Keanon Lowe Can we have a reasonable conversation about the problem of mass murder in our society? If we're going to try, input from the mainstream media must be excluded from the discussion. The media solution is always "more gun control!" However, only a fool would believe that more laws would prevent future violence. Private gun ownership is basically illegal in Chicago, and yet an astonishing number of people are nevertheless murdered by criminals and gang members using illegal firearms. According to gun control advocates, the problem is that criminals still have access to illegal weapons because gun ownership remains legal in other areas nearby. Like Pavlov's dogs, the media's conditioned response to such tragedy is the inevitable call for more legislation to regulate the sale and ownership of guns. People don't kill people, only guns kill people. However, simple logic and raw statistics argue otherwise. The problem wasn't that these mass shooters had access to weapons, because everybody has access to something that can be used as a weapon. The problem was that his twenty victims were defenseless. If only one of the good guys had been carrying a gun as well, lives could have been saved. Frankly, if you don't understand what the Founding Fathers were thinking about when they wrote the 2nd Amendment, all you have to do is read current headlines about the growing crisis in Hong Kong. But what do these recent mass murderers who used guns and the Tsarnaev brothers (Boston Marathon terrorists) have in common? Not much, really-- except the desire to kill. Yet … [Read more...]
The Good Shepherd
Grant Brown Whenever I encounter anyone in a uniform--paramedic, police officer, fireman, military, etc. I will take the opportunity to thank them for their service. I'm the guy who prefers to run away from gunfire or a burning building, but those brave men and women run straight toward danger. John 15:13 reads, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." In my opinion, anyone willing to put his or her life at risk in order to provide a service to our community deserves to be treated with the utmost respect. I don't care how much they are paid--when asked to confront a homicidal maniac or go out into horrible weather conditions to assist an accident victim, they go to work and do the job most of us don't have the courage or stomach to perform. All too often these people are vilified and targeted by the very people they serve for doing what the community has asked them to do, and yet they continue to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. On the other hand, service professionals do at least receive a paycheck. The Bible talks about laying down your life for your friends, but what about putting yourself at risk for a total stranger? What if the person you're trying to save has a different skin color, one you've been taught not to trust and maybe even to hate? Only one word can describe a person who would run full speed at a vicious dog mauling a neighbor without hesitation, not even long enough to pick up something to use as a weapon in self defense, and the word is "hero." But even then, that word seems sort of … [Read more...]
The Jamaican national anthem
Jamaican national flag After writing about how impressed I was by Usain Bolt's show of respect for the U.S. national anthem, it dawned on me that I probably wouldn't recognize the Jamaican national anthem when I heard it. So I asked my search engine for the lyrics and was blown away by what I discovered. The Jamaican national anthem isn't merely a song. It's a beautiful, heartfelt prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIIhvOBQB_M Eternal Father, Bless our Land,Guard us with thy mighty hand,Keep us free from evil powers,Be our light through countless hours,To our leaders, great defender,Grant true wisdom from above,Justice, truth be ours forever,Jamaica, land we love,Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica, land we loveTeach us true respect for all,Stir response to duty’s call,Strengthen us the weak to cherish,Give us vision lest we perish,Knowledge send us Heavenly Father,Grant true wisdom from above,Justice, truth be ours forever,Jamaica, land we love,Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica, land we love It should come as no surprise that the author of that anthem was inspired by our Creator. From the looks of this picture, Jamaica could be mistaken for heaven on earth. … [Read more...]
Patriotism and the National Anthem
BEIJING, CHINA - AUGUST 27: Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates after winning gold in the Men's 200 metres final during day six of the 15th IAAF World Athletics Championships Beijing 2015 at Beijing National Stadium on August 27, 2015. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for IAAF) Recently I promised to focus on "the bright side" of the news because of the constant onslaught of negative headlines. It's not as easy as it sounds. One of today's headlines at the Drudge Report promises to tell the story of a woman stealing a dog from a man in medical distress as paramedics worked to save his life. Who would do such a thing? More headlines scream that the president is a racist because he's said pretty much the exact same thing about Baltimore as the former major and current congressman (parts of the city are a rat-infested cesspool) because Trump has the wrong skin color: orange. Everything seems to be a controversy, even the first American flag created by anti-slavery Quaker Betsy Ross (because Colin Kaepernick said the flag she sewed was racist.) But I don't want to talk Colin Kaepernick because I don't agree with his politics, and the point is to look for the bright side of a story. For the same reason, I don't want to talk about Megan Rapinoe and her protests as a member of the U.S. Women's National Soccer team when the national anthem was played, even though her attention-seeking gesture upset me more than Kaepernick because Rapinoe represented our nation as a competitor but was allowed to disrespect its most powerful symbol, the flag. Since I can't … [Read more...]
Looking on the bright side
Bill Tush Ted Turner revolutionized the information world when he bought Channel 17, a local Atlanta television station, and started bouncing its signal off of a satellite so people everywhere could watch, and it quickly turned into the first cable "superstation," running content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Before Turner forever changed the industry, the Big Three national networks (ranked in order of their marketshare) were CBS, NBC, and ABC. The three major networks all stopped offering content during the early morning hours and from around 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. every morning, only a test pattern was broadcast over the airways. Ted owned the rights to a lot of old movies and the Atlanta Braves, which meant he had a virtually unlimited supply of content. The FCC decreed that once Channel 17 evolved into a national network, Turner had to broadcast a news program in order to maintain the station's federal license. In a move of sheer genius, Ted didn't even try to go against the Walter Cronkite-style news anchors during the "normal" news hour from 6:00 p.m to 7:00 p.m. Instead, Ted hired a comedian named Bill Tush and offered the news at 3:00 a.m. Turner figured nobody was going to watch his station for the news, anyway, but at that hour of the morning, his SuperStation literally had no other competition, and Tush made it fun to watch the news. Some of his on-air stunts were hilarious and became legendary, as the video below demonstrates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy8MTBxP7no Another brilliant and innovative move was when Turner began … [Read more...]
