The Scholar!

There's a new show on one of the networks called "The Scholar." The idea is that the winner of this "Survivor" type show is granted a full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice. The losers of the show go home empty-handed, destitute, disgraced, and otherwise back to the obscurity of their humdrum lives. If only that was the case...

I watched about 20 minutes of one episode, and they show about 15 teenagers, seniors in high school, who all could (and probably will) get full-ride scholarships to any school they want. For instance, there is one girl who scored a 1550 on the SAT. That score alone is enough to make her a national merit scholarship finalist. Another girl has a 4.0 GPA and is a math prodigy. A girl going into the mathematics/analytical/engineering world has her way paved in gold laid out before her. No sexism intended here, but traditionally brainiac professions have a dearth of estrogen.

The network advertised this series as "The nation's most deserving high school students are going to compete for one full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice." Yeah, it sounds great until you realize, like I've said in the previous paragraphs, that these kids are going to go places with or without the scholarship. No, this series is just about getting 15 minutes of fame.

If the network wants to really make a difference that would be fun to watch, they should rework the show to be, "The nation's biggest underachievers will compete for one full-ride scholarship." Watching brilliant people be brilliant is not that fun (unless you have a string of 75 consecutive Jeopardy wins). But, watching mediocre people be brilliant could be fun to watch. Reality contests should be geared so that the contest gets out of people some things that those people didn't know they had within them.

I don't know if my idea would in fact be good television, but it would at least take the superficiality out of the contest. God bless those kids that are competing for the school of their choice, but is anyone's life really going to change based on this contest. No, probably not. Besides, you might think that whoever wins will probably want to go to Hawvawd or Yale, but in my experience, there is a lot more to choosing a school than what the name on the gate says. The school of my choosing was Abilene Christian University, despite being turned down for the Presidential scholarship, and despite having an offer of a large scholarship at a somewhat prestigious school. You have to look for a good fit wherever you are.

If You Build It, He Will Cry

The USSC has some real boneheads on it. I posted earlier about the recent ten commandments rulings, but before those were handed down, the supremes ruled that a state government could proceed with condemnation proceedings against one private owner and hand that property over to a private developer to build condos. This flies in the face of one of the greatest rights we have in this country - the right to own property.

As some background, the U.S. Constitution permits governments to take property under eminent domain (5th Amendment), but it must be for public use, and the government must compensate the owner justly...that is, reasonable market value.

This new ruling, a 5-4 decision, allows for the first time the opportunity of the government to take property from one private citizen and give it to another private citizen. How can this be public use, you ask? Well, the Men in Black (the 9 on the bench), have declared that where the local economy will make more in taxes and revenue from the new developments than the local government makes from property taxes by the current owner, then that is a sufficient public use.

It is a travesty of the highest order. But, soon we may have a reconsideration of the ruling. Justice Souter is a member of the liberal bloc on the court, and accordingly he voted to abort the rights of the landowners. Mr. Souter, however, has a bit of property in New Hampshire where one industrious developer is hoping to commence condemnation hearings upon said property to build his "Lost Liberty Hotel." If the local government should exercise their new, expanded right of eminent domain, Mr. Souter would have to just sit back and take it. As my brother put it, he will have to live with his decision. We can all hope that this gentleman in New Hampshire is successful because until a Supreme gets brought down to Earth, we will have to endure further encroachments upon our rights.

If you want to read the article about the New Hampshire developer, go to this site:
http://www.freestarmedia.com/hotellostliberty2.html

Aufwienerschnitzel,
Matthew

Too Much Sound in Silence

I have been working on a stand up comedy routine for a while now. The basic premise is that silence is impossible in today's world. For instance, in the Church of Christ (the denomination, not the overall body) we take pride in our lack of musical instruments. However, when a worship leader asks for a moment of silence, we have one for about 0.6 seconds before people start coughing or shooshing. At about 2.2 seconds in, the worship leader will then break the moment of silence and commence with the prayer or song he has.

Having been to a few more progressive baptist churches and the non-denominational denomination churches, silence there is no silence at all...not even for 2.2 seconds. "Brothers and sisters, let's have a moment of silence while music director, Ethan plays random notes on his electric keyboard."

It's funny, but it's also rather serious. This world clutters our minds with noise all day long. Even right now, I'm in the office typing this post and in the other room, I hear the tele going on and on about some highschoolers who want to go to college. Driving along in the car, it is almost maddening to drive five miles without something on the radio, loud enough to be heard over the "roar of the road." Until my parents threatened to kill me, I had to have some music on to go to sleep.

Silence can be such a beautiful thing. With all the noise we have around us, we can scarcely hear our God speaking. If we want to fill our minds with a noise, what better sound to have upon the auditory nerve than the voice of God. He's speaking to us each day, but we have largely tuned him out in favor of the world's messages.

Supreme Court Again Perverts Religion and Law

The USSC never ceases to ashame me. As a lawyer and a Christian, I cannot understand what this court is doing. The long-held Lemon Test to ferret out violations of the establishment clause has once again brought to us confusion and perversion. As a lawyer, I would much like the court to reconsider their decisions today (upholding one display of the 10 commandments and striking down another). For the sake of those of us taking the bar in July, it would be nice to know how to apply the Lemon test with some sort of consistency and know that we would get the answer right. As a lawyer, I wouldn't care if the court ruled that all displays were unconstitutional, just so long as we were consistent - don't allow minorahs or stars of David in the courthouses either.

As a Christian however, I think that this court has overlooked something very important. And that is that this nation was founded on the principles of the ten commandments. Our forefathers regarded them in high esteem.

But where I have my biggest problem is that the court conveniently overlooks the fact that over 70% of the public approve of such displays, compared to 23% that disapprove. The Men in Black who sit over our justice system have instituted their will upon the rest of us. Five liberals now run this country. I fully understand the need for protecting the rights of those in the minority, but at some point there has to be a line drawn. Give the minority the right to life, liberty, property, and the right to vote to change things for their cause. Let them persuade me to change my vote if they have a worthy position. There is a huge difference between having rights, and having your way at the expense of the majority's.

Persecution against Christians is real, and this is one example. But, as long as we sit here and take it, that is what we shall be forced to live with. Have no fear, though. It won't hurt, because by that point we will be numb to it. I think we may be already.

First Posting

I have now entered the 21st century by creating this blog. It is great to know that I will influence the next presidential election by having this. More will come when I know what I'm doing.

Peace Out