Sunday, August 30, 2009

We Have It Backwards

I have had my fill of Kennedy coverage. Even the conservative news sites I visit seemed to be 99% coverage of Edward Kennedy's home going. Some of the people who are viewed as conservative, had much to say about what a great man he was. They talked of his "legacy." Just what kind of legacy did he leave behind? This "great" man?

I got an email that outlined what kind of man he was. I knew some of this, but this is the kind of man the world lauds and spends hours of coverage honoring:


1.) He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it.
He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate
to cheat for him.


2.) While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops! The man can't count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was raging. No preferential
treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).


3.) Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!


4.) While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!


5.) In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and
hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?


6.) On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.


7.) He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the . According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had scratched at the
upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car.
The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family before an could be conducted.
Further details are uncertain, but after the Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an , and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.... a "token of friendship"?


8.) Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S.
immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for
immigrants from third world countries..


9.) Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he was the standard bearer for the nation in matters of ³what¹s right². What a pompous ass!


10.) He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud,
boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better
description than "great American". "A in every pond" is his motto.


Doesn't sound like the kind of man that deserves all of this adulation to me. Not mentioned above, he was 100% pro-abortion - and no person who is an actual Christian would champion that cause - and pro-gay. He was for everything Christians and conservatives are against.

I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem there was this much adulation and coverage when Reagan died, who truly was a great man.

We do have it backwards in this country, and worldwide. Much is made of the deaths of corrupt individuals like Kennedy and Michael Jackson, while countless good people are dying, and no one notices.

I am reminded of the story of a missionary who was returning by ship to America after a life on the mission field. A famous individual was also arriving on the same ship, and crowds of people had turned out to see that person home. No one was there to welcome the missionary. He was feeling rather badly about it, and his wife pointed out that he wasn't home yet. How true.

These wicked individuals like Jackson and Kennedy are going to get their best home going here. For the Christian, no matter how inconspicuous or lowly, if we are faithful, will get a homecoming that is truly out of this world, when we arrive in Heaven. The welcome we receive there will make the homecoming of Kennedy seem like child's play in comparison.

And a note in closing, I know it is entirely possible for anyone to ask God for forgiveness at the very end of life, and be granted it, as God is merciful, but often the way men live, is the way they die.

2 comments:

Craig and Heather said...

And a note in closing, I know it is entirely possible for anyone to ask God for forgiveness at the very end of life, and be granted it, as God is merciful, but often the way men live, is the way they die.

I'm glad you added that last comment. Often, "lifer" Christians behave as the hired hands in the vineyard parable and think that we *deserve* to get into heaven but "thief on the cross" sorts have justly garnered God's righteous wrath. And that just isn't true. We ALL deserve His wrath, and have no right to say "Hey, that guy wasted his life and shouldn't be allowed!"

On the other hand, I am also sickened by society's tendency to focus commendation on the God-mocking lifestyles and decisions of such people.

It reminds me of: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

Collectively, the United States has been sucked deep into the mire of humanism. Our society has replaced God's standards with man's and told Him "no thanks, we don't like Your terms--in fact, we don't even believe You exist!"

Woe to those of us who join in the celebration of a life that was granted (and sustained)by God yet was, by all appearances, used to defy Him.



Heather
:o(

~Brenda said...

I am in complete agreement. I heard, on Christian (Christian!!!) radio yesterday, two men who have a regular show and are very well known in the Christian realm, talking about what a great person Kennedy was in his personal life. Then they proceeded to list things that he had done for people.

I just wanted to shout out, "Well, if that's what he was banking on to get him into Heaven - good luck!"

Shame on Christians who promote God-hating politicians. I'm sick of it!

Gosh. Thanks for gettin' me all worked up, Mark. lol

~Brenda