Proverbs - Power of Our Words - King Solomon - 1000 B.C.

 October 1999

 THE POWER OF OUR WORDS – OUR TONGUE

 King Solomon (Proverbs)

 1.   Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can heal. (12:18)

2.   A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up. (15:1)

3.   Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit. (15:4)

4.   Hot tempers cause arguments, but patience brings peace. (15:18)

5.   What a joy it is to find just the right word for the right occasion! (15:23)

6.   Kind words are like honey – sweet to the taste and good for your health (16:24)

7.   The start of an argument is like the first break in a dam; stop it before it goes any further. (17:14)

8.   A person’s words can be a source of wisdom, deep as the ocean, fresh as a flowing stream. (18:4)

9.   You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say. What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words. (18:20-21)

10.        If you are sensible, you will control your temper. When someone wrongs you, it is a great virtue to ignore it. (19:11)

11.        Any fool can start arguments; the honorable thing is to stay out of them. (20:3)

12.        If you want to stay out of trouble, be careful what you say. (21:23) 

 

Drunkenness as a Constitutional Defence - The Record editor - Sep 28, 1999 - by Randall F. More

September 28, 1999 

Letter to the Editor - The Record

RE: Drunkenness as a Defence

               

As reported in the September 24^th edition of The Record, an Ontario court judge, Judge Patricia Wallace, ruled that it would be unconstitutional for an accused not to be permitted to use drunkenness as a defence for a violent crime. This is truly a ridiculous ruling! For drunkenness to be considered a legitimate defence for assault, rape, murder, or any other heinous crime is absurd and makes a farce and mockery of our justice system and our constitution.

One of the most serious problems that we face in society today is that, children and adults alike, are increasingly freed from being held accountable for their behaviour and conduct. This recent ruling will certainly go a long way to perpetuate this already horrific and growing societal problem. (Apart from the more universal societal problem, such a ruling is also a travesty for the individual victims who are violated but where nobody becomes properly accountable for the crime.) Let’s get back to some common sense justice.

Yours truly

Randall F. More, P. Eng      

President Clinton Impeachment - U.S. Senators/Members of Congress - Feb 10, 1999 - by Randall F. More

February 10, 1999

Dear United States Senator/Congress Member

I write this letter as a request to you to vote to end Mr. Clinton’s time as President of the United States. (Mr. Clinton should have resigned his office voluntarily and failing that should have been encouraged to resign by congressmen, congresswomen, and senators.)

There is no doubt that the present day United States can survive the Clinton presidency. The most damaging impact, however, of any decision not to expel Mr. Clinton from the highest office in the land will not really be felt until the next generation, maybe not for fifteen or twenty years, when today’s children will be the nation’s educational, business, and political leaders. These children, who are now building their entire system of ethics and values, will have had as one of their ultimate models a President who not only indulged in morally repugnant behaviour but who lied to his family, deceived the American people, lied to the courts, and committed a felony by virtue of his perjury and yet was allowed to remain in office.

Any school principal, college president, military officer, court judge, or corporate company president would be immediately discharged from office for similar conduct. Certainly the President of the United States must be held to a higher standard, not a lower standard! Honesty, integrity, self-discipline, sexual purity, and respect for authority should reign supreme in each of our lives, but most especially in the life of the President. This President has fallen desperately short in each of these fundamental areas.   

Mr. Clinton does not believe that he should be removed from office because his actions do not jeopardize the liberties of the people and do not cause great damage to the nation. Quite to the contrary, Mr. Clinton’s conduct is likely more damaging than most acts of treason. No message could be more wrong or more long term damaging to the nation than to allow Mr. Clinton to remain in office.

It is farcical to have Mr. Clinton paraded on the world stage, an absolute embarrassment to himself and the nation, with all the world aware of his disgusting and reprehensible conduct. Sadly, Mr. Clinton has shown that no man could rightfully even trust his own daughter or wife to Mr. Clinton’s care and yet the welfare of the entire nation is entrusted to this man. There is indeed something seriously wrong! He has violated all normal trusts.

Mr. Clinton has always cast himself as the pro-woman, pro-family advocate and yet his adultery and deception dishonour not only his own wife and daughter and Miss Lewinsky, but all families, daughters, and women everywhere.

For Mr. Clinton to remain in office makes a mockery of the Office of the President, the justice system, the rule of law, and any basic sense of morality. If there is any constitutional impediment whatsoever to Mr. Clinton’s removal from office, it will only be because the framers of the Constitution could never have imagined conduct as abhorrent and disgraceful as that of Mr. Clinton in the highest office in the nation. The precedent that would be set by allowing Mr. Clinton to remain in office is truly horrifying. Lying, cheating, adultery, perjury, and other related conduct behaviour become the new and approved standard for husbands, fathers, and leaders everywhere.

If Mr. Clinton is not removed from office, another appalling precedent will be that there will never again ever be an impeachment of any President. The “hurdle” for performance, behaviour and conduct will have been set so low that even the most pathetic figure could get over it.

To their credit, we should not lose sight of the tremendous graciousness of the American people to forgive Mr. Clinton, but such forgiveness should not nullify the consequence of disqualification from national leadership.

I encourage you, as would millions of others around the world, to do what may not at the outset appear to be politically popular or expedient, but that which is right and proper and for the long term benefit and honour of the nation, to discharge Mr. Clinton from the Office of the President. I believe that ultimately all Americans will be winners as a result of such a decision! Please exercise the necessary leadership for your nation at this important time.

These comments are respectfully submitted for your consideration.

  

Yours truly

Randall F. More, P. Eng.