take

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) won seven Academy Awards and deservedly so. It remains a classic, the story of three men returning home after World War II. But I want to look at this movie from a political and economic viewpoint. There exists a sub theme here, or perhaps it is a subconscious one (is there a difference?). That is the idea of the welfare state and the government safety net.


The story presents us with three returning veterans: Homer, Fred, and Al. They are coming home to Boone City, your average medium sized town. All they have in common is their home and the fact that they are veterans. Homer served in the machine shop on a carrier in the Pacific, Al in the infantry also in the Pacific, while Fred was a bombardier with the 8th Air Force. Before the war they were the school football hero, banker, and soda jerk. But their lives have been forever changed.


Homer lost both his arms and has, instead, metal hooks. Al returns to the bank as officer in charge of small loans. Fred returns to the soda fountain.


No one would begrudge Homer his right to compensation. Yet no indication is given that he will ever do more than get his "fifty dollars every month from Mr. Whiskers."


Al is back at the local bank and even receives a promotion. He is now in charge of small loans. He deals with veterans applying for loans under the G. I. Bill. Again, more government money. Another way to view it is taxpayers money being redistributed.

Finally, there is Fred. Back behind the counter at the soda fountain. The pharmacy has been bought by a chain. Again consolidation. He can't hold this job. His wife leaves him, probably for Scully, who's making a killing on the black market, a market created by government rationing. Fred eventually finds a job with the junk men, stripping B-17s for prefabricated housing being built with federal money.

To borrow a term from the Deconstructionists, the subtext of this movie should be disturbing to Libertarians: we can't get by without Uncle Sam.

The NBA Finals

So, the Dallas Mavericks are in the NBA Finals. They will be playing the Miami Heat which brings back memories of the nightmare of five years ago. Up 2-0, and leading in Game 3, the parade was already in the planning stages. Then Dwayne Wade caught on fire and Dirk disappeared and the Mavericks lost. Of course it helped that Wade went to the charity stripe nearly 100 times in the last four games.
Now comes the rematch. According to ESPN, it is all about LeBron James. In fact, ESPN acts as if it is a foregone conclusion. All this should do is make the Mavericks mad. We will see come Tuesday what wins championships, hype or heart.

Woodrow Wilson

The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.
-quoted in Read. The Love of Liberty (88)

James Thurber

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.
-quoted in Read. The Love of Liberty. (127)

Dallas Sports

In the last sixteen months the Metroplex has hosted the NBA All-Star game, the World Series, three college bowl games, the Super Bowl and now the NBA finals. Add to that, two of our universities went to bowl games (one of which was the Rose Bowl) and our MLS team was in the finals last season. Not shabby at all.

George Santayana on Love

Love, in English, is a very wide term. What poets and philosophers, at least of the classical school, talk about is the passion of love, the madness, divine madness, of Plato. But attraction, confidence, mutual delight, and complete devotion to a chosen mate is not madness at all, it is a phase, a settlement of the sane affections of one human being to another, where all sane possible bonds, physical, domestic, social, intellectual, and religious bind the two together for life- common material interests and children being strong material buttresses to to such a complete union in after years. More than once, at friends' houses in England, or in hotels, I have found myself divided only by a frail closed door from the bed in which an elderly pair were exchanging confidential judgments and ideas; and I have been impressed by the perfection of friendship and sympathy in such a union. -Letters. (386) quoted in Singer. George Santayana: Literary Philosopher. (126)

Technology

With the onslaught of technological innovation that we are now enduring it is well to remember the words of the Agrarians:

Advertising means to persuade the consumers to want exactly what the applied sciences are able to furnish them....It is the great effort of a false economy of life to approve itself.
(Quoted in Montgomery. Fathers. (163)

As for the iPad, iPod, and iPhone, my choice is iPass.

George Santayana on Teaching

Teaching is a delightful paternal art, and especially teaching intelligent and warm-hearted youngsters, as most American collegians are; but it is an art like acting, where the performance, often rehearsed, must be adapted to an audience hearing it only once. The speaker must make concessions to their impatience, their taste, their capacity, their prejudices, their ultimate good; he must neither bore nor perplex, nor demoralise them. His thoughts must be such as can flow daily, and be set down in notes; they must come when the bell rings and stop appropriately when the bell rings a second time.
-George Santayana. Character and Opinion in the United States. (42)

Deconstructionist History

Howard Zinn argues that the telling of America in terms of heroes and their victims, which entails " the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress," functions as "only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders." If On the Road is about defining America, it is also about staging an intervention into official definitions of history and nationhood.


-Penny Vlagopoulos. "Rewriting America." in Jack Kerouac. On the Road: The Original Scroll. (60-61)

The grizzled, gray head of Howard Zinn once again raises its angry countenance. Zinn had a point in that there is not one history but histories. A German's view of World War II would certainly be different than a Frenchman's. But Vlagopoulos takes the Zinn perspective to an extreme, a malady not uncommon to literature professors in this era. Before staging her intervention perhaps she should give the "official definitions of history and nationhood" so we have some idea of what she means.

A View on Government circa 1900

The misgovernment of the American people is misgovernment by the American people.
-Lincoln Steffens. The Shame of the Cities (2)

A Teaching Theory

The Southerner knows he can do more justice to reality by telling a story than he can by discussing problems or proposing abstractions. -Flannery O'Connor quoted in Marion Montgomery. The Men I Have Chosen for Fathers. (151)

Still Holds True after 35 Years

Just as mankind once became aware of the intolerable and mistaken deviation of the late Middle Ages, so too must we take account of the disastrous deviation of the late Enlightenment. We have become hopelessly enmeshed in our slavish worship of all that is pleasant, all that is comfortable, all that is material--we worship things, we worship products. Will we ever succeed in shaking off this burden, in giving free reign to the spirit that was breathed into us at birth, that spirit which distinguishes us from the animal world?- Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Warning to the West. (145-146)

The State of Education

The Bridge Program in Math and Science at __________ is a three-week residential experience for 20 rising high school seniors. Selection of students is based on their academic performance and potential to contribute to and enrich campus diversity. This year the program runs from June 19 through July 9.

My alma mater, a liberal arts college of longstanding has established a bridge program. I am very familiar with such programs in the community college system where they have to accept everybody. But when a school that prides itself on its selectivity has to do so, something is not right.

Church Growth from a Sociologist

The basis for successful conversionist movements is growth through social networks, through a structure of direct and intimate interpersonal attachments.
Rodney Stark. The Rise of Christianity. (20)

Attributed to G. K. Chesterton

The difference between Chaucer's world and ours: up to a certain point in the West, life is understood as a dance, after which we decide it is a race.

From The Men I Have Chosen for Fathers. By Marion Montgomery. (16)

Driving and Traffic

Driving in Dallas, as in any major metropolitan area, can be very trying at times, but it can also be a time for reflection. In my many years of experience I have noticed certain types.
First, there is the right lane hugger. This driver stays in the right lane of the freeway come hell or high water. He drives at ten miles below the road speed. He is fiercely defensive of his position, and appears to travel in groups. Crossing this flock, whether entering or exiting the highway is akin to crossing the Berlin Wall.
Next we have the driver who lacks commitment. No wonder the divorce rate is so high! How can one be expected to commit to a relationship when you are not able to stay in your lane for more than five seconds? These types believe the grass is greener in the next lane. If you are on a date and he is a frequent lane-changer, don't send out the wedding invitations just yet. The irony is, that in doing this, they slow down the lane they move into, and speed up the one they have vacated.
Finally, we have the berserker. Berserkers were warriors in ancient times who, in the heat of battle, would, for lack of a better word, go berserk. They would fling away their clothing and dive into the middle of the fight. The modern berserker is similar. The driver will be proceeding smoothly in traffic and then...IT happens. They make the lack of commitment driver seem to be a wimp. The berserker will change multiple lanes at once, rapidly accelerating and decelerating as needed. No reports as to whether they shed their clothes.

You Heard It Hear First

On February 27 of this year I posted an entry on the Dallas Mavericks, calling them "the Stealth Team" in the NBA this season. After sweeping the Lakers, the two-time defending champions, I do not believe they are a stealth team any longer. Go Mavs!

The Machiavellians

The Marxists concluded that the elimination of economic inequalities, through the building of an economically classless society in which no one should have special rights of ownership over the means of production, was a prerequisite for the attainment of genuine democracy.
-James Burnham. The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom. (151).

Is There Hell?

I have started reading Love Wins by Rob Bell, which has stirred up the Evangelical World by the author's proposition that there is no Hell. Instead of waiting until I finish, I thought I would try a different track and give my impressions as I progress through this work.
The first question that strikes me is if there is no Hell where does that leave Osama Bin Laden?
Next, how is Bell's theology different from that of a John Shelby Spong? Certainly his writing style is different. Reading this book feels like watching an over elaborated PowerPoint presentation without pictures. Another difference from Spong is the complete lack of references to other sources. His biblical exegesis appears to be entirely his own impression without any foundation. In his theology those verses that apply to Israel specifically are implied to mean the whole world.
Bell 's theology is ultimately of the Arminian stripe: eventually everybody will be saved. Is that truly what God wants? According to Bell, God will continue to try and save us even after we are dead. No sheep left behind. Is eternity waiting for the last person to be saved? The implication is that it really doesn't matter at all what you do in this world because God will give you an infinite amount of chances. This takes the idea of last minute baptism before death to have all your sins forgiven to a new level.
If everybody is saved eventually, what is justice? Is justice tied in to forgiveness?

Tuscaloosa

So far it appears thirty nine people were killed. There are still hundreds missing.
Here are some links to photographs.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-southern-tornadoes-slider,0,4336315.htmlstory
http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=14538110
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110429/MULTIMEDIA/110429638
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Dato=20110427&Kategori=FRONTPAGE&Lopenr=427009996&Ref=PH&pl=1

Pray for Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama

I did my graduate work at Alabama. This afternoon Tuscaloosa was hit by a massive tornado. Three confirmed dead so far. The following is from the University website (www.ua.edu)
Severe Weather Advisory
UPDATED 8:03 p.m. - While no structural damage has been reported on the UA campus, power outages are widespread. Areas of the community where many of our off-campus students live have been impacted. The Student Recreation Center is available to students whose off-campus residences are damaged. Counseling services will also be available. Because of the power outages, Lakeside Dining is the only dining facility open on campus. Lines will be long, so please be patient. Please stay away from community areas that have experienced damage. If you must travel in Tuscaloosa, please be extremely careful. Obey all commands of law enforcement. A Crimson Ride bus will be available to transport students in the impacted areas to the Student Recreation Center. Please call 348-RIDE. Students and parents who have questions may call UA's emergency call center at 348-1001 or 877-408-1001.

Just Wondering

If the first commandment in Major League Baseball is "Thou shalt not gamble nor associate with gamblers", why do they allow billboards for casinos?

Jumping the Shark Tank

In television lore, a series "jumps the shark tank" when it loses touch with its premise and begins its demise. This commemorates an episode of Happy Days when a character water-skied over a shark tank.
Actually there is another, more accurate, indicator. After years of research, I have concluded that a television show is nearing the end when they begin introducing new characters. It means that the original concept has been drained of ideas. The examples are numerous.
M*A*S*H spent years as the number one show, lasting four times as long as the conflict it depicted. When Igor (the cook) and Rizzo (the motor pool guy) became characters of interest, it was time to bring the troops home.
Cheers was another long-running sitcom. When story lines developed around peripheral characters Cliff and Norm, the end was in sight. When the show developed love interests for Carla, Woody, and Rebecca, it was time for last call.
Frasier (a spin off from Cheers) had this happen when Daphne's Mom, Niles's lawyer, and Martin's girlfriend become more than one-shot appearances. Office hours are over. (Perhaps another indicator of the beginning of the end is the presence of spin offs).

Culture and Religion

Matthew Arnold. Culture and Anarchy.

Culture is the most resolute enemy of anarchy because of the great hopes and designs for the State which culture teaches us to nourish. (149-150)

Arnold debates important questions about the nature of culture and society that are as relevant now as they were when these essays were first published in 1869. He seeks to find out 'what culture really is, what good it can do, what is our own special need of it' in an age of rapid social change and increasing mechanization. He contrasts culture, 'the study of perfection',with anarchy, the mood of unrest and uncertainty that pervaded mid-Victorian England. How can individuals be educated, not indoctrinated, and what is the role of the state in disseminating 'sweetness and light'?

Unfortunately Arnold is wrong in so many ways, it is difficult to know where to start. Arnold does not realize that he is witnessing the beginnings of a truly materialistic society, one where people place a monetary value on everything. In such a society, the things of 'sweetness and life' are devalued.

Does the State have any part in this? Should the state have a part? Before answering this question, we must first ascertain what is the proper role of the State? This is an area where Conservatives and Libertarians come into conflict. Conservatives (who by their name must be trying to conserve something) believe the State should conserve culture. Libertarians disagree. The State is only there to protect the borders.

Arnold's thesis of culture as the defense against anarchy is wrong and has been proven never more so than at the present time. Culture does not inculcate the value of order. If Arnold looked closely at the culture of his time, he would see that anarchy had begun to infect it. Arnold even states that culture is about self-fulfillment. Self-fulfillment, taken to its logical conclusion, values the self above everything else. Society functions properly when the people practice self-denial. And what is it that encourages one to practice self-denial? Religion, in this case Christianity.

Culture without the foundation of religion is fluff. It is the house built on sand. Without religion, without the context, a piece of music like Bach's The Passion according to St. Matthew, is a nice piece of music and nothing more.

But now one must consider the role of the Church as the foundation for culture. Is the lack of culture killing the Church or is it the lack of the Church that is killing culture? If the Church does not provide the foundation of order, is culture doomed?

The Second Hand Lions Speech

Another great movie speech: Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love, true love, never dies... No matter if they're true or not, a man should believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in.

Rangers-Yankees 2011 part 1

The Rangers opened a three game series in the Bronx tonight before a crowd of over 40,000 people. That's all the Yankees could get? 40,000 on a Friday night? Anyway, the Rangers won 5-3 with eight strong innings from Matt Harrison, and a ninth inning save by Neftali Feliz. The Yankees hitting into six double plays certainly helped Harrison's effort. The most memorable play came in the ninth inning. With one out, nobody on, Alex Rodriguez (our hero) hit a towering shot to left center and immediately went into the home run trot. Another homer with nobody on and the game almost out of reach for A-Fraud, right? Wrong! It bounced off the wall, and he had to hustle just to get a double. No respect for the game.

A Testimonial for Half-Price Books

Monday I went to the main store and found a book that I had been contemplating buying for thirty dollars on Amazon in the dollar clearance bin.

Rangers 9-1

They did it again today. The Rangers shut out Detroit behind the pitching of Alexi Ogando. Twenty five scoreless innings in a row for the pitching staff. I know it is April but the Rangers are winning with both pitching and hitting. By the way, Babe Laufenberg compared Ogando's ERA to Blutarsky's GPA (0.00), a priceless remark only understood by fans of Animal House.

Another Wish I Had Said That

Teaching is very easy if you don't care about doing it right and very hard if you do. -Thomas Sowell

Texas Rangers Update

So far the Rangers are 6-0. The hitting is good, the fielding outstanding, and the pitching looks good enough as long as the bats are hot. What is amazing about this team is how deep it is. The batting order from top to bottom is strong, and the bench is solid as well. Still, it is only April.

Some Reflections

I have just finished reading Larry McMurtry's Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (part of which I read at the Burger King, ironic?). The subtitle is Reflections at Sixty and Beyond. This book really got me thinking of a lot of things, but first I want to state that McMurtry is fast becoming my favorite non-political, non-theological essayist. I have read four collections of his essays in the last three weeks and have enjoyed them all. In some aspects I feel as if I am reading about myself, especially when he discusses books. More about that at some other time. What really struck me were his reflections on life at age sixty and beyond. I am fast approaching a milestone "0" birthday and have been in a reflective mood of late, especially concerned with my legacy and haunted by the fact that with no children there is so much family lore and legend that will die with me. With McMurtry it was the realization that his father was part of a culture, the cowboy, that has now all but disappeared, and that his own culture, the book scout and collector is now a vanishing breed. I have decided to use this forum occasionally in the future to attempt to put some of my story down in a medium that may last longer than I do.

Scout Has Arrived

A Hero

Do you know who a hero is? Nine times out of ten, a hero is someone who is tired enough, cold enough, and hungry enough not to give a damn. I don't give a damn. -M*A*S*H

Spring Is Here

And the Rangers are 1-0! They beat the Red Sox today 9-5. Homers by Kinsler and Cruz. Darren Oliver gets the win in relief after giving up the tying run. Mike Napoli, an off season acquisition from the Angels via Toronto also homered. Feliz shuts them down. 161 to go.

The Great War

Ferro, Marc. The Great War, 1914-1918. (1987). Routledge & Kegan Paul.

The war had come as a revelation, a detonator that blew up one element of the old system of authority. Before the signature of peace treaties-which themselves contained the seeds of a new war-the Great War was already pregnant with the civil conflict which, to this day, divides society. (213)

Ferro explains why the war of 1914-1918 was unique in human history. He shows how a set of separate but connected conflicts-from the mud of Flanders to the empty plains of Russia, a war fought under the ocean in submarines, as well as in the steamy heat of East Africa-formed a new style of war. He shows a conflict which engulfed the whole world, directly or indirectly. Ferro reveals how statesmen unwittingly loosed uncontrollable social forces, like nationalism and religious hatred, onto the world in an effort to win.

I consider this the best short work on World War I. It is a great introduction to a great conflict. Ferro's thesis still holds true today. Many of the conflicts in this world can be traced back to the bullet that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Opening Day

Thomas Boswell was right, time begins on Opening Day. Opening Day should be a national holiday. When every baseball fan still can reasonably cherish the hope of going to the World Series. The day, at the end of which, half the teams are in first place, the other half are in last. What defines a successful season, beyond winning more games than you lost? I would posit the argument that it depends on which team you are discussing. The Yankees, the Phillies, and the Red Sox will not consider it a success unless they win the World Series. The Twins will consider it a success if they win the American League Central. The Royals and the Pirates would consider 82 wins a successful season. Where do the Texas Rangers stand in all this? I believe winning the Series would constitute exceptional success. If they win the American League West, that will be success. Now, the people who are paid money to discuss these things are saying the Rangers should win it all. They say this for a very cynical reason. The odds are the Rangers will not win it all, and the writers can then criticize the team to their heart's content. You should have kept Cliff Lee. Losing Chuck Greenberg was critical. Should have traded Michael Young. The general manager is inept, and so on. Sports reporters in the Dallas area think of themselves as critics and live to denigrate any professional effort. I believe this attitude developed in the 1960s, and it had to do with the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys from the late 60s to the early 80s were a team that defined success by winning the Super Bowl. There are few teams, college or professional, in any sport or any era that can say this realistically. I have already mentioned the teams in baseball. In football, it is probably New England, and, maybe Pittsburgh. The Lakers, Heat, and Celtics wear this distinction in basketball, as do the Red Wings in hockey. In college football, Alabama, Notre Dame, Florida, and Oklahoma. Others have different measures of success. Ohio State is content with winning the Big Ten. Maryland with going to a bowl game. Different expectations, different teams, different realities.

The College and the Republic

Unrestrained freedom is anarchy. Restrained only by force and arms, is despotism; self-restrained is Republicanism. Wherever there is wanting the intelligence and virtue requisite for the latter, Republicanism expires. The complicated machinery of free institutions must have an adequate regulator; and that is to be found in our enlightened public conscience. This our Educational institutions- teaching as well the laws of social morality as of physical science- are omnipotent in forming. -Edmund B. Fairfield. "The College and the Republic." Speech given July 4, 1853. Reprinted in Arnn. Liberty and Learning.

Another View on the Continuing Crisis

We should recognize that this habit of calling upon the state, to take charge of matters that were once the concern of individual initiative and private charity, is the surest sign that the inner liberty shown in responsible choice is disappearing from our society. Its disappearance is both the cause of liberal policies and the natural effect of them. People are less and less inclined to take responsibility for their lives. to commit themselves to others, or to social networks...what they can summon the state to solve instead....The state comes with an agenda: it is less interested in freeing people than in equalizing them. -Roger Scruton. Liberty and Civilization: The Western Heritage. (pp. 159-160) So-called "Social Conservatives" would do well to read this and consider its ramifications. Quite often they are just as guilty as progressives of the idea that all you need to correct a problem is to pass a law. But passing a law alone will not change peoples hearts and minds. If their is a "Values Revolution" it must occur in the heart before it can truly take effect.

The Northwest Ordinance

Article 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians, their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress, but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

Must See Movie

See The Adjustment Bureau. It is by far the most thought provoking movie in years. One may not agree with all the theological aspects but it will make you think.

To Know Politics Study "Yes Prime Minister"

Does this sound like Libya today?

The standard Foreign Office response to any crisis:
Stage One
We say that nothing is going to happen.
Stage Two
We say that sometning may be going to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
Stage Three
We say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.
Stage Four
We say that maybe there was something we could have done but it's too late now.

Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. The Complete Yes Prime Minister. A Victory for Democracy (177)

There's a Sketch in This

I walked in to my neighborhood 7-11 this evening and the clerk on duty knows me so well, he has what I want before I get to the counter. I wonder what would happen if I just wanted to buy a lottery ticket. Anyway, he asked me to explain the meaning of collective bargaining which I did. All I can envision is me riding into the night, and someone saying "Who was that man?", and someone else replying, "That was the Lone History Teacher!" It would be something in the vein of Monty Python.

A Liberal Arts Education: Why Bother?

Liberal education is the kind that deals not so much with means as with ends, not so much with the how of things as the why. In one sense this is irrelevant to the everyday pressures of life and especially the hard job of making a living. The doctor must know the body and its workings: does he need to know its purposes? The accountant must know the ways of financial transactions and how to keep track of them; does he need to know the purpose of business, or the best uses of the profits that it generates? The general needs to know how to assemble supply, transport, and deploy his troops so as to defeat the enemy; does he need to know if the cause of his country is superior to the cause of the enemy? Are these people in fact experts in the ultimate questions that are inherent in their activities, and would they be better at these activities if they were?
The answer to this question...is yes. Every self-governing person-every mother and father, every manager of a task or of other people-will find himself involved during his life with important decisions that reach up to the ultimate. Each must account to his Maker. Each must raise his children and answer these questions. Each must choose his field of labor and decide how honestly, diligently, and fairly he will pursue it. Each will face occasions when his own immediate interest conflicts with that of another, and each must decide then how to pursue it or when to surrender that interest. The ability to do so is the product of a liberal, as opposed to simply technical education.
-Larry P. Arnn. Liberty and Learning: The Evolution of American Education. (22-23)