THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXIX, First Anniversary Edition

Is TIME Magazine Good For America?

In 1995 the 'other' weekly news magazine featured this cover reminiscent of Gauguin's self-portrait with a snake, which the artist held like a cigarette. They asked the question: "Is Rush Limbaugh Good for America?" [of course, you are supposed to conclude that he isn't].

One year ago they branded Glenn Beck a 'Mad Man.' Media bias? Really? No, this is what passes for serious commentary at TIME. Beware, however, of 'electronic populism' [that's us, dude], for it is what TIME says will mislead us.

Rush Limbaugh asked the question on his show: "Will TIME Magazine now ask if the Tea Party movement is good for America?" Seems to me that they did just that last week, painting it as a right-wing takeover ofthe Republican Party.

The fact is 'electronic populism,' far from short-circuiting representative democracy, is restoring the people's voice. I've been to Washington quite a few times in the past year. Every time I have stood shoulder to shoulder with fellow Americans who are unhappy with the way things are in government. Government has refused to acknowledge our concerns and now we are energized for an important midterm election. TIME, for its part, gives a pass to politicians who are making massive changes to the role and scope of government while painting those of us who would do its job of vetting them as part of some lunatic fringe.

My prayer is that the upcoming election will see the return of true representative government. If that happens it will not be thanks to any great effort by the mainstream media. It will be in spite of them.

The Persisting Problem of Evil

The Modern World Still Struggles With an Old Problem

Theodore Dalrymple [click to read] in City Journal discusses the age-old problem.

"The Enlightenment held out the hope that with enough of this “proper study,” man would come to know himself sufficiently to eliminate the evil and suffering that had always beset his existence. Man would obtain something like a Newtonian knowledge not only of the universe but of himself, with all the predictive and mechanical advantages that such understanding had brought in the study of inanimate nature."


Flowers and a note at Rock Point Overlook remember Tim Davis, who died from injuries that resulted from a violent attack on him and a coworker. They were sitting at the overlook watching the sunset when a man attacked them with a shotgun.

Dennis Prager [click to read] in Jewish World Review has some clear observations about the direction the world seems to be heading.

If you follow Glenn Beck you know that post-Christian thought, guided by Socialist ideas, says that "mankind is evolving toward something better." The problem is that the path is quite bloody. My question to those who hold to that view is: "What happens if you are wrong?"

Prager says: "One of the many beliefs — i.e., non-empirically based doctrines — of the post-Christian West has been that moral progress is the human norm, especially so with the demise of religion. In a secular world, the self-described enlightened thinking goes, superstition is replaced by reason, and reason leads to the moral good."

Indeed, what if you have only succeeded in removing that which mitigates the evil that resides in the human heart? Prager's Observations [click to read] go hand in hand with those of Alvin Schmidt [click to read], who documents the positive effect of faith on human affairs through history. Prager deals honestly with those evils that have been done in the name of religion, and those that have been done in the name of G-dless regimes. Prager continues:

"Of course, it turned out that the post-Christian West produced considerably more evil than the Christian world had. No mass cruelty in the name of Christianity approximated the vastness of the cruelty unleashed by secular doctrines and regimes in the post-Christian world. The argument against religion that more people have been killed in the name of religion than by any other doctrine is false propaganda on behalf of secularism and Leftism."

As society has embraced a reletivistic approach to truth, the horrors we have seen in our own sphere have increased as well. Could Seung-hui Cho, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, Ralph Leon Jackson and George Huguely been saved from comitting the horrible things they did? The question is an honest one... it deserves an honest answer. The stakes are too high.

When Bob Childress [click to read] brought his ministry to Southwestern Virginia, he found a community wallowing in fatalistic despair. Disputes and murders were common and Childress brought faith to bear in the situations he encountered there. The legacy he left was one of faith and healing.

Flag Raising at Capon Springs, West Virginia

Every Morning Begins with Kids Helping to Raise the Flag

Thoughts on the Pursuit of Happiness

Jerry Weinberger in City Journal offers Benjamin Franklin on American Happiness [click to read].

"Are Americans happy? In his unequaled Democracy in America, written after his visit to Andrew Jackson’s America, Alexis de Tocqueville noted that Americans, despite living in the most prosperous and egalitarian society in history, were restive and melancholy: “grave and almost sad even in their pleasures.” Long before psychologists discovered the paradox of choice, Tocqueville saw that the pursuit of happiness, the third of the rights proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, was a mixed blessing."

Thoughts on the Distribution of Spirits

Privatizing the Distribution of Spirits Makes Sense
Sharing a Better Spirit Makes Even More Sense

Lynn Has This [click to read] to say at The Washington Examiner. Here are a few thoughts of my own:

First, the state always creates a conflicting situation for itself when it sells a product it also regulates. Any legal product with clear regulations and guidelines for its sale and use needs to be offered to the marketplace by the private sector. Government's role must always be limited and clearly defined.

Second, communities should always see themselves empowered on a local level. Localities already control signeage. It is reasonble to say that localities could restrict such establishments and, say, keep them a certain distance from schools and residential areas. Fears of neon signs on every corner are greatly overrated. Most distribution licenses, I would imagine, would be sought by existing retailers. These retailers are a part of the community fabric and would likely comply with the values of their customers.

Read the histories of great revivals, such as the one in Toronto in the late 19th Century [1.]. One of the outcomes of such spiritual awakenings is a marked decline in the sale of spirits. William H. Howland's [2.] tenure as mayor saw a decrease in the number of places selling adult beverages. As a person of faith, this tells me that an overabundance of beverage outlets might be best addressed by the offer of a Spirit of a better sort. What regulation cannot achieve, choices that offer more lasting satisfaction can.

The state cannot, by law offer this Spirit. It can, however, acknowledge that human needs must be met by sources beyond the state. The simple excercise of limiting the scope of government says that. There is a beautiful tensegrity created by the First Amendment's 'establishment clause' and the 'free excercise clause' that should allow faith to freely operate in the marketplace. Unfortunately groups such as the ACLU and some courts have twisted the clause so as to protect and promote vile expression and surpress the sharing of the Spirit.

The result is that the state finds itself endorsing one and not the other.

This morning I read about the Farmville rapper who went to a concert where the artists engaged in their First Amendment right to sing about raping, killing and mutilating people [as the ACLU would have you understand it] [3]. Then he bludgeoned his girlfiend and her parents to death.

What would have been the outcome if this young man could have come under the influence of a fine Youth Pastor? I know a few who's lives and message have indeed changed lives just like that of this young man. Yet the state takes great pains to keep the expression of faith out of the public square. Think of the College of William and Mary, where the cross in Wren Chapel had to be removed, but the student union hosted a 'sex workers' show,' presumably for 'educational purposes.' Teachers routinely censor student work for religious references and Heaven help the Valedictorian who acknowledges that her life is what it is because of Heaven's help!

Our nation today stands at a crossroads. Either we acknowledge that government cannot possibly solve all of our problems and limit it; or we must continually expand its scope to deal with an ever growing number of problems. These can only increase in number and severity as people no longer seek answers outside of government.


Toronto in the late Nineteenth Century.

Capon Springs, West Virginia

Lou Austin's Inspiration Lives On Today


The Spring House at Capon Springs...

A Milestone Monday Feature

Early in the Great Depression a Philadelphia businessman came to the wild mountains of West Virginia. His interest was in distributing the healthy spring water of an old spa resort to the city of Philadelphia so he came seeking exclusive distribution rights.

Capon Springs had been a popular destination since the Nineteenth Century when a group of Baltimore investors had financed the construction of the 500 room Mountain House there. After the Civil War, Capt. William H. Sale took over the resort and added more rooms.The resort thrived until 1911, when the Mountain House burned down. The large annex, which Sale built in 1887 then became the main building and is the center of the complex today.

When Lou Austin arrived with his plan to bottle and distribute the water, Capon Springs was in decline. Austin bought the property in 1932 at auction and proceeded with his plan to distribute the water while his wife, Virginia, took over hospitality operations.

Federal regulators were challenging health claims of bottled spring water at the time and Mr. Austin found himself in the middle of legal proceedings. He won at the Federal level but soon found that State and local regulatory agencies where in cahoots with the Feds. EventuallyAustin was forced to abandon the sale of the water and concentrate on the resort.

Here is where the Divine inspiration appears. Unlike the Homestead and the Greenbrier, which fashioned themselves into high-end hotels, Capon Springs literally became an extension of the Austins' personal hospitality.

Initially the Austins' friends visited and enjoyed the atmosphere of family style dinners and no locks on the doors. Friends invited friends and the circle grew. Guests today follow 'the Capon Way' and enjoy an atmosphere more like a family gathering than a hotel stay.

The resort grew, and by the mid Twentieth Century was a thriving vacation destination. The wonderful healthful water from the springs is now provided free of charge. You can drive in anytime and fill your own containers or buy bottles to fill at the front desk. You are free to decide for yourself on the merits of the fine tasting water which flows from 1600 feet below the surface at a rate of 100 gallons a minute; A rate that seems unaffected by the cycle of drought and rains on the surface.


...is explained by Austin's grandson Jonathan. The family still operates Capon Springs today.


A modern reconstruction of Capon Springs' bandstand.


Guests enjoy a hike on the Orange Trail, Capon Springs' newest hiking trail.

Capon Springs, West Virginia

A Member of the Capon Springs Family Remembered


A lamp post at Capon Springs recalls the memory of her beloved maintenance director who also led the Saturday night campfire for many years.

Power Line Crossing a Mountain

Capon Springs, West Virginia, along the Red Trail

Morning at Capon Springs, West Virginia

Sunlight Streams Through Trees at the Spring Resort

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXVIII

Tea Party Time!

The 'other' Weekly News Magazine [click to read] is quick to dismiss it as a Conservative surge overtaking the Republican party [the era of Reagan is over, remember]. Not so fast, something much bigger is playing out here.

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, he promised a more open government that would not run up massive deficits. He posed himself as the great reconciler. Then he took office and proceeded to expand the role of government [and government spending] in record time.

The great reconciler proved to be a disciple of Jeremiah Wright and his James Cone Marxism in a Christian wrapper theology. Black Panther party members could intimidate white voters in Philadelphia and the Attorney General would give them a free pass to do so. Arizona tried to protect its citizens from un unsecure Southern border and Eric Holder hauled them into court. The hoped for post-racial society turned into a farce.

Healthcare 'reform' consists of 2000+ pages that "we have to pass to see what's in it." 16000 new IRS agents are written into the bill to 'redistribute' wealth.

The same people who raise a hue and cry every time someone suggests private accounts [with actual money in them] as part of Social Security had no problem gutting their own Medicare program to make their 'Healthcare' plan deficit neutral.

Is it any wonder people are fed up? Look at the surge of new people seeking seats in government. People like Doctor Rand Paul and a host of business people as well.

I have a feeling Thomas Jefferson would love what is happening!

What's Really Happening

Here's a Sampler from Erick Erickson:

1. Wall Street Journal: RedState Winner in 2010 Primaries
2. Constitution Day: What Does the Constitution Say About Health Care?
3. Repealing the ban on the common light bulb
4. Rick Boucher (D, VA-09) buys new car with campaign money.
5. NY Dem Weiner: Health care 'bill and I are one'
6. Who Dares To Be The Next Democrat Defection on Obamacare Repeal?
7. Only 31 House Democrats Willing to Offer Soft Support for Small Businesses

Meet the New Congress

World Magazine [click to read] offers a host of ordinary citizens who are stepping up to the plate.

Meet the New Democrat Logo

See it at No Sheeples Here [click to read].

Yes She Can!

If GOP Fails Her, Time for a Money Bomb!


People want real change in Washington. Christine O'Donnell offers that hope.

Solving Home Problems

Make Your Own Funnel at a Gas Station


If they don't have paper funnels...

You know the problem. You go to a 'self serve' gas station and need to put in some oil. Usually they have tose paper funnels handy but sometimes not. I've even seen a time when there were not only no funnels available but they wanted to SELL you a pack of cardboard ones.

No problem though, here's how to make your own.

1. Take your water bottle empty and recycle it in a new way by cutting out the bottom.

2. Shake it out well and wipe dry with one of the paper towels at the pump island. If none are available in the dispensers there, get a napkin from the donut area inside. You don't want water in your oil. Hold it in the sun [if available] to dry completely.

3. Use the funnel in the normal manner.

4. Wipe clean with one of the paper towels at the pump island. Put it with your car tools in the trunk for 'future reference.'


...make your own!

Day of Dreams Come True

The Setting for a Beautiful Wedding


This photo captures the beauty of the setting at Arbor Hill Farm. Photo by Sandy Wessell.

Day of Dreams Come True

Together at Last!


Photo by Sandy Wessell.

Mural at Staunton Alliance Church

The Journey Continues Around the World


Laney paints a Thai girl as a princess...


...and adds detail to Ting Ting's silk outfit.

Day of Dreams Come True

My Son's Wedding in Arbor Hill


Photo by Sandy Wessell.

September 11 Remembered

Nine Years Ago Our World Was Changed Forever


Our Flag will be flying today.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXVII

What Makes a Nation Great?

The 'other' Weekly News Magazine [click to read] asks: "What makes a school great?" THYME asks: "Why stop there, what makes a NATION great?" We can agree with the 'other' magazine that it takes great teachers, so here are some thoughts from our Founding Fathers:

John Adams and John Hancock:
We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]

John Adams:
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
“[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798

"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson

"Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell." [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817]

Samuel Adams: “He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.” [ "American Independence," August 1, 1776. Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia]

“ Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.” [October 4, 1790]

John Quincy Adams:
“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?
--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts.

“The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.”
John Quincy Adams. Letters to his son. p. 61

Elias Boudinot: “Be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers . . . and judge of the tree by its fruits.”

Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence
" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." [Source: To James McHenry on November 4, 1800.]

Benjamin Franklin:
“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 original manuscript of this speech

“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]

In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."

In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone."

Alexander Hamilton:
Hamilton began work with the Rev. James Bayard to form the Christian Constitutional Society to help spread over the world the two things which Hamilton said made America great:
(1) Christianity
(2) a Constitution formed under Christianity.
“The Christian Constitutional Society, its object is first: The support of the Christian religion. Second: The support of the United States.”

On July 12, 1804 at his death, Hamilton said, “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.”

"For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests." [1787 after the Constitutional Convention]

"I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man."

John Hancock:
“In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments, …at the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness… Resolved; …Thursday the 11th of May…to humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments felt and feared, to confess the sins that have deserved them, to implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a spirit of repentance and reformation …and a Blessing on the … Union of the American Colonies in Defense of their Rights [for which hitherto we desire to thank Almighty God]…That the people of Great Britain and their rulers may have their eyes opened to discern the things that shall make for the peace of the nation…for the redress of America’s many grievances, the restoration of all her invaded liberties, and their security to the latest generations.
"A Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with a total abstinence from labor and recreation. Proclamation on April 15, 1775"

Patrick Henry:
"Orator of the Revolution."
This is all the inheritance I can give my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”
—The Last Will and Testament of Patrick Henry

“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” [May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]

“The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed.”

John Jay:
“ Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” Source: October 12, 1816. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed., (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970), Vol. IV, p. 393.

“Whether our religion permits Christians to vote for infidel rulers is a question which merits more consideration than it seems yet to have generally received either from the clergy or the laity. It appears to me that what the prophet said to Jehoshaphat about his attachment to Ahab ["Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?" 2 Chronicles 19:2] affords a salutary lesson.” [The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 1794-1826, Henry P. Johnston, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893), Vol. IV, p.365]

Thomas Jefferson:
“ The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”

“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]

Samuel Johnston:
“It is apprehended that Jews, Mahometans (Muslims), pagans, etc., may be elected to high offices under the government of the United States. Those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the office of President or other high office, [unless] first the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves.
[Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp 198-199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788 at the North Carolina Ratifying Convention]

James Madison:
“ We’ve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our heart.”

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]

• I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare the unsatisfactoriness [of temportal enjoyments] by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; and I wish you may give in your evidence in this way.
Letter by Madison to William Bradford (September 25, 1773)

• In 1812, President Madison signed a federal bill which economically aided the Bible Society of Philadelphia in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible
.
“ An Act for the relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia” Approved February 2, 1813 by Congress

“It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other.”

• A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven. [Letter by Madison to William Bradford [urging him to make sure of his own salvation] November 9, 1772]

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22;
“For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
He will save us.”
[Baron Charles Montesquieu, wrote in 1748; “Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative power and from executive power. If it [the power of judging] were joined to legislative power, the power over life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislature if it were joined to the executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor. All would be lost if the same … body of principal men … exercised these three powers." Madison claimed Isaiah 33:22 as the source of division of power in government
See also: pp.241-242 in Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History: The Principle approach by Rosalie Slater]

James McHenry – Signer of the Constitution:
Public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.

Jedediah Morse:
"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."

John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg
In a sermon delivered to his Virginia congregation on Jan. 21, 1776, he preached from Ecclesiastes 3.

Arriving at verse 8, which declares that there is a time of war and a time of peace, Muhlenberg noted that this surely was not the time of peace; this was the time of war. Concluding with a prayer, and while standing in full view of the congregation, he removed his clerical robes to reveal that beneath them he was wearing the uniform of an officer in the Continental army! He marched to the back of the church; ordered the drum to beat for recruits and over three hundred men joined him, becoming the Eighth Virginia Brigade. John Peter Muhlenberg finished the Revolution as a Major-General, having been at Valley Forge and having participated in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stonypoint, and Yorktown.

Thomas Paine:
“ It has been the error of the schools to teach astronomy, and all the other sciences, and subjects of natural philosophy, as accomplishments only; whereas they should be taught theologically, or with reference to the Being who is the author of them: for all the principles of science are of divine origin. Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive principles: he can only discover them; and he ought to look through the discovery to the Author.”
“ The evil that has resulted from the error of the schools, in teaching natural philosophy as an accomplishment only, has been that of generating in the pupils a species of atheism. Instead of looking through the works of creation to the Creator himself, they stop short, and employ the knowledge they acquire to create doubts of his existence. They labour with studied ingenuity to ascribe every thing they behold to innate properties of matter, and jump over all the rest by saying, that matter is eternal.” “The Existence of God--1810”

Benjamin Rush:
• “I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them…we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this Divine Book, above all others, constitutes the soul of republicanism.” “By withholding the knowledge of [the Scriptures] from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds.” [Letter written (1790’s) in Defense of the Bible in all schools in America]
• “Christianity is the only true and perfect religion.”
• “If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into our world would have been unnecessary.”

"Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education”
Letters of Benjamin Rush, "To the citizens of Philadelphia: A Plan for Free Schools", March 28, 1787

Justice Joseph Story:
“ I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. . . There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”
[Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593]
“ Infidels and pagans were banished from the halls of justice as unworthy of credit.” [Life and letters of Joseph Story, Vol. II 1851, pp. 8-9.]
“ At the time of the adoption of the constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under consideration [i.e., the First Amendment], the general, if not the universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state, so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious worship.”
[Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593]

Noah Webster:
“ The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God-the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men.”

“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
[Source: 1828, in the preface to his American Dictionary of the English Language]

Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God [Exodus 18:21]. . . . If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted . . . If our government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. [Noah Webster, The History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie and Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337, 49]

“All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.” [Noah Webster. History. p. 339]

“The Bible was America’s basic textbook
in all fields.” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5]

“Education is useless without the Bible” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5 ]

George Washington:

Farewell Address: The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion" ...and later: "...reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle..."


“ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.”

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]

"To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian" [May 2, 1778, at Valley Forge]

During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words “So help me God!” to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible.

Nelly Custis-Lewis (Washington’s adopted daughter):
Is it necessary that any one should [ask], “Did General Washington avow himself to be a believer in Christianity?" As well may we question his patriotism, his heroic devotion to his country. His mottos were, "Deeds, not Words"; and, "For God and my Country."

“ O Most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ, my merciful and loving Father; I acknowledge and confess my guilt in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of my sins, but so coldly and carelessly that my prayers are become my sin, and they stand in need of pardon.”
“ I have sinned against heaven and before Thee in thought, word, and deed. I have contemned Thy majesty and holy laws. I have likewise sinned by omitting what I ought to have done and committing what I ought not. I have rebelled against the light, despising Thy mercies and judgment, and broken my vows and promise. I have neglected the better things. My iniquities are multiplied and my sins are very great. I confess them, O Lord, with shame and sorrow, detestation and loathing and desire to be vile in my own eyes as I have rendered myself vile in Thine. I humbly beseech Thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins for the sake of Thy dear Son and only Savior Jesus Christ who came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Thou gavest Thy Son to die for me.”
[George Washington; from a 24 page authentic handwritten manuscript book dated April 21-23, 1752
William J. Johnson George Washington, the Christian (New York: The Abingdon Press, New York & Cincinnati, 1919), pp. 24-35.]

"Although guided by our excellent Constitution in the discharge of official duties, and actuated, through the whole course of my public life, solely by a wish to promote the best interests of our country; yet, without the beneficial interposition of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, we could not have reached the distinguished situation which we have attained with such unprecedented rapidity. To HIM, therefore, should we bow with gratitude and reverence, and endeavor to merit a continuance of HIS special favors". [1797 letter to John Adams]

James Wilson:
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
Supreme Court Justice appointed by George Washington
Spoke 168 times during the Constitutional Convention

"Christianity is part of the common law"
[Sources: James Wilson, Course of Lectures [vol 3, p.122]; and quoted in Updegraph v. The Commonwealth, 11 Serg, & R. 393, 403 (1824).]

Source: Quotes of the Founding Fathers [click to read].

Solving Home Problems...

How to 'Replace' a Missing Window Sash


"Before"...


..."After."

A friend of mine and his wife are hosting my son's wedding at their farm. He asked me what could be done to make this window look better. The 19th Century house had a new kitchen put in in mid-twentieth Century and the counter top ran across the bottom lights so the installer simply replaced them with plywood. Time and peeling paint on the plywood sort of added to the feeling that something was missing.

"Could you PAINT on windows or something?" he asked. Here's what I came up with. He prepped the board but I did the faux windows in about 3 hours [including drying times and a gloss top coat]. Can you guess that my future daughter-in-law likes daisies?


Find the faux windows in this picture.

Giving the Victims of 09/11 a Voice

One Man's Unique Vision to Never Forget


Xaver Wilhelmy created a unique glass organ pipe design and a plan to remember the victims of 09/11.

This is a new Milestone Monday feature.

I first met Xaver Wilhelmy in 2003 and a few days after our introduction we were standing overlooking the massive hole at Ground Zero. I had been asked to illustrate his proposal for the memorial competition.

The vision that he unfolded that day was inspiring. He wanted to create a massive organ who's 3000 some pipes would give a voice to each person who was murdered in the attacks on the United States. Xaver is a master craftsman who has made organ pipes out of every material imaginable. The instrument he envisioned would have the usual metal and wood pipes... but in addition there would be the wonderful glass pipes! They would rise around the room to capture light coming in through the windows. I could give myself goose bumps imagining something like Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man ringing through that wonderful room.

Xaver actually created a portion of the work... a series of glass pipes depicting the American flag. He showed them at two conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Alas, his inspired piece was overlooked in the 5000 some entries in the memorial competition. Still, it begs one to reconsider the non-memorial memorials so in vogue right now. Rather than reduce the victims to some monolithic repeated design, why NOT celebrate the unique character and voice of each life that was destroyed that day.

Phil's Video [click to watch] reminded me of Xaver's vision. Seeing the faces of the NYPD members who died that day prompted me to think again about the voices that were silenced that day... Fathers, Husbands, Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Colleagues. May we do the right thing and never forget them.

Read Xaver's Vision [click to read] in his own words.

Never Forget These Brave Souls

Video Portrait Tribute to the 23 NYPD Officers Killed


ht/Phil [click to read].

Seen in the Sunset Sky

Sunset from Behind the Studio, 09/03/10


Do you see the Dove?

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XXXVI

Why Israelis Might Not Care About 'The Peace Process'

The 'other' Weekly News Magazine [click to read] is asserting that 'Israel Doesn't Care About Peace.' Israel already knows it can't secure peace by giving up land... no matter how much land it gives up! Even the 'moderate' Ground Zero Imam says Israel should not exist as a Jewish state. Can you really blame Israelis for ambivolence toward a 'peace process' that seems more like an attempt to render them impotent against very real foes?

Mike Evans writes: "In a savage and violent ambush, two Israeli couples were murdered Tuesday night as they drove down a street near Hebron in the West Bank. The car was first riddled with bullets; then the gunmen approached the car and shot all the passengers at close range, insuring there were no survivors. In fact, one of the female murder victims was pregnant. Relative to Gaza, the West Bank has been quiet, and this attack was a grim reminder that no Jew living in Israel is safe. Today two sets of children are orphans because Palestinian terrorists wanted to make a political impact."

When it comes to securing real peace, Binyamuin Netanyahu continues to look like the smartest man in the room... in any room he walks into. Strength in the face of evil is the only way the Middle East will know peace of any sort.

Heroes in this Dirty War: Magen David Adom

In 1930, nurse Karen Tenenbaum founded Israel's Emergency Response Team, Magen David Adom. It was started as a volunteer organization in Tel Aviv but became a nationwide organization five years later. The team provided emergency services not only to Jews, but to Arabs and Christians as well.

Today the organization handles emergency response, blood banks and has emergency physicians on staff. They still depend on volunteers too.


Magen David Adom [Red Star of David] ambulance crew in 1948.

'Peace' Talks... Doomed to Fail?

Carolyn B. Glick writes about a 'New Netanyahu' [click to read] but I suspect the fact that we've been down this road many times before allows Netanyahu the luxury of being gracious.

Mona Charen writes about The Cold Hard Facts [click to read] that the world community refuses to see. These are the realities Netanyahu lives with every day.

Who is Manee Singmueangphon?
...And Why You Need to Know

Every now and then I check in on Noam Bedein's site: Sderot Media [click to read] and pray for the safety of the residents of this city in Southern Israel. Manee Singmueangphon is a Thai greenhouse worker who was killed in a rocket atack recently. He worked alongside other Thais and Nepali guest workers in Israel's agriculture industry. He was 33 years old, a husband and father who's death left a grieving family back in Thailand.

Sderot Media Has More [click to read] on the tragic death of Mr. Singmueangphon and why the media needs to get an understanding of the type of terror attacks being made on Sderot by Hamas.

"As long as the world tolerates those Islamic jihadists who fire rockets against innocent Israeli civilians and accepts their legitimization for it, terrorism will continue to strike innocent civilians everywhere. The killing of Manee Singmueangphon by a Gaza rocket should serve as a constant reminder that people of all nationalities are indiscriminate victims of Iranian-sponsored Islamic terrorism."


A child's drawing from Sderot shows
the horror of war.


Sderot children have fifteen seconds to reach this pipe
when the missles start coming in.
Photo courtesy of www.sderotmedia.com

Noam Bedein's Mission is Unique, But It's Not New

"But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?" -- (Nehemiah 2:19)


Noam Bedein, Founder of Sderot Media

I frankly expected someone much older. The website I discovered while trying to get perspective on the situation in Southern Israel Sderot Media [click to read], is the creation of Noam Bedein, a young man in his twenties. Just like Nehemiah of old, Bedein saw the perilous situation of his beloved city and became both advocate and activist to change things. In the face of opposition from the Western Media, Uninformed pressure from Western Leaders and downright hostility from Hamas, the young photojournalist found his mission to tell Sderot's story and work for the healing of her people. Bedein’s ultimate goal is: "to make people aware of the crisis and present the Israeli perspective that is not often portrayed accurately in the media."

Bedein has lived through about 7000 rockets raining down on the city, who's population consists largely of new immigrants [many from Russia] who are simply too poor to move elsewhere. Many of the citizens are dug in to stay, fearing their exodus would simply create a vacuum for terrorists to move in.

Through Sderot Media, he has also founded Sderot Community Treatment Theater. This theatre project helps young residents of Sderot suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.

Palestine's Nakba Narrative

The Biggest Obstacle to Peace in the Middle East [click to read].

Update: David Horowitz Weighs In

TIME Magazine's Latest Blood Libel About Israel [click to read]. ht/Isabel

The 'other' weekly news magazine really stepped in it this week. I guess I'm not alone in my opinion that it is propaganda masquerading as journalism. This week I've tried to capture some of the spirit of the Israeli people that TIME obviously does not care to bother with. You should take some time to learn about Israel on your own and skip the MSM's 'reporting.'

El Al Airline [click to read]. Book your flight to Israel or many other destinations.
Official Israel Tourism Website [click to read].