Tomorrow the president will address the nation. He is said to be outlining a new strategy for Iraq. It is also said he is going to escalate (surge) the troops there. Sounds a lot like “stay the course” to me.
Now, it should be no surprise to anyone that Bush still wants to follow the same prescription for Iraq that he has had all along. The man is a pathological liar. He was caught bold faced in the lie regarding Don Rumsfeld. He passed it off as a tool to move reporters on to another subject.
So, is it O.K. then to outright lie to the American public if it serves the presidents interest? I don’t know about you, but that is really not cool to me. I guess it may be true that to expect honesty from the leadership of the free world is a little naive. Free certainly includes being free to lie. You are free to lie, I am free to lie and the president is free to lie.
It does not follow, however that lying is therefore something with any value. Just because it remains a freedom does not give it any intrinsic value as such. We do not need a law just to point out that something is not good. In fact, it is EXACTLY because freedom is the higher level of enlightenment that lying must be allowed.
Freedom means without coercion. freedom means that one does not get to judge for another what is the right action to take. Freedom puts the onus of responsibility on the individual rather than the mass. freedom means that the responsibility for ones deeds lay with the doer. Freedom also demands tolerance on the part of other individuals to the actions of one, and therefore less security for the masses.
Thomas Jefferson once said something about giving up freedom for security and “soon finding that you have neither”. He was pointing out the opposing nature of the ideals of freedom and security. The drafters of our constitution knew this. Those who risked their lives and the lives of their families by signing the declaration of independence knew this. the popular saying “freedom isn’t free” knows this. Freedom costs, and what it costs is security.
This then is the essence of our great experiment. True democracy is very risky. This is the real “America, love it or leave it!”. If you are not willing to take a chance on the inherent nature of mankind, then go find yourself a nice, safe autocracy somewhere. Might I suggest North Korea?
Many cities have large Catholic Church presence and well-established Lutheran Churches too. In choosing which church would be best for you, you will have to do some research. There are many differences between the two-churches and their theories and interpretation of literary works. The structures of their hierarchy in their churches is also quite dissimilar. Many of the churches of both established religions have Sunday type school and grade schools. This is not available in all cities but in many it is. For lifetime indoctrination into their realm it pays for them to have such schools.
Some of the differences you may not have looked into is the well-known sexual abuse and molestation which permeates both churches. Predominantly the Catholic Church as the media has re-enlightened the public to. Although every one knows or should have known that this has been going on for thousands of years. Molesting children is practically a tradition in the Catholic Church, one of many reasons very noble men came to this country on the Mayflower to avoid such hypocrisy.
The Lutheran Church is not known for molestation and we have only heard of a few cases of such over the years. The Lutheran Church is know now for the BTK Murderer, Denis Rader, who was arrested and admitted killing all those women. It appears that your child will have the possibility of becoming a BTK type if he or she is indoctrinated properly and then chooses to follow in his footsteps. Everyone is pretty sure that the BTK Killer will not be able to get off on a technicality of mental insanity. He is perfectly sane and has confessed to all 10 killings he has been charged with, and talked with detectives for hours after his arrest. Rader was president of the Lutheran church council and used the church computer to communicate with.
So when choosing a Church you will need to take into consideration whether you are worried that your child will be sexually molested or if you will need to worry about your daughter’s life. Or perhaps your child may find the BTK his new role model. I can see that you will have to think on this before deciding which established religion to follow. Good luck and may the force be with you?
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