The paper this Saturday morning tells of a lawsuit filed in Iowa over a 1939 experimental program conducted at the state university in which researchers worked to induce stuttering in the speech patterns of children by abusing them. Setting out to prove that this speech defect is a learned behavior that can be created, these so-called scientists focused on 22 children from a state-controlled orphans home for their research.

For a period of six months, Dr. Wendell Johnson and his staff of pioneers in speech pathology brutalized these children verbally. “Some were subjected to steady harassment, badgering and other negative acts in an attempt to get them to stutter….” One of the children, 84-year-old Hazel Dornbush, said, “It was awful…We had nobody to lean on to help us out.”

The state of Iowa is shelling out nearly a million dollars to these victims. Those that are still alive. Those who can be found.

The program was kept secret for many years and only revealed in a 2001 investigative story published in the San Jose Mercury News. The university apologized, and two years later the lawsuit was filed.

Much too little, way too late, far too awful.

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Leslie D. Weatherhead was a well-known British pastor, who served famous City Temple of London for many years. In 1945, he published a book of the sermons he had delivered to his people during the war that was just concluded. Only the first sermon had this as its title, but the entire book was named “The Significance of Silence.” The book is available online, which is where I found it and learned quickly to treasure its content. (My favorite source of old books– www.alibris.com.)

A pastor friend told me one day that he finds great sermon illustrations from this website, for which I am grateful. Waylon Bailey is going to love these three short vignettes.

About Gratitude

Weatherhead repeats a story Prime Minister Winston Churchill had recently told in a speech, about a sailor who dived into the waters of Plymouth Harbor to rescue a drowning child. Not long after, the sailor bumped into the little boy and his mother in the streets of Plymouth. The child nudged his mother and she stopped the sailor. “Are you the man who pulled my little boy out of the water?” The sailor was glad to acknowledge that he was, and thought possibly the mother might have in mind some kind of reward. “Yes, madam,” he said proudly.

“Then,” said the mother, with fire in her eyes, “where’s his cap?”

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One of the differences in us and China….

The newspaper for Tuesday morning, August 14, 2007, announces that the Chinese manufacturer of the Elmo dolls that have been flagged as dangerous to children, causing a massive recall, has committed suicide. He went down to the plant where the toys were made and hanged himself. The paper says suicide is the common reaction in that country when officials are disgraced.

But not in the good old U.S. of A. No, sirree. Over here, we justify ourselves, minimize our acts, call our misdeeds “a mistake” and “a lapse of judgement,” and count on our naive supporters to immediately forgive us and to rail against anyone who dares call the miscreant what he is–a bum–and urge the fullest penalty the law allows.

Yesterday, in federal court on Poydras Street, Oliver Thomas, at-large councilman for New Orleans, pleaded guilty to receiving nearly $20,000 in kickbacks from Pampy Barre’ in return for his assuring that Pampy kept the contract for managing three parking lots in the Quarter. Okay, he confessed. That’s good. Something our embattled Congressman William Jefferson hasn’t had the courage to do, even though he also was nabbed red-handed with audio tapes and the bribe money in his freezer.

U.S. Federal Judge Sarah Vance gave Oliver Thomas the what-for yesterday, calling this a “body blow to a community that is already reeling under a wave of public corruption.” She added, “If this city is ever to recover, we have to have an end to this type of venality.”

(I had to look it up. Venality– a noun referring to selling one’s services for misdeeds. Corruption due to bribery.)

Which raises the question: did Thomas put so little value on his integrity that he sold it–and the public trust, not to mention his political career–for less than $20,000?

The line, quoted here a few weeks ago, from “A Man for All Seasons,” comes to mind. Thomas More says to Richard Rich, “Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world–but for Wales?”

For $20,000?

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Something happened Tuesday at the pastors luncheon at Victory Fellowship, something I cannot get out of my mind.

A radio personality and evangelist from Dallas who has New Orleans on her heart and who now has a radio program on local Christian station Lifesongs 89.1, is calling for a full day of prayer and fasting on behalf of the needed revival in this city. (I’ll try to find more information and post at the end of this article–or amend this part of the article.) Her group has secured the Morial Convention Center for that day and they are expecting 10,000 people to fill the arena. She told of various important leaders who will be leading in prayer throughout the day.

Now, I have not met the lady, share her burden for revival in this city, and hope the day is a great success. But when it comes to filling the huge auditorium that day, I cannot advise her on how to accomplish it, but I can sure tell her how NOT to fill it.

You don’t fill an arena that size by announcing it on the radio. You don’t fill it by promoting it with local ministers. You don’t fill it with billboards and newspaper ads. You don’t fill it by spending large amounts of money getting the word out. You don’t fill it by getting the pastors to announce the gathering to their people and printing it in their church bulletins. And, if it doesn’t sound like heresy, I’ll go so far as to say you don’t fill it by getting on your knees and praying for hours that believers from local churches will have their hearts broken for revival and pack out that place.

As important as all of these may be, that’s not how it’s done.

You can do all these things and more, then walk into the arena that day to find 200 people sitting there.

I know this from sad experience.

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City councilman Oliver Thomas, widely known as a good guy to everyone down here, is the latest politician to be caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Sunday morning’s headline reads, “Thomas expected to plead guilty,” except it was in all caps. Underneath: “Alleged shakedown involved parking contracts,” and “Convicted restaurateur Stan ‘Pampy’ Barre’ tipped off the feds.’

The lead paragraph calls this “the most dramatic development to date in a sprawling probe of corruption in New Orleans city government.” The senior member of the City Council, Thomas has 13 years of service, and is in his second term as one of two ‘at large’ members. He has been vocal about the foolish statements of our mayor, about the crime problem in New Orleans, and about the need for better leadership. Most had speculated he would run for mayor next time around.

Turns out, any running he will do will be around the yard at the big house.

Pampy Barre’ has had his sentencing delayed while he cooperates with the local U.S. attorney’s office. Apparently when it became obvious he was going down, he decided to take some of the local hypocrites with him, particularly if it would ease his own time away from home. Barre’ owned a parking company which won the rights to manage three city-owned lots in the French Quarter, but with the understanding that Oliver Thomas would receive a kickback. No word yet as to the amount of money we’re talking about.

Sunday morning, I sent this “letter to the editor” of our newspaper: “Could we have a new law that says whenever a leader violates the public trust, the level of punishment he or she is given will be determined by the public outrage over their misdeeds. If we get such a law, we can safely predict that some of our crooked politicians will never see the light of day again.”

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With Freddie Arnold accompanying the “Unlimited Partnership” members on a get-acquainted trek to Jackson, MS, Nashville, TN, and Alpharetta, GA, the office was much less busy than normal. Freddie’s grandson, Zac, who was born with spinal bifida and is now perhaps 16 years old, had emergency surgery Tuesday night at Children’s Hospital, and was much on our hearts this week.

I spoke at Florida Boulevard Baptist Church in Baton Rouge on Thursday, was interviewed on Moody radio on Friday morning as a result of a recent blog titled “Tolerance and Faithfulness,” and Saturday afternoon, attended the rededication of Poydras Baptist Church, beautifully redone since Katrina. Seminary students are arriving in the city daily and many are calling for appointments to bring their resumes by, wanting to be considered by churches looking for pastors or staffers. Tuesday night, I “worked” at a neighborhood meeting as a part of the national “night out against crime,” and on Saturday night, attended the New Orleans Zephyrs Triple-A baseball game against the Roundrock Express, with my son and grandchildren.

Easily, the high point of my week was four prayers.

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“The thing to bear in mind,” I told him, “is that God doesn’t mind troubling you. Not at all.”

“Well,” he said, “there must be some good reason behind it. It sure doesn’t make sense to me.”

I said, “So, your neighbor is harassing you.”

“Persecuting is more like it. He throws beer cans into my yard. He has stood in his front yard cursing me, not 15 feet away. And I mean, bad cursing, of the worst kind. I was embarrassed for the other neighbors to hear it. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

“What do you think is behind it?”

“I’ve tried to find out. I even called the guy who owned my house before me, to see if he had acted that way with him. He hadn’t. In fact, he said the neighbor was always easy to get along with. Made me wonder if we were talking about the same person.”

“Are you sure you haven’t done something to set him off?”

“I’ve racked my brain. I’ve even asked another neighbor, Bob up the street. Bob’s known him for years and just says he’s weird and I shouldn’t take it personally. It’s hard not to, especially since it just seems to be me.”

“I may have an idea. It’s very possible that it’s all about God.”

“Say what?”

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“I thought it was over,” he said. “But they’ve made it worse.”

He had pastored in our town, then moved to another state. From the occasional reports he sent our way, it seemed a great match, him and that church. Once when I dropped by to visit him, on my way somewhere else, he told of record numbers of people coming to worship, joining the church, and being baptized. Then, abruptly, the church leadership turned on him and forced him out.

On this day, he sat in my office and told what happened.

“I’m a hugger,” he said. “And someone circulated the rumor that I had inappropriately hugged some lady. They wouldn’t even tell me who it was so I could defend myself. They just wanted me out.”

I said, “Who wanted you out?”

“A good number of the deacons and their wives. Not all of them. In fact, when I resigned, the chairman and vice-chairman resigned with me, in protest. They’ve joined another church in the next town.”

“That’s a good sign,” I said. “Of what?” he asked.

“That they thought you were being unfairly treated.”

“Oh, I was that. That’s the whole point of my coming to see you, to ask you what you think I ought to do. The entire thing was a put-up job from start to finish.”

“What do you think was behind it?”

He was quiet a moment, then said, “All you have to do is look at their record. This church has had 10 pastors in the last 25 years. Counting the months in between, that figures out to about 2 years each man. Barely time to get your bags unpacked and the pictures hung.”

“What’s the problem, do you think?”

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Nothing like an eight-year-old kid to put you in your place.

At Neil’s request, I was drawing people tonight, Tuesday, at the Delta neighborhood monthly meeting. I sketched people of all ages before, during, and after the session at which a police officer responded to questions about neighborhood safety. At one point, I was surrounded by a group of children from 8 to perhaps 12, basically entertaining them quietly in the rear of the room while the meeting went on.

Eight-year-old Matthew told me he loves to draw. “While you’re not doing anything,” he said, “can you teach me to cartoon?” Yeah, right. It takes years, kid. I gave him a pen and some paper, and sketched out a horse for him.

“Look at that,” he said. “I could never draw a horse. And here some old guy draws me a horse.”

I’m still smiling at that.

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The front page of Time for August 13, 2007, features what surely must be the simplest picture ever to adorn that celebrated magazine’s cover–a grassy levee atop which is something that looks like a concrete wall. “Special Report: Why New Orleans Still Isn’t Safe” crosses the top of the page. In the center, filling the sky, so to speak, we find this:

“Two years after Katrina, this floodwall is all that stands between New Orleans and the next hurricane. It’s pathetic. How a perfect storm of big money politics, shoddy engineering and environmental ignorance is setting up the city for another catastrophe.”

Pathetic? That’s putting it out there.

We reported here a few days ago that the August issue of the National Geographic deals with the same subject. One obvious difference is that the Geographic’s photographs were better, in color, and bigger, more striking. But they make the same point. This city faces big trouble.

The article, written by Michael Grunwald, establishes right off the bat something the people down here have been trying to get across to our friends in the nation’s Capitol:

“The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn’t a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics. Katrina was not the Category 5 killer the Big Easy had always feared; it was a Category 3 storm that missed New Orleans, where it was at worst a weak 2. The city’s defenses should have withstood its surges, and if they had we never would have seen the squalor in the Superdome, the desperation on the rooftops, the shocking tableau of the Mardi Gras city underwater for weeks.”

Grunwald says FEMA got the blame, but the culprit was the Corps of Engineers. He says American citizens were outraged by the government’s poor response to the disaster, but they have yet to deal with the government’s responsibility for the mess.

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