The RECORD

Table of Contents

1. Living Water
2. Quotations for the Day
3. Controversy Over Venezuelan Oil Grows As Baldacci Administration Prepares to Release Documents to League
4. American Family Association Warns Public on Venezuelan Oil Deals
5. Augusta Still Held Spellbound

LIVING WATER

"Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."

(John 4:11)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"There are in the body politic, economic and social, many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil practice whether in politics, in business or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform or in book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful."

"The highest law of life is the law of worthy effort. The greatest chance that can come to man or woman is the chance to do something worth doing. You have not the right stuff in you if you look back at the easy or effortless days as being the days that were happiest. The days that are happy are the hard days out of which you triumph; the hard days where effort is crowned at the end."

(Theodore Roosevelt)

CONTROVERSY OVER VENEZUELAN OIL GROWS AS BALDACCI ADMINISTRATION PREPARES TO RELEASE DOCUMENTS TO LEAGUE

Contrary to the expectations of the Baldacci administration, the controversy surrounding the deal with Hugo Chavez for discounted heating oil, has resurfaced in the mainstream media. Last week both the Kennebec Journal and the Portland Press Herald came to the Governor's defense, offering articles about the oil deal which amounted to little more than a belated and ineffective effort at damage control.

The Baldacci administration had been counting on the fact that the negative fallout from the oil deal could be contained by a skillful use of spin, but the Governor's efforts to convince the public that the oil deal was harmless seem to be failing miserably.

Earlier last month, the League revealed the existence of a memo from a Baldacci administration aide to the Governor, which recommended that criticism by the public would go away if the Governor kept insisting that the purpose of the deal was "keeping people warm." But in the interim, the Christian Civic League published photos of the Governor and leading Democrats rubbing shoulders with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Then on Sunday, an article on the front page of the Maine Sunday Telegram's "Insight" section carefully detailed how Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez is using windfall profits from the sale of oil to buy arms and to gain influence abroad. The article also related the fact that last year Chavez donned a military uniform to ride with Fidel Castro in an open jeep in a parade through Havana. Worse, it mentioned Governor Baldacci's oil deal in the same context.

Yet the press has been completely silent about the most curious and important aspect of the oil deal with Venezuela, and that is the Governor's secret meeting with Venezuelan officials at the Portland International Jetport on December 13th. Many people have conjectured that the deal for oil was offered in exchange for the Governor's calling for full normalization of relations with Cuba. The Christian Civic League will review documents later this week which may reveal more about the motives behind the meeting.

In the meantime, the Governor, who is already the fourth least popular governor in the U.S., is apparently losing more support, even among Democrats. The editorial cartoon of this week's Maine Sunday Telegram shows the Governor looking worriedly at defecting Democrats -- which is not surprising given that he has committed himself to dealing with two men who are arguably the most outspoken anti-American leaders in the entire world.

AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION WARNS PUBLIC ON VENEZUELAN OIL DEALS

The American Family Association, the organization headed by Don Wildmon, has sent out an e-mail alert to its members warning them of the real motives behind Hugo Chavez's sale of discounted heating oil to the U.S. According to Wildmon, Chavez appeared recently on Venezuelan television with Cindy Sheehan to call for the downfall of the American government. In Chavez's words: "Enough of imperialist aggression! We must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century." After the September 11th attacks, Chavez said "The United States brought the attacks upon itself, because of their arrogant imperialist foreign policy."

Supporters of Chavez's plan to sell discounted heating oil to the U.S. have said that the real motive behind the sale was to promote world revolution.

AUGUSTA STILL HELD SPELLBOUND

In the final analysis, there may be no better adjective to describe Maine than "pure" -- a purity in ideals and principles, a tenderness to family and friends, a high integrity in morals and manners. As much as the modern world makes light of the fact, this emphasis on purity is a legacy handed down to Maine from its Puritan forebears. And of course, the first Puritan settlement in Maine was built not far from Augusta.

But in a world where Freudianism is king, such words as "Puritan" and "Purity" invite open scorn. Contemporary society openly flaunts all aspects of human sexuality without the slightest blush of shame, or the least twinge of conscience, so perhaps we might even call our age "The Age of Impurity."

What our secular, post-Christian, post-modern society has failed to realize, is that in the matter of sexual morality there is no fine line between freedom and licentiousness, tolerance and libertinism. In the absence of clearly-defined limits and obligations, man's fallen nature inclines invariably towards the abyss.

To find proof of this we need look no farther than to the Spellbound lngerie shop on Water Street in Augusta. The behavior of the owner Felicia Stockford has gone from disgraceful, to repugnant, and now can only be called abominable, in the true and proper sense of that word. Her online ravings and rantings have long since left the realm of human sexuality, and now are exploring a darker side of mankind better left to priests, well-trained medical professionals, and yes, even exorcists. It is simply impossible to describe her writings here.

Augusta must do better than to make the dark end of Water Street a landmark for Maine's capital city; or to make activities usually hidden in shadows and the depth of night, a public attraction at all hours of the day. As matters stand, a walk downtown is a chance to see what Felicia Stockford calls her own personal "Sodom and Gomorrah." And now everyone knows what Spellbound is doing is wrong, even Stockford herself.