Hometown Christmas Committee Meeting Wed. Oct. 29th at 6:15 PM

The next meeting of the Christmas Planning Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, October 29th at 6:15 at Oasis Café.  Interested parties and Xenia merchants are encouraged to attend.  Dinner is available.

Obama’s Campaign Ends: Federal Judge Orders DNC Remove Obama From All Ballots

By Daniel Downs

After reviewing evidence presented by Attorney Philip Berg, US District Court Judge Honorable R. Barry Surrick has ruled that Barak Hussein Obama was not a “natural born” or “naturalized” citizen and is ineligible to run for and/or serve as President of the United States.

Judge Surrick then ordered the Democratic National Committee to cease all campaign activity on behalf of their candidate for President. He further ordered Obama be removed from all election ballots.

Before jumping to conclusions, the civil action brief of Attorney Berg begins by identifying himself as a life-long Democrat who is proud of his party. It cannot be said that Berg is a right-wing zealot grasping at any accusation to prevent the oppositional party from being elected. No, Berg is here fulfilling his oath to uphold the Constitution.

In addition to his defense of Constitutional integrity, Berg also says his purpose is to defend the integrity of his Party. Many people have given of their money and time in support of Party goals, which include “to restore accountability, honesty, and openness at all levels of government”, to “restore the Constitution and protect the civil rights and liberties of all Americans,” and to “uphold the Constitution.” Berg continues, “[t]o uphold the Constitution includes making sure that the candidate is eligible to serve as President pursuant to Article II, Section 1 of our United States Constitution and that such candidate runs a fair and legitimate campaign.”

As for the evidence, Berg investigation discovered Obama was born in Kenya. His father was a citizen of Kenya. His was 18 years old at the time. Even though a child born to a U.S. citizen could acquire natural born citizenship, his then 18-year-old mother did not meet U.S. law governing citizenship. Obama became a citizen of Kenya. He was schooled there under the name of Barry Hussein Soetoro, the name of his father Lolo Soetoro. His citizenship in Kenya was confirmed from school records.

Attorney Berg and Judge Surrick have proven that Constitutional Democracy in our Republic of states still works as intended by this nation’s Founders. Thank God.

Source: Berg v Obama, et. al., Civil Action No. 08-cv-04083 (E.D. Pen. Oct. 22, 2008).

Future of Xenia Under One Roof?

By Daniel Downs

The Xenia Community Schools Under One Roof (UOR) plan is an exciting new innovative concept. A campus combining existing community organizations like the YMCA, Senior Citizens Center, hospital, Athletes in Actions, and others sharing costs and resources is popular and unproven. For example, a hospital serves people from outside the community as well as local residents. Connected facilities increase the potential for our youth to be targets of unsuspected criminals. A previous writer raised concerns about post-9-11 requirements for enhanced security and UOR increases that need even more. The UOR model like the Lake Local School High School in Union Ohio is too new to know what problems may or may not occur with great confidence. It is also not likely those that already have occurred will be advertised.

Another issue that needs to be raised is why should high school students alone benefit from the UOR plan? Why not junior high and elementary students? I understand why only senior high students would benefit from a hospital-based medical training facility. An on-campus hospital would provide beneficial services to both athletes and the elderly. That’s all good, but shouldn’t other Xenia students also benefit from the YMCA, Athletes in Action, medical services, potential interaction the elderly, and from similar affiliations?

I believe neighborhood schools with small class sizes and real parental involvement are the best kind. In California, Colorado, New York, Texas, and other states tried supersized schools and found them very problematic. Reports shows they have returned to small neighborhood or specialty schools because they are more effective and less problematic learning environments. That’s why Xenia’s plan to supersize elementary schools is a bad idea. An alternative to both supersized and neighborhood elementary schools is building small neighborhood sized elementary schools and middle schools on planned UOR campus. Why not revise the UOR plan to include all schools so that all Xenia children benefit? Yes, it would increase the current plan costs considerably. It would even increase the cost of busing, but it might be worth it.

What does not make sense is replacing one of the newest buildings in the school district. At least three elementary schools, all of them older than Warner Jr. High, actually should be rebuilt. If Xenia is going to invest in the UOR plan, why not go all out and either rebuild all schools on the new site, or rebuild other schools in their neighborhoods with an Olympian size swimming pool, health service facilities, upgraded science labs, and high tech communication and computerized infrastructure. Why let politics and unjust government funding strategies (government rip off of tobacco companies) rule Xenia’s future? Why not spend the extra dollars to build the best possible educational facilities meeting future needs today?

Well, here is a brief answer. About 62% of Xenia households cannot afford more taxes and the rising cost-of-living. The annual income of 32% of Xenia families and their children is at or below the poverty line. Another 30% have incomes at or below $40,000. Families with that level of income are also eligible for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). We should not forget that about 11% of Xenia householders are senior citizens. They certainly cannot afford more taxes along with rising cost of gas, food, heating, water, and most everything else. That leaves only 38% or nearly 4,100 households to pay for most of the over 50 million dollar Under One Roof bill. That is if the bond issue passes.

Besides the money issue, education is not about swimming, sports (can I hear a boo?), sex, or computers. It is about learning to read, write, do math and science, understand the lessons of literature and history, prepare for good citizenship and a profitable career. When it comes to school facilities, warm, cool, dry, safe school buildings are of utmost importance not the latest and greatest technologies and services, big high-tech labs, pool facilities, or sports stadiums. However, the amenities would be pretty nice and maybe even beneficial.

So what can Xenia residents do? First, remember the UOR bond issue is our school officials’ latest plan to get Ohio School Facility Commission money to build new schools. If memory serves correctly, they’ve been trying to get a bond issue passed for 10 years or more. Second, low income and elderly citizens must also vote this November making sure their voice is heard concerning the UOR/school rebuilding plan. If Xenia citizens (especially, the 38% who will pay the most) decide to rebuild better schools now, why not go the extra mile and make sure the best plan for the best schools are built and paid for now. The often-chanted mantra is still true: ‘Costs will only go up’ and the nearly $50 million in tobacco industry ‘blood money’ will no longer be available.

Originally published on February 27 in the Xenia Daily Gazette

Xenia Community Schools Rebuilding Plan : It’s All About the Money

By Daniel Downs

Part Three

If Xenia taxpayers want new schools or even the Under-One-Roof plan, they need to consider the costs. Xenia can change the structure of the school system and rebuild all but two new schools plus a new central office just to get the state to pay 46% ($56 million) of the total costs.
Under the new plan, the central office building, Cox, Shawnee, Simon Kenton, and South Hill school buildings will require reuse plans. The YMCA is moving whether or not voters approve of the Under-One-Roof plan. The library is considering using the YMCA to expand its services. The Senior Citizen Center is hoping to move as well. Other buildings in the downtown area requiring reuse including the old historic library located across the street from the both the Senior Citizen Center and YMCA, and the list goes on…. If these buildings will be reused for public purposes, Xenia taxpayers will have to foot the bill for any repairs or renovations. Ideally, private investors would be attracted to purchase any abandoned school buildings.

During the Xenia Community School District Forum, I suggested reusing Brenner Field House as a theater for plays and musicals. Unfortunately, the filed house was built over a garbage dump. So reusing Brenner may not such a good idea, according Robert Smith.

If all of the school buildings are going to be rebuilt per voter approval, why not build all of them on same property along with a new YMCA, Senior Citizen Center, Kettering Hospital out-patient center, and branches of several colleges. That way the elementary and middle school students would benefit from the YMCA, nearby health care, and possibly interaction with wise and caring senior citizens. It’s true project costs would be higher and busing cost would probably increase as well, but the benefits might exceed the additional costs.

As the meeting proceeded through old building reuse ideas, it dawned on me that almost all of the attendees except for maybe a half-dozen residents were past or present educators. There may have been two or three parents with children attending Cox or other Xenia schools at the forum. There were a lot of teachers present. One of them asked a pertinent question: what will happen to their jobs. What board member Bill Spahr didn’t say was that all of them would be placed in new positions at new schools.

Beyond reuse and employment issues, the bottom line is whether Xenia residents can afford a $66.5 million or more bond issue. As I pointed out in my February article titled What is the Future of Xenia Under One Roof, 62 percent of Xenia residents qualify for the hot welfare program called State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Nearly a third of Xenia residents have incomes at or below the poverty line. That leaves about 38 percent who still might be capable of handling more taxes on top of the rising costs for gas, food, and most other goods and services.

What happens if Xenia voters do not approve any rebuilding plan? Will any money still be available for renovating or rebuilding school facilities in the future? I asked the Ohio School Facilities Commission that question, but I never got a response. The tobacco securitization funds will no longer be available after 2009. After that time, a portion of any funds the General Assembly budgets for school renovation and construction will be available to deserving school districts to help fund building projects.

Maybe what Xenia needs is a very wealthy patron saint or at least a few generous patrons. If a golden giver is not available or willing, maybe Congress would be disposed to redirect some of it golden earmarked pork to Xenia to cover the cost of building new schools. It would probably be more effective than the current stimulus plan and certainly healthier than their economy-killing subsidies to the ethanol industry. If Congress doesn’t have a heart to share more of its pork with Xenia, maybe the State of Ohio would give us back our 9 cent surcharge on all of our gas and electric. It seems only fair seeing the state no longer intends to give any of it to citizens for windmills or solar energy and similar renewable energy enhancements. The state didn’t give much of it to homeowners anyway. A lot of it was redirected to cover other state programs. The question we should be asking is why renters and homeowners are subsidizing the energy industry instead of education. Let business subsidize their own growth and innovations. Of course, the problem is convincing those who represent us in the Ohio General Assembly that it is a better idea than those propositions being argued by industry lobbyists.

Originally published on April 29 in the Xenia Daily Gazette.

Xenia Community Schools Rebuilding Plan: Why Small Schools Are Best

By Daniel Downs

Part Two

As mentioned in part one, Xenia school administrators want to rebuild four elementary schools and convert Central Middle School into another. The rationale for reducing the number of elementary schools from seven to five is based on the state’s contradictory 350 minimum enrollment rule. The state will fund neither school renovations nor new buildings with projected enrollments under 350 students. For Xenia, super-sizing our schools mean almost all 1,100 middle school students will travel by bus to what is now the high school. It also means no more neighborhood schools for families now attending Spring Hill, Simon Kenton, or Cox.

I find two additional problems with both Ohio’s 350 rule and Xenia’s rebuilding plans. The first is with the Ohio Revised Code regulating school buildings. Ohio law requires the “[s]upport and facilitation of smaller classes and the trend toward smaller schools” while also requiring projected or actual school enrollment to be 350 or more. The Ohio School Facilities Commission may also waive this rule when “topography, sparsity of population, and other factors make larger schools impracticable.” Here is an apparent contradiction in Ohio law that needs changed to reflect acknowledged best practice criteria, which also related to the other problem.

Urban school districts have tried super-sized schools. Both student behavior and academic performance declined significantly enough to cause many urban districts to return to smaller neighborhood schools. These are facts revealed in a study titled Reducing the Negative Effects of Large Schools. A national study called Smaller, Safer, Saner Successful Schools found schools with less than 350 students have better learning environments in which academic achievement is higher, dropouts are less, behavioral problems are fewer, and teacher satisfaction is greater than for larger schools. However, an older study by Kathleen Cotton titled School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance sets the maximum at 300-400 for elementary schools and 400-800 for secondary schools. As mentioned in Ohio law, the best schools are small schools.

Under Xenia’s rebuilding plan, enrollment at all combined elementary schools, except Tecumseh, will likely be over 400 students. The combined middle school enrollment will be over 1,100 and the high school currently has over 1,400 students. The above research presented case studies of successful large schools that were reorganized into smaller schools or units. Many were restructured similar to the magnet school concept but the various specialty schools were all located in the same building. By creating smaller schools under-one-roof, teacher and student interaction increased resulting in greater satisfaction and higher achievement.

Still some question whether super-sizing Xenia schools will adversely affect teacher performance and student learning. Fairborn City Schools latest test results suggest that students in larger elementary school settings can perform relatively well—comparable to some of Xenia primary schools. Yet, a comparison of all Xenia elementary schools shows that the top performing schools have enrollments under 300. In three of the four top performing schools, 54 to 62 percent of students come from economically disadvantaged homes. The percent of students from low-income homes at the fourth and the highest performing school is about 24 percent. This school also has the fourth highest percentage of minority students. Two of the other higher performing schools had the highest percentage of minorities in the school district. All of which points to smaller schools as the primary factor for more students achieving a proficiency score or higher on state achievement tests. The four highest performing schools also produced a higher percentage of students achieving accelerated and advanced scores locally and two of these schools exceeded state averages as well.

One attendee at the Xenia Community School District Forum brought up another issue that Xenia residents should consider. By 2011, Wright Patterson AFB will have gained 1,100 new military personnel who are being transferred mostly from the Brooks City Base located near San Antonio, Texas. They will be looking for new homes. Families with children will be looking for communities with the best schools and good neighborhoods. Xenia will have a hard time attracting them without bringing our schools up-to-date. As noted above, the best schools are small schools. According the study titled School Facility Conditions and Student Academic Achievement, the best schools also include safe, well lighted, and temperature-controlled learning environments with the presence of windows.

During the building tour, Robert Smith said state maintenance leaders rate Xenia maintenance staff and schools very high. Nevertheless, schools like Cox need building upgrades and repairs. One of the pictures on the School District website shows standing water near the building. Current environmental safety law, also known as Jared’s Law, mandates the elimination of the causes of any standing water near school buildings, flooding, or any other water damage. The law also mandates that plumbing and electrical systems be in good operating condition. As mentioned in part one, Cox requires considerable plumbing and well as well as electrical system renovation. One of the boilers is inoperable, some of the piping needs replaced, and bathroom facilities needs renovated. The electrical system is inadequate to handle computers and air conditioning and its circuit breakers are obsolete. In other words, Cox needs increased electrical service as well as new service panels and breakers. How much the repairs would actually cost was unknown.

Therefore, I think it would be beneficial to Xenia taxpayers to see an actual building-by-building detailed cost estimate of needed repairs and renovations renovations to compare with estimate costs of the current rebuilding plans.

Originally published on April 28 in the Xenia Daily Gazette

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Xenia Community Schools Rebuilding Plan: What I Learned at the Forum

By Daniel Downs

Part One

While growing up, I attended public school in Xenia. I went to GJVS, Xenia High, West (now Warner) Jr. High, and the infamous Cox Elementary. On April 2, I returned to Cox. No, I was not having a senior moment. I was not attending a children’s program nor was I attempting to get in touch with my earlier self—whatever that means. I returned to Cox to attend the second of three Xenia Community School District Forums lead by Wright State University Center for Urban and Public Affairs (CUPA) staff.

The program began with a tour of the building. Leading the tour was maintenance supervisor Robert Smith. He presented a history of Cox Elementary school expansions, renovations, and problems. Smith pointed out several current problems such as an antiquated electrical system not capable of being properly maintained or handling needed computer systems and air conditioning. Another issue was old plumbing and bathroom facilities needing renovated as well as a collapsed drainage pipe and occasional flooding. When asked about the cost of fixing those problems, Smith said he would not venture a guess. He did indicate that those repairs would entail a major renovation.

I think Smith committed a Freudian slip when he said, “I will have plenty of money for maintenance whether new schools are built or not.” That statement led me to believe the school district has enough money to fix the current problems. But, in light of the nearly $122.5 million building project, I might have committed a subliminal misunderstanding.

After the tour, WSU-CUPA staff presented a general overview of the present situation. The state has determined that no Xenia school building except the current high school and the Central High School meets the two-thirds rule. The rule means the state will not fund any building renovation that would costs two-thirds or more of the cost to build a new facility. Originally, the Ohio School Facilities Commission had condemned all Xenia school buildings under the two-thirds rule but Xenia school officials argued that the two newest facilities were compliant with disability regulations. They also proposed a reuse plan for the current high school and Central Middle School. The high school would house all middle school students and Central Middle School would be converted into an elementary school. The state liked the reuse plan and consequently waived the two-thirds rule.

According to the state law, it is possible to renovate schools even when costs will exceed the two-thirds rule. The Ohio School Facilities Commission will waive the rule based on factors such as the historical significance of a building, adequacy of a school’s structure, space, classroom size, and egress. Other factors used to evaluate schools are quality of lighting and air, long-term durability, and the ability to meet American Disability Act standards. Consequently, Xenia could possibly renovate the historically significant central office building and most of the schools.

According to board member Bill Spahr, another state rule is that all schools must have at projected enrollment of at least 350 students to receive Ohio School Facilities Commission funding, which explains why Xenia school administrators plan to reduce the number of elementary schools from seven to five. Super-sizing Xenia schools also means almost all middle school students will travel by bus to what is now the high school. It means no more neighborhood schools for families now attending Spring Hill, Simon Kenton, or Cox.

The plan to build new schools at current school locations with sufficient land makes sense. Doing so will allow students to continue meeting in the same buildings until new ones are built. However, I see a conflict with the 350 rule and the current rebuilding plan. For example, building a new school at Tecumseh will not change its enrollment of 280 students. Up the road towards town is Shawnee with an enrollment of 288. Children now attending Shawnee will likely attend what is now Central Middle School. Because a complete renovation is not planned for Central, the 350 rule doesn’t apply. School administrators are not planning to rebuild at Spring Hill. So where will its students go? Will the 219 children attending Spring Hill be bused to Central or will a new school be built to service both Spring Hill students and those living at Wright Cycle Estates? Or will children living in the areas between South Detroit and Bellbrook Avenue get a new school? If so, will the 380 children attending Simon Kenton combine with the 383 at McKinley instead of the 239 students at Arrowood? Where does that leave the 346 children attending Cox? Where do school officials plan to bus them? To Tecumseh?

I think building a new school at Cox would be a better use of school property. It would at least give Cox students a school in reasonable proximity to their neighborhoods. Remember, those most affected by the rebuilding plan are elementary age children and their parents.

Originally published on April 26 in the Xenia Daily Gazette

Hometown Christmas in Xenia Returns

On Wednesday, representatives of XAMA, the Xenia Area Merchants’ Association, met with representatives of the City of Xenia and the news media to begin detailed planning for this year’s “Hometown Christmas in Xenia” event. The overwhelming success of last December’s celebration assured that this year’s will be even better. Last year families walked all over town and had a chance to take a horse and buggy ride. Carolers strolled around town, stopping on corners and popping into local cafes. Children listened to Christmas stories, made decorations and gingerbread men at local stores, and everyone had a chance to experience the familiar feelings of the Christmas season in Xenia the way it used to be.

We had music on the Towne Square and Santa arrived to turn on the lights of the Christmas Tree and listen to the Christmas wishes of all of the little ones who came. The day was chilly but fine. Snow was neatly piled along the streets, spirits were high, and many of Xenia’s “townies” got to see one another for the first time in years.

So December 11-13 will be the dates this year. On Thursday the City of Xenia will welcome Santa’s arrival at Shawnee Park. On Friday the Xenia Merchants are still working on plans for a historic walking tour of the downtown area. Also on the agenda is a possible Christmas Choir event at The Cavern. Merchants will be open late hours and featuring seasonal specials. There will be an auction of holiday wreaths to support Xenia’s Community Theater, X*ACT.

On Saturday all of Xenia’s Hometown merchants will be having a Holiday Open House with tours, snacks, crafts, music and specials. Again this year we will have horses and carriages making short tours of the city for a nominal fee. A large horse drawn wagon will also take families between destinations in town and in the Kennedy Korners area for free. Carolers and choirs are being encouraged to come to town and perform for your friends. There will be free music in the afternoon and evening at Xenia Towne Square and Santa will arrive at 5 PM to light the tree listen to some Christmas wishes and pass out some candy canes.

XAMA is searching for church choirs, barbershop quartets, acoustic musicians, carolers, and any other creative individuals to contribute their talents and enthusiasm to this project. Opportunities will be available to perform throughout the weekend. Business Sponsors are also being solicited. Last year over 30 local businesses, non-profits, banks, and individuals contributed their time and money towards the success of Hometown Christmas. The Hometown Christmas Committee has determined that a suggested a donation of $100 to Hometown Christmas per sponsor will be needed to conduct this year’s event. Sponsorship of individual events such as the carriage rides or music are also being solicited. In addition, sponsors and XAMA members will be eligible to share in steeply reduced advertising preceding the event. For information about participation or sponsorship, please contact the Xenia Merchants at xeniamerchants@sbcglobal.net or Carolyn Archer (937-620-5017) at C J’s Boutique, 72 S. Detroit Street, Xenia, Ohio 45385.

Ohio Democrats Seeks Ohio Supreme Court’s Help to Violate Voter Law

Democrats in public office have a problem with abiding by our laws. When they cannot get laws passed (that is if they even try to get laws passed) by consent of the governed by means of their representatives, they seek the court’s assistance in making them by judicial fiat. This is what Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is doing ion behalf of Gov. Strickland and the Democratic Party.

The Plain Dealer reported that Brunner is attempting to make it possible for citizens to vote and the same time of their registration. Ohio law requires a 30-day period must pass before new registrants may vote. The reason is to give county and state officials time to verify registrant information like their driver’s license or identification card. She and her Democrat backers are seeking to discard the law through the courts.

“On Tuesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the Ohio Republican Party and ordered Brunner to set up a system that provides names of newly registered voters whose driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don’t match records in other government databases.”

Why did the Court of Appeals agree with the Republicans? The Court found the current means of screening eligible voter insufficient to prevent voter fraud.

Ohio’s Democrat officials do not have a problem with the likelihood of voter fraud. They are more concerned about 200,000 registrants whose driver’s license and social security records do not match government’s records. I have had my social security information not match the government’s records. It took a few days to get the problem resolved. But, Democrats wants all of us to feel tolerant towards those people and let them vote anyway. We should not disenfranchise those who might vote for Obama. Who cares about the possibility that they maybe among those enlisted by ACORN to get out and vote.

Democrats do not care about voter disenfranchisement. If that were the case, they would have attempted to pass legislation that changed voter law. Instead, Democrats seek to employ their famous Roe v Wade tactic–making law by law breaking judges. Obama agrees with those judges that saw the right of women to kill their babies in public places like clinics and hospitals as a fundamental privacy right guaranteed by Constitutional law. The problem is the privacy rights stated in the Constitution has nothing to do with sex or killing the unborn. The same principle applies here. The laws exist to prevent fraud and injustice. The laws were not meant to be violated by public officials, political vote seekers, or anyone else. They exist because some people have in the past and will likely do so in the future, especially if they believe they can get away with it. Ohio Democrats continue their practice of creating tolerance and unconstitutional rights for breaking laws in order to achieve their goals. In this case, their effort is to give Obama a better chance of winning the election.

I can hear some Democrats saying something like this: Well, so do Republicans. Do you remember Blackwell? Yes. I also remember Republicans creating redistricting law that gave their candidates a more favorable chance at winning elections in some districts. They did not blatantly seek to break the law by using the courts. They simply remade legitimate law. They actually did something Democrats often do not: They honored the rule of law, and representative of Ohioans not courts makes our laws.

Source: The Plain Dealer October 16, 2008

Secular Education

by Prof. Paul Eidelberg

According to one study, 97 percent of all teachers in Nazi Germany were members of the Nazi party. Many of these teachers taught the humanities, for example philosophy, literature, the fine arts. Many others taught various social sciences, such as sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, history.

Clearly, the study and teaching of the humanities and the social sciences do not make people virtuous. We should not be surprised. For the prevailing doctrine in the humanities and the social sciences in our time is moral relativism, which holds that there are no objective standards of good and bad, right and wrong.

As for the exact sciences, such as physics and chemistry, they are more obviously “value-free” or ethically neutral. Still, how did German scientists respond to Nazism?

In Walter Moore’s Schrodinger: Life and Thought, we read: “There is no known instance in which a professor of physics or chemistry without any Jewish family ever made any open protest against Nazi activities. Even among the German intellectual elite, the scientists were conspicuously unanimous in this respect, since a few protests can be found among scholars in other fields.”

“It is true that after 1934 open opposition would have been dangerous … In the early years if Nazi power, however, opposition was not yet suicidal, and it was during 1933 and 1934 that the scientific establishment, led by Max Planck and Walter Nernst, washed its hands of the growing terror and concentrated on defending its own special privileges.”

Planck, the father of quantum physics, even sent a telegram to Hitler thanking him for his “benevolent protection of German science.” German science nonetheless suffered greatly from the expulsion of Jewish scientists from German universities and research institutes. This expulsion was welcomed by many German scientists, for it paved the way to their own personal advancement.

Science and technology can serve dictators as well as democrats. (Suffice to mention Iran’s nuclear weapons program.) Clearly, science does not make scientists or their societies decent, no more than teaching the humanities makes people humane.

Because secular education is morally free or ethically neutral, it cannot but corrupt youth. Whatever decency we experience today we owe to the influence of the Torah.

Unfortunately, the influence of the Torah in the non-Torah world is waning. The reversion to paganism is evident on American university campuses, where homosexuals feel quite at home. They and their academic defenders would have us believe that homosexuality is “progressive.” The truth is that tolerance of homosexuality is reactionary, a throwback to the paganism condemned by the Torah.

To sexual perversion add the nudity, pornography, and bloody violence purveyed by the entertainment media, which some semi-educated secular psychologists justify as providing an “escape valve” for repressed instincts.

Has it ever occurred to these educators of our youth that the nudity now commonplace in the cinema or on television is indicative of superficiality? Has it ever occurred to them that pornography, which reduces love to lust, generates vulgarity? Has it ever occurred to them that media violence undermines kindness and compassion?

Thanks very much to secular education and of course to those who profit from the commercial exploitation of sex and violence, people are more concerned about the quality of things that goes into their stomachs than the quality of things that goes into their minds — or into the minds of their children. But this is the inevitable consequence of contemporary democracy, whose supreme principle is unfettered freedom of expression.

Do not expect the high priests of democracy to reverse the logic of democracy, the religion of our times. Yesterday, Weimar Germany, a liberal democracy steeped in moral relativism spawned an unmitigated tyranny. Today, another liberal democracy steeped in moral relativism may make Barack Obama the President of the United States.

Source: Email commentary by Prof. Paul Eidelberg, president of the Foundation for Constituitional Democracy. His other writings are found at the Foundation website.

Prof. Eidelberg became professor of political science at Bar Ilan University in 1976 after writing a trilogy on America’s founding fathers: The Philosophy of the American Constitution, On the Silence of the Declaration of Independence, and a Discourse on Statesmanship. He also designed the electronic equipment for the first brain scanner at the Argonne Cancer Research Hospital.

XAMA’s Hometown Christmas Committee Meeting Changed to Oct. 15 6:15PM

The XAMA’s Hometown Christmas Committee Meeting has changed. It is being held at 6:15pm today Oct. 15 at the Oasis Cafe.