Frightening how history repeats itself sometimes . . .

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance."

---Cicero, 55 BC.

Watchman Nee

That's the Anglicized name of a Chinese man who was born Ni Tuo-sheng in 1903.

He made the change after being converted to Christianity by an English missionary.

And, apparently, he wrote a lot of books about his new-found religion.

A buddy of mine gave me a copy of the first chapter of one of those books, "The Normal Christian Church Life," as supplementary reading material as we plow thru the Book of Romans.

I can't say that I'm a big fan of his writing style. It took him an entire chapter to relate a concept that I'm pretty sure could be just as effective if condensed down to a single paragraph.

I think I'll just stick to reading what St. Paul had to say . . .

The Decline and Fall

Ye socks may not recall Edward Gibbon's famous treatise on why the Roman Empire collapsed, but I've been thinking about it a lot over the last week or so.

Ironically, he wrote it back in 1776, when our grand experiment in democracy began.

Now, as things seem to be unraveling, I wondered if there were any parallels.

Gibbons did a lot of research, and his work is very interesting to read if you're a history buff like yours truly. But, I disagree with his overall thesis, because he points to the rise of Christianity as the trigger for an overall "loss of civic virtue."

According to him, the Romans stopped focusing on building-up the material world around them and started focusing on their individual eternities.

Poppycock!

I am much more inclined to accept the explanation put forth by Ludwig von Mises, who believes the Romans collapsed due to bad economic policies:

* They allowed their currency to drop in value, much like we have debased the dollar in recent years.

* They instituted price controls that led to a shortages in consumer goods, kinda like what we've experienced with fuel.

* The shortages caused people to worry about mere subsistence instead of expanding markets, just like a lot of ye socks have reduced the number of miles you add to the odometer of your SUV's.

* And, finally they instituted an arbitrary system of taxation that punished trade and discouraged innovators, frighteningly similar to what The Disaster in Waiting has promised to do after January 20th.

Drop the apostrophe and move the "s"

Ok, I don't want to engage in the debate over whether or not today is a holiday manufactured by Hallmark and the candy industry. Truth be told the Roman Catholic Church kinda invented it themselves to supercede the ancient pagan fertility festivals. Whatever.

But, the grammarian in me must tell all ye socks not to call it St. Valentine's Day.

It should be "Saints Valentine Day."

That's because the day traditionally celebrates not one but TWO early Christian martyrs named Valentine.

The first is St. Valentine of Terni was persecuted by the Emperor Aurelius and died in 197.

The second St. Valentine of Rome is my favorite. He died in 269, and his relics (at least some of them) ended up at the Carmelite Church on White Friars Street in Dublin, Ireland. It's the Irish connection I like.

Anyway, there are NINE other Saints Valentine. But, their feast days come later in the year, I guess.

History and grammar lessons over. Enjoy your VD, and spread it around. (Disgusting pun intended.)

Wanna visit Rome?!

Yes, I'm talking about Rome, Italy!

Now, you can take a visit to this awesome city without even leaving your desktop, thanks to some eggheads up at the University of Virginia.

They got together with some other eggheads across the US, Britain, Germany, and (of course) Italy. (By the way, why weren't the French involved?!)

The product of all these geniuses getting together may be viewed at:

www.romereborn.virginia.edu

I warn you it is still a work in progress, and needs a lot of fine-tuning. But, when all is said and done, you will be able to "walk" thru the streets and buildings of ancient Rome.

Safe journeys!