Sand Hill Philosopher

Knowing One Another Helps Cooperation

A court has just shut-down a Charter School using a "Classical Curriculum".  One of the major tools that is used in the "Classical Curriculum" is making sure that students have a very strong foundation in the Basics. Then they progress through Latin, Mathematics, Classical Literature and History, much of which is learned by the study of Original Documents.

While long a believer in this approach to education, for a better critique of this approach to education and curriculum please visit www.beehive5.blogspot.com .

Michael Medved mentioned today on his radio program that a judge has once again intervened to "save people from learning the Bible." Interestingly, this particular Classical Curriculum contains studies of the Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism), the Book of Mormon, the Code of Hammaraubi (the oldest known codex of written law, from Persia), Mohammad and Islam. Altogether, ten world religions are studied.

The Judge ruled that it was only the Bible that was a problem, and the school must either drop the Bible from the curriculum, change to another curriculum, or shut the school. This is just another example of Judicial Activism, and Judicial Bigotry.

Interestingly, the curriculum is not a "Sunday School Approach" to the Bible, but a study of its impact on culture, history and the fact that not only Christianity, but Judaism and Islam rely heavily upon the text for their religion, worldviews and customs. While the Bible is generally considered a marvelous book of literature in its own right, many classicists, including William Shakespeare, quoted it frequently. Abraham Lincoln once said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." That is a simple, profound statement, imbedded in our nation's history. Whether you are Christian or not, the import of the fact, and the clearness of expression can't be denied, even if you discover that Lincoln was quoting Jesus, speaking in Mark 3:25. These words had great impact, and directed minds to a worldview that brought an end to The Great War (US Civil War, 1861-1865).

Medved added that even though his own children attended an Orthodox Jewish High School, one of the best teachers in that school dedicated significant class time to the discussion of the Christian Doctrine referred to as "Calvinism". Was it to teach the Jews that they should become Calvinistic Christians, or Calvinistic Jews? No. It was so they could understand so much history that occurred during the Age of Reformation, and hundreds of years of politico-historical actions effecting the whole world, regardless of the student's own religion.

All religions have a worldview, which is largely drawn from their religious beliefs. By studying these religions, and worldviews, we will understand each other better. My sons all studied the Major World Religions: I'm glad they did.

Let me try to set aside my outrage over the Bible portion of the court ruling, and close by saying,

Regardless of your opinion of religion in general, your personal choice of religion, or even your denomination within one of the bodies, Don't you think that you will be better educated and understand where the other person is coming from, if you understand at least a little about where their worldview is coming from?

You can have knowledge without Faith.

Just Thinking, The Sand Hill Philosopher

 

This Blog Post: http://bit.ly/7lCUlo   

www.MichaelMedved.com

www.Beehive5.blogspot.com

When You Look, Do You See God?

How hard do you have to look to see God? Consider a few examples of the simple (straightforward, always consistent) way in which God has arranged Creation:

Barbara Boxer on Climate Change Emails

Barbara Boxer, known for her brilliant mind, erudite learning and intimidating ability to express herself, is concerned about "stolen e-mails." J

In a taped interview, she expressed no concern about the lying scientists.

US Federal Judge William Blount Impeached

Many people hold the mistaken belief that a United States Supreme Court Justice cannot be impeached. As an introduction to the idea of cleaning our courts of Judicial Activism, I would like to first rid you of that notion.  The Federal Judges, including the Supreme Court Justices, can, and have been impeached.

How YOU can Stop Judicial Activism

The Process for removing Federal Judges (including Supreme Court Judges) is EASY.  The steps, in reverse order, are:

3. Have a judge that you disapprove of his lifestyle, a single court ruling, or a string of what the public believes are poor decisions, or patterns of dangers pending.

2. Have Congressmen (House and Senate) who are willing to impeach the Judges.

1. Have voters who will only vote for Congressmen who are willing to impeach judges who have offended the sensibilities of their constituents.

Spring House Cleaning, and the Senate

The seeming resurrection of the sleeping Conservatives in this current course of politics is inspirational. But it leaves me with two major concerns.

In watching the Conservatives finally stand-up, to vote and to take enemy gun-fire, is exciting, but I should point out that it is the lack of many of these "Sleeper Cells" of people that caused our nation to face the current crisis. If there had been more of you/us in this Conservative battle years ago, we would not find the nation in the sad state of functioning that we now find as easily as locating a pig farm in Indiana.

Treaties, Global Warming & the US Constitution

The President of the Unites States is appointed in the United States Constitution, Article II, Section II, Paragraph One, to act as Commander and Chief of the US Military and the State Militias. Paragraph Two states:

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur;

The Constitution attests in Article VI, Paragraph Two:

This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

The weight and impact of a treaty (a contract agreement between the United States and one or more foreign powers, who are authorized by their government to make such contracts) specifies a type and degree of cooperation, which may not be equal between the parties (e.g., a Peace Treaty), but each party is bound to the portion regarding them.

At one time, treaties were primarily made to establish the responsibilities of parties to perform certain duties for one another; retribution was typically limited to damage of the offender's reputation, and the offended party was no longer bound to maintain its responsibilities as a party of the contract (treaty). It is more and more common to see treaties in "our Global Community" proposed that lend a method of punishment, pecuniary damage repayment, fine or other defined means of retribution outlined within the treaty.

There are at least three primary problems with the Copenhagen Treaty to Limit Greenhouse Emissions. These are:

1.   Scientific Evidence does NOT support the International Committee on Climate Change's (ICCC) belief that CO₂ emissions are responsible for Climate Change. (see The Sand Hill Philosopher article, "When Will Global Warming End?" on this blog.) Dr. Ian Plimer, an original member of the ICCC resigned because of the selective and faulty scientific evidence used by the group, and persuaded his home country of Australia to withdraw from this treaty and the so-called "Cap & Trade" issues put forth.

2.   There is no scientific evidence that humans, or human activities, contribute to atmospheric CO₂ levels. Studies show that even mild elevations of CO₂ in confined spaces where plants grow causes the plants to grow more rapidly, converting the CO₂ and H₂O to plant products, and releasing O₂ into the atmosphere.

3.   The Treaty Limitations on developed countries, such as the United States, as compared to undeveloped countries, such as Kenya, are so disparate as to be ridiculous. The penalties, and likelihood of enforcement, are also far from fair and equal.

If a country is to develop, without any emissions of "greenhouse gasses" (H₂O is the primary one, at about 73% of total) they will have to rely upon developed nations to provide them with the machinery, technology and industry to develop. If that is to be obtained from the United States, for example, we are penalized for helping the developing nations of the world. The treaty also does not explain at which point a country is no longer considered "developing" or "Third-World", and there is no mechanism for them to be re-classified, or what their punishment would be under the proposed treaty.

Dr. Ian Plimer, in his book, Between Heaven and Earth, gives abundant proof that our climate is cyclical, with repeated warming and cooling cycles. (Where DID the ice ages go?? Who was harmed when Memphis, Tennessee emerged from beneath a glacier six thousand years ago?) He also proves, by multiple studies that atmospheric CO₂ levels have almost no variation in the atmosphere, and comprise only .11% of the total CO₂ in the earth and its atmosphere. He proves that these heating/cooling cycles are results of what happens in the distances between the earth and sun, solar flares, angles of rotation, and ions in the space "Between Heaven and Earth". The eruption of the Mount St. Helen's volvano in the 1970's released more CO₂, nitrates/nitrites (responsible for 'acid rain;), poisonous gasses and particulate matter into the atmosphere than all of human history.

The following article is from the Orange County Record Newspaper, and is also on the website of The Center for National Policy Analysis, a non-profit think-tank that evaluates laws, policies and judgments that will affect our nation, for good or bad, and tries to analyze what the impact of such actions will be on our Nation.  Please read the article, follow their blog, and visit the link to the Orange County Record.

Just Thinking, The Sand Hill Philosopher

FROM COPENHAGEN TO NOPENHAGEN FOR CLIMATE TREATY

In a major blow to the campaign against the presumed threat of global warming, world leaders acknowledge that a legally binding global treaty won't be approved at next month's 192-nation climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The concession Sunday significantly delays U.N. efforts to orchestrate a treaty to limit greenhouse gases to replace the Kyoto treaty, which expires in 2012.  Nations like the United States and poorer nations share the blame for the missed deadline.  Their concerns are similar to our own, says the Orange County Register:

WORLD Magazine: just what the Sand Hill Philosopher Ordered

Are you searching for a new magazine that is consistent with your worldview?  I had grown-up reading Time Magazine and Newsweek, with an occasional glance at US News & World Report, but during college, they became more one-sided in their reporting and I became more critical of what I read. [Perhaps they were always that liberal, and I took a while to catch-on.]

After I refused to read the magazines anymore, I felt a little ill-prepared for the journeys to places that would invoke read-less waiting upon me.  I always wanted that magazine rolled up in my pocket before I left my dorm room.

During my medical residency in Waco, Texas, my wife and I learned of a news magazine with a worldview alternative to Time and Newsweek: it was, and is, WORLD Magazine.

The magazine takes a clear, conservative, Christian worldview on events at home and abroad. They carry the same topical columns that the other news magazines do, but with a worldview closer to mine and the typical Sand Hill Reader.

At first I thought we might be signing up for a "religious bulletin", but though they have a "Religion Column" from time-to-time, there is no doctrine or denomination pushed. They simply, and clearly, bring me the weekly news in a magazine form.

Over the last 20+ years of readership, I have seen them grow in number of subscribers, number and quality of writers/journalists, and stature among America's journalistic reporters as a respectable source of news and information.

If you have already given up on ABC, CBS and CNN, to turn to Fox News, why not drop your Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report subscriptions, as well, and subscribe to WORLD Magazine? The Editor is Joe Belz who always has an excellent editorial.  Marvin Olasky (Professor of Journalism, at The University of Texas, Austin) is a regular contributor and serves as Editor In Chief; another well-known columnist that appears in each issue is Adree Seu.

The November 7, 2009 issue contains the following as a partial list of its contents: Quotables, Quick Takes, Movies & TV, Books, Music, Lifestyle and Tech, Charity, Sports, an article by Janie B. Cheaney (Subdued and Preserved: America's National Park System is a product of civilization) and articles in the following categories: Islam (Dutch Politician Brings anti-Islam Message to Britain and America); Government (A Platoon of Czars Sets Policy); Persecution (Vietnamese Refugees Call for Washington to Act on Abuses); Politics (Critics Worry About the Effects on Free Speech of Recently Expanded Hate Crime Laws); Environment (Climate Change Becomes the Latest Excuse for Population Control); Iraq (In Disputed Kirkuk, Christian Presence is Targeted); Sudan (Militia Attacks in South Sudan Threaten "Peace" Agreement); Education (Public-school Educators Ignore a Charter School That is Accomplishing What They Cannot); Radicalism (Moving from Corporate America to Academic America).

The cover articler is, Do the Math - How a government-run system will entice your employer to drop your health plan -- and press religious institutions like Belmont Abbey College to violate their beliefs.

To review more about the magazine, and see up-to-the-minute news articles, visit their web-site at www.WORLDmag.com. Subscription information is also found on this page. I have known hundreds of satisfied readers over the years, and know thousands who stay wrongly-informed by the more common news magazines, or ignorant all together.  Why don't you check-out their web-site and subscribe. I don't think you will regret it.

Just Thinking, The Sand Hill Philosopher

Economics to Know: the Books (Part Two of Two)

This is the Second of a Two Post Series on Economics. While each blog post will stand alone, most readers will do well to read the first post (published 11/13/09) in order to understand why there are so many misunderstandings about the Science of Economics, and the proceed to this post on the recommended reading. In the first post I tried to clarify some of the misunderstandings surrounding different views of economics. There is also an explanation of why only one School of Economic Thought is addressed here: there is only one proven view of economics. Every view of economics than what I set before you has never moved from the "theoretical" phase, and never will.

It is important that it be established as fact that every person MUST possess some degree of economic understanding. Even the person that has no money has to use these same principles in barter. In this second post, I will review Twelve Fundamental Books. With each of those books, The Sand Hill Philosopher will describe why he considers these books, and the Laws of Economics they set forth, to be foundational to any wise understanding and use of Economics. Please note that neither The Sand Hill Philosopher's brevity, nor length, should be used to determine the importance of the book, or its relative value.

Economics is considered a science, because an economic theory can be developed, tested, measured and then reproduced. This is because certain laws that are immutable are at play. It is the most stable nations that have always been (and always will be) capitalistic in nature. It is paradoxical that people keep turning to socialism, and it always fails. The paradox is not that it always fails, but that people keep trying it, even after it has failed repeatedly throughout history. These laws of economics are as predictable as the laws of physics. No person, No law and No government can break them and persevere. Each person and government who breaks these widely known laws cannot transgress them without paying stiff financial penalties.

These books that you will be introduced to will teach you the breadth, depth and length to which these Laws extend. I should point out that the major emphasis of this work is not an examination of theory that "will hopefully work," which is what most universities teach, and they therefore do not have enough time to reinforce the areas of theory and application that have stood the test of time, across cultures and governments, and still work. There is neither the space or time to teach every theory that doesn't work; we will hone your skills on those things which do.

Your teachers in this noble mission of education are the Best of the Best. Some of your professors are hundreds of years old, and some are living and publishing to this day. This is further proof of the enduring quality and identifying means of the Principles of Economics. They all have one thing in common: they have seen in their own time, and in their own way, how the governing Laws of Economics present themselves. The commonality among the authors, and through the tests of civilization and history, mark these truths as standing true throughout the ages.

 

Basic Economics: a common sense guide to the economy, Sowell, Thomas (2007) http://bit.ly/2RljiI

 

In this first book, you will learn some terms that will help you interpret much of what you hear on the news and read on the business pages of newspapers. Dr. Thomas Sowell's book is called "Basic", but do not confuse this with "easy". This may be the slowest book to read in the series, but it is also the most thorough. The material is not hard to understand, but the extent to which these principles affect us, from the worker to the Federal Government, will take some time for you to think upon, and recover from the impact of the consequences of, that we will soon start to reap. If you are a Sand Hill drop-out, you will have at least read one of the greatest books ever written. on the subject of Economics. A true Classic of American writing.

Psalm 47.4 - Content in Affliction, or Abundance

The following is excerpted from Charles Spurgeon's, Morning & Evening, November 11th, Evening reading:

Psalm 47:4 - "He shall choose our inheritance for us."

Believer, if your inheritance be a lowly one you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition. A ship of large tonnage is to be brought up the river; now, in one part of the stream there is a sandbank; should somone ask, "Why does the captain steer through the deep part of the channel and deviate so much from a straight line?" His answerw would be, "Because I should not get my vessel into harbour at all if I did not keep the deep channel." So it may be, you would run aground and suffer shipwreck, if your divine Captain did not steer you into the depths of affliction where waves of trouble follow each other in quick succession. Some plants die if they have too much sunshine. It may be that you are planted where you get but little, you are put there by the loving Husbandman, because only in that situation will you bring forth fruit unto perfection. Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circucmmstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows." Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good. Take up your own daily cross; it is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God. Down busy self, and proud impatience, it is not for you to choose, but for the Lord of Love!

Trials must and will befall - But with humble faith to see - Love inscribed upon them all;- This is happiness to me.

I was thinking about Proverbs 16:9, "A man's heart deviseth his way;but the LORD directeth his steps," when I recalled this devotional from earlier in the week.

May the LORD of ALL bless you as you prepares your hearts and minds for worship this weekend. Amen.

Just Thinking (About God's Mercies), The Sand Hill Philosopher

Short Link to this post: http://bit.ly/38a741

What Everyone Needs to Know About Economics: Even YOU

With the current understanding of Economics being so shallow even among so-called Thinkers and Economists, I will propose to teach you more than most regular universities require for a degree in the Science of Economics.

Over the course of two posts, I propose to first establish the fact that every person MUST possess some degree of economic understanding. Even the person that has no money, has to use these same principles in barter. In the second post, I will give a review of Twelve Fundamental Books. With each of those books, The Sand Hill Philosopher will describe why he considers these books, and the Laws of Economics they set forth to be foundational to any wise understanding and use of Economics.

Pelosi Rejects Leadership Role

   Some things come along that are worth passing on. Most of Congress won't read any significant portion of the bill mentioned below, but you can.

   Pelosi has demonstrated her disrespect for the position she holds as Congressman and Chairman of the House of Representatives, and her oath of office, by asking

Homeschooling American Patriots

My wife and I began planning to homeschool our children when the oldest was only two years old.

Quotes: Small Tastes of History

Quotes give us licks from the lollipop of history. They should inspire us with ideas,

Obama Goes for Nobel Grand Slam

After his unprecedented Ten Day achievement in winning what was previously the world’s most Prestigious Prize for out-standing progress toward World Peace President BHO has decided to go for the Grand Slam.

Is Revisionist History Disappearing?

Have you noticed any trends in history lectures, news perspectives and books lately?

Aristotle on "Term Limits"

Aristotle was known as “The Master of the Knowers”. History regards him

Are Hollywood Liberals As Liberal As You Think? Probably Not.

On the Anniversary of the 9/11 Crashes, I watched

Political Sermons of the American Founding Era (1730-1805)

Most Conservatives and Christians are well aware of the fact that any twist on the “separation of church and state” was meant to keep the government out churches, and NOT the church (or church ideas) out of government.

What is Cripplegate Farm?

In many of my posts, I have written about Cripplegate Farm,

What's Good About Old Medicine? (About 4,000 years old)

I have had the privilege to spend 30 years in the medical field, though severely limited over the past seven years.

Healthcare and Debt: Driving Forces Behind Economic Decisions

When able to practice medicine, every year we would go through the meetings, where employers, insurance companies and doctors

America's First Gun Control Legislation - 1774

   KING PROHIBITS EXPORTATION

OF ARMS AND AMMUNITION

TO AMERICA

Global Warming: the Missing Science

Is Global Cooling on its way? Yes, as soon as the Global Warming is over.

A Time for Solitude, Looking for "Cache Lake Country"

During my tenth-grade year, while sitting in the library study hall,

Book Review: Or Perish in the Attempt: Medical Aspects of the Lewis & Clark Expedition

Dr. Peck has rewarded us all with his thorough research and clear explanations.

Book Review: Early Stories from the Land

Finding this book accidently in a book store, I was hypnotized

Book Review: My Grandfather's Son

Growing up in Muleshoe, Texas (far Western Panhandle), during the 1960's & 70's,

Liberal Arts Education & Its Link to Freedom

The lack of education will soon make America a nation of slaves.

Book Review: Duel

David McCullough's book, John Adams,