Great Moments in Higher Education, Part 2
Yet another idiocy in education story.

The Indiana University School of Law has removed a Christmas tree from its atrium because SOME students were offended. Forget that Christmas is a national holiday, celebrated by 95% of the country. As Dennis Prager pointed out on his radio show this morning, this is like a whole family being prohibited from going to the zoo because one petulant son or daughter demurs.

In his book "Successful Intelligence" (see our Recommended Books page), Robert J. Sternberg explores a theory that may explain the stupidity of college administrators and professors. He posits that there are actually three types of intelligence: analytical, creative and practical. (IQ tests generally test only for analytical intelligence.) The state of the Academy leads one to believe that there may be a lot of analytical intelligence among its members, but little practical intelligence. That would explain why so many of them have hidden in school their entire lives, failed to seek real world jobs, and hold to outlandishly impractical theories like socialism and communism.

Use our Take Action page to express your support for withdrawal of public funds to colleges and universities. See the December 6 and 7 entries below for more education privatization action links.

(If you find this site useful and would like to help make political devotions a mass movement, please tell others about PoliticalDevotions.com or place a link to it on your website. Then when you've done so, be sure to e-mail me so I can thank you personally!)

United Tyrannies
Today in the Wall Street Journal, Anne Bayefsky documents the long history of United Nations anti-Semitism.

And in a recent column, Jonah Goldberg makes an excellent case for a League of Democracies to replace the UN.

An excerpt:

"You can't have a civil rights organization where Klansmen are welcomed as members; you can't have a softball team where half the players want to play basketball, and you can't have a global organization dedicated to the spread of human rights and democracy with nearly half the members representing barbaric, corrupt regimes."

To express support for replacing the UN with a League of Democracies, use our Take Action page to contact your representatives and the State Department.

The Education Monopoly
Here's a great tirade against corruption in public education by Michael Graham. An excerpt:

"If government-run schools are so good, then why isn't the NEA pushing for a government-run grocery store chain where your groceries are chosen for you based solely on your age and address--and you're required to pay for them whether you shop there or not? If it makes sense for the government to pick my daughter's teacher and curriculum with no input from me whatsoever, then shouldn't they pick her doctor and dentist and after-school activity, too? I've got my kid in karate class -- maybe I should have asked my school board member first?"

As a bonus, here's a Marty Nemko piece on the fecklessness of higher education: Beware of Going Back to School.

The Parent News section of Focus on the Family's Focus on Education website has a nice collection of news stories on education issues, many suitable for citizen action.

Great Moments in Higher Education (Warning: Explicit Content)
A New York University film student recently pitched to her professor a project in which two actor friends agreed to have sex on camera in front of the class. Her professor approved. The class approved. Oddly enough, the university administration didn't. Not so oddly, the "controversy" on campus surrounding the project does not involve the proposed pornographic show and tell, but administration "censorship." Yes, students' right to have sex in class is in danger. Call the ACLU!

The New York Civil Liberties Union said that while there was no First Amendment issue involved because the university is a private institution, the decision "runs counter to the tradition of academic freedom"

How much "academic freedom" would the New York Civil Liberties Union tolerate if the student wanted to use tax-supported university funds and classrooms to make a film about the Ten Commandments?

To take action on REAL suppression of academic freedom on campus, visit the Students for Academic Freedom website.

To take action on the privatization of public schools and the ensuing prevention of future campus porn stars, visit Focus on the Family Citizenlink's school choice and vouchers page.

Judicial Tyranny and The Destruction of Judeo-Christian National Identity
Today David Limbaugh cites new examples of anti-Christian bias in his piece on The "Offensiveness" of Christianity.

He recounts an astonishing example in which a seventh grade history teacher recently offered students extra credit for observing Islam by fasting for two days during Ramadan. Imagine the left-wing outcry if that teacher had given extra credit for keeping kosher for two days, for abstaining from meat on Friday, or for taking communion in a Baptist church.

While not the only driver of anti-Judeo-Christian bias, judicial activism is the method by which such suppression began and is propagated to this day. Use our Take Action page to express your support for President Bush's judicial nominees.

Here is Ann Coulter's entertaining review of David Limbaugh's book "Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity."

You can read more about the book at Amazon.com:

The Cultural Civil War
There's no better characterization of contemporary issues, and of the ideological gulf separating the Left and Right, than Dennis Prager's piece on the Second American Civil War (Part 1 and Part 2). Save these two parts to your hard drive, and when you have more than ten minutes for political devotions, choose one or more of the referenced issues for a missive to your representatives.

Today, choose from the essay the issue that concerns you most, and use the Towhall.com Capwiz page to voice your opinion.

Several excellent books by Dennis Prager are listed on our Recommended Books Page.

Barbarians With Nuclear Weapons, Part 2
Topic: Nuclear Terrorism

An important Zev Chafets article on why Israel Will Not Tolerate Iranian Nuclear Weapons. The United States should watch and learn from the Israelis, who have been fighting a war against Islamic terror for 55 years.

Use this link to express to your representatives your support for Israel's efforts to defend itself, and for an aggressive US response to the proliferation of nuclear weapons among civilization's enemies.

Here's some additional contact info:

Dr. Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor, FAX (202) 456-2883, PHONE (202) 456-9491

Mr. Elliot Abrams, the Director for Near East and North African Affairs, at FAX (202) 456-9120, and by phone through his secretary Joanna, (202) 456-9121

Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000 or by e-mail form at http://www.defenselink.mil/

Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1010 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1010 or by e-mail form at http://www.defenselink.mil

Hollywood Hatefest
Tonight's Hollywood Hate Bush Event provides a good opportunity to point you to a great Michael Medved piece on why those offended by Hollywood's products need to do less complaining and more creating.

Actually, both complaining and creating are necessary. If conservatives wish to take action, the best start would be to stop consuming the products which display these harmful values. With the availability of excellent free entertainment content screening sites like Focus on the Family's Pluggedinonline.com and the meticulous Screenit.com, both of which have detailed descriptions of content in hundreds of films, anyone one who pays for a ticket to a movie that offends him has no excuse. Channel deletion and V-chip technology on TVs are also helpful, but there is still plenty of harmful content even if they are used. Many parents elect to refuse cable service altogether and entertain themselves and their children with select videos and DVDs. Some extremists even use books.

If you would like to tell media outlets why you have stopped consuming their pernicious products, you can use this Townhall.com link to send an e-mail or letter.

Barbarians With Nuclear Weapons
Topic: Nuclear Terrorism

I thought it important to post this link now, even though the PoliticalDevotions.com site is still under construction. This Wall Street Journal essay by the editor of Commentary magazine
really demonstrates how our civilization exists at God's sufferance, and why, in an age of nuclear proliferation among rogue states, active citizenship is essential. It is a long piece and brings up many issues, so it violates the act-on-one-issue-in-ten-minutes premise of this site, but it's too important to ignore.

I will be adding a "Take Action" page to the site, but in the meantime, if you wish to express your views on foreign policy and homeland security you can follow this link to use a handy Townhall.com utility that allows you to write an e-mail or letter to nearly all your reps and the media in just one click.