Category: Guest Authors

The Roar

The Difference

The year was 1962, the same year in which this writer graduated from high school.  I must admit that as momentous as the Engel v. Vitale Supreme court decision would become, my interests were far from that fateful outcome which banned school prayer in the New York State school system.  With next year marking its fiftieth anniversary, the results from that Constitutional blunder are now in plain sight.

Through these intervening years, society’s journey has consistently traveled down the road of rack and ruin.  From the perspective of then verses now, the denouncing of religious attention and instruction within the confines of our educational system, seems to have been the single most detrimental legal ruling against our cohesive society and our Founder’s original intent.

During the intervening years, current speculation has thus floundered to the point which now even questions our Nation’s Christian foundations.  In my previous “A Day For Prayer,” which detailed George Washington’s proclamation, setting aside a day for thanksgiving and prayer, the devious intent to this anti-Christian debate becomes clear.  Adding to his 1789 proclamation is his Presidential Address which explains the importance to which our founding rested upon what our modern day Jurists outlawed.  To quote the Father of our Country, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.

This discrepancy between our beginning beliefs verses today’s secular contentions lays bare the road which should have never been traveled.   And it is to this one individual effect, from our apathy and disloyal slumber, which has inspired and continues to strengthen the thousands of Tea Party formations nationwide.  Our slumber is now over.

All is not lost.  Along side these Tea Party uprisings comes the home school phenomenon, which elevates the welfare of the child over the glitz of this materialism craze.  A supportive companion to this inherent sacrifice brings the recognition that Christian values and beliefs will  strengthen our life’s journey.  Yesterday, one national figure, brought into focus what has been ignored within his professional football genre.  The missing ingredient is that of being humble.

Professional sports, with football leading the charge, has also undergone sweeping changes which in retrospect bring questionable results.  How many viewers and fans witness these personal on field tributes after almost every play?  No matter the score, or if the team is winning or losing, these me, me, me exhibitions have diluted the game’s integrity and worth.  Well, yesterday, a winning QB returned to the days when winning brought out the best in a person.

When Tim Tebow, won his fifth straight game, this one at the buzzer, his humble presence shone through his interview when stating, “I know that I had a lot of help.  Offensive line did a great job, and receivers stepped up and made me look better than I really am.”

One might ask, what makes Tebow such a humble throwback to bygone days?  Could it be his Christian upbringing and spiritual guidance throughout his life.  This one instance brought back a clear recall of what was the order of the day before that 1962 Supreme Court ruling.

This recollection to a lost societal trait can be used to canvas today’s demographics.  As our view centers on the younger generations, it becomes apparent that being humble is not on their agenda.  People today try to draw attraction similar to those football players during a game.  The only difference is instead of chest thumping and gyrating,  we now revel in nose rings, tattoos and an assorted mix of colored hair.

As George Washington also said, “True religion affords to government its surest support.”  The same can be said for its aiding human decency and self respect.

Jim Bowman, Author of
This Roar of Ours

The Roar

A Serious Matter

My last anti-media essay will not let go of me.  While questions as to whether Cain did or didn’t will predominate till he becomes demoralized and beaten, the sad and lingering thought is that this is just the latest in a long line of channeling public thought to a predetermined position.  For too long, the true culprit is not the individual topic but rather the topic provider.  Our national media has now taken on the appearance of becoming our crucible, our test, for whether we remain not only free in action and deed but free in thought as well.

It seems to me that along with our “freedom of speech,” “freedom of the press” has been prostituted to the max.  Are we okay with free speech’s only reservation being “fire” yelled in a crowded setting or with the mentioning of a “bomb” at an airport?  In reality, there is so much more to free speech than those two exceptions but that is for another time.

These nagging notions of mine, brought about by this despicable portrayal of Cain, urges a further understanding, not only for myself but hopefully for all who remain curious.

Suffice to say that since the freedoms of speech and press are explicitly acknowledged within the First Amendment to our Constitution, it also follows that an ordinary amount of responsibility accompanies these rare public provisions.  This stipulation is often lost with the individual’s flaunting, as exemplified today with the occupiers “free speech” debasements taking place around our Country.

The most acceptable of public impressions is that our “freedom of the press” qualifies as a “free press.”  Both terms, “freedom” and “free,” are defined as a state of liberty.  Yet there is liberty and there is liberty.  Since our Constitution was written back in the day, definitions from Webster’s 1828 dictionary become more appropriate.

Liberty is a freedom from restraint.  Yet in society, there is natural, civil, political and religious liberties.  Civil liberty pertains to an “expedient for the safety and interest of the society, state or nation.  This should form the guidelines for the operation of our information industry.

Who among us can argue that “the safety and interest” of our nation is served best by the retorts of unsubstantiated recollections?  Who among us can accept the defamation of character which these claims are now producing?  Is this the act of a “free press” or an unsubstantiated press?

Is this a new media phenomenon and if not, just how damaging can the whimsical become?  The answer is “very damaging” when one remembers the supposed theories surrounding the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin attacks.   Today, credible doubt has surfaced as to whether this cause for war ever took place.

Another current day media escapade is this “global warming” facade.  Without getting into the nitty-gritty, nuts and bolts of this scheme, the thousands of emails to have been discovered two years ago detail the attempts of scientists to concoct and deceive.  Just recently, another batch of email evidence was brought to light with identical intent.  Still, our media continues with it’s promotion of a future doomsday while the federal government legislates to the point of outlawing the ageless and proven worthiness of the incandescent light bulb.

The media’s product of the unsubstantiated now promotes the public’s acceptance of the absurd.  When it’s weight can start wars and reverse industries, what chance does one innocent man have? But more importantly, what chance do we have for obtaining the truth, if in fact, that  remains our objective?

Jim Bowman, Author of,
This Roar of Ours

The Roar

Media’s  Alarming Power

For the first time in my life, an accepted societal cog has caught my serious and now fearful attention.  Here, in the land of the free, a charlatan, who enjoys our freedom of thought and expression, has been allowed to move among us with impunity from its unaccountable conduct.  For too long, we have been resigned to the machinations of what we have come to accept from “a liberal media.”  Today, our leniency has produced a menace with an insatiable appetite.

In hindsight, many refer to the Obama Presidency as a “product of the media.”  Their lack of scrutiny, in areas other than just his citizenship, certainly greased the mental process for shedding America’s hangover from our days of slavery and segregation.  The public’s exhilaration from finally being able to prove that, yes, those days are truly behind us, enabled voters of all stripes to cast careful thought and debate aside for their passion that America could elect its first black President.

While all this now taking place, it seems ironic that a media questioning of Senator McCain’s citizenship eligibility came to the forefront while they showered Obama with an automatic pass. This 2008 preferential treatment may now seem to be the harbinger of what is taking place with the up and down horse race to this early republican campaign season.  Sad to say, those shades of differing treatment have now mutated into an all out assault based on innuendo and “he said, she said” references.  This is not the task of a responsible and honest free press.

What we have today is an information source that trades jabs between the glitzy formats of a revolving platform of political opinion and predictions verses the usual hum-drum news casts which often centers on the despicable and/or the macabre.  This conclusion may seem overboard but given the hundreds of lifting stories which surface daily, news in general depresses and it now seems to depress for a reason.

To underline this descent from the preferential to the slanderous, try to now shed political loyalties and consider the numerous Clinton allegations, which filled the spectrum from the adulterous to the criminal.  Yes, even a rape charge was not sufficient for media curiosity, let alone to investigate.  Need we compare then to this present investigative vim at targeting
Cain’s purity?  A comparison projects our dilemma.

What is being sacrificed, is the public reputation of a man who, for some reason, answered the call of his country.  Now, for just a moment, stop rushing to media conclusions and consider the possibility of innocence.  Our media pundits are eager to rid this republican primary of a black conservative with a proven and widely successful career in business and also in his private life. Why?  The reasons are obvious yet to be left unspoken.

We often ask the question, when faced with the choice of electing “frick” or “frack,” is this the best out Country has to offer?  Well, when an true outsider enters the political fray, the insiders with their establishment power circle the wagons.  Their attacks are as vicious as they are unending.  What we are now witnessing, and to a degree, buying into, is the complete and vicious ruination of a man who, for all intent and purposes, would never have entered the contest with all these various women waiting to sharpen their knives.

What the various media outlets ignore is that during the time span of this last accuser, armed with her infamous “61 text messages and cell phone calls,” Mr. Cain had endured and survived a Stage Four cancer struggle.  I would think this hardly is the setting for any sexual shenanigans.  Also, 61 conversations averages less than five per year.  The grist for a hot and heavy relationship?  It is not!

Ladies and gentlemen , Mr. Cain is obviously the victim and the reasons are quite clear.  Let’s rid ourselves of emotion and knee jerk reactions spurred from unsubstantiated sources.  Common sense must once again be embraced for if we allow this to affect our support, “Frick” and ‘Frack” will once again be our only reward.

Jim Bowman, Author of
This Roar of Ours

The Roar

A Day For Prayer

First off, let’s get it right!  I want to wish all my fellow Americans a happy day for thanksgiving and prayer.  These are George Washington’s words when he sign a decree designating November 26, 1789, as a day of “Public thanksgiving and prayer.”

I am sick and tired of this whack-a-doo anti-American sect somehow erasing our Forefather’s original message and intent with their secular and anti-Christian overlap.  Today, in the year of our Lord 2011, let us all proceed to renew our American instinct and dedicate our efforts towards the return of the principles which made our Country so great.  For I believe that our current turmoil and agitation comes as the direct result of our waywardness from our original design.

In 1962, our august Supreme Court ruled against prayer in school.  In its finding, the Court stated, “prayer in its public school system breaches the constitutional wall of separation between Church and state.”  Also cited was the Court’s, “A union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion.”

This was the conclusion to a case against having a twenty-two word voluntary and nondenominational prayer observed in New York State schools.  Consider the words of this particular prayer, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country.”  This bland moment of reverence is a monumental example as to this continuing push for a secular America.  Ladies and gentlemen, without a rudder, a ship flounders.  Our ship of state is floundering and the reasons are quite clear.

Returning to the words of George Washington, his thanksgiving and prayer proclamation wisely acknowledged “the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor…” also “Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to ‘recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.'”

Now President Washington spoke in lengthy sentences.  It seems to be the trade mark of those early days when diction was more elaborate and defined.    As such, our first President continued proclaiming that this occasion is “to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be…”

Space does not permit the complete proclamation but suffice to say that the main theme to Washington’s decree was his and our worshiping thanks “to the great Lord and ruler of Nations.”

From this historical document, one can readily see that that modern day America has been led to the slaughter.  Starting from when the Constitution was ratified till the 1947 Everson case, which introduced this insipid and Constitutionally unfounded “wall of separation between church and state,” the freedom of religion, to practice and worship remained sacred and untouched.  It is a monumental injustice for nine black robes to embark upon a First amendment detour which has the complete eradication of our Christian doctrines and heritage as it final quest.  In essence, our Supreme Court created new law which for all intent and purposes contradicted our First Amendment’s recognition of our inalienable religious rights by prohibiting their “free exercise.”

So on this day of thanks and prayer, while we all enjoy the football games and eagerly anticipate the Black Friday store gimmicks, remember that it was a Supreme Court authority, the same authority which will now consider the constitutionality of Obamacare, which trashed our inalienable religious freedoms.  As such, their record for upholding Constitutional safeguards should send shudders throughout our society.  If ever there was a time to “beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions,”  this seems to be the occasion.  The father of our Country was right, and his message still rings true.  A day for “thanksgiving and prayer.”

Jim Bowman Author of
This Roar of Ours

The Roar

MADD, What Happened

I have witnessed the seemingly overnight and phenomenal growth of MADD from its original ten members to it’s current National membership roster. Along with corporate sponsorships MADD now even entertains their own DUI grading system over the various State and local law enforcement agencies.

MADD’s immense network now can place representatives in courtrooms across the country to ensure that DUI offenders receive a proper verdict.  However, as a recent event suggests, maybe MADD picks and chooses which case to intimidate.

Just after midnight, on April 30th, it seems that two Philadelphia police officers observed a vehicle  proceeding in the wrong direction on a one way street.  After stopping the vehicle, both officers noticed that the driver appeared to be glassy eyed and smelled of alcohol.  The ensuing breathalyzer test turned up a .16 result, or twice the legal limit.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported the results of this DUI case in an article written by Mensah M. Dean on November 2nd.  In that essay, it seems that this .16 BAC defender benefited when the “judge threw out all the evidence in her drunken-driving case.”  It just so happens that the defendant is none other that Rep. Cherelle Parker, who happens to hail from the same Northwest Alliance political camp as does Judge Hayden.

Now, a case with such incriminating evidence, there had to be substantial questions which led the judge to dismiss the charge.  The judge cited “credibility concerns” related to the two officer’s testimony.  Cited was officer Stephanie Allen’s “first that no other cars were on the street, but changed her testimony during cross-examination.”  Wow, that should exonerate  Rep. Parker.

As a lifelong Philadelphia resident, Deputy Attorney General Marc Costanzo stated, “I  understand how things go around here.  No, I’m not surprised.”

My question is not about Philadelphia’s political  shenanigans but to the AWOL status of our heroines of DUI safety.  The attention getter in this case, from a MADD standpoint, should be the breathalyzer result.  Of course, there is also the matter of an elected representative being the possible offender.  Obviously, water too deep, even for the mermaids from MADD .

In spite of appearances, there still might be a positive or teachable moment.  Contrary to what many now believe as the only enforcement tool against DUI offenders, a police check point, which is a politically correct rendition of the term roadblock, was not in use.  Oddly enough, probable cause led to the vehicle stop as the officers observed the vehicle being driven opposite to the one way street sign,  Yes, this is the procedure which worked up and until the MADD influence appeared on the scene.  This enforcement practice is in accordance with our Constitutional safeguards enumerated in our Fourth Amendment, something which MADD obviously deems expendable.

In conclusion, Deputy Attorney General said it best when he stated, “I’m a little surprised that a city judge would find two police officers who testified – in my opinion – consistently about an incident less credible than someone who blew a .16 blood alcohol reading.”  I’ll drink to that!

Jim Bowman, Author of,
This Roar of Ours

The Roar

No Means What?

On Thursday, November 17th, Congress killed the funds for Obama’s pet project of building  high-speed rails nation wide. Normally, this would end this debate.  Not so with Obama.  This reckless President, who views our Constitution as a mere nuisance rather than what it is, the law of the land, has another card up his sleeve.  It seems that there is substantial money to ensure that work will continue on certain projects.  Sen. Dick Durbin D-Ill, mentioned that “some money will be found to keep Obama’s train program going through the Transportation Department’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economy Recovery) program, which makes grants to projects that achieve critical national objectives.”  A 2012 spending bill contains approximately $500 million for the TIGER program.

So, just what did Congress accomplish and to what did the headline “Congress kills high-speed train” refer to?  Since congress holds the purse strings, how does this possibility present itself?  And what precedent does this set when preaching “no means no?”  Along with all his other Constitutional violations, Obama now stashes funds for constitutional (rainy) days.

Seriously, aside from the manipulation of funds, which now seem to lie around for this exact purpose, ala the approximate one hundred billion allocated for the ongoing implementation of Obamacare, defying the January 31st summary judgement which ruled the legislation to be unconstitutional, just how many types of “slush funds” are available for legislative detours?

Now, I must concede that the previously mentioned $100 billion was actually hidden within the thousands of pages which made up the Obamacare bill.  Given that this monetary inclusion is precedent setting and unethical, the question remains, if Congress votes down a piece of legislation, just how is it that a Presidential policy continues while negating a congressional vote?  At what point did money overtake legislation?

Since assuming office, it seems that the current administration “has steered $10.1 billion to high speed rail projects around the country.”  This national need confounds since  the jammed Northeast corridor is where the commuter action is most prevalent.

Many State governments have refused this high-speed rail funding due to the down the road expenses.  Ultimately, this project is just another make work program which adds to the rolls of governmental employment.  All at the taxpayer’s expense.  Buying votes is now a high speed business and one that seems most efficient when circumventing congress.

Jim Bowman, Author of,
This Roar of Ours

The Roar

Used to be, before this “age of information,” the American voter would decide without undo media influence.  Although the selection of candidates were above the periphery of public input, there still existed conventions where surprises lurked.  This uncertainty was most notable with the Goldwater and Reagan nominations.

Back in those days, the media still had a heavy input into the general elections but it was after the fact of the nominations.  Still, they didn’t miss a beat, as was the Goldwater example, when they scared the voters towards their more peace loving LBJ preference.

Today, the voter is presented with a parade of “debates” which is nothing more than a media circus designed to whittle down the candidates to the one they have already anointed.  It’s a process which entails either inciting arguments between the hopefuls, trying to get them to misspeak or flub an answer or overload the questions onto the most inexperienced of that particular field.

As with the most recent Perry flub, not being able to come up with his third cabinet department, which he deemed in need of abolishing, it followed that this one instance disqualified him as a worth while candidate.  All the while, the media’s unmistakeable soft Romney approach suggests that his selection is their priority.

Now, as embarrassing as are the spoken gaffes, once again the media takes a vacation when it comes to Obama’s misspeaks.  And there are sadly too many to replay.  Again, protection of their chosen ones.

As previously detailed, the despicable treatment allotted to Cain, has produced an overdue negative public response with regards to the media’s blatant bias.  This repulsion now seeps into that former granite like hold on public opinion which Rather, Cronkite and Jennings relished.

This didn’t happen overnight.  One remnant from Obama’s 2008 election was the public’s perception that his success was due in part from his preferential media treatment.  This impression is hardly debatable given the questioning of McCain’s qualification to be President, due to his birth outside of our Country verses the complete pass given to Obama.

Another lesson learned was the manner in which the media continued their anti-Palin attack during the post election years.  In short, there are ample examples that serve and strengthen this growing distrust for media authority.  The recent boos directed to the moderator’s revisiting of the Cain controversy provides ample proof to a hand which the media over played.

For as long a I can recall, it’s always been referred to as “the liberal media.”  Their bias could be found from day to day and it was largely accepted to a degree.  However, that slant for interpreting has since morphed into witch hunts which at times, employs varying degrees of calumny.  It is this tactic which has caused their disfavor and rightly so.  If running for our Presidency includes unsubstantiated questioning to one’s reputation, well then, our Republic will truly become that fearful entity known as a democracy.

Jim Bowman, Author of,
This Roar of Ours