God, Baseball, Life

Diagnosing the Church

2012-01-18T14:54:00.000-06:00

This quote is from an article called Teaching the Whole Counsel of God by Bojidar Marinov. I have come to a similar conclusion myself, though having not fully understood the causes, as Marinov has. I believe, perhaps Marinov would as well, that this is just as rampant in self-described reformed churches as arminian.

While Marinov portrays this "fence-riding" as losing faith, in self-proclaimed reformed circles, the perspective is instead doubting one's position. I've observed this phenomenon for a number of years myself, and I'm sure many others have as well. Here's the quote from Marinov:

"The impact of semi-pelagianism on the quality of the believers should not be underestimated. The practical consequences of a theology that says that man’s effort in making the decision to be saved is crucial have seldom been discussed in theological circles but the results after a century of Arminian prevalence in Evangelicalism are everywhere around us. A Christian who is taught that by his decision he can gain salvation is by necessity also taught that by his decision he can lose it. The promise that he is safe in God’s hands applies to him only conditionally; only insofar as he makes the decision to stay there. But decisions come from the heart, and the heart is “deceitful above all else.” The life of such a believer then becomes introvert, a constant struggle to keep a deceitful heart on the right side of the fence of that life-saving decision. His energy is mainly spent not on obeying God and glorifying God but on examining his own heart everyday. In the final account, semi-pelagianism can’t produce culture, or society, or any kind of comprehensive knowledge about the world because it is too exhausted of fighting with the most deceitful of all things."

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The Prophetic Paul

2012-01-06T14:16:00.001-06:00

The establishment is trying to paint Ron Paul as an extremist. Newt Gingrich calls his ideas "dangerous." But watch this video and you'll see a man who predicted the future--not because of prophetic powers, but because he understands the consequences of American foreign policy.

Paul was deadly accurate in 2002, shouldn't we listen to him now?

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Rickards and Grant on Bloomberg

2011-11-14T13:32:00.001-06:00

What do you get when you get Jim Rickards and Jim Grant together? Excellence.

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Adam Fergusson Interview

2011-11-03T08:22:00.000-05:00

I've blogged about Adam Fergusson's classic book about the Weimar hyperinflation When Money Dies. James Turk of GoldMoney.com has released an interview with Ferguson. I commend the interview to you. I also recommend the book.

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Third World News Service

2011-09-19T09:56:00.001-05:00

To those of us saturated in the age of the television and internet, the events of 9/11 were experienced nearly simultaneously. Yet we forget that there are hosts of people who've never heard of 9/11 nor the city where it took place.

This fascinating report from Afghanistan shows that large portions, if not the overwhelming majority, of that nation have never heard of 9/11, and hence, have no conception of why American forces are present in their country.

Surely the ignorance of the population, as to our mission, does not invalidate the righteousness of our cause (at least initially), but it should put doubts into our minds as we enter a new decade of presence there. It should also cause concern that we're breeding contempt for America in a new generation of Afghans.

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Self Determination

2011-09-16T08:29:00.002-05:00

Woodrow Wilson is famous for advocating "self determination" in matters of government--without external coercion. It has been a doctrine of the United States since--at least in theory. In reality, it is more a rhetorical device intended as a veneer for the more sinister doctrine of "American interest."

This article about a the presidential election in Taiwan is ample proof of the imperial reach of America over its client states abroad. The article begins, "The Obama administration has warned that a victory by Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese opposition leader, in the island's January presidential election could raise tensions with China."

The article then quotes a "Senior US official as saying, "Ms Tsai, the Democratic Progressive party leader who is visiting Washington, had sparked concerns about stability in the Taiwan Strait, which is 'critically important' to the U.S." But why is "stability in the Tawain Strait" "critically important to the US?" Well, primarily, because the United States has given Taiwan its absolute assurance that we will defend Taiwan against China. But why have we given such a guarantee? We've wanted to defend Taiwan against a communist aggression and maintain "self determination." But this begs the question--why would the United States pledge such a thing to a tiny country on the other side of the world? What is the real American interest there?

But the question remains, if America is in a position to bless or curse Taiwan's presidential candidates, what kind of "self determination" does Taiwan possess? It would seem to be a sham. It is ironic, that the same article states, "During her visit to Washington, however, Ms Tsai appears to have failed to convince the administration that she would keep the improved relationship with China on track." Yet it confesses, ""Beijing has not commented on Ms Tsai's candidacy."

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Idols for Destruction Endorsement

2011-09-14T14:57:00.001-05:00

I've plugged Herbert Schlossberg's book Idols for Destruction repeatedly on this blog, but this is perhaps the best endorsement I've yet encountered. It comes from Gary North in his "Select Bibilography" in the book "Wealth & Poverty: Four Christian Views of Economic."

"The other book which is absolutely vital is Herbert Schlossberg's Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and Its Confrontation with American Society (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983; $8.95 soft cover, $14.95 hard cover). This is the finest presentation of Christian social theory ever written, period. It covers politics, inflation, taxation, poverty, foreign aid, the establishment of Christian alternatives to humanism, education, the evils of the corporate State-in short, everything. In my opinion, anyone who speaks in the name of Christ on social theory, and who has not mastered this book, need not be taken seriously."

I thought the book was absolutely remarkable, myself, but North's endorsement has emboldened my high opinion of the book even more.

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Republican Militarism

2011-09-14T11:29:00.001-05:00

Lew Rockwell shared a commentary on the most recent Republican Presidential Primary debate from David Franke. His comment on Ron Paul was perhaps the best insight into the state of the Republican party that I've seen. He writes:

The small loser was Ron Paul. Since he has never risen consistently above 15% (and more often 10%), he doesn’t have that far to fall. I don’t think he fell tonight, but it was very clear that he will not be able to break that 15% barrier—not in the Republican Party primaries. If by some miracle he could get the GOP nomination, Gallup and other polls show he would be competitive with Obama. But the Republican Party is a militarist party, which puts a ceiling on how far he can go. He probably got as many cheers as boos when he talked about foreign policy, but the boos were what you noticed. They served as a reminder of just how militarist the Republicans are. They want to cut spending, but not the military budget—impossible! And this is why I think the Republicans would be basically as hopeless as the Democrats at handling the crises ahead.

Franke understands perhaps the primary deficiency in the Republican Party. The Republicans, at their core, are militarists. They are not defined by social policies, fiscal conservatism, or constitutionalism, but by their militaristic theology.

Every person I've spoken with regarding Ron Paul says something to this effect: "Ron Paul is great on the Constitution and money, but he's terrible on foreign policy." I said the very same thing myself in 2008 before finally agreeing with Paul.

Republicans have embraced the rhetoric of Woodrow Wilson's doctrine of democracy. Democracy has become an idol--the new gospel for all nations to embrace. We claim to want to bring democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq (and others), but in reality, this is hollow rhetoric, for American foreign policy has been propping up dictators in countless countries across the globe in the name of "American interests." Our government would be content with whatever form of government Afghanistan or Iraq chooses, as long as they follow our dictates.

The Republican Party's doctrine of "American Exceptionalism" is the national manifestation of Friedrich Nietzsche's "Übermensch" or "Superman." Nietzsche argued that the "Übermensch" was above the rules of the rest of humanity--he makes his own rules. Indeed, America does play by its own rules. When Ron Paul asks what would we think if China were to dictate to us what we could or couldn't do, we too, would be indignant. Yet the very question is ignored, as though it is incoherent. Paul's question simply defies the categories of the "Übermensch" theology. It is akin to asking, "What if a bird dictated what you could or couldn't do?"

Without a change in theology, America will never be able to truly embrace a statesman such as Ron Paul. Nor will America ever come to terms with its deficit spending. Militarism is the true third rail in Republican politics. Franke is right, the Republican Party, as it is currently constituted, could never embrace Paul. America does not deserve someone of Paul's caliber. Paul is as a pearl, and we are the swine.
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Blowback, Ron Paul, and 9/11

2011-09-14T11:00:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul caused quite a ruckus when he in a recent debate, he argued that 9/11 was the result of years of foreign policy intervention in the Middle East. Rick Santorum, among others, was incredulous and, not a little self-righteous in his condemnation of Ron Paul's assertion.

Jack Hunter responded to this same objection to Ron Paul during the 2007 Republican Presidential Primary. I commend the video to you, as it demonstrates the reasoning behind Paul's claims.

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Outstanding Interview

2011-08-23T10:59:00.001-05:00

I highly recommend this interview. It is simply outstanding. It is long, but well worth your time.

James G. Rickards talks to James Turk
James Turk is the founder and chairman of GoldMoney, a company that I've been "advertising" here on my blog for quite some time. Jim Rickards is a macro-economic analyst that I've been following for nearly as long.

HT: GoldMoney Foundation

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Behold! The Wonders of Science!

2011-08-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

Beware, oh, climate change denier! For your very species--your very biological heritage may be in danger! Scientists warn that "extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat." Though they consider the possibility "unlikely" this very situation "could unfold in the aftermath of a close encounter."

But, do not despair! Not all is yet lost! Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman believes that the potential alien invasion of earth, and the defense build-up in advance of such an invasion and "this slump would be over in eighteen months." Even if it such an attempt were all for naught, we would still have our "fiscal stimulus!"

Indeed, we have reached the golden age of science and reason! Our noble and empirical elite have reached the pinnacle of human knowledge, wherein we are able to discern the thoughts of higher (or lower) intelligent (or unintelligent) beings (or non-beings) from afar. But our wisdom and intelligence is not limited to the heavenly sphere--but our understanding of economics is such that we can stimulate ourselves out of an economic slump by preparing for an alien invasion! Oh, great, and marvelous Reason, we do worship at thy altar!

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From Rationalism to Irrationality

2011-08-01T09:48:00.001-05:00

C. Gregg Singer is a remarkable thinker--the kind of man our age desperately needs, but is no longer able to produce. He is a remnant of the Christian heritage of the West, but his death parallels the disappearance of the rigorous academic polemicists in the mold of Francis Schaeffer and J. Gresham Machen.

Singer is a bold and unapologetic Calvinist. To Singer, Christian Theism means the reformed doctrines of John Calvin--anything less is a deficient theology. In Calvin, Singer finds the answer to the philosophers that have sought to create systems of rational thought, yet have all been deterred by the corollary of irrationalism that is inherent in any autonomous philosophy.

This is the theme of Singer's book From Rationalism to Irrationality--no philosophy apart from Christian Theism can stand due to its inherently irrationality. He begins with an evaluation of the Greek and Roman philosophers, Augustine and the early church fathers, the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, German idealism, Marxism, Darwinism, and Existentialism.

The last and most important chapter is his argument for Christian Theism in the mold of Calvin. This is the kind of thing any Christian would benefit from in reading. It is the kind of thing that is no longer preached in our pulpits or taught in our churches. The rigorous, God-centered view of the world where all things are subject to Christ. There is no concession made for autonomous human institutions. The implications of this are massive. Few Christians are ready spiritually or intellectually for this.

Again, Singer reads like a prophet of old, from a lost age. Our culture can no longer produce men of such intellect or temper. We've lost our way and our cultural institutions have decayed such that we need to rebuild for generations to regain what has been lost.

This is a hard to come by book, but find it, read it, and you'll have your reward.

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IRA and 401k Confiscation

2011-07-27T11:56:00.003-05:00

Nearly two years ago I wrote about how I was reconsidering the legitimacy of IRA and 401k accounts for retirement. My concern stemmed from the fact that the government limits your ownership of the money until retirement as well as the prospect of government confiscation. Since then I've seen countless articles discussing the possibility of the government confiscating individual retirement accounts and forcing the money into treasuries.

Today I encountered one from a relatively unlikely source, The American Thinker. I don't read The American Thinker often, in fact, I only do so when get linked to it. My impression is that they are a fairly mainstream conservative site, not conspiratorial or fringe-libertarian. I suggest you read the article yourself and rethink your willingness to participate in these government programs.

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The Sorrows of Empire

2011-07-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

I recommend this Gonzalo Lira blog post about the decline of America.

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Michele Bachmann: The Tax Man

2011-07-11T14:51:00.002-05:00

I've wondered recently, about Michele Bachmann's past as an attorney for the IRS. The thought of a "conservative" Republican presidential aspirant as a former tax attorney for the IRS simply seems hypocritical. As it turns out, Salon and The Atlantic both have articles today, concerning this seeming contradiction.

Is it not curious that a former IRS tax-hound, could ever seriously be considered a contender for the Republican presidential nomination? I hope that this is something she is forced to reckon with as she seeks the nomination, as I believe this all but disqualifies her in my mind, without an explanation of how she could reconcile her past with the IRS, her convictions as a Christian, and as an outspoken critic of federal taxes. But of course, I doubt this will go very far, as questioning the legitimacy of the IRS is surely socially disruptive radicalism.

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Socially Disruptive Radicalism

2011-07-08T11:26:00.000-05:00

Former George W. Bush speechwriter, Michael Gerson, is a well known evangelical political thinker. He writes for the Washington Post, and has previously criticized the libertarian views of Congressman Ron Paul. The most recent critique I'm aware of was his reaction to Ron Paul's views on the drug war as stated at the South Carolina Republican Primary Debate. You may read my comment concerning that blog here.

Gerson's most recent critique of Paul exposes the foundation of his rigid ideology as post-biblical theology. A bold statement, no doubt. Here is the critical passage from his recent critique:

Paul is sometimes viewed as a naive but fearless conservative role model — implying that other Republicans are timid or compromised. But the project of reversing the Great Society, the New Deal and progressive reform is not ideological purity; it is socially disruptive radicalism.

Now, this is why Gerson's "conservatism" is post-biblical. As you might expect, Herbert Schlossberg has something to say on the matter:

"Wetake a wrong turn and find ourselves in what appears to be an endless bog. We decide to turn around and retrace our stepsto discover the correct route to the destination. However, someone in our party has read hisHegel and tells us that we want to turn back the clock back. The reply to that is that to go straightahead will take us deeper into the bog without knowing how many miles itstretches or what lies beyond, that the destination is elsewhere, and that theonly way we shall find it is to discover where we made our mistake. Thus, the turning back has to do with spaceand not time.." (Idols For Destruction, p. 17)

If you didn't catch that, Schlossberg is arguing that those who want to "turn back the clock" have bought into Hegelian philosophy, implicitly, if not explicitly. Gerson is arguing that a return to the sort of Constitutional Republican values our nation was founded upon is "socially disruptive radicalism." I can hardly believe someone of Gerson's reputation would utter such a notion.
As Schlossberg points out, you can't get out of the bog by going further into it, you must turn around! Again, this is precisely why we Christians find ourselves in the political bind we are in--we listen to men like Gerson, and we find ourselves deeper and deeper in the bog. But Gerson would have us follow that bog into Mordor (to borrow another illustration), rather than back to the Shire. Let us ignore the "useful idiots" such as Gerson, and seek the third way--a return to Constitutional Republicanism.

I should add that Hegelian philosophy, as C. Gregg Singer observes in his book A Theological Interpretation of American History, is the foundation for the anti-Christian movements of the 19th and early twentieth centuries, that oversaw the demolition of the Republic and the transformation into the democratic totalitarianism of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Hegelian Dialectic reached its apotheosis in the communism of Marx. Just sayin'.

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Augustine's Ponzi Scheme

2011-07-01T09:29:00.001-05:00

Those willing to critically read Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's letter to Senator Jim DeMint, will realize that Geithner has essentially confessed to the reality that the United States Government is running the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world. Here is the critical confession:

If investors chose not to purchase a sufficient volume of new Treasury securities, the United States would be required to pay the principal on maturing debt, and not merely the interest, out of available cash. Yet the Treasury would be unable to make these principal payments without the continued confidence of market participants willing to buy new Treasury securities.

Now, consider a Ponzi scheme, such as that run by Bernie Madoff. He was forced to find new investors to continue to fund the "growth" of previous investor;s investments. He took Peter's money to pay Paul. Then he had to find a Stephen to pay for Peter, and then a Jane to pay Stephen, and so on. How is this fundamentally different than what the United States government is doing?

This reminds me of a quote from Augustine's City of God. Augustine writes, "that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.”

Bernard Madoff should have used this defense in his trial. He could have said something like this: "What thou meanest by fleecing the whole earth; but because I fleece only a few whilst in New York, I am called a robber, whilst though who dost from Washington, art styled the Treasury."

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Hyperinflation, Economic Nonsense, and the Perspective of History

2011-06-30T09:58:00.003-05:00

What doesLindsay Lohan have in common with economic historian Adam Fergusson? Theanswer is that they both understand the cause of hyperinflation. Yesterday Lindsay Lohantweeted, "Have you guys seen food and gas prices lately? U.S. $will soon be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money!"

One couldhope that the perspective of history, specifically as demonstrated by AdamFergusson's classic WhenMoney Dies, would grant a measure of common sense to later generationsconcerning something so insidious as hyperinflation. Yet DanielIndiviglio of The Atlantic is brazen enough to act the part of WaltherRathenau, who oversaw the beginning of the Weimar hyperinflation. Indivigliowrites, “The Fed's intervention is not driving food and energy prices. Moreover,the current levels of inflation are not nearly approaching levels where U.S.dollars will soon be worthless. To be sure, prices had been rising, butAmericans aren't going to be pushing around wheelbarrows of dollars anytimesoon to purchase a quart of milk.”

Now,compare that to what Fergusson writes of Rathenau, that he, "expresslyand publicly denied that the printing press had any role to play in thatpermanently spiraling sequence of events, and by ascribing thecountry’s ills primarily to the unfavourable trade balance caused by reparationpayments he totally failed to understand the reality that the country was livingfar beyond its means, printing money to pay for excesses which includedover-employment, the inordinate subsidy of industry, the import and manufactureof luxuries for domestic consumption, and a grossly inefficient tax-collectionsystem.”

I know I frequentlysound like I have nothing new to say regarding inflation, and our current stateof economic affairs. Yet I cannot remainsilent on this. Indiviglio is enablingthe inflationary policies by parroting the Fed’s lies. Inflation is never understood when it ishappening—it happens slowly at first, that hardly anyone notices, and then it acceleratesso suddenly that everyone is so consumed with spending their money to survive,that they have no time to reflect upon what got them into the situation they’rein. This is one of the lesson’sFergusson gives in his book. Not only ishe enabling the inflators, but he is actively denying their involvement andredirecting those harboring suspicion of the Fed to bogus claims of increaseddemand.

There areessentially two options in how to understand economics. You can either listen to the King’s wise men, sorcerers, andmagicians, like Indiviglio, or you can listen to those outside theestablishment, with nothing to gain by the inflationary policies of our GangsterGovernment. But remember, it is thecourt magicians and their wannabes, thatnever know what is happening until it is past, and then never recognize that things are asbad as they are, and then when it is too late, you’ve lost everything.

The realityof the situation, just like Weimar Germany, is that the Central Bank iscreating money at a pace unparalleled in American history. This is causing inflation, if nothyperinflation. If you want to protectyour wealth through the destruction of the dollar, you must put your money inthings of real value, assets that will see you through the inflationary crisiswe’re experiencing. Get some gold and/orsilver. Do it now. Ignore the fallacious economics of men likeIndiviglio, and do what you know you must.

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Modern Conservatism's Achilles Heel

2011-06-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

I encountered this blog post from nearly four years ago, that is precisely what is wrong with modern conservatism. Porter Stansberry, an investment adviser, was invited to dinner with Ann Coulter and Doug Casey. He writes of the encounter:

It gives me no pleasure to tell you about my dinner with Ann Coulter…

I was thrilled when a mutual friend invited me to join him, Doug Casey, and Ann for dinner in New Orleans. I thought, regardless of her rabid political views, surely Ann Coulter is an intelligent, curious, well-read person who has insight into the world…

Wrong. Dead wrong.

Ann Coulter is stunningly ignorant of the issues outside of constitutional law (she is a lawyer) and politics. Thus, in her view, politics is both the cause of all of our problems and the only possible solution.

Over dinner she reiterated her obnoxious opinion that the “experiment” with woman’s suffrage is the root cause of big government. Like a child playing with an Etch-a-Sketch, she points to a straight line, leading back through history. There, she says… big government started right there, in 1920. That’s when the 19th amendment was ratified, ergo that’s the cause of the whole problem. After that, according to Ann, it was all downhill.

Doug and I looked at each other curiously… But Ann, that same line, if you move it just a bit further, actually seems to start in 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created, the prohibition of income taxes was repealed and the Republic was put to rest through the direct election of senators. Don’t you think these changes to the Constitution and the policies they enabled – like FDR’s gold seizure and our resulting experiment with paper money – were far more significant than woman’s suffrage?

Ann Coulter had never heard of the gold standard. She didn’t believe us when we told her that in 1933 FDR seized all of the privately held bullion in the country, then devalued the dollar – probably the greatest financial crime in history. She didn’t even know it was illegal for citizens to own bullion up until 1974. Bretton Woods? Coulter thought we were talking about tennis rackets. She told me flatly “I don’t know anything about finance or economics.” Not even the basics, like how inflation affects prices or the key role paper money and progressive income taxes have played in building the welfare state. We might as well have been talking to a horse. Ann just looked at us, her long face turned sideways with incredulity.

Lacking anything intelligent to say, she decided to simply insult us. “I was a libertarian as a teenager, but I emerged from adolescence…”

Good one, Ann. What a zinger.

Coulter, like most outspoken conservatives, is simply ignorant of economics. They have no real understanding of America's economic history, the role the gold standard played, the way the progressive era undermined the liberties Americans once possessed, and simply give lip service to "free market" economics. Conservatives have bought whole-hog into the progressive policies of the early twentieth-century and adapted to the way things are, rather than insisting on Constitutional government. And perhaps the worst thing about it all, is that they are self-righteously simple-minded. There is no true intellectual foundation to the modern conservative movement. This anecdote about Coulter is a distillation of an entire movement.

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An Excellent Interview

2011-05-26T11:54:00.002-05:00

RT has done an excellent interview with journalist Matt Taibbi. I highly recommend it.

More on Belarus

2011-05-26T10:14:00.015-05:00

I previously discussed some lessons to learn from the currency crisis underway in Belarus. Zero Hedge has more insight into what is happening there, and warns of an impending hyperinflation there.

"Ultimately, Belarus will succumb to hyperinflation, as will each and every other government seeking to devalue its currency (hint: all of them): "Unless Belarus heeds Russia’s call for mass privatizationof state assets, it is headed for “hyperinflation, massive un-and under-employment, and a shutdown of production,” VTB’sMoiseev said. The ruble will slide to 10,000 per dollar, headded." Of course, this is the primary side effect of attempting to avoid formal bankruptcy through currency devaluation. And all those who continue to believe deflation is an outcome that will be allowed by the Fed, need to look just to the former Soviet satellite to see what lies in store for everyone currently doing all in their power to devalue their currency."

Note that the situation has become so dire that the nation's assets must be sold to avoid hyperinflation. The Belorussian government has kicked the can down the road long enough that they've found themselves backed into a corner with essentially only two options: sell their sovereignty or hyperinflation.

I wonder if we've gone beyond our tipping point here in America?

Another Lesson on Inflation

2011-05-26T08:51:00.063-05:00

Belarus is currently experiencing a very high rate of inflation and this article has some good lessons on what inflation does to a country and how the government acts as a demagogue in such situations. Here are some key effects of inflation:

1. Rapid move from cash into tangibles and out of cash:
"Belarus consumers are sweeping store shelves bare in a frantic attempt to spend their devalued rubles before prices of imported goods go even further through the roof in the cash-strapped former Soviet state."

2. Rapid devaluation of currency creates a panic and a desire (but lack of ability) to move to other currencies:
"On Tuesday, Belarus devalued its ruble by 36 percent, fixing it at 4,930 rubles to the US dollar.
But for consumers, buying dollars at the official rate has become a real problem with so few willing to sell any US currency leading to lines at exchange booths.

Five people sat on crates and folding chairs next to one booth in Minsk waiting for dollars -- or any other currency to go on sale."

3. The government acts as demagogue:

"The president on Wednesday admitted that the ruble's value was plunging but refused to attribute the troubles to his own policies, blaming them instead on rising energy prices set by Russia.

"Perhaps we overdid it with the easing but the main thing is the leap in the price of energy," local news agencies quoted him as saying while on a visit to Kazakhstan."

4. Bailouts required, and the weakened government loses sovereignty to another nation:

"Lukashenko has pushed for a bailout loan from Russia, which has for years supported its economy by selling it cheap gas.

But Moscow hiked the price last year, with a senior Russian official noting Tuesday that Belarus "has lived at our expense long enough."

A Russian-led union of ex-Soviet states is now preparing a $3.0 billion loan which calls for Belarus to sell off its main government-owned firms. A final decision is expected on June 4.

Russia is already in a position to take control of the Belarus state gas transport company and has its eyes on other prized industrial assets."

Of course the government won't accept responsibility for the weak currency, instead, they blame someone else for their troubles. This is precisely what happened in Weimar Germany, and what happens whenever the government is caught devaluing their currency.

The article states clearly what is the cause of the ruble's troubles: "The economic crisis in Belarus was triggered by a colossal trade deficit and massive state spending that preceded last year's presidential elections which gave a new term to authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko."

Sound familiar?

As Adam Fergusson writes in When Money Dies, the government blamed the Mark's problems on

"an adverse trade balance, the consequentnecessity to sell German currency abroad, and its resulting depreciation,followed by the fall in the exchange rate and inevitable rise of home prices,leading to increased costs of materials and labour and so to new rifts in thebudget. Dr Rathenau expressly andpublicly denied that the printing press had any role to play in thatpermanently spiraling sequence of events, and by ascribing the country’s illsprimarily to the unfavourable trade balance caused by reparation payments hetotally failed to understand the reality that the country was living far beyondits means, printing money to pay for excesses which included over-employment,the inordinate subsidy of industry, the import and manufacture of luxuries fordomestic consumption, and a grossly inefficient tax-collection system.”

As Herbert Schlossberg writes, "Inflation is both a cause and effect of moral decline." The panic buying of tangible assets and out of paper currency creates a spending furor that encourages greed, hoarding, and a sort of savagery.

As Fergusson concludes, "Thus must sound money be the first bastion of asociety’s defence."

Now for Something Completely Different

2011-05-04T13:25:00.067-05:00

I was asked to comment on the Minnesota Twins season-to-date, and I thought I'd take a quick excursion on an entirely different topic than of late.

To begin, I must confess that I have yet to see or hear a game yet this season, so my comments will be limited to the team's statistics thus far. Unfortunately, the statistics show precisely the same problems fans have been lamenting thus far. The team can't hit and can't pitch this year, and I see no reason to believe they'll turn things around in time to save their season.

The Twins had a very good offense last year, but losing Hardy and Hudson left two glaring weaknesses up the middle the Twins, and Nishioka's injury has only widened that gap and shown how truly thin the Twins middle infield is. Who was the last really good Twins middle infielder? Rod Carew?

Joe Mauer was evidently rushed to the active roster after what had been described as minor off-season knee surgery. Clearly the surgery wasn't as minor as advertised, or it was done too close to the beginning of the season because Mauer wasn't ready to be playing every day.

Justin Morneau has managed to play 23 of the first 28 games, but he's been ineffective and without the power stroke to which we're accustomed.

The rest of the Twins hitters have either been plagued by injury, or simply haven't performed to expectations. Thome is old, and may not have much left. Young had a career year and may never be so good again. Valencia was playing far above expectations last year, and likely won't repeat. Cuddyer has been overrated for years now. Kubel is a streaky player that can't hit lefties, but is continually exposed to them.

Liriano's no-hitter was one of the ugliest, and luckiest no hitters you'll ever see. 6 walks agains 2 strikeouts, in just about any other situation, would have led to Gardenhire pulling him long before finishing a game. I had hoped the Twins would lock-up Liriano over the off season for the next few years, but what we learned in Spring Training, is that Liriano has a very poor work ethic, and seems to lack the mental acuity and discipline required of an ace pitcher. He might be about done as a top of the rotation starter.

Baker and Duensing have pitched pretty well so far, but after them the staff and the bullpen are a mess. Slowey's return may bolster the staff some, but he's not enough--especially if he's not going to start. Pavano will give the staff some good innings, which is very valuable, but he's not an ace. I expect him to improve. But I'm not confident that Blackburn will get much better.

The Twins are not playing like a playoff team, and I don't have any confidence that they will play any better the remainder of the season. They'll get better, but I can't envision the Twins being much better than a .500 team this year--that might even be a stretch.

More on Hyperinflation

2011-05-03T14:31:00.064-05:00

I posted a brief review of When Money Dies recently, a book dealing with the Weimar hyperinflation. About the same time I encountered this blog post about hyperinflation that I also found very helpful, and helped me grasp some of the concepts of the book. It is a very long post, but it is worth reading to gain further insight into why hyperinflation is an almost certain outcome of our current financial situation. Please note that in my previous post I expressed doubt about this, but this article reminded me that the political will that has brought us to this point will ensure that hyperinflation does indeed occur. There is no going back, read the article if you doubt this.

One of the most important things in the article is the idea that hyperinflation is a political event, or as Adam Fergusson calls it, a moral one. Our political, or moral will, is simply not strong enough to pursue the reversal of the current policies, and because of this, hyperinflation is all but guaranteed.

As counter intuitive as it might seem, bankers, traders, and Wall Street at large would prefer hyperinflation to deflation--and these are the only two options at this point. We either cease spending and money printing leading to deflation, or we continue doing what we are doing and we get hyperinflation. The deflationary route would wipe out Wall Street, pensions, banks, and investors. Our monetary system is built on debt, and the cessation of debt creation would lead to economic devastation that would be unacceptable to nearly everyone--but most importantly to the financial oligarchs.

Hyperinflation, on the other hand, ensures the system of debt creation continues longer--how long no one really knows. Debts can continue to be paid, Wall Street continues to get its huge bonuses, and the public is at least consoled by a nominal rise in the Dow, Nasdaq, S&P, etc. And when hyperinflation comes, it is the bankers and Wall Street that will get the new money first, and the first fruits of the inflation.

The blogger, FOA, divides people into two groups--debtors and savers. It is critical to understand that the financial oligarchs, though wealthy, are debtors. That is, they feast off of a monetary system that creates debt, which gives them their wealth. Without their leveraging debt, they would be forced to produce something (other than debt) to grow their wealth. It is the largely the middle class that are the savers--and that will ultimately pay the inflationary piper.

FOA writes:

"This is very important: Once hyperinflation commences it is characterized by a running shortage of cash, even though it appears like the opposite to the outside observer. The currency collapses in value against economic goods because the debt and the credit collapsed. There is no credit, only cash, and there is a shortage of cash for everyone, including the Elite and the government. So they, the Elite/government, print and print for their own survival while saying it is for yours."

I made a similar argument in my previous post about the Weimar inflation. Cash is very difficult to come by--largely because credit is gone. Purchases that were once made with credit must now be transacted in cash. Imagine having no credit card and relying upon cash to make all purchases! There simply isn't enough cash in our system, and it would have to be printed, which would drive further inflation. It is a self-perpetuating problem that ends in the "crack up boom" Mises predicted.

Silver and gold have increased remarkably since I first wrote about them on this blog, but it is still not too late to protect your wealth, rather than let it be confiscated by the financial oligarchy through a hyperinflationary crisis.

FOA acknowledges you don't invest in gold to see you through hyperinflation. He writes:

"...gold is not at its highest and best use being spent (circulated) as a currency during a hunger crisis. Instead, if you are one with PLENTY of net worth, gold is the very best way to shuttle your wealth THROUGH a crisis to the other side. If you are forced to deploy this wealth for food during a crisis, then you apparently planned poorly."

I'll simply add that silver (especially pre-1960s silver coinage, aka 'junk silver') is perhaps the best way to get through a hyperinflationary crisis, as it is denominated in small coins making small, simple transactions easy. It is not too late!

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Reflections on Hyperinflation

2011-04-29T14:11:00.000-05:00

The word 'hyperinflation' conjures up images of people using a wheelbarrow to carry their cash to the grocery store for a loaf of bread. But Adam Fergusson's classic book When Money Dies shatters that simplistic conception of abundant cash. The most striking thing in the book was the scarcity cash during hyperinflation.

The reality of hyperinflation is that money becomes so abundant and circulates so quickly, that it depreciates while you add it up. Fergusson gives the anecdote of a 5,000 mark cup of coffee costing 8,000 marks by the time you've finished drinking it. So how can money be scarce, yet so abundant? Because notes with many more zeroes are constantly being introduced into the money supply. Here's one way to think of it: imagine a situation where you've only got a $5 bill to buy a loaf of bread. Yet the Treasury has just introduced $1,000 notes, $5,000 notes, and $10,000 notes into circulation. Suddenly that $5 bill is worth a tiny fraction of that $1,000 bill. You're suddenly cash-starved. The money supply is so large that all the previous notes are simply insufficient to the task of operating as currency. This is precisely why people used old paper notes as wall paper, toilet paper, fuel--or why people would use wheelbarrows to move large amounts of currency to purchase goods. There is a large amount of currency in circulation, but only the new bills have any value.

This scenario is what Fergusson describes in his book on the Weimar Germany hyperinflation. The dangers of hyperinflation are that the money supply is increasing so quickly that people become obsessed with spending--turning their paper currency into something--anything of value, because if they hold it too long it will become worthless. Paying off personal debts become meaningless in such situations. Surviving is difficult enough without worrying about paying your mortgage. You're more worried about getting enough food to feed your family, keeping your furnace running through the winter, and hoping to turn your cash into something of value before it turns into a souvenir for eBay.

Fergusson closes his book with this mournful reflection:

“In hyperinflation, a kilo of potatoes was worth, to some, more than the family silver; a side of pork more than the grand piano. A prostitute in the family was better than an infant corpse; theft was preferable to starvation; warmth was finer than honour, clothing more essential than democracy, food more needed than freedom.”

After reading this book, I am more doubtful that our own situation will come to the sort of hyperinflationary situation of Weimar Germany, though I am more frightened the prospects of such a scenario. Weimar Germany seems worlds away from our world. Such sustained, and naive money printing seems unlikely in our world. Yet I know we are not immune to the same impulses and political pressures. Still, I am optimistic enough to believe that we are a bit wiser and a bit more leery of non-stop money printing than Weimar Germany.

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The Fed, Inflation, and the Interest Rate

2011-04-22T13:00:00.002-05:00

Gonzalo Lira wrote a great piece recently concerning the Fed and interest rates. It is very long, but a good read. The essence of his argument is that the Fed cannot afford to fight inflation. To fight inflation would require the Fed to raise interest rates. But raising the interest rate would drive up the cost of funding our national debt. He states that roughly a quarter of government spending is already required to pay the interest. But raising each 1 point rise in the interest rate would require an additional $100 billion in interest expense. This is exactly what Austrian-economically minded people have been warning about since the first round of quantitative easing was begun. Ben Bernanke has painted himself into a corner, and getting out of this mess is going to be horrific.

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Inflation and Scapegoating

2011-04-22T09:45:00.000-05:00

I apologize for my long absence from this blog. I've been absent for a variety of reasons, but this is an important post, and I thought it necessary to comment on it.

While reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel November 1916, I was struck by the scapegoating during the inflationary crisis there during the First World War. The government blamed farmers, merchants, and speculators for high prices as well as the accompanying scarcity of goods. This scapegoating was accepted by the population at large creating great animosity toward producers by the urban classes. The reality of the situation, however, was that the Czarist government had been putting heavy inflationary pressure upon the nation, required by wartime spending. This sort of class rivalry added fuel to the revolutionaries who exploited these same arguments for their own ends.

As I read the novel last spring I knew that the day would come when America would face the same situation. This article demonstrates that the finger pointing has begun. The massive inflationary pressures unleashed through our government's deficit spending, TARP, QE, and QE2 have begun to work their way through the economy bringing economic disaster to Middle East countries unable to easily absorb the increasing food prices. The unrest has added fuel to the inflationary pressures driving oil prices to well over $100 per barrel, and gas prices to $4 per gallon. Gold has gone over $1,500 per ounce, silver to over $46 per ounce. Wheat and corn prices are going up as well.

But our government, in the tradition of all governments before them, are redirecting the blame to speculators, and away from themselves. The article quotes President Obama saying, ""The Attorney General's putting together a team whose job it will be to root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices - and that includes the role of traders and speculators. We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain."

Naturally, if President Obama were truly interested in lowering the price of gas, he would pressure Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to fight inflation, gut the federal budget, and work toward monetary reform. But he, nor most anyone in the government is interested in doing any of those things. Instead, expect to see further recriminations, scapegoating, redirection, and obfuscation. We live in dark times, when government is the greatest menace in our society. Our government is a predator, rather than a protector. God help us!

HT: Mish

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A Lesson in Government

2011-01-06T14:37:00.000-06:00

The Deseret News has an article today reporting the groundbreaking of "a $1.5 billion National Security Administration data center." This article is a text-book lesson on the futility of the Federal regime.

The reported purpose of the NSA data center is stated as "aggregating and verifying dizzying volumes of data for the intelligence community." The article acknowledges the building is already being nicknamed "Spy Center." It isn't clear from the article if the data will be international, national, or both.

The article's opening paragraph acknowledges it is "important in the short term for construction jobs and important in the long term for Utah's reputation as a technology center." It quotes Senator Orrin Hatch in stating that, "This will bring 5,000 to 10,000 new jobs during its construction and development phase. Once completed, it will support 100 to 200 permanent high-paid employees." Hatch is clearly very proud of his efforts to bring the data center to Utah. He says, "This project is going to give an opportunity for an awful lot of Utahns." He also boasts, "This will establish our state as one of the leading states for technology."

I don't doubt that the five to ten thousand construction workers that will be paid for the duration of the project will benefit. Nor do I doubt the financial benefits to the "100 to 200 permanent high-paid employees" that Hatch boasts about. What I do question is the moral and economic ruin that such a data center will bring upon our nation and specifically the community supporting this data center.

This "Spy Center" will bring ruin to those spied upon. It will invade the privacy of countless people across the globe. Imagine the unseen economic consequences of spending $1.5 billion (at least--we know how government contracts always exceed budget) on a building intended to destroy capital rather than build it. What about the expenses of operating such a data center per year? Who and what will be destroyed as "collateral damage" as government operatives seek to kill and capture forces hostile to it? What about the souls of those responsible for the deaths, threats, thefts, and so on as a result of this data center?

The fact that this Spy Center is being so highly touted by a senior Republican senator should be evidence enough that Republicans are complicit not only in the oppression of humanity, but also hypocritical in cutting the size, ambitions, and expense of government. This nation will continue to crumble as long as men like Orrin Hatch can boast of such atrocities.

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God of Liberty

2010-12-16T08:40:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading Thomas Kidd's book God of Liberty a couple days ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it very instructive. Collin Hansen has written a very good review and summary of the book.

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Wikileaks

2010-12-08T14:02:00.000-06:00

I confess that I don't have all that much interest in the Wikileaks story, and consequently I haven't followed it that much. But it is readily apparent that there are a lot of people going bananas over it. Senator Diane Feinstein has written in the Wall Street Journal stating that Julian Assange should be tried under the Espionage Act--a totalitarian relic of the First World War. Sarah Palin and others are even calling for his death. This is sheer madness and evil.

Reports on the leaks that I've seen have essentially demonstrated the wicked practices of our government and others--practices that should be shamed and condemned. Yet it is only Assange that is being maligned. Assange is doing a great service in exposing the evil of governments across the globe in an effort to bring an end to the evil.

The Ugley Vicar has an excellent post demonstrating that Assange's purpose is:

"to change the way governments in general, and the government of the United States of America in particular — ie bad governments — operate. And the strategy is quite simply by the act of leaking since, again according to Assange:

“The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive ‘secrecy tax’) and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption.” (Emphasis added)"

This seems to me an admirable goal.

Here is Doug Wilson's take, where I found the Ugley Vicar link.
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A Lawless Nation of Laws

2010-11-30T08:50:00.000-06:00

Ours is a lawless nation. This may seem a bizarre allegation considering our criminal code is full of laws, rules, and regulations. Yet it is this that is the problem. When our understanding of the law is not derived from God, but from men, by definition our laws are lawless. There is no higher authority--no one to whom man is accountable. In such a system, might makes right. The majority determines what is acceptable and what not. This is lawlessness and it is a tyranny. Chesterton recognized this when he wrote, "When you break the big laws you do not get liberty; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws."

Brian Aitken is a victim of this tyranny. His crime was simply to possess handguns, which he'd purchased legally, in a state where he was moving to, without having properly registered the handguns. Now he's begun to serve a seven year sentence. This is absolutely criminal. Those responsible for this judgment--the sheriff's office, the judge, and the jury will themselves have to give an account for their wickedness. Such is our age.

I like to quote Herbert Schlossberg, as my readers know. Here he is again:

“The Old Testament records numerous cases in which rules adopted a theory that thousands of years later would be called substantive or positivist law. When that happened, a prophet stood ready to knock on the king’s door and tell him that there was a law higher than himself, that he was the creature and not the creator. “Hence the state does not decide what is good or what is law,” says Ellul, “but the good and the law determine the action of the state.” Without recognizing that principle, all the procedural safeguards in the administration of justice—constitutions, ballots, court systems, and the like—end up serving evil.” (Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction, p. 208-209).

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IEA: Peak Oil Was 4 Years Ago

2010-11-23T11:45:00.000-06:00

The term "peak oil" has been bandied about for many years now. I've referenced it myself on this blog. But now, according to the International Energy Agency, peak oil has not only arrived, it arrived four years ago. Chris Martenson has just written a series of articles concerning the International Energy Agency's 2010 World Energy Outlook. I suggest reading at least part 1, if not the whole thing.

Here's the meat of the report from the IEA:

"Crude oil output reaches an undulating plateau of around 68-69 mb/d by 2020, but never regains its all-time peak of 70 mb/d reached in 2006, while production of natural gas liquids (NGL) and unconventional oil grows quickly."

Yet the IEA data is unable to account for where the oil will come from to maintain the plateau. The report simply asserts that the oil will come from oil "fields yet to be found."

Chris has the graphs and the implications, and I suggest reading them. But the simple matter is that for decades energy experts have been warning us that peak oil is coming. Only now, in hindsight is the IEA acknowledging peak oil. This means that oil is going to become considerably more expensive and more difficult to obtain. This will only get worse until alternative energy sources reach economic viability, or oil extraction technologies make huge leaps.

Our economy, as Chris Martenson argues, is built on economic models of "infinite growth." This infinite growth paradigm is the only way to sustain the voodoo economic policies employed by the Fed's sorcerers. Infinite growth can only happen with infinite energy. The logic here is simple, yet so politically volatile that no one in leadership is willing to recognize the problem.

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George W. Bush: A Reminiscence

2010-11-09T11:03:00.000-06:00

George W. Bush's memoirs are now available, and our current president can make us sentimental for W--but this video should remind us all of the terrible legacy of his presidency.

Bush

Dylan | Myspace Video

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Jim Grant on QE2

2010-11-09T08:48:00.002-06:00

This is an excellent interview from Jim Grant, of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, on what is being referred to as "QE2."

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What Does it Mean?

2010-11-04T08:37:00.000-05:00

Much has already been written and said concerning what the massive Republican gains in the House of Representatives and the Senate mean. I don't intend to add much to these speculations, but I do want to make two observations:

First, the Republicans must stand firmly on the principles they espouse in their rhetoric. If they are going to do any good at all, they must stand in firm opposition to not only all that Obama stands for, but all that the previous GOP House stood for. This requires absolute defiance against the sort of spending they've grown accustomed to. This means near-austerity measures in spending cuts. This also requires constantly harassing President Obama and the Senate with bills intended to repeal a century's worth of cancerous government growth. The GOP House must also firmly oppose the Federal Reserve and seek to audit it along with the gold reserves of Fort Knox. We must move toward the abolition of the Federal Reserve.

Secondly, the Republicans must demonstrate goodwill toward Ron Paul and give him the chairmanship of the House Finance Committee. As Lew Rockwell writes:

If the Republicans weren’t dishonest, and entirely in the pocket of the big banks, Ron Paul would be taking Barney Frank’s place as chairman of the finance committee. Not satisfied with blocking him there, they have even kept him out of the chairmanship of the monetary policy subcommittee, as Barney has frequently remarked. The first time the Republicans erased Ron’s seniority; the second time, they imported a congressman from another committee to take the job; the third time, they temporarily abolished the subcommittee. This time, I think they would fear the backlash, so Ron will probably be chairman. If so, I can’t wait for his hearings on the QE2, the gold, the business cycle, and much else.

Giving the chairmanship to Paul will demonstrate that they are truly reformed and that they are serious about fixing government and holding the Federal Reserve accountable.

I'm not optimistic about the Republican House being able to accomplish much. But they are in a position to be a roadblock to the forces that would bring ruin upon our nation. If they so choose, they are in a position to bring the government to a standstill and hold the nation's purse strings firmly closed to those that would redistribute government largess to their benefactors.

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The Rise of the West

2010-10-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

“…the rise of the West was based on four primary victories of reason. The first was the development of faith in progress within Christian theology. The second victory was the way that faith in progress translated into technical and organizational innovations, many of them fostered by monastic estates. The third was that, thanks to Christian theology, reason informed both political philosophy and practice to the extent that responsive states, sustaining a substantial degree of personal freedom, appeared in medieval Europe. The final victory involved the application of reason to commerce, resulting in the development of capitalism within the safe havens provided by responsive states. These were the victories by which the West won.” Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason , P. xiii

Whence Capitalism?

2010-10-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

“…capitalism developed in only some places. Why not in all? Because in some European societies, as in most of the rest of the world, it was prevented from happening by greedy despots: freedom was also essential for the development of capitalism. This raises another matter: why has freedom so seldom existed in most of the world, and how was it nurtured in some medieval European states? This too was a victory of reason. Before any medieval European state actually attempted rule by an electoral council, Christian theologians had long been theorizing about the nature of equality and individual rights—indeed, the later work of such ‘secular’ eighteenth-century political theorists as John Locke explicitly rested on egalitarian axioms derived by church scholars.” Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason , P. xiii
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Christianity Versus the Rest

2010-10-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

“While the other world religions emphasized mystery and intuition, Christianity alone embraced reason and logic as the primary guide to religious truth. Christian faith in reason was influenced by Greek philosophy. But the more important fact is that Greek philosophy had little impact on Greek religions. These remained typical mystery cults, in which ambiguity and logical contradictions were taken as hallmarks of sacred origins. Similar assumptions concerning the fundamental inexplicability of the gods and the intellectual superiority of introspection dominated all of the other major world religions. But from early days, the church fathers taught that reason was the supreme gift from God and the means to progressively increase their understanding of scripture and revelation. Consequently, Christianity was oriented to the future, while the other major religions asserted the superiority of the past. At least in principle, if not always in fact, Christian doctrines could always be modified in the name of progress as demonstrated by reason. Encouraged by the Scholastics and embodied in the great medieval universities founded by the church, faith in the power of reason infused Western culture, stimulating the pursuit of science and the evolution of democratic theory and practice. The rise of capitalism was also a victory for church-inspired reason, since capitalism is in essence the systematic and sustained application of reason to commerce—something that first took place within the great monastic estates.” Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason, p. x-xi
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Marketing Christianity

2010-10-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

“Whenever a promising movement of the Holy Spirit begins nowadays, one of the first things that happens is that the agents, businessmen, and other assorted handlers move in so that they might straighten out certain unmarketable ‘blemishes’ in order to take the show on the road. And when a promising ministry hits the big time, the unfortunate people in it are made twice as much sons of hell as their promoters. It is therefore our resolve to stay as unmarketable as we can. If we ever get invited to the Great Black Tie Banquet of Evangelicalism, we want everyone there to be braced for the moment when we, on a prearranged signal, throw our dinner rolls at Pat Robertson. Thus far this strategy appears to have worked and has thinned out the invitations. This, in our view, is not a bad thing. We are not quenching the Spirit. We want spiritual words—which have that serrated edge—to quench the gospel-mongers.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 112-113

The Guardians of the Academy

2010-10-08T12:00:00.001-05:00

“Why should we care that the guardians of the academy believe that we are not intellectually respectable? They believe that the moose, the sperm whale and the meadowlark are all blood relations. Why do we want their seal of approval on our intellectual abilities? It is like asking Fidel Castro to comment on the economic viability of Microsoft.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 109
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Beasts and Antichrists

2010-10-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

“…precisely because the Church is the household of the faithful, the enemy outside hates it. One of the ways he expresses that hatred is by various attempts at subversion, corrupting the Church from within. It is simply naïve to maintain that all assaults on the faith come from persecuting tyrants. Most of the threats to biblical integrity come from men who went to seminary. The beast in Scripture is a civil ruler, persecuting from outside. There have been many such beasts in the history of the Church, from Nero to Stalin. But the antichrist in Scripture is a spirit of corruption from within the body. Who is the antichrist but the one who denies that Jesus came in the flesh? (1 Jn. 4:3). A beast is a persecutor; an antichrist is a false teacher. In the scriptural categories, Hitler was a beast, but to find our modern antichrists we have to look for liberal Methodist bishops and the lesbians who love them. Now the Bible requires that the Word be brought against both kinds of threats, which is just what the apostle John did. He brought the Word against the beast in Revelation and against the antichrist in I John. And when that Word comes, it does not do so as an invitation to dialogue.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 99-100
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Reformation, Not Revival

2010-10-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

“So before there can be any kind of restoration of national dignity in the civil realm, there must be absolutely be a reformation in the Church—top to bottom, stem to stern, from the front of the face to the back of the head. Modern evangelicalism is not the solution to America’s problems, modern evangelicalism is America’s problem. None of our general cultural malaise will be mitigated in the least degree unless and until a thorough work of God sweeps through the church.

Many evangelicals think they acknowledge this, and they call what they yearn for revival. But as A.W. Tozer put it, if revival means more of what we have now, we most emphatically do not need a revival. A reformation is necessary—a reformation that is in the first place liturgical, in the second place familial, in the third place doctrinal, and in the fourth place, cultural. We need to be shaken badly so that what cannot be shaken may remain. In this reformation, we will—with tears of repentance—throw away the vast machinery of parachurch organizations, our glossy magazines edited by snakes, our engineered revivalism, our holy hucksterism, our trivialization of the gospel through dumb tracts, our attempts to save America through politics, our corrupt youth miniseries, and our gold-painted thrones on TBN. There are more things that could be mentioned, but a repentant mind can get the drift. In an evangelical world filled to the brim with such things, it is astonishing that some people think that satire is a problem and might invoke the displeasure of God.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 76-77

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The Tipping Point

2010-10-07T08:00:00.001-05:00

“Put bluntly, disrespect of God is all right as long as you don’t want the kind of Supreme Court justices that the Democratic candidate would appoint. If that is not a good working summary of humanism, I do not know what is.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 74-75
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As Honest as an Evangelical

2010-10-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

“At the time of the Reformation, one proverbial phrase in France was ‘as honest as a Hugeunot.’ The hard working and conscientious French Calvinists found that their honesty became a byword among the unbelievers. Does anyone seriously believe that unbelieving Americans are about to coin a similar phrase any time soon? ‘As honest as an evangelical.’ It would fit on a bumpersticker, but it doesn’t have the same self-justifying ring of ‘Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.’” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 74
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Public Prayer

2010-10-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

“Jesus even makes fun of how men pray. Jesus, the One in whose name we pray, during His incarnate ministry, leveled the guns of satire at those who sought to ‘have a witness’ by praying openly in restaurants so that people could see how holy they were. Jesus told us not to pray so that men could see us, which we have interpreted as a call to hold public prayer vigils on the Capitol steps so that Congress will stop disobeying what Jesus said to do.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 42
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The Righteous Prophet

2010-10-05T15:00:00.001-05:00

“There is no answer that can be give to the righteous prophet. Because he is righteous, he is right. Because he is a prophet, he won’t shut up. He has fire in his bones. And so it is good that he perish—of course, for the public good. He was a trouble-maker anyway, and his language frequently went outside the boundaries of respectable academic discourse.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge p. 41
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Muddled Legacies

2010-10-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

“American history is by no means sacred history, but it does provide us with very funny illustrations of this same mentality. Washington D.C. is filled with monuments and statues to people whose civic convictions would get them lynched if they came back today by some time machine fluke to occupy public office. George Washington comes to mind. Not to mention Madison, Jefferson, and Adams.

As the Lord established earlier, the scribes and Pharisees were tombs themselves, and this is why they liked to decorate the tombs of righteous men. In doing this, they proved to Jesus that they were actually the children of those who had killed the prophets. Their concern for the prophets’ tombs testified against them. In a similar way, modern evangelicals really like names such as Wycliffe and Tyndale. Our forebearers! But one edifying thought experiment (there are many such) consists of William Tyndale paying a tumultuous visit to Tyndale House, publishers of the inane Left Behind series. One pictures broken windows, crying secretaries, sirens, a major scene, an arrest, and a board meeting the next day with the suits and haircuts trying to decide if they should press charges against this very troubled man. At the end they decide to just make him pay for the damage he did to the sign out front—the sign that had his name on it. This is an obvious point, but a certain kind of mind still misses it. This is because a certain kind of mind couldn’t hit a bull on the ass with a banjo.” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge, p. 40

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Indicting the Church

2010-10-04T15:00:00.000-05:00

“No greater indictment of the contemporary church than this can be found: the secular state is operating on all cylinders, and yet for the most part, the Christian pulpit remains a safe place to be.

More pastors ought to wonder about this. Shouldn’t ministers and churches be more concerned than they are about the lack of opposition they are facing? And shouldn’t they be willing to consider if it isn’t the result of diluting the message? It is possible to talk about the final judgment and the lordship of Jesus Christ in such a way that makes it clear that He is only lord over those areas that secularists are frankly happy to let Him have—the afterlife, for example. Who cares if Jesus is Lord in ways that never make any difference at all?

This is not the way it should be. The worship of the Christian church is the New Jerusalem, descending down out of heaven. As churches are built and faithful worship is established, as converts are baptized and taught, as parents raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, as the nations are brought into the faith, they are being incorporated into the New Jerusalem, the city of the new humanity.” Doug Wilson, Heaven Misplaced p. 118-119

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God's Vietnam

2010-10-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

“Most Christians believe in one way or another that the history of our planet is going to go from bad to worse, accelerating as we get near the end. At the same time, all Christians believe that after human history is over, and the day of resurrection is past, our experience will be one of glory replaced by a greater glory, one after the other, world without end. No Christian is pessimistic about final glory. But most Christians are pessimistic about the course of history prior to the Second Coming of Christ. In this view, the world is God's Vietnam, and the return of Christ consists of the few lucky ones helicoptered off a roof during the fall of Saigon. When we get out of here, then there will be good times—but not before.” Doug Wilson, Heaven Misplaced p. 9-10
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Absurdity: Acting the Part

2010-10-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

“In both the East and the West, however, there are attempts to relive the tension of seeming to be nothing, while in fact being something very real—a person in a real world which has a definite form. On the materialist side, Sir Julian Huxley (1887-1975) has clarified the dilemma by acknowledging, though he is an atheist, that somehow or other—against all that one might expect—a person functions better if he acts as though God exists. ‘So,’ the argument goes, ‘God does not in fact exist, but act as if He does!’ As observed by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) in The Wild Duck: ‘Rob the average man of his life-illusion, and you rob him of his happiness at the same stroke.’ In other words, according to Huxley, you can function properly only if you live your whole life upon a lie. You act as if God exists, which to the materialist is false. At first this sounds like a feasible solution for relieving the tension produced by a materialistic world view. However, a moment’s reflection shows what a terrible solution it is. You will find no deeper despair than this for a sensitive person. This is no optimistic, happy, reasonable, brilliant answer. It is darkness and death.” Whatever Happened to the Human Race? P. 139-140
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Foreclosure Fraud

2010-10-01T09:29:00.000-05:00

Congressman Alan Grayson is perhaps one of the most controversial men in Washington. He is frequently at the center of controversy. He was one of the first Democratic co-sponsors of Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill, he's aggressively questioned Ben Bernanke in congressional testimony, argued that the Republican health bill is 'die quickly' and more recently ridiculed his Republican opponent in his home district for his Taliban-like views on the role of women.

So while he is wrong on many issues including abortion and health care, he understands the destruction the Federal Reserve is waging upon our nation, and in the video below, he exposes the fraud rampant in home foreclosures. The video is appalling and demonstrates the sort of thing that goes on in a nation when it has abandoned the rule of law.

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The Wedge Principle

2010-10-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

“Do not dismiss contemptuously our concern about the wedge principle. When the camel gets his nose in the tent, he will soon be in bed with you! Historians and jurists are well aware of what we say. The first step is followed by the second. It is easy to see that if the first step is immoral, whatever follows it must be immoral. But even if the first step is moral, it does not necessarily follow that the second step will also be moral. We have to be consciously aware with each step as to what the next step is likely to be.” Whatever Happened to the Human Race? Whatever Happened to the Human Race? p. 109
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Don't Just Cut the Budget!

2010-09-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

“If America was better educated before we established a Department of Education than it has been since, why do we continue to have such a department? Reducing agencies’ budgets is unserious. If a job should be done and the agency is doing it, why cut? But if it is not, why not abolish?” The Ruling Class, p. 83
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Arbiters of Wealth and Poverty

2010-09-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

“By taxing and parceling out more than a third of what American’s produce, through regulations that reach deep into American life, our Ruling Class is making itself the arbiter of wealth and poverty. While the economic value of anything depends on sellers and buyers agreeing on that value as civil equals in the absence of force, modern government is about nothing if not tampering with civic equality. By endowing some in society with the power to force others to sell cheaper than they would like to, and forcing others yet to buy at higher prices—or even to buy in the first place—modern government makes valuable some things that are not, and devalues others that are. Whatever else government may be, it is inherently a factory of privilege and inequality. Thus, if you are not among the favored guests at the table where officials make detailed lists of who is to receive what at whose expense, you are on the menu. Eventually, pretending forcibly that valueless things have value dilutes the currency’s value for all. But that matters not at all to those at the table.” The Ruling Class, p. 29
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The Colonization of the Human Mind

2010-09-29T15:00:00.003-05:00

"…representational technologies have colonized our minds. That may be the simplest, deepest way to characterize the whole history of representation. To the extent that our thoughts no longer wander along on their own, stocked only with materials drawn from direct experience, to the extent that they follow flows of representation instead—to just that extent we don’t think our own thoughts. Literally.

There should be no need to reiterate the extent of that extent. And yet, by virtue of a by now familiar dialectic of mediation, the colonization of minds by representation resulted in more self-conscious and autonomous selves." Mediated, p. 196-197

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Democracy and Secularism

2010-09-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

I haven't linked to a Doug Wilson post in a while, so it is time for me to bring him back. This post is worth reading.

"One of the basic decisions confronting the secularists is whether they give priority to secularism, which is a result, or to democracy, which is a method. Democracy might wind up with a government that is not secular in the slightest, and a secular dictataor might insist on a secular state despite the majority of his citizens wanting it to be some other way. Secularism and democracy are not synonyms.
If they were foundationally democrats, secularists ought not to mind, after 500 years, if an overwhelmingly Christian populace voted in the blue laws again, where ordinary commerce ceased on the Lord's Day. But if they are foundationally secularist, it doesn't matter to them if that is what a society-at-large wants to do. He is still against it. But why?"

Read the whole thing.

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"Like"

2010-09-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

“'Like' still connotes the inadequacy of language in principle and it still operates in a competitive social field, but now—thanks to the queens of middle school—it is performatively integrated with conventions of that media. Adeptly employed (and only the queens can do it just right), “like” acts as a kind of quotation mark in conversations that no longer work discursively, but work more like TV commercials or movie trailers. The word introduces a tiny performance rather than a description, a “clip” displaying a message in highly condensed gestural and intonational form. It all depends on the way language is coupled with the ongoing flicker of imitative visuals, as in this girl’s report or an encounter with an ex-friend:

“She was, like, ‘I’m so happy for you…?” but she didn’t know that, like, I already knew what she said to him….? So I just played it, like, we are the sync sisters…? Because I wanted her to find out later that she, like, had this booger hanging out of her nose the whole time…?”

Each “like” is followed by a fleeting pose, held for just an instant—the whole performance is a string of “takes”—and the ends of key phrases curl up into questions, seeking audience indications that the visuals have been received: a silent and subliminal call-and-response sort of thing, and woe betide the clunky wannabe who can’t follow the nuances, who can’t improvise a version of her own, and make it seem effortless and natural when her turn comes. Among such girls, the interrogatory incantation takes on a tentative tone, a tone that reaches perpetually for reassurance and permission to go on.

Painful to behold.

Life is one long improve, and only the method[-acting]-ready thrive. You gotta keep it real, but you got be good at it too.” Mediated, p. 84-85

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Jesus at Lazarus's Tomb

2010-09-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

“To me, what Jesus did at the tomb of Lazarus sets the world on fire; it becomes a great shout into the morass of the twentieth century. Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus. The One who claims to be God stood before the tomb, and the Greek language makes it very plain that he had two emotions. The first was tears for Lazarus; but the second emotion was blinding anger. He was furious; and he could be furious at the evil of death without being furious with himself as God. This is tremendous in the context of the twentieth century. When I look at evil—the abnormal cruelty which is not the thing as God made it—my reaction should be the same. I am able not only to cry for the evil, but I can be angry at the evil—as long as I am careful that egoism does not enter into my reaction. I have a basis to fight the thing which is abnormal to what God has made.” He Is There and He Is Not Silent, p. 32
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Time Plus Chance?

2010-09-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

“Beginning with the impersonal, everything including man, must be explained in terms of the impersonal plus time plus chance. Do not let anyone divert your mind at this point. There are no other factors in the formula, because there are no other factors that exist. If we begin with an impersonal, we cannot then have some form of teleological concept. No one has ever demonstrated how time plus chance, beginning with an impersonal, can produce the needed complexity of the universe, let alone the personality of man. No one has given us a clue to this.” He Is There and He Is Not Silent, p. 9
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Existence and Nothing

2010-09-27T15:00:00.001-05:00

“We are considering existence, the fact that something is there. Remember Jean Paul Sartre’s statement that the basic philosophic question is that something is there rather than that nothing is there. The first basic answer is that everything that exists has come out of absolutely nothing. In other words, you begin with nothing. Now, to hold this view, it must be absolutely nothing. It must be what I call nothing nothing. It cannot be nothing something or something nothing. If one is going to accept this answer, it must be nothing nothing, which means that there must be no energy, no mass, no motion, and no personality.

My description of nothing nothing runs like this. Suppose we had a very black blackboard which had never been used. On this blackboard we drew a circle and inside that circle there was everything that was—and there was nothing within the circle. Then we erase the circle. This is nothing nothing. You must not let anybody say that he is giving an answer beginning with nothing and then really begin with something: energy, mass, motion, or personality. That would be something, and something is not nothing.

The truth is I have never heard this argument sustained, for it is unthinkable that all that now is has come out of utter nothing. But theoretically, that is the first possible answer.” He Is There and He Is Not Silent, p.7-8

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Philosophy and Religion

2010-09-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

“…philosophy and religion deal with the same basic questions. Christians, and especially evangelical Christians, have tended to forget this. Philosophy and religion do not deal with different questions, though they give different answers and in different terms. The basic questions of both philosophy and religion (and I mean religion here in the wide sense, including Christianity) are the questions of being—that is, what exists; man and his dilemma—that is, morals; and of how man knows. Philosophy deals with these points, but so does religion, including evangelical, orthodox Christianity.” He is There and He is Not Silent, p. 3-4

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Diversity at the Cost of Liberty

2010-09-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

"Again, history teaches that multiethnic states are held together either by an authoritarian regime or a dominant ethnocultural core, or they are at risk of disintegration in ethnic conflict.

The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, artificial nations all, disintegrated when the dictatorship collapsed.

In democracies it is an ethnocultural core that holds the country together. England created a United Kingdom of English, Scots, Welsh, and Irish, with England predominant. Now that Britain is no longer great, the core nations have begun to pull apart, to seek their old independence, as the English have begun to abandon the land they grew up in." Patrick Buchanan, Day or Reckoning pages 184-185

Diversity is Weakness

2010-09-24T12:00:00.001-05:00

"Is diversity a strength? In the ideology of modernity, yes. But history teaches otherwise. For how can racial diversity be a strength when racial diversity was behind the bloodiest war in U.S. history and has been the most polarizing issue among us ever since?" Patrick Buchanan, Day or Reckoning page 183

Democracy is Not Enough

2010-09-23T15:00:00.000-05:00

"Democracy is not enough. Democracy is but a wineskin into which may be poured wine or poison. As T.S. Eliot warned, democracy does not contain within itself the requisites for a good or moral society.

The term "democracy," as I have said again and again, does not contain enough positive content to stand alone against the forces you dislike—it can easily be transformed by them. If you will not have God (and He is a jealous God), you should pay your respects to Hitler and Stalin.

John Adams expressed a similar sentitment: "Our Constitution was written for a religious and virtuous people; it will serve no other."

Burke anticipated Eliot when he wrote to his constituents in Bristol: "Believe me, it is a great truth, that there never was, for any long time… a mean, sluggish, careless people that ever had a good government of any kind." It is not the system that determines the character of a country, but the character of a people that determines the kind of country it will be. On reading of Sunni insurgents, Shia militias, and Al Qaeda suicide bombers, one recalls Burke's words:

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites… Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

The character of Islamic peoples, formed by their history, beliefs, and faith, has, for centuries, called authoritarians to power. If we dethrone their tyrants, dismantle their states, and disband their armies, when we depart, the character of the people will recreate the institutions we have torn down. Human beings are not clean sheets of paper on which idealistic Wilsonian Man can write his blueprints for a democratic society." Patrick Buchanan, Day or Reckoning, pages 104-105

Ideology as Idolatry

2010-09-23T12:00:00.001-05:00

"Ideology is modernity's golden calf. Ideology is our substitute for religious faith. Ideology, wrote Russell Kirk, is "a dogmatic political theory which is an endeavor to substitute secular goals and doctrines for religious goals and doctrines.

The term has come to mean a set of cohesive beliefs about man, society, and the world that gives meaning and purpose to men's lives, directing their actions in the public realm. "Ideology is a guiding vision of future social action," said scholar Michael Novak, for whom the vision was of the worldwide triumph of "democratic capitalism."

Ideologies are created by men of words to explain the world to come, in which their vision will guide society and they will carry the lamps, lead the way, and enjoy the prestige and power of the priestly class to be displaced. For deracinated intellectuals, ideology holds and irresistible attraction, for it both offers a coherent and compelling explanation of how the world works—and satisfies the lust for power. As Raymond Aron wrote in "Opium of the Intellectuals," "When the intellectual feels no longer attached either to the community or the religion of his forbears, he looks to progressive ideology to fill the vacuum."

Dr. Kirk spent his career as a man of letters fighting "the curse of ideological infatuation." In "The Drug of Ideology," he defined what ideology was, and what it was not:

"Ideology" does not mean political theory or principle, even though many journalists and some professors commonly employ the term in that sense. Ideology really means political fanaticism—and, more precisely, the belief that this world of ours can be converted into a Terrestrial Paradise through the operation of positive law and positive planning." Patrick Buchanan, Day or Reckoning pages 55-56

The Death Penalty in a Post-Christian Society

2010-09-22T15:00:00.002-05:00

"…in a post-Christian society, the idea of a death penalty is quite abhorrent. A man's greatest possession is not his soul, which does not exist, but his life, which is all he has. In that case the very idea of execution is quite intolerable, even if the alternative is—as it turned out to be–a grave increase in armed crime and the gradual arming of the police force."

The argument between Christianity and liberalism had been quietly lost during the First World War, and particularly in the mud-pits of Passchendaele and the Somme, when men from the educated classes had seen so much death and so little mercy that they had come to hate killing of any sort, and had ceased for ever to believe in the certainties of the world before 1914. In the lingering afterglow of Christian belief, the old guard had been able to preserve some remnants of punishment and retribution. But in general the ruling elite could not justify such cruelties to themselves, and had come to despise the masses for clinging to their belief in the power of the noose. " Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, P. 272

The New Pagans

2010-09-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

"Nakedness, explicit portrayals of the sex act, liberal use of swear-words, 'frank' and 'non-judgemental' depictions of drug-taking, homosexuality and prostitution were at first tentative, but quickly became so commonplace that they ceased to count as news. Only a few years before, wondering foreigners such as George Mikes had recounted the repression and restraint of the British, laughing that while other men had mistresses, the British had hot-water bottles, while their wives sheltered from the cold in nightgowns made of tweed. Now the entire country seemed to be obsessed with staring at naked female chests, swearing and making dirty jokes. Like the pagans of old, unaffected by climate, the British were now dancing around a giant phallus. Unlike the pagans theirs was a sterile phallus, disarmed by condoms and pills—the first heathen sexual cult to be based around sterility than fertility." Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, P. 219

The Sentimentalized Pseudo-Event

2010-09-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

Our culture is so utterly devoid of meaning and purpose that the pseudo-event has reached primary status. Ponder for a moment of what events the media deems 'newsworthy.' Who was eliminated from American Idol, interviews with the winner of Survivor, Paris Hilton being kicked out of Japan, etc., etc. But the pseudo-event is taken to a new level of importance when it is reincarnated as a remembrance of the pseudo-event. Here is an example:

Now, I enjoy baseball, and even count myself as a Boston Red Sox fan. However, professional baseball itself is a pseudo-event, or at least a platform upon which the pseudo-event is enacted. Morally speaking, the pseudo-event is neutral, as Wiki-pedia states that a family portrait is an example of a pseudo-event. However, the celebrations, indulgences, and yes, idolatry that surround the pseudo-event are not morally neutral.

The existence of a film that recounts the pseudo-event of a professional baseball playoff series from a mere six years ago is evidence of the utter triviality of that which our culture celebrates. The sentimentalized pseudo-event is a nihilistic force that attempts to create meaning where there is none, and distract from things of real meaning. Allowing oneself to participate in such things can lead only to moral atrophy.

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Humor as Assault

2010-09-21T15:00:00.002-05:00

"The new, 'iconoclastic' humour changed the way that the British, especially the middle class, thought about themselves. But people who use the word 'iconoclastic' in a casual, almost approving fashion have little idea of the damage that image-smashers can do, not least because the vandalism, once started, is very hard to stop. It destroyed the national unity created by wartime, and made it impossible for people in serious public life to speak as they had always done, dress as they had always done, and take the sort of holiday the liked. Comedy killed the upper-class accent, the tweed jacket and the grouse moor. It made an entire class too ridiculous to rule. See and hear film or sound recordings of them now, after the laughter has done its work, and you cannot believe that such people took themselves seriously, let alone that they once peacefully governed much of the world and defeated the 'efficient' and 'modern' might of the German Reich." Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, P. 158-159

They Don’t Make ‘em Like They Used To

2010-09-21T12:00:00.002-05:00

"Thomas Cranmer and the great translators also consciously built their books to last, just as the architects of church buildings had done, and continued to do. They believed that some ideas lay outside normal time and could therefore be expressed in a way that defied passing fashion. This belief survived until the late twentieth century, the first era in history which consciously preferred the temporary to the lasting, the modish to the classical. It affected many other things apart from language: Christopher Wren's church buildings are quite unlike his other architecture, though obviously by the same hand. Cardinal John Henry Newman's prayers and poetry are written in a style quite unlike his prose, and so on." Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, P. 109

Education is a Conservative Activity

2010-09-20T15:00:00.001-05:00

"Proper education is a fundamentally conservative activity, based on the assumption that a body of knowledge exists, is in the hands of the adult and educated, and can be passed on in measurable ways, by disciplined learning reinforced with authority. Since the Left in Britain have never reconciled themselves to authority—monarchical, aristocratic, religious, traditional and ancient, their attitude towards the inherited education system remains instinctively, automatically revolutionary. Only once they consider their social revolution to be complete will they reimpose the necessary order and discipline, something which happens in all post-revolutionary societies once the new masters are firmly in power and the subversive morality and ethos of the revolutionary period become a threat to the new order, just as they were a danger to the old one. Britain's ruined education system is in many ways the victim of a long and unfinished civil war, and will not be left in peace until one side or the other triumphs for good." Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, P. 71-72

Immigration and Multiculturalism

2010-09-20T12:00:00.003-05:00

"There is no doubt that the arrival of a large number of immigrants from former imperial colonies has helped to confuse the teaching of history. Yet there is no reason why it should have made us so coy. The West Indian immigrants who arrived first were in many cases more British than the British, having been taught the history and poetry of Britain in highly traditional schools modeled on the old British system. The other new arrivals, though less aware of Anglo-Saxon culture, came here very much of their own free will, partly because of a British obligation to take them in and partly because—in the case of the East African Asians—they rightly expected fairer treatment from Britian than they were receiving under Jomo Kenyatta or Idi Amin. A confident nation, whose teachers believed in their own country, would have seen history as a chance to make the new arrivals more fully British. Instead, apologetically and shamefacedly, those teachers saw our history as an embarrassment. Even though the immigrants had actually come here to share in British traditions formed over centuries of experience, leading to growing wisdom and tolerance, it was assumed that they would find the study of those traditions offensive or racist. And thus was born the idea of multicultural education, yet another excuse to denigrate the nation-state, apologize for the Empire and abolish the lore of the British tribe. Itcould have not come at a worse time.

The serious decline in standards which resulted from the abolition of grammar schools, the watering down of examinations to help cover up this decline, the growing power of individual teachers over what was to be examined, all helped to destroy the traditional history syllabus. Alternative sources of information, particularly the powerful new form of the TV documentary, began to popularize views of the recent past which had previously been held only by a radical minority. Any of these things by itself would have shaken the foundations of traditional history. All together, and combined with the rush to apologize to our new multicultural citizens, they demolished an entire discipline in a matter of years. In an incredibly short time, we have been turned into a nation without heroes, without pride in our past or knowledge of either our past triumphs or our past follies and disasters. We are like an amnesia patient, waking up in the hospital ward, with both past and future great blank spaces stretching behind and before us, doomed to repeat mistakes we do not even know we have already made." Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, P. 61-63

Born Yesterday

2010-09-17T12:00:00.001-05:00

"Most of us were born yesterday, to all intents and purposes. The lore of our tribe, the stories of our ancestors, the memories which our parents held in common, have simply ceased to be. Thirty of forty years ago, we might all have known the stories of Alfred and the cakes, of Canute and the waves, of Caractacus and Boadicea, Hereward the Wake and Thomas a Becket. The titles of the parables—the Sower, the Prodigal Son, the Talents—would have instantly conjured up a picture in the rich colours of a stained-glass window. Phrases such as 'all sorts and conditions of men' and 'when two or three are gathered together', 'the fatted calf' and 'he passed by on the other side' would have meant the same thing to everyone who heard them. Now these things are as meaningless to millions as the forgotten myths of Greece.
We drive past ancient churches, Victorian town halls, abandoned grammar schools and guano spattered statues, quite unaware of the forces that brought them into being, the struggles they commemorate or the sort of people who built them. " Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, p 44

Decline by Details or How to Revolutionize a Culture by Baby Steps

2010-09-16T15:00:00.003-05:00

"One of the great blows to stability has been the change in family life, from the first appearance of the teenager in the late 1930s, to Edmund Leach's disturbing Reith lectures of 1967, which blamed the traditional family for most of society's problems. There has been a transformation in the way in which people arrange and furnish their houses, the sort of food they eat and where and how they eat it. Cheap pre-cooked fast food, the freezer and the microwave, have practically ended the formal meal around the table, and allowed family members to remain in front of the television or at the computer keyboard without needing to interrupt their activities. The spread of central heating and double glazing has allowed even close-knit families to avoid each other's company in well-warmed houses, rather than huddling round a single hearth forced into unwanted companionship, and so compelled to adapt to each other's foibles and become more social, less selfish beings.

Clothes have also undergone a complete change, in styles and materials, even in purpose, for children as well as adults, while hairstyles for both sexes express the alteration in the balance of power between men and women, parents and children. Children no longer dress as children, but as miniature adults, with their own scaled down adult fashions, underlining the truth that they actually owe more loyalty to their peers than to their parents. The alteration has even changed the streetscape leading to the disappearance of hats and the decline of coats, the rise of the trainer and the near-disappearance of the leather shoe. Uniforms, too, serve a much less layered, deferential society, and a more violent and unsupervised one. Policemen have tossed aside their formal, restrained tunics and their helmets, and now waddle about, hung with weaponry and radios, in militaristic pullovers and flat caps. Thanks to the years of terrorism, servicemen and women long ago gave up appearing on the streets in uniform, and there are now so few of them anyway that a planned change in the rules is unlikely to have much effect…

Other physical changes have propelled and exaggerated these new ways of thinking. The atomization of society by new types of housing has broken up the old sense of belonging. The crazed over-use of private cars and the triumph of the supermarket over the personal service grocery have kept us from meeting our fellow-creatures as effectively as any strict regime prison, and often reduced us to the level of objects rolling along someone else's production line. Greater than all these things is television, which has replaced individual imagination with images provided and selected by others, but also, and perhaps more importantly, destroyed the old forms of social sanction, a fear of the neighbor's opinion of the even greater fear of upsetting the family. Television provided new judges of our behavior, who were wittier, cleverer and more open-minded than anyone we knew in person. It also transformed child-rearing and narrowed the horizons of childhood itself.

Once, programmes for children had some reference to the outside world, to the old traditions of story-telling. Now, programme-makers devise Teletubbies who are living televisions, with little screens in their stomachs, a simple reflection of the fact that children learn to live their lives through the screen.

Closely linked to this takeover of our brains by TV studios has been the rebuilding of our towns, cities and villages. Life in isolated boxes, next to neighbours with whom we have nothing in common except a postcode, has pushed people into the arms of the new electronic culture. With the deportation of people from crowded city centres to remote estates, the whole shape of our urban life has been altered. Streets are wider, roads straighter, a highly literate cityscape of ornate shopsigns and wordy advertisements has given way to a post-literate one of pictograms, posters and logos. Detail has vanished, replaced by sweeping (and windswept) prospects. Smelly but characteristic features of town life, such as breweries and cattlemarkets, have been uprooted, as have most small urban industries, so that few of us can see any connection between what we consume and its real origins in the field, farmyard or slaughterhouse. Specifically local or specifically British styles of architecture have given way to the international blandness of concrete and glass, fresh air to air conditioning, actually needless in our temperate climate but forced on us by the strange style of buildings which we have chosen. The universal conscription of women into paid work has emptied the suburbs, rich and poor, so that streets, parks, and gardens are depopulated during the day. Distances between home and work, home and school, and extended families have grown far greater.

Lonely and self-reliant, much of our social life concentrated in the workplace rather than the home, we have become a people dependent on television for stimulation of social contact in our leisured hours. Yet few seem to realize the power of a medium which stole into our lives while we were not paying attention. Early television was nothing like the modern force which has now displaced all other forms of culture and entertainment. Its effect on the imagination has been the motor of the new morality and the new conformism." Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain, P. 5-9

Western Civilization's Disease

2010-09-16T12:00:00.007-05:00

"It was not long after the end of the Great War that farseeing observers predicted the likelihood of another and it became plain that western civilization had brought itself into a condition from which full recovery was unlikely. The devastation, both material and moral, had gone so deep that it turned the creative energies from their course, first into frivolity, and then into the channel of self-destruction." Jacque Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, P. 712

No Regard For Prophets

2010-09-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

"Fair warning had been given to all thinking people in the West by an English journalist named Normal Angell. In 1909 he had written a pamphlet entitled Europe's Optical Illusion. His thesis was simple: modern war between great powers means a dead loss for both victor and vanquished. The pamphlet attracted wide attention, which led to Angell to expand it into a fully documented work retitled The Great Illusion—A Study of the Relation of Military Power in Nations to Their Economic and Social Advantage. In it he quoted the words of leaders on all sides who entertained the great illusion. He showed that the existing ways of international finance put the wealth of one nation at the mercy of another. Hostilities would ensure their common loss. Colonies were no asset but a subsidized expense; annexing them or some part of a defeated country, or occupying it to levy tribute was yet more wasteful. Besides, the cost of an up-to-date war would be ruinous. All the resources of all the participants would be drained dry. No nation and no individual would benefit from victory. A large-scale war in 20C Europe would be suicide disguised as self-interest.

The argument was so clear, temperate, and convincing that all who gave their minds to it believed it. But it is one thing to believe that one's previous idea is wrong and another to act on the newly revealed right. Habit, social pressures, a streak of fatalism conspire to keep action in the groove already dug. The Great Illusion was not heeded by enacted." P 705-706

The Machine, Mental Illness, and Drugs

2010-09-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

"The machine—railroad, motor, bicycle, plane, motion picture—lured the senses into a new addiction: speed. Trains could now run at 100 miles an hour. But speed in an enclosed space quickly loses its thrill. The car, then mostly an open affair, makes the wind jet passing the ears give a sense of heroic recklessness. In 1901 the poet Wilfred Scawen Blunt wrote in his diary: "Going at 15 miles an hour. It is certainly an exhilarating experience." He would have been even more exhilarated nine years later had he crossed the Channel in the cockpit of Bleriot's airplane—or he could have taken up the new sport of hang gliding from hilltops.

Offsetting these cheerful doings was the increase in mental illness and the spreading use of drugs. Something in industrial civilization seemed to be too much for the steadily alert mind to bear. In a long essay, Civilization, Its Cause and Cure, Edward Carpenter gave a clear account of the affliction and specified remedy a simple PRIMITIVISM. At the Paris hospital La Salpetriere, Charcot and Janet dealt with a stream of patients suffering from hysteria, the name that covered depression, anxiety, causeless excitement, motor disturbances, and "simulated diseases"—those that have not discoverable basis in the body. Some few of the troubled had multiple personalities. On hears an echo of the strange fact in Stevenson's tale about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

An increasing recourse to drugs suggested a like maladjustment. Addiction, mainly in the upper classes, was viewed with sympathy. It was not a criminal offense to buy or sell morphine. Freud for a time prescribed cocaine to some of his excitable patients, and we know that Sherlock Holmes, when he was bored, injected himself with a 7 percent solution. Soon after their accession, the tsar and tsarina in St. Petersburg were taking a mixture of marijuana and hyoscine by way of relief from official cares. More thoroughgoing, a man named Aleistair Crowley preached the joys of the drug experience combined with black magic. Thus the late Timothy Leary was not the first in line. Nor have acolytes disappeared: a new edition of Crowley's Magick appeared in 1997." Jacque Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, P. 628-629

The Irony of Democracy

2010-09-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

"After the age-long struggle for the vote, democratic countries show an extraordinary attitude toward it: they boast of their form of government and express nothing but contempt for politicians—the men and women they have themselves chosen. Worse, of those who have the vote, fewer than half use it. Lastly, exerting influence on the people's representatives, "lobbies" re-create on a large scale the former role of organized interests." Jacque Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, p. 536

America’s Secular Foundation

2010-09-13T15:00:00.001-05:00

Conservatives like to argue that the United States was founded on Christian principles by Christian men. I'm not so sure. The men might have been Christian, but the principles were largely secular, according to Jacque Barzun's understanding of John Locke.

"Locke's reasoning… is entirely secular, a telling point when Reason had come to seem more solid than Revelation. There are references to God in Locke's two treatises, but they are pro forma. Again, it seems stronger to base a reasoning on Nature than on faith when advanced opinion is enthralled by the study of Nature. But the starting point is as shaky in the one case as the other: the picture of wild men, accustomed to grabbing each other's food, shelter, and women, spontaneously getting together to make a contract, is as fanciful as the providential descent of authority from Adam to James II.
For Locke and the English who bargained with the new King, William III, the terms of the social contact were the 13 provisions of the Declaration of Rights. But Locke wanted his essay to be theory, higher ground than local needs, good for all place and times. The universal rights came down to three: life, liberty, and property. This last is based on the notion that when a man has "mixed his labor" with some material thing, he has made the product his unconditionally. As for the authority that shall enforce these rights, it cannot be Hobbes's absolute ruler. Power unlimited is too likely to establish a tyranny, as divine monarchs had not done but attempted to do. Locke vests sovereignty in the people. Since they cannot conveniently exercise it, they choose representatives. Of these, some make the law, others are appointed to execute it." Jacques Barzun – From Dawn to Decadence, page 363

Man’s Desire for Autonomy and the Irrelevancy of God

2010-09-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

"Encyclopedia—"the circle of teachings"—may be taken as the emblem of the 18C. Like the Renaissance, the age was confident that the new knowledge, the fullness of knowledge, was in its grasp and was a means of EMANCIPATION. Confidence came from the visible progress in scientific thought. Science was the application of reason to all questions, no matter what tradition might have handed down. Everything will ultimately be known and "encircled." The goal of exploring nature and mind and broadcasting results was to make Man everywhere of one mind, rational, and humane. Language, nation, mores, and religion and its universal morals and with French as the international medium of the educated, it would be a world peopled with—or at least managed by—philosophes.
Before its realization a good many things had to be got out of the way, the principal one being Christianity—not its ethics of love and brotherhood, but its supernatural history, theology, and church. The Bible must be shown to be a set of fables invented by ignorance or designing people. This was not exactly the purpose of Father Richard Simon, an Oratorian monk of the preceding century, who wrote a Critical History of the Old Testament disputing Moses' authorship of the Pentateuch. But he led the way in what is known as the higher criticism of Scripture, the ANALYSIS of its meaning and truth, and not just of the purity of the text. About the same time in Holland, the excommunicated Jew Spinoza, a quiet thinker, went much farther in his interpretation. He had elaborated a philosophy deeply marked by natural science, which was incompatible with a literal belief in the Bible. For Spinoza, God was in all things and all things were alive with His power. Though impersonal and impassive, He deserved man's "intellectual love." This faith was part of an ethics and metaphysics that Spinoza demonstrated geometrically, by more than a hundred propositions deduced in strict order from a few definitions and axioms. The Bible, when closely read, appeared to be a compilation by anonymous scribes and full of contradictions. The moral teachings were admirable, the historical parts uncertain, and the stories allegorical.
Spinoza was highly regarded by the handful of 17C philosophers and scientists whom he corresponded with. He published little; he lived very modestly as an artisan and declined a chair at Heidelberg. But from a distance he seemed just another freethinker and atheist, thought not harmful. Like Simon he had no immediate following. So far, the higher criticism was underground preparation. But shortly a work appeared that exploded the mine and breached the fortress. Its author was Pierre Bayle, also a refugee in Holland. He produced a massive dictionary labeled "historical and critical." By comparing, juxtaposing, questioning, and describing ironically the familiar parts of the Christian revelation, he left the reader skeptical as himself—or outraged by the blasphemy.
To avoid censorship Bayle wrote short entries that merely defined the subject: the doctrine was in the appended notes, long and in small print, that encouraged the censor to skip. The Century of Light was thus inaugurated, but also divided. When we regard the philosophes and their Encyclopedie as triumphing easily, we are influenced by the now prevailing assent to their views, which helped to make our secular world. But the opposition they met was not crushed; it revived in the 19C and is increasingly vehement today. Its target, the "Enlightenment," is not reason or light but the 18C idea and use of it.
Bayle's Dictionary was a work that would attract mainly intellectuals. One is not surprised that Jefferson owned it in five folio volumes. But it took Voltaire to carry its message to the ordinary educated reader, the well-to-do bourgeois, the men and women in high society, and the mixed group in the salons. His message was simple: the Book of Genesis is not wrong on one point: God did create the universe, but nobody knows how, and He set it going according to rules—the laws of science—with which He has no reason to interfere. This is Deism, the religion of reasonable men. Therefore drop the ritual, the prayers and candles—and the fears. At the same time open your eyes to the imposture practiced on you by the church for its sole beneficiaries, the priests and monks, bishops, and popes…
…"Religion as such is not attacked; it is redefined into simplicity. One may well be overawed by the Great Architect and His handiwork—and there an end. All peoples have this same feeling about the Creator, for Man, like Nature, is fundamentally the same the world over. Good morals are untouched; they too are universal. With this underlying unity about ultimate things, there should be no causes for conflict, no religious wars, no crusades, heretics, conversions, inquisitions, burnings at the stake, and massacres." Jacques Barzun – From Dawn to Decadence, page 359-361

We Live in a Police State

2010-09-13T10:03:00.001-05:00

We obviously live in a police state. The only two conceivable reasons for people to not recognize this is they are oblivious to their surroundings or they accept it as a normal state of affairs. Watch this video of a man being tasered at the Minnesota State Fair.

The City Pages quotes the State Fair Chief of Police as stating that the man punched a police officer in the face, which to any who watch the video can plainly see this is untrue. Physical violence was initiated by the police, not the shirtless man.

It is an important fact that victims of taser assaults by the police are NEVER charged with a crime preceding the police initiating force against the victim. Notice that the man was charged only with "felony assault of a police officer."

What had he done to provoke the wrath of the police? Evidently he had "was undressing and yelling obscenities." Only in a police state would such behavior result in the potentially fatal, and incredibly painful use of a taser.

Only in a police state would bystanders be completely unsympathetic to the victim and merely watch as voyeurs, while others cheer on the police and say, "that's awesome."

The police are no longer a force for good, for peace; but rather, are the state's enforcers against those that reject the autonomous authority of the state.

The state has claimed autonomous authority and will accept no breach upon its claims. Thus, any individual that asserts his God-given right of self-defense against aggression from the agents of the state will receive the wrath of the state.

God help us all. Taser victims have more in common with the average citizen than any of us care to realize. I fear for myself and my family, as the police are all too willing to use such violence for any act of belligerence or self-defense against the tyranny of the police state.

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Rethinking the Middle Ages

2010-09-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

"The name Middle Ages is a modern usage. It was hardly known until the late 17C. The wish to set off that era from antiquity on one side and from modernity on the other probably expressed pride—men of science and free-thinkers generally wanted to separate themselves from the "centuries of ignorance." Soon the 18C made that consciousness of superiority explicit and convinced posterity that "Gothic" art, scholastic thought, and pious behavior were barbarisms incarnate. The residue of that conviction is the use of "medieval" in journalism and common talk to condemn anything felt as outdated and crude. Everybody knows that the Middle Ages were brutal, brutish, and superstitious in every way.
The truth is that during the 1,000 years before 1500 a new civilization grew from beginnings that were uncommonly difficult. The breakup of the Roman empire in the 5C had left a few towns and many isolated settlements to fend for themselves against outer anarchy. But the Middle Ages, as the plural indicates, were several ages. Their varied achievements include creating institutions, reforming others (more than once), and—according to some—showing the world two renaissances before the one that has monopolized the name. The latest view is that instead of two such flowerings, there was only one great one, from 1050 to 1250. Much earlier, it is true, the intellectual and political activity during the time of Charlemagne in the 8^th and early 9C had been remarkable. But this burst of genius was limited to his court, and then swamped by a fresh wave of Germanic invaders—Franks, Vandals, and Goths of all stripes; while from the south Arabs and Berbers, lumped under the name Saracens, attacked and though repulsed were not eliminated.
While the occidental populations were being re-formed out of these elements, monks in Ireland worked to preserve the treasures of high culture by copying manuscripts and compiling books. St. Patrick and his followers did more than rid the island of snakes. On the Continent, from the latter half of the 9C to the middle of the 11C, practical life or death concerns were paramount and the period may be called dark if it gives anybody pleasure. Later, its application is absurd. Far from scared or gloomy, the mood portrayed in much of the popular literature of the Middle Ages is jollity; continual danger can lift the spirits and energize action. Even during the worst times strong traditions endured. Neither the Roman code nor the canon (church) law faded away, and the Germanic invaders brought a type of custom law that some later thinkers have credited with the idea of individual freedom.
The use of descriptive terms in speaking of the medieval era is always a delicate task. Within any one period, any one region or town, there was great diversity in language, law, government, and other components of culture. As Agubard wrote to Ludwig the Pious in the 9C: "One frequently sees conversing together persons no two of whom are governed by the same law." The situation resembles that of ancient Greece; it is the modern habit to say "Greek drama," when "Athenian" would be the proper word, while other city-states should be named in describing some one work of architecture or history or lyric poetry.
Accordingly, though the term Feudalism springs to mind when the word medieval is uttered, it is best forgotten unless one wants to study the period in detail. In its place, one should put the idea of loyalty between man and man, the strong feeling backed by an oath that bound a vassal to his lord for military service and other aid. This bond was the practical means of defense against threats to life and sustenance from whatever quarter they might come. Vassalage did not necessarily imply a fief, that is the possession of land by the vassal, but it did imply the moral force that held society together. It underlies the familiar stories and traditions, from King Arthur's Round Table to Wagner's operas." Jacques Barzun – From Dawn to Decadence, page 224-226

Modern Philosophy is a Rival to Christianity

2010-09-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

"Good Christian Humanists were moral beings of the conventional sort, but their trained minds wanted something more: a metaphysics that would reformulate or at least parallel in classical terms the Catholic theology. Most of them found it in Plato. He had taught that human beings are in a cave with their backs to the entrance and looking at the inner wall, which reflects dimly the reality outside. Interpreted, this means that the senses give an imperfect copy of the eternal forms of Being. These are the proper object of human attention. By steady effort, the individual can raise his sight from the love of earthly things to the love of eternal beauty, which consists of those pure forms. Such is the Platonist's grace and salvation." Jacques Barzun – From Dawn to Decadence, page 55

College and the Christian

2010-08-26T12:00:00.001-05:00

Roy Atwood writes in a recent blog post that "Education is a religious act." Few Christians really grasp this concept, many surely believe it hyperbolic. I graduated from a Christian college and was largely disillusioned by the experience. My impressions of that particular Christian institution were very mixed. On the one hand, the college was explicitly Christian in creed, but thoroughly compromised doctrinally and practically. I had many wonderful professors who taught as Christians. However, the tide of the institution increasingly mingled idols worship with the worship of the One True God.

This experience led me to later believe that secular universities offered a more fertile environment for Christians. I believed this bizarre and ironic argument because the false piety of a so-called Christian college could do so much damage to the spiritual life of young Christians. I experienced and saw this myself. Yet paradoxically I saw vibrant Christians come out of secular universities supported by campus ministries such as Campus Crusade for Christ and Navigators. I thought that intentional pursuit of Christian community in an otherwise hostile education environment could foster true spiritual growth and life.

Yet articles like Bill Savage's demonstrate the great danger involved in sending our young people to universities hostile to Christian belief. Savage writes:

"The children of red states will seek a higher education, and that education will very often happen in blue states or blue islands in red states. For the foreseeable future, loyal dittoheads will continue to drop off their children at the dorms. After a teary-eyed hug, Mom and Dad will drive their SUV off toward the nearest gas station, leaving their beloved progeny behind.

And then they are all mine."

Atwood and Mohler both write more eloquently and succinctly on the issue, so I'll leave them to argue the points. Do not surrender your children's education to pagans before thinking very carefully about the implications of such a decision.

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Economic Collapse Going Mainstream?

2010-08-25T12:00:00.010-05:00

I don't know much about Tony Robbins, but most know of his reputation as a self-hep guru. Watching these two videos give me a measure of respect for his intelligence and integrity. Is Tony Robbins "mainstream?" Perhaps. He's certainly more mainstream than the fringe economic collapse blogs that are all over the internet.

Robbins claims to have connections to highly intelligent and wealthy investors that are "in the know." But in reality, there are plenty of people saying the same things Robbins says in these videos--he's just a more popular figure than most make the same arguments.

As I said in a previous post, it is not too late to shelter yourself from the coming economic collapse. It is coming, and it will be devastating for those with their money in the stock market.

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Hugh Hewitt Interviews Peter Hitchens

2010-08-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

Doug Wilson linked to this interview of Peter Hitchens by Hugh Hewitt. I highly commend the interview. It is excellent stuff. I've got The Rage Against God on my reading list, and hopefully I'll get to it in the next couple months.

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Two Pieces of Bad News for the Economy

2010-08-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

The media has been following the script given them by mainstream economists and politicians. The mantra has gone from "green shoots" to "welcome to the recovery." Meanwhile, those that were really paying attention recognized that the positive spin was either based on ignorance or deceit. There are two pieces of bad news today that have surprised some, but again, those paying attention saw this coming.

Item Number 1:
The sales of existing homes in July are the lowest on record. June was a really bad month, but July was even worse. Look at the drop in the graph below between June and July.

That is a startling drop. The first-time home buyer tax credit is now history. Those that were thinking about buying a home have likely already bought one in order to take advantage of the tax rebate. Prices have remained more or less stable--likely due to the tax rebate that bidders used to bid against one another.

Take a look at this graph as well, which shows the "Total Loan Balance That Will Experience Payshock." It is clear in this graph that things are only going to get worse from here. There may be a lull in a few months, but come next summer things will become disastrous.

Here is a more thorough report. The news about the housing sector is bad enough, but add this to the realization of what Item Number 2 will bring...

Item Number 2:
Check out this article about the three-headed tax monster that will assault America on January 1st. The lowest tax bracket currently at 10% will go up to 15% and each subsequent bracket will go up by 3%, with the top tax bracket going up 4.6% to 39.6%.

Perhaps the biggest shock will be to your W-2 at the end of the year when your taxable income will include your employer's medical expenses on your behalf.

Those that talk of a double-dip recession fail to grasp that there has been no recovery nor will there be for at least two years. 2011 will likely be devastating for a large portion of American population. Those on the margins after the initial economic shock will fall into bankruptcy and financial despondency. Those that have struggled to keep up with their mortgage payments the last few years will likely be forced to walk away as many before them. The housing market will be in disarray for years, and the American economy will be in shambles until the political class is replaced by men and women of integrity and wisdom.

It isn't too late to get in on gold and silver to protect some of your wealth from the destruction to come.

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Buckley vs. Paul

2010-08-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

In 1988, Ron Paul was a guest on William F. Buckley's television program Firing Line. At the time, Paul was running for President on the Libertarian ticket. These four videos are a remarkable contrast between conservatism and libertarianism. I think it is important to note that Christians ought not subscribe wholly to any of the world's political philosophies, as they are fundamentally humanistic. Having said that, I think it is clear that Paul espouses the philosophy more in line with Christian teachings than Buckley.

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Inflation, Sound Currency, and the Law of God

2010-08-17T12:00:00.003-05:00

“What do we find in this present-day America, in which the achievements of centuries are so rapidly being lost and in which that liberty which our fathers won at such cost is being thrown away recklessly by one mad generation? I think the really significant thing that we find is that America has turned away from God. In the political and social discussions of the day, God’s law has ceased to be regarded as a factor that deserves to be reckoned with at all. That is true in regard to the higher ranges of human life; it is also true in regard to that mammon in which our Lord said a man must be fruitful if he is to be faithful in higher things. We hear much about mammon today: We hear much about the currency; we hear much about the question whether what is euphemistically called a “managed currency” is or is not economically more advantageous than the gold standard. But the sad thing is that in all this discussion we hear little about simple honesty, which is the law of God. I can remember when I had a certain patriotic pride in the good faith of the United States government, in those bygone days when the phrase “sound as a dollar” had not yet become jest. The United States government, in its business dealings, seemed to me to be the very embodiment of integrity; I regarded it as almost inconceivable that it would repudiate its corporate obligations. Yet today it has done just that. Of course, there are times when a government or an individual must fail to meet obligations. That is when the government or the individual is bankrupt, when the government or the individual acknowledges the justice of the obligations but is under the necessity of pleading that they cannot be met. I am not saying, therefore, that when a country goes off the gold standard it is necessarily acting dishonestly. But it is not such an honest bankruptcy which we have in the United States at the present time. On the contrary, what we have is a very ruthless application of the devil’s principle that “might makes right.” Look at the United States gold certificate, if you can find one somewhere in a museum today without being put in jail for looking at it. Upon it the United States government promises to pay very specifically not in some other currency but in gold. It is a solemn obligation of the United States. It is a solemn contract—not of any individual, but of the United States government—a contract to the fulfillment of which the honor of the American people is pledged, a contract with the holder of the note. Today not only is that contract not fulfilled, but the holder of the contract is threatened with imprisonment unless he hands over to the defaulting party the contract itself.

I tell you, my friends, there are many things that are uncertain about the future, but of one thing we can be sure: A nation that tramples thus upon the law of God, that tramples upon the basic principles of integrity, is headed for destruction unless it repents in time… But the real reason why young men fall into crime is that the law of God is so generally disobeyed. When the government itself lends itself to a sort of glorified robbery, what can be expected from the impressionable youth of the day? If solemn contracts, public and private, are mere scraps of paper, if sheer power is everything, if that principle is operative in high places, who can wonder if it is put into operation also in individual lives? The real evil is the same in both cases. The real evil is the ruthless disregard of the law of God.” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 139-141

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Freedom's Dependency

2010-08-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

"I believe in a judiciary not cooperating with any economic or social programs (as President Roosevelt has intimated that the judiciary is doing now) but a judiciary resolutely refusing to cooperate, a judiciary quite independent of popular clamor, unswerved by any plea of necessity, interpreting the law and the law alone, upholding the high principles of the Constitution through fair weather and foul, guaranteeing to the humblest citizen his inalienable rights against Congress and against the President and against the overwhelming weight of temporary public opinion.

“Today this American liberty of ours is very rapidly being destroyed. In the process of its destruction, we are learning something that we ought to have known perfectly well all along--namely, that freedom is dependent ultimately upon what is in the hearts of the people. Freedom is not safe if it is written only with ink in the Constitution. It must be written also in the fleshly tables of the heart. No country can be permanently free unless the love of freedom is ingrained in the very souls of its people." --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 137-138

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Christian Education, Part II

2010-08-16T12:00:00.002-05:00

"I can see little consistency in a type of Christian activity which preaches the Gospel on the street corners and at the ends of the Earth, but neglects the children of the covenant by abandoning them to a cold and unbelieving secularism. If, indeed, the Christian school were in any sort of competition with the Christian family, if it were trying to do what the home ought to do, then I could never favor it. But one of its marked characteristics, in sharp distinction from the secular education of today, is that it exalts the family as a blessed divine institution and treats the scholars in its classes as children of the covenant to be brought up above all things in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State page 82

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Christian Education

2010-08-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

"It is this profound Christian permeation of every human activity, no matter how secular the world may regard it as being, which is brought about by the Christian school and the Christian school alone. I do not want to be guilty of exaggeration at this point. A Christian boy or girl can learn mathematics, for example, from a teacher who is not a Christian; and truth is truth however learned. But while truth is truth however learned, the bearing of truth, the meaning of truth, the purpose of truth (even in the sphere of mathematics) seem entirely different to the Christian from that which they seem to the non-Christian; and that is why a truly Christian education is possible only when Christian conviction underlies not a part, but all, of the curriculum of the school. True learning and true piety go hand in hand, and Christianity embraces the whole of life--those are great central convictions that underlie the Christian school." --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State page 81
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Keep the Bible Out of Public Schools

2010-08-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

“…if the law of God is proclaimed in public schools to people of different faiths, it is bound, in the very nature of the case, to be proclaimed with optimism; and if it is proclaimed with optimism, it is proclaimed in a way radically opposed to the Christian doctrine of sin. By hypothesis it is regarded as all that good citizens imperatively need to know; they may perhaps profitably know other things, but the fundamental notion is that if they know this they know all that is absolutely essential. But is not a law that is proclaimed to unredeemed persons with such optimism at best only an imperfect, garbled law? Is it not very different from the true and majestic law of God with its awful pronouncements of eternal death upon sinful man?

The answer to these questions is only too plain. A proclamation of morality which regards itself as all that is necessary—which regards itself as being capable at the most of nonessential supplementation by additional motives to be provided by Christianity or other faiths—is very different from that true proclamation of the law of God which may be a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. It is not merely insufficient, but it is false; and I do not see how a consistent Christian can possibly regard it as providing any part of that nurture and admonition of the Lord which it is a duty of every Christian parent to give to his children.

What other solution, then, has the public school to offer for the problem which we are considering just now? Well, many people tell us that the reading of the Bible can be put into the public schools. Every educated man, we are told, ought to know something about the Bible; and no intelligent, broad-minded person—whether a Christian or not—ought to object to the bare reading of this great religious classic. So in many places we find the Bible being read in public schools. What shall we say about that?

For my part, I have no hesitation in saying that I am strongly opposed to it. I think I am just about as strongly opposed to the reading of the Bible in state-controlled schools as any atheist could be.

For one thing, the reading of the Bible is very difficult to separate from propaganda about the Bible. I remember, for example, a book of selections from the Bible for school reading which was placed in my hands some time ago. Whether it is used no I do not know, but it is typical of what will inevitably occur of the Bible is read in public schools. Under the guise of being a book of selections for Bible reading, it really presupposed the current naturalistic view of the Old Testament Scriptures.

But even where such efforts are avoided, even where the Bible itself is read (and not one of the current mistranslations but in the Authorized Version) the Bible still may be soread as to obscure and even contradict its true message. When, for example, the great and glorious promises of the Bible to the redeemed children of God are read as though they belonged of right to man as man, have we not an attack upon the very heart and core of the Bible’s teaching? What could be more terrible, for example, from the Christian point of view, than the reading of the Lord’s Prayer to non-Christian children as though they could use it without becoming Christians and as though persons who have never been purchased by the blood of Christ could possibly say to God, “Our Father, which art in Heaven”? The truth is that a garbled Bible may be a falsified Bible; and when any hope is held out to lost humanity from the so-called ethical portions of the Bible apart from its great redemptive core, then the Bible is represented as saying the direct opposite of what it really says.

So I am opposed to the reading of the Bible in public schools. As for any presentation of general principles of what is called “religion,” supposed to be exemplified in various positive religions, including Christianity, it is quite unnecessary for me to say in this company that such presentation is opposed to the Christian religion at its very heart. The relation between the Christian way of salvation and other ways is not a relation between the perfect and the imperfect, but it is a relation between the true and the false. The minute a professing Christian admits that he can find neutral ground with non-Christians in the study of “religion” in general, he has given up the battle; he has really, if he knows what he is doing, made common cause with that syncretism which is today, as it was in the first century of our era, the deadliest enemy of the Christian faith.” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 77-80

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Transcendant Law

2010-08-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

“Moral standards were powerful only when they were invested with an unearthly glory and were treated as quit different in kind from all rules of expediency. The truth is that decency cannot be produced without principle. It is useless to try to keep back the raging sea of passion with the flimsy, mud embankments of an appeal to experience. Instead, there will have to be recourse again—despite the props afforded by the materialistic paternalism of the modern State—to the stren, solid masonry of the law of God. An authority which is man-made can never secure the reverence of man; society can endure only if it is founded upon the rock of God’s commands.” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 62-63

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Gospel Hegemony

2010-08-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

“Christianity is the proclamation of an historical fact—that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Modern thought has no place for that proclamation. It prevents men from listening to the message. Yet the culture of today cannot simply be rejected as a whole. It is not like the pagan culture of the first century. It is not wholly non-Christian. Much of it has been derived directly from the Bible. There are significant movements in it, going to waste, which might well be used for the defense of the Gospel. The situation is complex. Easy wholesale measures are not in place. Discrimination, investigation is necessary. Some of modern thought must be refuted. The rest must be made subservient. But nothing in it can be ignored. He that is not with us is against us. Modern culture is a mighty force. It is either subservient to the Gospel or else it is the deadliest enemy of the Gospel. For making it subservient, religious emotion is not enough; intellectual labor is also necessary. And that labor is being neglected. The church has turned to easier tasks. And now she is reaping the fruits of her indolence. Now she must battle for her life.” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State page 57

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Religion and Culture

2010-08-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

“The problem is made for us the more difficult of solution because we are unprepared for it. Our whole system of school and college education is so constituted as to keep religion and culture as far apart as possible and ignore the question of the relationship between them. On five or six days in the week, we were engaged in the acquisition of knowledge. From this activity the study of religion was banished. We studied natural science without considering its bearing or lack of bearing upon natural theology or upon revelation. We studied Greek without opening the New Testament. We studied history with careful avoidance of that greatest of historical movements which was ushered in by the preaching of Jesus. In philosophy, the vital importance of the study for religion could not entirely be concealed, but it was kept as far as possible in the background. On Sundays, on the other hand, we had religious instruction that called for little exercise of the intellect. Careful preparation for Sunday school lessons as for lessons in mathematics or Latin was unknown. Religion seemed to be something that had to do only with the emotions and the will, leaving the intellect to secular studies. What wonder that after such training we came to regard religion and culture as belonging to two entirely separate compartments of the soul, and their union as involving the destruction of both?” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 46-47

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The Law of God

2010-08-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

“At the present time, the existence of law is being denied. Men no longer believe that there is such a thing as a law of God, and naturally they do not believe that there is such a thing as sin. Thoughtful men, who are not Christians, are aware of the problem that this stupendous change in human thinking presents to the modern world. Now that men no longer believe that there is a law of God, now that men no longer believe in obligatory morality, now that the moral law has been abandoned, what is to be put in its place in order that an ordinarily decent human life may be preserved upon the Earth? It is impossible to keep back the raging seas of human passion with the flimsy mud embankments of an appeal either to self-interest, or to what Walter Lippman calls “disinterestedness.” Those raging seas can only be checked by the solid masonry of the law of God.

Men are wondering today what is wrong with the world. They are conscious of the fact that they are standing over some terrible abyss. Awful ebullitions rise from that abyss. We have lost altogether the sense of the security of our Western civilization. Men are wondering what is wrong.

It is perfectly clear what is wrong. The law of God has been torn up, as though it were a scrap of paper, and the inevitable result is appearing with even greater clearness. When will the law be rediscovered? When it is rediscovered, that will be a day of terror for mankind; but it will also be a day of joy, for the law will be a schoolmaster unto Christ. Its terrors will drive men back to the little wicket gate and to the way that leads to that place somewhat ascending where they will see the Cross.” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 41-42

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The Depreciation of the Intellect

2010-08-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

“The depreciation of the intellect, with the exaltation in the place of it of the feelings or of the will, is, we think, a basic fact in modern life which is rapidly leading to a condition in which men neither know anything nor care anything about the doctrinal content of the Christian religion, in which there is in general a lamentable intellectual decline.” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State page 9

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The Primacy of Doctrine

2010-08-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

“When one is asked to preach at a church, the pastor sometimes asks the visiting preacher to conduct his Bible class, and sometimes he gives a hint as to how the class is ordinarily conducted. He makes it very practical, he says; he gives the class hints as to how to live during the following week. But when I for my part actually conduct such a class, I most emphatically do not give the members hints as to how to live during the following week. That is not because such hints are not useful, but because they are not all that is useful. It would be very sad if a Bible class did not get practical directions, but a class that gets nothing but practical directions is very poorly prepared for life. And so when I conduct the class I try to give them what they do not get on other occasions; I try to help them get straight in their minds the doctrinal and historical contents of the Christian religion.

The absence of doctrinal teaching and preaching is certainly one of the causes for the present lamentable ignorance in the church. But a still more influential cause is found in the failure of the most important of all Christian educational institutions. The most important Christian education institution is not the pulpit or the school, important as these institutions are; it is the Christian family. And that institution has to a very large extent ceased to do its work. “ --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 7-8

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Christianity and The Intellect

2010-08-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

“It is a great mistake, then, to suppose that we who are called “conservatives” hold desperately to certain beliefs merely because they are old, and are opposed to the discovery of new facts. On the contrary, we welcome new discoveries with all our hearts, and we believe that our cause will come to its rights again only when youth throws off its present intellectual lethargy, refuses to go thoughtlessly with the anti-intellectual current of the age, and recovers some genuine independence of mind. In one sense, indeed, we are traditionalists; we do maintain that any institution that is really great has its roots in the past; we do not therefore desire to substitute modern sects for the historic Christian church. But on the whole, in view of the conditions that now exist, it would perhaps be more correct to call us “radicals” than to call us “conservatives.” We look not for a mere continuation of new power; we are seeking in particular to arouse youth from its present uncritical repetition of current phrases into some genuine examination of the basis of life; and we believe that Christianity flourishes not in the darkness, but in the light. A revival of Christian religion, we believe, will deliver mankind from its present bondage and, like the great revival of the sixteenth century, will bring liberty to mankind. Such a revival will not be the work of man, but the work of the Spirit of God. But one of the means which the Spirit will use, we believe, is an awakening of the intellect. The retrograde, anti-intellectual movement called Modernism, a movement which really degrades the intellect by excluding it from the sphere of religion, will be overcome, and thinking will again come to its rights. The new Reformation, in other words, will be accompanied by a new Renaissance; and the last thing in the world that we desire to do is to discourage originality or independence of mind.” --- J. Gresham Machen, Education, Christianity, and the State pages 5-6

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