Tuesday, July 31, 2007

A War We Just Might Win

If you have not yet read the New York Times article A War We Just Might Win by Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, please do so now. These gentlemen have been critics of the War in Iraq although, as some have pointed out, they have not been stridently anti-war. I don't think that that undermines their credibility, since the strident anti-war folks would never, ever consider anything to be evidence of progress no matter how hard they have to suck on their Everlasting Gobstoppers of Denial.

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One Man's Felony Is Another Man's Art

Dennis Prager's article, Why Islamophobia Is a Brilliant Term, points out the intellectual disconnect of criminalizing the placing of a Koran in a toilet while considering a crucifix in a jar of urine "art". The only permissible religious intolerance is the intolerance of conservative Christianity.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Dispatch #1 from Bizzaro World

On July 22, 2007, the online version of the Oregonian reported that two 13-year old boys were being charged with sex abuse for running through the halls swatting the backsides of girls. They were initially charged with felony abuse, but the charges have since been reduced to 10 misdemeanor charges. The boys face up to 10 years in juvenile detention plus being listed on the sex offender registry for the rest of their lives!

To highlight the outrageous actions in this case, here are a few excerpts from the article:

...a teacher's aide sent the gawky seventh-graders to the office, where the vice principal and a police officer stationed at the school soon interrogated them. After hours of interviews with students the day of the February incident, the officer read the boys their Miranda rights and hauled them off in handcuffs to juvenile jail, where they spent the next five days.
The records show that other students, boys and girls, were slapping one another's bottoms. Two of the girls identified as victims have recanted, saying they felt pressured and gave false statements to interrogators.
Certainly, bottom slapping was against school policy and the school may have been justified in suspending the boys. However, having them hauled off in handcuffs and thrown in jail for five days is INSANE! Especially when you consider the fact that the other boys AND GIRLS were doing the same thing and were apparently not charged. If that weren't repugnant enough, two of the "victims" now say they felt pressured (presumably by the police or District Attorney) and ended up giving false testimony.

What kind of world is it where middle school horseplay is treated as if it were a crime?

It's Bizzaro World.


HT: Prager

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Lincoln on Aging

"Every one desires to live long,
but no one would be old."


BrainyQuote.com

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Monday, July 23, 2007

Let's Play Find the Gospel #2

"We've got music. Yes we do.
We've got music. How 'bout you?"



Brother Jed on Krishna

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But They Meant Well

The consequences of knee-jerk, politically-correct, compassion once again rears its ugly head. The following excerpt is from a Washington Post report courtesy of MSNBC.com:

A decade-long, global push to provide infant formula to mothers with the AIDS virus had backfired in Botswana, leaving children more vulnerable to other, more immediately lethal diseases, the U.S. team found after investigating the outbreak at the request of Botswana's government.

The findings joined a growing body of research suggesting that supplying formula to mothers with HIV -- an effort led by global health groups such as UNICEF -- has cost at least as many lives as it has saved. The nutrition and antibodies that breast milk provide are so crucial to young children that they outweigh the small risk of transmitting HIV, which researchers calculate at about 1 percent per month of breast-feeding.
I am not against taking sensible and reasoned steps to deal with the AIDS problem. However, when reason is cast aside in favor of Western Liberal feel-good decision making, bad things are likely to happen...and no one will take responsiblity. Shoulders will be shrugged and criticism will be deflected by the armor of good intentions. Other than the HIV-positive mothers, who will weep for the children who died unnecessarily in Botswana?

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

Standing Up For Victory

The following is from a comment on my post , For Your Consideration, in which I encouraged you to check out Vets For Freedom. I thought it deserved a post of it's own:

Thanks so much for blogging on Vets For Freeedom’s efforts. They’ve done an awesome job the past few weeks. I invite you and your readers to join us at Move America Forward as we launch our national, cross-country “Fight for Victory Tour” this September 3 - 15 ending in DC where we’ll have a rally with a collection of pro-troop groups including Vets for Freedom, Gathering of Eagles, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Free Republic, Protest Warriors and others. It’s a vital time for us to be mobilized and speaking out and it’s for such a just, worthy, noble, and pertinent cause. So let’s kick some butt and stand up to those who wish to force surrender terms upon our troops! http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org

Joe Wierzbicki

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Interesting Piano

This guy has way too much free time.


I Want You To Be My Love by Over the Rhine



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For Your Consideration

Take a look at Vets For Freedom. They may be worth your time and treasure.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Let's Play Find the Gospel #1

Brother Jed on Michael Jackson

*** WARNING***
Contains frank (though not vulgar) discription of lewd behavior.



I do find this video funny in a ridiculous sort of way. However, it also reminds me that, for many of those who are in the crowd, this guy may be their only exposure to Christianity. I don't doubt that God can and will use even this guy to reach people, but good grief!

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The World Revolves Around Meme

I really hate those emails that get passed around in which the recipient is admonished to forward the email to at least ten others or risk angering the Furies. If that were true I should have been a crispy critter a long time ago. I don't have quite that much disdain for the meme phenomena, which is why I decided to take my tagging like a man. So here goes:


Name a song...

... that was big part of your childhood.
The Banana Splits Theme

... that makes you cry.
I'm Not In Love by 10cc (Big boys don't cry).

... that reminds you of a former love.
Someone Saved My Life Tonight by Elton John.

... that reminds you of a friend.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears For Fears. (This one's for you, Max)

... that is stuck in your head right now.
Black Horse & The Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall.

... that makes you laugh.
Political Science by Randy Newman.

... that reminds you of a bad time in your life.
A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum

... that you would dedicate to a friend.
Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me by Buck Owens & Roy Clark. (You know who you are.)

... that makes you smile.
The Poopsmith Song by Over the Rhine

... that you never want to hear again.
Anything by Rod Stewart.

... that you would like to have played at your wedding
Pledge My Head to Heaven by Keith Green.

... that reminds you of your teenage years.
Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees.

... that you would love to hear upon awakening.
I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash.

... that reminds you of your first major crush.
Hot For Teacher by Van Halen. (Okay, it was Kindergarten but a crush is a crush.)

... that you loved from your parents' record collection.
Car-Car and Jesus Met the Woman from the album "Peter, Paul & Mary In Concert".

... that you think the video was better than the song.
Thriller by Michael Jackson.

... that reminds you of your current s.o. or spouse.
Unfortunately, I don't even have an insignificant other.

... that you think was better as a remake than the original.
Joe Cocker's remake of Randy Newman's You Can Leave Your Hat On.

... that you're embarrassed for liking.
Hand In My Pocket by Alanis Morissette.

... that makes you think of sex.
I try not to think about it.

... that you could have written.
Abracadabra by Steve Miller.

... that makes you sad.
The Path of Thorns (Terms) by Sarah McLachlan.

... that fires you up.
If I Had a Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn.

... that makes you want to dance.
Mysterious Ways by U2.

... that you listened to most recently.
Suitcase by Over the Rhine.

... that sums up your way of looking at life.
Alive by P.O.D.


I now pass the meme baton to Mr. Cognito.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Lincoln on Books



"
Books serve to show a man that
those original thoughts of his
aren't very new at all."


BrainyQuote.com

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Sounds Like Winning To Me

Jack Kelly asks the question, "Is Al Qaeda On the Run?" in his article on RCP. Whether it's Ramadi or Baquba, Al Qaeda terrorists seem to either be on the run, captured or dead. Our fine military may not have achieved victory yet, but it seems clear that they are winning.

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Comfortably Dumb

In his article entitled Blissfully Uneducated, classics professor and author Victor Davis Hanson explains why so many Americans have difficulty in dealing with the great issues of our time.


HT: RCP

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Sunday, July 08, 2007

Lincoln on Women

"A woman is the only thing I am afraid of
that I know will not hurt me."


BrainyQuote.com

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These Go To Eleven

I noticed that the faux rock band Spinal Tap performed at Live Earth. (There's some irony in that, I think.) It reminded me of some of my favorite moments in the "rockumentary", This is Spinal Tap:

Nigel Tufnel gives away Spinal Tap's secret to being the loudest band:

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Dying Drummers

And one more classic scene from This is Spinal Tap:

Spinal Tap on the short life expectancy of their drummers:

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Free Online Books

You can access quite a few online books for free courtesy of our friends at Monergism.com. The only catch is that you need to be interested in reading about Christianity and Theology. Authors include Augustine, John Owen, F. F. Bruce, A. W. Pink, Dostoevsky, John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, C. H. Spurgeon, B. B. Warfield, Charles Hodge, Martin Luther, George Whitefield, to name a few.


What is monergism?

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A Stark Comparison

In his Weekly Standard article, Of Senators and Soldiers, William Kristol juxtaposes the vertebrally-challenged Republican Senators Domenici, Voinovich, Warner and Lugar with the brave and honorable soldiers carrying out their mission in Iraq. (You remember Voinovich, don't you? He was brought to tears by the idea of fellow Republican John Bolton representing the U.S.A. at the United Nations.) Needless to say, the Senators don't fare well in this match-up.

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Just Add Water

Things you CAN'T do when you're NOT in a pool...






HT: Lord Byron

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Monday, July 02, 2007

Making Up for Lost Time

Much has happened in the last 9 months:

  • The 2008 Presidential circus is underway much earlier that ever before - thank you McCain-Feingold (and President Bush for signing the stupid thing). Now that only millionaires can afford to run for office, children can dream about being a contestant on American Idol instead of President.
  • General Petraeus, widely acknowledged as the military insurgency expert, was put in charge of the war effort in Iraq. Harry Reid, the Democrat Majority Leader, wasted no time in claiming that the General was incompetent and a failure. Harry Reid, who is an expert in incompetence and failure, ought to recognized it when he sees it, right?
  • Paris Hilton (you don't know how much it pains me to even mention her name) has been all over the news. This, coupled with the decrease in reporting from Iraq, is clearly the best evidence that the Troop Surge orchestrated by General Petraeus is working.
  • Presidential hopeful John Edwards (millionaire trial lawyer), has assured us that the Global War on Islamic Radicalism is just a figment of President Bush's imagination. I suppose the recent Al Qaida-linked attacks in London and Scotland are just a figment of his imagination, too.
  • Speaking of John Edwards, do we really want a President who can't figure out that when you're paying $400 for a haircut - any haircut - you're getting ripped off?
  • When the price of gas goes up 15 cents a gallon, why do people complain about "Big Oil" and ignore "Big Government" who taxes us 25 cents or MORE per gallon? Here in Minnesota, our Democrat-run Legislature decided that we weren't paying enough in gas taxes and tried to raise them even more! Well, who can blame them. They're just doing what they always do: Tax, tax, tax.
  • In the wake of the failed bi-partisan Senatorial plot to leave the US borders open to illegal immigration, Republicans Trent Lott and Lindsey Graham aparently the only fences they're willing to build is between themselves and members of their own party. Instead of trying to unite the Republican Party, they lashed out at "talk radio" and those of us who believe this country should control its borders. Get used to the title Minority Whip, Trent.
Well, in the words of Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

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Lincoln on Doing What's Right

"Let us have faith that right makes might;
and in that faith let us to the end,
dare to do our duty as we understand it."


Quotations at About.com

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