As we watch with awe, grief and anger as radical “White Supremacy Hate Groups come out in the open and try to take political power, we are reminded by history and literature that there is and will continue to be a constant battle for the souls of human beings.Are the people we expose our children to, or are we ourselves setting examples that teach our children to Hate or Not? Our President seems to be coming out in a kind of wishy-washy manner about who to support or who is right. He needs to take a stand on this not have “The White House says he…”We need this from the President’s own lips!

Here’s a quote by an African man facing the same moral dilemma of power:

Here were his people, his body of support. They were waiting for him to step forward, to claim his rightful position and fulfill their dreams of his mission.

“What power! What glory! To be standing in front of my people once again as a leader!”

“I can take them with me tomorrow into the streets of the cities and we can rid ourselves of all these whites and their oppression forever. Shall I ask them once again to take up their spears against other people? Shall I ask them to help me drive them out forcibly? Shall we send them packing?”

“Am I capable of forming a nation from this mass of humanity or will it all crumble around me?” Ref: “The Ghosts of Ukuthula” pp. 318 – 319

Evil is a dilemma for all leaders in positions of supreme power including our American President, Mr. Trump. Pure Evil does exist and breaks out in humanity given the proper set of stimuli. It can do so in any nation.

We have seen distinct signs of the power of unchecked Evil in the outbreaks of violence perpetrated by marches of White Supremacy Hate Groups in the streets of our cities. Hate groups led by persons who have turned their very souls over to the darkness of the evil that they represent and preach.

Many of these persons have been taught this hatred since childhood and will go on to teach others as illustrated in this portion of the words sung by Cable in the film South Pacific:    “You’ve got to be taught to be afraid, of people whose eyes are oddly made, and people whose skin is a different shade. You’ve got to be carefully taught. You’ve got to be carefully taught. Listen and hear  Barbara Streisand Sings the Lyrics

After you have listened to the full lyrics, think about the examples being set for our children by our leaders including our current President, Mr. Trump who uses put-downs and derogatory remarks against women, persons of other races or religions or cultures. Then in a situation where moral leadership should be evident in standing against the overt actions of hate groups, his own statements appear to condone their actions.

Countries around the world have often had leaders who became seduced by the powers of their office. They have become deluded, thinking of themselves as superior beings set on a pedestal and literally worshiped by followers. You have heard of the worst of them, the despots, the dictators, the cult leaders, those who committed atrocious acts with their followers as they pursued a false idol of supremacy on a pathway to unadulterated evil. 25 you should know about lest we repeat their actions You know some of them: Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Ho chi Minh, Mussolini ; others you probably don’t know: Sankoh, Taylor, Pavelic, Khan, Omar, Savimbi, Hideki, …  ; or you’ve heard of the places where the more atrocious acts were committed: Armenia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Dafur, Treblinka, Babi Yar …

But above and beyond these leaders or the acts that they and their followers have committed, is another layer of evil, that which is deliberately taught to our youth and unstable persons by hate groups within our own society. Groups that have learned how to open the trap door that leads to parts of the brain that should be controlled by the norms of behavior and release the demons of hatred. Given their techniques and teachings, insecure or malleable minds can be led directly into cults of evil action.

So social groups that recruit, foster and teach hatred, aggression, hostility and anger against others, rather than teaching inquiry, appreciation and discussion about the wide varieties of differences between humans are in fact some of the most threatening groups to our American way of life. The Southern Poverty and Law Center is a group that informs and protects us from many of these groups. we need to support them in their work.  Monitoring and work on fighting hate groups

America is a nation build on some very profound ideals. These are not just ideals for a few Democrats or Republicans or for Libertarians… they are ideal for all of us as Americans. The propositions that all humans are created equal and should have the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness no matter who they are is a statement of a universal inalienable right. This is something we can’t be wishy-washy about.

We can only pray that our own President, along with every other world leader will face the threat of hate groups directly and work to eradicate them.

Because: There is no middle ground.

An excellent Review of the book by “Jodi a Cook” Source: The Ghosts of Ukuthula by Rick McBee

One O’clock in the morning of 12 July, 2017. Our 48th wedding anniversary is about to begin. As I snore peacefully, my wife sneaks out of bed and lets the restless dog outside. A few moments later as she is headed back to cuddle in bed, she hears a growling noise from the dog and runs back in the room and wakes me up.

Roused from my deep slumber, I jump out of bed and grab my headlamp. Back outside I can see that our Welsh terrier, Rex is making mighty 4 ft. leaps up towards the lower branches of the plum tree.  Shifting the light upward I get that great reflection that always comes when you hit “Eyes”!

Moments later I make out the shape of a giant raccoon, easily larger than our 30 lb. terrier. It opens it’s mouth and hisses at the dog showing a bunch of wicked teeth.

Now you have to understand, we live 6 miles out of town, have 5 ducks and 10 chickens, and have been having an ongoing battle with egg eating skunks and chicken/duck eating raccoons this year.  Losses total about 50 eggs and three ducks and four chickens. You can’t live trap them and haul them away because skunks shoot streams of this yellow foul smelling scent that you don’t want anywhere near you, your house, dog, or car. raccoons are so smart, once they know people, they’ll either come back 20 miles to haunt you forever, or molest some other rural home.

Why this year? I have no idea, but we’ve had to dispose of 5 raccoons already and I just locked away my .22 rifle two days ago after killing the mother skunk who has been elusively roosting under my chicken house and nabbing eggs for her litter of at least 5 kids (I don’t know what you call baby skunks). Stinkers?

Anyway, I hand Jill the light and say, “You stay here with the dog and keep the light on him while I get the rifle.”

Off I go to the shop and grab the rifle and ammunition. Minutes later I’m back and we dispose of said raccoon.

By this time, Rex has been jumping up and down for almost 5 minutes and is so winded he can’t even bark when the coon comes out of the tree.

Then it’s off to bed for some raucous SLEEP! Happy 48th Anniversary!>))