Friday, November 25, 2005

BECOME LIKE CHILDREN

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

(Matthew 18:3)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“The spectacle of the sky overwhelms me. I'm overwhelmed when I see in an immense sky, the crescent of the moon, or the sun."

(Joan Miro)

“The soul looketh steadily forwards creating a new world before her, leaving worlds behind her.”

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we would find it not.”

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

AUGUSTA CELEBRATES
PUBLIC INDECENCY

The revelation by the Kennebec Journal  that semi-nude women are modeling lingerie in the window of a downtown Augusta store has met with an indifferent yawn from the public, and a snickering leer from those entrusted with protecting the public. The store “Spellbound” on Water Street pays models to exhibit its product – very revealing women's underwear – three times a week. The owner, Felicia Stockford, is a former teacher at Cony High School in Augusta.

But mere nudity is not the whole story. When one League member walked past the store last week, he saw an eighteen year old standing in the window dressed in a costume too perverse to be mentioned here. After he warned the store owner that he was about to call the police, he was told “Go right ahead – there is nothing you can do about it.” Later he was told by the Augusta police that there is no city ordinance against that sort of conduct.

The Boston Globe said that the scantily-clad women in the shop were “downtown Augusta’s latest attraction” which “brings life and beauty to an often colorless street.”

Readers were bemused by the description and photos in the Kennebec Journal, although the photos were toned down a great deal.  Stacy Gervais, owner of Stacy’s Hallmark down the street was reported as saying “It's like a New York thing. It's urban. It's edgy." Gervais also said that the use of the models attracted business to the downtown area. Well, not exactly.

Gervais might have been thinking of Governor John Baldacci’s “Creative Economy” which hopes to redo Maine on the model of San Francisco or Boston. But he seemed to be unaware of the fact that Mayor Rudy Giuliani cleaned up Times Square a long time ago, and any models “modeling” lingerie in store windows these days are quickly arrested for public indecency. Unlike those who see “Spellbound” in Augusta as a chance to improve the local economy, Giuliani correctly realized that smut is a drain on a city’s economy.

Spellbound, the store where all this takes place, is less than a mile from the Capitol Building,  where visiting students from Hodgkins Middle School in Augusta picked up condoms from a gay and lesbian expo. It is interesting that the owner of Spellbound is a former public school teacher, in light of the fact that the state routinely promotes  homosexuality in our public schools.

Ideas have consequences in the real world; and the notion that women should be exposed on Main Street to gratify the public’s burning lust also has consequences. The day after the Kennebec Journal ran its story making light of women parading around semi-nude in Augusta, it ran a story about a fourteen year old girl who was found murdered by a pond in Fayette. While the pundits in the local media and our “town fathers” were snickering about public indecency, they were also neglecting to tell the public that the rate of forcible rape in Augusta is five times higher than the national average.

But why should the display of naked bodies for profit show up first in Augusta, our state capital? Is there a cause and effect relationship between nudity in a store window and the mindset of our legislators?  Perhaps the sight of naked women in a shop window is the ideal symbol for a philosophy of government which treats the problems of society in purely economic terms, and holds to a creed of action which teaches that everything can be bought and sold – including votes. The natural outcome of this corrupt way of thinking is now on display on Water Street in Augusta, less than a mile from the Capitol Building and the Governor’s Office, and at a funeral parlor in Fayette. – by Fritz Spencer

The only recourse left to honest citizens is to contact the members of the Augusta City Council and demand that they immediately take action to enforce the laws regarding public lewdness; or in the absence of such laws, to pass a new city ordinance to prohibit the public display of indecency. The e-mail addresses of the Mayor of Augusta, and the members of the city council are listed below.

William Dowling, Mayor
wdowling@ci.augusta.me.us

Thomas A. Sotir
tsotir@ci.augusta.me.us

Donna R.Doore
ddoore@ci.augusta.me.us

David L. Gomeau
dgomeau@ci.augusta.me.us

Karen D. Foster
kfoster@ci.augusta.me.us

Kim J. Davis
kdavis@ci.augusta.me.us

Sylvia V. Lund
slund@ci.augusta.me.us

Stanley C. Koski
skoski@ci.augusta.me.us

Donna E. Lerman
dlerman@ci.augusta.me.us

Stephen Langsdorf
slangsdorf@ci.augusta.me.us

William R. Bridgeo
wbridgeo@ci.augusta.me.us

CD BY PAULIE HEATH
MEETS WITH RAVE REVIEWS –
AND HATRED FROM GAY ACTIVISTS

In the wake of the November 8th gay rights vote, intimidation by homosexual activists is showing no sign of abating. If anything, efforts to silence all opposition to homosexuality are increasing. Anyone who shares a principled objection to homosexuality can expect to incur the wrath of gay rights activists in one form or another.

Following the recent election on Question 1 Paulie Heath, wife of the Mike Heath the Executive Director of the Christian Civic League, became the recipient of two nasty online reviews on amazon.com by gay rights activists who advised readers not to buy Paulie’s CD entitled "Under the Shadow."  Other reviewers, who didn’t have a political point to make, gave Paulie’s work rave reviews saying that “her music is written from the heart and expresses strong Christian beliefs.” Another reviewer praised her music in the highest possible terms, and said that one song brought “tears of joy” to her eyes.

Readers interested in Paulie's ministry can visit www.amazon.com and search for "Paulie Heath" or visit www.paulieheath.com

MAINE STATE MUSEUM
TO SHOWCASE NATIVE GENIUS
OF MAINE INVENTORS

Dr. Edwin Churchill, Curator of the Maine State Museum, will give a talk Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Maine State Museum in Augusta on some of the more interesting devices Maine inventors have created. In addition to discussing the inventions of Chester Greenwood, inventor of the ear muff and the whistling tea kettle, Dr. Churchill will tell the story behind many interesting domestic gadgets Maine inventors have designed, among them a “Bait and Vegetable Cutter.”

Dr. Churchill points out that Maine inventors were issued between twenty and thirty thousand patents, including the first patent, Patent No. 1, by John Ruggles of Thomaston.  Shortly after Ruggles came up with his invention, he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

The patent by Ruggles is the first known locomotive patent. By adding cogs and springs, Ruggles’s invention enabled locomotives to go up hills for the first time, and to travel along icy and slippery rails. Ruggles’s devices were used on the locomotives which ran on the old Veazie line terminating in Old Town, which was the first railway in New England, and the second in the United States.

Maine inventors are unique in that many of their inventions pertain to useful instruments for the home and farm, and are made with an eye towards the beauty of the device.  The Maine State Museum is currently compiling a comprehensive list of all the patents issued to Maine inventors.

Admission to the lecture tomorrow night at the Maine State Museum is free.

SKILL IN
SMALL MATTERS

“Giotto, a distinguished Roman painter, was desired by one of the Popes to paint a panel in the Vatican. Some doubt of his ability, however, being entertained, the Pope’s messenger first asked him for a sample of his work. Instead of offering any of these, he took a sheet of white paper, and with a single stroke of his pencil drew a perfect circle, and handed it to his visitor.

The latter, in surprise, reminded him that he had asked for a design. “Go,” said Giotto: “I tell you his Holiness asks nothing else of me.” He was right, for the evidence of his command of the pencil was accepted as conclusive, and his eccentric though reasonable reply gave rise to the proverb “Round as Giotto’s O."

"To do a small thing well is the best proof of ability to do what is great.” (from the Biblical Encyclopedia.)