For Us Goyim, This is the Call - Never Again

Someone wrote recently: "The final scene in Schindler's List capsulizes for us who are not Jewish, for us Goyim, what we should all be about - we could have done more! We should have done more!"

It is for all of us to do all we can and not to lament that we could have done more.

For all our service to our fellowman, let us not say we could have done more.

May we waste and wear out our life in bringing about much good.

We'll be a long time dead, according to a Jewish saying.

Let us recall that if we save one life, we save the world entire.

Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it/Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart! O, take and seal it! Seal it for Thy courts above."

If ever a hymn spoke to my soul's belief, it is this one. So, one is constrained to acknowledge weaknesses and to say: I believe! O, help Thou my unbelief!

All of us are sinners, so much in need of His Saving Balm - His Saving Grace! But only after all we can do, said Nephi.

And so, we make covenants and promises, to follow Him. To come unto Jesus, with a broken heart and a contrite Spirit!

In these tenderest of moments, His Love abounds. Music makes maleable our Hearts to feel His love.

That we may love one another, as He hath loved us.

That we may be one.

Itzak Pearlman Performs the Theme from Schindler's List

Of good report is Itzak Pearlman's sonorous violin lamentation of the theme from the film Schindler's List.

Composer John Williams had practiced with the music from Fiddler of the Roof, and according to Pearlman nailed it perfectly in its authenticity.

Within the Williams score one emotionally experiences the deep melancholy of the awful suffering depicted in the film.

Seldom can one listen to this music without some stirring deep within the soul.

Love a Well-Reasoned Argument!

One reader posts this response to that teacher suspended for using the book Freedom Writers.

"I agree with the suspension. She was insubordinate. I have no opinion on the book, because I have not read it, but the school board has the power and authority and responsibility to approve the books used in the classroom. If they determined it was not suitable for their particular student population, then that is their right. If the parents do not think the decision was appropriate, they can replace the school board at the next election. But she had no right to 'do it anyway.'

"I agree that that is a poor role model for the students. We have enough students who already feel they are entitled to do or not do whatever they feel like. This should not be reinforced by adult behaviors.

"149 permission slips were returned. Did those parents give permission because they knew the content of the book and made a conscious decision to have it used as a textbook in their students classroom? Or did they sign it on the reputation of the teacher and the desire of their child?

"If 149/150 parents were in favor of using the book, where were those parents when the teacher needed the support? My guess is once the parents actually found out what was in the book, they had real reservations.

"As usual CNN gives a very half-hearted attempt at bringing the whole story to light."

At the very moment that this teacher made the decision to have her students read the book, despite being told to retrieve it - by the board of education, no less - she stepped over the line, and should not then wonder that these are the consequences of her actions.

As teachers nurture allegiance to national movements like Erin Gruwell's, while ignoring local morals and mores, they join collectivist movements that seek to impose their will on every home and hamlet across the nation.

Supreme Court decisions allow for local standards to take the forefront of the debate on pornography. In like manner, localities can determine their own standards of decency for the literature read in their schools.

Censorship, by definition comes from huge government forces to silence dissent, not from citizens in a local school board, expressing and controling the direction of their children's education.

If the teacher felt differently, she needed to do the hard work of getting her message out, by established standard means available to her within the system that provides her with a decent living.

Spot-on commentary, from a reader who should be blogging, too!

Barak Obama will Appoint Judges Who Swing Sledge Hammers at Family Foundations

His Kennedyesque appeal notwithstanding, I will not vote for Barak Obama, because of the Supreme Court justices he would appoint.

My friends, who are Democrat will not vote for him either, for that same reason. He threatens to redefine marriage so that 3% of the population can attain their agenda, and win their debate.

You can win any debate, if you redefine the terms in the broadest possible cant.

Man/man, woman/woman is not equal to a man & woman, rowing oar to oar in their boat of family, on the rough seas with children in the skiff in peril for their very lives.

They, the Gay Community, should strive to shore up the family, that comes as seeds are sown on tenuous land near the raging surf, in danger of being washed away in the storm of life, leaving the settlement bereft and vulnerable and in peril.

They want to be called what they are not, and say they are wronged where no wrong is given.

As an independent, I sided with JFK, then Goldwater, RFK, Nixon, Reagan, Rampton, Matheson, and Wayne Owens.

However, I will not facilitate Mr. Obama appointing judges who will ignore our distinctly geopolitical foundations and traditions, in favor of a collective international jurisprudence and philosophy.

My way of life does not match Europe's.

My freedom to speak threatens despots. They want a fairness doctrine, when they control the schools, the universities, the media, the courts. It is not fairness they want.

Leftist liberals want unquestioned despotic paternalism, because they know better than the rest of us. Hence, the San Fransisco speech.

And I do loathe elitists.

They want Hugo Chavez shutting down opposition TV stations and newspapers - all in the name of "fairness.".

Their socialism wants to silence free and open discussion of issues, all the while appearing to be caring and concerned for the poor. They appeal to the emotions and stomachs of the masses, but don't trust the wretched refuse to make their own decisions.

The despot Fidel Castro would give every family a rice cooker; when the open market would give them Nike shoes, iPods, laptops, cell phones, efficiently made cars, clothing, medical science and not just medical practices.

Venezuela, Cuba and China would enshrine the word "We" and destroy the word "I" from off the face of the Earth, through their judges, courts and social engineers.

Obama snears and denigrates people who are the salt of the Earth - a people he loathes and...

No, this socialist Barak Hussein Obama will not get my vote.

English Teacher Suspended Not for Teaching Freedom Writers, but Insubordination

Here is a teacher who thinks she knows better what her students should be reading, than local school officials who are supporting local school norms.

Watch it carefully. It's not about censorship, but the teacher's insubordination.

And don't be fooled into thinking that only conservatives come down on teachers in this manner. I've known Leftists to be much harder and more stringent.

I have to open that political blog, and not muddy these clear mountain lakes.

Click on the link to see CNN video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/06/29/tuchman.in.banned.book.cnn

A River Runs Through It - Loving Without Perfect Understanding

I have lost people whom I loved but did not understand.

But that doesn't keep me from loving them without perfect understanding. It occurs to me, this is the definition of faith - not to have a perfect knowledge of things. But still to love.

Do we understand perfectly a painful separation which is then severed forever, a person who turns away never to return, an organic break of heart so real and so sorrowed as to feel near eternal in depth and duration. No we do not. But we can still reach out in love.

And know that God is in charge. That He is at the helm and hath the steerage of our course.

Film Amazing Grace Inspires Deep Discussions in Class

For teachers who would like to teach about slavery and the abolitionist movement in England and the United States, several scenes provide extraordinary chances for learning.

The ensuing class discussions are exemplary in their depth. The level of inquiry sends the students in many directions.

These scenes provide great discussion:
1. "We humbly suggest that you can do both."

2. "God made men equal."

3. "Finally, we have something on which we disagree."

4. "William you have work to do."

5. "What is true of the Negro is true of the worker in the field and of women."

6. Final scene: William Wilberforce will be able to sleep at night knowing the slave trade is no more.

Watch the Weekly Debate of Parliament and the Prime Minister

Take a few moments and watch C-Span's coverage of Questions to the Prime Minister - a weekly session of debate while Parliament is in session.

http://www.c-span.org/Series/Prime-Minister-Questions.aspx

Watch the rigorous cross-examination of the Prime Minister by Britain's members of the House of Commons.

Imagine our president having to answer such a barrage of questions.

Canadian Health Care - Not the Utopia We Thought

The political blogs are going to a new site. They'll be separate from things of good report.

Politics is so volatile as to render a celebration of things lovely and praiseworthy null and void, if not dirty.

Until then, here are testimonials on Canadian health care, with a warning to the U.S. NOT to nationalize its health care.

More people will die.

And if the government decides you aren't worth the treatment, you won't get it!

Who are these members of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints?

The Church found in a survey that there was a lot of confusion about the differences between the FLDS and the Church of Jesus Christ.

To help dispel the confusion, members living in Texas put together various videos about who they are, which might help clear up some of the confusion. So, here; to drive away mixed up rumor...

Capitol Hills 4th of July Breakfast This Morning in Salt Lake City, Utah- Warm Springs Park

Of good report and praiseworthy are the hundreds of thousands of July 4th community breakfasts across the United States celebrating Independence Day, today.

One such breakfast is the Capitol Hill Community Council's 4th of July Breakfast at Warm Springs Park near the Children's Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah at 8:30 AM (MST).

If you're a trucker or a traveler, and need a free breakfast, this is the place to be! Come one, come all.


Lines begin to form, as a community service neighbor looks on.
Three professors, two Italian (right and center) and one German (left), discuss their work on gathering stories and interviews for their oral history projects. One is a visiting scholar from the University of Bologna (right).
Kiwanas Club members and local LDS stake officials flipping flap-jacks and grilling sausages.
Councilman Eric Jorgensen looking on, while others discuss their concerns, and enjoy the wondrous variety of their associations.