Privacy

I am a conservative, but I do not necessarily agree with everything that other conservatives want to do. I just read an article that says that the administration is wanting to have its power restored to obtain secretly the records of an ISP with the company not even able to disclose that the request for information has been made. The administration's justification is that this is necessary to help fight terrorism.

I remember from history classes that medieval serfdom developed by people surrendering their liberty for security. Those became lords who had the capacity to protect others. I have heard a quote from Benjamin Franklin (as best I remember) that those who give up liberty to preserve security deserve neither.

I oppose the concept of the government being able to spy on citizens without probable cause and obtaining a court order. The constitution was written to protect us against just such intrusions. If the administration feels that the times are such that different procedures are required, let them propose a constitutional amendment and go through the process of getting it ratified. It seems that they are trying to get the power by sidestepping the constitution.

Well, one might say, what else is new. Governments have a tendency to want to govern, surprise, surprise. They are always grabbing for more power. In the United States, we are blessed to have a system that at least has checks and balances and gives us a chance to oppose power grabs by our votes, input, and influence.

I do not usually agree with the ACLU, but in this case, I support the effort to keep restrict the government's abilities to spy on our internet activity and to keep secret that it is doing it.

To generalize: we need to gut the so-called Patriot Act.

The Coathangered IU Pro-Life Rally

All my graduate work was at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It is a fascinating place, with many cultures from around the world represented. It is also a hotbed of alternative ideas and lifestyles. For example, William and Emily Harris, cohorts of Patty Hearst, were professors there.

Once while there, I heard about a Christian pro-life rally to be held on campus and decided to attend. When I arrived, I noticed on the front row several people who, from their appearance and clothes, looked more alternative than like someone who would have been interested in this rally. But hey, we are not to judge by outward appearance, so I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Once the rally started, though, they showed that they did not deserve the benefit. The rally began with the singing of Amazing Grace. During the singing, these people mocked and parodied the song. When the speaker came up, they began going up and putting coathangers on the stage. Apparently, according to the speaker, the IU administration had told these people that they would be allowed to disrupt the rally by putting one coathanger on the stage every minute or so. Of course, their point was that we were trying to turn back the clock to the "bad old days" when many women allegedly died from back alley abortions. So the IU administration was more concerned about this group's "freedom of speech" to be able to disrupt the rally than about the freedom of the Christian group to speak without disruption.

This illustrates the left's concept of "freedom of speech." They want it for themselves, of course. They want it even to the point of being allowed to disrupt your attempt to speak. But they do not want you to have it if you do not agree with them.

The speaker at the rally told the disrupters to stop what they were doing. He said that if they did not, the rally would be adjourned to the on-campus house of then IU president John Ryan in protest of the IU decision to allow the disruption. Predictably, the disrupters continued their tactics, so the speaker told us to proceed in an orderly fashion to the president's house, where the rally would continue outside.

While we were walking, I wound up walking beside a young lady from the group of disrupters, and we began to talk. She asked me, rather heatedly, why I was so opposed to "a woman's right to choose," and I proceeded to explain it to her: because of my Christian beliefs, I felt that killing unborn children was wrong. I do not remember the details of the conversation, though I think that she said something like "Don't shove your religion down my throat. I don't want it." I then told her that I would pray for her that she would see the light. Then an amazing thing happened. I would have expected her to laugh or mock. Instead, she looked at me with fear in her eyes, and said, "Don't you pray for me!" I responded, "How are you going to stop me?"

Now let's think about that for a while. I especially want all you who share her persuasion to think about it. If God does not exist, if religion is meaningless, if what we believe is a myth or a hoax, then what difference does it make if I pray for you? What harm can it possibly do you? What are you afraid of?

I rather suspect that this young lady's atheism was not quite as confident as she would have had me believe. Perhaps she was afraid that there was a God, and that I might "sic" Him on her. Well, if you believe that there is a God and you fear His judgment, then it behooves you to figure out how to get right with Him rather than try to hide from Him.

Either the rally organizers had warned the administration in advance that they would move the rally like this, or the administration had anticipated it, for there were campus police at the entrance to the president's house. There was no violence, no trespassing, no attempt to storm the president's house. Instead, the speaker stood on the sidewalk out front and continued his talk. Predictably, the disrupters continued trying to disrupt.

At one point during the speech, the speaker took on one of the disrupters. He asked her why she was so opposed to what he was saying. She replied that he was saying that abortion is absolutely wrong, and there were no absolutes. He responded, "What about rape? Is rape absolutely wrong?" She replied, "Of course." He asked, "Why? I thought you said that there were no absolutes." She replied, "Rape is an attack on a woman's body." He replied, "So? Who says that is absolutely wrong, if there are no absolutes?" She answered, "I do." The crowd laughed. He had her and everyone knew it.

This may have changed some of the disrupters minds, but I doubt that it did. Leftists like to belittle conservatives as idiots, but sometimes logical consistency escapes even their enlightened minds.

Political correctness still lives. If you cannot answer their arguments, then silence them. That is the politically correct concept. But God does not call us to be politically correct. He calls us to be committed to Him, to speak the truth with love, and to speak for and defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Letter the President

No, this is not talking about writing letters to the president, though I am thankful that we live in a country where we can.

We have all seen on cars the small square stickers that say "W the President" and "W Still the President." Today I saw one that said "F the President." Responsibility was taken (and I put it that way deliberately) by the group behind the URL dontblamemeivoted4kerry.com.

Now come on. I am not the biggest fan of Bush, though I generally approve of his activities. I think we are a lot better off than we would be had Kerry won. But do we have to descend even below the level of Barry Commoner (the BS word) in our political dialog?

Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves. The Bush-haters are portraying themselves as crude and vile. I thank them for saving me the trouble. And yet, they want to persuade us to support their ideas and candidates.

Well, they need to take a Dale Carnegie course. I looked at their web site. Typical. Among other items, it advertises a sweat shirt sporting a magazine cover that says, "How can 59,054,087 people be so dumb?" There you have it. That is what they think of the rest of us.

Well, those of you who think the rest of us are so dumb, let me point out a little something to you. You have committed an ad hominem fallacy. (Go look it up if you don't know what it means.) You are attacking the person making the argument rather than trying to refute the argument itself. That is, as Mr. Spock would say, highly illogical.

Just imagine what they would be saying had things gone their way: "Yes! 59,054,087 people finally wised up and got it right!" Or maybe, just maybe, they would be saying, "Hey, we won, so the rest of you stop griping." But no, that would be intolerant, and by their definition, only conservatives can be intolerant.

So keep smearing it around, leftists. Let everyone see your true colors.

Addendum:

I guess I am too trusting. I should have looked more closely at the description of the sticker on the money-making leftist web site before writing this post. There, the description of this sticker says that since F is John Kerry's middle initial, all that they are doing is claiming that he should be president, and that anyone who is offended by it just has a dirty mind.

OK, leftists, have your laugh on me. Go ahead, since I have plenty of laughs on you. Feel better? Good.

Now let's be realistic. Everybody knows that W is President Bush's middle initial. I bet that relatively few know that F is John Kerry's middle initial. The people who put the sticker out certainly know this. So it is obvious that this is a double entendre, with obscene overtones. Predictable. They get to laugh at any conservative who "doesn't get it." They probably don't laugh at any liberal that doesn't get it, because they would agree with what that person thinks it means.

Sorry, guys. Don't expect me to take the bait twice. This isn't just a cute, innocent statement, despite your protests. You don't get off that easily.

Dodgeball at camp

It's amazing the things that stick in our minds. Many experiences, we forget. Others remain with us, as vivid as when they happened.

I can't remember the exact year. I think that I must have been in high school. The Lions Club in Hueytown, Alabama (my home town) sent me and a friend to a summer camp. I don't remember much about the camp except for one event: a game of dodgeball.

Now, dodgeball is not something that I play, or have ever played, on a regular basis. But on that day, it was one of the activities, so we divided into teams and played. Each team would take a turn in the center with the other team encircling them and throwing the ball at them to put them out. The sides were timed, and the side that stayed in longest would win.

My team was in the center. Somehow, during the entire time, I managed not to get hit. As the game progressed, I watched the strategy, or lack thereof, of each team. My team would, en masse, run to the other side as far as they could from whoever had the ball, to give themselves more time to dodge. The team in the circle would then pass the ball rapidly around the circle to get it close to the cluster of players inside, who would then be easy pickings.

Well, again, somehow, I managed to avoid being hit and was the last man standing on my team. Now, I am no athlete and I know it. At school, I was always the one chosen last when we divided up teams. So, not unexpectedly, the team in the circle was clapping and cheering, "OK! Last one! Easy out! Easy out!" But I had been watching what the other players on my team had been doing. I thought quickly and came up with a plan.

I knew that I could not run fast enough to stay far from the ball as they passed it around the circle, so I went to the center of the circle and stayed there. I would make them do all the work. They started passing the ball around like before. I just turned to face whoever had it. When they threw it at me, I just pivoted or leaned aside, turning quickly to face the direction that the ball had gone. Several times, it came within an inch of me, but it never touched me. I stayed up until we had surpassed the other team's time.

After it was over, one of the other boys came up and asked me if I was on the dodgeball team at my school. That made my day. I had never heard of a school dodgeball team. I doubt if his school had one either.

To be honest, on the next round, I got caught up in the mass of my team as they ran around the circle and was unable to stick to the center. I got put out early.

After the camp, the deal was that I would go back and talk to the Lions Club about what had happened. I don't remember whether I told them about the dodgeball game.

What is the point of all this? I doubt if there is one. It is just a cute story of something that I remember from long ago. There are probably many more important things that I have forgotten. If it has a point, it probably is: watch what others are doing and learn from it, even from their mistakes. What looks like the best strategy on the surface may not be the right approach at all. Oh, and it helps to be able to think quickly on your feet.

Kingdom of Heaven

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3

Bible scholars debate what the kindom of heaven means in the Scripture. To many, it means God's reign, whenever and however experienced. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come." Yet Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is in your midst." He also spoke of it as something that could be entered: "You are not far from the kingdom." In one sense, God's kingdom is already here, for He certainly rules over all, whether they recognize it or not. In another, one must be rightly related to God to enter His kingdom and experience it. In yet another, the kingdom will not be fully realized on earth until Jesus returns.

None of these meanings, however, seems to quite fit the use of the term as the title of the movie, "Kingdom of Heaven." Orlando Bloom plays the son of a crusading baron. Tormented by his wife's suicide due to the death of their child, and his guilt for killing a priest, he decides to go to the Holy Land to take his father's place and try to find forgiveness for his sins. In the course of events, he proves his worth and becomes leader of Jerusalem in its last defense before its fall to the armies of Saladin.

In this movie, the "kingdom of heaven" is presented as a theocracy in its odious sense. The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, while ostensibly set up to restore Christian rule to the Holy City, has, according to the movie, become merely a greedy grab for land and power by unholy men who cloak their avarice in pious pretensions. There are a few who, disillusioned by the hypocrisy, yet strive to live decently. But even they have, for the most part, despaired of establishing a truly righteous kingdom. One says, "Jerusalem does not need a perfect knight."

Yet Bloom plays a tarnished Galahad, questing not for the Grail, but for his own peace of soul. He goes to sit on the hill of Calvary, expecting God to speak to him. When God does not, he despairs and returns to tell a friend that he has lost his religion. The friend replies that he has never put much stock in religion. According to his philosophy, we are made holy by our actions. If you do good deeds each day, you are a good person.

The portrayal of Christianity in this film is troubling. Perhaps it portrays the view of Christianity that is becoming dominant in the secular culture. Almost everything that the film says or insinuates about Christianity is negative. The priest in Bloom's village in France steals a cross from the body of Bloom's wife, then tells him that he must do penance to lessen her punishment, for she is in hell because she killed herself. Monks admonish the knights on their way to the Crusades that "to kill an infidel is not murder; it is the way to heaven." The patriarch of Jerusalem is presented as a narrow-minded coward. Bloom himself encourages his troops to fight not for the holy sites in the city, but for its people.

On the other hand, almost everything that is portrayed about Islam is positive. At one point, Bloom hears a Muslim prayer and remarks that "it is a lot like ours." Saladin is portrayed as merciful and forgiving, not seeking revenge for past wrongs (only present ones). He goes to war with the Christians only when they provoke him.

Also troubling is the movie's portrayal of the Knights Templar. The Templars are portrayed as the bad guys who attack and massacre Muslims just to stir up trouble and provoke a war.

At present, I do not remember enough details of the history of the Crusades or of the Templars to make definitive statements on the historical accuracy of most of the movie's portrayals. I am not naive enough to believe that the crusaders were perfect, and were interested only in religious idealism. Many were younger sons of nobility, who had no land or inheritance, and "took the cross" for an opportunity for glory and land. But I also have trouble believing that they, and especially the Templars, were all cruel and conniving, attacking innocent people just to provoke a fight. Nor were Saladin and the Muslims all saints either. Those were different times, and there was plenty of cruelty on all sides.

My personal opinion, for what it is worth, is that the makers of the movie were less interested in historical accuracy than in making their points: don't put too much stock in religion (especially Christianity) in your daily life. Being a good person by doing good things is what matters, and you have it in you to do that without the help of religion.

It is sad if the conduct of Christians has led the world to that point of view. For that, of course, is not the message of true Christianity at all.

Some thoughts on Star Wars

Some works of art, literature, and entertainment catapult themselves into public consciousness and become pop culture icons. Star Wars is certainly one of those. Some (including me) are fans; others disdain it. The saga has been around since 1977, coming out with a new episode every few years. Now we are on the eve of the release of the final movie, Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith. It does seem poignant, as an article in the local paper here points out, that the series is finally coming to an end. But who knows? George Lucas may find a way to keep yet more new material coming out.

During the early days of the first three episodes, I heard a kid say, "If you like Star Wars, you say, 'May the Force be with you.' If you don't like Star Wars, you say, "May the Farce be spared you.'" There is no question that the early movies had both admirers and detractors. The technical achievements were stunning. I even enjoyed the acting, though not everyone agrees about that. The original movie got several Academy Awards, I don't remember how many. But they were all considered "minor" awards by movie junkies, while the "major" awards that year went to Annie Hall.

It's hard to explain the appeal of a story. The Star Wars story could be viewed from many angles. It was a coming-of-age story of a young man, Luke Skywalker, stuggling to find himself, to escape the humdrum, pedestrian life to which he feels unjustly consigned, to learn about his shadowy past, and to fulfill his dreams of adventure and usefulness to a cause in which he believes. It is a story of the conflict of good and evil on a cosmic level. It is a story of spirituality, and how it can be turned to good or evil. It is the conflict of a small, courageous band, struggling against incredible odds to outwit and overcome a super-powerful empire that has turned evil and corrupt. It is a love story. And, as it develops, it becomes the story of Luke discovering the shocking truth about his father, and struggling with the conflicting demands of revenge wished by his Jedi superiors and his own feelings of right and wrong, his desire to help his wayward father. Ultimately, it is story of salvation.

Some who have written comments on the story have said that it is shallow because Luke never really experiences any conflict. I do not see this at all. Luke reveres Obi-Wan and Yoda, his original mentors who introduce him to the Force. Intent on revenge, he faces Darth Vader only to learn, to his shock and horror, that Vader is indeed his father, Anakin Skywalker. He than has to struggle with the knowledge that his mentors have deceived him, at least by keeping back part of the truth. He also has to struggle with what to do about Vader. He decides that he cannot destroy his father, but must try to save him. In doing so, Luke rises above his mentors and discovers who he truly is. To me, that is the heart of the story. He still has to struggle to keep from being overcome by anger at the treatment of his rebel comrades, and most of all, at the possible seduction by the dark side of his sister Leia. It is touch and go until, at the last, he sees the danger of becoming like his fallen father and finally refuses the dark side. Luke's torture at the hands of the Emperor then is the agent of his father's salvation, as Anakin reasserts himself, destroys the emperor, and saves his son's life. Through his persistence, patience, self-control, and suffering, Luke has achieved his goal.

The most two movies, Episodes 1 and 2, in my opinion, did not measure up to the quality of the original three. Episode 4 was a stark, rural movie. Episodes 1 and 2, especially 2, were urban, with images coming at you to the point of overload. The stories were, of course, setting the background for the original three movies, and in that they succeeded.

I am waiting to see Episode 3. I do not plan to go on the first night. I shall let the real fanatical fans savor that, then go when things have calmed down a bit. I must say that in a way, I am not looking forward to seeing the metamorphosis of Anakin into Darth Vader and the destruction of the republic and the Jedi. But go I shall, for the experience is not to be missed.

I also have a bit of a complaint about one decision of George Lucas: not to put the original versions of the original trilogy out on DVD. He made revised cuts and put them out. I do not like the revisions. They mar the beauty of the originals by trying to make them more glitzy, like Episodes 1 and 2. Lucas says that that was the way he originally wanted to make them, and could not for technical and budget reasons. Well, he has to deal with his business decisions. I personally think that he could have made more money, and angered fewer fans, by releasing both versions and letting fans have their choice.

The movie series may be over, but the Force will be with you always.

Introductory post: So here I am

Yo soy un hombre sincero

De donde crece la palma,

Y antes de morirme quiero

Echar mis versos del alma.

This verse from José Martí expresses why I started this web log. I have some things that I want to say before I leave this world. I feel that God has given me abilities to think and to put my thoughts in language. A web log puts thoughts out where others can see them, think about them, and possibly benefit from them. If what I say is enlightening or beneficial to anyone, I am grateful and pleased. I have never done a web log before, so it will be interesting (at least to me!) how this develops. I get the feeling that other people can post responses to my posts, kind of like a newsgroup, so we may even get some conversations going.

First, here is a bit about me. That is what you would expect in an introductory post, right? I am 52 years old, a computer programmer at FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee. I also teach programming course part time at the University of Memphis. I currently use and teach the Java programming language most. In the past, I have worked in several other languages, of which my favorite is Scheme.

I am a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and the meaning of my life. I serve him in various ways, primarily through teaching and music. I am the music director, a Sunday School teacher, and a deacon of McLean Baptist Church in Memphis.

I'll probably say more about myself as I go along, but I'm anxious to begin posting on various topics on which I have thoughts. My thoughts will certainly not be politically correct, but that does not concern me. It is not my purpose to intentionally offend anyone.

Here are some of the topics that interest me, and that I shall probably post thoughts on as I go. This list cannot be exhaustive, since I shall undoubtedly think of other topics and unrelated ramblings over time. I do not claim to be an expert in any of these topics, just someone who is interested and perhaps has some thoughts that others may find interesting.

Religion and biblical studies
Tolkien, Lewis, and the Inklings
Music
Cats
Freemasonry
Templarism
Computers
Various of my experiences
All things Celtic
Language
Historical ramblings
Travel
Mysticism
Gnosticism
The Star Wars saga
Politics
And who knows what else

So here begin my thoughts. Enjoy.

John Simmons