The End Of The Era Of....

So what clearly defines an end of an era anyway? 9/11? New leadership? Economic meltdown? Entering uncharted waters? Defining new paths where none have existed?

The information age is upon us, and the New World is defined by the ability to manage information - both harnessed and disseminated; both imagery and data; both perception and reality.

The day has effectively ended when an individual can succeed without the skills to absorb and manage information effectively. In the past era of humanity, a simple mind, a good heart, and a strong set of taught values were the norm - and sufficient. And yet our schools are incapable of teaching these skills....

While community leaders were developed from such stock based on the experience of a lifetime's input, respect was given for the knowledge developed over time, and a leaders ability to discern right from wrong, and use the combination of knowledge and experience wisely to make great and respectable decisions. Such leaders stood out easily in a group with the focus that was given them as they naturally rose to the top.

And then along came Google, and Yahoo, and the knowledge explosion. And suddenly the knowledge in one's head is no longer necessary to be gained from experience, or even intelligent focused research. For the first time in the history of mankind, more knowledge is available to any and every tuned-in human than can ever be absorbed. A simple search of any word or combination of words will turn up thousands to millions of references with every type of use, interpretation, application, example and perversion of such a word or concept. All in such a disorganized and useless fashion that is effectively worthless to the important priority based decision making process. Like noise, information overpowers the important thoughtful planning process that is necessary to strategic management of better plans and ideas.

For the first time ever, even for librarians - it is not a question of where the power is - which is in information - and the use of it - for or against people - it is only a question of how to dissect it, organize it, use it best and preferably most wisely - an important consideration apparently lost on today's governing decision makers.

And now at this critical juncture of information availability and management, we turn the corner into a new world that has never before needed such a new level of uncharted wisdom, and virtue while America's schools have fallen into the morass of infighting, stupidity, self absorption, political correctness (that they do not even know how to define) and blurred focus: completely bereft of all that is valuable and important in the use of all knowledge as they have wandered away (or run away in many cases) from all that is traditionally served as foundational - God, family and values.

This is a new era - which I see most clearly marked with hindsight as the turn of the new millenium - clearly highlighted in retrospect as the fall of 2008 (7 Biblical years after 9/11) with the meltdown of all major world economies and consequently most major governments in terms of maintaining priorities previously defined.

New leadership will no longer be defined by old foundational standards. New leadership will be defined by the ability to manage information and hence perception most effectively. And as has since been proven - without the need for a foundation of experience, new leadership will have no choice but to be both controlling and brutal to maintain superiority. Alternately, and optimistically governance might be overcome by more mature technology with even less skill required for the leadership role. But beware of the autonomy of technological leadership - it threatens....

The real power struggles in the world have become wars of perception control, and the control of the media and information management are two of the main pillars by which control is defined and managed.

We used to warn our children about the enemy because it was clear who they were. It is no longer clear for the majority of the world. Only those anchored enough in those old foundational principles of God, family, and values can have enough insight and discernment to measure the new world against old norms.

Whatever your perception of the future, you can be certain we have entered a new era.

In Lieu Of Law

I am a creationist by belief. I believe in God, and so it is that the entire matter of where we came from emanates only from my belief in God - the being so much greater than myself, that all other consideration about where He or we came from becomes irrelevant to a discussion.

The theory of evolution however interests me - not because of the excuse to try to explain away God, but for what is evident in how things do naturally evolve with time in so many aspects of the world. Trends in everything are the basis for assumptions about the future. If 1 and 2 and 3 have happened, we can naturally assume 4 will be next. This is probably one of the top few laws of nature, as the only thing that disturbs a natural trend is an interference.

Whether an interference is seen as natural or unnatural is both a matter of perception and cause. If man caused the interference it is definitely seen as unnatural, and if man did not cause it but sees the cause as unnatural, this perception may have validity as well.

In either case, the trends of man to abandon God as times are comfortable appear to be natural. The entire Old Testament is made up of the stories of man naturally abandoning God, and God either using nature or the supernatural to intervene in the lives of the people of Israel to bring them back to Him.

America is the Israel of my existence in this age - the place I observe the hand of God being lifted from a country and then intervening in relatively small ways through the lives of people and families. But the trend of the country's Christian spiritual state is depressing to people like me. And so it is that I - and so many others - pray that God will supernaturally intervene and turn the hearts of the people toward Him like He did for the nation of Israel so many times.

The financial meltdown of 2008 was personal for me, and a turning point in my commitment, and I hope is having a greater and similar effect on the rest of America, but it will not be a surprise to me that America needs many more convulsions to get its head out of the sand. Like Pharoah refusing to listen as God served up plagues upon Egypt in the time of Moses, the Kings of America are stubborn and ignorant, and full of their own pride. Until the first sons must die, many will never see enough interference to alter their trend away from God.

Likewise, the American Book of Law has allowed a serious trend to develop that should give every thinking American pause - the separation of the Courts from the law they are 'sworn' to uphold. "Above the law" is now the mindset of many Judges in America. A "Law Unto Myself" is the mindset of even more. They are no longer American judges - they are their own judges - operating 'in lieu of law'.

Traditionally, the book of law was perceived by judges as the ultimate interpretation of the constitution's mandates - a noble cause, building on a noble document, that was seen predominantly as successful, and therefore worthy of respect.

In reality, the law has always had it's flaws and weaknesses - its injustices, and inconsistencies. But judges by education and respect for the law were adherents of the law, honored the intent of the law, and served to help build the book of law by filling in the gaps between.

And then the world changed. Media developed from a local newspaper to a national movie screen and a home information center, and the truth of the laws weaknesses were revealed and focused on. The nobility of the law was forsaken, and the respect for the law abandoned.

And no longer was the role of protector of the law perceived by the public as a noble job. And the ones who had this special job lost respect for what it is they had chosen to do.

But how should one react when the foundation of your chosen and invested profession crumbles? To quit? No. To redefine the foundation? Perhaps. To make it better? Definitely.

And so it is that the role of the judge is being redefined away from the Book of Law into the role of a new Lawmaker 'in lieu of law'.

But shouldn't this be the role of the elected lawmakers? The politicians? Yes - according to the Book of Law - but it just won't work says the judge to himself. And so it is that they have usurped the role of congress, and began to ADD law. The net result however is confusion and chaos.

This is the wrong role of judges and courts. But who can challenge this breach? There are but two possibilities beyond the Supreme Court's reach.

The first is the combined power of the full congressional Legislative Branch, with the solid support of the Executive Branch - the President and his White House.

If this fails, the only other possibility is to appeal to the Highest Authority in the land, the mind of the sheeple - the Main Stream Media. Only these two possibilities could make an impact on reigning in the minds and actions of arrogant judges that are determined to go their own way.

But has our America really the will to resolve this problem? Hell no! Most of us America doesn't even realize there is a problem.

So with that I will return you to the game - "with players on first and third and two outs......"

Good luck neighbors!