Sunday Sermon: A City Set on a Hill

The 'Sermon on the Mount' was delivered by Jesus Christ shortly after he had chosen his original twelve apostles and begun his public ministry. It is covered most famously in chapter five of the Book of Matthew within the New Testament of the Bible.

One of the most influential, inspirational speeches in the history of mankind is widely believed to have been delivered at or near what was once known as Mount Eremos, a hill located between Capernaum and Tabgha in northern Israel.

During this speech, Jesus delivers three of the most famous teachings of his life: the 'Golden Rule', the Lord's Prayer (Our Father), and the Beatitudes.

Another key element of what I personally believe to be the greatest speech ever given is a section that has become known as the "Similes of Salt and Light", which appears at Matthew 5:13-16.

The simile of light section specifically reads as follows:

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."

On January 11, 1989, President Ronald Reagan delivered his Farewell Address to the Nation. In it, he famously referenced this passage as it had been adopted by John Winthrop.

Philography: Grover Cleveland Alexander

Embed from Getty Images

Grover Cleveland 'Pete' Alexander led the Phillies to the 1915 NL championship

As told by Jan Finkel in a biography of Grover Cleveland Alexander at the SABR website, he was "the only ballplayer named for a sitting United States president and portrayed on film by a future one."

In the 1952 biopic film "The Winning Team", Ronald Reagan portrayed Alexander, with Doris Day playing Alexander's wife, Aimee. It told his story from his amateur into pro days, and his battles through alcoholism and epilepsy.

U.S. President Grover Cleveland is the only Chief Executive to have served for two non-consecutive terms (1885-89, 1893-97), and thus he is considered both the nation's 22nd and 24th President.

The ballplayer was born into a large family in a Nebraska farming community. He began to show prowess as a baseball pitcher in his youth, and took a job with a company stringing telephone lines, pitching on weekends for local club teams.

In 1909 at age 22, Alexander hooked on with his first pro team, signing with the Galesburg Boosters of what was then known as the Class 'D' Illinois-Missouri League.

He went 15-8, but his season was ended, and nearly his career, when he was struck in the head by a thrown ball while running the bases. He recovered, and in 1910 had a dominant 29-11 record for the Class 'B' Syracuse Stars.

His performances in Syracuse caught the eye of major league scouts, and Philadelphia Phillies owner/president Israel Durham approved the purchase of his contract. 

At age 24, Alexander made his Phillies debut in the 1911 season, and his dominance continued there against the best competition in the land. He went 28-13 with 7 Shutouts and 31 Complete Games as a rookie.

Corey Haim Should Have Just Said 'No'

Of all the truly great legacies left to us by the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, one of the truest, simplest, most enduring messages is the one that came from the campaign during those years of his wife, Nancy Reagan.

The validity and importance of her anti-drug campaign with the slogan "Just Say No" was brought home once again today with the overdose death of popular 1980's child movie star Corey Haim.

This death comes on the exact 22nd anniversary of the death of 1970's teen heart throb, musician Andy Gibb, the kid brother to the Bee Gees who also abused drugs. Haim was a child star and Gibb died during the very year that the First Lady was popularizing her vital message.

"Just Say No" is a simple slogan, and some of it's detractors have stated that it is not only simple, but that it is simplistic, even simple-minded. Of course these critics are always the same old liberal "I can do whatever I want with my body and who are you to tell me different" crowd. Funny thing is, when the Haim's and the Gibb's die of their excess, these folks are never heard from.

1981: A New Beginning

All this year at my Facebook page, I have been taking a daily trip back in time to the 1980's. Each month I am highlighting a different year chronologically.

This month have been featuring the music, tv, movies, and important events of 1981. You can also follow this little mini-series of articles on each year of the "1980's'" by clicking on to that 'label' below this article.

As we all know, a new decade does not actually technically begin in a year that ends in a zero, it begins with the year ending in (1) one. So while 1981 might be the 2nd year of the 1980's, it's the first year of a new decade and marked a beginning in a couple of different chapters of my own life.

In late September of 1980, my little young family had moved into an apartment in South Philly. 1981 would be the first and only full calendar year that we would live there. It was an interesting year at what became simply known as 'the apartment' in our little circle of friends. We had many a Friday night party at the place in the early months of the year, but as the summer drew on things got a bit more crowded.

In another development of those early months, the news came to us that a new addition was expected in the Veasey clan. Having given birth to Chrissy the previous February, we learned that Anne was pregnant again. Given that she was due at the end of July 1981, it appeared that this was a post-World Series baby conceived in the immediate aftermath of the Phils' first-ever championship at the end of October.

So leaping forward, on July 30th, 1981, Kelly Anne Veasey came into the world. We had planned all along to actually name her 'Kerry' rather than 'Kelly'. But another young couple who lived on Anne's parents block in Prospect Park, PA, were due at the same time. They gave birth just before us, and named their new daughter 'Kerry'. That killed it, we weren't going to be seen as copy-cats. So 'Kelly' it was. A fine Irish name.

1980: Not A Kid Anymore

All this year at my Facebook page, which you can view from the link in the sidebar here at my website by joining up yourself and 'friend'-ing me, I am taking a daily trip back in time to the 1980's.

Each month I am highlighting a different year chronologically, and this month have been featuring the music, tv, movies, and important events of the first year of the decade: 1980.

In 1980 the world changed, both in my own individual life and the world at large, in some of the most important and influential ways it ever would. Just one year earlier, as 1979 dawned, I was a 17-year old high school senior living in an apartment in South Philly with my dad and brother. Little did I know how much a life could change in less than a year.

I had been dating a girl, Anne Jacobs, ever since meeting her down at the Jersey shore in Wildwood, New Jersey during the late summer of 1976. We overcame the fact that I lived in South Philly without a car and she lived out in the Delaware County suburb of Prospect Park to become high school sweethearts.

Anne was a year behind me in school, and so while I was finishing up my senior year and preparing to graduate from St. John Neumann high school in South Philadelphia during the first half of 1979, she was still just a junior at Archbishop Prendergast high school out in Drexel Hill, Delaware County.

It was at some point in the late spring of '79 that we began to realize something big might be up. There were increasingly unmistakable signs to us that Anne had become pregnant, and by the early summer we knew it was true. We told our parents at the end of that summer, and I put my LaSalle University plans aside to go out and find a job.

The 1980's

My life has pretty much been able to be compartmentalized into and defined by each of the decades in which I have lived. The 1960's were my childhood at home on American Street in South Philly being raised by my parents.

The 1970's were defined by my own adolescence and high school days, as well as my mom's illness and my parents divorce.

The 1990's were my early policing days, and highlighted by meeting and getting married to my wife. This past decade by our life in Somerton, my becoming a grandparent, becoming a police supervisor, and attending and graduating college.

The decade of the 1980's were my 20's, highlighted by my becoming a young parent, my first marriage, my days in the banking industry, and my joining a softball team that would lead me to the best friends of my adult life.

The decade began with a life-changing event, the birth of my first daughter on February 2nd, 1980 and ended with another when I took the written exam to become a Philadelphia police officer in December of 1989.

Those who know me or have followed this website over the years know that those 1980's were not just another world for me as far as my family life and my career, but they also found me a completely different person politically and culturally than I am now.

As I've stated here before, I spent the 80's and early 90's as a political liberal Democrat who voted for Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, and yes, even Michael Dukakis during the decade's various presidential races.

Tearing Down the Wall

Twenty years ago an amazing event happened, one that two generations of Americans and lovers of freedom the world over had a hard time imagining would ever happen in our lifetimes. On November 9th, 1989, at the crest of a wave of liberty sweeping across Eastern Europe, the East German government announced that its citizens could openly visit West Berlin.

The problem with such visits for decades had been the presence of one of the single most blatant symbols of political and cultural oppression in modern history, the Berlin Wall. The Wall was not just symbolic of socialist and communist oppression, it was a literal wall that encircled the 'free' city of West Berlin and included a thick concrete wall, barbed wire, guard towers, and patrolled trenches that would become known as 'the death strip' in history.

During the period of the Wall's existence between 1961 and 1989, estimates show that a couple of hundred people were killed in approximately 5,000 attempted crossings. All were trying to move one way, across the 'Iron Curtain' from the oppression of the Eastern Bloc to the freedom of Western Europe.

The roots of the Berlin Wall stretched back to the end of World War II, when what remained of Nazi Germany was divided by the Potsdam Agreement into four 'occupation zones', each controlled by one of the victorious Allied powers: the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.

Despite the fact that the capital city of Berlin lay entirely within the Soviet zone, that city was also divided into four controlling zones for the Allied powers. Within short order, rifts began to appear between the Soviets and the others on a number of post-war issues regarding reconstruction of Germany, as well as political and ideological differences between the nations.

Almost immediately after the war, Soviet leader Josef Stalin began to orchestrate the creation of and control over an 'Eastern bloc' of nations including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Soviet-controlled section of Germany which he envisioned as a buffer zone of protection for the USSR against the influence or advances of the European democracies.

In 1948, Stalin began to finalize his ultimate plans of a complete takeover of Germany by instituting a blockade of West Berlin, the section controlled by the other Allied powers. His hope was to see the others withdraw from control over and interest in the city. But the Americans and British responded with the 'Berlin airlift' efforts that kept the free section of the city supplied with goods and materials. After almost a year, Stalin finally lifted the blockade.

In October of 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was declared and would become known as East Germany. This section of Germany was highly influenced by the Soviets and was oppressive to its people. West Germany developed as a capitalist nation in alliance with the United States and the other western nations. Over the years, West German economic growth and political freedoms became increasingly attractive to hundreds of thousands of East Germans, who fled their nation for the freedom and prosperity of the west.

In the first few years, nearly a million people fled the Eastern bloc to West Germany as people began to recognize the oppressive tactics and governing principles of socialism and communism. What became known officially as the 'German inner border' but was more popularly christened as the 'Iron Curtain' by Winston Churchill was the response. Initially a recognized but open border between the post-war zones controlled by the Soviets and the western powers, the 'Curtain' was formally closed with the erection first of barbed wire fences and later more substantial security in 1952 and 1953.

With this major path to freedom blocked, more and more citizens of East Berlin began to flee into West Berlin, the only remaining bastion of freedom behind the Iron Curtain of Soviet and East German oppression. The East German authorities attempted many measure to thwart the massive emigration that ensued, as approximately 20% of the entire GDR population escaped to the freedom of the west up until 1961.

Finally, Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev gave the East Germans the orders to build a physical wall separating East and West Berlin. At midnight on August 13th, 1961, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border. Streets were torn up and barbed wire fences installed to prevent passage. By August 15th, construction of a concrete wall had begun. Many families were literally split apart suddenly, and people were unable to travel to their jobs.

The Berlin Wall was ultimately built up and strengthened over decades in four main elements. The initial 'Wire Fence' effort of 1961 was followed quickly by improvement to that fence between 1962 and 1965. A concrete wall was completed and extended between 1965 and 1975. Finally, the 'Border Wall' was built, extended, and improved between 1975 and 1980, but was continually improved right up until the end in 1989. In the end, the Berlin Wall was more than 87 miles long.

In the beginning, no crossings at all were allowed for over two years between 1961 and 1963. Negotiations between the powers allowed for Christmas visits over the next four years. There were ultimately 8 different official border crossing points between East and West Berlin which were all heavily secured and controlled. It was far easier for West Berliners to cross into the east than vice versa. For the most part, no East Germans were permitted to cross into West Berlin until the fall of the Wall in 1989.

Located near the center of West Berlin, the 'Brandenburg Gate' is one of the main historic symbols of Germany in general and Berlin in particular. On June 12th, 1987, American president Ronald Reagan appeared there and made a speech to help celebrate the 750th anniversary of the city of Berlin. Reagan had throughout his presidency challenged the ideology and authority of communist and socialist regimes, publicly calling the Soviet Union an 'Evil Empire' at one point.

In his speech that day, Reagan directly addressed Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev: "..we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"

Inspired by events such as Mr. Reagan's speech, citizens and governments across the Soviet sphere of influence began to crack. In August of 1989, "red" Hungary removed its border fence with a free Austria, and 13,000 East German tourists escaped to freedom. This set off a chain reaction of similar activity in Czechoslovakia, and finally in East Germany itself. Mass demonstrations resulted in the resignation of the East German president in October 1989.

These generally peaceful demonstrations continued to build throughout East Germany, culminating in what was known as the "Peaceful Revolution" and the gathering of a million people in East Berlin on November 4th. In response, the East German government and its puppet-string pullers in the USSR had little recourse but to loosen their grip, and when some pieces of a plan to do so were leaked to a German television network, the story was run on November 9th that "the borders were open to everyone" on what was called a historic day.

After this public announcement on television, which was actually a complete jumping-of-the-gun by the network, Germans began gathering at the Wall, completely surprising and overwhelming the guards. In contacting their superiors for orders, the guards were given no direction, and became overwhelmed by the throngs. The gates were opened and people flocked from both sides, embracing one another in glee. Over the ensuing days and weeks, people gathered daily to climb the Wall, break off pieces, and begin to informally demolish the structure.

Over the next few months, restrictions on crossings became officially lifted, including at the Brandenburg Gate on December 22nd. The following day, visa-free travel began between the states. On June 13th, 1990, official dismantling of the Wall began, and continued until being completed in November 1991. Only a few guard towers and portions remain as memorials.

For three decades, the Berlin Wall stood as a wall of oppression, keeping people from seeking their freedom and liberty and entombing them inside a world of failed communist and socialist ideologies. It was ultimately the will of these freedom-seeking and loving peoples, aided by those of us around the world who share these ideals, that resulted in the awe-inspiring events which began on November 9th, 1989.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

At some point when I was a young boy, I learned that Bobby Kennedy and I had shared the same birthday. This was in the early 1970's, when I was about 11 or 12 years old. At that point I really had no idea who he was, or that he had an older brother who had been an American President who had also been assassinated.

I actually do have a childhood memory of the 1968 U.S. Presidential election. I have a memory of living on American Street in South Philly, and most of the families that lived around us rooting for the Democratic Party candidate, Hubert H. Humphrey, to win the election against Republican Party candidate Richard M. Nixon.

While I didn't understand politics on any level, I sensed a strong 'vibe' from the adults both in my own family and my friends' families that this was a big deal. It was important in some way. It mattered. And since my people were rooting for Humphrey, well then, so was little soon-to-be 7 years old Matt Veasey.

As history tells us, Humphrey lost. I actually remember having the feeling for the first time in my young life of disappointment. I had no clue how all of the people around me could possibly be rooting for someone and expecting them to win, and then having that person lose. It just did not compute in my young mind, and I was disheartened.

Of course, as I said, I was about to turn 7 years old in just a few weeks. Between my birthday coming up, then Christmas, and the early months of 2nd grade at Our Lady of Mount Carmel catholic school with the gorgeous Ms. Sarah Hillock as my teacher, there was plenty to distract me in short order and take my attention away from a silly election.

Despite having that impression of the 1968 election, I have no first-hand memory of the vital national events that had happened earlier that same year with first the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and then of Robert Kennedy. It was only by somehow randomly stumbling upon the fact of our shared birthday a few years later that I began my own infatuation with the Kennedy's that would last for decades.

Will April's Showers Bring May Flowers?

April was a pretty rough month in any way that you want to size it up. Record spending, debt, unemployment. A major shift towards socialism by our government. Increased attacks on the sacrament of marriage by homosexuals and liberal thinkers. And then finally ending with an attack by a Swine Flu pandemic.

It's all a bit much for a normally happy soul such as mine to take in for one big reason. There is no end in sight.

President Obama was only recently elected, and just took office three months ago. He still has more than three years at a minimum in office, and if the magnitude, scope, and pace of his 'Change' continues as it has thus far it will be an agonizing three years.

One thing that I have come to appreciate over the course of these past three months is the utter joy and euphoria that Obama elicits in his followers. It makes me jealous, because frankly I have never, ever had that feeling for a President of the United States.

Forget Kennedy and Johnson, I was just a baby. As a young child, Nixon and Ford certainly were not high on my priority list. I liked Jimmy Carter at first. He spoke to my youthful desire for progressivism.

Carter was a minister and brought a certain amount of credibility and morality to the office, which was important to the country after the dishonesty of Nixon's Watergate. And he was intelligent too, a genius, at least that's the rep that the media was passing around.

But it was also Jimmy Carter who began to ruin things for my early liberalism.

Tea Parties Signal New American Revolt

On the night of December 16th, 1773, American colonists who had grown weary of British taxes on all sorts of goods boarded three ships in Boston harbor and dumped crate loads of taxed tea into the harbor waters. This protest against 'taxation without representation' became known down through history as 'The Boston Tea Party', and is considered a defining moment as the colonists moved towards declaring their Independence just two and a half years later.

Today is April 15th, and it is also the deadline for American citizens to file their income tax returns. All across the country, a new revolutionary movement has been building for months, and it will continue in over 500 locations across all 50 states with today's nationwide 'Tea Party' protest events.

What has ignited this grass-roots, web-based fire storm is the unprecedented turn towards a more massive government structure with greatly increased tax burdens for all American individuals and businesses. It is a bipartisan effort battling the situation that began with President Bush's $168 billion dollar 'stimulus' that has been taken to even worse levels by new President Barack Obama.

As was posted by The Heritage Foundation, "Americans have grown more and more wary of the ever expanding size and scope of the federal government." 

Islamism Series: The Mujahideen and the Taliban

One of the most difficult hurdles for someone to overcome in understanding the meaning behind the many stories that they hear bandied about the airwaves and internet is basic definitions.

Who are we talking about, what exactly are they doing, why are they doing it, and how does it affect me?

The stories, people, cultures, and issues are usually not easily definable in the few short sentences or paragraphs that a blog or column allows in order to really educate someone.

When discussing the issues of radical Islam here, I usually try to be as simplistic as possible, because that is all that space allows, and it is enough to paint a picture that gives someone a basic education on the issue.

Anyone who has paid attention to the news over the past decade or more has heard of both the terms 'mujahideen' and 'taliban', but few know who or what these terms represent.

The most that many know is that they might have something to do with Afghanistan, and something to do with the war. Let's try to give you a basic primer.

First, in our modern terminology a 'mujahideen' is generally one who struggles as a fighter for a radical Islamic cause and is inspired by religion and idealogy.

Picture yourself in the Afghanistan of the late 1970's. The government of your country is aligned with the Soviet Union, and you don't like that, so you join a group which actively fights your own government to free itself from that influence.

Your government asks the Soviets to come in and directly join the fight against your group. Your group is then joined by other anti-Soviet and anti-government groups in this struggle, which you perceive to be largely about defending your Muslim faith.

The groups joined in this struggle are the beginning of what we know today as the 'Mujahideen' forces. They will fight in and around Afghanistan throughout the 1980's against the Soviet troops and their influence.

Unions Want to Know Your Secret

I am going to preface this posting with the disclaimer that my wife is a longtime Teamster. At times in the past she has been directly involved with the contract negotiations for her co-workers at her company (I would jokingly call her 'Norma Rae' during these periods), and she is both proud and happy to have been a member of the union for the past three and a half decades. As a police officer, we are not allowed to unionize by law, but we have do have an effective labor bargaining unit with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). My wife and I have both always been supporters of unions, both in theory and in practice. Can you sense the 'but' coming here? There is one, and from this point forward it is only my own opinion being expressed. While unions can serve a very valuable purpose, they can and have been a detriment to their membership at times over the years. Early in and on through the 20th century, employees unionized for legitimate reasons, including the need to battle abusive, corrupt, and unfair practices and standards of many employers. They sought to make work conditions safer, and to have workers share more fairly in the economic rewards of a successful business. Basically, they sought to make better the lives of those on their membership rolls. But steadily and rapidly, those membership rolls have declined over the past few decades, and this has been for many reasons. Let's go back to the beginning, perhaps a century ago. Many companies cared only about their 'bottom line' and making profits, and so paid their employees as little as they could get away with in order to maximize those profits. Medical insurance, job-site safety concerns, family leave and the like were all considered to be added costs, so they were out of the question. Those workers revolted ultimately, sometimes peacefully, sometimes not, physically forcing ownership and management to share the profits and improve the lives of workers. Once in power, this 'organized labor' or 'labor unions' would regularly negotiate with management over the terms of compensation and benefits for workers. Companies learned to live with some lesser profits in return for peaceful co-existence with a dedicated labor employee pool. Over a few decades in the early and mid-20th century, power shifted from the companies to the labor thanks largely to the force of 'strikes', in which labor would halt work if ownership did not meet their terms. These strikes, or even just their threat, would often intimidate companies into paying more money or giving more benefits. As professional representatives of the massed employees, union leadership was able to itself work thanks to 'dues' paid by the members. Each member paid a set sum from their paycheck to the union in order that it might represent the employee more professionally and effectively. As the post-WW II work force boomed, so the rolls of labor unions swelled, and their political influence rose along with the rolls. Political candidates saw close relationships and 'endorsements' from labor unions as a key to winning election. When labor gave money, along with the power of thousands of labor member votes at election time, to a candidate then unions themselves gained power when their candidate was elected. Politicians began to 'earmark' special projects for their home districts, creating hundreds and thousands of union jobs, in return for the union election support. However, this entire system began to become corrupted. Some union leaders took their membership dues and supported lavish lifestyles for themselves. Others used cash contributions from member dues to support political candidates whose views did not match those of the majority of membership. Still others made outrageous demands of businesses, causing those businesses to close up entirely. In 1981, air traffic controllers working for the FAA walked out of their jobs in an illegal strike. President Ronald Reagan responded by firing them all, replacing them with new workers. Emboldened by the President's stance, companies began to take similar positions, and in most cases unions were not strong enough to respond effectively. In 1945, more than a third of American workers were in a union. But by 1979 that number would fall to less than a quarter of workers, and by the end of the 1990's would fall under 14% of workers. Union membership and strength declined due to a number of factors including automation at plants, production-based companies moving overseas, service-industry employees becoming part-time and unrepresented, the overall strength of the economy, and a general independence of spirit among younger workers. What cannot be discounted is the role that the unions themselves played in their own decline. They often failed to respond properly to changing conditions in the world and with their workers, clinging to old habits and practices long past their useful point. Today, union membership is at abysmally low levels, and the union leaders want to somehow stem the tide. Their newest tactic is so blatant and obvious that it is hard to believe that it has gotten this far. The new tactic, laughingly called the 'Employee Free Choice Act', would abolish private voting on union membership. If there were a vote on whether a company should unionize or not, the vote would be public, with everyone knowing how each individual had voted. Free choice? Hardly. This would enable unions and their supporters to 'strong arm' or otherwise force or cajole those who did not support the cause into changing their votes. Even the threat of these tactics would be enough for many to vote the way the union wanted. Is it any of my business who you are going to vote for in the November election for the Presidency? No, that is your private decision, right? Then why would anyone think that there is any legitimate reason to support such a bill for union votes. Thankfully, a bill introduced by the unions' Democratic Party lackeys failed, but they are trying again. Unions want to know your secret: the secret that you have a right to keep to yourself. If unions want to get more membership, perhaps they should start by supporting candidates who will take actions that will matter to their membership by lowering taxes, cutting spending, strengthening traditional American values, and securing our Homeland. Unions can't get you to support them on merit, because in many cases their actions don't deserve your support, so they want to return to the bullying tactics of the past. Let's not give in to these 'easy way out' liberal union leaders. Make sure that your vote remains your business alone, and support political candidates who support that position.

Winning the Future With Real Change

Some of the biggest influences on me in recent years have been the ideas and writings of Newt Gingrich. The man is simply the single most eloquent spokesperson for the Conservative cause since Ronald Reagan himself.

In fact, blasphemy acknowledged, he may actually be an even stronger advocate for the cause. Three of his books, "To Renew America" (1995), "Winning the Future", and now "Real Change" (2008) are absolute must-reads. This is particularly so with "Real Change", just released this year and much more updated in scope and time.

Gingrich is a college history professor, historian and novelist who has written outstanding works of living-history fiction on both the Civil War and Pearl Harbor as well.

In the concept of 'living history', you take known historical events and people and 'adjust' the facts/results to show 'what might have happened' had certain things gone a different way.

In the real world, Gingrich was first elected to Congress from Georgia back in 1978.

Gingrich was then re-elected 10 times, and eventually became the architect of the 'Republican Revolution', which saw the Republican Party take control of Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years. This happened largely to an effort called the 'Contract With America' created by Gingrich himself.

Gingrich became the Speaker of the House, leading numerous Republican challenges to President Bill Clinton's liberal Democratic agenda during the 1990's. He was named by Time magazine as the Person of the Year in 1995.

John McCain for President

It has now been over a month since Mitt Romney ended his quest for the Republican Presidential nomination, and in the ensuing month leading candidate John McCain has dominated the only remaining contender, Mike Huckabee.

The nomination is McCain’s. He has earned it fair and square, by coming out as the last man standing in a field of tough, determined, experienced, qualified candidates.

During this month we have also seen and heard cries from the conservative wing of the Party, led by its most visible pundits, people such as Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter, that McCain is not conservative enough.

In Coulter’s case, she has even stated (I can only hope jokingly, she does have a tremendous sense of humor) that she would support Hillary Clinton over John McCain if it came down to that being our choice.

Well, Ann, it is indeed coming down to that choice. McCain vs. Clinton. Either that, or McCain vs. Obama. So it is getting to be time to let us know whether or not you were kidding.

It is time for the entire Republican Party to come together and begin to support our obvious 2008 Presidential nominee. It is time to say it loud and proud: John McCain for President!

LOST at Sea

In what has been described as the United Nations greatest power-grab in history, US President George W Bush is about to sign on to the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), which would cede control of the worlds oceans to a new International Seabed Authority.

All the “fairness” and “international cooperation” bloviating is just smoke-screen for what is yet another in a series of actions in which the Bush administration is supporting the ceding of United States sovereignty.

President Ronald Reagan warned way back in 1982 when he declined to sign the U.S. on to the treaty at that time that it did not satisfy the objectives sought by the United States”.

Of course, the Clinton administration, always eager to embrace the One World Government crowd, came up with a parallel agreement and pushed for it’s ratification. The issue became buried in a Senate committee, but has been resurrected and now appears to be getting fast-tracked by Bush.

Today, in response to the renewal of efforts to hand over control of 3/4’s of the globe’s surface to an international body, many prominent citizens continue to fight against LOST, including Colonel Oliver North, who states the enforcing body would act as a “world IRS” and be an end-run towards US support for the Kyoto Protocol. Pat Buchanan states that the treaty would “syphon off national rights, national sovereignty, and national wealth.”

One thing seems certain, that if the Senate makes the catastrophic mistake of ratifying LOST, then the Bush administration and Presidency will be remembered long-term for a true tragic and far-reaching mistake, one that is much worse than that which his Iraq war critics want to hang on him, and even possibly worse than his failure to secure our southern border.

Who is John Roberts, and Why Should You Care?

Earlier this week, in a nationally televised announcement befitting the importance of the occasion, President Bush introduced his nominee to the United States Supreme Court. He named Washington, D.C. circuit court judge John Roberts to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

But just who is John Roberts, and why should you care? Why is this whole Supreme Court thing such a big deal?

Why are you going to be saturated with coverage of Roberts’ confirmation hearings, and why is the same thing going to happen as the President makes even more appointments in the future.

First, let’s get the biography out of the way. John Roberts is a 50-year old married father of two children, a native of Buffalo, New York who graduated magna cum laude from both Harvard College and Harvard Law School. While at Harvard he served as Managing Editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Out of law school in 1980, Roberts clerked for current Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He moved on to become an associate counsel to the Reagan administration, and then took on the position of deputy solicitor general under the first George Bush, arguing cases for the government position in front of the Supreme Court.

Courting a Texas Originalist

The announcement was not unexpected, it had been rumored at least for weeks. And yet when Sandra Day O’Connor announced her resignation from the U.S. Supreme Court last week it still seemed to take many of us by surprise.

It has been 11 long years since the last opening occurred on the nation’s highest court, and it was beginning to seem like this latest coterie of individuals would preside over our most intimate and important issues forever.

Of course, nothing lasts forever but God Himself, and so this opening for a new appointment to the court was inevitable.

Mrs. O’Connor was the first female to ever be appointed to the court, named by the man who was just recently voted the greatest American in history by a poll conducted by the Discovery Channel and AOL, beloved former President Ronald Reagan.

However, it was not just making history that Reagan was after. He had been out front in helping defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, which proved to be the death knell for the activist womens’ movement that had swept across liberal America during the 1970’s.

In defeating the ERA, Reagan had promised to appoint the first woman to the high court if elected in 1980. When he nominated O’Connor, who was obviously pro-abortion in her decisions, the most conservative Senators fell in line and approved her, not wanting to challenge their staunchly conservative leader as he appointed the first woman ever to the court.

Finding the 'Right' Way

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Gingrich (L) and the Contract With America led to my vote for Dole (R) in 1996

On a brisk November morning back in 1996, I walked into a polling place located inside the H.A. Brown elementary school in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, signed my name in the register, and walked into the voting booth.

Though I was about to turn 33 years of age in just a few weeks, I was about to experience a first in my life.

As I pulled the handle and the curtain closed behind me, I faced the list of elective offices on the ballot, including that of the President of the United States of America, and searched the list for the one name that I was looking for above all others.

When I found the name of Bob Dole, I pulled over the small lever next to his name, forcing an ‘x’ mark into a tiny window, signifying that he would receive my vote. I pulled the handle back and locked in my first-ever vote for a Republican candidate for President of the United States, marking the beginning of a new era in my life.

It was the first time that I voted the Right Way.