A very genteel Southern lady was driving across the river bridge in Savannah, Georgia one day. As she neared the top of the bridge, she noticed a young man about to jump.

She stopped her car, rolled down the window and said, "Please don't jump; think of your dear mother and father."

He replied, "Mom and Dad are both dead. I'm going to jump."

She said, "Well, think of your wife and children."

He replied, "I'm not married and I don't have any kids."

She said, "Well, think of Robert E. Lee."

He replied, ''Who's Robert E. Lee?''

She replied, ''Well bless your heart dear -- just go ahead and jump, you damn Yankee."

The world could use a few more true Southern ladies.

In 1146, A conference of European leaders outlawed the crossbow. By banning the effective weapon, it was believed that the leaders had ended wars for all time.

Now, the state transportation study committee is looking at a variety of ways to solve the financial problem.

Some states are using a transmitter that calculates your mileage while others are using high occupancy toll lanes for solo drivers.

There is also toll bridges and toll roads, an indexed fuel tax or an increased fuel tax, costing drivers more at the pump.

Ben Cunningham

In 1861, Union General John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free (however, Fremont's order was countermanded a few days later by President Lincoln).

 I, for some time now, haven't spoken about the education system as it stands today. Sometimes I don't have to, because someone else will do it for me. As in the video to my left.

Some have asked why does this happen. It happens because we allow it to.

Dr. Sandra Scarr, one of the country’s most influential researchers on child care, has described a vision of the “new century’s ideal children.” Historically, most American children have enjoyed the caring presence of a stay-home mother. New Century Children, however, “will need shared care,” contends Scarr.

The meaning of Scarr’s term “shared care” can be deduced from the fact that she is a board member of KinderCare, the nation’s largest day-care provider. “Since the 1970s,” observes Brian C. Robertson in his new book Day Care Deception, “Scarr has published over two hundred articles and four books related to day care … and her impact on how others approach research in these fields is inestimable.... Her 1984 book Mother Care/Other Care set out to debunk the notion that the bond between mother and child is of unique importance and that disrupting that bond will cause a child grave harm.”

In her 1984 book, Scarr contends “that a baby has no particular need for its biological mother” and that “mothers are simply culturally conditioned to believe that their nurturing is vital for their child.” Scarr views the newborn infant as something less than human: “[T]heir brains are Jell-O and their memories akin to those of decorticate [skinless] rodents,” she asserted in a 1987 interview with the New York Times.

What is disturbing is that we believe some of what she says. We believe just enough that we allow ourselves to be forced into a restructured society for which we allow conformity in ourselves to Brezhnev-era Soviet style commissars.

Now day care will not destroy your children but continued process from grades 1 to 12 in a public system certainly could help.

When the federal programs began in the late 1950s, the quality of America’s schools far exceeded what it is today. By 1977, the College Board reported that students entering college would “take with them the lowest scholastic aptitude tests in half a century.” In 1983, the National Commission on Education reported “a rising tide of mediocrity” in the schools and even noted, “Average achievement of high school students on most standardized tests is now lower than 26 years ago when Sputnik was launched.”

In 1989, American Federation of Teachers leader Albert Shanker, a strong supporter of federal education funding, stated in a New York Times column: “Only about 5 percent of our graduates leave high school prepared to do what is considered real college-level work.... The overwhelming majority of American students who go on to higher education will be learning in college what their European colleagues learned in high school or even junior high.”

By 1995, columnist Thomas Sowell, a former college professor and frequent critic of our nation’s dreadful educational slide, noted sardonically: “Some years back, there was an international study of 13-year-olds all taking the same math test. In this test, the Koreans came in first; the Americans came in last. One of the questions asked was, ‘Are you good in math?’ Of the Koreans only 23 percent said ‘yes,’ while 68 percent of the Americans said ‘yes.’ We had won the battle of self-esteem.... but the battle for knowledge and accuracy was lost.”

Why did this happen? Well for one reason ninety percent of American children are steeped in what I call moral relativism because, we are told, to teach morality and transcendent truth would be a violation of the "sacred" constitutional doctrine of "separation of church and state." This myth is pushed down to the states as voluntary compliance and into the schools as forced compliance.

The best leaders and thinkers of all Christian denominations from antiquity to the present have agreed that it is worse than foolish to indulge the idea of a secularized education. In "The Christian Education of Youth" (1929), Pope Pius XI stated:

Since every method of education aims for that formation of man which he ought to acquire in this mortal life, in order to attain the ultimate goal destined to him by the Creator, it is plainly evident that as no education can be truly so called which is not entirely ordered to that final end, in the present order of things established by the providence of God, namely after He revealed Himself in His Only-begotten, who alone is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), no full and perfect education can exist except that which is called Christian....

Therefore, every form of teaching children, which, confined to the mere forces of nature, rejects or neglects those matters which contribute with God's help to the right formation of Christian life, is false and full of error.... For the most part those systems of teaching which are openly proclaimed in our day tend to this goal.

"The end of learning," wrote Milton, "is to repair the ruin of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him...." Similarly, theologian Rousas J. Rushdoony writes, "The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that 'Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.' Every area of life and thought must be in line with this purpose, and education especially so. Humanistic education seeks to glorify man and to enable man to enjoy himself; it is doomed always to fail.... Until we recognize that all education is inescapably a religious activity, we cannot come to grips with our cultural crisis."

As it stands, it is the humanist religion that has usurped complete control of the government schools. If the American people, the vast majority of whom claim to be Christians, hope to avoid complete societal collapse and the loss of their freedom, they had best reject the siren songs of "reform" of the humanist elites and return to true education.

Obviously, there would be great disagreement among those who call themselves Christian over what religious principles and doctrines would be taught. The solution? Let the Catholics have Catholic schools, Lutherans Lutheran schools, Methodists Methodist schools, etc. And if the $300 billion now being squandered each year by the socialist, humanist government schools were left in the hands of the parents and taxpayers who earned it, there would be more than enough money to provide a first-class education for all at half the price.

In 1682, William Penn sailed from England on this day. He later established the colony of Pennsylvania (which, as some of you may know, is now one of the United States) and his statue now stands on top of City Hall in Philadelphia, PA.

The Tennessee Supreme Court confirms that lawyers in that state may publish potentially defamatory material outside the courtroom provided they are acting in quest of an "identifiable prospective client". The case was filed by a screw maker against a law firm whose client-trolling website had asserted that the company's deck screws were "defectively manufactured". Without determining whether the phrase was defamatory, the court ruled that even if it was, the manufacturer would be afforded no legal remedy. (Simpson Strong-Tie Company v. Stewart, Estes, & Donnell, Aug. 20 (PDF))

In 1645, Dutch and American Indians made a treaty of peace at New Amsterdam (later to known as New York).

David Lat, er, profiles the marketing efforts of attorney and reggae musician Peter "P'Ta Mon" John, who calls himself "The Thugs [sic] Lawyer," and has a toll-free number with the five-letter combo "NOT ME."

In 1776, US army evacuates Long Island/falls back to Manhattan, NYC.

The Senate FY2008 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies spending bill contains 332 earmarked projects, worth slightly more than $300 million. The total value of earmarks in the Senate version track very closely to the House passed version, which contained just less than $300 million. For a complete copy of the FY08 Ag Earmarks click here. Excel required.

In 1780, Gen. Benedict Arnold betrayed the United States when he promised secretly to surrender the fort at West Point to the British army. Arnold -- whose name has become synonymous with traitor -- fled to England after the botched consipracy. His co-conspirator, British spy John Andre, was hanged. He fled to England and died in poverty.

The Teamsters Union said Wednesday it will ask a federal appeals court to block the Bush administration's plan to allow Mexican trucks to carry cargo anywhere in the United States.

It's still early, but Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is fighting to pull away from the field. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) still challenges in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he could erase Clinton's national lead. Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has lost his once-formidable lead in Iowa. She is attempting to accomplish this mostly byname recognition and superficial impressions -- which continue to show Clinton way ahead, pulling in about 40 percent. Iowa, for weeks, has been a three-way tie between Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, and so it will largely come down to organization. In New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida polls, Clinton generally posts healthy leads.

With $45.2 million, Clinton has about 33% more cash on hand than Obama, and more than three times as much as Edwards. Additionally, she can tap the tens of millions of dollars in her husband's fortune.

"The Federal Election Commission has fined one of the last cycle’s biggest liberal political action committees $775,000 for using unregulated soft money to boost John Kerry and other Democratic candidates during the 2004 elections,” reports The Politico.

"America Coming Together (ACT) raised $137 million for its get-out-the-vote effort in 2004, but the FEC found most of that cash came through contributions that violated federal limits. The group’s big donors included George Soros, Progressive Corp. chairman Peter Lewis and the Service Employees International Union."

Video: Strippers for Ron Paul - Good interview with an interesting lady.

"One of the foremost experts on politics in the Granite State thinks she has found the next critical constituency: military moms," reports the Washington Post.

"The military mom -- who has either a child or a husband who is serving -- is disenchanted with the war. The question is: Will she shift allegiance to support a Democrat, or is she looking for an independent-minded Republican?”"

Due to lack of interest, cable television station Univisión has canceled its September 16 Republican debate in Spanish, the Miami Herald reports. Only Sen. John McCain agreed to participate in the event at the University of Miami.

The cancellation adds to the growing distance between the Latino community and most of the Republican field, who "also ignored invitations to attend Hispanic-oriented conferences in Florida organized by the National Association of Latin Elected Officials and the National Council of La Raza."

Today, Sen. John McCain's campaign will begin distributing a new biopic that chronicles his time as a Vietnam POW, "drawing comparisons between his courage as a captive pilot and his abilities as a leader." The 12-minute movie is similar to one produced for McCain's presidential run eight years ago, but as the Concord Monitor reports, the means of distribution have completely changed.

When McCain's first video was released in 1999, "50,000 VHS tapes were mailed to supporters at a cost of $65,000. When he created a biographical video for the Bush campaign, [Mark] McKinnon said, the production cost was near $100,000."

"Today's video cost just $5,000 to make and much less to distribute, thanks to digital video cameras, laptop editing software and the internet. McCain supporters in New Hampshire will receive a card in the mail with a web link to the video instead of a bulky tape."

May God Bless and  Keep You This Day Till Tomorrow