Yearly Archives: 2008

National Politics, Tennessee politics

Some common sense economic advice from the Sage of Mt. Juliet

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A thoughtful community stalwart sent me the following in an email this morning. Mr. Fred Weyler of Mt. Juliet has the following observations:

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My county trustee is raising my annual rent again. He says that my house is worth about four times what I paid for it. He also says that schools need 20% extra this year for school bus operation. I never had a school bus ride. I walked until I bought a bicycle. My classmates did, too. They had no obesity problems. It will take 14 of the 3 cent first class postage stamps I used to pay my first bills to send the trustee this year’s rent. The rent is higher despite my fixed income and my higher expenses, like more to fill my push mower than it cost to fill any of my first three cars. If I must sell my house to pay my bills, I face a capital gains tax even though my capital is now worth less.

Some people blame me, as a baby boomer, for wrecking Social Security. What a social circus! Twas not my choice, but FDR said I had to do it temporarily. Along the way, folks said I had to do it bigger and so did my employer. 16% of my pay would have made a huge IRA, but I had no choice. I could choose whether to pay big interest rates for a car and furniture or to walk a while longer and sleep on the floor until I could pay for furniture. Government knew that my retirement trust fund was more important than my start in this world. I sometimes worked two or three jobs to avoid big debt and big interest.

LBJ “borrowed” from my retirement trust fund to build housing in Chicago, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga and elsewhere, but not in my small town. I watched as it was trashed, then as the bulldozers hauled it off or buried it. Community organizers and congress urged banks to finance housing for the next generation from LBJs projects. Do not ask about income, assets, or jobs the way my mortgager asked me. Banks blindly made loans which they and the borrower knew could not be repaid and had insufficient collateral. They did not pay and the banks have worthless paper instead of capital.

Now they tell me that it is my responsibility to help the banks get going again and to help those who did not pay to stay in their houses. Who’s telling me?

Those same people who told the banks to make those blind loans, who make bank rules, and under whose oversight the laws are administered. They are advised by some of those folks who made millions bringing financial institutions to their ruin.

I am incensed that they wanted to take my money, then if it got paid back, take 20% of it for organizations like ACORN. Are they not the outfit which set new records of multiple voter registrations, deceased voter registration, cartoon character voter registration, and canine voter registration to elect the yahoos who now want more of my money?

Why do I feel like I’d find joy if Franks, Dodd, Pelosi, Reid, Bush, and Paulson were impeached for malfeasance of duty?

I worked hard in college. I worked harder in high school. It paid off. With my savings and scholarship, my college job paid the rest and I did not graduate with huge debt. My dad helped me get my bicycle to campus. I rode the bus to get home occasionally. My professors walked from their houses to the classroom. Now there are parking lots where their houses were.

I’d say that the financial system needs some help. Some ways to give it:

  • First, do nothing until you put a stop to the practices which brought on this situation. No need to throw more good money after bad.
  • Lower the capital gains tax. Lower the corporate tax rate. Watch how much money comes out of the mattresses to ease the credit crunch.
  • Share oil revenues with the states to encourage new production and watch investment soar, new jobs, more tax revenue, improved balance of payments, and lower gasoline prices. Encourage new nuclear power plants and oil refineries. You cannot amend the law of supply and demand. Let it dictate when entrepreneurs have electric cards on the road with new jobs in fast battery swap out and recharge stations and more tax revenues.
  • Prosecute the bums who led institutions to ruin. Put all their assets back into the system.
  • Pay off the national debt to reduce the cost of capital.
  • Make FICA follow the same solvency rules as you enforce upon pension funds. Deposit that $50 trillion or whatever the number is into banks so that they may
  • lend some of it with ample oversight, transparency, accounting and regulation.
  • Divert some funds away from Dept of Education. Quit expanding high school parking lots. Put some lard buns to work digging up those global warming parking lots to make room for bike racks and more grass and trees.

– Fred Weyler, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee

Uncategorized

John Smith & Daniel Boone: Escape Artists

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John Smith Escapes Again! By Rosalyn Schanzer is a great introduction for the elementary and middle school crowd to one of the most astonishing figures from early American history. Most Americans have only read his name in a line or two about the founding of Jamestown, or because he’s been a figure in a Disney movie which featured Pocahontas. A few of us can tell you of his miraculous escape from being executed by the Indians when the Indian princess intervened to deflect the wrath of her father, Chief Powhatan. But that story is only one of a dozen escapes from the colorful life of John Smith. He escaped from a dull life as a clerk in England by running away to sea. He escaped kidnapping, robbery, & shipwreck on his way to fight the Spanish in the Netherlands. He escaped drowning and death a second time by joining pirates while on his way to fight the Turks. He escaped capture and slavery when he was captured in battle and sold to a Tartar chieftain in central Asia. Facing Powhatan and the Indians in Virginia was easy compared to what he’d already been through! The story of John Smith & Pocahontas is retold in great detail and constitutes the bulk of the book (24 out of 64 pages), but it’s all the more enjoyable and we are able to appreciate the resourcefulness of Captain John Smith knowing of all his earlier adventures.

Why don’t we know more of John Smith’s story? The author gives the answer in a lengthy note at the end. During the Civil War, Henry Adams wrote a piece of war propaganda attacking Smith and branding him a liar and a braggart. It’s taken a hundred and forty years for his reputation to recover, but over the past few decades scholars have re-examined the record and confirmed almost all the details of Smith’s miraculous chain of escapes (most of which we know about only from Smith’s autobiography). Schantzer has done 14 books for young people, including another recent Greenleaf pick, George vs. George. This is an excellent introduction to colonial history for young people. John Smith Escapes Again!
Is a 64 page hardback, available directly from Greenleaf Press for $16.95.

Daniel Boone’s Great Escape by Michael P. Spradlin is an equally delightful tale of one of the great heroes of American Colonial history. 170 years after Captain John Smith, another explorer had an equally hair-raising adventure involving capture by the Indians, the threat of execution, and a daring escape. In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, Boone was leading a group of hunters and settlers over the mountains, in the wilds of Kentucky. Taken captive by the Indians and carried off hundreds of miles, north of the Ohio river, he bides his time and prepares for a daring escape attempt. When he hears the Indians planning an attack on the settlement where his wife, children and grandchildren were living, he knows he must act. Swimming the Ohio River, and covering 160 miles in four days, he is able to elude the Indian braves pursuing him and reach the settlement of Boonesborough in time to warn them – saving them from being killed. The whole adventure is reported in his autobiography in only one sentence: “On the 16th, before sunrise, I departed in the most secret manner and arrived at Boonesborough on the 20th, after a journey of one hundred and sixty miles, during which I had but one meal.”


Spradlin’s simple text tells a vivid and exciting story. The illustrations by Ard Hoyt catch the movement, tension, and danger of the four-day chase through the woods and the joyful reunion at the end. Daniel Boone’s Great Escape
is a 32 pages hardback, available directly from Greenleaf Press for $16.95.

– Rob Shearer, Publisher
Greenleaf Press

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Announcing the 2009 Schaeffer Study Center tour

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“Christian History in the British Isles”

Tour led by Rob & Cyndy Shearer, directors of the Schaeffer Study Center in Mt. Juliet, TN.

When: February 27 – March 10, 2009

Where: Salisbury, Bath, Oxford, Stratford, Lake District, Edinburgh, York, Cambridge, London

Who: Homeschooled high school students and their parents and adult friends

How Much: $4,200 (includes airfare, hotels, meals, lodging, transportation, & admissions)

Stonehenge

We start our history tour of England at the beginning – with the ancient celts

Salisbury: Cathedral & Magna Carta

Close by Stonehenge is this magnificent church which houses one of the four original texts of the Magna Carta

Bath: Roman Baths & Bath Abbey

We’ll attend church in Bath and then tour the Roman baths and Bath Abbey with the rest of the afternoon free for sightseeing on your own

Oxford

A walking tour of the colleges, including Magdalen, where C.S. Lewis taught

Coventry

The old and the new cathedral, side by side

Stratford

We’ll visit Shakespeare’s birthplace & the Shakespeare center as well as attend a performance in the evening by the Royal Shakespeare Company

Lake District

We spend two nights here which will allow for a day of walking for those interested

Stirling

Seat of two kings and site of an important victory by the Scots under William Wallace

Edinburgh

Capital of Scotland, home of the Covenanters

We will visit the High Kirk of St. Giles where John Knox preached

Hadrian’s Wall

The boundary of the Roman Empire

Jarrow

We will visit Bede’s world & St. Paul’s monastery where the farm and monastery
have been preserved as a working 8th century living history site

Durham

One of the most innovative cathedrals of the middle ages, with the first stone roof in Europe

York

Parts of the York Minster date to the early 7th century and include examples of stained glass from the early middle ages

Cambridge

Sunday Services in Cambridge!

We’ll visit our friends at the Christian Heritage Center and the Round Church

London

Two days to explore. We’ll do Westminster Abbey and the Globe together, then leave you time to pick the sites you want to explore.

This tour has been planned for the past two years for high school students and families who are part of the Schaeffer Study Center in Mt. Juliet. But we are happy to invite homeschooled high school students, their parents, and friends of homeschoolers to join us on this adventure. Please contact us as early as possible, as we can take a maximum of 36 (students and adults).

Previous Schaeffer Study Center trips have been to Italy, Germany, and Washington DC.

The trip will originate from Nashville, TN on Friday, February 27, 2009 and return to Nashville on Tuesday, March 10, 2009. We’ve picked these dates because they correspond to the spring break for many homeschool tutorial programs.

When we last made a trip to Europe, the total cost was $3,550. Since then prices have gone up and the dollar has gone down. And we’re facing a $450/person fuel surcharge. But we’ve worked very hard with a wonderful agency in England which specializes in Christian and Educational travel – Casterbridge Church Tours. We’ve been able to secure a total, inclusive price of $4,200 for this trip.

The price includes airfare, hotels, two meals/day, transportation, and all admissions at all the sites we will visit as a group. Your only additional costs will be for lunch & snacks and any additional sightseeing or shopping that you wish to do.

If you’d like to join us, please send us your $500 deposit as soon as you can. A second payment of $1,700 will be due on November 27th, and a final payment of $2,000 on December 31st.

For more information, contact:

Rob Shearer, Director (rob@schaefferstudycenter.org)
Schaeffer Study Center
c/o Abundant Life Church
1000 Woodridge Pl
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122

Cancellations & Refunds: We strongly recommend that you add an additional $99 to your deposit in order to purchase the AIG Trip & Health insurance. If you should have to cancel your place on the trip for any unforeseen reason, the AIG policy will refund 100% of any money you have paid. If you do not purchase the AIG insurance, then the cancellation fee is equal to the deposit paid. From 11/227 to 12/14, $1,400 of the $2,200 paid is refundable upon cancellation; from 12/14 to 2/12/09 $1,000 of the $4,200 is refundable. No refunds are available for cancellations after 2/12/09.

2008 Election

Note to Jesse Jackson, Jr: Attempting to re-write history does not help your cause

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Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Chicago) posted an essay on the Huffington Post today entitled, Abolish the Electoral College.

I don’t normally read the Huffington Post, so a hat-tip to Kleinheider of the Nashville Post for highlighting it.

Rep. Jackson’s argument is that the Electoral College is inherently racist, the product of “the slave-owners who dominated the politics of our new nation at its beginning.”

He goes on to cite the notorious three-fifths compromise, whereby slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person for the purposes of Congressional representation and the Electoral College.

There’s just one problem with this recitation of historical facts – Rep. Jackson is completely wrong.

Here is but one howler from Rep. Jackson’s essay:

“the Founding Fathers were suspicious of a mass popular vote that included everyone, and a significant number of the “states rights” Southerners worried about the more populous Northern states outvoting them and restricting or eliminating slavery.”

This is exactly backwards. It was the Northern states who were worried about being outvoted. The Connecticut plan proposed that each state have equal representation in the Congress (as had been the practice in the Continental Congress). It was the southern states, in particular Virginia who objected and wanted representation in the Congress to be proportional to the population. Delaware, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Connecticut were the state’s insisting on “states’ rights.”

The text of the Constitution itself apportioned the representatives in the first Congress as follows:

NH- 3
MA- 8
RI – 1
CT – 5
NY – 6
NJ – 4
PA – 8
DE – 1
MD – 6
VA – 10
NC – 5
SC – 5
GA – 3

Thus, there were 65 representatives in the first Congress. States south of the Mason Dixon line had 30 of those 65. The swing states of PA and NJ had 12. The New England states had the remaining 23.

The Southern states had nothing to fear from representation based on population. It was what they wanted.

Jackson’s other canard is that “the slave-owners insisted on another compromise, a particularly ugly one. Despite not being allowed to vote, slaves were to be counted as 3/5 of a person.”

Also wrong. As a few seconds of elementary logic and reflection should suffice to demonstrate. Women and children were not allowed to vote either, but they were counted in all states for the purposes of apportioning representatives. They didn’t have to be specifically included, the concept was simply total population. It was the NORTHERN states, not the Southern ones who insisted on singling out the category they called “free persons” and a second group called simply, “all other persons.” It was the NORTHERN states who insisted that three fifths of the number of “all other persons” be counted. The Southern states would have preferred that the total population of the states be counted. It would have given them a larger share of the representatives in Congress. And the Northern states did not intend the compromise as a statement of the inferiority of the slaves. They were simply trying to reduce the number of representatives granted to the Southern states in the new Congress.

Neither the US Constitution nor the Electoral College give support to the institution of slavery. At worst they recognize it as an existing evil that should over time be abolished. The Constitution itself explicitly gave congress the authority to abolish the importation of slaves twenty years after ratification, which congress in due course did in 1808. The Southern states were not the only ones in which slavery was legal. Prior to 1776, slavery was an established institution in all thirteen colonies. New York did not abolish slavery until 1799, New Jersey not until 1804.

Make no mistake, slavery in the United States was a great evil. Would that it had been abolished more quickly and with less bloodshed! Thanks be to God that it was abolished.

But it had nothing to do with the Electoral College.

– Rob Shearer
Director, Schaeffer Study Center (and tutor in History)

Homeschooling

What Dad can Do / What Dad Should Do

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99% of all homeschools are conducted by mom. This isn’t necessarily all bad, but it’s not good either. In today’s hectic world, to make the commitment to being a one-income family is to shoulder a not inconsiderable burden. When Mom commits to staying at home and raising the children and Dad commits to being the sole bread-winner it may seem as though the roles of each are pretty clearly defined. But there are things that Dad can Do (even if he’s off at work every day) and there are things that dad Should do.

First, to paraphrase James Dobson, the most important thing Dad can do for the kids is to love their Mom. And I mean “love” in the New Testament Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 13 sense. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” The secret to a successful marriage is the same as the secret to the Christian life – easy to say and a life-long struggle of the will to do. To live the Christian life, or make your marriage happy, you must do one thing: “Deny yourself.” If you are constantly on the lookout for what’s “fair,” and what your “rights” are, I can guarantee you will never be happy. Deny yourself, and you will find peace, contentment, and happiness. Denying yourself can be done (must be done) in small, seemingly insignificant ways. Taking out the trash. Keeping the cars working. Washing dishes. Reading out loud to children.

The most practical way to continue to love your wife, gentleman, is to continue to “date” her even after you are married. Do you remember how you looked forward to a date with your sweetheart? Do you recall how you planned an evening out together? Keep doing that. It doesn’t have to involve large sums of money. We’ve sometimes had barely enough to pay for two $1 hamburgers and spend some time (browsing only) at the local bookstore. But the time spent together on a date is invaluable. It is a very tangible way of saying, “I love you,” “I care about you,” “I value you,” “I want to spend time with you,” “I enjoy talking with you.”

A cautionary note on this topic: Dobson has also made the profound observation that the kids will treat mom the way they see dad treat mom. Especially for sons, this becomes critical. If Dad treats Mom with respect, his sons will most likely follow his example. If they don’t, he needs to correct them firmly and quickly. It is most effective if you can ask the question, “Do you ever see me treating your mother disrespectfully?” Dad’s backup of Mom’s authority and respect for her personally is critical if your homeschool is to function without constant battles.

Second, listen to your wife. Men, I’m convinced, are wired in “fix-it” mode. We listen intently only until we believe we’ve learned enough to be able to “fix” the problem. Women are different from men (shocking, I know!). They often just want to “talk through” a problem and aren’t necessarily looking for a solution or fix. They gain insight by talking about a problem. It helps them to understand it, evaluate it, put it in proportion. Women also gain strength by knowing that someone else knows about the problem and is sympathetic. So men – we need to learn to listen. Quick to listen, slow to speak.

Third, take the lead in Bible, prayer, and family devotions. Your wife is quite likely spending time reading the Bible with your children and praying with them. Her time is important, but it cannot substitute for your time. Dad needs to be the spiritual leader in the household. When you have a meal together, in addition to saying a blessing before the meal, Dad should take advantage of the gathered audience and conclude the meal by reading something from the Bible. When the children are young, this may only be a verse or two. As they get older, it might be a chapter. Keep it to a chapter or less. And when you’re done, ask them about what you’ve just read. Ask simple observation questions first. Make sure they know who the passage was about, what happened, when it happened, and where it happened. When they can listen well enough to correctly answer questions about details, then you can, on occasion, ask questions about the meanings and application of the passage.

Fourth: Especially as the children get older, take a subject and teach the children yourself. If you know a foreign language, you can teach for an hour before you leave for work in the morning, or for an hour after you get home. If you have expertise in a particular subject, help your wife out by teaching that one subject. It is amazing how much insight you will gain into your children’s nature by teaching them. You’ll find that you understand them (and your wife) much better. You’ll find that you can compare notes and exchange tips with your wife that will make both of you better teachers (and it will deepen your relationship as well). Take your kids with you to work or on trips every chance you get. Blink twice and they’ll be grown up and gone. Lost opportunities are lost.

Fifth: Hire servants. Seriously. Historically very few households with children were managed entirely by mothers/wives entirely by themselves. Almost always they had the help of a servant – or two. If you and your wife were both working full-time, chances are, you would share the household chores (indoors and outdoors). Surprise! If your wife is homeschooling your children, she IS working full-time. Split the household chores (indoors and outdoors). And if you can afford to, by all means, hire a servant. We’re irrationally fearful of seeming to “put on airs” if we hire someone to help with laundry, cooking, or cleaning. The truth is, there are lots of people – especially young singles – who would count it a blessing (in two ways) to have the opportunity to work, even one day a week, in a Christian household. You would bless them financially, and you would bless them with the opportunity to see a functioning household with children and parents and a husband and a wife who love each other and who seek to serve Christ together.

Lastly: Take inventory together. An annual spiritual and educational inventory is of great benefit to both of you – and will benefit the children immensely (if indirectly) as well. Sometime over the summer, set aside some time to talk with your wife about her homeschooling plans. Ask her to show you the books and explain to you what her plans for each of the children are. As you talk about the children’s coursework, you should also talk about their spiritual development as well. One of the greatest joys of homeschooling is the opportunity that parents have to be their child’s peer group, and to lead them to Christ. Again, time spent with your wife talking about these things will be richly rewarding.

And finally, for those of you with small children (age 8 & under), remember the saying, “the days are long, but the years are short.” We have graduated five from high school and had our third wedding this summer. It really WAS only yesterday that I held them in my arms and watched them learn to walk. When I come to the end of my days, I do not expect to gather much comfort from my bank balance. But I am already richly blessed in the friendships with my grown-up children and the delight of seeing how they are raising my grandchildren.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Rob Shearer and three of his "arrows"

book reviews, children's books, Colonial Period

When Washington Crossed the Delaware

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Lynne Cheney is a very gifted writer. She is, of course, the “2nd Lady” (wife of Vice-President Dick Cheney). But she is also a distinguished scholar with impressive credentials, including a Ph.D. in British Literature. She served as the Chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993 and is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Over the past six years she has published a series of very good children’s books on topics in American history.

I think the two best are Washington (published in 2004), and We the People, which just came out this month.

When Washington Crossed the Delaware is subtitled “A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots.” With a clear, direct narrative, Ms. Cheney sets the scene of the beleaguered American army which had been driven from New York and forced to retreat through New Jersey into Pennsylvania. She talks about how desperately the Americans needed a victory – in order to give everyone some hope that they could eventually defeat the British. She mentions Tom Paine, who marched with the American army as they retreated through New Jersey and includes the famous line he composed on the march, “These are the times that try men’s souls. . .”

The paintings that accompany Ms. Cheney’s text are wonderful. The illustrator was able to visit the site of the crossing, consult with local historians and witness a winter re-enactment of the crossing. The attention to detail shows. You can feel the cold. Your eye is involuntarily drawn to the figure of Washington, warming himself by a fire on the New Jersey shore of the river.

After the army is assembled, you can see Washington’s impatience and determination as they set out towards the Hessians soldiers who have occupied Trenton. He had hoped to attack before sunup, but now would be attacking shortly after dawn. The narrative mentions that both 19-year-old Captain Alexander Hamilton, and 18-year-old Lieutenant James Monroe took part in the crossing and the attack on Trenton. Monroe was badly wounded leading a charge against the Hessians, when they managed to get two of their cannon into operation. Hamilton went on to be a signer of the US Constitution and served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington. Monroe would be elected our fifth President in 1808.

Following the surrender of the Hessians at Trenton, Washington continued his offensive by launching an attack on the British regulars a few miles northeast of Trenton at Princeton. In that battle, Washington personally rallied his troops and led them to within thirty yards of the British lines. It is miraculous that he survived the volleys of musket fire, but when the British line broke, he joined in the pursuit.

The twin victories at Trenton and Princeton lifted the spirits of the Continental Army and patriots throughout the colonies. For the first time, the American army had defeated British regulars (and German mercenaries) on the field of battle. There would be many more battles and several years of trials, but the character and commitment of General Washington were brilliantly displayed.

Perhaps the best part of this book is that although it is pitched towards elementary students, the story will appeal just as much to older students. First graders will be captivated by the full-page color illustrations and enjoy having the text read to them. Third/Fourth graders will probably be able to read it for themselves. Each two-page spread includes a quotation from an eyewitness/participant in the battle.

When Washington Crossed the Delaware
is a hardback, 40 pages, and is available for $16.95, directly from Greenleaf Press.

– Rob Shearer, Publisher
Greenleaf Press

PS: You have to love the picture of Lynn Cheney with a group of students on the back cover!

PPS: I’ll have a complete review of We the People in another newsletter.

National Politics

The Media Pundits will explain it all to us

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It’s grimly amusing sometimes to watch people who do not know much about religious faith in general, and about Christianity in particular, instructing their intellectual inferiors in the meaning of terms like “fundamentalist” and “conservative” and “liberal”.  It’s as if a bright Labrador Retriever were to deliver opinions on the Doorknob Principle, or the Origin of Food.

– Anthony Esolen, in the Mere Comments section of Touchstone Magazine