A Nail In His Place

“A Whiter Shade of Pale”: Sense and Nonsense – The Pursuit of Perfection in Law and Politics
Speech of Janice Rogers Brown, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court
at The Federalist Society
University of Chicago Law School
April 20, 2000

Thank you. I want to thank Mr. Schlangen (fondly known as Charlie to my secretary) for extending the invitation and the Federalist Society both for giving me my first opportunity to visit the City of Chicago and for being, as Mr. Schlangen assured me in his letter of invitation, “a rare bastion (nay beacon) of conservative and libertarian thought.” That latter notion made your invitation well-nigh irresistible. There are so few true conservatives left in America that we probably should be included on the endangered species list. That would serve two purposes: Demonstrating the great compassion of our government and relegating us to some remote wetlands habitat where — out of sight and out of mind — we will cease being a dissonance in collectivist concerto of the liberal body politic.

In truth, they need not banish us to the gulag. We are not much of a threat, lacking even a coherent language in which to state our premise. [I should pause here to explain the source of the title to this discussion. Unless you are a very old law student, you probably never heard of "A Whiter Shade of Pale."] “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is an old (circa 1967) Procol Harum song, full of nonsensical lyrics, but powerfully evocative nonetheless. Here’s a sample:

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Submitted to the Chapel Hill Herald
18 May 2005

In reference to:
shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=SCHRAM-05-17-05

Editor:

The recent performance of Newsweek should be bad enough, but large portions of the media continue to demonstrate
systemic faults. Case in point, the Chapel Hill Herald guest article by Martin Schram on May 18th. Mr. Schram’s point, in summary, is that it’s all the fault of the Bush administration. Can we please give Mr. Schram a collective “huh, say what?”

No, no, not our fault. It’s that awful administration. They didn’t stop us. They didn’t investigate. They didn’t comment. They didn’t do our job for us! (At the same time another portion of the media is accusing and condemning the administration on the exact opposite charges.)

There is a word for such behavior: juvenile. It’s long past time for the media and journalism in general to take an introspective look. In this information age, errant news reporting will seldom stand unopposed. The bar has been raised.

-jweaks

Wednesday, October 20th 2004
George J. Esseff, Sr.
an advertisement in the Washington Post

You’re a Republican???

In today’s America, ask a growing number of high school and college students; their teachers and professors; the self-anointed media elite and/or hard working men and women of all ethnicities, the question, “What is a Republican?”, and you’ll be told “… a rich, greedy, egotistical individual, motivated only by money and the desire to accumulate more and more of it, at the expense of the environment … the working poor ….and all whom they exploit…”

I am a Republican … I am none of those things… and I don’t know any Republicans who are.

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Bible Illiteracy in America
by David Gelernter
The Weekly Standard
05/23/2005, Volume 010, Issue 34

A REPORT JUST ISSUED BY the Bible Literacy Project (more on this later) suggests that young Americans know very little about the Bible. The report is important, but first things first: A fair number of Americans don’t see why teenagers should know anything at all about the Bible.

Scripture begins with God creating the world, but there is something these verses don’t tell you: The Bible has itself created worlds. Wherever you stand on the spectrum from devout to atheist, you must acknowledge that the Bible has been a creative force without parallel in history.

The rest of the story:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/606lxblg.asp

The Bible Literacy Project’s full report on this topic can be downloaded for free at:
http://www.bibleliteracy.org/Login/LoginGeneral_Form.cfm

“…What is worth doing even if you can’t succeed? Is there a mountain worth climbing even if there’s no hope of ever reaching the top? Think about it. Standing on the top of the mountain is a moment, supposedly the moment “that makes it worth it all.” Makes it worth all what? A lifetime of disconnection, alienation and misplaced priorities? The world’s saddest person is that tragic has-been who speaks incessantly about his or her shining moment long ago. Do you really want to be the woman who “used to be” Miss America? Or the man who “used to play” professional sports?

No mountain climber ever stays long on the summit. But the brevity of these visits isn’t because someone drove them off to take their place. They leave because there is nothing more to do. The movie is over. The credits are rolling. Holding an empty popcorn bucket and a soft-drink cup, they go looking for a trash can and a bathroom.

Susan Ertz once wrote, “Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.” Life, if you will, is that rainy Sunday afternoon. What are you going to do with it?

I’m talking about embracing a commitment to something far bigger than your own small and petty desires.

Commitment is not to be found in brave talk, bold resolution, or dramatic gesture. And she will not be measured quickly. Strong and silent, Commitment steps into the light only in those dark and quiet moments when it would be easier to creep, unseen, away.

How deep is your Commitment to what you’re doing with your life?…”

Roy H. Williams

More/From here:
http://www.wizardacademy.com/showmemo.asp?id=223