It isn’t likely any of you here in my native Kern County had to get up this morning, kindle and light your woodstove, heat a kettle of water, go outside and use the hot water to free the frozen hand pump on your well so as to be sure you would have fresh water throughout the rest of the day. However, this was the routine during this kind of freezing cold weather when I was a boy living on the mining claim here in the Kern River Valley.

A good backlog in the fireplace to keep a fire going through the night was necessary to keep the temps from falling below freezing inside the cabin; otherwise the water we kept for morning use would be frozen. But despite the precaution there were times when this would happen.

Having lived the “pioneer” lifestyle I have no illusions about the hardships and I am very grateful I can now turn on a tap inside my little cottage for water, but how very fragile our lives become when dependent on the modern amenities like electricity; and unlike that shallow hand-dug well on the mining claim should I lose power here there would be no water from this deep well requiring an electric pump. But at that, location would spare me the catastrophe such a thing would be to entire cities like Los Angeles. Los Angeles without power and water! Doesn’t take much imagination to consider the kind of nightmare that would be.

The Katrina disaster should have alerted our government to the dimensions of suffering when such things occur. But I fear all it did was alert us ordinary Americans to how ill-prepared our leadership is to react to any disaster occurring where unlike New York there isn’t the potential loss of political power among the elite. It would be bitterly trite as some have already done to compare what the response would have been had Katrina hit San Francisco.

So many are suffering now in various parts of the country because of ice storms and having to make do to sustain their lives without power. But unless you are well prepared for such an eventuality it can be deadly. And multiplied millions of Americans are simply not prepared for such a thing. I believe our enemies know this, and the money already spent on Caesar Bush’s wars, the money going into the pockets of the wealthy thorough the wars ongoing and the slave labor of illegal aliens subsidized by taxpayers should be spent on America’s infrastructure and preparing for the disasters which are assuredly to come.

Given the dimensions of potential disasters facing America, one can only wonder at the seeming lunacy of a White House and a Congress behaving like the sky will never fall. But it has before, and it will again whether by the design of men or nature.

Many times I have written about the WWII era within the context of “you had to be there.” It is understandable that young people would watch the Hollywood films of the 30s and 40s, even the 50s and think America could never have been a nation like that portrayed in these old films. Were there really Americans living back then so seemingly altruistic and naïve as they seem to be in many of these films? Having lived it the answer for me is a simple yes; and in many ways Hollywood preserved a far more accurate history of those times than textbooks used in the schools today.

As a classroom teacher and even in the colleges and universities I would find myself correcting someone’s false ideas about things like the Dust Bowl migration, what led to those internment camps and the dropping of those atomic bombs on Japan and the legitimate justification for these things, about things such as proper manners, speech, and dress being enforced in the schools, it is a long list of historical misperceptions younger people today have about the “old days” that I continue to confront as the America I once knew recedes ever further from the historical memory of America. And when my generation has finally died off, there will no longer be any to tell the story of that America, and because of the collective revisionist “history” being taught in the universities and their product schools only the old books and films will remain, and in most cases will be read and viewed as too simplistic, altruistic and naïve to have ever been true of Americans living at the time.

Many people today may realize education has failed in America without really knowing why. But educated people of my generation can tell you why; just as those like me that lived the events of WWII can tell you why Americans pulled together and did the things essential to winning that war. But “armchair historians” that were not called upon to make the sacrifices to win that war cannot be trusted to tell the actual story.

No one knows better than I do how cold-blooded it sounded when I wrote that Caesar Bush betrayed America by not sending those cruise missiles on Kabul and Baghdad the very evening of 9/11. I didn’t include Tehran because I knew if Caesar had done what he should have and left America telling the rest of the world “You want some of this too?” there would not now be a Tehran to worry about nor would there be American troops dieing in Baghdad fighting an unwinnable war against Muslim fanatics. Certainly it is now beyond debate our government is led of people that have not learned from history, and are on path of destroying America because they have not learned from history, the kind of history those like me still carry as living memory.

It was bad, living an era of having to put a face to our enemies, of living daily with the necessary propaganda demonizing the enemies of America, living with the daily sacrifices essential to winning WWII, the daily reports of battles and casualties, of personally losing loved ones fighting the “Japs and Knocksies” for the sake of a world free from the threat of those like Tojo and Hitler. But we won because we were a nation pulling together, and those old Hollywood films are an accurate portrayal of the kind of Americans we were at the time fighting that war.

But we know also how many of those in politics and business betrayed us, how so many of these profited from the war and went on to create a different kind of America that would never again pull together as a nation. All the while the films of the 50s, especially the great musicals and films like “Gidget” were showing America as a land benefiting so many with hopes and dreams of a bright future We the People were being lied to, sold out and betrayed wholesale for the unholy lust for profits, the refusal to secure our borders for the sake of slave labor, trade agreements betraying the entire working class of honest Americans that kept dutifully paying taxes but losing all representation.

So I could easily relate to “Bed reading,” by William F. Buckley, Tuesday, January 9, 2007. “The sickbed serves to distract attention, but it is unsafe to assume as a corollary that such distraction is enjoyable or even productive. It may have lessened, for a few days, preoccupation with street warfare in Baghdad, but beware the seductions of innocent diversion.”

Buckley had chosen to read “The American” by Henry James, saying “It is 488 pages long, and it may be the single most boring book ever published. It is at least the single most venerated bad book ever published. The Internet will give you not only reviews of the book, but also the entire novel, chapter after chapter, word for word. Now Henry James (1843-1916), novelist, essayist, critic, is captivating when describing people and situations. I wrote about his travel books, a dozen years ago, that ‘you can close your eyes and open either volume at any page and find yourself reading prose so resplendent it will sweep you off your feet. Yet after a while, after a long while, you will recognize that you do, really, have to come down to earth because there are so many other things to do. And besides, if you stay with him for too long, in that engrossing, scented, colored, brilliant, absorbing world, you feel strung out, feel something like hanging moss.’ “

Readers might understand why after fighting this battle for so long I sympathize with Buckley, feeling myself “something like hanging moss.” Not from staying “too long, in an engrossing, scented, colored, brilliant, absorbing world” but of staying in this real down and dirty world in which the wicked continue to prosper. While I continue to spend time profitably with my friends Emerson and Thoreau, I no longer spend time with the “seductions of innocent diversion.” Even the old films serve only as reminders of the battle for the soul of America ongoing.

And while a politically correct war is unwinnable, so is a war without an America having a national identity. An America without a heritage, culture, common language and secure borders is not a nation, but rather a conflicted federacy of petty states unable to find common ground.

To have known an America in which you took justifiable pride, to have stood and pledged allegiance to the flag with a stirring in your soul and trust in your leaders, an America with a heritage, culture, language and identity as a nation in which hope of a brighter future for your children flourished and one paycheck took care of a family, if you felt the gorge rising threatening to make you vomit while watching and listening to that “speech” by Caesar Bush, if you watch and listen to the charlatans “representing” America in Congress now causing you to cringe in your very soul you understand what has been betrayed and lost.

“It is a mistake to suppose that, in a country where the usual evidences of civilization exist, the condition of a very large body of the inhabitants may not be as degraded as that of savages.” Thoreau may as well have been writing for the present conditions in America as he was about those over one hundred and fifty years ago. And when government becomes nothing but organized robbery and tyranny reducing so many millions to live degraded lives in the face of the usual evidences of civilization We the People have the right and the duty to rebel!

Our Federal Triune Dictatorship, the members of which live lives of luxury insulated from reality are treading a dangerous path by ignoring the growing number of those being forced into lives of degradation, being forced by circumstances to abandon any pretense of “honesty is the best policy” while living paycheck to paycheck, when they have a job at all; and it is no wonder so many are making the conscious choice of crime when our very leadership is preaching a doctrine of “honesty is for chumps.”

Few in Watts are shedding any tears about multi-million dollar mansions burning in Malibu while such ostentatious displays of the growing disparity between rich and poor in America are accelerating at a dangerous pace. Those wealthy ruling the MSM may be wringing their hands, deploring the loss of mansions, but they do so to the dangerous chant of “burn baby burn” a spectral reality of the many millions living lives of degraded savages throughout America where to try to live decently and honestly is only a paycheck away from disaster and there is no insurance to replace a “mansion.”

Since our government at every level, local, state, federal is hell-bent on making criminals of everyone who is not a dog feeding at Caesar’s table, who is not receiving a government paycheck at taxpayer expense exemplified by taxation without representation why don’t we all simply join the criminal class and have done with it? We already know for example that illegal drugs fund many world economies, that our own government opposes legalizing marijuana because of so much money going into the pockets of elected officials from this source. How else explain our open borders and Mexicans maintaining huge marijuana plantations right here in America?

It would be naïve to believe law enforcement officers at every level are not cooperating with the drug trade and human trafficking. After all, if the elected officials from the lowest to the highest and their cronies are living high on the hog and never held to account when caught breaking the law, sometimes pocketing millions of illegal dollars why be law-abiding yourself when honesty is the best policy is playing out everywhere a policy for chumps? And our own elected officials do not lack for “working girls” even at taxpayer expense while deploring prostitution. Hypocrisy abounds.

Pat Buchanan writes concerning Iran “If we are going to war, let us do it constitutionally, for once, and not leave it up solely to George W. Bush and Brother Cheney.”

Now I have always liked Pat, and even voted for him. I respect him as a man who speaks his mind and does not mince words. Agree or disagree you always know where he stands on the issues. For example I don’t believe he would approve the check I make out for The Israel Project, the money I send as a token of support for Israel’s right to defend itself. But his disapproval would be based on his pragmatism, not anti-Semitism. And it is Pat’s broad streak of pragmatism with which most take issue.

Pragmatically, if enough politicians and their corporate bosses are profiting from wars constitutionally or not then wars there will be. If enough people are being forced to live in America as degraded savages and crime is the only alternative then crime there will be. From childhood on I have known those environments where the poor suffer as politicians enriched themselves offering nothing but lip service to concerns about the poor, lying to get elected and lying to stay elected. While serving in Watts during the 60s I learned how the political game is played, a game intended to “keep those people in their place” while politicians pocketed the money from federal programs with no accountability. Then teachers like me were to tell our pupils “honesty is the best policy” all the while the evidence to the contrary abounded on every side.

One result of this hypocrisy of government is making jails and prisons growth industries while supplying full employment to lawyers of every description. One needn’t be a Bible thumper believing in End Times scenarios to understand where all this is headed. What I call “the circumstances of the immutable” is taking us there, and Pat Buchanan is one of the “prophets” preaching this doctrine.

But neither Pat nor I needed the gift of prophecy to understand once Bush had cast the gauntlet before Islam it would have to be a war fought to win, or it would mean defeat. What America, what the civilized world is facing now is the prospect of defeat unless an accommodation can be found that is satisfactory to our Muslim enemies. But it will also have to be an accommodation satisfactory to the economic masters that control the purse strings. Whether illegal aliens, drugs, prostitution, wars; follow the money.

Tragically for America the growing numbers of “savages” being forced into degraded living conditions to benefit the wealthy that do not suffer the constraints of either law or conscience are being forced to accept becoming criminals in order to survive. “Neither too rich nor too poor lest the righteous put forth his hand to steal” is a Biblical injunction that must be heeded by all leaders.

Even as I write I know too well that I only “own” my little cottage here so long as I can pay the property taxes. Even at that, there is the constant threat some lawyer can take away my place and give it to another. The most frivolous of lawsuits can ruin anyone without the insurance or deep pockets to fight litigation of whatever nature, and I have already faced one of those “professional litigants” that make a living of such lawsuits. It ought to be a crime for such creatures to do things like this, but since it is not those that try to live honestly pay the price for being “chumps.”

Well, our political “leadership” seems dedicated to making honest Americans a bunch of chumps. And if I were being forced by our leadership into a choice between abject poverty, of being on the street without a roof over my head I would soon be dealing drugs myself. My little cottage sits on nearly an acre, ideal for marijuana cultivation. It would also be ideal for supplying the valley with homegrown “produce.” And at my age, if I should be arrested a prison would at least guarantee a roof and being fed. And the way our leadership is operating such a choice looms before many millions of otherwise honest and law-abiding Americans.

Perhaps I’m just too old a dog to learn new tricks, but I’m still of the mind that to live honestly before God and men is the best policy. But this does not make me immune to recognizing realities of life; even when the realities are so ugly it forces the “righteous” to put forth their hands to steal (or grow marijuana).

It has long since lost any humor, the idea of renouncing American citizenship and becoming an illegal alien in order to receive welfare and medical services. And like dealing drugs, when such a thing is no longer humorous it becomes dangerous. If I had the ear of our elected officials this would be my warning to them: When government becomes nothing but organized robbery and tyranny We the People have the right and the duty to rebel!

The Bakersfield Californian gives much space to women, and as a media source this is to the credit of the paper. Many women have a voice in the media and elsewhere; but when it comes to the actual power governing my native state and America, making the decisions that effect our lives the paucity of women in decision making government roles is patently and painfully obvious. The fact remains it is a man’s world and women continue to be treated of less value than men. And suppose a woman should become President of the United States? What real power would she have in confronting the rest of the world, a world that men dominate?

Bull Run Creek is a beautiful trout stream here where I live. And though I often fished the stream alone I used to take my children fishing there on occasion. But it is in a wilderness environment and it pained my heart to realize very early on that my beautiful daughter Karen would never be able to safely go there on her own. Why not? Here would be a beautiful girl all alone in this marvelous, pristine wilderness environment; then suddenly she sees three strange men approaching… Men have no idea the things denied women, the things men take for granted because they do not know the constant world women live in as prey.

It is hardly to my credit it took so many years for me to realize women had been excluded from philosophy and how this has impacted history, or to notice there were no women included in that first edition of The Great Books. It is the King of Disciplines: Philosophy! that guides the course of history and nations. But where is wisdom to be found in excluding a full half of humankind, women, in the philosophies of men?

But it was in finally noticing the philosophies of men that have guided the course of nations virtually excluded women throughout recorded history that I began to ask some really hard questions of myself, the churches and scholars. Since the history of humankind has been a history of warfare, since women don’t have babies to sacrifice them on the altar of wars men make or the state ruled by men, why should it be so?

Sam Clemens said men and women are natural born enemies. Much of history would seem to support Sam’s claim. But why? The obvious that men are bigger and stronger and will always win by force and bullying if nothing else, that it is a man’s world, men lead and women are forced to follow, these are biological facts that withstand all attempts at any kind of ephemeral equality by fiat of laws that can never accomplish the real need which is that of equal value.

But where is the compatibility of differences, why competition and combativeness as the rule? Where the necessary melding and amalgam of the hardness of men and the softness of women resulting in a useful toughness with the resiliency to meet the needs of family, rather than the brittleness that fractures and breaks so easily? The battle between good and evil that we face as human beings has its roots in the things that led to the allegory of the Garden with Adam and Eve. But even here Adam blamed both God and Eve for his failure as a man.

At this point I could go browsing in any number of my dictionaries, like that of Behavioral Science Terms, and find a convenient dementia attempting to make sense of the insensible. I could, delightedly, use my philological encyclopedia to grab hold of archaisms to expound, profoundly, on the root of the words good and evil. I could exhaust my inventory of philosophies of every description and, finally, say: To Hell with It! and go fishing. Undoubtedly much the better, and safer, course.

There is a pronounced lack on the part of both men and women to be honest and candid concerning the nature of either. It is, as I say repeatedly, a problem of immense complexity and proportion. The solution to the problem of a lack of romance in a relationship, for example, is most often thought to be: Get someone else!

It cannot be legitimately denied that women have far fewer options than men. They know this and retaliate the best they can, often using their sex and verbal skills as weapons. And, historically, they have always lost the war. Understandable resentment is the norm. The obvious answer would be virtuous men and women, men and women whose characters were ruled by the principles of love rather than lust and selfishness. However, it takes an entire society to move together in cooperation of the emphasis on the supreme importance and sanctity of marriage and family to bring such a thing to pass.

A nanny government assuming the role of mother and father to babies born out of wedlock, a government and its courts that encourages babies born with no family or future, laws that encourage men to rut like animals taking no responsibility for the babies they father makes abortion a “convenience” rather than a moral issue.

I’m asked if I know of any successful marriages. Yes. But very few. For example the longevity of a marriage is not necessarily the criteria; a couple may celebrate a fiftieth wedding anniversary and not really care much about each other. A successful relationship must have a basis of mutual love and esteem. On this basis, I know of very few successful marriages.

Since love is an art, since it demands the self-discipline of learning any art in order to do it well, it fails when we lack artists. And a large part of such failure is the loss of romance. The great majority of married men and women quickly lose the romance of the relationship. There are a host of factors involved that contribute to such a loss.

Most lose those things which first attracted them to each other. That is the result of not practicing the art of love. And it takes both to make it work. This loss breeds resentment. The resentment grows worse with the growing realization in many cases that the thrill of romance is no longer possible. And this frequently happens. And the resentment frequently results in growing hostility and outright warfare. However, when real romance is missing, when only books, TV and Hollywood supply a vicarious substitute to enliven that missing dimension in a relationship if only in imagination you have a problem of huge proportions in a society. In attempting an understanding of the problem, it has to be accepted that the real equality of the sexes is in the compatibility of differences that should result in mutual love and esteem. However, this is seldom the actual case between men and women.

The Apostle Paul who often is in an adversarial position to women as with most of the Bible writers makes the point succinctly in the New Testament (I Corinthians 11:11) that a man and a woman are co-dependent, that while the woman was created for the man both were created with the capacity to become One on the basis of that mutual love and esteem and that compatibility of differences. The too often despotic and tyrannical rule of men over women is inexcusable. But as a point of understanding, women should consider the fact that men face a very difficult role. It is a hard, often cruel world out there. In facing the difficulties of making it in this world men have, historically, as the stronger, more aggressive sex to contend with other men and the forces of nature in order to provide and protect. That this results in a distinctive character trait of hardness on the part of men is necessary, reasonable and normal. But this should never result in a “battle of the sexes.” And it hardly needs to be said that men warring against each other cannot possibly contribute to peace in any event.

I have to confess to that hardness which is a part of me as a man. While I would like to devote my life to writing of the softer and gentler things of the relationships between men and women, of love and romance, that part of me as a man which contends against evil and the dangers of the world must be operative as well. Here is a point where the compatibility of differences should come into play. While women should represent the softer and gentler elements of humankind distinctive to them, they must accept men for their strength; the necessary harder element.

The utility of steel is based on the alloying of materials that results in a metal that is useful for many purposes. Iron, by itself, is very limited; it is hard, brittle and breaks easily. But with the addition of other things like tungsten, the resulting product, steel, has many diverse uses. The alloying of the softness of the woman and the hardness of the man amalgamating is the steel of the family which can withstand much more of the difficult forces of life, is far more useful to society than either one alone.

To carry the analogy a little further, steel is made through a process of fire. The fires of life should give a relationship the necessary tempering and melding of a man and a woman in a marriage that makes the two, One. It is in the art of steel making to bring the diverse elements together as One. In the art of love there must be the essential elements in the two that would produce that One. The arts of steel making and lovemaking require things to be in proper balance and proportion. If there is too much of one material, if there is too much emphasis on a point of difference, the result is a useless material or a failed relationship.

This is not a subject to be solved in brief articles; and my two books in print, the novel Donnie and Jean and the non-fiction Birds With Broken Wings go into the subjects of love and romance in great depth. I am presently working on the update of Hey God! What went wrong and when are you going to fix it? This book is the academic response to the subject, not that this is lacking in the other two books.

But if there is a conclusion to the matter it is this: So long as women are not accepted and treated as of equal value to men so long will wisdom be orphaned from knowledge. And to repeat, at a time when the world possesses the knowledge to destroy itself and the wisdom is absent to prevent this the world continues on a course of self-destruction.

From the very beginning one of the things that quickly endeared Charles Schulz to me was the simple and straightforward way he handled his Christian beliefs in his strip “Peanuts.” There was Linus of course, but when it came to the vexing questions of life there was Lucy as the psychiatrist handling Charlie Brown’s perplexities. But then we all know gifted cartoonists like Schulz are the real intellectuals and prophets, which is why from childhood on I would first turn to the funny papers before looking at anything else.

In my opinion I would rather have the advice of Charles Schulz about the issues of life than that of the most venerated of theologians in the church. The accusation is not without substance that theology has degenerated at times into questions of the type how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, an accusation from which the best of theological scholars have not always successfully extricated themselves; and any study of Systematic Theology will determine it is anything but; systems of belief to be sure, but too often rather properly belonging to Dogmatic Theology.

For example, most would agree with James that faith without works is dead, being alone; and would agree with James’ statement “show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works.” However, Christian theology teaches people are saved by grace, not by works, that the best we can do cannot stand the test of “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” The “Roman Road” is the precept of personal evangelism and evangelical Christianity stands by this.

But the thousands of books dedicated to theology do not solve the riddle of many questions arising from matters of faith, or faith vs. works, election vs. predestination, what happens to dead babies, modes of baptism, Lord’s Supper, and so on seemingly ad infinitum. It is here where I would seek counsel of Charles Schulz rather than the professional theologians, as he so wisely portrayed by Lucy. Charlie Brown had the deep questions of life, but life is very real and pragmatic and seldom amenable to either altruistic or comfortable theologies or philosophies. Inevitably Charlie Brown has to confront Lucy and the real world in which we all live for better or for worse. For my part, it seems the best I have been able to do is muddle through. And perhaps this is my greatest skill; just muddling through.

However, there are times when the “unthinkable” becomes thinkable by force of circumstances and there is no muddling through. For those of us who lived that era of WWII and went on to study the history of the war at length it is impossible to miss some very disturbing parallels to what is happening with our present government and that of Germany leading to the Nuremberg Tribunal.

That our present White House has become so ultra-secretive is a case in point. One cannot but help wondering what the President and his administration have to hide? Once secrecy for whatever reason is invoked, especially on the seemingly too oft specious argument “national security” all becomes suspect. None of us question the need of secrecy where actual national security may be at risk, there are valid cases of “need to know,” but there is Sandy Berger. And we know there are many Berger’s in the present administration.

But there is little in the Congress to give us hope corruption in government will be ended, or even contained. When it comes to politics it is business as usual and we would be hard pressed to point to any one politician and say we have faith in that person to act with virtue. Some say they have faith, but let’s see them prove that faith by their works.

So, I worry. To repeat something I recently wrote:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an emotional speech on the Senate floor Thursday night, Sen. Gordon Smith, a moderate Republican from Oregon who has been a supporter of the war in Iraq, said the U.S. military’s “tactics have failed” and he “cannot support that anymore.” Smith said he is at, “the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs, day after day… That is absurd,” he said. “It may even be criminal.”

While Smith’s use of the word “criminal” has caused him to do some furious back-peddling the word has been used, and there is no going back from it. He may have fallen under the spell of his own rhetoric, a typical cause of politicians putting their foot in their mouth, but many understood the enormity of such a word being used. I certainly understand it and had already written about it back in April before Smith uttered the word, knowing as I do the lessons of history and human nature teach there is nothing too fantastic to imagine happening in a world seemingly lunatic because of being dominated by religious and political hatreds.

Many of you know the joke about the guy advertising for a woman, but one that owned a boat and motor for fishing, the closing words of the ad “Send picture of boat and motor.” Most of us men laugh at the joke with a greater or lesser degree of understanding. But when it comes to the decision making processes of world leaders the lack of women in such roles may be the undoing of our human species.

Though not attending or belonging to any church one local Bakersfield broadcast I try to catch each week is that of St. John Missionary Baptist Church. Tyree Toliver is the pastor, epitomizing simple honesty and sincerity in his preaching with a congregation that obviously loves this man as he loves them and responds accordingly. At a time when I find myself searching in vain for honesty and sincerity in the leadership of America, pastor Toliver and his flock offers continued hope there are some that have not sold their souls to the Devil, and it comforts me to listen to his simple, honest words to his congregation and their heartfelt response. So long as there exists in America people like pastor Toliver and his flock so long do we have some cause for hope that not all is lost.

The simple beliefs of good and honest people by whom and among whom I was raised creates its own longing in me for such things that is far from being mere nostalgia. There was a solid foundation to these simple people of simple beliefs, simple verities, their faith and trust in the Bible and America that helped guide us through WWII successfully and without which it is doubtful the war could have been won. And while I have moved far from the religious teachings of childhood and evangelical Christianity, I have never forgotten my debt to those people who loved me and were so transparent in their love for me. In the same way I never forget the debt Americans owe the Bible and Christianity.

As to religious beliefs, during a friendly conversation with a college biology instructor the topic of religion came up. Knowing I believed in Intelligent Design he told me with tears in his eyes, “If only I could believe the things I once believed.” He went on to explain his Roman Catholic affiliation, his being born and raised into the RC Church, baptized and catechized, first communion and so much more. But like the poor tortured soul in Elmer Gantry, he wanted to believe in the mysticism, the candles and incense, the prayers, to find once more the comfort he once had in the church environment and among true believers he had once known. But he had come to rely on the facts of science that contradicted so much of what he had once believed. However, he came to realize he had also traded his religious beliefs, beliefs that had brought him comfort and hope for scientific beliefs that had become tyrannical despots unable to offer the same kind of comfort and hope he once had, unable to explain or define life, unable to determine what animates at birth and departs at death.

Stubborn facts often get in the way of cherished beliefs, but if those beliefs bring us comfort and hope here is where it is sometimes folly to be wise. After all, when it comes to matters of belief in things supernatural, metaphysical, who is to say what is and what is not? Many an honest person has sought for the answers to the mysteries of life and death, and if in their honesty they come to rely on beliefs that bring them comfort and hope why should anyone take it upon themselves to disabuse people of such beliefs? “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” and “Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” The Preacher obviously was able to distinguish between those things that offer comfort and hope as opposed to the kinds of knowledge that offers nothing of solace to the soul, no hope of “new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

No one can rightly accuse me of a slavish adherence to “When ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.” But there are many things that legitimately fall into the category of “I don’t want to know,” many of which some might be far better off not knowing. Gore Vidal has Lincoln telling Grant toward the end of the war “Now we know too much.” And when one knows too much, such knowledge coming at the cost of many lives there is no room in such a thing for “wise as serpents but harmless as doves.”

In conversation with a TV producer who had taken an interest in my writing he bluntly asked me: “How did you lose your faith?” I was taken quite aback by his question, but realizing he did not know me personally well at all I went on to answer that I did not believe I had lost my faith, but I had come to accept the legitimate questions that arise from an honest questioning and honest study of many things that might well be taken for a loss of faith as I attempted to work these things out in my writing.

For example, pragmatically we face the very real prospect of nuclear terrorism being visited upon America by religious fanatics, the result of Islamic religious and political fanaticism, the refusal of our leaders to secure our borders because of their greed for slave labor and profits aiding the terrorists. But it will not be terrorism born of the Bible and Christianity. However, there are those like Bush claiming as many like him have done to believe in the Bible and Jesus while at the same time denying by their very actions any such beliefs. And such hypocrisy cannot but make its contribution to the very real dangers America is facing, as well as giving our enemies a propaganda advantage.

It comes down to good people will do good, and while religious beliefs may encourage things like charity, living honestly, doing good for others, such things must come from a good and honest heart or according to the Bible they profit nothing. Certainly this is only a belief, but it is a belief that makes good sense.

No, I do not believe I have lost my faith. But cruelty and murder in the name of some deity will never be a part of my faith though I have many questions yet unanswered that will doubtless remain unanswered. This much I know; while knowledge has increased to the point where nuclear Armageddon looms there seems not the wisdom to prevent it. And perhaps this may be the result of a full half of humankind, women, being excluded from The Great Conversation.

The King of Disciplines remains a “boys club,” and while philosophers have waxed eloquent on the need for our species to abjure war, offering much advice on how to avoid wars and get along with one another, without the other half of humankind having a voice on the basis of equal value in the decision making processes of world leaders wisdom will remain orphaned from knowledge. And there are no Nancy Pelosi’s to be found in the nations of Islam; they are scarce in China and Russia, and they are conspicuous by their absence in the UN. And let’s not forget the absence of women in that first edition of The Great Books of the Western World, and given only passing notice in the second edition.

While beliefs vary throughout the world, the truth of the history of our species is that women attempt to make homes while men make wars. And the truth that women are not accepted as having equal value to men to my mind is the basis of our history being one of constant conflict explained to a large degree by “Send picture of boat and motor.”

Sane thoughts about an insane world. By Burt Prelutsky, Friday, January 5, 2007. “When I was a youngster, I had this odd notion that Earth served as a loony bin for the entire galaxy—the place where Martians and Venusians sent their crazies. Now that I’m an oldster, I’m convinced I was right.”

While I freely, even recklessly admit to many religious and political heresies, regarded as such by Christians and both political liberals and conservatives, there is the matter C. S. Lewis made a point of mentioning I recall in my defense. He described the elderly Christian woman who led an exemplary life; but demanded her toast always be “just right.” And if not just right, she would go into a perfect snit about this. Try as we may there is simply no pleasing people all the time, and whether our idols prove to have feet of clay or the chink in shining armor only be that of insisting their toast be just right it all amounts to the same. I’m not perfect and neither are you.

But We the People do have the right and the duty to expect more of our elected leadership than they are delivering. And there needs to be an accounting for things like a Muslim being sworn into elected office using the Koran for the ceremony. Despite the protestations surrounding politicians being sworn in with hands on the Bible evidencing hypocrisy Americans do not have a problem with the ceremonial use of the Bible under such circumstances. However, there is nevertheless an inherent danger in countenancing a Muslim with his Koran doing so, and it is foolish in the extreme to ignore the danger to America such a thing poses. We accept that politicians being sworn into office with hand on Bible is ceremonial only; but it is dangerous in the extreme to believe any Muslim treats the Koran as “simply ceremonial.”

In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye asks God just how far he can bend from adhering to traditions that keep Jews distinct from others without breaking entirely? It was a legitimate question, and it is a question Americans are going to have to answer.

My own metaphysical view that the Bible may well be correct in calling the earth Satan’s domain; that the Evil One has power over the earth and its inhabitants leading to the prevailing history of evil ever in the ascendancy at least lends itself to a modicum of sensibility. The monsters in human guise such as those preying on women and children being the Devil’s spawn as Jesus describes in opposition to the children of God at least has the merit of making some sense of otherwise seeming lunacy throughout. Whether or not, the fact remains good people do not want or seek power and authority over others, which puts politicians in the Devil’s camp.

In respect to a world in the grip of seeming lunacy Burt went on to say, “I wish John McCain, who uses his own heroic stature as a model P.O.W. to influence America’s policy towards Islamic terrorists, would just shut up on the subject. To suggest that combatants who fight without a flag or a uniform; who wipe their feet on the Geneva Convention; who disguise themselves as women; who hide in mosques and marketplaces; who slice off the heads of their prisoners; and who use children as shields; are entitled to the same safeguards as soldiers is sheer lunacy. In the old days, when the Cold War was at its most frigid, I honestly thought the one thing that could unite the so-called civilized world would be the threat of invasion by evil aliens from outer space. I now realize how naïve I was. One merely has to see how accommodating most nations are towards the very worst elements of Islam to recognize that Neville Chamberlain was simply a man 70 years ahead of his time. These days, when most of Europe and half of America is only too happy to appease the neo-Nazis who heil Allah instead of Hitler, Chamberlain would be in his glory, and, regrettably, without a Churchill anywhere in sight…”

Burt is correct, but neither is there any Churchill here in America that speaks out about Mexicans marching in our streets while flying their flag like Hitler’s Brown Shirts demanding allegiance to Mexico. Sieg Heil Mexico and Mexicans! Then there is the agenda of Sieg Heil ACLU! Something that accommodates everything destructive of standards of morality and America having an identity based on heritage, culture, language, and secure borders. Lunacy!

Another area of seeming lunacy in America has to do with prescription drugs. A dear friend of mine has for a very long time been attempting to call attention to the dangers posed by pharmaceutical industries making essential drugs prohibitively expensive to ordinary working Americans. She wrote me saying, “Ever since I started looking into drug prices, that study has taken me into labyrinthine twists and turns that have nearly made me crazy. I’ve read books, followed up on informative Web sites, written letters to Congress and to the editor, etc., etc. I started looking into drug prices when I knew that at age 65 I would lose my attractive prescription drug insurance that went along with my awfully expensive (but also good) health insurance. What I learned was appalling, and it made Canada very attractive. Now, with the Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, Big Pharma and insurance companies are dying laughing all the way to the bank. And the Democrats, of course, want Medicare to be able to negotiate drug prices for Medicare PDP participants; however, if that happens, dominoes will begin falling. Everything will fall except the prices of drugs. I believe Medicare attempting to negotiate drug prices is like having a three-year-old do it. I guarantee I can do a better job of it. Under that scenario, competition and free trade will be restricted. Also, interestingly, since Wal-Mart and others have gotten so aggressively into the generic drug-selling business, some of the VA-negotiated prices are higher than Wal-Mart’s. I have proof of that. Only free trade and good retail competition can keep the price of drugs down.”

The dictum of “Follow the money” explains much of the seeming lunacy gripping America, of the seeming paralysis of our corrupt government ever doing what is in the best interest of America and Americans. But such seeming lunacy leading to the destruction of America leaves me with the metaphysical conclusion: The Devil has very deep pockets. But like Burt I wouldn’t entirely discount the threat from Mars and Venus; that the earth is the dumping ground for the crazies from elsewhere in the universe and our human species does appear to be taken over by the crazies.

You know, there may be the risk of space aliens invading and our having a President like Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks! Some uncharitable souls would say we already have such a President. Still, who knows but what Mars and Venus may yet show us some compassion. Seems as likely as our own government doing so. And I’d rather take my chances with Mars and Venus rather than Sieg Heil Allah!

“Tell a woman and the word will get around.” Before you ladies get in an uproar this is the title of a song. “Don’t telephone, don’t telegraph, tell a woman the word will get around” is the chorus from the song I heard on a Bakersfield radio station sometime in the late 40s. You can well imagine the high dudgeon this would find women in today if the song was still being played, though women are cast in a far worse light by some of the so-called “music” of today.

Just how did this reputation for gossip become peculiar to women when men are just as guilty? This reminds me of the Victorian attitude that held women were not to enjoy sex as men did. And, the double standards regarding much of human behavior cuts both ways, and both men and women suffer from such double standards. One of long standing was girls should be chaste and boys “experienced.” But the basic premise was sound in that girls and women should be a civilizing influence on boys and men.

Still, when it comes to gossip even Henry Thoreau noted it is good when taken in “homeopathic doses” and he did not discriminate between men and women on the subject. As to women being singled out, when one considers how women have had to struggle to have any voice or rights comparable to men it is no wonder all they had was conversation among each other throughout much of our history. That such conversation would often degenerate into gossip as a pejorative term is not to be wondered at.

My copy of American Spirit- Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine dated March/April 2003 has a lead article detailing the typical “Woman’s Day” in 1770. The magazine notes Family-Community-Country being essential to our welfare as a nation. But to consider the extreme hardships endured by women especially attempting to make a home, to bear and rear children those centuries ago is to come face to face with wonderment that women and children managed to survive.

I experienced much of this while living on the mining claim here in the Sequoia National Forest. No electricity or indoor plumbing, nothing but a woodstove and fireplace for cooking and heating, coal oil lamps for lighting at night. And I continue to marvel at the way my great-grandmother and grandparents endured such hardship without complaint.

However, before moving to the forest while living in Little Oklahoma in Southeast Bakersfield during WWII the next-door neighbor had a cow, and what a treat it was to visit at milking time. Occasionally, my brother Ronnie and I would get a fresh, warm cup of the milk. We would blow off the hair and foam from the top of the cup; just like we saw W. C. Fields and some others do in movies with a mug of beer, and drink it like a milkshake.

Sometimes when grandad took us to downtown Bakersfield we would stop at the Orange Julius. It was built like a huge orange and the structure fascinated Ronnie and me. We loved the orange-milk drink and grandad would always ask the attendant to put a raw egg in his. Never knew why and never asked for raw egg in mine. This was kind of strange since I usually tried to copy grandad in everything he did.

Ronnie and I were not overly conscious of the absence of a father. Grandad was still a fairly young man, and not having a son I suppose he took us on as the sons he always wanted and treated us accordingly; though the distinction of being our grandfather was never blurred and he was always grandad, never dad. Our mother contributed a lot to keeping this distinction clear because of the seemingly constant friction between her and our grandparents; this together with the flow of stepfathers that were to filter through our lives.

There were so many activities at our grandparents’ place that Ronnie and I were seldom at a loss for things to do or for interesting things to observe and listen to. Like the quilting parties.

Our grandparents had a quilting frame that hung from the ceiling of the spacious living room. At times the neighbor ladies, mostly members of grandad’s little congregation, would get together and make quilts. It was something Ronnie and I always enjoyed when we were small. What made the quilting parties so much fun as the ladies all gathered around the apparatus, Ronnie and I could crawl under the contraption and, in the coolness of our shadowed sanctuary, listen to the genteel gossip of the lulling, matronly voices. We were far too young to understand much of what the ladies said, but it was pleasant to hear them and enter into the enjoyment they obviously were having as they sewed the various pieces of fabric into fascinating mosaics of a quilt. They would often have the radio on and we could hear the soap operas as well, the ladies commenting on them at intervals.

Quilting was a communal thing. It made Ronnie and I feel good whenever all the neighbor ladies got together and were so obviously enjoying themselves. It gave us a happy, warm, secure feeling. Maybe this was so special to us because of our father leaving us and the world was at war. Like crawling into our private preserve of the cannas in the yard; there was some kind of magic in the warmth and security of just having good, loving people around us or being in a shaded place during the hot, summer days that made us feel more alive and made us feel like laughing.

Women were responsible for the home and little ones, and when they gathered in community, like on quilting or wash day they shared the work, they talked, and we children felt safe and secure. The work the women usually did was hard work. However, by working and sharing together, the work didn’t seem as hard. Men, women, and children had clearly defined roles it seemed. But as hard as the work was for the ladies, washdays were real fun for us children.

Large galvanized washtubs would be set up on bricks over wood fires. The ladies would put soap and lye in the water and boil the clothes in the tubs while stirring them with a stick, usually a used broom or hoe handle. After boiling and stirring, the clothes went into another tub for scrubbing on washboards. After scrubbing, they went into a tub for rinsing and then wrung out to be hung on the lines. Of course, there were different tubs for colored and white things. Bleach, starch, and Mrs. Worth’s Bluing were fascinating ingredients to us children. It was a wonder to us how the ladies knew such intricacies of chemistry. Washday always smelled wonderful; the aroma of clean wash was marvelous. And like the quilting parties, the gossip and lulling voices of the ladies moved over and around us children like a refreshing breeze in the heat of a summer day.

Our mother and grandmother loved to crochet and knit. Ronnie and I were taught these arts as well; and we also learned to embroider. Looking back, I’ve thought this was the result of having three mothers and only one man in the house; grandad. And we learned to use the Singer sewing machine. This was a truly marvelous device. Ronnie and I would take turns working the treadle and stitching since our legs couldn’t reach the treadle while seated at the machine.

So it was no wonder that as I grew older some things thought “fittin’” only for girls were suspect to me. And as my great-grandmother was to point out to me one time there were very few things boys did that girls couldn’t do as well, and why shouldn’t girls enjoy shooting, fishing, even building model airplanes? While such a thing seemed foreign to me at the time, as I grew older the wisdom of my great-grandmother’s words was inescapable.

Many things have changed in America since I was a boy, and women have made much progress. But when it comes to Equal Rights vs. Equal Value the gap seems as wide as history. That old song “Tell a woman and the word will get around” is a haunting reminder that when it comes to the equal value of women to men this distinction still has a long way to go. While the extreme hardships for women have been ameliorated since 1770 here in America, they remain in many other nations where women are still considered no better than “chattel.”

Unlike many conservatives Nancy Pelosi does not get me all a’ dither with the vapors. While she is no better than any other corrupt politician and will do what is in her best interest rather than in the interest of America like all politicians the fact she is a woman does at least offer me some comfort. Deep down I remain like Rhett Butler hopeful that Scarlett may develop a real woman’s heart, that civilizing heart that understands women attempt to make homes while men make wars.

One thing about which most Americans agree; our government is in a shambles and there is little to give us hope our government will put the interests of America ahead of that of whoever is in power.

There are times when I feel like Nick Charles in the Thin Man because of my knowing so many unsavory characters, not all of which are relatively benign or Runyonesque. Because of this and having just received a call from an inmate in the Kern County Jail begging me to say something about the overcrowded conditions it is no secret illegal aliens make their contribution to the problem. Be that as it may it should be obvious that most of the overcrowding of our jails and prisons throughout California and other states is due to what are often referred to as “victimless crimes” like drug use and prostitution. And please spare me the moralizing about the term “victimless” when so many books are already written on both sides, talks shows, columnists holding forth ad infinitum and one may choose their own “experts.”

People who know me also know my “conservative” credentials are in considerable disarray because of my position on legalizing marijuana, prostitution, euthanasia, what some call my “soft” attitude toward abortion, and my opposition to the death penalty because of the capriciousness with which as with child molestation it is handled from state-to-state. But I continue to say a pox on both houses of Congress for refusing to secure our borders and printing ballots in foreign tongues, refusing to make English our national language by law, refusing to deal with the issue of “anchor babies” and so much more.

While the media has paid some attention to the overcrowding in California jails and prisons it is obvious the problem is one of drugs and prostitution for the greater part. But even some judge’s years ago began to call for legalizing these in order to unclog the courts; and few are in a better position than judges to speak knowledgeably to the issue.

But following the money it is relatively easy to see why drugs especially are profitable to world leaders including those here in America. And it would be utterly naïve to say our leaders do not profit from refusing to legalize marijuana in particular. And it would be naïve to say politicians do not avail themselves of prostitutes, often at taxpayer expense, not to mention the drug habits of many politicians. So, the double standard exists between politicians and we the Great Unwashed. Our leaders do not obey the laws they pass against ordinary Americans, and it remains “How much justice can you afford?” when it comes to the ordinary citizen.

I spent many years as a gun enthusiast, a handloader, gunsmith and shooter; I have been a lifetime supporter of our Second Amendment and the NRA. But I do not want people owning guns that are not law abiding citizens, I do not want even law abiding citizens to be able to simply go into a gun store and buy a gun without a thorough background check, and I most certainly do not want anyone to simply plunk down the money and walk out with a machine gun. And even the staunchest supporter of our Second Amendment would cringe at being able to legally buy hand grenades or any such explosive devices. There must be an accommodation to reason when debating such issues.

Many superfluous so-called “gun control” laws are passed due to politicians being fearful of an armed citizenry because of the organized robbery and tyranny our Federal Triune Dictatorship represents as our Founding Fathers wisely foresaw could happen. But trying to get politicians to deal effectively with the overcrowding of jails and prisons comes down to their refusal to give up the drug money lining their own pockets and the profits they make from the slave labor pouring into America along with the drugs from Mexico.

Largely because of emasculating political correctness the media is unable to deal effectively with the problem of overcrowding in our jails and prisons, not even daring to address the issue of the impact of illegal aliens, but then advocating for the legalizing of marijuana would at least be sensible. I am not so naïve as to expect the same thing done for prostitution, but no one can fail to realize there is a vacuum of leadership in America to deal effectively with the issues that are tearing our nation apart, not the least of which is the double standard of politicians denying accountability for their own use of drugs and prostitutes while demanding ordinary citizens that do not enjoy the privileges of power obey the laws such politicians pass.

Henry Thoreau pointed out his generation laughed about the modes of dress of previous generations, but seemed oblivious of the “head monkey” in Paris dictating fashion and so many following slavishly, oblivious to how their own ideas of “fashion” might be ridiculed by a following generation. But people have ever been judged by appearance and there is nothing for it despite the oftentimes impractical. For example having to wear a tie has never been high on my list of needed appointments in attire, the practical bowing to fashion, though there is no discounting the importance of such a thing deemed proper dress in many cases; and slovenly dress as disrespect for the time, place, and other people is unacceptable.

Manner of speech will overcome manner of dress, provided the speaker has a chance to prove themselves before being judged entirely by fashion, and good manners in both speech and behavior has made princes and princesses of those unable to dress the part. And as to speech, vocabulary remains a prime indicator of the degree of intelligence; but not vocabulary as ostentatious display which is quickly understood as the lack of good manners such as condescension or patronizing.

Grace Metalious’ 1956 novel Peyton Place was called a “blockbuster” being the second such so named, the first being Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind in 1936. In just a relatively short period of time between the two blockbuster books how very much of private and public mores and fashions changed, WWII certainly making an enormously profound contribution to these changes. What has not changed is perception based on how one dresses and speaks; how one is judged by courteous manners toward others evidencing proper respect for civilized proprieties in society.

So many are now calling attention to the lack of good manners in society, to the increasing lack of civility and courtesy in our society you need only read Peyton Place or watch the film to gain some appreciation of the change in America over the last fifty years. To watch the film now especially tugs at your heart with poignancy if you are anywhere near my age, or the young might find it ridiculous people could ever have actually lived the seemingly simplistic time portrayed; could young people have ever been so naïve about sex or an entire town so sensitive to gossip?

Just to watch the scenes involving that high school in the fifties and the behavior in high schools today makes those my age cringe at what has been lost, but is laughable to those younger. Could high schools have ever been like that portrayed in the film? Could such a small town America have ever existed in reality? Could there really be such noble people like the doctor, and a doctor rebuking a girl for asking for an abortion, then performing the abortion risking his license to practice medicine in order to save not the physical life of the girl, but her right to live free of the results of being raped by a stepfather? But for those of us who have lived that time in such places like Peyton Place, we know people like the doctor did exist and we mourn the loss of such people with their “simplistic morality.”

Good people like the doctor and high school principal, the other good people in Peyton Place would now be sued for following the dictates of their consciences, they would be sued and lose their jobs or even go to prison for their “simplistic morality.” When I was a boy in Old Kernville Elementary School a boy was rebuked by our principal Mr. Wallace for wearing his Levis too low. The boy and his family today would have the ACLU hauling Mr. Wallace into court. Mr. Wallace would be at the least made to apologize to the boy and his family, the school district would be sued for “damage to the boy’s psyche,” and Mr. Wallace would probably be looking for work elsewhere.

But “way back then” those like Mr. Wallace were genuinely concerned about the larger issues impacting on children, things like a boy attempting to wear his pants too low. Mr. Wallace knew the social implications of such a seemingly minor thing; he knew the inherent dangers of the age old story about the camel being permitted to get its nose in the tent.

In just such a relatively short period of time American society has degenerated into one in matters of speech, dress, and behavior rivaling that of nations considered “barbaric.” But like dear Harper Lee, I point to the failure of our universities and their product schools no longer being in the business of real education, no longer seeming to be concerned about boys wearing their Levis too low or girls wearing their skirts too short. And to attempt now to confront such things is to wind up in court.

It is too easy for those today to point to my generation as quaint and anachronistic because we believed boys and girls should be encouraged in matters of modesty and civilized good manners and speech, in observing the proprieties of a civilized society. But those my age know the realties of what has been lost by not encouraging these things in children, we know the importance of heritage, culture, language, and secure borders; we know America has been betrayed by greedy politicians and their corporate bosses. And we recognize the depth of the ignorance of those who would have us believe there was no harm being done by a boy trying to get away with wearing his Levis too low.

Jesus confronted his accusers and detractors saying “Wisdom is justified of her children.” America’s heritage, culture, even our English language and our borders are being betrayed, our very identity and sovereignty as a nation being threatened. Wisdom is indeed justified of her children. Yes, hypocrisy was confronted in Peyton Place, but prurient interests and motives aside Mr. Wallace was correct in confronting that boy. And while those of us like dear Mr. Wallace attempt to confront those in America demanding the “right” to wear their Levis too low, it seems that we are losing the battle to the minority that have the lawyers, politicians, and media on their side. And throughout wisdom is conspicuous by its absence, the wisdom of Mr. Wallace has lost out to boys wanting to wear their Levis too low.

On the basis of historical facts no one can legitimately dispute the Bible and the Christian religion giving rise to a Christian Western Civilization wherein the best of the arts and sciences began to flourish is the basis for the founding of America as a Christian nation beginning with those early Pilgrims for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. There is no disputing the finest charitable organizations in the world given to serving humankind have their basis in the Christian religion, and one need not be a Christian to acknowledge these facts and own their debt to the Bible and the Christian religion for these things.

However, to acknowledge the historical significance of the Bible and Jesus quite obviously should not divorce the mind from reason, nor ignore the facts of human nature being such as to emphasize Emerson’s remark that men like George Washington leave no class. Reading the New Testament narrative of Jesus and the early beginnings of the Church one can only shake their heads over how far those naming the name of Christ could have descended from a promising beginning into the Dark Ages.

But despite the twists and turns of the Christian religion, even the most heinous crimes being committed in the name of Jesus at one time or another, the burning of heretics and other cruelties of great notoriety in history men like Luther would arise to confront these things and the benefits of the Christian religion once becoming civilized far outweigh the negatives. Without the Christian religion and the Bible one might well imagine the enormous loss to the world, and there might well have never been an England or America upholding and advancing the finest benefits of Christianity in literature and education, the arts and sciences, in charitable works, benefits none profiting from would exchange for those of Islam for example.

The many years I gave to the study of the Bible were years well spent, such a study leading to other areas like history, geography, languages, cultures and mythologies of ancient civilizations and so much more. It was in such a manner I acquired a personal library of some 5,000 volumes dedicated to such studies and it was for this reason Theology became known as the Queen of the Sciences while Philosophy remained the King of Disciplines. The two were joined since those like Copernicus and Newton were a product of both, as have the best of thinkers throughout the history of Western Civilization realizing one cannot separate science entirely from the spiritual which alone accounts for life. Science gives us understanding about much of our physical world, but offers nothing as an explanation for life or its origin, cannot tell us what animates at birth and departs at death.

Here in America we enjoy the greatest freedom to express ideas that often conflict with the majority opinion; and this freedom of such dissent we owe to the Founding Fathers who built into our government the right to dissent. But it is regrettable that political correctness shouts down what is often the majority opinion of We the People the great majority expressing a belief in Christianity in some form, but the MSM often crediting the opinion of minorities having far greater weight than they do in fact. It seems politicians are far more given to such minority opinions than the will of We the People. And in just such manner do the Bible and Christianity suffer attack from the minuscule minority that would denigrate all those who credit our debt as a nation to the Bible and Christianity for our being the freest and most powerful nation in the world.

But to repeat, one need not be a Christian as defined by any one belief system to acknowledge this fact of America’s history; though for the sake of intellectual honesty one must separate what one believes from what one knows as empirical fact. And it is here in the matter of beliefs as opposed to facts we find so many schisms often setting otherwise good people against one another. And here as elsewhere the cautionary word should be exercising discretion when pronouncing beliefs, and there is no room for bullies in a sharing of differing beliefs and I refuse to be cowed by bullies of any kind or provide them a forum to attack me. They are free to write and speak as they will elsewhere.

While I may not share the belief of some that lighting candles for the departed is of any benefit I welcome the thoughtfulness of those who do believe such a thing, but the best of such people are not going to attempt to force their belief in the efficacy of such a thing on me. When someone tells me they will pray for me, I don’t try to disabuse them of the notion but express my gratitude for their thoughtfulness.

One would think the goodness of people ought to eventually overcome the evil that men do. But such is not the case. And because this is not the case, but the facts are a history of humankind being one of evil ever in the ascendancy I give myself over to often thinking and writing about the cause of this, and the Bible is a primary source on the subject notwithstanding The Great Books and The Great Conversation.

And so I do resort to metaphysical speculation about the reason there are monsters in our midst in the guise of human beings, monsters without conscience preying on women and children, monsters without conscience perpetrating the most fiendish of acts against the most defenseless of victims like children. And while only a belief, I believe war of some kind in the heavens is visited upon the earth, that the world being Satan’s domain offers a plausible explanation for hell on earth with a history of conflict and no end in sight. And what can possibly account for human beings believing the murder of the innocent that simply do not believe the way you do is glorifying to any other deity but Satan?

But to even give a voice to such expressions of belief or disbelief is one of the benefits of living in America, an America founded on the Bible and the Christian religion that despite my heterodox beliefs and the fact I don’t belong to or attend any church I give thanks and I am duly appreciative. And even for those that disagree they can be thankful they were not born in Iran, but are the beneficiaries of the Bible and Christianity.

Yes, regardless the belief system hypocrisy abounds. But to attempt to discredit the good of the Bible and the Christian religion with all the benefits accruing is to ignore the facts and refuse to give credit where credit is due.

Few would disagree that our elected leadership needs a strong dose of reality; but from the polls and statistics there isn’t any lack of reality on the part of ordinary American citizens who vote for things like secure borders and live from one paycheck to another. But will the source of such a reality check for politicians be a terrorist nuclear bomb going off at LAX?

While working as a machinist for North American Aviation at LAX during the Saberjet project I confronted some jerk for being a jerk. Afterward, he went around the shop exclaiming to everyone “I don’t care what Sam says!” Well, while everyone agreed this guy was a jerk what confounded us was why he would go around telling everyone he didn’t care what I said then go on at such length proving he did in fact care a great deal about what I had said? But, I suppose, some of you folks have experienced the same kind of thing; something along the line of “methinks the lady protesteth too much.”

But had it not been for the Californian the story about the elderly couple whose van and wheelchair were stolen would not have had such a happy ending. This is where our local paper did a bang up job of civic responsibility and we the citizens of Kern County are grateful. But the blight on our county of those who would stoop so low as to steal that van and wheelchair remains, and our police need all the help and encouragement they can get while attempting to serve and protect law abiding citizens. Laws are only as good as their enforcement, and despite the happy ending to the story we hope the thieves will yet be caught and punished as a full and happy end to the story.

The Bible has it “Fools make a mock at sin,” and when laws are mocked as they are by the despicable thieves stealing that van and wheelchair we want them caught and punished. But when laws are mocked as they are by our elected leaders the result is they betray themselves for fools, but fools that are threatening America’s very existence as a nation, as in our leadership’s refusal to secure our borders while allowing our immigration laws to be flaunted with impunity. And then the media will encourage this flaunting of our laws by turning illegal aliens into “immigrants” while demonizing those like Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan for pointing out the obvious, even glorifying those that throw around the term “racist” with impunity at anyone sticking up for secure borders knowing the media will encourage this tarring with the racist brush as well. Mexico for Mexicans is permissible, but America for Americans is racist?

Armchair revisionists that did not live the events of WWII, did not make the sacrifices and experience what this did to Americans right down to the very marrow of our being because of Pearl Harbor conveniently have it we who did live those events were evil people because of those internment camps and the dropping of those atomic bombs. Well, perhaps if there had been no need of demonizing our enemies in order to pull Americans together in common cause against the Axis foes there would not have been the camps and bombs. But reality doesn’t work that way.

The reality is that the only reason the Axis Powers did not prevail was the very act of successfully demonizing our enemies, putting a face to them, recognizing them and treating them as our mortal enemies! That is how wars are won; and from the very beginning of Caesar Bush’s wars I knew such a thing would be impossible because of a politically correct media that would not permit any demonizing of the enemies of America. Further, it quickly became painfully obvious We the People had been lied to in order for our leadership to have its wars; including a Congress that claims it was so easily taken in by a Bunko artist with a gift for flimflam. That is a stretch for even the most gullible that must realize by now there was never any plan for prosecuting a war to win even had it been justified. And a Congress whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans, the only thing We the People can be assured of is politics as usual, lying to get elected and lying to stay elected.

Well, December 7, 1941 was a different America, my America, reviled by some as a “Norman Rockwell America.” But it was an America that saved the world at the time. None can point to America today and have any confidence this America can save itself, let alone the world. And if that terrorist nuclear bomb goes off at LAX none of us want to think of the kind of America arising from that. But like December 7, 1941 it will be in today’s parlance a “reality check,” one that will leave no room for “Press one for English.”

When it comes to things like sausage “Don’t ask; enjoy” is good advice. And were it not for the importance of the issues and so little to enjoy one might apply the same advice to politics. Superficially the present disarray of our political “leadership” would make good comic opera were it not for the consequences of such a comical farce and the lack of a good score and conductor.

Certainly the words coming out of Foggy Bottom are comical, and one might be excused for thinking given the inanity of the speakers they are intended to be funny. Surely, we ask ourselves, these people don’t truly believe they are to be taken seriously, do they? So, are We the People to laugh or cry?

The wars of Caesar Bush are dead serious business given the enormity of the consequences in human sacrifices and economically. It is no less dead serious business that we have come to expect no one in government is ever to be held accountable for greed, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, even stupidity resulting in danger to America and the loss of lives. Rather, such things when discovered are referred to committees; another act of our “leadership” Republican and Democrat that we have come to learn is dedicated to either whitewashing or even exonerating the guilty.

A good comic opera would at least have consequences attendant on words and actions, and with a good musical score and conductor we enjoy the play and anticipate a happy outcome. But many a comic farce has a dark side, typical of the best of humor. However, we are not even being offered the best of humor, only the dark side of the players on the DC stage. Try as we may, there seems nothing comic about this except for the fact so many of the players seem to really believe their words are to be taken seriously all the while their actions belying and contradicting their words.

But it appears the nations of the world are in little better case than America. However, while other nations act in their own best interests when it comes to things like national heritage, culture, identity, national sovereignty and borders, trade agreements, the same cannot be said of America where our leadership seems far more intent on the next election than actually solving the growing problems right here in America reflecting the problems one would usually associate with third world nations. And this better lends itself to a Grand Opera Gotterdammerung Armageddon than anything approaching comic opera.

The taunt was hurled at Jesus on the cross: “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” And if America cannot save itself, how is it to save others?

I don’t have any answers to my personal grief over the loss of loved ones, to the questions of why they are gone and I remain, of whether I will rejoin them when I die, whether life itself has any real meaning. There are things I believe that bring me a degree of comfort, but not answers.

Seeking for answers to the death of loved ones, untimely or not, is a commonality to all those that grieve over such a loss. And the answers, if answers there be are no closer to us now than they have ever been throughout human history. But most of us find some degree of comfort through friends who mourn with us whether it be by their presence, letters, gifts, prayers, the lighting of candles or any other form of sharing our grief. Good people remain good people whatever their beliefs, and good people do not attempt to force their beliefs on others. The distinction is one of major consequence throughout human history, one by which some convinced they serve God may find themselves actually serving the Devil.

There was no mistaking the credit those in the time of Emerson and Thoreau gave the Bible and our Constitution as the basic instruments of the very foundation of America and American society, Henry crediting those standing wisely by these and drinking from the stream of truth to be found in them. Are some naysayers now over nearly a hundred and seventy years later to revise the very history and common thoughts to which Emerson and Thoreau were closest, to which they gave voice and credited? I think not.

But the fault those like Henry gave voice to in his tract on The Duty of Civil Disobedience lay in the inability of the best of those in government not only seeming to be unable to further improve conditions despite this “stream of truth,” but seeming intent on denying it by their actions. Henry’s criticism extended further to the seeming inability of those in positions of leadership to progress because of their stopping at the stream and not seeking the very source of the headwaters feeding the stream, the result being Henry’s declamation despite the genius of the New Testament teachings to be found on the subject “No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America.”

But genius and politics have never seemed to keep company. And it isn’t a lack of the product of genius that could properly be brought to bear on politics, it is as I have said many times that politics not only does not attract good people, especially not good people possessed of genius, but attracts the very worst, those that are drawn to positions of power and authority over others. And what is true of politics is equally true of religion, where Jesus himself said his kingdom was not of this world and warned those who would follow him not to make their home in this world if they were honestly seeking a better.

Henry credited others besides Jesus for having genius, he even went so far as to write of those like Confucius and Eastern philosophers, even remarking the credit Zoroaster some gave him for establishing worship among men. But whether religion or politics, the way each seems despite often noble beginnings to degenerate into systematic organization of hatreds has plagued humankind throughout the history of our species.

Throughout my own studies of world religions there is a general theme to be found of people attempting to reach out beyond themselves to the metaphysical realm, and these attempts have been marked from the very earliest even among pre-Homo sapiens. If there is any one thing that credits life seeking answers for itself and its purpose it is this thing of reaching out beyond ourselves to the metaphysical. But in too many cases has the metaphysical resulted in systems of cruelty and brutality in attempts to appease the diabolical rather than elevating the good.

For longevity none have ever surpassed the ancient Egyptians as a civilized society. But to study their forms of government and religion while offering some hints of how the ancient Egyptians remained such a cognate civilization provides no conclusive evidence. Certainly geography played a major role, but no matter how much of that ancient civilization you study the only thing you come away with is the sense of their recognizing that there were good people and bad people and in the afterlife this would be the basis of final judgment. And every civilization worthy of the term “civilized” has followed this same pattern of metaphysical belief usually reflected in their methods of governance.

Thanks to the marvel of the Internet and search engines one no longer has to spend years “going through the stacks” to gain an overview of ancient Egypt and other like subjects. But you quickly discover there are major differing opinions among scholars on several points, whether it be ancient Egypt or any other of the ancient civilizations.

But one thing about which you will not find much in the way of disagreement is the fact that it is only when the words of men are taken for the words of some deity, men purportedly speaking for some god or gods that we find the extremes of cruelty and brutality practiced by followers of various systems of religion. In the worst cases such as those of Islam teaching all but followers of Islam are the enemies of God, such teaching easily lending itself to the extremes of brutality and cruelty to appease a bloodthirsty deity, and in its own way no different than any of the ancient superstitions requiring human sacrifice.

I choose to call Christianity a “civilized religion” because once past its bloody beginnings and early history, Christianity provided the basis for the very best of the arts and sciences, and as those like Thoreau credited them the Bible and our Constitution became a “stream of truth” by which America flourished. Christianity had become civilized, and from this arose the greatest of Western Civilization in general and America in particular.

However, this tremendous advance of the arts and sciences had to do with the education Biblical Christianity emphasized such as the building of universities in Europe, England, and America. And as the general populations became educated as a consequence, so with increasing education came the ability for increasingly large numbers of people to contribute to the general welfare. America has been enormously blessed by this emphasis on education with its Biblical beginnings, and the loss of such an emphasis on education is something for which we are paying dearly.

It is regrettable beyond words that politics attracts the worst rather than the best. It is beyond dispute that the most civilized practice birth control, giving needed thought to the future of their children. But this is a product of education by which a civilization worthy of the term establishes itself and progresses in the arts and sciences. But nowhere do we see education worthy of the term being given the needed emphasis in the nations of barbarism. And right here in America we see increasing barbarism being the result of a failed educational system.

But our leadership being politicians refuse to acknowledge America’s heritage, culture, language and secure borders are essential to educating and providing for our own children. America cannot possibly be of help to other nations if we lose our own children. And I would offer this is not a matter of belief, but of hard empirical and pragmatic truth. And if America cannot save itself, how is it to save others?

In the following I need to explain that I called my brother Ronnie “Dee Dee” from earliest memory. We called our grandmother “Tody” though I never really understood why? And while Ronnie and I had lived in some large cities like San Francisco, Cleveland, and others Bakersfield remained our hometown to us.

During our trips from Little Oklahoma, Southeast Bakersfield, to downtown Ronnie and I would see a few Zoot-suiters and scantily clad women wearing lots of makeup, strange hairdos and hair colors, and Tody would make disparaging and warning remarks about them. A few of the women would elicit the phrase Painted Hussy from Tody, a phrase with which Ronnie and I had become well acquainted from earliest memory.

I recall the time shortly after we had moved from Weedpatch to our grandparent’s place and grandad and Tody had taken us to the American Legion Hall for a special Christmas Eve event. The program was very well attended and the auditorium was packed. Some man got up and gave a speech, after which a lady came on stage and started singing. Ronnie and I had never seen such a beautifully dressed lady. She was in some kind of long, flowing, red gown and as she was singing I leaned over to Ronnie and exclaimed in a loud voice Dee Dee, I think that’s a painted hussy! Dee Dee replied just as loudly I think she’s a painted hussy too.

Neither of us, of course, had the foggiest notion of what a painted hussy was; but we had heard the expression often enough, and somehow we had gotten the idea that anyone with lots of makeup and a red dress was a painted hussy. The roar of laughter that surrounded us by the occupants of the other seats made the poor distressed lady halt her song. I can only guess at the embarrassment of grandad and Tody. I don’t recall any other excursions into polite society for quite some time afterwards.

The Scripture has it, “A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” In the case of my brother and I, two little boys left to themselves can cause their mother to contemplate mayhem, even at Christmas time.

At one point during WWII our mother having married a sailor we found ourselves living in San Pedro near the waterfront. It was Christmas morning and my brother and I decided to do something especially nice for our mother. There always seemed to be a lot of people, especially sailors, coming and going until very late at night. There were a lot of parties and a lot of drinking. So mom slept in very late, and Ronnie and I often were left to our own devices when we awakened. But this particular Christmas morning the place was a real mess and we hit on the idea of doing the dishes for mom.

But the usual silverware, plates, glasses and cups were too mundane and pedestrian for our well-intentioned and inventive enterprise. So we filled the bathtub, added a copious amount of bubble bath, and proceeded to plunge into the soapy depths of the tub mom’s waffle iron, her toaster, curling iron, the electric iron, a clock and a few other things that slip my mind for now. All this in addition to the more ordinary and insignificant items like glasses, silverware, and dishes. Of course to do the job properly, nothing would do but that we climb into the tub as well. It might have been the noise from our joyous enthusiasm in doing mom a good turn that Christmas morning that finally awakened her.

I mercifully do not recall much of the events following, but one picture stands out clearly in my mind: the sight of our mother in the doorway of the bathroom. Her mouth and eyes were astonishingly wide open, and she was making gasping and gurgling sounds like you would imagine a fish might make when pulled from the depths of the ocean. As I lifted the waffle iron from its soapy environment and held it aloft for approving display of our Christmas “gift” to her our mother seemed to be straining to gain the power of speech and movement.

But, as I said, I mercifully don’t remember much else of the event. I do not, however, believe Ronnie and I were rewarded for our gift to mom in proportion to our intentions. However, I do remember our mother, when she regained the power of speech, turning to a girlfriend who had stayed the night and exclaiming to her You take a hairbrush to them; I’m afraid I’ll kill them! Alas, the too often misunderstanding on the part of parents leading to the failure of rewarding their children’s good deeds.

If you were among the “fortunate” to have lived a pioneer life you would understand that in such an environment there is little room for political correctness; in many cases not even room for the normal sensibilities of those possessed with a genuine love and concern for the critters of the forest.

Having long ago left off hunting and fishing, even I have difficulty dealing with some of the things that were a commonplace back in those years living on the mining claim here in the Sequoia National Forest. Today it would not cross my mind to shoot an owl for example. The particular raptor in question, a great horned owl, had killed one of our turkeys and doubtless had its eyes on the chickens as well, so grandad and I were out to get it. However, having found what it believed to be an ideal hunting preserve, the owl obliged us by precipitating its untimely demise. That it was coming on Christmas at the time did not deter us.

It was evening as I started to step out the back door to the privy and spotted the owl perched on the roof of the outhouse. Carefully withdrawing while leaving the door open, I went and whispered to grandad, “That owl is perched on the roof of the outhouse.” As quietly as possible, grandad got the .410 and walked slowly to the back door of the cabin. The obliging predator remained on its perch, thoughtfully silhouetted in the evening twilight, obligingly making itself an ideal target. Boom! went the .410. Scratch one owl.

Bringing the now deceased bird inside the cabin, I stretched it out on the hearth of the fireplace; it had an impressive nearly four-foot wingspan. Big owl. It was at this time while grandad and I were looking at the deceased owl that we began to discuss the merits of cooking the critter. After all, as grandad opined, it had dined on one of our turkeys we had planned on for our own Christmas dinner and what could be more fitting than to cook and eat the critter?

My grandmother was of a different opinion, however, forcefully pointing out owls were ever bit the scavengers and carrion-eaters as vultures and ground squirrels, neither of which would ever find their way into the family pot, and she was not about to lend herself to the enterprise of cooking and eating an owl. To this day I do not know but what my grandmother’s fastidiousness and picky eating habits may have deprived me of a culinary delight and one very memorable Christmas dinner.

I sincerely hope many children will find books under their Christmas trees this year. Even after all these years I can think of few things better to give children for Christmas. I can still recall such gifts of Cinderella, Black Beauty, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates and many others. Here in America there is a tradition of giving children books for Christmas and this is a tradition well worth observing.

While living on the mining claim as a boy, I built a platform high in the branches of an old digger pine. When the weather was nice, I would often take a book or a National Geographic, climb up to my aerie and there with the wide vista of the Sequoia National Forest surrounding me unspoiled by fences or rooftops, I would lose myself in the world of literature and far off exotic lands of adventure and excitement.

So, no I did not spend all my time in this forest fastness hunting and fishing; as important as these were. I was raised to the great literature of Western Civilization, and great books became great friends. Some of you may recall times as a child, reading by flashlight under the covers at night. Where the heritage of such great books that fire the imagination of children in like fashion today? Where the families that make such great literature of such importance to children today?

There is an indelible picture in my mind of my great-grandmother reading a book late at night by the light of a kerosene lamp; and no one could read the stories from books, from The Saturday Evening Post and Colliers and make them come so alive to my brother and me like our great-grandmother.

From his interview as to why she never wrote again after To Kill A Mockingbird Roy Newquist concluded in part: “Harper Lee having told the truth about the deplorable state of writing in America, the failure of the universities to truly educate and pass on the heritage of great literature that has blessed Western Civilization, England and America, perhaps she may have realized she would be spitting into the wind to attempt any further attempts.”

Jesus said, “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” But when it comes to things like the great books and literature of Western Civilization, there is this admonition in Scripture as well: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”

My copy of the annual Toys for Tots calendar for 2005 had a quote from Winston Churchill: “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” I wrote at the time that while most would agree with Churchill, it seems only a matter of time before the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, started in 1947, comes under attack because it is inextricably associated with Christmas. In fact, the pocket calendar for 2005 I received shows two Marines posing with a child holding gifts, however there is a gaily decorated Christmas tree in the background and the words “Every child deserves a little Christmas” printed below the picture. This invited criticism from those opposed to any celebration of Christmas. It won’t do folks. Make no mistake; America’s heritage and culture are rooted in a Christian Western Civilization. But such a heritage and culture is coming under increasing attack by those opposed to any and all expressions of a distinctively Western culture, let alone a Christian one.

Grandad enjoyed telling the story of a relative that was so religious he believed in the strictest form of “Sabbath-keeping,” much in the Orthodox Jewish tradition. This meant that he could do no work on Sunday. But the man had chickens requiring they be fed each day. So, on Saturday evenings the man would place a pan of feed on the top of a gatepost for the chicken yard. Then, the following Sunday the man would “accidentally” bump into the post causing the feed to spill into the yard for the chickens.

I would laugh at the story, and grandad enjoyed telling it. But the thing that troubled me even as a child was how could the man actually believe he was fooling God? While legitimate objections are raised to any confusion of the separation of Church and State, and the rational mind rejects many of what may be called the superstitions of religion resulting in things like the man feeding his chickens, there is no discounting the fact that Christianity may be rightly called a “civilized religion” as opposed to many others.

Toys for Tots, our distinctive music and films emphasizing the essence of the Gospel in Christmas celebrations should not be confused with or attacked based on objections to religion. The Christmas message remains, “Peace on earth among those of good will.” It is that promised peace among those of good will Christmas celebrates, something the world can ill afford to lose. MERRY CHRISTMAS!