Life and how to live it

Dr. Mike Adams is one of my favorite sociopolitical commentators. (He is a criminal justice professor at UNC-Wilmington who writes a regular column for townhall.com.) I thought his column from Tuesday was excellent, so I am posting the entire text of it below.

Life and how to live it
Mike S. Adams

Over the weekend, I received several emails from readers warning me that I might lose my job over the article I wrote criticizing my university’s new harassment policy. Readers who sometimes suggest that I should learn to hold my tongue fail to understand my simple philosophy of life. It is an uncompromising philosophy that guarantees both peace of mind and success in any important endeavor. It can be roughly summarized as follows:

1. If you want to be happy and successful, you must immediately disabuse yourself of the notion that there is no such thing as good and evil.

If, for some reason, this is difficult for you to do, take the time to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. If that still does not convince you, take the time to visit Auschwitz.

2. You must also immediately disabuse yourself of the notion that good and evil are simply relative terms. There are moral absolutes and they have absolutely nothing to do with your personal feelings and perceptions.

It should be noted that people who claim to believe in moral relativism are just lying in order to make themselves appear to be morally superior to others. Their actual belief in moral absolutism is revealed when, at some point, they openly proclaim that there are no absolutes. If everything is relative, the philosophy of moral relativism can’t be absolutely true.

3. Take some time every day to fine-tune your understanding of the difference between right and wrong.

Recently, a good friend of mine lost his mother to cancer. He later made a casual suggestion about the need for some sort of handbook, which could be used to sort out the difficult problems and answer the difficult questions one encounters in life.

Fortunately, such a handbook exists. It is called the Holy Bible.

No one can call himself educated if he has not read the Bible at least once. Even after several readings of the Bible some things will remain unclear. Some questions will remain unanswered. Nonetheless, upon every reading of the Bible, greater wisdom is gained. After all, life is a journey. It is not a destination.

By the same token, one should never go to a psychologist or any other counselor who is a self-proclaimed atheist or agnostic. I cannot think of a single important principle the field of psychology has established that wasn’t already established in the Sermon on the Mount.

4. Life will present you with plenty of encounters with good and evil. Just as you should never pass up an opportunity to promote good, you should never pass up an opportunity to combat evil.

One of my favorite verses of the Bible is James 4:17. It states that “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” That verse reminds us that we don’t have to actually do something to be morally culpable. In other words, there is such a thing as a sin of omission.

It can often be tough to step up and combat evil when one may be risking, for example, one’s job. We humans are so weak and frail that it is often tough to stand up for what is right even when the consequences are merely ostracism or momentary ridicule. In those times, the following verse (Hebrews 13:5) helps: “…For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Remember when you read that verse that, quite literally, nothing else in life matters.

In the past, I have been faced with some risky decisions that involved the prospect of taking on campus radicals – some have been communists, some have been feminists, all have been, in some way, morally decadent. But some of these morally bankrupt individuals also happened to have some degree of power over me and over my economic livelihood.

When, in the past, I have contemplated the prospect of cowering away from these situations, I have sometimes found strength by thinking about some old war veterans – some in my family, some friends – who risked or even gave their lives to preserve our nation and our freedom.

The next time you find yourself tempted to cower from something you know you should do, just imagine a roomful of old war veterans. Get in a quiet, dark room. Close your eyes, concentrate on their faces. Then just imagine walking up to one of them to have a face-to-face talk about what you are cowering from and why.

Once, I imagined myself walking up to my grandfather who was hit with grenade shrapnel in World War I and saying something like this: “Thanks for serving to protect my First Amendment Rights. I’ve been meaning to stand up to some campus feminists who are violating the constitutional rights of some students on campus. But, frankly, I’m afraid of feminists and what they might say about me.”

You might want to end this mental exercise before you picture one of those veterans punching you in the nose.

Just remember that Jesus didn’t die on the cross for you to run from what is right. And war heroes didn’t die on the battlefield for you to cower away while this country is destroyed.

5. Standing up against that which is wrong invariably means that you will have to take on a lot of angry people. If you cannot do it with a sense of humor, you are less likely to prevail.

Without question, liberals are the angriest people in America these days. If you respond to them with anger, you will allow them to conceal this fact while playing upon stereotypes of conservatives that are no longer accurate. In addition, you will not be able to influence people in the middle.

Now, you know a little more about my simple philosophy of life. In my next column, I plan to answer Dr. Phil’s favorite question: “How’s that working for you?”

To be continued…

Cut 'em off!

Now we're talking:

Violent sex offenders could face castration under state legislation (registration required)

MONTGOMERY -- The House passed a bill Thursday that would require mandatory castration of persons convicted of violent sex crimes against children under 12 and would require them to wear electronic monitoring devices for the rest of their lives after release from prison.
...
A milder version of the legislation passed the Senate 35-0. The Senate version provides stiffer penalties for sex offenders, provides for electronic monitoring for at least 10 years and toughens requirements for them to report their location to police, but does not include the castration requirement or other tougher language added in the House.

Well, I hope the House version makes it through the Senate--at least the castration part.

Of course, the ACLU and other moonbat institutions will probably be whining about this tomorrow. It's already started--from within the legislature:

But several lawmakers said some legislators were going too far to be tough on crime, possibly because they will face re-election next year.
"At the rate we're going with this election politics, it seems to me we might as well just go on and kill these folks,'' said Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, speaker pro tem in the House.

Well, OK then. Let's do it.

But most lawmakers argued that it was necessary to take all steps to protect children from sex offenders.
"If I had my way, they would never get out of prison,'' said Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden.

Certainly no reasonable person would disagree. They ought to be put under the jail.

At any rate, good for the Alabama legislature.

Feds cracking down on illegals

They may not do it in Atlanta, but at least they're taking care of it back home:

Authorities detain 30 Hispanics

Federal immigration officers arrested at least 30 Hispanic people in three suburban cities near Birmingham in what authorities said Thursday was a crackdown aimed at fighting gangs.

The U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not say, however, whether any of the people who were detained were suspected of committing crimes aside from being in the country illegally.

Well, good. Being in the country illegally is crime enough. Rationalize it any way you feel you have to, guys...whatever will keep the lunatic left off your backs.

Officers from the agency swept through apartment complexes and trailer parks in Hoover, Pelham and Alabaster arresting Spanish-speaking people.
...
Bourgeois said immigration officials have "got people scared."

"A lot of people around here are packing up and leaving," she said.

In April 2004, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 27 day laborers in Hoover, describing them as illegal immigrants. A federal official said three of the 27 may have been suspects in crimes.

Good. They ought to be scared. The very fact that they are here illegally proves that they have no respect for the laws of our country. I'm not surprised that some are suspects in crimes; here in Atlanta, they've killed cops, molested children, and formed gangs around the drug trade. I say get rid of all of them. Doubtless someone will call me "insensitive" or even "racist" for having such an attitude, but they don't share my concern for national security (or my respect for our laws and our borders). I've said many times in the past that I have no problem with people immigrating legally--no one should. But these people who swim across the Rio Grande or run across the highway near San Diego have no respect for our law. They don't want to become Americans; they come and set up their own pocket communities--mini-Mexicos, if you will--and they make no attempt to integrate into our society. But this is acceptable among the "progressive" crowd; this is what multiculturalism has done to us.

I'm glad to see that, at least in my home state, we're still making an attempt to preserve the rule of law.

Roberts gets the nod

John G. Roberts was nominated for the vacant Supreme Court seat last night, so Edith Brown Clement is out--at least for now. There was a lot of buzz yesterday about both Clement and Edith Jones, another judge on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. But in the end, it looks like President Bush wants a fight. I say good--we need to have a fight. Bring it on!

Graduate School

I'm thinking about using this space to chronicle my upcoming graduate studies (in addition to providing information on sociopolitical issues in Alabama). So, without further ado, here is the latest on my attempt to earn a master's degree in public administration from The University of Alabama.

I sent all my application materials (application, statement of purpose, transcripts, GRE scores) to the office of graduate admissions toward the end of May. (The deadline for application for the fall semester was June 1.) I'd contacted four individuals about writing letters of recommendation earlier in the spring; in early April, I sent them the requisite forms with a request to forward their recommendations to the admissions office. I was able to send one in myself (from a colleague and former supervisor here at the State Bar of Georgia). The others were all in Alabama. I figured they had plenty of time to get the letters done and send them in before the deadline.

The first week of June, I checked my application status on MyBama. It said that all materials had been received. At the end of the month, I had heard nothing regarding my admission status (neither a denial or an acceptance). So last week I called the office of graduate admissions. They informed me that my application materials had been forwarded to the political science department on June 3. They transferred me to that department, where I learned that the person who could inform me on my status was out for the week. So I sent her an email; she replied on Tuesday (July 12) that they had only received one letter of recommendation (the one I sent originally). They need at least two more (I should have had a total of four) before my application can be reviewed and a decision made. Needless to say, I'm a little peeved. I sent emails to the other three people along with the form for them to fill out. I'm thinking about calling them this afternoon, just to be sure they got it--since it's been two days and I haven't heard from any of them...

Now they'll just have to shoot them

On Tuesday, Birmingham mayor Bernard Kincaid issued a moratorium on the use of Tasers by city police.

This is something Atlanta police have been dealing with for a little while as well. I think if people in custody wouldn't try to escape (or attack the police), they wouldn't have anything to worry about. Besides, if you're dealing with some dude the size of a defensive lineman, and that guy's high on meth or something, what else are you going to do? Shoot him, I guess:

"There are so many instances where without the Tasers we would have had to escalate all the way up to using lethal force, our sidearms," Sgt. Allen Treadaway, the police union president, said. "It saves lives."

At least with a Taser, there's a better chance the offenders won't get killed. If they have to shoot them now, so be it. That's safer for the cops than having to beat the crap out of them with a baton (besides, that would probably get the department sued by some race warlord like je$$e jack$on or julian bond). If somebody's gonna get killed, then better some low-life criminal than a good cop.

Dennis was no “menace” after all…

…at least, not to the Alabama Gulf Coast, as the Category 3 hurricane made landfall yesterday near Pensacola, Fla. Some 360,000 Alabama residents lost power, but for the Gulf Coast, Dennis was nothing compared to Ivan. There was wind damage and flooding farther inland, though.

I’m glad those folks were spared—they’re still not fully recovered from Ivan down there. I hope the folks in Pensacola and elsewhere are able to recover as well.

Hurricane Dennis approaches

Gov. Riley declared a state of emergency yesterday, urging residents on the Gulf Coast to go ahead and evacuate in anticipation of Dennis' projected Sunday landfall.

Gov. Riley said that there is a plan in place to reverse the flow of traffic on I-65 southbound but that implementing the plan will depend on how traffic is moving.

The state tourism agency is surveying the state for open hotel rooms and is encouraging people to look for hotels in the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa areas.

Gov. Riley said there are "three times as many people on the Gulf Coast than during Ivan." Riley also said that Alabama will see people coming into the state from Mississippi, Lousiana and Florida.

Three times as many?! Well, it is the middle of the summer. Maybe it'll weaken or change direction in a hurry...I mean, they haven't even fully recovered from Ivan down there.

Not Siegelman again!

Looks like Don Siegelman is putting out feelers for a possible 2006 run at the governor’s mansion. From the Decatur Daily News:

Siegelman visits North Alabama seeking support for possible bid

What’s sad is that he’ll most likely run on the lottery again; what’s even sadder is what his likely supporters at the ballot box are already saying.

Farmer Bill Terry of Chalybeate assured Siegelman the Terry family would support him as a gubernatorial candidate. He invited Siegelman to the annual Labor Day Terry Reunion.

"He stands for everything the farmer and poor man believes in," Terry said while selling produce at the Farmer's Market. "We need a lottery in there, and should have gotten it before Tennessee got it." Huh?!

True to form for a Democrat, the former governor blamed everything but his own failed policies for his ouster by Bob Riley in 2002:

"When the stock market hit bottom, my numbers hit bottom," Siegelman said. "We had to prorate the education budget. 9-11 came. George Bush campaigned against me, and Indian casino money was spent against me.

Are you kidding?! “We had to prorate the education budget.” No you didn’t, Governor—you could have cut spending elsewhere.

He’s even starting to sound like the other looney-left Dems nationwide:

"You will never see this man," Siegelman said, pointing to himself, "supporting property tax increases. I'm not going to raise taxes on working people one penny. You're taxed to earn it, spend it, save it and taxed when you die. You're taxed enough. These corporations need to be paying their share."

Paying their fair share...sounds like a certain "presidential candidate with a plan" last year. Well, Donny boy, if you’re not going to raise taxes on working people, who are you going to raise them on? Non-working folks don’t exactly pay taxes. Why can’t the left understand that?

There’s more from the Sand Mountain Reporter:

“The big drug companies have become so invested in the Bush administration that the Bush administration has these drug companies at heart instead of the good people of America,” Siegelman said. “It’s outrageous. We’ve let these drug companies set their own prices.”

And why shouldn’t the drug companies set their own prices? They paid for the research and development of their drugs, and they have to stay in business. I guess he’d rather have the government set prices. Oh, wait, that’s right—the government is supposed to control everything.

Personally, I don’t think he could win again. Riley’s a much tougher opponent than the inimitable Fob James. But if Roy Moore gets nominated, who knows what could happen.

Of course, I have been away from Alabama for three years, so I could be way off...somebody correct me if I'm that far out there.

Another Alabamian on the Supreme Court?

CNN.com lists two Alabama natives as potential successors to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: Edith Brown Clement and William Pryor. Both are currently serving as federal appeals court judges. (Clement was confirmed in November 2001; Pryor was a recess appointment last year and was confirmed this year as part of the "compromise" orchestrated by John McCain.)

Clement is a graduate of The University of Alabama; she earned a law degree from Tulane University. Pryor also went to Tulane for law school, having earned his undergraduate degree from Northeast Louisiana University. He also served as Alabama's attorney general from 1997 until his appointment to the federal bench by President Bush last year.

'Bama has beaten Northeast Louisiana (now known as U. of Louisiana-Monroe) in the only meetings I could find between the two schools with a quick Google search. We beat them 8-5 and 7-0 in baseball in 1995 (as NLU), and we topped them in women's soccer 1-0 in 2002 (as ULM).

Due to this athletic dominance, I must pronounce Judge Clement the more qualified candidate, and give her my full endorsement for the vacant seat on the SCOTUS.

This is all tongue-in-cheek, of course; I'd rather see Janice Rogers Brown get the nomination. (Incidentally, she was born in Alabama, too.) Here's a good bit from La Shawn Barber about Justice Brown.

More to come on the potential nominees with Alabama connections...

The First Post on a New Blog

I've had a LiveJournal for some time, but I figured I'd start a somewhat more serious blog over here at Blogger.com. I'm not 100% sure what it's going to be about...probably sociopolitical issues in Alabama, since I'm moving back there in less than a month. At any rate, stay tuned...I think it'll be fun to watch this thing grow.