Paul Harvey receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005

The Whole Duty of Man

Ecclesiastes 12; 9-11

9  ¶ And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10  The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11  ¶ The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.    http://www.bartleby.com/108/21/12.html#S11

I am no real lover of the old days. But I recall some things that were a mite better back then.

Paul Harvey was the voice I would hear from time to time when I was on the road in the middle of the night. Paul was a story teller:

·  Police Chief Clifton Sullivan - Russell Springs, KY - got a call from a lady who wanted her bachelor neighbor arrested for indecent exposure The chief went to her house and witnessed for himself... The fact was that the man next door was in his bathroom shaving. 'But,' the chief said, 'with the bottom part of the man's bathroom window covered as it is, I cannot tell if the bottom part of the man is wearing anything or not.' 'But,' the woman said, 'Well, you just stand on this chair and stand on your tiptoes and you'll see!'

http://tafkac.org/misc/paul_harvey_stories.html

The stories were usually innocuous.

We visit Raleigh, NC, where a state cop stopped a drunken driver. While he was ticketing the man, there was a multicar accident on the other side of the divided highway. The highway patrolman told the drunk to wait. The patrolman went across the highway to sort out the accident. After awhile the drunk figured he'd waited long enough and he drove on home and told his wife that if anybody asked she should say he had been in bed with the flu all day. Within the hour, two state patrolmen appeared at the home of the drunken driver and asked to see him. He came from the bedroom wrapped in a robe and coughing and wheezing. The patrolman asked if he'd been drinking that evening, and he said he'd been sick in bed. They apologized for bothering him and asked if they could take a look at his car. The drunk escorted them to the garage and inside was - a highway patrol car, the blue lights still flashing. Gee, names and actual places and everything.  Ibid

At times he could be political. I should say that many times his stories would have a political conclusion. I mean he would tell some story about a welfare queen who really drove a Cadillac while her children starved or some anecdote about how some felon convicted seven times killed and ate five children or some such. The message had some clarity. But following the anecdote he would start telling you how Alka Seltzer had made a real change in his life. Or he might inform you about the importance of H&R Block.

When Rush Limbaugh looked at Katrina, he saw the chaos as a result of the liberal welfare state: "If your city believes it's entitled...'The government needs to protect us, the government needs to feed us, the government needs to transport us... the government needs to build the levees'... and then something like this happens and then you start, you know, wringing your hands: 'Oh, look how poor the population'--well, what do you expect when you have a welfare state mentality as your city government?" Who says blaming the victim is just a liberal impulse?

El Rushbo couldn't resist the partisan impulses with Haiti, either: "This will play right into Obama's hands--humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country." ....

Don't bother trying to donate to relief efforts. "We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax," he bloviated. "It is a simple matter of self-reliance--nobody takes that approach down there because this has always been a country run by dictators, incompetent ones..."   http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-15/rush-and-robertson-shameless-haiti-wingnuts/2/

On the road I might hit a religious presentation by Armstrong or Swaggert or anyone of a multitude of preachers.

There is a woman in Cleveland Ohio tonight folks, and she is feeling an ache, a loss. She has just ....yes, she has just lost a loved one of a cancer. We hear you Cleveland. We feel your pain. We are here for you Cleveland.

And then the preacher would go on and on about how Jesus is there, always there for the people out there who have experienced some loss; the loss of someone due to the curse of cancer.

Eventually he would get back to the main topic. That is money. Please send us whatever you can spare for spreading the word of god.

And then that would be the end of it.

And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil...They said, 'We will serve you if you get us free from the prince.' True story. And so the Devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' They kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted, and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor."

Slave rebellions are the work of the Devil--that's something you just don't see in textbooks anymore. But not to worry, in an earlier interview, Robertson declared that the quake was "a blessing in disguise" because it would give Haiti a chance to rebuild its physical and spiritual infrastructure.

If you're slack-jawed with surprise, you shouldn't be: Robertson has offered similar riffs in the past. Two days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he took to the airwaves of the Fox Family Channel with his Christian coalition colleague Jerry Falwell and they proclaimed that God had given us "probably what we deserve." Falwell laid out the litany of blame while Robertson nodded on: "The pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and lesbians, who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, the People for the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point a finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-15/rush-and-robertson-shameless-haiti-wingnuts/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR2

We live in different times my friends.

Paul Harvey and the old time preachers are gone.

In their place we find open racists. Broadcasters who have no soul. We find extremely well paid demagogues who are able to take advantage of First Amendment guarantees getting their monies from the same sources. Bromides that will relieve your heartburn. Indulgences for your previous short comings in exchange for a decent contribution. 

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS.

GOOOOOOOOOOOD DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!