I read this awhile ago and still can't believe Barry Hussein is not being made to answer for his illegal behavior.
Curtain Time For Barack Obama - Part II
By Evelyn Pringle
16 May, 2008Countercurrents.org
Read Part IUS Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald does not make a habit of destroying pubic officials by listing them in indictments for no reason and the only two political candidates identified as receiving campaign money from Operation Board Games kickback schemes are Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and the US Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. Instead of referring to Board Games as the “Rezko” case, before long the media will likely be calling it the “Blagojevich” case. However, because the governor did not become the presidential candidate, when the scandal is recorded in the history books it will be the “Barack Obama” case. Curtain Time Part II will show that Obama was the inside guy in the Illinois senate as far as setting up the Health Facilities Planning Board to extort contributions from companies in exchange for the approval of applications to build medial facilities.Obama was chairman of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee in January 2003. A few articles in the media have mentioned that Obama sat on a committee that reviewed matters related to the Planning Board in conjunction with the Governor's staff but none have discussed his integral part in getting the bill passed A review of senate records from January 2003 to August 2003, shows Obama played a major role as chairman of that committee, in pushing through Senate Bill 1332, that led to the "Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act," which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, making the votes much easier to rig.Democratic Senator Susan Garrett sponsored the bill in the senate, and the chief co-sponsor was Republican Senator Dale Righter. These two senators were also on the Human Services Committee with Obama.The bill was filed with the senate secretary on February 20, 2003, and assigned to Human Services Committee for review on February 27. Less than a month later, as chairman, Obama sent word that the bill should be passed on March 13, 2003.On May 31, 2003, the House and Senate passed the bill and the only senator listed in the "yes" votes mentioned in the Board Games indictments is Obama.Blagojevich made the effective date June 27, 2003, and the co-schemers already had the people lined up to stack the Board and rig the votes with full approval from Obama.As discussed fully in Curtain Time for Obama Part I , the Republicans and Democrats worked together in setting up the Planning Board scheme because the Combine as a whole would profit.During the trial, Stuart Levine testified that when he sought reappointment to the Planning Board, he told Republican co-schemer, Bill Cellini, to tell the Blagojevich administration he would vote however they wanted when approving projects.He told the jury he had the same understanding with the two prior Republican governors, Jim Edgar, and George Ryan, who is now sitting in prison due to Fitzgerald’s successful prosecution of a corruption case against him.A June 2003 email exchange produced in the trial shows Obama was one of eight officials who received the names of the nominees for the new Board ahead of time, from the office of David Wilhelm, who headed Blagojevich's 2002 campaign for governor. Tony Rezko's name does not appear in the email. In fact, his attorney made the point to the jury that the exchange was from Blagojevich's general counsel, Susan Lichtenstein, and Wilhelm's office, and indicated the appointees were recommended by Wilhelm and supported by those who received the memo.The memo said, “we worked closely over the past six months” with eight officials including three state senators.Jennifer Thomas, a former aide in Blagojevich's patronage office, testified that she attended regular weekly meetings at Rezko’s office between the spring of 2003 and November 2004, and Rezko floated names and specifically said Levine should be reappointed to the new Board.The Senate bill said, the “Board shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate." But the Senate Confirmation Hearings were a joke. For instance, the Feds recorded Levine talking to co-schemer, Jon Bauman, the day Levine learned he was approved by the Senate from the executive secretary of the Board. Levine told Bauman he ran into Jeffrey Marks, who said "congratulations on your appointment," and Levine asked for what. Marks said, "well the Senate Confirmation Hearings on Health Facility Plan Board members."He told Levine Senate President, Emil Jones, only allowed 2 members to be approved and "that was you and the other person he just put in.""Isn't that hysterical 'cause you know they had this big battle going on," Levine told Bauman.Laughing away, Levine said, "don't you just love it.""I'm one of those independents and not part of the block.""Well, good, you know it's good to be just a true independent civil servant," Bauman said laughing along with Levine."Is, is that a good thing," Levine replied, "I've never been that." Corrupt appointees fund Obama and Blagojevich campaignsThe corrupt new appointees were all contributors to the presidential hopeful, Blagojevich, and the US senate hopeful Obama. The previous Act allowed the Board itself to select a "Chairman and other officers as deemed necessary." But the new law stated: "The Governor shall designate one of the members to serve as Chairman and shall name as full-time Executive Secretary."The Board’s then sitting-chairman, Thomas Beck, who was originally appointed by a Republican governor, testified under a grant of immunity that he brought a $1,000 check to Rezko on July 15, 2003, to make sure Blagojevich reappointed him.A few weeks later, Beck said, Rezko called to say he would be reappointed along with a Republican holdover Levine. Beck also testified that Rezko told him Blagojevich was set to appoint Rezko’s three doctor friends to complete the rigged voting bloc. He said he met the doctors in August 2003, at the first meeting of the new Board.Dr Michel Malek gave Obama $10,000 a little over a month before the first meeting on June 30, 2003. He also donated $25,000 to Blagojevich three weeks later on July 25, 2003, and gave Obama another $500 in September 2003. Malek was an investor in Riverside Park.Dr Fortunee Massuda donated $25,000 to Blagojevich on July 25, 2003, and gave a total of $2,000 to Obama on different dates. Massuda's husband, Charles Hannon, is a co-schemer in the pension fund case and testified against Rezko in the trial.Dr Imad Almanaseer contributed a total of $3,000 to Obama after he landed the appointment. On March 13, 2008, Almanaseer testified against Rezko and told the jury he was an investor in Rezko's fast-food businesses.This doctor's son, Ahmed Almanaseer, was given a trade office intern position with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Ahmed is president of HireIraqis.com a bilingual human resources "site aimed at linking Iraqi job seekers with the companies engaged in the reconstruction [in Iraq] efforts," according to Rezko Watch.Corrupt Planning Board in actionThe first project approved by the new Board was for Mercy Health Systems, for which Bear Stearns served as a bond underwriter. The deal was to earn $1.5 million contribution for Blagojevich.In attempt to help seal the deal, when Mercy's application was submitted to Planning Board staff for review, the Department of Human Services sent a letter on October 23, 2003, to Donald Jones, Acting Supervisor of Project Review, with a recommendation for approval of the application, stating:"We at the Illinois Department of Human Services know how very important it is to have experienced providers such as Mercy Health System and believe they will meet the health care needs in South East McHenry County."Fitzgerald also presented an exhibit to the jury to show that Blagojevich’s director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Jack Lavin, sent a letter to Jones recommending approval. The exhibit also contained letters sent by the directors of the Department of Public Aid, the Department of Aging and the Department of Revenue, bringing the number to 5, urging Jones to support approval for Mercy.The Planning Board staff still recommended the rejection of Mercy’s proposal. On March 11, 2008, Jones told the jury that experts found the application failed to meet 18 criteria set up for the establishment of a new hospital. He said it was also too close to other hospitals that had too many empty beds and services not fully utilized.
The day before the vote in December 2003, Mercy hired the Chicago-based law firm of Gardner, Carton and Douglas. Gardner had donated $25,000 to Blagojevich in July 2003.Although the application was rejected the first time, Mercy moved for reconsideration and won approval at the April 21, 2004 meeting. Beck testified that after the meeting, he and Levine drove to Rezko's office to tell him the plan was approved and Rezko was there with Christopher Kelly.
Once approved, the plan was for co-schemer Jacob Kiferbaum to pad the construction costs on the hospital and pay the kickback through a bogus consulting contract with Levine's business associate, Dr Robert Weinstein. After helping set up the Planning Board, Dave Wilhelm became a consultant for Edward Hospital. Edward also wanted approval to build a new hospital. On April 9, 2008, Levine testified that he met with Wilhelm and another Edward lobbyist in the summer of 2003, and came away with the impression that Wilhelm's contribution to the team was clout with the Blagojevich administration.Wilhelm's investment firm, Hopewell Ventures, also received approval for deals from the Teacher pension fund. On April 10, 2008, Levine told the jury, "Mr. Rezko told me that Gov. Blagojevich and Mr. Rezko wanted to keep track of what clients Mr. Wilhelm had before various boards in the state of Illinois.""And they wanted to keep track of what success he had and what success he did not have," he said. Rezko and the governor wanted "to assess the value of Mr. Wilhelm's contribution to helping Gov. Blagojevich," Levine testified.Wilhelm's clients should not win business "unless I was specifically told by Mr. Rezko that he wanted him to be successful," he told the jury.Levine said he then got word to Edward officials that Wilhelm was on the outs with Blagojevich and set up an elaborate scheme to convince Edward that their application would be approved if Edward hired a construction company owned by Kiferbaum to build the new medical center and hospital and Bear Stearns as a $200 million bond underwriter. Board chairman, Beck, received fees from Bear Stearns and Bear Stearns also employed Beck’s son, David Beck, as a managing director in its municipal bond office in Chicago.As a member of the Planning Board, Levine was prohibited from engaging in ex parte communications with applicants with matters pending before the Board. So in order to protect Levine, Kiferbaum and Republican insider, P Nicholas Hurtgen, met Edward CEO, Pam Davis, in place of Levine. Hurtgen wanted his employer, Bear Stearns, to receive the financing work. On December 22, 2003, Hurtgen talked to Davis, and said if Edward hired Kiferbaum, he thought Edward would not have any more difficulties with the Board. Hurtgen said he was selling “clout,” and Levine was the “clout.” The following day, Kiferbaum and Hurtgen both met with Davis in attempt to persuade her to hire Kiferbaum. Kiferbaum told Davis that he had been working with Mercy and its application to build a new hospital was going to be approved.In response to their claims, Davis asked Kiferbaum and Hurtgen to prove they were telling the truth about Levine’s role by setting up a meeting with Levine.Levine agreed to set up a meeting where he and Hurtgen would just happen to bump into to Davis and Kiferbaum while they were having breakfast at the same restaurant. Levine instructed Kiferbaum to tell Davis she should not ask anything direct about her project because of the bar against ex parte communications. But the extortion attempt backfired when Davis went to the Feds in December 2003, and kicked off the investigation now known as Operation Board Game. The Feds put wiretaps on the phone lines in Levine's home, and between April 8, 2004 and May 21, 2004, caught most of the co-schemers on tape. And as planned, on April 18, 2004, Davis went to the restaurant for breakfast with Kiferbaum. Levine and Hurtgen walked over to their table and Levine told her he was the Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Medical School and Kiferbaum had done work for them. He said Kiferbaum was a person upon whom one can rely and whose word can be depended on.Two days later, Edward faxed Kiferbaum a letter stating Edward would not hire Kiferbaum. He called Levine and told him about the refusal and the next day the Board voted against the proposal and issued a notice of an intent-to-deny the application.The Feds moved in on Levine on May 20, 2004. In his plea agreement, Levine acknowledged that an estimate of the benefit from the Edward scheme would have been approximately $1,810,000.Feds track Obama's visits to RezkoIn the media, Obama always made it sound like he rarely saw Rezko, saying they met for breakfast or lunch once or twice a year. However, the FBI mole John Thomas helped investigators “build a record of repeat visits to the old offices of Rezko and former business partner Daniel Mahru's Rezmar Corp., at 853 N. Elston, by Blagojevich and Obama during 2004 and 2005,“ according to the February 10, 2008 Sun-Times.During his March 14, 2008 interview, the Times told Obama, Thomas is an FBI mole and he "recently told us that he saw you coming and going from Rezko's office a lot." "And three other sources told us that you and Rezko spoke on the phone daily.""Is that true?" the reporter asked."No," Obama said, "That's not accurate.""I think what is true," he said, "is that, it depends on the period of time.""I've known him for 17 years," Obama stated. "There were stretches of time where I would see him once or twice a year."He told the Times, "when he was involved in finance committee for the U.S. Senate race, or the state senate races, or the U.S. Congressional race, then he was an active member.""During the U.S. Senate race, there's be stretches of like a couple of weeks - for example prior to him organizing the fundraiser that he did for us - where I would probably be talking to him once a day to make sure that was going well," he said."But the typical relationship was one that was fond," he added. "We would see each other.""But there would be no reason for me to be seeing him that often," he stated.This issue may be sorted out soon enough because Fitzgerald’s charts matching up Obama’s contributions, visits and calls are bound to be every bit as thorough as the ones produced to prove Rezko is guilty as charged in the first trial. They simply were not produced because they were not needed to prove the defendant guilty in the first case.As an example of what records might be squirreled away, consider that an FBI agent presented a chart to the jury on April 28, 2008, showing 257 calls from Rezko’s phones to Blagojevich’s chief of staff, Lon Monk, between March 2004 and May 2004 alone.He also had a list of all calls between Levine and Rezko from November 2002 to May 2004. Rezko’s attorney brought out a point that backs the assertion that just because records on Obama were not shown, does not mean they do not exist. The attorney questioned the agent about missing calls, and specifically those to and from Christopher Kelly. The agent first said records were not available, but later admitted the government probably does have records on Kelly that were not available to him.
In addition, the contributions extorted through the Planning Board scheme were for the intended presidential candidate, Blagojevich. Obama’s US senate war chest was already funded and by the time these kickbacks were paid that campaign would be over.But Obama did end up with $20,000 from the very first kickback paid in the pension fund scheme set up through the Board of the Teacher's Retirement System.Elie Maloof and Joseph Aramanda, the straw donors used to funnel the contributions to Obama, also made $1,000 contributions of their own for his failed run for Congress in 2000, on the same day March 17, 2000. In addition, Aramanda gave $500 to Obama's senate campaign on June 30, 2003. In the summer of 2005, Aramanda's teenage son landed a coveted intern position in Obama's senate office in Washington.Obama also received contributions directly from the persons appointed to the pension board for the express purpose of rigging the votes. On June 30, 2003, appointee, Jack Carriglio contributed $1,000. The other appointee, Anthony Abboud, donated $500 to Obama on June 30, 2003, $250 on March 5, 2004, and $1,000 on June 25, 2004.Michael Winter, who prosecutors say agreed to serve as a funnel for kickbacks paid through an investment firm in one scheme donated $3,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003.Planning Board Scheme unravelsWhen interviewing with the Sun-Times, Obama claimed not to know Rezko was under investigation for influence peddling in the months leading up to June 2005, stating: "During the time that I was purchasing the house, there were some noises about Tony having potential problems. But they . . . hadn't risen to the attention that they ultimately would."“And I viewed him as . . . purchasing the lot as a friend purchasing a lot, somebody who was interested in real estate development and who was experienced in real estate development.”The claim that there were merely "some noises about Tony" was a blatant lie and the Times should have called him on it.Obama was still chairman of the Human Services Committee when lawmakers learned Fitzgerald was on to the Planning Board scheme in the spring of 2004, a year before Obama entered into the real estate deal in June 2005. On July 11, 2004, the Sun-Times reported: “A key Blagojevich fund-raiser, Tony Rezko, played a role in recommending appointees to the board.”With stories appearing about the scandal almost daily, Illinois House Speaker, Michael Madigan, introduced legislation to fire the board and Blagojevich had no choice but to issue an executive order in July 2004, stating: “In light of recent allegations concerning the propriety of certain board actions, the governor hereby imposes a moratorium on all meetings and actions of the board until the board is reconstituted by law.”By this time, Levine had already resigned and Almanaseer asked not to be reappointed. Both the House and Senate voted to give all members the boot at the end of July. But Obama's name is conspicuously missing from the session on July 24, 2004, when Bill 7307 was passed to get rid of legislation he pushed through a year earlier.The transcripts from the sessions in July 2004 show lawmakers in both parties were outraged over the scheme. However, nothing much changed, because the new bill included the same process for vetting and appointing members to the new Board.During the July 24, 2004 session, Senator Peter Roskam questioned the wisdom of passing a bill that is "silent as to any changes in the vetting."Referring to Blagojevich, he noted the current "vetter" and "backgrounder" who "placed all of these individuals on the Health Facilities Planning Board, apparently completely failed in that vetting and backgrounding." The bill "leaves the same amount of authority in the same person that we're criticizing implicitly today for failing to appoint good people," he said.Senate President Jones defended the process and the corrupt members. “Let it be understood,” he said, “that those mere allegations were against -- were made as regard to members who had been reappointed, and that’s the Chairman and several other members had been reappointed to the Board.”“And so, this legislation is in no way to say that the Governor’s Office didn’t do its proper job,” Jones stated. But then the Senate had to advise and consent to the "vetted" candidates and as noted above, Jones played a big part in the reappointment of Levine.Jones also told his fellow lawmakers, “this bill does not cast any aspersions on any current Board members because they are mere allegations.“ “We don’t know any facts,” he said.During the session, Senator Kirk Dillard had the apparent audacity to ask Jones, "is there anything in this bill that prohibits a member of the Health Facilities reconstituted Planning Board from giving campaign contributions to politicians?""No, that's not included in the Act," Jones answered."So, it would still be possible for somebody to give a large, say twenty-five-thousand- dollar contribution one day to a political figure and get reappointed or appointed to this Board a couple of days later?" Dillard asked."There is no such prohibition," Jones said, "for this Board or any other board, be it the Gaming Board, be -- there is no such prohibition."Indictment headlines non-stop during Obama's real estate dealsThe first indictment in the Planning Board case came a month before the mansion deal was finalized. On May 9, 2005, CBS Channel 2 Chicago, reported, "Stuart Levine is accused of using his position on a powerful state health board to cut himself and his buddies in on hospital construction contracts worth $113 million."Hurtgen and Kiferbaum were also charged for their part in the Edward extortion scheme. CBS pointed out that before joining Bear Stearns, Hurtgen “worked in the administration of then-Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson as deputy secretary in the state Department of Administration, which supervised state bond issues.”On May 10, 2005, the Sun-Times reported Levine, “who has given more than $1.6 million to mostly Republican state politicians since 1993, was re-appointed to the planning board -- as well as the state Teachers' Retirement System board -- at the urging of ... Rezko.”
Levine was rousted out of bed by FBI agents, the Times said, “and hauled into court on fraud charges alleging kickbacks, influence-peddling and insider dealing.”John Glennon, a former adviser to Republican Governor George Ryan, was also charged with “criminal conspiracy for concealing kickbacks in the financing and construction of two Illinois hospitals and lying to federal authorities." The Republican Combine member Glennon gave $1,000 to Obama on January 8, 2004.At the time, Fitzgerald would not say whether anyone in Blagojevich's office had been questioned or who else was tied to the scheme. But the Times quoted FBI Agent, Robert Grant, as saying: "Stay tuned; there will be more charges in the future." This article noted that Kiferbaum was already cooperating. Five days later, the Times reported Rezko “had a hand in staffing decisions at the scandal-tainted Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.”On May 20, 2005, the Times said, “Two Rezko associates gave Blagojevich $25,000 each just days after the governor named them to a state panel.”However, the reporters either failed to notice, or failed to mention, that panel member Malek gave $10,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003.Less than 3 months before Obama bought 10-feet of the lot, on October 31, 2005, the Times reported: “Investigations of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and state Teachers' Retirement System have yielded federal charges against six people.”The article also noted that, “in a guilty plea ... Joseph Cari alleged he had been told by a now-indicted former pension board member that Blagojevich and two top fund-raisers, Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Christopher G. Kelly, schemed to award pension business to consultants, lawyers and investment firms who donated to Blagojevich.”Cari donated $1,335 to Obama’s campaign and gave $10,000 to Blagojevich. During the trial, Cari testified that Blagojevich, Rezko and Kelly tried to convince him to take over the national fundraising campaign for Blagojevich's presidential bid.Obama's senate finance committee during Planning Board schemeIn his interview with the Tribune on March 14, Obama said Rezko "was a part of our finance committee and was listed as part of our finance committee."
In 2003 and 2004, his finance committee raised the money as the Planning Board scheme was set up and the scandal unraveled. Yet Obama told the Tribune in regard to Rezko, "at that time, there were no indications that he was involved in anything inappropriate."Apparently, Obama expects the public to believe that nobody on this committee bothered to tell him he received a single contribution of $10,000, and the money came from a person he just recommended for the Board.Other members of the committee included Rezko's wife Rita, and Valerie Jarrett, who got her jump start into a lucrative real estate career in the Combine's Daley administration. She now serves as chairman of Obama's presidential finance committee.Jarrett racked up eight years in Chicago government, first as deputy corporation counsel for Finance and Development, then as deputy chief of staff to Daley and finally, as commissioner of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, according to a summary of her achievements obtained from the Business Week website on April 8, 2008. While serving as Commissioner, Jarrett "consolidated the Department of Planning, Economic Development and Urban Renewal; implemented a model program for the revitalization of three Chicago neighborhoods; and created a business express unit to cut red tape to service Chicago businesses," says the Cook County Information Center.Obama's introduction into the "Combine" came when his wife Michelle was hired by Jarrett in the early 1990s, and served as Jarrett’s assistant in Daley’s office and followed her to the Department of Planning and Development.Jarrett was appointed chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board in June 2006. She was also made chairman of a newly created Executive Committee of that Board, according to a June 13, 2006 University announcement. In addition, Jarrett was named vice-chair of the University's Board of Trustees, the announcement states.Michelle landed a high paying job at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Two months after Obama became a US senator, she was appointed vice president for community and external affairs. Tax returns show the promotion nearly tripled her pay to $317,000 in 2005, from $122,000 in 2004.On February 14, 2008, Wilhelm endorsed Obama in a call with reporters, citing the senator's "masterful" campaign organization and strategy as well as his "undeniable momentum." "He has outworked, outorganized and outraised his opponents every step of the way," Wilhelm said. "The Obama campaign, win or lose, will serve as a model for future generations to come." Wilhelm’s firm has received a subpoena for records related to pension fund investments.
If the Combine's plot with the Bush administration to shut down Operation Board Games had worked, Obama would be home free. But it failed and the Republicans are just waiting to air the roadmap of dirt pieced together from Fitzgerald's investigation if Obama is nominated. McCain is in the clear because there is no sign of his involvement anywhere.
Friday, January 16, 2009
The 60's DeGeneration: Please Just Fade Away
Yeah thanks children of the 60's for; Infanticide, since 1973 millions of unborn children murdered under the premise of choice. Thanks for fracturing our nation's moral fiber with the mistaken life motto of "If it Feels Good, Do it." Thanks for removing God from our public square and replacing Him with legal acceptance of degeneracy masked as tolerance. Thank you for your attempts to emasculate our nation's army because of the "Make Love, Not War" mantra. And let us not overlook all the wonderful politicians that became of age during this time of enlightenment. Teddy "a blonde in the pond" Kennedy. Babs Boxer, Di Fi Chucky Schumer, John Kerry and so on.
I guess in all fairness that this 60's mindeset has oozed into later decades, but the ill seed was sown there.
For those who are from this era but do not adhere to the madness, Thank you.
»
jheaton's blog
I guess in all fairness that this 60's mindeset has oozed into later decades, but the ill seed was sown there.
For those who are from this era but do not adhere to the madness, Thank you.
»
jheaton's blog
The 60's DeGeneration: Please Just Fade Away
Yeah thanks children of the 60's for; Infanticide, since 1973 millions of unborn children murdered under the premise of choice. Thanks for fracturing our nation's moral fiber with the mistaken life motto of "If it Feels Good, Do it." Thanks for removing God from our public square and replacing Him with legal acceptance of degeneracy masked as tolerance. Thank you for your attempts to emasculate our nation's army because of the "Make Love, Not War" mantra. And let us not overlook all the wonderful politicians that became of age during this time of enlightenment. Teddy "a blonde in the pond" Kennedy. Babs Boxer, Di Fi Chucky Schumer, John Kerry and so on.
I guess in all fairness that this 60's mindeset has oozed into later decades, but the ill seed was sown there.
For those who are from this era but do not adhere to the madness, Thank you.
»
jheaton's blog
I guess in all fairness that this 60's mindeset has oozed into later decades, but the ill seed was sown there.
For those who are from this era but do not adhere to the madness, Thank you.
»
jheaton's blog
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Man Made Global Warming Hoax
I posted this back in 05. Man made global warming is a hoax. It is nothing more than a wealth redistribution scam. World wide socialism.
There are some that place blame on the U.S. for all of the world's problems. No matter if they are natural or man made. To get another view on global warming please read some of Alan Caruba's articles. Alan Caruba is the author of "Warning Signs", published by Merril Press. He writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center (www.anxietycenter.com). by Alan Caruba June 16, 2003 Despite the IPCC claims, studies have clearly demonstrated that "large temperature swings have been common in the past 1,000 years, and that temperatures warmer than today were common in 50-year periods about 1,000 years ago. These studies suggest that the climate we see today is not unusual at all." The global warming hoax is not about the Earth’s climate. It is about an attack on the economies of those nations that produce much of the world’s wealth. "Our country is often criticized for producing 25% of the world’s anthropogenic CO2," Dr. Christy noted, "However, we are rarely recognized and applauded for producing, with that same CO2, 31% of what the world wants and needs; its food, technology, medical advances, defense of freedom, and so on." What we want is the worldwide spread of prosperity and, importantly, the spread of freedom that underwrites it. What we don’t want is for people to suffer from the Big Lie of Global Warming being perpetrated out of the United Nations, and propagandized by environmentalists worldwide.
There are some that place blame on the U.S. for all of the world's problems. No matter if they are natural or man made. To get another view on global warming please read some of Alan Caruba's articles. Alan Caruba is the author of "Warning Signs", published by Merril Press. He writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center (www.anxietycenter.com). by Alan Caruba June 16, 2003 Despite the IPCC claims, studies have clearly demonstrated that "large temperature swings have been common in the past 1,000 years, and that temperatures warmer than today were common in 50-year periods about 1,000 years ago. These studies suggest that the climate we see today is not unusual at all." The global warming hoax is not about the Earth’s climate. It is about an attack on the economies of those nations that produce much of the world’s wealth. "Our country is often criticized for producing 25% of the world’s anthropogenic CO2," Dr. Christy noted, "However, we are rarely recognized and applauded for producing, with that same CO2, 31% of what the world wants and needs; its food, technology, medical advances, defense of freedom, and so on." What we want is the worldwide spread of prosperity and, importantly, the spread of freedom that underwrites it. What we don’t want is for people to suffer from the Big Lie of Global Warming being perpetrated out of the United Nations, and propagandized by environmentalists worldwide.
Man Made Global Warming Hoax
I posted this back in 05. Man made global warming is a hoax. It is nothing more than a wealth redistribution scam. World wide socialism.
There are some that place blame on the U.S. for all of the world's problems. No matter if they are natural or man made. To get another view on global warming please read some of Alan Caruba's articles. Alan Caruba is the author of "Warning Signs", published by Merril Press. He writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center (www.anxietycenter.com). by Alan Caruba June 16, 2003 Despite the IPCC claims, studies have clearly demonstrated that "large temperature swings have been common in the past 1,000 years, and that temperatures warmer than today were common in 50-year periods about 1,000 years ago. These studies suggest that the climate we see today is not unusual at all." The global warming hoax is not about the Earth’s climate. It is about an attack on the economies of those nations that produce much of the world’s wealth. "Our country is often criticized for producing 25% of the world’s anthropogenic CO2," Dr. Christy noted, "However, we are rarely recognized and applauded for producing, with that same CO2, 31% of what the world wants and needs; its food, technology, medical advances, defense of freedom, and so on." What we want is the worldwide spread of prosperity and, importantly, the spread of freedom that underwrites it. What we don’t want is for people to suffer from the Big Lie of Global Warming being perpetrated out of the United Nations, and propagandized by environmentalists worldwide.
There are some that place blame on the U.S. for all of the world's problems. No matter if they are natural or man made. To get another view on global warming please read some of Alan Caruba's articles. Alan Caruba is the author of "Warning Signs", published by Merril Press. He writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center (www.anxietycenter.com). by Alan Caruba June 16, 2003 Despite the IPCC claims, studies have clearly demonstrated that "large temperature swings have been common in the past 1,000 years, and that temperatures warmer than today were common in 50-year periods about 1,000 years ago. These studies suggest that the climate we see today is not unusual at all." The global warming hoax is not about the Earth’s climate. It is about an attack on the economies of those nations that produce much of the world’s wealth. "Our country is often criticized for producing 25% of the world’s anthropogenic CO2," Dr. Christy noted, "However, we are rarely recognized and applauded for producing, with that same CO2, 31% of what the world wants and needs; its food, technology, medical advances, defense of freedom, and so on." What we want is the worldwide spread of prosperity and, importantly, the spread of freedom that underwrites it. What we don’t want is for people to suffer from the Big Lie of Global Warming being perpetrated out of the United Nations, and propagandized by environmentalists worldwide.
Another Attack
This is from a Jewish blogger who I think is great.
Bat Abraham/Chabad center firebombed
Submitted by jbetschart on Wed, 2009-01-14 00:04.
Religion/Spirituality
A Chabad house in France was firebombed Sunday. This is a week after another synagogue was attacked with a flaming car.
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jbetschart's blog
Bat Abraham/Chabad center firebombed
Submitted by jbetschart on Wed, 2009-01-14 00:04.
Religion/Spirituality
A Chabad house in France was firebombed Sunday. This is a week after another synagogue was attacked with a flaming car.
»
jbetschart's blog
Another Attack
This is from a Jewish blogger who I think is great.
Bat Abraham/Chabad center firebombed
Submitted by jbetschart on Wed, 2009-01-14 00:04.
Religion/Spirituality
A Chabad house in France was firebombed Sunday. This is a week after another synagogue was attacked with a flaming car.
»
jbetschart's blog
Bat Abraham/Chabad center firebombed
Submitted by jbetschart on Wed, 2009-01-14 00:04.
Religion/Spirituality
A Chabad house in France was firebombed Sunday. This is a week after another synagogue was attacked with a flaming car.
»
jbetschart's blog
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Leave It To An Aussie!
John Howard, unlike many American politico, says what needs to be said. Here is his words I recieved via e-mail. To bad us Yanks can't find a president with some "sack."
John Howard:Muslims who want to live under Islamic Shari
law were told on Wednesday to get out of
Australia , as the government targeted radicals
in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.
Separately, Howard angered some Australian
Muslims on Wednesday by saying he
supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS NOT AUSTRALIANS,MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotismby the majority of Australians'.
'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victoriesby millions of men an d women who have sought freedom'. 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'
'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriateto display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'
'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony andpeaceful enjoyment with us.'
'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunityto enjoy all this. But once you are donecomplaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christianbeliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE!'
'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. Wedidn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOUaccepted.'
John Howard:Muslims who want to live under Islamic Shari
law were told on Wednesday to get out of
Australia , as the government targeted radicals
in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.
Separately, Howard angered some Australian
Muslims on Wednesday by saying he
supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS NOT AUSTRALIANS,MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotismby the majority of Australians'.
'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victoriesby millions of men an d women who have sought freedom'. 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'
'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriateto display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'
'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony andpeaceful enjoyment with us.'
'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunityto enjoy all this. But once you are donecomplaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christianbeliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE!'
'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. Wedidn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOUaccepted.'
Leave It To An Aussie!
John Howard, unlike many American politico, says what needs to be said. Here is his words I recieved via e-mail. To bad us Yanks can't find a president with some "sack."
John Howard:Muslims who want to live under Islamic Shari
law were told on Wednesday to get out of
Australia , as the government targeted radicals
in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.
Separately, Howard angered some Australian
Muslims on Wednesday by saying he
supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS NOT AUSTRALIANS,MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotismby the majority of Australians'.
'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victoriesby millions of men an d women who have sought freedom'. 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'
'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriateto display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'
'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony andpeaceful enjoyment with us.'
'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunityto enjoy all this. But once you are donecomplaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christianbeliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE!'
'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. Wedidn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOUaccepted.'
John Howard:Muslims who want to live under Islamic Shari
law were told on Wednesday to get out of
Australia , as the government targeted radicals
in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.
Separately, Howard angered some Australian
Muslims on Wednesday by saying he
supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS NOT AUSTRALIANS,MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotismby the majority of Australians'.
'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victoriesby millions of men an d women who have sought freedom'. 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'
'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriateto display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'
'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony andpeaceful enjoyment with us.'
'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunityto enjoy all this. But once you are donecomplaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christianbeliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE!'
'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. Wedidn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOUaccepted.'
Who's Paying For Mama Robinson's Rent?
So Barry's mama in-law is moving in to help care for the children and we the taxpayer is on the hook for the rent and meals. It seems to me it was not long ago Mrs. Palin was taking shots from the lefty ladies about not caring for here kids as she was out looking for a job. Oh, that's right, her hubby did the job! Barry's blunders are already starting and the One has not even started his new job yet.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/01/09/2009-01-09_make_room_for_the_motherinlaw_first_gran.html
It's official - the White House will have a First Grandma in residence.
Transition officials announced Friday that Barack's mother-in-law,Marian Robinson, 71, will be moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to help "acclimate" the Obama daughters, Malia and Sasha, to their new home.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/01/09/2009-01-09_make_room_for_the_motherinlaw_first_gran.html
It's official - the White House will have a First Grandma in residence.
Transition officials announced Friday that Barack's mother-in-law,Marian Robinson, 71, will be moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to help "acclimate" the Obama daughters, Malia and Sasha, to their new home.
Who's Paying For Mama Robinson's Rent?
So Barry's mama in-law is moving in to help care for the children and we the taxpayer is on the hook for the rent and meals. It seems to me it was not long ago Mrs. Palin was taking shots from the lefty ladies about not caring for here kids as she was out looking for a job. Oh, that's right, her hubby did the job! Barry's blunders are already starting and the One has not even started his new job yet.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/01/09/2009-01-09_make_room_for_the_motherinlaw_first_gran.html
It's official - the White House will have a First Grandma in residence.
Transition officials announced Friday that Barack's mother-in-law,Marian Robinson, 71, will be moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to help "acclimate" the Obama daughters, Malia and Sasha, to their new home.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/01/09/2009-01-09_make_room_for_the_motherinlaw_first_gran.html
It's official - the White House will have a First Grandma in residence.
Transition officials announced Friday that Barack's mother-in-law,Marian Robinson, 71, will be moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to help "acclimate" the Obama daughters, Malia and Sasha, to their new home.
Friday, January 09, 2009
ShObama The Money
The Chosen One lies?
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_inaugural_donations/2009/01/09/169617.html?s=al&promo_code=775B-1
WSJ: Obama Breaks Pledge on Inauguration Donations
Friday, January 9, 2009 12:14 PM
By: Jim Meyers Article Font Size
A full 90 percent of donations to fund Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration have come from well-heeled fundraisers — including Wall Street executives whose companies have received federal bailout money.
A total of 207 fundraisers have collected $24.8 million of the $27.3 million in donations disclosed by Obama through Thursday, according to an analysis by Public Citizen commissioned by The Wall Street Journal.
Slightly more than 2,000 donors accounted for the $27.3 million raised, but 378 of those people each contributed the maximum $50,000 allowed by Obama, raising almost 70 percent of the total, or $18.9 million, the analysis found.
Wall Street employees have been the largest single source of private donations, and many of the contributions have been channeled through financial-services executives who have put together bundles of donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The preponderance of large donors and the fact that so many come from an industry receiving government handouts comes as the president-elect has sought to keep his inauguration free of special interests,” The Journal observed.
Bundlers from the financial sector include executives from Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., two firms that have accepted billions of dollars each in bailout money from the federal government.
Obama’s presidential campaign smashed all previous fundraising records, raking in more than an astounding $650 million from some 3 million donors.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved
Here is response to an Uppity Woman's post that I just had to share.
Author: Grail GuardianComment:
One in the same, Uppity. Really instills confidence, doesn't it? This guy doesn't know where his illegal alien aunt got off to (while he was a sitting US Senator sworn to uphold the Constitution), didn't know his preacher of 20 years was spewing anti-American bile, didn't know Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist, didn't know Blagojevich was tainted, didn't know his Palestinian buddies were sending him illegal campaign contributions, didn't know his Chief of Staff appointee was negotiating the sale of his former Senate seat, didn't know Tony Rezko was a crook - for crying out loud! When was the last time someone that knows so little and has so little control of his surroundings was elected President of the United States?
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_inaugural_donations/2009/01/09/169617.html?s=al&promo_code=775B-1
WSJ: Obama Breaks Pledge on Inauguration Donations
Friday, January 9, 2009 12:14 PM
By: Jim Meyers Article Font Size
A full 90 percent of donations to fund Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration have come from well-heeled fundraisers — including Wall Street executives whose companies have received federal bailout money.
A total of 207 fundraisers have collected $24.8 million of the $27.3 million in donations disclosed by Obama through Thursday, according to an analysis by Public Citizen commissioned by The Wall Street Journal.
Slightly more than 2,000 donors accounted for the $27.3 million raised, but 378 of those people each contributed the maximum $50,000 allowed by Obama, raising almost 70 percent of the total, or $18.9 million, the analysis found.
Wall Street employees have been the largest single source of private donations, and many of the contributions have been channeled through financial-services executives who have put together bundles of donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The preponderance of large donors and the fact that so many come from an industry receiving government handouts comes as the president-elect has sought to keep his inauguration free of special interests,” The Journal observed.
Bundlers from the financial sector include executives from Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., two firms that have accepted billions of dollars each in bailout money from the federal government.
Obama’s presidential campaign smashed all previous fundraising records, raking in more than an astounding $650 million from some 3 million donors.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved
Here is response to an Uppity Woman's post that I just had to share.
Author: Grail GuardianComment:
One in the same, Uppity. Really instills confidence, doesn't it? This guy doesn't know where his illegal alien aunt got off to (while he was a sitting US Senator sworn to uphold the Constitution), didn't know his preacher of 20 years was spewing anti-American bile, didn't know Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist, didn't know Blagojevich was tainted, didn't know his Palestinian buddies were sending him illegal campaign contributions, didn't know his Chief of Staff appointee was negotiating the sale of his former Senate seat, didn't know Tony Rezko was a crook - for crying out loud! When was the last time someone that knows so little and has so little control of his surroundings was elected President of the United States?
ShObama The Money
The Chosen One lies?
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_inaugural_donations/2009/01/09/169617.html?s=al&promo_code=775B-1
WSJ: Obama Breaks Pledge on Inauguration Donations
Friday, January 9, 2009 12:14 PM
By: Jim Meyers Article Font Size
A full 90 percent of donations to fund Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration have come from well-heeled fundraisers — including Wall Street executives whose companies have received federal bailout money.
A total of 207 fundraisers have collected $24.8 million of the $27.3 million in donations disclosed by Obama through Thursday, according to an analysis by Public Citizen commissioned by The Wall Street Journal.
Slightly more than 2,000 donors accounted for the $27.3 million raised, but 378 of those people each contributed the maximum $50,000 allowed by Obama, raising almost 70 percent of the total, or $18.9 million, the analysis found.
Wall Street employees have been the largest single source of private donations, and many of the contributions have been channeled through financial-services executives who have put together bundles of donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The preponderance of large donors and the fact that so many come from an industry receiving government handouts comes as the president-elect has sought to keep his inauguration free of special interests,” The Journal observed.
Bundlers from the financial sector include executives from Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., two firms that have accepted billions of dollars each in bailout money from the federal government.
Obama’s presidential campaign smashed all previous fundraising records, raking in more than an astounding $650 million from some 3 million donors.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved
Here is response to an Uppity Woman's post that I just had to share.
Author: Grail GuardianComment:
One in the same, Uppity. Really instills confidence, doesn't it? This guy doesn't know where his illegal alien aunt got off to (while he was a sitting US Senator sworn to uphold the Constitution), didn't know his preacher of 20 years was spewing anti-American bile, didn't know Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist, didn't know Blagojevich was tainted, didn't know his Palestinian buddies were sending him illegal campaign contributions, didn't know his Chief of Staff appointee was negotiating the sale of his former Senate seat, didn't know Tony Rezko was a crook - for crying out loud! When was the last time someone that knows so little and has so little control of his surroundings was elected President of the United States?
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_inaugural_donations/2009/01/09/169617.html?s=al&promo_code=775B-1
WSJ: Obama Breaks Pledge on Inauguration Donations
Friday, January 9, 2009 12:14 PM
By: Jim Meyers Article Font Size
A full 90 percent of donations to fund Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration have come from well-heeled fundraisers — including Wall Street executives whose companies have received federal bailout money.
A total of 207 fundraisers have collected $24.8 million of the $27.3 million in donations disclosed by Obama through Thursday, according to an analysis by Public Citizen commissioned by The Wall Street Journal.
Slightly more than 2,000 donors accounted for the $27.3 million raised, but 378 of those people each contributed the maximum $50,000 allowed by Obama, raising almost 70 percent of the total, or $18.9 million, the analysis found.
Wall Street employees have been the largest single source of private donations, and many of the contributions have been channeled through financial-services executives who have put together bundles of donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The preponderance of large donors and the fact that so many come from an industry receiving government handouts comes as the president-elect has sought to keep his inauguration free of special interests,” The Journal observed.
Bundlers from the financial sector include executives from Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., two firms that have accepted billions of dollars each in bailout money from the federal government.
Obama’s presidential campaign smashed all previous fundraising records, raking in more than an astounding $650 million from some 3 million donors.
© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved
Here is response to an Uppity Woman's post that I just had to share.
Author: Grail GuardianComment:
One in the same, Uppity. Really instills confidence, doesn't it? This guy doesn't know where his illegal alien aunt got off to (while he was a sitting US Senator sworn to uphold the Constitution), didn't know his preacher of 20 years was spewing anti-American bile, didn't know Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist, didn't know Blagojevich was tainted, didn't know his Palestinian buddies were sending him illegal campaign contributions, didn't know his Chief of Staff appointee was negotiating the sale of his former Senate seat, didn't know Tony Rezko was a crook - for crying out loud! When was the last time someone that knows so little and has so little control of his surroundings was elected President of the United States?
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Pot Harms The Pothead.....Dude!
Don't let the ganja crew fool you, pot is a gateway drug and pot should not be legalized. Now, I would be open to maybe locking up the dealers and allowing a person to be a user. In other words, grow your own and don't commit any crimes while under the influence and everything will be fine!
http://www.marijuana-detox.com/m-dangers.htm
Because of the drug's effects on perceptions and reaction time, users could be involved in auto crashes. Drug users also may become involved in risky sexual behavior. There is a strong link between drug use and unsafe sex and the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Under the influence of marijuana, students may find it hard to study and learn. Young athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC.
http://www.marijuana-detox.com/m-dangers.htm
Because of the drug's effects on perceptions and reaction time, users could be involved in auto crashes. Drug users also may become involved in risky sexual behavior. There is a strong link between drug use and unsafe sex and the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Under the influence of marijuana, students may find it hard to study and learn. Young athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC.
Pot Harms The Pothead.....Dude!
Don't let the ganja crew fool you, pot is a gateway drug and pot should not be legalized. Now, I would be open to maybe locking up the dealers and allowing a person to be a user. In other words, grow your own and don't commit any crimes while under the influence and everything will be fine!
http://www.marijuana-detox.com/m-dangers.htm
Because of the drug's effects on perceptions and reaction time, users could be involved in auto crashes. Drug users also may become involved in risky sexual behavior. There is a strong link between drug use and unsafe sex and the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Under the influence of marijuana, students may find it hard to study and learn. Young athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC.
http://www.marijuana-detox.com/m-dangers.htm
Because of the drug's effects on perceptions and reaction time, users could be involved in auto crashes. Drug users also may become involved in risky sexual behavior. There is a strong link between drug use and unsafe sex and the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Under the influence of marijuana, students may find it hard to study and learn. Young athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
5 Of These Guy Belong Together, One Of These Guys Stands Alone!
To look at this picture is to see that America's best and brightest don't usually win the oval office. Not since Ronald Reagan have we had a real man who put America's best interest first. He did not care about his poll numbers. He never soiled an interns dress. He never supported Hugo Chavez. He never broke a promise of no new taxes. He never pandered to the House of Saud.
And he never hung around socialist, terrorist, and anti Semites. And he could produce a birth certificate and he never said his mom was a typical "white" woman
He was not always perfect, but he was consistent and honest and a great Christian man.
He was not always perfect, but he was consistent and honest and a great Christian man.
5 Of These Guy Belong Together, One Of These Guys Stands Alone!
To look at this picture is to see that America's best and brightest don't usually win the oval office. Not since Ronald Reagan have we had a real man who put America's best interest first. He did not care about his poll numbers. He never soiled an interns dress. He never supported Hugo Chavez. He never broke a promise of no new taxes. He never pandered to the House of Saud.
And he never hung around socialist, terrorist, and anti Semites. And he could produce a birth certificate and he never said his mom was a typical "white" woman
He was not always perfect, but he was consistent and honest and a great Christian man.
He was not always perfect, but he was consistent and honest and a great Christian man.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Turn Me Loose And Set Me Free
Yes, that is part of a Merle Haggard song..."Somewhere in the middle of Montana." Well, for me, anywhere that is not cold, has a place to park a trailer for me and my dogs, a small church, and a friendly burger and suds joint, and I am there! I am tired of the daily grind of my full time job, though the part time one is great. I am really insanely tired of bills and debt. If anyone knows of a ranch or farm that needs a hard working college grad, who can work as hard with the muscle as well as the brain; give me a shout. Oh, I forgot; a golf course is a must......
Here is the link to the orignal post site http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/11510
And I must include one response from a typical hatefilled responder
He who smelt it.. dealt it.
Submitted by timseekers on Sat, 2009-01-03 14:36.
Its never been done before so we can never do it?
What sense does that make?
Here is the link to the orignal post site http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/11510
And I must include one response from a typical hatefilled responder
He who smelt it.. dealt it.
Submitted by timseekers on Sat, 2009-01-03 14:36.
Its never been done before so we can never do it?
What sense does that make?
Turn Me Loose And Set Me Free
Yes, that is part of a Merle Haggard song..."Somewhere in the middle of Montana." Well, for me, anywhere that is not cold, has a place to park a trailer for me and my dogs, a small church, and a friendly burger and suds joint, and I am there! I am tired of the daily grind of my full time job, though the part time one is great. I am really insanely tired of bills and debt. If anyone knows of a ranch or farm that needs a hard working college grad, who can work as hard with the muscle as well as the brain; give me a shout. Oh, I forgot; a golf course is a must......
Here is the link to the orignal post site http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/11510
And I must include one response from a typical hatefilled responder
He who smelt it.. dealt it.
Submitted by timseekers on Sat, 2009-01-03 14:36.
Its never been done before so we can never do it?
What sense does that make?
Here is the link to the orignal post site http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/11510
And I must include one response from a typical hatefilled responder
He who smelt it.. dealt it.
Submitted by timseekers on Sat, 2009-01-03 14:36.
Its never been done before so we can never do it?
What sense does that make?
Sunday, January 04, 2009
So Long Christmas Vacation
And hello to work again! Vacation goes by faster now that I work at a school than it did when I attended it. I had plans to get a lot of chores done around the ol' abode but, as usual, I lagged. So I now have another 80 plus work days to go before summer vacation. And, as usual, I will make a lot of plans and probably not get much done other than a tan and a few bbq's in the backyard.
So Long Christmas Vacation
And hello to work again! Vacation goes by faster now that I work at a school than it did when I attended it. I had plans to get a lot of chores done around the ol' abode but, as usual, I lagged. So I now have another 80 plus work days to go before summer vacation. And, as usual, I will make a lot of plans and probably not get much done other than a tan and a few bbq's in the backyard.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Diversity Immigrant Visa Program: Invitation To Terrorist?
You bet it is and what a joke of a program. Why is this even needed? And of course, our enemies would never use a program like this to their advantage. In a time of war, this program should not be allowed. If this was 1943, I guess this program would allow Japanese and German in because they were under represented.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41385
In 2007, the Government Accountability Office issued a report indicating that nearly 9,800 aliens from state sponsors of terrorism have received diversity visas since 2000.
The report, however, indicated that the diversity visa lottery program was "susceptible to fraud" and was a way for terrorists to enter the country – though no incidences have yet been reported.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41385
In 2007, the Government Accountability Office issued a report indicating that nearly 9,800 aliens from state sponsors of terrorism have received diversity visas since 2000.
The report, however, indicated that the diversity visa lottery program was "susceptible to fraud" and was a way for terrorists to enter the country – though no incidences have yet been reported.
Diversity Immigrant Visa Program: Invitation To Terrorist?
You bet it is and what a joke of a program. Why is this even needed? And of course, our enemies would never use a program like this to their advantage. In a time of war, this program should not be allowed. If this was 1943, I guess this program would allow Japanese and German in because they were under represented.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41385
In 2007, the Government Accountability Office issued a report indicating that nearly 9,800 aliens from state sponsors of terrorism have received diversity visas since 2000.
The report, however, indicated that the diversity visa lottery program was "susceptible to fraud" and was a way for terrorists to enter the country – though no incidences have yet been reported.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41385
In 2007, the Government Accountability Office issued a report indicating that nearly 9,800 aliens from state sponsors of terrorism have received diversity visas since 2000.
The report, however, indicated that the diversity visa lottery program was "susceptible to fraud" and was a way for terrorists to enter the country – though no incidences have yet been reported.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Founding Catholic Fathers
Thanks to LSK from her blog. This is a wonderful article!
http://quietconsecration.blogspot.com/
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin. Nearly every schoolchild recognizes them as the Founding Fathers — signers of the Declaration of Independence, framers of the Constitution, heroes of the Revolutionary War.
There were a great many more Founding Fathers, however, even if their names are not so familiar as the above. Several of those lesser-known men who played key roles in the creation of the United States of America were Catholics. Chief among them were three members of the Carroll family of Maryland: Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence; his cousin Daniel Carroll; and Daniel Carroll's brother John Carroll, who became America's first Catholic bishop.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was the most illustrious and best-known of the Carrolls.
http://quietconsecration.blogspot.com/
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin. Nearly every schoolchild recognizes them as the Founding Fathers — signers of the Declaration of Independence, framers of the Constitution, heroes of the Revolutionary War.
There were a great many more Founding Fathers, however, even if their names are not so familiar as the above. Several of those lesser-known men who played key roles in the creation of the United States of America were Catholics. Chief among them were three members of the Carroll family of Maryland: Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence; his cousin Daniel Carroll; and Daniel Carroll's brother John Carroll, who became America's first Catholic bishop.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was the most illustrious and best-known of the Carrolls.
Founding Catholic Fathers
Thanks to LSK from her blog. This is a wonderful article!
http://quietconsecration.blogspot.com/
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin. Nearly every schoolchild recognizes them as the Founding Fathers — signers of the Declaration of Independence, framers of the Constitution, heroes of the Revolutionary War.
There were a great many more Founding Fathers, however, even if their names are not so familiar as the above. Several of those lesser-known men who played key roles in the creation of the United States of America were Catholics. Chief among them were three members of the Carroll family of Maryland: Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence; his cousin Daniel Carroll; and Daniel Carroll's brother John Carroll, who became America's first Catholic bishop.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was the most illustrious and best-known of the Carrolls.
http://quietconsecration.blogspot.com/
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin. Nearly every schoolchild recognizes them as the Founding Fathers — signers of the Declaration of Independence, framers of the Constitution, heroes of the Revolutionary War.
There were a great many more Founding Fathers, however, even if their names are not so familiar as the above. Several of those lesser-known men who played key roles in the creation of the United States of America were Catholics. Chief among them were three members of the Carroll family of Maryland: Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence; his cousin Daniel Carroll; and Daniel Carroll's brother John Carroll, who became America's first Catholic bishop.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was the most illustrious and best-known of the Carrolls.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
American Slavery Was Not Biblicaly Supported
‘Make Good Use of Your Servitude’
Some Observations on Biblical Interpretation and Slavery
by Michael Marlowe
October, 2003
“When you buy a Hebrew slave, six years shall he serve; and in the seventh shall he go out free, for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the slave shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: then his master shall bring him unto God, and he shall bring him to the door or unto the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”
—Exodus 21:2-6.
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”
—Ephesians 6:5-6.
If there is anything in the Bible that makes modern people nervous, it is its treatment of slavery. Slavery is humanely regulated in the legal portions of the Old Testament, and in the epistles of the New Testament slaveholders are exhorted to show kindness to slaves, but nowhere in the Bible is there anything which can be interpreted as a disapproval of the institution as such. People of our generation, Christians included, tend to have a very hard time with this, because it seems to amount to a tacit approval of the institution, and we balk at the idea that God did not consider the institution itself to be immoral.
Part of the problem is that we have false ideas about what slavery was really like. The life of a slave was not easy, but we get an exaggerated idea of the hardships of slavery from watching movies or reading historical material that is written on a popular level. Here the purpose is usually to dramatize the plight of slaves or to make some point about the evils of slavery in general, (1) but the historical reality was less dramatic. In most cases the life of a slave was not much different from the life of any lower-class worker. Those who have been in the military have experienced something like it — being legally bound to an employer and to a job that one cannot simply "quit" at will, not free to leave without permission, subject to discipline if one disobeys or is grossly negligent — all of this is familiar enough to those of us who have served in the military. And yet we know that the daily life of a good soldier is not especially hard. This is what it was like to be a slave.
Another problem is, when thinking about slavery we tend to have in mind the recent slavery of the black race in America, and so the whole subject of slavery gets mixed up with the issue of racism. But in ancient times, slavery was not associated with any particular race. By condoning slavery the Bible does not approve of racism.
A third reason why modern people have a hard time understanding the Bible's treatment of slavery is that we often now tend to confuse morality with political values. The modern tendency is to politicize everything, including even the Christian gospel. Moral philosophy or ethics has become so politicized that it seems to be almost a sub-department of political science now, which is why we have seen the rise of an elaborate political correctness in our public life. "Racism," "sexism," "homophobia," and so on, are the really serious sins under this new morality. Although we all know that people are not really equal, the egalitarian ideology of our time is considered to be of such overriding importance that any slight affront to it is considered sinful, while the principles of ordinary old-fashioned morality are downplayed and even denied. This political correctness is not merely a fad, it is the logical and inevitable result of the politicization of morality, the elaboration of an entirely new morality based upon political ideas of right and wrong.
In recent years the principle of equality has been raised to the status of a theological axiom in liberal churches. This is illustrated by the remarks made by an Episcopal bishop in an interview following his church's decision to appoint a homosexual bishop in the Summer of 2003. The "Right Reverend" John Bryson Chane appealed to the egalitarian principle in this manner:
When I look at where gay, lesbian, and transgender persons are, they have been excluded from the full sacramental life of the Episcopal Church in the United States — and, in fact, excluded from the full sacramental life pretty much within the Anglican Communion. What I have to say to that is if, in fact, we believe theologically that God created human beings in the good image of God as creator, and if we, in fact, believe that everybody is equal in God's eyes, then how in God's name can we say that we don't have enough theology to work this issue through? And how can we say that a person's sexuality does not allow them to enter into the full life of this communion? (2)
"Everybody is equal in God's eyes" is the premise, taken utterly for granted here, and in a rather sweeping way that includes not only spiritual matters but also matters of church government. But the authors of the Bible knew nothing of such modern egalitarian notions. Morality in the Bible is set forth as a personal matter, not a political matter, and it is certainly not based upon any idea that all people are of equal worth in God's eyes. Salvation in the Bible is no "equal opportunity" proposition either. As for the political and social order, the Bible does not direct us to anything beyond the hierarchical principles of order which pertained to the ancient world of kings and patriarchs, promising only that in due time a righteous Kingdom will come. This must be understood by anyone who wants to get a clear idea of what the Bible is all about. A sensible and honest reading of the Bible cannot be possible for those who would read into it the politicized egalitarian morality of our age. Even the most cherished idea of modern civil philosophy — that "all men are created equal," and "endowed with certain inalienable rights," as the American Declaration of Independance puts it — must be left behind by the student who would fully enter into the world of the Bible.
This is denied by many liberal scholars (e.g. John Dominic Crossan, Gerd Theissen, and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza), who, trying to put a 'biblical' coloring on their politicized version of Christianity, have argued that the New Testament contains some evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was a social revolutionary who founded a short-lived 'egalitarian' community based upon a 'discipleship of equals.' These scholars maintain that by the end of the first century the egalitarian program of Jesus was abandoned by his followers, who suppressed the egalitarianism of the early Church when they wrote or edited the New Testament documents. In two recent articles (3) John H. Elliott has reviewed these unconvincing efforts to find an egalitarian 'historical Jesus,' and in conclusion he finds it necessary to restate the obvious:
This concept that all persons are equal in respect to economic, social, legal, and political domains is of modern, Enlightenment origin and has been shaped by momentous economic, social, and political changes dramatically distancing our modern world from that of the biblical writers. The equality celebrated in the American and French revolutions, has little, if anything, in common with the comparatively rarely discussed concept of equality (more frequently "equity" or proportional equality) in the ancient world. Accordingly, searching for instances of egalitarianism in the New Testament communities, indeed in the ancient world on the whole, is as pointless as hunting for modern needles in ancient haystacks. (4)
As hard as this may be, it is only by prescinding from such modern cultural presuppositions and by adopting instead the presuppositions of the Bible's authors, that one can even begin to understand and respect its teachings as the word of God. As D.E. Nineham puts it:
If God has condescended to address men in the full particularity of their peculiar historical and cultured environments, then we have got to immerse ourselves fully and sympathetically in those environments, with their customs and values, ways of thinking and patterns of imagery, before we can understand either his demand or their response. (5)
Unfortunately, it is not only liberal scholars who refuse to immerse themselves sypathetically in the Bible, but also many 'evangelical' scholars. We are not always well served by our own conservative commentators and translators in this matter. There seems to be an apologetic motive at work here — the Bible is domesticated in order to avoid scandalizing those who would be shocked to discover how utterly foreign it is to modern values. (6) This tendency appears in many forms. Regarding slavery, some of our English translations remove the offense by using the word "servants" instead of "slaves," (7) and many evangelical expositors have tried to distract attention from the foreignness of the Bible's teaching on slavery by dwelling upon things in the Bible which they allege to be part of some latent egalitarian "trajectory." Usually reference is made to something or other in Paul's Epistle to Philemon, which is construed as if the whole point of the letter was to urge Philemon to free his slave Onesimus. But this attempt to discover and highlight some hidden egalitarian agenda in the Bible is all the more difficult for evangelicals because they cannot simply dismiss most of the New Testament by calling it "secondary," as do the liberals. And it not only fails to convince, but it is a serious misdirection, because it prevents people from coming to terms with the world-view of the Biblical authors.
However much we may want to find a Biblical case for the abolition of slavery, it is simply not there, not even in the Epistle to Philemon. (8) As George Elden Ladd puts it:
Paul has no word of criticism for the institution as such. In this sense, he was unconcerned about "social ethics" — the impact of the gospel on social structures. In fact, he admonishes slaves to be indifferent to their social status (1 Cor. 7:21), because a human slave is really a freedman of the Lord. (9)
1 Corinthians 7:21
Ladd mentions the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:21, which we will examine now in some detail, because some recent Bible versions have paraphrased the verse in such a way that it appears to be telling slaves that they should seek emancipation. But this interpretation is anachronistic and does violence to the context. In fact the meaning is quite the opposite. It is an instruction to slaves that they should care so little for worldly freedom that they should not even take notice of any opportunities to become free, as in the following modern versions:
New English Bible (margin). Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that trouble you; but even if a chance of liberty should come, choose rather to make good use of your servitude.
Revised English Bible (margin). Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that trouble you; but even if a chance of freedom should come, choose rather to make good use of your servitude.
Today's English Version (margin). Were you a slave when God called you? Well, never mind; but even if you have a chance to become a free man, choose rather to make the best of your condition as a slave.
New American Bible. Were you a slave when your call came? Give it no thought. Even supposing you could go free, you would be better off making the most of your slavery.
American Standard Version. Wast thou called being a bond-servant? care not for it: nay, even if thou canst become free, use it rather.
Revised Standard Version (margin). Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition instead.
New Revised Standard Version. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever.
The Church Fathers (early writers of the Church) favored this interpretation. See, for example, the commentaries of Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophlact. Here are Chrysostom's words on the verse:
"Let each man abide in that calling wherein he was called. Hast thou been called, having an unbelieving wife? Continue to have her. Cast not out thy wife for the faith's sake. Hast thou been called, being a slave? Care not for it. Continue to be a slave. Hast thou been called, being in uncircumcision? Remain uncircumcised. Being circumcised, didst thou become a believer? Continue circumcised. For this is the meaning of, "As God hath distributed unto each man." For these are no hindrances to piety. Thou art called, being a slave; another, with an unbelieving wife; another, being circumcised.
Astonishing! where has he put slavery? As circumcision profits not, and uncircumcision does no harm, so neither doth slavery, nor yet liberty. And that he might point out this with surpassing clearness, he says, "But even (All eikai dunasai) if thou canst become free, use it rather:" that is, rather continue a slave. Now upon what possible ground does he tell the person who might be set free to remain a slave? He means to point out that slavery is no harm but rather an advantage.
Now we are not ignorant that some say the words, "use it rather," are spoken with regard to liberty: interpreting it, "if thou canst become free, become free." But the expression would be very contrary to Paul's manner if he intended this. For he would not, when consoling the slave and signifying that he was in no respect injured, have told him to get free. Since perhaps someone might say, "What then, if I am not able? I am an injured and degraded person." This then is not what he says: but as I said, meaning to point out that a man gets nothing by being made free, he says, "Though thou hast it in thy power to be made free, remain rather in slavery."
Next he adds also the cause; "For he that was called in the Lord being a bondservant, is the Lord's free man: likewise he that was called, being free, is Christ's bondservant." "For," saith he, "in the things that relate to Christ, both are equal: and like as thou art the slave of Christ, so also is thy master. How then is the slave a free man? Because He has freed thee not only from sin, but also from outward slavery while continuing a slave. For he suffers not the slave to be a slave, not even though he be a man abiding in slavery: and this is the great wonder.
But how is the slave a free man while continuing a slave? When he is freed from passions and the diseases of the mind: when he looks down upon riches and wrath and all other the like passions.
Ver. 23. "Ye were bought with a price: become not bondservants of men." This saying is addressed not to slaves only but also to free men. For it is possible for one who is a slave not to be a slave; and for one who is a freeman to be a slave. "And how can one be a slave and not a slave?" When he doeth all for God: when he feigns nothing, and doeth nothing out of eye-service towards men: that is how one that is a slave to men can be free. Or again, how doth one that is free become a slave? When he serves men in any evil service, either for gluttony or desire of wealth or for office's sake. For such an one, though he be free, is more of a slave than any man. (10)
Early modern interpreters which follow this line include Camerarius, Estius, Wolf, Bengel, and many others. In the nineteenth century, de Wette, Osiander, Maier, Ewald, Baur, Vaihinger, Weiss, and Meyer. In recent years it generally prevails among scholarly commentators, as for example in C.K. Barrett's commentary:
"Were you a slave when you were called? See i.26 for the low social standing of many Corinthian Christians. Let not that trouble you, but even though you should be able to become free (emancipation could take place in a variety of ways, and was not infrequent) put up rather with your present status. A number of grammarians (e.g. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, i. 247; ii. 165; Moule, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, pp. 21, 167; M.E. Thrall, Greek Particles in the New Testament (1962), pp. 78-82), and many commentators, prefer to render, If you actually (ei kai) have an opportunity of becoming free, by all means (mallon, elative) seize it. This finds some support in the aorist tense of the imperative (crhsai), but does not make sense in the context; see especially the discussion, with references, in J.N. Sevenster, Paul and Seneca, pp. 189 f. (and the same context for a discussion of the Pauline and Stoic attitudes to slavery). Particularly important is the for (gar) with which the next verse begins: You need not hesitate to put up with your servile condition, for the slave who has been called in the Lord (that is, to be a Christian, one who is in Christ) is the Lord's freedman; and similarly the free man who has been called is Christ's slave." (11)
1 Timothy 1:10
Sometimes 1 Timothy 1:10 is mentioned as one verse which might indicate that the Bible considers slavery to be sinful. This misinterpretation was often put forth in abolitionist writings of the Civil-War Era. For example, in 1836 Angelina Grimke (a feminist abolitionist who was neither a scholar nor a believer in the Bible) wrote, "how can it be said Paul sanctioned slavery, when, as though to put this matter beyond all doubt, in that black catalogue of sins enumerated in his first epistle to Timothy, he mentions 'menstealers,' which word may be translated 'slavedealers'?" (12) The verse lists andrapodistaiV "menstealers" along with other ungodly and sinful persons (murderers, fornicators, sodomites, liars, etc.), and indeed this word is translated "slave traders" in the New International Version and in the New Living Translation. The New International Reader's Version (a revision of the NIV for children) even interprets it as, "people who buy and sell slaves." This is in keeping with Grimke's interpretation. But this is certainly not the meaning of the word. Thayer's Lexicon explains that the word means "one who steals the slaves of others and sells them" or "one who unjustly reduces free men to slavery." This crime was often committed in ancient times. Penalties for it are specified in the Mosaic Law (see Exodus 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7), and it is frequently mentioned by Greek writers as the crime of andrapodon. In the ancient Roman code known as the Lex Fabia (third-second century B.C.) these slave-snatchers were called plagiarii, and so the word is translated thus in the Vulgate. (13) So andrapodistaiV in 1 Timothy 1:10 does not refer to all slave traders, any more than the word pornoiV "whoremongers, fornicators" in the same verse could refer all men who have sexual relations with a woman. It refers to those who engage in an illegal activity, kidnapping of slaves, and not the legal slave-trade itself. For this reason, most Bible versions translate the word "kidnappers."
Why have the translators of the NIV and the NLT used the words "slave traders" here, without even indicating the correct interpretation in a footnote? One might expect the NIV Study Bible, at least, to indicate the meaning, but even in that copiously annotated edition of the NIV there is no explanatory note here. We also observe that the recently-published English Standard Version has "enslavers" here, which is somewhat better than "slave-traders," and it also has a note stating that the word means "those who take someone captive in order to sell him into slavery." But this translation and this note are also incorrect for two reasons: In ancient times those who were taken captive in war were often kept or sold as slaves, unless they were redeemed by the payment of a ransom, and this military custom was not considered to be andrapodon. It was considered to be a merciful alternative to the massacre of defeated enemies. (14) Also, the crime of andrapodon often involved the kidnapping of one who was already a slave, not the enslavement of one who had been free. If the translators were not satisfied with "kidnappers" because this word does not indicate the connection with the illegal slave trade, they might have rendered it "slave-kidnappers," but "enslavers" is not the meaning of this word.
We suspect an apologetic purpose for these mistranslations. All of these versions were sponsored by evangelical publishers, and many evangelical apologists have used isolated misinterpretations of 1 Timothy 1:10 in support of their contention that the Bible does not really condone slavery after all. But however well-meaning this may be, and however expedient it may be for apologists, it prevents people from really coming to terms with the world-view of the Biblical authors—a world-view which is very remote from modern egalitarian values and agendas.
None of this is to suggest that slavery is a good idea in the modern world. But it is a requirement of scholarly integrity, and of any true understanding of the Bible, that we should refrain from importing our own modern political and social values into the text.
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NOTES
1. For example, Schaff's History of the Christian Church (vol 1, chap. 8, § 48) hyperbolically states that at times there were perhaps twice as many slaves as freemen in the Roman empire, and that, while the treatment of slaves "depended on the character of the master," "as a rule it was harsh and cruel." Indeed, life was harsh for all working-class people in ancient Rome by modern standards. But it strains credulity when we are asked to believe (without any evidence presented for the sweeping assertion) that "the character of the master" was "as a rule ... cruel." Such characterizations belong more to the realm of melodrama than to history.
2. Radio interview with the Right Rev. John Bryson Chane, Bishop of Washington, DC, broadcast by National Public Radio on August 1, 2003 and subsequently published in the Public Broadcasting Corporation's Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. We note the irony of this appeal to the egalitarian principle in the context of the Episcopal Church's decision, which concerned the appointment of a homosexual to a prestigious and decidedly hierarchical office, with an honorific title and a pompous costume. Such ecclesiastical personages bear little resemblance to the "bishops" or overseers mentioned in the Bible.
3. John H. Elliott, "Jesus Was Not an Egalitarian. A Critique of an Anachronistic and Idealist Theory," Biblical Theology Bulletin 32/3 (2002). pp. 75-91; "The Jesus Movement Was Not Egalitarian but Family-oriented," Biblical Interpretation 11/2 (April 2003), pp. 173-210.
4. John H. Elliott, "The Jesus Movement Was Not Egalitarian," p. 174.
5. D.E. Nineham, The Church's Use of the Bible Past and Present (London: SPCK, 1963), p. 161.
6. This is not mere speculation. Douglas Groothuis, professor of apologetics at Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, has published on the internet a surprisingly frank article — "Apologetics: The Egalitarian Imperative" (dated June 04, 2002) — in which he argues that "biblical egalitarianism" is an "apologetic imperative" because "unbelievers recoil in horror, and reject the gospel without further thought" after hearing "pronouncements about female submission."
7. For example, the Revised Standard Version uses the word "servant" in Romans 1:1, where Paul really calls himself a "slave of Christ." It seems that the RSV editors were not entirely comfortable with this manner of speaking. One recent version, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, reluctantly uses the word "slave" with a bullet pointing to an editorial note in the appendix: "The strong Greek word doulos cannot be accurately translated in English by 'servant' or 'bond servant'; the HCSB translates this word as 'slave,' not out of insensitivity to the legitimate concerns of modern English speakers, but out of a commitment to accurately convey the brutal reality of the Roman Empire's inhumane institution as well as the ownership called for by Christ." It seems that the editors could not bring themselves to use the word "slave" without a note denouncing slavery as an inhumane and brutal institution. But we observe that Paul and the other biblical authors were not moved to make any such apology for their use of the word doulos. Rather, as the HCSB note mentions, they used the word as a very apt one to express the 'ownership called for by Christ.' But would they have done this if the reality of slavery in ancient Rome was as brutal and inhumane as the writer of this note seems to think? Wayne Grudem, one of the translators of the English Standard Version, maintains that "the word 'slave' is probably not the best translation of the Greek word doulos" because in ancient times slavery "was an institution far different from the horrible abuses of slavery in the 18th and 19th century in North America" (Interview with Adrian Warnock, 8 Dec. 2006).
8. The apologists for slavery in the Confederate States of America produced some writings on this subject which are today usually dismissed as mere special-pleading, and perhaps rightly so. But whatever one may think of their motives, it should be recognized that their opponents were much more guilty of special-pleading when they tried to use the Bible in support of the abolitionist cause. The truth is, the Bible gives no deliberate support to either side of this political question, because the Bible was not written for political purposes. For an interesting critique of the abolitionist use of Scripture see the discussion in chapter 3 of Albert Taylor Bledsoe's An Essay on Liberty and Slavery (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & co., 1856).
9. George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), p. 529.
10. Homily XIX on 1 Corinthians. English translation from Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. American edition. Series I, Vol. XII (New York, 1889).
11. C.K. Barrett, A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), p. 170f.
12. Angelina Grimke, "Appeal to the Christian women of the South," in The Anti-Slavery Examiner 1/2 (New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836)
13. For details on the Roman law see the article "Plagium" by George Long in A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, ed. William Smith (London: John Murray, 1875).
14. It is not at all clear how this ancient practice can be called less humane than the modern practice of deliberately and wantonly destroying civilian populations by aerial bombardment, as was done by Allied forces during the Second World War. This policy of "total war" against the population of a foreign country, which is even now the plan of the American military in the event of nuclear war, can hardly be called more humane than slavery.
Some Observations on Biblical Interpretation and Slavery
by Michael Marlowe
October, 2003
“When you buy a Hebrew slave, six years shall he serve; and in the seventh shall he go out free, for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the slave shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: then his master shall bring him unto God, and he shall bring him to the door or unto the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”
—Exodus 21:2-6.
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”
—Ephesians 6:5-6.
If there is anything in the Bible that makes modern people nervous, it is its treatment of slavery. Slavery is humanely regulated in the legal portions of the Old Testament, and in the epistles of the New Testament slaveholders are exhorted to show kindness to slaves, but nowhere in the Bible is there anything which can be interpreted as a disapproval of the institution as such. People of our generation, Christians included, tend to have a very hard time with this, because it seems to amount to a tacit approval of the institution, and we balk at the idea that God did not consider the institution itself to be immoral.
Part of the problem is that we have false ideas about what slavery was really like. The life of a slave was not easy, but we get an exaggerated idea of the hardships of slavery from watching movies or reading historical material that is written on a popular level. Here the purpose is usually to dramatize the plight of slaves or to make some point about the evils of slavery in general, (1) but the historical reality was less dramatic. In most cases the life of a slave was not much different from the life of any lower-class worker. Those who have been in the military have experienced something like it — being legally bound to an employer and to a job that one cannot simply "quit" at will, not free to leave without permission, subject to discipline if one disobeys or is grossly negligent — all of this is familiar enough to those of us who have served in the military. And yet we know that the daily life of a good soldier is not especially hard. This is what it was like to be a slave.
Another problem is, when thinking about slavery we tend to have in mind the recent slavery of the black race in America, and so the whole subject of slavery gets mixed up with the issue of racism. But in ancient times, slavery was not associated with any particular race. By condoning slavery the Bible does not approve of racism.
A third reason why modern people have a hard time understanding the Bible's treatment of slavery is that we often now tend to confuse morality with political values. The modern tendency is to politicize everything, including even the Christian gospel. Moral philosophy or ethics has become so politicized that it seems to be almost a sub-department of political science now, which is why we have seen the rise of an elaborate political correctness in our public life. "Racism," "sexism," "homophobia," and so on, are the really serious sins under this new morality. Although we all know that people are not really equal, the egalitarian ideology of our time is considered to be of such overriding importance that any slight affront to it is considered sinful, while the principles of ordinary old-fashioned morality are downplayed and even denied. This political correctness is not merely a fad, it is the logical and inevitable result of the politicization of morality, the elaboration of an entirely new morality based upon political ideas of right and wrong.
In recent years the principle of equality has been raised to the status of a theological axiom in liberal churches. This is illustrated by the remarks made by an Episcopal bishop in an interview following his church's decision to appoint a homosexual bishop in the Summer of 2003. The "Right Reverend" John Bryson Chane appealed to the egalitarian principle in this manner:
When I look at where gay, lesbian, and transgender persons are, they have been excluded from the full sacramental life of the Episcopal Church in the United States — and, in fact, excluded from the full sacramental life pretty much within the Anglican Communion. What I have to say to that is if, in fact, we believe theologically that God created human beings in the good image of God as creator, and if we, in fact, believe that everybody is equal in God's eyes, then how in God's name can we say that we don't have enough theology to work this issue through? And how can we say that a person's sexuality does not allow them to enter into the full life of this communion? (2)
"Everybody is equal in God's eyes" is the premise, taken utterly for granted here, and in a rather sweeping way that includes not only spiritual matters but also matters of church government. But the authors of the Bible knew nothing of such modern egalitarian notions. Morality in the Bible is set forth as a personal matter, not a political matter, and it is certainly not based upon any idea that all people are of equal worth in God's eyes. Salvation in the Bible is no "equal opportunity" proposition either. As for the political and social order, the Bible does not direct us to anything beyond the hierarchical principles of order which pertained to the ancient world of kings and patriarchs, promising only that in due time a righteous Kingdom will come. This must be understood by anyone who wants to get a clear idea of what the Bible is all about. A sensible and honest reading of the Bible cannot be possible for those who would read into it the politicized egalitarian morality of our age. Even the most cherished idea of modern civil philosophy — that "all men are created equal," and "endowed with certain inalienable rights," as the American Declaration of Independance puts it — must be left behind by the student who would fully enter into the world of the Bible.
This is denied by many liberal scholars (e.g. John Dominic Crossan, Gerd Theissen, and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza), who, trying to put a 'biblical' coloring on their politicized version of Christianity, have argued that the New Testament contains some evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was a social revolutionary who founded a short-lived 'egalitarian' community based upon a 'discipleship of equals.' These scholars maintain that by the end of the first century the egalitarian program of Jesus was abandoned by his followers, who suppressed the egalitarianism of the early Church when they wrote or edited the New Testament documents. In two recent articles (3) John H. Elliott has reviewed these unconvincing efforts to find an egalitarian 'historical Jesus,' and in conclusion he finds it necessary to restate the obvious:
This concept that all persons are equal in respect to economic, social, legal, and political domains is of modern, Enlightenment origin and has been shaped by momentous economic, social, and political changes dramatically distancing our modern world from that of the biblical writers. The equality celebrated in the American and French revolutions, has little, if anything, in common with the comparatively rarely discussed concept of equality (more frequently "equity" or proportional equality) in the ancient world. Accordingly, searching for instances of egalitarianism in the New Testament communities, indeed in the ancient world on the whole, is as pointless as hunting for modern needles in ancient haystacks. (4)
As hard as this may be, it is only by prescinding from such modern cultural presuppositions and by adopting instead the presuppositions of the Bible's authors, that one can even begin to understand and respect its teachings as the word of God. As D.E. Nineham puts it:
If God has condescended to address men in the full particularity of their peculiar historical and cultured environments, then we have got to immerse ourselves fully and sympathetically in those environments, with their customs and values, ways of thinking and patterns of imagery, before we can understand either his demand or their response. (5)
Unfortunately, it is not only liberal scholars who refuse to immerse themselves sypathetically in the Bible, but also many 'evangelical' scholars. We are not always well served by our own conservative commentators and translators in this matter. There seems to be an apologetic motive at work here — the Bible is domesticated in order to avoid scandalizing those who would be shocked to discover how utterly foreign it is to modern values. (6) This tendency appears in many forms. Regarding slavery, some of our English translations remove the offense by using the word "servants" instead of "slaves," (7) and many evangelical expositors have tried to distract attention from the foreignness of the Bible's teaching on slavery by dwelling upon things in the Bible which they allege to be part of some latent egalitarian "trajectory." Usually reference is made to something or other in Paul's Epistle to Philemon, which is construed as if the whole point of the letter was to urge Philemon to free his slave Onesimus. But this attempt to discover and highlight some hidden egalitarian agenda in the Bible is all the more difficult for evangelicals because they cannot simply dismiss most of the New Testament by calling it "secondary," as do the liberals. And it not only fails to convince, but it is a serious misdirection, because it prevents people from coming to terms with the world-view of the Biblical authors.
However much we may want to find a Biblical case for the abolition of slavery, it is simply not there, not even in the Epistle to Philemon. (8) As George Elden Ladd puts it:
Paul has no word of criticism for the institution as such. In this sense, he was unconcerned about "social ethics" — the impact of the gospel on social structures. In fact, he admonishes slaves to be indifferent to their social status (1 Cor. 7:21), because a human slave is really a freedman of the Lord. (9)
1 Corinthians 7:21
Ladd mentions the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:21, which we will examine now in some detail, because some recent Bible versions have paraphrased the verse in such a way that it appears to be telling slaves that they should seek emancipation. But this interpretation is anachronistic and does violence to the context. In fact the meaning is quite the opposite. It is an instruction to slaves that they should care so little for worldly freedom that they should not even take notice of any opportunities to become free, as in the following modern versions:
New English Bible (margin). Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that trouble you; but even if a chance of liberty should come, choose rather to make good use of your servitude.
Revised English Bible (margin). Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that trouble you; but even if a chance of freedom should come, choose rather to make good use of your servitude.
Today's English Version (margin). Were you a slave when God called you? Well, never mind; but even if you have a chance to become a free man, choose rather to make the best of your condition as a slave.
New American Bible. Were you a slave when your call came? Give it no thought. Even supposing you could go free, you would be better off making the most of your slavery.
American Standard Version. Wast thou called being a bond-servant? care not for it: nay, even if thou canst become free, use it rather.
Revised Standard Version (margin). Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition instead.
New Revised Standard Version. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever.
The Church Fathers (early writers of the Church) favored this interpretation. See, for example, the commentaries of Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophlact. Here are Chrysostom's words on the verse:
"Let each man abide in that calling wherein he was called. Hast thou been called, having an unbelieving wife? Continue to have her. Cast not out thy wife for the faith's sake. Hast thou been called, being a slave? Care not for it. Continue to be a slave. Hast thou been called, being in uncircumcision? Remain uncircumcised. Being circumcised, didst thou become a believer? Continue circumcised. For this is the meaning of, "As God hath distributed unto each man." For these are no hindrances to piety. Thou art called, being a slave; another, with an unbelieving wife; another, being circumcised.
Astonishing! where has he put slavery? As circumcision profits not, and uncircumcision does no harm, so neither doth slavery, nor yet liberty. And that he might point out this with surpassing clearness, he says, "But even (All eikai dunasai) if thou canst become free, use it rather:" that is, rather continue a slave. Now upon what possible ground does he tell the person who might be set free to remain a slave? He means to point out that slavery is no harm but rather an advantage.
Now we are not ignorant that some say the words, "use it rather," are spoken with regard to liberty: interpreting it, "if thou canst become free, become free." But the expression would be very contrary to Paul's manner if he intended this. For he would not, when consoling the slave and signifying that he was in no respect injured, have told him to get free. Since perhaps someone might say, "What then, if I am not able? I am an injured and degraded person." This then is not what he says: but as I said, meaning to point out that a man gets nothing by being made free, he says, "Though thou hast it in thy power to be made free, remain rather in slavery."
Next he adds also the cause; "For he that was called in the Lord being a bondservant, is the Lord's free man: likewise he that was called, being free, is Christ's bondservant." "For," saith he, "in the things that relate to Christ, both are equal: and like as thou art the slave of Christ, so also is thy master. How then is the slave a free man? Because He has freed thee not only from sin, but also from outward slavery while continuing a slave. For he suffers not the slave to be a slave, not even though he be a man abiding in slavery: and this is the great wonder.
But how is the slave a free man while continuing a slave? When he is freed from passions and the diseases of the mind: when he looks down upon riches and wrath and all other the like passions.
Ver. 23. "Ye were bought with a price: become not bondservants of men." This saying is addressed not to slaves only but also to free men. For it is possible for one who is a slave not to be a slave; and for one who is a freeman to be a slave. "And how can one be a slave and not a slave?" When he doeth all for God: when he feigns nothing, and doeth nothing out of eye-service towards men: that is how one that is a slave to men can be free. Or again, how doth one that is free become a slave? When he serves men in any evil service, either for gluttony or desire of wealth or for office's sake. For such an one, though he be free, is more of a slave than any man. (10)
Early modern interpreters which follow this line include Camerarius, Estius, Wolf, Bengel, and many others. In the nineteenth century, de Wette, Osiander, Maier, Ewald, Baur, Vaihinger, Weiss, and Meyer. In recent years it generally prevails among scholarly commentators, as for example in C.K. Barrett's commentary:
"Were you a slave when you were called? See i.26 for the low social standing of many Corinthian Christians. Let not that trouble you, but even though you should be able to become free (emancipation could take place in a variety of ways, and was not infrequent) put up rather with your present status. A number of grammarians (e.g. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, i. 247; ii. 165; Moule, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, pp. 21, 167; M.E. Thrall, Greek Particles in the New Testament (1962), pp. 78-82), and many commentators, prefer to render, If you actually (ei kai) have an opportunity of becoming free, by all means (mallon, elative) seize it. This finds some support in the aorist tense of the imperative (crhsai), but does not make sense in the context; see especially the discussion, with references, in J.N. Sevenster, Paul and Seneca, pp. 189 f. (and the same context for a discussion of the Pauline and Stoic attitudes to slavery). Particularly important is the for (gar) with which the next verse begins: You need not hesitate to put up with your servile condition, for the slave who has been called in the Lord (that is, to be a Christian, one who is in Christ) is the Lord's freedman; and similarly the free man who has been called is Christ's slave." (11)
1 Timothy 1:10
Sometimes 1 Timothy 1:10 is mentioned as one verse which might indicate that the Bible considers slavery to be sinful. This misinterpretation was often put forth in abolitionist writings of the Civil-War Era. For example, in 1836 Angelina Grimke (a feminist abolitionist who was neither a scholar nor a believer in the Bible) wrote, "how can it be said Paul sanctioned slavery, when, as though to put this matter beyond all doubt, in that black catalogue of sins enumerated in his first epistle to Timothy, he mentions 'menstealers,' which word may be translated 'slavedealers'?" (12) The verse lists andrapodistaiV "menstealers" along with other ungodly and sinful persons (murderers, fornicators, sodomites, liars, etc.), and indeed this word is translated "slave traders" in the New International Version and in the New Living Translation. The New International Reader's Version (a revision of the NIV for children) even interprets it as, "people who buy and sell slaves." This is in keeping with Grimke's interpretation. But this is certainly not the meaning of the word. Thayer's Lexicon explains that the word means "one who steals the slaves of others and sells them" or "one who unjustly reduces free men to slavery." This crime was often committed in ancient times. Penalties for it are specified in the Mosaic Law (see Exodus 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7), and it is frequently mentioned by Greek writers as the crime of andrapodon. In the ancient Roman code known as the Lex Fabia (third-second century B.C.) these slave-snatchers were called plagiarii, and so the word is translated thus in the Vulgate. (13) So andrapodistaiV in 1 Timothy 1:10 does not refer to all slave traders, any more than the word pornoiV "whoremongers, fornicators" in the same verse could refer all men who have sexual relations with a woman. It refers to those who engage in an illegal activity, kidnapping of slaves, and not the legal slave-trade itself. For this reason, most Bible versions translate the word "kidnappers."
Why have the translators of the NIV and the NLT used the words "slave traders" here, without even indicating the correct interpretation in a footnote? One might expect the NIV Study Bible, at least, to indicate the meaning, but even in that copiously annotated edition of the NIV there is no explanatory note here. We also observe that the recently-published English Standard Version has "enslavers" here, which is somewhat better than "slave-traders," and it also has a note stating that the word means "those who take someone captive in order to sell him into slavery." But this translation and this note are also incorrect for two reasons: In ancient times those who were taken captive in war were often kept or sold as slaves, unless they were redeemed by the payment of a ransom, and this military custom was not considered to be andrapodon. It was considered to be a merciful alternative to the massacre of defeated enemies. (14) Also, the crime of andrapodon often involved the kidnapping of one who was already a slave, not the enslavement of one who had been free. If the translators were not satisfied with "kidnappers" because this word does not indicate the connection with the illegal slave trade, they might have rendered it "slave-kidnappers," but "enslavers" is not the meaning of this word.
We suspect an apologetic purpose for these mistranslations. All of these versions were sponsored by evangelical publishers, and many evangelical apologists have used isolated misinterpretations of 1 Timothy 1:10 in support of their contention that the Bible does not really condone slavery after all. But however well-meaning this may be, and however expedient it may be for apologists, it prevents people from really coming to terms with the world-view of the Biblical authors—a world-view which is very remote from modern egalitarian values and agendas.
None of this is to suggest that slavery is a good idea in the modern world. But it is a requirement of scholarly integrity, and of any true understanding of the Bible, that we should refrain from importing our own modern political and social values into the text.
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NOTES
1. For example, Schaff's History of the Christian Church (vol 1, chap. 8, § 48) hyperbolically states that at times there were perhaps twice as many slaves as freemen in the Roman empire, and that, while the treatment of slaves "depended on the character of the master," "as a rule it was harsh and cruel." Indeed, life was harsh for all working-class people in ancient Rome by modern standards. But it strains credulity when we are asked to believe (without any evidence presented for the sweeping assertion) that "the character of the master" was "as a rule ... cruel." Such characterizations belong more to the realm of melodrama than to history.
2. Radio interview with the Right Rev. John Bryson Chane, Bishop of Washington, DC, broadcast by National Public Radio on August 1, 2003 and subsequently published in the Public Broadcasting Corporation's Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. We note the irony of this appeal to the egalitarian principle in the context of the Episcopal Church's decision, which concerned the appointment of a homosexual to a prestigious and decidedly hierarchical office, with an honorific title and a pompous costume. Such ecclesiastical personages bear little resemblance to the "bishops" or overseers mentioned in the Bible.
3. John H. Elliott, "Jesus Was Not an Egalitarian. A Critique of an Anachronistic and Idealist Theory," Biblical Theology Bulletin 32/3 (2002). pp. 75-91; "The Jesus Movement Was Not Egalitarian but Family-oriented," Biblical Interpretation 11/2 (April 2003), pp. 173-210.
4. John H. Elliott, "The Jesus Movement Was Not Egalitarian," p. 174.
5. D.E. Nineham, The Church's Use of the Bible Past and Present (London: SPCK, 1963), p. 161.
6. This is not mere speculation. Douglas Groothuis, professor of apologetics at Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, has published on the internet a surprisingly frank article — "Apologetics: The Egalitarian Imperative" (dated June 04, 2002) — in which he argues that "biblical egalitarianism" is an "apologetic imperative" because "unbelievers recoil in horror, and reject the gospel without further thought" after hearing "pronouncements about female submission."
7. For example, the Revised Standard Version uses the word "servant" in Romans 1:1, where Paul really calls himself a "slave of Christ." It seems that the RSV editors were not entirely comfortable with this manner of speaking. One recent version, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, reluctantly uses the word "slave" with a bullet pointing to an editorial note in the appendix: "The strong Greek word doulos cannot be accurately translated in English by 'servant' or 'bond servant'; the HCSB translates this word as 'slave,' not out of insensitivity to the legitimate concerns of modern English speakers, but out of a commitment to accurately convey the brutal reality of the Roman Empire's inhumane institution as well as the ownership called for by Christ." It seems that the editors could not bring themselves to use the word "slave" without a note denouncing slavery as an inhumane and brutal institution. But we observe that Paul and the other biblical authors were not moved to make any such apology for their use of the word doulos. Rather, as the HCSB note mentions, they used the word as a very apt one to express the 'ownership called for by Christ.' But would they have done this if the reality of slavery in ancient Rome was as brutal and inhumane as the writer of this note seems to think? Wayne Grudem, one of the translators of the English Standard Version, maintains that "the word 'slave' is probably not the best translation of the Greek word doulos" because in ancient times slavery "was an institution far different from the horrible abuses of slavery in the 18th and 19th century in North America" (Interview with Adrian Warnock, 8 Dec. 2006).
8. The apologists for slavery in the Confederate States of America produced some writings on this subject which are today usually dismissed as mere special-pleading, and perhaps rightly so. But whatever one may think of their motives, it should be recognized that their opponents were much more guilty of special-pleading when they tried to use the Bible in support of the abolitionist cause. The truth is, the Bible gives no deliberate support to either side of this political question, because the Bible was not written for political purposes. For an interesting critique of the abolitionist use of Scripture see the discussion in chapter 3 of Albert Taylor Bledsoe's An Essay on Liberty and Slavery (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & co., 1856).
9. George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), p. 529.
10. Homily XIX on 1 Corinthians. English translation from Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. American edition. Series I, Vol. XII (New York, 1889).
11. C.K. Barrett, A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), p. 170f.
12. Angelina Grimke, "Appeal to the Christian women of the South," in The Anti-Slavery Examiner 1/2 (New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836)
13. For details on the Roman law see the article "Plagium" by George Long in A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, ed. William Smith (London: John Murray, 1875).
14. It is not at all clear how this ancient practice can be called less humane than the modern practice of deliberately and wantonly destroying civilian populations by aerial bombardment, as was done by Allied forces during the Second World War. This policy of "total war" against the population of a foreign country, which is even now the plan of the American military in the event of nuclear war, can hardly be called more humane than slavery.
Jame Madison
http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=105
David Barton - 09/2002
In recent days, Michael Newdow - infamous for his successful initiation of the ruling striking down "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance - has broadened his efforts and has filed suit against the use of chaplains in the U. S. House and Senate. In his public appearances defending this newest pursuit, Newdow cites James Madison's quotes from his "Detached Memoranda" as his authority in opposing chaplains. Did Madison actually oppose chaplains in Congress? Yes, and no.
Madison's religious views and activities are numerous, as are his writings on religion. They are at times self-contradictory, and his statements about religion are such that opposing positions can each invoke Madison as its authority. An understanding of Madison's religious views is complicated by the fact that his early actions were at direct variance with his later opinions. Consider six examples of his early actions.
First, Madison was publicly outspoken about his personal Christian beliefs and convictions. For example, he encouraged his friend, William Bradford (who served as Attorney General under President Washington), to make sure of his own spiritual salvation:
[A] watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.[1]
Madison even desired that all public officials - including Bradford - would declare openly and publicly their Christian beliefs and testimony:
I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; and I wish you may give in your evidence in this way. [2]
Second, Madison was a member of the committee that authored the 1776 Virginia Bill of Rights and approved of its clause declaring that:
It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other. [3] (emphasis added)
Third, Madison's proposed wording for the First Amendment demonstrates that he opposed only the establishment of a federal denomination, not public religious activities. His proposal declared:
The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established. [4] (emphasis added)
(Madison reemphasized that position throughout the debates. [5])
Fourth, in 1789, Madison served on the Congressional committee which authorized, approved, and selected paid Congressional chaplains. [6]
Fifth, in 1812, President Madison signed a federal bill which economically aided a Bible Society in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible. [7]
Sixth, throughout his Presidency (1809-1816), Madison endorsed public and official religious expressions by issuing several proclamations for national days of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving. [8]
These were the early actions of Madison. In later life Madison retreated from many of these positions, even declaring in his "Detached Memoranda" his belief that having paid chaplains and issuing presidential prayer proclamations were unconstitutional. Recent Courts have made a point of citing Madison's "Detached Memoranda" in arguing against public religious expressions. [9]
Significantly, the "Detached Memoranda" was "discovered" in 1946 in the papers of Madison biographer William Cabell Rives and was first published more than a century after Madison's death by Elizabeth Fleet in the October 1946 William & Mary Quarterly. In that work, Madison expressed his opposition to many of his own earlier beliefs and practices and set forth a new set of beliefs formerly unknown even to his closest friends. Since Madison never made public or shared with his peers his sentiments found in the "Detached Memoranda," and since his own public actions were at direct variance with this later writing, it is difficult to argue that it reflects the Founders' intent toward religion.
There were fifty-five individuals directly involved in framing the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention, and an additional ninety in the first federal Congress that framed the First Amendment and Bill of Rights. Allowing for the overlap of nineteen individuals who were both at the Constitutional Convention and a part of the first Congress, [10] there were one hundred and twenty-six individual participants in the framing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The records of the Constitutional Convention demonstrate that James Madison was often out of step with these Founders. The other delegates rejected Madison's Virginia plan in preference for Roger Sherman's Connecticut plan and voted down 40 of Madison's 71 proposals (60 percent). [11] Nevertheless, today Madison is cited as if he is the only authority among the Founding Fathers and the only expert on the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights.
Was Madison responsible for the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights? Definitely not. In fact, during the Constitutional Convention, it was Virginian George Mason that advocated that a Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution, [12] but the other Virginians at the Convention - including James Madison - opposed any Bill of Rights and their position prevailed. [13] Consequently, George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, Edmund Randolph, and others at the Convention refused to sign the new Constitution because of their fear of insufficiently bridled federal power. [14]
Mason and the others returned to their home States to lobby against the ratification of the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was added. As a result of their voices (and numerous others who agreed with them), the ratification of the Constitution almost failed in Virginia, [15] Massachusetts, [16] New Hampshire, [17] and New York. [18] Rhode Island flatly refused to ratify it, [19] and North Carolina refused to do so until limitations were placed upon the federal government. [20] Although the Constitution was eventually ratified, a clear message had been delivered: there was strong sentiment demanding the inclusion of a Bill of Rights.
When the Constitution was considered for ratification, the reports from June 2 through June 25, 1788, make clear that in Virginia, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Edmund Randolph led the fight for the Bill of Rights, again over James Madison's opposition. [21] Henry's passionate speeches of June 5 and June 7 resulted in Virginia's motion that a Bill of Rights be added to the federal Constitution; and on June 25, the Virginia Convention selected George Mason to chair a committee to prepare a proposed Bill of Rights, [22] with Patrick Henry and John Randolph as members. [23] Mason incorporated Henry's arguments as the basis of Virginia's proposal on religious liberty. [24]
Although Madison had opposed a Bill of Rights, he understood the grim political reality that without one, it was unlikely the new Constitution would receive widespread public acceptance. [25] Consequently, he withdrew his opposition, and in the federal House of Representatives he introduced his own versions of the amendments offered by his State.
Very little of Madison's proposed religious wording made it into the final version of the First Amendment; and even a cursory examination of the Annals of Congress surrounding the formation of that Amendment quickly reveals the influence of Fisher Ames and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, Samuel Livermore of New Hampshire, John Vining of Delaware, Daniel Carroll and Charles Carroll of Maryland, Benjamin Huntington, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, William Paterson of New Jersey, and others on that Amendment. [26]
The failure to rely on Founders other than Madison seems to imply that no other Founders were qualified to address First Amendment issues or that there exists no pertinent recorded statements from the other Founders. Both implications are wrong: numerous Founders played pivotal roles; and thousands of their writings do exist.
However, if critics of public religious expression believe that only a Virginian may speak for the nation on the issue of religion (they usually cite either Madison or Jefferson), then why not George Mason, the "Father of the Bill of Rights"? Or Richard Henry Lee who not only framed Virginia's proposals but who also was a Member of the first federal Congress where he helped frame the Bill of Rights? Or why not George Washington? Perhaps the reason that these other Virginians are ignored (as are most of the other Framers) is because both their words and actions unequivocally contradict the image portrayed by the one-sided picture of Madison given by those who cite only his "Detached Memoranda."
George Washington provides a succinct illustration. During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words "So help me God!" to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible. [27] His "Inaugural Address" was filled with numerous religious references, [28] and following that address, he and the Congress "proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel, where Divine service was performed." [29]
Only weeks later, Washington signed his first major federal bill [30] - the Northwest Ordinance, drafted concurrently with the creation of the First Amendment. [31] That act stipulated that for a territory to become a State, the "schools and the means of education" in that territory must encourage the "religion, morality, and knowledge" that was "necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind." [32] Conforming to this requirement, numerous subsequent State constitutions included that clause, [33] and it still appears in State constitutions today. [34] Furthermore, that law is listed in the current federal code, along with the Constitution, the Declaration, and the Articles of Confederation, as one of America's four "organic" or foundational laws. [35]
Finally, in his "Farewell Address," Washington reminded the nation:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness. . . . The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. [36]
Washington - indisputably a constitutional expert - declared that religion and morality were inseparable from government, and that no true patriot, whether politician or clergyman, would attempt to weaken the relationship between government and the influence of religion and morality.
Or why not cite the actions of the entire body of Founding Fathers? For example, in 1800, when Washington, D. C., became the national capital and the President moved into the White House and Congress into the Capitol, Congress approved the use of the Capitol building as a church building for Christian worship services. [37] In fact, Christian worship services on Sunday were also started at the Treasury Building and at the War Office. [38]
John Quincy Adams, a U. S. Senator, made frequent references to these services. Typical of his almost weekly entries are these:
[R]eligious service is usually performed on Sundays at the Treasury office and at the Capitol. I went both forenoon and afternoon to the Treasury. October 23, 1803. [39]
Attended public service at the Capitol, where Mr. Ratoon, an Episcopalian clergyman from Baltimore, preached a sermon. October 30, 1803. [40]
The Rev. Mannasseh Cutler, a U. S. Congressman (as well as a chaplain in the Revolution and a physician and scientist) similarly recorded in 1804:
December 23, Sunday. Attended worship at the Treasury. Mr. [James] Laurie [pastor of the Presbyterian Church] alone [preached]. Sacrament [communion]. Full assembly. Three tables; service very solemn; nearly four hours. Cold day. [41]
By1867, the church in the Capitol had become the largest church in Washington, and the largest Protestant church in America. [42]
There are numerous other public religious activities by the Founding Fathers that might be cited, and Madison participated and facilitated many of them. Yet Madison later privately renounced his own practices, thus distancing himself from his own beliefs and practices as well as those of the other Founders. Therefore, to use Madison's "Detached Memoranda" as authoritative is a flagrant abuse of historical records, choosing a long unknown ex post facto document in preference to those concurrent with the framing and implementation of the First Amendment.
Newdow's use of James Madison is typical of most revisionists: it gives only the part of the story with which he agrees and omits the part with which he disagrees. If Newdow wants to take the position that the "Founding Fathers" (plural) opposed the use of chaplains, then he must provide evidence from more than one Founder; he must show that the majority of the Founders opposed chaplains - something that he cannot do.
WallBuilders has a resource that provides comprehensive information on the Founders views on the Constitution (see Original Intent).
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ENDNOTES
[1] Letter of Madison to William Bradford (November 9, 1772), in 1 James Madison, The Letters and Other Writings of James Madison 5-6 (New York: R. Worthington 1884).
[2] Letter of Madison to William Bradford (September 25, 1773), in 1 James Madison, The Papers of James Madison 66 (William T. Hutchinson ed., Illinois: University of Chicago Press 1962).
[3] The Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates, Held at the Capitol in the City of Williamsburg, in the Colony of Virginia, on Monday the 6th of May, 1776, 103 (Williamsburg: Alexander Purdie 1776) (Madison on the Committee on May 16, 1776; the "Declaration of Rights" passed June 12, 1776).
[4] 1 The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States 451, 1st Cong., 1st Sess. (Washington, D. C.: Gales & Seaton 1834) (June 8, 1789).
[5] 1 Debates and Proceedings 758-759 (1834 ed.) (August 15, 1789).
[6] 1 Debates and Proceedings 109 (1834 ed.) (April 9, 1789).
[7] Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States 1325, 12th Cong., 2nd Sess. (Washington: Gales & Seaton 1853) ("An Act for the relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia. Be it enacted, &c., That the duties arising and due to the United States upon certain stereotype plates, imported during the last year into the port of Philadelphia, on board the ship Brilliant, by the Bible Society of Philadelphia, for the purpose of printing editions of the Holy Bible, be and the same are hereby remitted, on behalf of the United States, to the said society: and any bond or security given for the securing of the payment of the said duties shall be cancelled. Approved February 2, 1813.")
[8] 1 James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897, 513 (Published by Authority of Congress 1899) (July 9, 1812), 532-533 (July 23, 1813), 558 (November 16, 1814), and 560-561 (March 4, 1815).
[9] See, for example, Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 617 (1992); Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783, 791 (1983); ACLU v. Capitol Square Review, 243 F.3d 289 (6th Cir. 2001); Sherman v. Cmty. Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437 (7th Cir. 1992); American Jewish Congress v. City of Chicago, 827 F.2d 120 (7th Cir. 1787), and others.
[10] Ten members of the Constitutional Convention also served in the first federal Senate (William Few, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, William Paterson, Robert Morris, Oliver Ellsworth, William Samuel Johnson, Caleb Strong, and John Langdon) and nine members of the Convention served in the first federal House (Abraham Baldwin, James Madison, Hugh Williamson, Daniel Carroll, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Roger Sherman, Elbridge Gerry, and Nicholas Gilman).
[11] Forrest McDonald, Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution 208-209 (Lawrence, Kansas, 1985), compiled from The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (Max Farrand, ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, 216, 373, and Vol. II, 45, 306, 324-325, 345, 440, 500, and 617.
[12] 3 James Madison, The Papers of James Madison 1566 (Henry D. Gilpin, ed., Washington: Langress and O'Sullivan, 1840) (Wednesday, September 12, 1787); see also 2 George Bancroft, Bancroft's History of the Formation of the Constitution 209-210 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1882), and 2 Farrand's Records of The Federal Convention 588 (September 12, 1787) and 637 (September 15, 1787).
[13] 1 Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution 306 (Jonathan Elliot, ed., Washington, 1836) (September 12, 1787).
[14] Dictionary of American Biography, s.v., "George Mason," "Edmund Randolph," "Elbridge Gerry."
[15] Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 652-655, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 25, 1788.
[16] Elliot's Debates, Vol. II, 176-181, Massachusetts Ratification Debates, February 6, 1788.
[17] Joseph B. Walker, A History of the New Hampshire Convention (Boston: Cupples & Hurd, 1888), 41-43, June 21, 1788.
[18] Elliot's Debates, Vol. II, 413, New York Ratification Debates, July 26, 1788.
[19] Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society (Providence: Knowles and Vose, 1843), Vol. V, 320-321, March 24, 1788.
[20] Elliot's Debates, Vol. IV, 242-251, North Carolina Ratification Debates, August 1-2, 1788.
[21] Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 616-622, James Madison, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 24, 1788.
[22] Rowland, Life of George Mason, Vol. I, 244.
[23] Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 655-656, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 25, 1788.
[24] Patrick Henry, Life, Correspondence and Speeches, William Wirt Henry (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1891), Vol. I, 430-431; see also Rowland, Life of George Mason, Vol. I, 244; see also Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 659, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 27, 1788.
[25] 1 Debates and Proceedings 448-450 (1st Cong., 1st Sess) (June 8, 1789); see also Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S. 38, 93-99 (1985) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).
[26] See 1 Debates and Proceedings 440-948 (1st Cong., 1st Sess.) (June 8- September 24, 1789, for the records chronicling the debates surrounding the framing of the First Amendment).
[27] 4 Washington Irving, Life of George Washington 475 (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1857); Mrs. C. M Kirkland, Memoirs of Washington 438 (New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1870); Charles Carleton Coffin, Building the Nation 26 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1882); etc.
[28] 1 Richardson, Messages and Papers 51-54 (April 30, 1789).
[29] 1 Annals of Congress 29 (April 30, 1789).
[30] Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America Begun and Held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the Fourth of March, in the Year 1789, 104 (Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1791) (August 7, 1789).
[31] 1 Debates and Proceedings 685 (1st Cong., 1st Sess.) (July 21, 1789, passage by the House), and 1 Debates and Proceedings 57 (August 4, 1789, passage by the Senate).
[32] Constitutions (1813) 364 ("An Ordinance of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio," Article III).
[33] For example, State constitutions across the decades reflecting this requirement include the 1803 Ohio Constitution (Constitutions (1813), 334, Ohio, 1802, Article 8, Section 3); the 1817 Mississippi Constitution (The Constitutions of All the United States According to the Latest Amendments (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), 389, Mississippi, 1817, Article 9, Section 16); the 1858 Kansas Constitution (House of Representatives, Mis. Doc. No. 44, 35th Cong., 2nd Sess., February 2, 1859, 3-4, Article 1, Section 7, of the Kansas Constitution); the 1875 Nebraska Constitution (M. B. C. True, A Manual of the History and Civil Government of the State of Nebraska (Omaha: Gibson, Miller, & Richardson, 1885), 34, Nebraska, 1875, Article 1, Section 4); etc.
[34] See The Constitution of North Carolina 42 (Raleigh: Rufus L. Edmisten, Secretary of State, 1989) (Article 9, Section 1); Constitution of the State of Nebraska 1-2 (Lincoln: Allen J. Beermann, Secretary of State, 1992) (Article 1, Section 4); Page's Ohio Revised Code Annotated 24 (Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Co., 1994) (Article 1, Section 7).
[35] United States Code Annotated 1 (St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1987) ("The Organic Laws of the United States of America").
[36] George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination 22-23 (Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge, 1796).
[37] 1 Debates and Proceedings 797 (6th Cong., 2nd Sess.) (December 4, 1800).
[38] Hutson 89; see also 1 John Quincy Adams, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams 265 (Charles Francis Adams ed., Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1874) (October 23, 1803).
[39] 1 John Quincy Adams, Memoirs 265 (October 23, 1803).
[40] 1 John Quincy Adams, Memoirs 268 (October 30, 1803).
[41] 2 William Parker Cutler & Julia Perkins Cutler, Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D. 174 (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. 1888).
[42] James Hutson, Chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic 91 (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress 1998).
David Barton - 09/2002
In recent days, Michael Newdow - infamous for his successful initiation of the ruling striking down "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance - has broadened his efforts and has filed suit against the use of chaplains in the U. S. House and Senate. In his public appearances defending this newest pursuit, Newdow cites James Madison's quotes from his "Detached Memoranda" as his authority in opposing chaplains. Did Madison actually oppose chaplains in Congress? Yes, and no.
Madison's religious views and activities are numerous, as are his writings on religion. They are at times self-contradictory, and his statements about religion are such that opposing positions can each invoke Madison as its authority. An understanding of Madison's religious views is complicated by the fact that his early actions were at direct variance with his later opinions. Consider six examples of his early actions.
First, Madison was publicly outspoken about his personal Christian beliefs and convictions. For example, he encouraged his friend, William Bradford (who served as Attorney General under President Washington), to make sure of his own spiritual salvation:
[A] watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.[1]
Madison even desired that all public officials - including Bradford - would declare openly and publicly their Christian beliefs and testimony:
I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; and I wish you may give in your evidence in this way. [2]
Second, Madison was a member of the committee that authored the 1776 Virginia Bill of Rights and approved of its clause declaring that:
It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other. [3] (emphasis added)
Third, Madison's proposed wording for the First Amendment demonstrates that he opposed only the establishment of a federal denomination, not public religious activities. His proposal declared:
The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established. [4] (emphasis added)
(Madison reemphasized that position throughout the debates. [5])
Fourth, in 1789, Madison served on the Congressional committee which authorized, approved, and selected paid Congressional chaplains. [6]
Fifth, in 1812, President Madison signed a federal bill which economically aided a Bible Society in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible. [7]
Sixth, throughout his Presidency (1809-1816), Madison endorsed public and official religious expressions by issuing several proclamations for national days of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving. [8]
These were the early actions of Madison. In later life Madison retreated from many of these positions, even declaring in his "Detached Memoranda" his belief that having paid chaplains and issuing presidential prayer proclamations were unconstitutional. Recent Courts have made a point of citing Madison's "Detached Memoranda" in arguing against public religious expressions. [9]
Significantly, the "Detached Memoranda" was "discovered" in 1946 in the papers of Madison biographer William Cabell Rives and was first published more than a century after Madison's death by Elizabeth Fleet in the October 1946 William & Mary Quarterly. In that work, Madison expressed his opposition to many of his own earlier beliefs and practices and set forth a new set of beliefs formerly unknown even to his closest friends. Since Madison never made public or shared with his peers his sentiments found in the "Detached Memoranda," and since his own public actions were at direct variance with this later writing, it is difficult to argue that it reflects the Founders' intent toward religion.
There were fifty-five individuals directly involved in framing the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention, and an additional ninety in the first federal Congress that framed the First Amendment and Bill of Rights. Allowing for the overlap of nineteen individuals who were both at the Constitutional Convention and a part of the first Congress, [10] there were one hundred and twenty-six individual participants in the framing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The records of the Constitutional Convention demonstrate that James Madison was often out of step with these Founders. The other delegates rejected Madison's Virginia plan in preference for Roger Sherman's Connecticut plan and voted down 40 of Madison's 71 proposals (60 percent). [11] Nevertheless, today Madison is cited as if he is the only authority among the Founding Fathers and the only expert on the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights.
Was Madison responsible for the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights? Definitely not. In fact, during the Constitutional Convention, it was Virginian George Mason that advocated that a Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution, [12] but the other Virginians at the Convention - including James Madison - opposed any Bill of Rights and their position prevailed. [13] Consequently, George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, Edmund Randolph, and others at the Convention refused to sign the new Constitution because of their fear of insufficiently bridled federal power. [14]
Mason and the others returned to their home States to lobby against the ratification of the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was added. As a result of their voices (and numerous others who agreed with them), the ratification of the Constitution almost failed in Virginia, [15] Massachusetts, [16] New Hampshire, [17] and New York. [18] Rhode Island flatly refused to ratify it, [19] and North Carolina refused to do so until limitations were placed upon the federal government. [20] Although the Constitution was eventually ratified, a clear message had been delivered: there was strong sentiment demanding the inclusion of a Bill of Rights.
When the Constitution was considered for ratification, the reports from June 2 through June 25, 1788, make clear that in Virginia, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Edmund Randolph led the fight for the Bill of Rights, again over James Madison's opposition. [21] Henry's passionate speeches of June 5 and June 7 resulted in Virginia's motion that a Bill of Rights be added to the federal Constitution; and on June 25, the Virginia Convention selected George Mason to chair a committee to prepare a proposed Bill of Rights, [22] with Patrick Henry and John Randolph as members. [23] Mason incorporated Henry's arguments as the basis of Virginia's proposal on religious liberty. [24]
Although Madison had opposed a Bill of Rights, he understood the grim political reality that without one, it was unlikely the new Constitution would receive widespread public acceptance. [25] Consequently, he withdrew his opposition, and in the federal House of Representatives he introduced his own versions of the amendments offered by his State.
Very little of Madison's proposed religious wording made it into the final version of the First Amendment; and even a cursory examination of the Annals of Congress surrounding the formation of that Amendment quickly reveals the influence of Fisher Ames and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, Samuel Livermore of New Hampshire, John Vining of Delaware, Daniel Carroll and Charles Carroll of Maryland, Benjamin Huntington, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, William Paterson of New Jersey, and others on that Amendment. [26]
The failure to rely on Founders other than Madison seems to imply that no other Founders were qualified to address First Amendment issues or that there exists no pertinent recorded statements from the other Founders. Both implications are wrong: numerous Founders played pivotal roles; and thousands of their writings do exist.
However, if critics of public religious expression believe that only a Virginian may speak for the nation on the issue of religion (they usually cite either Madison or Jefferson), then why not George Mason, the "Father of the Bill of Rights"? Or Richard Henry Lee who not only framed Virginia's proposals but who also was a Member of the first federal Congress where he helped frame the Bill of Rights? Or why not George Washington? Perhaps the reason that these other Virginians are ignored (as are most of the other Framers) is because both their words and actions unequivocally contradict the image portrayed by the one-sided picture of Madison given by those who cite only his "Detached Memoranda."
George Washington provides a succinct illustration. During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words "So help me God!" to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible. [27] His "Inaugural Address" was filled with numerous religious references, [28] and following that address, he and the Congress "proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel, where Divine service was performed." [29]
Only weeks later, Washington signed his first major federal bill [30] - the Northwest Ordinance, drafted concurrently with the creation of the First Amendment. [31] That act stipulated that for a territory to become a State, the "schools and the means of education" in that territory must encourage the "religion, morality, and knowledge" that was "necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind." [32] Conforming to this requirement, numerous subsequent State constitutions included that clause, [33] and it still appears in State constitutions today. [34] Furthermore, that law is listed in the current federal code, along with the Constitution, the Declaration, and the Articles of Confederation, as one of America's four "organic" or foundational laws. [35]
Finally, in his "Farewell Address," Washington reminded the nation:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness. . . . The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. [36]
Washington - indisputably a constitutional expert - declared that religion and morality were inseparable from government, and that no true patriot, whether politician or clergyman, would attempt to weaken the relationship between government and the influence of religion and morality.
Or why not cite the actions of the entire body of Founding Fathers? For example, in 1800, when Washington, D. C., became the national capital and the President moved into the White House and Congress into the Capitol, Congress approved the use of the Capitol building as a church building for Christian worship services. [37] In fact, Christian worship services on Sunday were also started at the Treasury Building and at the War Office. [38]
John Quincy Adams, a U. S. Senator, made frequent references to these services. Typical of his almost weekly entries are these:
[R]eligious service is usually performed on Sundays at the Treasury office and at the Capitol. I went both forenoon and afternoon to the Treasury. October 23, 1803. [39]
Attended public service at the Capitol, where Mr. Ratoon, an Episcopalian clergyman from Baltimore, preached a sermon. October 30, 1803. [40]
The Rev. Mannasseh Cutler, a U. S. Congressman (as well as a chaplain in the Revolution and a physician and scientist) similarly recorded in 1804:
December 23, Sunday. Attended worship at the Treasury. Mr. [James] Laurie [pastor of the Presbyterian Church] alone [preached]. Sacrament [communion]. Full assembly. Three tables; service very solemn; nearly four hours. Cold day. [41]
By1867, the church in the Capitol had become the largest church in Washington, and the largest Protestant church in America. [42]
There are numerous other public religious activities by the Founding Fathers that might be cited, and Madison participated and facilitated many of them. Yet Madison later privately renounced his own practices, thus distancing himself from his own beliefs and practices as well as those of the other Founders. Therefore, to use Madison's "Detached Memoranda" as authoritative is a flagrant abuse of historical records, choosing a long unknown ex post facto document in preference to those concurrent with the framing and implementation of the First Amendment.
Newdow's use of James Madison is typical of most revisionists: it gives only the part of the story with which he agrees and omits the part with which he disagrees. If Newdow wants to take the position that the "Founding Fathers" (plural) opposed the use of chaplains, then he must provide evidence from more than one Founder; he must show that the majority of the Founders opposed chaplains - something that he cannot do.
WallBuilders has a resource that provides comprehensive information on the Founders views on the Constitution (see Original Intent).
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ENDNOTES
[1] Letter of Madison to William Bradford (November 9, 1772), in 1 James Madison, The Letters and Other Writings of James Madison 5-6 (New York: R. Worthington 1884).
[2] Letter of Madison to William Bradford (September 25, 1773), in 1 James Madison, The Papers of James Madison 66 (William T. Hutchinson ed., Illinois: University of Chicago Press 1962).
[3] The Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates, Held at the Capitol in the City of Williamsburg, in the Colony of Virginia, on Monday the 6th of May, 1776, 103 (Williamsburg: Alexander Purdie 1776) (Madison on the Committee on May 16, 1776; the "Declaration of Rights" passed June 12, 1776).
[4] 1 The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States 451, 1st Cong., 1st Sess. (Washington, D. C.: Gales & Seaton 1834) (June 8, 1789).
[5] 1 Debates and Proceedings 758-759 (1834 ed.) (August 15, 1789).
[6] 1 Debates and Proceedings 109 (1834 ed.) (April 9, 1789).
[7] Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States 1325, 12th Cong., 2nd Sess. (Washington: Gales & Seaton 1853) ("An Act for the relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia. Be it enacted, &c., That the duties arising and due to the United States upon certain stereotype plates, imported during the last year into the port of Philadelphia, on board the ship Brilliant, by the Bible Society of Philadelphia, for the purpose of printing editions of the Holy Bible, be and the same are hereby remitted, on behalf of the United States, to the said society: and any bond or security given for the securing of the payment of the said duties shall be cancelled. Approved February 2, 1813.")
[8] 1 James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897, 513 (Published by Authority of Congress 1899) (July 9, 1812), 532-533 (July 23, 1813), 558 (November 16, 1814), and 560-561 (March 4, 1815).
[9] See, for example, Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 617 (1992); Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783, 791 (1983); ACLU v. Capitol Square Review, 243 F.3d 289 (6th Cir. 2001); Sherman v. Cmty. Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437 (7th Cir. 1992); American Jewish Congress v. City of Chicago, 827 F.2d 120 (7th Cir. 1787), and others.
[10] Ten members of the Constitutional Convention also served in the first federal Senate (William Few, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, William Paterson, Robert Morris, Oliver Ellsworth, William Samuel Johnson, Caleb Strong, and John Langdon) and nine members of the Convention served in the first federal House (Abraham Baldwin, James Madison, Hugh Williamson, Daniel Carroll, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Roger Sherman, Elbridge Gerry, and Nicholas Gilman).
[11] Forrest McDonald, Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution 208-209 (Lawrence, Kansas, 1985), compiled from The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (Max Farrand, ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, 216, 373, and Vol. II, 45, 306, 324-325, 345, 440, 500, and 617.
[12] 3 James Madison, The Papers of James Madison 1566 (Henry D. Gilpin, ed., Washington: Langress and O'Sullivan, 1840) (Wednesday, September 12, 1787); see also 2 George Bancroft, Bancroft's History of the Formation of the Constitution 209-210 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1882), and 2 Farrand's Records of The Federal Convention 588 (September 12, 1787) and 637 (September 15, 1787).
[13] 1 Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution 306 (Jonathan Elliot, ed., Washington, 1836) (September 12, 1787).
[14] Dictionary of American Biography, s.v., "George Mason," "Edmund Randolph," "Elbridge Gerry."
[15] Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 652-655, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 25, 1788.
[16] Elliot's Debates, Vol. II, 176-181, Massachusetts Ratification Debates, February 6, 1788.
[17] Joseph B. Walker, A History of the New Hampshire Convention (Boston: Cupples & Hurd, 1888), 41-43, June 21, 1788.
[18] Elliot's Debates, Vol. II, 413, New York Ratification Debates, July 26, 1788.
[19] Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society (Providence: Knowles and Vose, 1843), Vol. V, 320-321, March 24, 1788.
[20] Elliot's Debates, Vol. IV, 242-251, North Carolina Ratification Debates, August 1-2, 1788.
[21] Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 616-622, James Madison, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 24, 1788.
[22] Rowland, Life of George Mason, Vol. I, 244.
[23] Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 655-656, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 25, 1788.
[24] Patrick Henry, Life, Correspondence and Speeches, William Wirt Henry (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1891), Vol. I, 430-431; see also Rowland, Life of George Mason, Vol. I, 244; see also Elliot's Debates, Vol. III, 659, Virginia Ratification Debates, June 27, 1788.
[25] 1 Debates and Proceedings 448-450 (1st Cong., 1st Sess) (June 8, 1789); see also Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S. 38, 93-99 (1985) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).
[26] See 1 Debates and Proceedings 440-948 (1st Cong., 1st Sess.) (June 8- September 24, 1789, for the records chronicling the debates surrounding the framing of the First Amendment).
[27] 4 Washington Irving, Life of George Washington 475 (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1857); Mrs. C. M Kirkland, Memoirs of Washington 438 (New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1870); Charles Carleton Coffin, Building the Nation 26 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1882); etc.
[28] 1 Richardson, Messages and Papers 51-54 (April 30, 1789).
[29] 1 Annals of Congress 29 (April 30, 1789).
[30] Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America Begun and Held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the Fourth of March, in the Year 1789, 104 (Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1791) (August 7, 1789).
[31] 1 Debates and Proceedings 685 (1st Cong., 1st Sess.) (July 21, 1789, passage by the House), and 1 Debates and Proceedings 57 (August 4, 1789, passage by the Senate).
[32] Constitutions (1813) 364 ("An Ordinance of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio," Article III).
[33] For example, State constitutions across the decades reflecting this requirement include the 1803 Ohio Constitution (Constitutions (1813), 334, Ohio, 1802, Article 8, Section 3); the 1817 Mississippi Constitution (The Constitutions of All the United States According to the Latest Amendments (Lexington, KY: Thomas T. Skillman, 1817), 389, Mississippi, 1817, Article 9, Section 16); the 1858 Kansas Constitution (House of Representatives, Mis. Doc. No. 44, 35th Cong., 2nd Sess., February 2, 1859, 3-4, Article 1, Section 7, of the Kansas Constitution); the 1875 Nebraska Constitution (M. B. C. True, A Manual of the History and Civil Government of the State of Nebraska (Omaha: Gibson, Miller, & Richardson, 1885), 34, Nebraska, 1875, Article 1, Section 4); etc.
[34] See The Constitution of North Carolina 42 (Raleigh: Rufus L. Edmisten, Secretary of State, 1989) (Article 9, Section 1); Constitution of the State of Nebraska 1-2 (Lincoln: Allen J. Beermann, Secretary of State, 1992) (Article 1, Section 4); Page's Ohio Revised Code Annotated 24 (Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Co., 1994) (Article 1, Section 7).
[35] United States Code Annotated 1 (St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1987) ("The Organic Laws of the United States of America").
[36] George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination 22-23 (Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge, 1796).
[37] 1 Debates and Proceedings 797 (6th Cong., 2nd Sess.) (December 4, 1800).
[38] Hutson 89; see also 1 John Quincy Adams, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams 265 (Charles Francis Adams ed., Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1874) (October 23, 1803).
[39] 1 John Quincy Adams, Memoirs 265 (October 23, 1803).
[40] 1 John Quincy Adams, Memoirs 268 (October 30, 1803).
[41] 2 William Parker Cutler & Julia Perkins Cutler, Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D. 174 (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. 1888).
[42] James Hutson, Chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic 91 (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress 1998).
Monday, December 29, 2008
Our Christian Nation
Harry Truman, one of the last of the truly good democrats once stated,"The fundamental basis of this nation's laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and Saint Matthew, from Isaiah and Saint Paul. I don't think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State." http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0040.html
Good ol' givem' Hell Harry also knew about given' Heaven too! Woodrow Wilson, also said,
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0040.html
"A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.... America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the tenets of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture." Those who would like to dispute the obvious, for one simple reason: because it does not allow for the justification of immoral laws, such as abortion and homosexual marriage.
Some of the anti Christian nation crew will make reference to first sentence of Article 11 of the Tripoli Treaty of 1797.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0040.html The opponents of this view, however, point to the first sentence of Article 11 of the obscure Tripoli Treaty of 1797 as seeming conclusive proof that America was never a Christian nation. Before discussing that critical sentence, the treaty itself should be read in context with all of the Barbary treaties
The Barbary States on the coast of North Africa, comprising the Moslem States of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, attacked ships in their coastal waters which would not pay tribute, and held captives for ransom. The European nations had treaties with those states, under which, in exchange for tribute, shipping was protected. After the Revolutionary War, our new nation followed the lead of those European nations and entered into similar treaties. Breach of those treaties by the Barbary nations led to the Barbary wars in 1801.
The first treaty was with Morocco in 1786, negotiated by Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin. It was written in Arabic with an English translation. The treaty language assumes that the world was divided between Christians and Moors (Moslems), e.g. "If we shall be at war with any Christian Power ... .", "... no Vessel whatever belonging either to Moorish or Christian Powers with whom the United States may be at War ... .", "...be their enemies Moors or Christians." These along with numerous references to God, e.g., "In the name of Almighty God,", "... trusting in God ...", "Grace to the only God", "...the servant of God ...", "... whom God preserve ...". are the only references to religion in this treaty of Peace and Friendship.
The next was the Treaty of Peace and Amity with Algiers in 1795,written in Turkish. The only reference to religion was in Article 17 which gave the Consul of the United States "... Liberty to Exercise his Religion in his own House [and] all Slaves of the Same Religion shall not be impeded in going to Said Consul's house at hours of prayer... ." The Consul's house was to function in lieu of a Christian church.
The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation with Tunis in 1797 was in Turkish with a French translation. It begins "God is infinite.", and refers to the Ottoman Emperor "whose realm may God prosper", and to the President of the United States "... the most distinguished among those who profess the religion of the Messiah, ...." Other than a reference to "the Christian year", there is no further mention of religion.
The Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Tripoli was signed in 1796 in Arabic, and was later translated into English by Joel Barlow, United States Consul General at Algiers. Except for the typical phrases "Praise be to God" and "whom God Exalt", there is no reference to religion other than the aforesaid remarkable Article 11, which reads,
"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, — and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan (sic) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
The treaty, with this language, was submitted to the Senate by President Adams, and was ratified. Thus, opponents of the 'Christian nation' concept point to this seemingly official repudiation of the very idea. Yet the language is less a repudiation of the role of Christianity in the nation's heritage than a reminder that there was no national established church in the United States as there was in the European states with which Tripoli had previously dealt. This provided reassurance to the Moslem Bey and his religious establishment that religion, in of itself, would not be a basis of hostility between the two nations. None of the other similar treaties with the Barbary states, before or after this treaty, including the replacement treaties signed in 1804 after the Barbary Wars, have any language remotely similar.
And there is a deeper mystery: As noted in a footnote at page 1070 of the authoritative treatise by Bevans, Treaties and other International Agreements of the United States of America, citing treaty scholar Hunter Miller.
"While the Barlow translation quoted above has been printed in all official and unofficial treaty collections since 1797, most extraordinary (and wholly unexplained) is the fact that Article 11 of the Barlow translation, with its famous phrase 'the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.' does not exist at all. There is no Article 11. The Arabic text which is between Articles 10 and 12 is in form a letter, crude and flamboyant and withal quite unimportant, from the Dey of Algiers to the Pasha of Tripoli. How that script came to be written and to be regarded, as in the Barlow translation, as Article 11 of the treaty as there written, is a mystery and seemingly must remain so. Nothing in the diplomatic correspondence of the time throws any light whatever on the point" (Emphasis added)
In sum, the phrase was no doubt an invention of Mr. Barlow, who inserted it on his own for his own, unknown, purposes. It was duly ratified without question by the United States Senate, which would no doubt be hesitant to object to any phraseology which was represented as desired by the Bey of Tripoli, with whom the United States wanted peaceful relations. It remains a mystery.
Good ol' givem' Hell Harry also knew about given' Heaven too! Woodrow Wilson, also said,
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0040.html
"A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.... America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the tenets of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture." Those who would like to dispute the obvious, for one simple reason: because it does not allow for the justification of immoral laws, such as abortion and homosexual marriage.
Some of the anti Christian nation crew will make reference to first sentence of Article 11 of the Tripoli Treaty of 1797.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0040.html The opponents of this view, however, point to the first sentence of Article 11 of the obscure Tripoli Treaty of 1797 as seeming conclusive proof that America was never a Christian nation. Before discussing that critical sentence, the treaty itself should be read in context with all of the Barbary treaties
The Barbary States on the coast of North Africa, comprising the Moslem States of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, attacked ships in their coastal waters which would not pay tribute, and held captives for ransom. The European nations had treaties with those states, under which, in exchange for tribute, shipping was protected. After the Revolutionary War, our new nation followed the lead of those European nations and entered into similar treaties. Breach of those treaties by the Barbary nations led to the Barbary wars in 1801.
The first treaty was with Morocco in 1786, negotiated by Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin. It was written in Arabic with an English translation. The treaty language assumes that the world was divided between Christians and Moors (Moslems), e.g. "If we shall be at war with any Christian Power ... .", "... no Vessel whatever belonging either to Moorish or Christian Powers with whom the United States may be at War ... .", "...be their enemies Moors or Christians." These along with numerous references to God, e.g., "In the name of Almighty God,", "... trusting in God ...", "Grace to the only God", "...the servant of God ...", "... whom God preserve ...". are the only references to religion in this treaty of Peace and Friendship.
The next was the Treaty of Peace and Amity with Algiers in 1795,written in Turkish. The only reference to religion was in Article 17 which gave the Consul of the United States "... Liberty to Exercise his Religion in his own House [and] all Slaves of the Same Religion shall not be impeded in going to Said Consul's house at hours of prayer... ." The Consul's house was to function in lieu of a Christian church.
The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation with Tunis in 1797 was in Turkish with a French translation. It begins "God is infinite.", and refers to the Ottoman Emperor "whose realm may God prosper", and to the President of the United States "... the most distinguished among those who profess the religion of the Messiah, ...." Other than a reference to "the Christian year", there is no further mention of religion.
The Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Tripoli was signed in 1796 in Arabic, and was later translated into English by Joel Barlow, United States Consul General at Algiers. Except for the typical phrases "Praise be to God" and "whom God Exalt", there is no reference to religion other than the aforesaid remarkable Article 11, which reads,
"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, — and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan (sic) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
The treaty, with this language, was submitted to the Senate by President Adams, and was ratified. Thus, opponents of the 'Christian nation' concept point to this seemingly official repudiation of the very idea. Yet the language is less a repudiation of the role of Christianity in the nation's heritage than a reminder that there was no national established church in the United States as there was in the European states with which Tripoli had previously dealt. This provided reassurance to the Moslem Bey and his religious establishment that religion, in of itself, would not be a basis of hostility between the two nations. None of the other similar treaties with the Barbary states, before or after this treaty, including the replacement treaties signed in 1804 after the Barbary Wars, have any language remotely similar.
And there is a deeper mystery: As noted in a footnote at page 1070 of the authoritative treatise by Bevans, Treaties and other International Agreements of the United States of America, citing treaty scholar Hunter Miller.
"While the Barlow translation quoted above has been printed in all official and unofficial treaty collections since 1797, most extraordinary (and wholly unexplained) is the fact that Article 11 of the Barlow translation, with its famous phrase 'the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.' does not exist at all. There is no Article 11. The Arabic text which is between Articles 10 and 12 is in form a letter, crude and flamboyant and withal quite unimportant, from the Dey of Algiers to the Pasha of Tripoli. How that script came to be written and to be regarded, as in the Barlow translation, as Article 11 of the treaty as there written, is a mystery and seemingly must remain so. Nothing in the diplomatic correspondence of the time throws any light whatever on the point" (Emphasis added)
In sum, the phrase was no doubt an invention of Mr. Barlow, who inserted it on his own for his own, unknown, purposes. It was duly ratified without question by the United States Senate, which would no doubt be hesitant to object to any phraseology which was represented as desired by the Bey of Tripoli, with whom the United States wanted peaceful relations. It remains a mystery.
So it appears that those who want to believe that the good ol' USofA was not founded on Jedeo/Christian beliefs will continue to do so for the reason I have stated often. Our rights are either entirely given to us by God or they were not. It is not a buffet. I will leave off with a response given to a radio host by Dr. Alan Keyes. A true Christian man who brings out the worst, or for a liberal, their best character.
We have got to restore our respect for Declaration principles by defending life, and making it clear that life begins at conception and must be respected, from that moment, as the will of the Creator, because that’s what the Declaration establishes as our principle, and what the Constitution says we owe to our “posterity.”
The restoration of our allegiance to and respect for God’s authority, especially when it comes to clear moral decisions like marriage, where we need to restore the sense that the God-given family is an unalienable right.
And finally, I would be trying to restore the moral character and sense of our commitment to our basic moral values, starting in the area of national sovereignty, both in terms of our security from terrorism, and especially the security of our borders, and our assertion of the sovereignty of the American people, which our elites have been betraying.
Source: Radio interview on “Janet Parshall’s America” Sep 14, 2007
Friday, December 26, 2008
A Must Have For Your Blog
I just added ClustrMaps. It took just a few minutes to create a free account which allows you to cut and paste a code. And bam! I had a hit from a place called Mauritius. I had to google it. Shoot, now I want to visit the place! If you have a blog you gotta get it.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Gifts From God
I was just e-mailing a friend to let them know how I spent my Christmas morning, and I reflected back on what I was thinking about while I was palying golf. Not only golf but a free round of golf!
It was cold and wet but I had said a quick prayer thanking God for allowing me to have the ability to play. I had made some poor shots and was being harsh on myself, when I stopped and said,"John, just be happy you have the physical ability to even be on the course. I am sure it was the Holy Spirit getting involved here, but it was a great thought to remember for me. I see people who are unable, for divers reasons, that are unable to do many things. I am able to go to the gym and train any way I like, thanks to God allowing me to have the physical ability; I can train to power lift, body build, or strengthen cardio. I can do anything physicaly I choose too, the same or better at 43 than at 23, not because of me, but because of the gifts God has given to me.
He has also given all of us the Ultimate Gift; His Son, through whose Blood our sins were forgiven. So, I guess the next 43 years I will have to work on the mental gift that He has given me. Something I have not trained or developed or used at times all that well!
It was cold and wet but I had said a quick prayer thanking God for allowing me to have the ability to play. I had made some poor shots and was being harsh on myself, when I stopped and said,"John, just be happy you have the physical ability to even be on the course. I am sure it was the Holy Spirit getting involved here, but it was a great thought to remember for me. I see people who are unable, for divers reasons, that are unable to do many things. I am able to go to the gym and train any way I like, thanks to God allowing me to have the physical ability; I can train to power lift, body build, or strengthen cardio. I can do anything physicaly I choose too, the same or better at 43 than at 23, not because of me, but because of the gifts God has given to me.
He has also given all of us the Ultimate Gift; His Son, through whose Blood our sins were forgiven. So, I guess the next 43 years I will have to work on the mental gift that He has given me. Something I have not trained or developed or used at times all that well!
Merry Christmas City Of Modesto
I played 18 hole of golf today at Creekside in Modesto. Of course, the course is closed today but the City of Modesto was kind enough to leave the parking lot open. Making it easy to park and ready the sticks. The first few holes the wind was howling and the rain was coming down sideways. But 20 minutes later the rain stopped and a bit of sunshine peaked through. Yup, the weather changes as quickly as my swing can go from bad to good and back again.
Again, thanks City of Modesto.
Again, thanks City of Modesto.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Wishes
If I could I would like to have my dad around for Christmas. The last time we had Christmas together was 1996. It is so hard to believe how time passes so quickly. I never took for granted the time I had with my dad. Heck, until his death, I never went more than two weeks without seeing him.
I know death is a part of life. I understand the cycle of life. But it does not change the fact that even with the passage of time, some memories and feelings do not fade. I trust in God completely, and that is the most important thing in life. I believe, and often remind myself; It is not about me.
Merry Christmas dad!
I know death is a part of life. I understand the cycle of life. But it does not change the fact that even with the passage of time, some memories and feelings do not fade. I trust in God completely, and that is the most important thing in life. I believe, and often remind myself; It is not about me.
Merry Christmas dad!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Buying Yourself A Christmas Present
One thing I have come to realize is the fact I like to buy myself the same type of presents as when I was a kid! I usually treat myself to the current year's Tiger Woods Golf. 20 years ago it was Jack Nickaluas Golf. And don't get me started on the HotWheel wall at Wal Mart. I make no excuse; I still love to buy a good ol' die cast metal Hotwheel. I may not sit in the dirt and play with them like I did 35 years ago. But I still will take them out of the package, pop a cold beer, and roll it across the hard wood floor.
I guess there will always be a part, maybe a larger part of me that will always be age 7-16! And I would not have it any other way. Merry Christmas to all.......And especially to you dad. Not since 2006 but some day again!
I guess there will always be a part, maybe a larger part of me that will always be age 7-16! And I would not have it any other way. Merry Christmas to all.......And especially to you dad. Not since 2006 but some day again!
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Shop My Web Site
For my family and friends who visit me here please visit my new businesses' web site. If there is a service you would like to purchase online, please contact me and I will provide you with a shopping code.
http://hpc.acnrep.com
http://hpc.acnrep.com
Monday, December 01, 2008
Foggy Days And Brighter Tomorrows
Fog in the California Central Valley really stinks! I was passed this morning on the way to work by an idiot with a death wish. It was impossible to see more than 50 to 75 feet and along comes this fool who glued himself to my bumper out of nowhere. That is almost enough to earn a person a good ol' fashion butt kickin, but then the dude passes me and I lose sight of him still traveling in the wrong lane! I was hoping that if he crashed he would take out a pole or a tree and not a poor innocent person on their way to work or transporting kids to school. Thank God he made it with out hurting anyone. Guess it is impossible to fix stupid.
I will be headed to So Cal this Friday for my businesses international convention. ACN rocks and is giving us the opportunity to work from home and earn an income that will allow many of us to care for our families and bless us with loads of "no" work time! Click on the ACN link and check it out. This opportunity is a true blessing!
I will be headed to So Cal this Friday for my businesses international convention. ACN rocks and is giving us the opportunity to work from home and earn an income that will allow many of us to care for our families and bless us with loads of "no" work time! Click on the ACN link and check it out. This opportunity is a true blessing!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
One Minute To Fix California's Budget Crisis
For us common folks, it ain't hard to fix problems. With California, I would deny all access to state funded programs to all illegal aliens. Except for emergency medical of course. I would deport all non-violent illegal alien prisoners and deport all other illegal alien prisoners upon their release date. I would also open up offshore exploration of natural resources with tax incentives to independant companies. I would offer 3 years of tax exempt status to new businesses that relocate to California and 5 year tax exempt status for for companies with 50 or more employees and 2 years for 50 or less. I would eliminate the DMV and make vehicle registration a one time payment. Of course, there is much more that could be done!
Even if one disagrees with these ideas, it would sure be nice to hear something besides "raise taxes" or "BOND" coming out of Sacremento. So who wants to be my fund raiser!
Even if one disagrees with these ideas, it would sure be nice to hear something besides "raise taxes" or "BOND" coming out of Sacremento. So who wants to be my fund raiser!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Two Minutes To Victory
I could have easily defeated Barry Hussein and Jmac with a platform I can type out in two minutes. Let me start with locking down our borders, deporting all incarcerated illegal aliens upon their release date. No federal programs for illegals. Next, implementing my tax breaks and incentive plan for domestic oil drilling and refining.(I have that posted either here or at my other blog at The Hive). Repayment from Iraq for the war by filling our tankers full of their crude until 2 trillion dollars of crude is in our storage tanks. Bringing home companies that left our country by giving them 5-10 years of no taxes. Tariffs on all products made outside of our country. Making Social Security optional. No bailout for home finance companies. Close Freddy and Fannie.
Well, that would be all it would have taken even though I have a lot more I would do. I would pull our troops out of Iraq after I established a base in the southern part of Iraq. Same for Afghanistan. As for my VP? Does not matter, I would have won on my own, but I would have asked Alan Keyes!
Well, that would be all it would have taken even though I have a lot more I would do. I would pull our troops out of Iraq after I established a base in the southern part of Iraq. Same for Afghanistan. As for my VP? Does not matter, I would have won on my own, but I would have asked Alan Keyes!
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