I have really really struggled with the idea of starting a blog. Weighing against the decision is a reticence to commit the time necessary to make it viable. I do not mind writing for a small audience. I will not be so conceited as to suppose anyone wants to read my musings on a regular basis, or on any basis, for that matter. But I will not post something that other's might view unless I am proud of the product. Some postings, probably most, will require research.
Another fear is that the entries will end up being a collection of "I", as in "I did" or "i have been" and "I think," and, worst of all, "I want" and "I wish for." I hope, really really hope, that these essays have very few inclusions of the word "I". But look at the first word of the first paragraph and there it is, "I".
What will be added to the national psyche by these entries? There is a theory that folks with views that tend toward liberal but not toward leftist are not being heard today. The kind of liberal of which we speak, here, is the John Kennedy type. The noble idealistic, profoundly American President espoused viewpoints very similar to those many (I believe most) people espouse today, but you would never know it if you follow the mainstream press, be it printed or broadcast.
Kennedy hated racial prejudice and was dedicated to ending it. To him, ending racism began with purging it from the way the government worked. He worked hard and, was, indeed, dedicated to rooting out all vestiges of government-backed racism. It was Kennedy's belief that in the public domain color had not a thing to do with a person's right to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Kennedy fought to end all vestiges of Jim Crow legislation and all vestiges of government institutions favoring one race at the expense of another. State Universities would be open to all. Public accommodations would be open to all. Employment opportunity would be color-blind. Housing opportunity would be color-blind.
Kennedy was also profoundly anti-communist. Today's leftist is either openly communist or so close to it that he or she trips over themselves trying to keep the line from blurring. Kennedy did not support McCarthy-style vigilante practices but he did oppose national communist states like those behind the iron curtain, the one in Cuba and the one in China. Kennedy realized, like most Americans still do today, that communism and capitalism were anathemas to each other. The existence of capitalism almost guarantees that communist states will fail, sooner or later. The European Communist states - the ones behind the iron curtain - have already failed. The Cuban "Communist" state is really a dictatorial totalitarian state where the press is crushed, political discussion is choked, free-thinking, liberty and other freedoms taken for granted here are non-existent there. Most believe that states which start out calling themselves "communist" end up being fascist dictatorships like Cuba.
Some leftists in Hollywood, in the White House and on the campus scene have this bizarre idea that Cuba is Utopian. According to these "removed from reality" types, Cuba really has totally free birth-to-death health care for all. The truth is that there is more and better free health care here than there. Any American, rich or poor, can show up at an emergency room and be treated even if they have no way of paying. The hospital may attempt to be compensated later but they will provide the care now, even if they know from the git go that they will never be paid.
Liberalism, as I have always understood the word, is the idealistic pursuit of all things noble. Liberals believe in providing a voice to those who aren't heard by the powerful, providing care for the helpless and safety for the endangered. Liberals believe in trying to be the best person you can be, of being selfless in a world that is rife with materialism. The kind of liberal that this blog will espouse believes in the best things about this nation; it's freedoms and liberties. This Blog endorses American Exceptionalism and believes that the ideas of liberty and freedom for all are things worth dieing for. The fight to keep America free and unfettered is the most noble of the secular causes. The kind of liberal supported here also believes that freedom of religion is just that, the freedom to believe in God and to practice your religion in the way God has commanded us to. The freedom of religion spoken of in the Constitution reflects, to a T, the idea that state-supported religion is the opposite of freedom of religion, but freedom of religion is not in any way, shape or form, the use of government to curtail or impose upon religion. A government that nurtures liberty and freedom for all is, to religion, what a fertilized field is to the seeds sown by a farmer.
The far-left today is anti-Christian. They are, at least, open and obvious about it. But the far-Lefts idea that government is a kind of anti-religion is not what the founding fathers favored. To state that the founding fathers believed that government should curtail religious practice is a total perversion of the ideas of the founding fathers. Such a perversion will not be favored here. Christianity will be favored, fought for, defended and, maybe even spread, in this blog, and thank you Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams for the freedom to do just that.
This blog will also address every other topic of interest that you can imagine. There will be short bursts and long essays, and there will be lots and lots of ideas suggested, floated and analyzed. Sports will be spoken of fondly here, for a gym rat is writing this blog. Art and Music are also in for discussion. There will also be a lot of words devoted to books, writing and plain old reading. Reading is one of man's most civilized and advanced functions. It is one of the things that is a true marker for civilized advancement, for a society that recognizes that reading is the foundation of learning is a society that inevitably will seek the same kinds of things the founding fathers sought: liberty, freedom, and the opportunity to be happy.
There will also be discussion of science and scientific advancement. This is one devout Christian who hates the idea that those who believe in and follow Christ must take stands against science. Evolution is a scientific fact and is not in the least intellectually challenging. Whether and to what extent modern man escaped the primeval world through evolution is a wonderful and challenging field whose purveyors are among the most advanced thinkers on earth.
This is a world filled with wonder and excitement. It is a world still waiting to be discovered. Each new idea, each discovery, and each new conclusion is another page in the story of humanity. We get but a second, in the big scheme of things, to live in and discover it for ourselves. The most cutting edge of today's scientists and thinkers are those folks engaged in the quickly developing theories concerning dimensional realities. These are the people who postulate and try to prove that the universe is not merely three dimensional, and that there is every possibility that there are parallel universes much closer in some ways than many of us can imagine. These scientists use advanced mathematics and other advanced ways of thinking, measuring and calculating as they forge ahead in their effort to understand reality.
To really understand where science is and where it is going, one owes it to himself or herself to make an effort to track this field of science because it is possible if not likely that the most fantastic new advances in the way humans live, think and communicate will occur because of advancements here.
As mentioned above, the writer is a sports nut; a long-time and devoted follower of the Baltimore Orioles, the University of Maryland Terrapins, and the Baltimore Ravens. The writer, in fact, is pretty goofy when it comes to the Terrapin Basketball Team. It's difficult and sometimes impossible for him to sit through a whole game and its downright traumatic for him to revisit the second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State last spring. In that game, the Terps were down nine - as in 9 points - with less than two minutes to play. They were down throughout the game. Michigan State was a lot bigger than Maryland and every time it would look or feel like Maryland would make its move, State would fight them off, usually under the boards, but sometimes with a three-pointer.
Then came the charge. It was one of the most incredible and inspiring rallies this long-time basketball nut has ever witness. Sitting here now, thinking about it, it seems like it took place over ten or even fifteen minutes. The truth is, it was 110 seconds of the most scintillating basketball ever played. Say what you want about Greivis Vasquez, he took over college basketball in the second half of last season. Nobody and no team could stop him for a whole game. He was tenacious. He was cool under fire. He never stopped going directly after each opponent. He was extremely tough and he never, ever gave up. A sub-.500 shooter from three point range for his career, he caught fire as his senior season wore on. In the Michigan State game, the last two minutes were his. He made threes, he made driving one-handers from impossible angles. He wanted the ball with everything on the line and he came through when he got it. He combined with Sean Mosley, Cliff Tucker and Eric Hayes to steal the ball from State's guards time after time during that last 110 seconds. Finally, with about 20 seconds left, Vasquez hit another runner and Maryland led by one.
State came down the floor, and, being a great team with a great coach, they retook the lead. Now there was less than ten seconds left. Again, Vasquez got the ball and put up a runner from right of the lane. It went in. Maryland led again and now only six seconds remained. You know the rest. State got a long three at the buzzer, a shot Landon Milbourne contested but couldn't block, a shot that almost never happened because another state player ran between the shooter and the player who passed the ball to him. But at the last instant this Spartan ducked under the pass; It is possible that in doing so he charged into a Maryland player, but even the most ardent Maryland fan would have made that call. When that bloody shot went in it was like somebody punched every Maryland fan in the gut. How could a team come back from nine down with less than two minutes left and take the lead not once, but twice, and still lose? Many years ago when Albert King, Ernie Graham, Greg Manning and Buck Williams were playing for Maryland they lost a regular season game at Notre Dame just like the State game. They were in the middle of the conference schedule during that season, and then had to go to South Bend to play the highly ranked Irish. For most of the game they looked dead in the water and then they caught fire. Albert King was unstoppable. There has never been a college player who seemed so easily able to play above the rim. Whatever his vertical leap was from a standing position, it looked like he could make those heights with no effort at all. He seemed to be in his proper natural state when he was way up in the air. In that long-ago Notre Dame game, the Terps got the lead, finally, with about six or seven seconds left, only to lose when an Irish player drove the length of the floor for a lay-up. My memory of that game doesn't provide me with the certain identity of the Irish player who made the winning shot, but I do believe it was Adrian Dantley. Everybody in the gym thought Digger would call a time-out as the Irish raced up the floor. But Digger knew Lefty - who had used up his timeouts during Maryland's frantic rally - would use such a timeout to set his defense just so and he decided he was better in a transition situation. The old Digger did get that decision correct. State and its coach, Tom Izzo, had no such decision to make because they also had exhausted their time-outs in that last desperate Maryland rally. When you watch the replay you see that a non-guard actually brought the ball up the floor for State and this briefly befuddled the Terps. The player assigned to apply ball pressure to the point guard moved towards the ball but saw it was not his man and backed off. Whoever was supposed to pick the ball up was slow to react in the wake of the Vasquez shot. This allowed State to dribble the ball up the floor in just a few seconds, and then they also had the good fortune of the non-guard seeing the open shooter spotted up and calling for the ball. The shot left his hand a split-second before the buzzer. To their credit, the officials did check that at the scorers table. Vasquez had led Maryland from nine back with less than two minutes left by making a series of spectacular shots. Had the Terps won, it would've been them and not State that made it to the final four. The nation would've had the privilege of seeing Vasquez play in several more really big games, and there is no doubt here that he would've wowed them. With six seconds left, it all seemed to be falling in place. A tough old coach with a chiseled group of over-achievers, led by the flamboyant and spectacular Vasquez, playing for all the marbles. It would've been Basketball Nirvāna.
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