Thursday, December 8, 2005

PRIDE OR SHAME?

“When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom.”

(Proverbs 11:2)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

(Plato)

"By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy - indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction."

(William Osler)

“When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving way to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities."

(David Hume)

LINGERIE STORE OWNER WAS A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER - AND ALLEGED KILLER “AN AVERAGE TEEN”

Two stories are gaining increasing notoriety  as we approach Christmas, the public display of indecency at the store on Water Street in Augusta, and the murder of a young girl in the small town of Fayette, a mere fifteen miles from the state capital.

In the first case, the public display of indecency  was  the work of a former public high school teacher who taught at Cony High in Augusta; and in the second instance, the alleged perpetrator is an average, unexceptional teenager whom newspapers are calling a "normal, well-adjusted part of society."

Not so long ago, the personal behavior of both these individuals would have been thought outrageous.  Today, deviance has been defined downward, and society as a whole is becoming a bit too bizarre. To say that lingerie models are standing in a window on Water Street in Augusta, is to tell only half the story. The display window at Spellbound now includes male models and grossly offensive sexually suggestive behavior.  The element of perversion has also been added, the details of which are literally quite unmentionable.

The RECORD has received reports of people who are saying that they are refusing to shop on Water Street. One concerned mother was so shocked  she vowed to boycott the city of Augusta entirely – and not purchase anything anywhere in the city. In addition, this same mother wrote us to say she is instructing her teenagers to stay away from downtown Augusta. In other words, decent people are now forced to tell their children not to venture into the backyard of their own state capital, thanks to the inaction of the Governor and the City Council of Augusta. Even die-hard liberals are expressing their disgust after  witnessing the goings-on at Spellbound firsthand. 

Governor Baldacci has not yet answered the letter sent by Michael Heath, Executive Director of the Christian Civic League, asking for his help in solving the problem. On previous occasions, the Governor’s office sent a prompt reply. The speculation is that this time the Governor is busy preparing for his trip to Cuba. By coincidence, Governor Baldacci will arrive in Cuba  the same week that Elian Gonzalez, the young refugee forcefully repatriated to Cuba, celebrates his birthday by the side of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Even as society debates the wisdom of allowing indecent behavior in public, more news is coming out about the alleged killer from Fayette. Unconfirmed reports say he allegedly  struck the young girl with a baseball bat so violently, that she tumbled into a stream as she tried to make her way home and drowned.

The mainstream newspapers are reporting that the alleged perpetrator “had a typical home life.”  Many reports avoid his fascination with the occult, including the Harry Potter series and certain extremely offensive rock and roll groups.

But such omissions by the main stream media are understandable in light of their own non-stop promotion of a pop culture which has gone over to the dark side. In the final analysis, such occurrences are the direct result of a pop culture and mass media which glorify evil.

ACLU OF OHIO ASKS PUBLIC TO REPORT NATIVITY SCENES

The website of the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is asking citizens to be on the lookout for nativity scenes in their towns. The exact wording of their message is “Contact the ACLU:  E-Mail us and send a detailed message regarding the contents and location of the display as well as a phone number where you can be reached.  While the ACLU may not be able to assist everyone who contacts us, we will provide assistance when we can.”

Ohio was the venue for a lawsuit filed by a Cincinnati public defender who sought to ban Christmas as a federal holiday. The suit argued that the Christmas holiday violates the principle of separation of church and state. But even the ACLU is forced to admit that nativity scenes are constitutional when displayed on public property, providing they are accompanied by non-religious symbols such as candy-canes, Santas, and reindeer.

The two controlling cases are the U.S. Supreme Court cases Lemon v. Kurtzman and Lynch v. Donnelly. The central issue in the Lynch c. Donnelly case was whether or not the display of a nativity scene or other related items is an endorsement by the government of the Christian religion. If not, the nativity scene can be allowed. This principle governing the display of nativity scenes has come to be known as the “endorsement” test.

THE ART OF GENTLENESS

“Consider that gentleness is invincible, provided it is of the right stamp, without anything of hypocrisy or malice. This is the way to disarm the most insolent, if you continue kind and unmoved under ill-usage; if you strike in with the right opportunity for advice; if, when he is trying to do you an ill turn, you try to recover his understanding and retrieve his temper by saying ‘I shall not be injured, you are only injuring yourself.’ Show him that bees never sting their own kind.”

(Emperor Marcus Aurelius)