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A vehicle for venting on philosophy, religion, and the general state of things. Proprietor: C. W. Powell

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

We're all supposed to be dead by now - The Washington Times: Pruden on Politics: " Here's what my Internet correspondent reminded me of (and if you see it on the Internet, it must be so):
'According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s probably shouldn't have survived. Our mothers put us in cribs covered with bright-colored lead-based paint.
'There were no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bicycles into traffic (bike paths were unheard of), we had no helmets. If we didn't feel like pumping a bike up the hills, we could always hitch a ride with strangers. There were no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was particularly special.
'We drank water from an old garden hose, not from a bottle. One bottle of bellywash could be shared with up to four friends, drinking from the bottle, and no one died.
'We gorged on cakes, pies, candy, bread and butter, and anything we could find with lots of sugar in and on it, and we were never overweight because we were always running through the 'hood. "

I can add that I have lived through the frights over nuclear holocaust with backyard bomb shelters [a must item in the 60's], fears over the coming ice age cause by global cooling, the Red Scare focusing on Ike who was a conscious member of the communist conspiracy according to Robert Welch, the dread of a silent spring where no birds would sing because they would all be dead by pollutants in the air and water, overpopulation so that there would be no room for us to stand on this cold and polluted and starving planet, global warming evidenced by snowstorms and hurricanes so that we would all fry, and worry about lesser matters like meteor or planetoid crashes into the earth or the sun burning out or exploding. Guns were an especially evil and needed to be confiscated--or at least licensed and tightly controlled before they ganged up on humans and spread death and misery everywhere. But the scares sold newspapers, magazines, and provided jobs for people who couldn't find anything useful to do except scare people. The scare-mongers wanted a monopoly on the scare business so they warned about preachers who spoke of divine judgment and hell fire. The scare-mongers only feared personal hells, not collective ones. In the churches the trouble was with the organs and long sermons---these were replaced by guitars and women giving "devotionals." After all, doctrine divides good human beings and brings war and hatred. Let's see who can show the most love by believing as little as possible.

After all, the world is a stinking place, and the only way to postpone the Horror, the Horror, is to catch a little love somewhere and to have someone who is easy on the mind. It wouldn't matter where you found the love, because true love will be willing to let the bird go, so you can have her if you can catch her. The greatest fear of all is to entangle your life with "commitments" for they just drag you down and get in the way of what you might want to do. How can I be true to myself if I constantly make commitments to others? A person did not fear the disgrace if he was a liar, an adulterer, a sodomite, or a prolific producer of bastard children. The f- word gained respectability, but if a person used the n- word you were dead, which you also were if you called a football player a little monkey, a term used by Howard Cosell, a term which he also used with respect to his grandchildren. The greatest fear was not to conform to the prevailing standards of non-conformity and social correctness, which imposed a societal strait-jacket worse than all the landed gentry of Europe in the last five centuries.

The only thing we had to fear was fear itself, and there were a great many people who made careers by junk science and phony "studies," financed by government, to make us afraid of things we had never thought of before. We wouldn't listen to our mothers who tried to make us put our galoshes on, but we meekly surrendered to seat belts and other meddling from the Nanny State. See my article on the Nanny Church in the Nanny State.

Yep, it's a wonder any of us is alive. Some of us aren't. I remember a boy I went to school with who burned himself up about 50 years ago while stealing gasoline from a farm vehicle. Another boy drank himself to death. They didn't listen to their mothers or fathers, but that generation seemed to surrender without a struggle to the Nanny State, buying into the propaganda that bureaucrats know what is best. They hated their mothers and fathers and surrendered liberty without a peep to governments. After all, they were an enlightened bunch who were assured that they were the first to walk the earth who knew what was wrong with the world and that they would fix it up to be safe for everyone, especially for those who didn't seem to care much about the Ten Commandments.

Solomon said it best, Proverbs 12:10 "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." A good man will be recognized even by the animals he owns, but the tender mercies of the ungodly unhinge everyone around them. If we have many more tender mercies from this crowd who are experts on what we are to be afraid of, none of us will survive. Let us follow the example of Nehemiah and "chase them from us." Nehemiah 13:28

Don't despise small things. That butterfly flapping its wings in Moldavia might very well cause a hurricane in Miami. I, for one, will keep my wings flapping as long as I can.

Monday, December 29, 2003

Concerned Women for America - Short-Circuited Reasoning and Obstructionist Filibustering: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is the largest federal court of appeals and holds a big record—it's been overturned more times than pancakes at IHOP. Sometimes its rulings are so outlandish that even liberal Democrats express 'outrage.' Truth is, the activist judges on the circuit court are exactly the kind of judges who liberal democrats consider 'mainstream.' They want judges who will change public policy in ways that the majority of legislators and the public oppose, and they're willing to let the judges take the heat for it. "

This kookie bunch will continue to be kookie until more republican votes are gained in the Senate, so that those who spit at the constitution by filibustering judges are defeated.

Yahoo! News - N.H. Judge Nixes Abortion Notification: "The New Hampshire law requires abortion providers to notify at least one parent at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor. The parent would not have to approve the abortion. Alternatively, the girl could asked a judge for permission, which would have to be granted if the girl was mature enough or the abortion was in her best interest. "

How unreasonable! to require that parents be notified before an abortion. Parents certainly are less concerned about the health of their children than judges are. Any fool knows that.
NYPress - Cage Match - Matt Taibbi - Vol. 16, Iss. 51: "Non-believers in America are far too polite, which will prove to be their undoing. There is a reason why the life of a typical atheist family resembles the Marshall-Will-and-Holly model from Land of the Lost. They live in caves, only venturing out for food and water, conceding the entire plush territory to T-Rex and the idiotic Sleestack. A guilty conscience prevents them from taking positive steps to change the situation: We're only here by mistake, it was our own fault for rafting down those rapids, this is their world, not ours..."

Oh, we hadn't noticed the poor plight of the atheists. But Taibbi and his buddies should remember the words of Christ, that it is rather foolish to venture out to war without counting the cost. Atheism exists because of the tolerance of Christians, who overwhelmingly in America would oppose any kind of government establishment of religion. We are content to compete in the marketplace of ideas. Atheism is so unreasonable and destructive that in only attracts a few misfits, who are usually unable even to catechise their own children in the "principles" of atheism.

Atheism never wins a permanent victory in the public forum of ideas. It seems to gain ascendency when people are angry and discontented. It is one of those irrational forces that sometimes sweep like an irational wind through the minds of people who are angry and discontented. It is always established by force and persecution, as in the old Soviet Union, present-day China [though it is slipping there], and American public schools.

Of course, Taibbi considers himself among the "smart people" who are being victimized by the likes of Billy Graham. That's the trouble with atheists, for he can never really engage the argument, for he has defined his opponent away as stupid.

You see, Billy and Franklin Graham may be wrong about some things, but they are not stupid, and Christians in America are not stupid. But Christians don't really have to worry about such people as Taibbi, unless they wield power. The fact that atheists like Taibbi can flourish in a society "dominated" by Christians gives the lie to what Taibbi says. Christians have never flourished in societies ruled by the sword of atheism. The Christians and their kindness have permitted his sort simply because of the teachings of Christ, which he despises: "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

I do not know a Christian who expresses the hostility toward non-Christians--even atheists--that Taibbi expresses. Sure, we try to convert them, but that is because we want them to be better, not degraded and destroyed.

But if you don't think that the persecution of Christians is just over the horizon, read Taibbi article again.


No history, no study, no debate: "THE ASSOCIATED PRESS and various newspapers reported this month that UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center released a 'study' that recommended allowing California's 4.6 million noncitizens to vote in local elections.
But there was no study. There was no new research or in-depth information. There was a Latino Policy & Issue Brief written by UCLA law professor Joaquin C. Avila. The brief cited census data that found that noncitizen adults comprise large portions of California municipalities -- such as 32 percent of Los Angeles -- and then concluded that 'a substantial number of persons, who contribute to our economy and our government's revenues, are being denied political representation' -- which he dubbed 'political apartheid.' "

This is the way more and more "scholarship" is performed these days. The scientific world is so corrupt, espcially in the social science fields and the humanities that what passes for scientific scholarship is merely the issuing of opinions and decrees. If someone feels it necessary to support his/her/its opinion, there is simply an appeal to some junk "pseudo-science"

Of course, if there is no objective truth with reference in the Creator, then there is nothing but opinion and subjective desire. True science, which is knowledge of the truth, is distinguished from opinion by the very existence of objective truth. How is opinion to be judged, if not by objective truth. Of course, you can always appeal to the sword or bombs. That's what Islam has done as it has increasingly lost the intellectual arguments. But this is hardly science.

Reminds me of some of the neanderthal types that inhabited the school playground when I was a boy. Their idea of discussion was to ask, "Wanna fight about it?" No one did, of course. They were too big and brawny, having been held back two or three grades. You had to know something in order to pass your grade in those days.

Oh well.
We may very well be entering a post-Western-European age in World History. As European nations have departed from Christianity they have become increasingly irrelevant. Christianity is much more vital in Korea, and Eastern Europe than it is in Western Europe.

This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Asian forces in Iraq signal global shift | csmonitor.com: "But the worries over unpleasant exchanges with France and Germany overshadowed the fact that many other European countries had joined the 'coalition of the willing.' Besides the 12,000 troops from Britain, other Europeans that contributed to the multinational force include Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Spain, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. And logistical support is provided by Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.
Yet, while editorial writers and politicians anguished over the Bush administration's insensitivities toward the French and the Germans, US allies in Asia were stepping up to the plate."

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Message received: 'America wins': "Meanwhile, in Group C are all those who acknowledge that America has won swift victories in Afghanistan and Iraq but that they're meddling with ancient, complex cultural forces that will come back to bite them in the butt. Whatever gets you through the night, boys. One can't help noticing that, despite innumerable warnings from these Western defeatists about the folly of provoking the incendiary ''Arab street,'' the Arab street is now in the third year of its deep slumber. It may be that Osama is just very cunningly ''lying low,'' but, with each passing month, the reason he's lying low is more and more likely to be due to an inability to get up again"
Hurray for Time Magazine. [Never thought I would say that] But then, we know that Hitler and other monsters have won man of the year, so the choice doesn't mean the magazine approves of the military.

But Austin Bay makes a good point: the peaceniks never liberated the Nazi concentration camps nor delivered anyone else from slavery. Those who won't fight for liberty will not keep it. The Pope said that war solves nothing. Tell that to the inhabitants of the Nazi slave camps. And tell that to the slaves that rotted in the Gulag waiting for those who never came.

HoustonChronicle.com - Bay: Prepared for war and peace on Earth: "me Magazine has given its 2003 Person of the Year award to The American Soldier. "

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Animals, and certainly humans, are the best judge of what makes them happy. This whale would have been better left in Mexican amusement park.

Op-Ed Contributor: ’Willy’ Didn’t Yearn to Be Free: "Keiko should probably never have been removed from his native pod. But, once that was done, nothing in his story suggests that this highly social mammal, imprinted on humans at an early age, was a serious candidate for return to the rough and tumble of life on the ocean waves. It is a classic anthropomorphic fallacy to believe that an animal's best interests are whatever a human would desire under similar circumstances.

In his latest domicile, Keiko was supported by an international team of experts who fed him dead herring at an annual cost of over half a million dollars and worked feverishly to continue to 'free' him. Despite all the money, time and sincere effort, Keiko did not die in the company of his own species, but up against a pier, seeking human consolation. "
A good article by Michael Novak on the truth of the Chistmas message. Not a perfect article, but a good one. Every Christian should rejoice that subjects that were out of the public agenda before 9/11 are back in the public eye. Are all faiths equally valid. Unbelievers like Dawkins would say that they are all equally spurious, that only his faith in science is valid. Those who piously hold irrationally to the validity of the objective "truth" of science are rabidly intolerant of those who disagree. Those who deny moral truth and think that the spirit of man is the activity of chemicals and molecules are the dangerous ones, but they will disappear in the religious wars of the 21st century, wars that began ib 9/11. See my article on Where Is the Soul?

Michael Novak on Christmas on National Review Online: "Recently, British scientist Richard Dawkins was described as 'an atheist, and a strenuous and militant and proud one.' (One does not hear often of humble atheists, but they do appear.) 'He thinks religious belief is a dangerous virus, and that it is a crime to infect the mind of a child with it.' He calls religions 'dangerous collective delusions' and 'sinks of falsehood.' He especially regrets the public influence of religion: 'He is made apoplectic by the pontifications of religious 'leaders' on such questions as whether human clones would be fully human.' For Dawkins, in short, 'Religion is superstition, like astrology, alternative medicine, and the rest.'"
The Eighth Commandment assures us that profits are right and moral if they be achieved without deceit or coercion. Wealth is the gift of God, who distributes His blessings according to His own purposes and plan.

Larry Kudlow: The Power of Profits: "Corporate profits are the mother's milk of business. Rising profits lead to business expansion, and falling profits lead to business recession. And right now profits are flowing in, yet another affirmation that the Bush boom is for real and that new jobs are on the way. "
What a great time to be an American!! Especially a Christian American, for it is from the Lord Jesus that all our blessings flow.

Paul Crespo: Hussein capture, Gadhafi move are `geopolitically significant': "Jerusalem -- It has been a great week for the United States and an extraordinary time to be in Israel. The amazing capture of the Butcher of Baghdad in a rat-hole near Tikrit was followed quickly by the surprise pronouncement of Libya's terrorist leader, Moammar Gadhafi, exposing his secret and well-developed weapons of mass destruction program and promising to dismantle it.

While some have tried to downplay the importance of Saddam Hussein's capture and have misjudged the lessons learned from Gadhafi's sudden WMD surrender, both are geopolitically significant.
These events are already sending shock waves worldwide. Their effect is especially evident here in Israel, where some argue that by reinforcing the American and Israeli strategic position regionally, they may help resuscitate the moribund peace process. The terrorize-and-wait strategy of the increasingly isolated Yasser Arafat is crumbling. "
What a great article from a great American citizen, who happens to be black. This read is a MUST! Click on the link below. Democratic liberals better wake up and smell the bacon--the black vote will undergo a dramatic shift in the next few decades. Our black citizens who want to get off the plantation of democratic racism [the party of Jim Crow, remember] need to take a look at fifty years of Democratic paternalism and condescension.

Larry Elder: Christmas encounter with a 'radical socialist': "This country allowed my father, a child of the Depression who never knew his biological father, to overcome Southern racism through pride, hard work and focus. My entrepreneurial-minded dad applied for a taxi license in a Southern court but was denied by the judge, who referred to my father as 'a nigger.'"

Friday, December 26, 2003

Gregory J. Rummo h0ds it backwards. The present is controlled by the future, not by the past. Without Christmas there would be no Hanukkah. The reason God preserved Israel was because of His Promise that Messiah would come. Israel must be preserved because of the Promise given to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David that the Seed of the Woman [Jesus Christ] would bruise the head of the Serpent.

Israel is rooted in the past. Christians in the future. There is no greater difference that could be stated than this. Israel rejected Christ because they lived in the past, "We be Abraham's children." Christians receive Christ because they look for His glorious appearing and the resurrection of the dead.

Rummo - 2003, December 19: "As Christians prepare to celebrate Christmas, Jews will celebrate Hanukkah. The two feasts have more in common than many realize and it is no stretch to say if it were not for Hanukkah, there would be no Christmas. "
Dave Shiflett on Lawyers on National Review Online: "No one should underestimate the dismay 'personal responsibility' strikes in the heart of some trial lawyers. The plaintiff's bar works long and hard to ensure clients are not held responsible for their own injuries. In some states, for example, seat-belt information -- did the plaintiff fail to buckle his seatbelt, which might that have prevented him from sailing through the windshield? -- is difficult, if not impossible, to admit as evidence. When someone pours hot coffee in her own lap, the temperature of the coffee becomes the issue"

Isn't this the height of irresponsibility to the law by the lawyers themselves? Their greed will be their undoing, for no system can endure that loses the moral high ground. The moral rot will destroy the profession itself, just as it destroys doctors who embrace the right-to-death philosophy of abortion and euthanasia. This is a disturbing article. Of course, the modern church ignores or denies the doctrine of hell for precisely this reason: it is much too personal. It is better to have a collective hell of global warming, nuclear war, silent spring, or ??. Did Jesus mean by his words, "Judge not" that we are to deny the image of God in ourselves and others, and become blind leaders of the blind. See my article on this subject at the Basket of Figs site: Judge Not!
David Horowitz: Xmas Present From Progressives: Starvation:
"Because soft progressives cover for hard-line progressives like Stalin, Castro and other political monsters -- preferring to demonize George Bush and John Ashcroft instead -- these atrocities continue.

"The left's inability to understand the most basic economic fact -- that people need an incentive to produce -- has caused the unnecessary deaths of tens of millions of people -- mostly poor -- in the last 75 years. But thanks to a politically corrupted media and educational system, their pig-headed pursuit of socialist fantasies goes on."

These are the talking heads at CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, writers for the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, and doctrine-denying preachers.

This is moral failure, not political failure. The moral failure is the denial oof the validity of the Eighth Commandment, which forbids taking of private property.

The "share the wealth" schemes of "progressives" of all sorts: liberals, socialists, communists, liberation theology, etc., all base their vain and cruel dreams on the idea that it is immoral to be rich if someone else is poor; that moral virtues like hard work, frugality, saving, temperance, and responsibility are not to be factored into the moral equation: the only thing is the spreadsheet.

It is interesting, though, the equality of land ownership in the Bible is the one thing that the "progressives" ignore. Instead, they would have land or its control pass to the state so that no one really owns any land.

Under the law God gave Israel, debts were forgiven every seventh year and all land returned to the family of the original owner at the year of jubilee, or the 49th year. This guaranteed economic liberty without theft. Those who loaned money and those who bought land knew the law, and the price and terms would be adjusted accordingly. Wealth remained firmly in private hands, assuring that the arrogance of power would find no means of executing its tyranny.

This article was published yesterday, on Christmas Day.
WorldNetDaily: Was Jesus actually born today?

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Oh dear! [whine] Bush's policy must be bad, because there are famous people who don't like it. [wring hands] Along with Ronald Reagon and Harry Truman, this president really believes that liberty is better than slavery. The Cold War Warriors all believed that it was better to be "Red and Dead" and that it was better to leave millions of people in bondage under the heel of brutal dictatorship than to risk war, which had become "unthinkable." [I guess it was "thinkable" in 70 a.d., when the bodies of the citizens of Jerusalem were thrown over the walls of the city, filling the ravines, rotting in the sun until rivers of putrifaction ran; when Roman soldiers disembowelled Jews who tried to escape in order to find gold coins that they believed the Jews had swallowed; or that war was "thinkable" when Joshua put to the sword every man, woman, boy, girl, child and baby in the conquest of Canaan--or it was "thinkable" when _______________ (fill in your own blank)]

By God's grace, I will live in church and state as a free man, a king and a priest before God so long as I shall live, or by the grace of God, I shall not live at all. I will fight for my liberty in Christ and in so fighting for my liberty in Christ, I will be fighting for every man's liberty. I can do this because Jesus Christ has fully satisfied for all my sins, leaving me in bondage to no devil and no man. Not even the dogs are allowed to bark against the people of the Lord. See Exodus 11:7 and Romans 8:33.

The Reformation produced men who understood the nature of liberty from the bondage of state and church. We have all benefitted from this.

2 Corinthians 8:9 "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." It is in these riches of Christ that the Christians stands free in Christ. It has been worth dying for, and it is worth dying for now. It is better to die for something than to live for nothing.

The Claremont Institute: Walter Mondale Loses It: "President George W. Bush seems to have driven his political opponents nuts. Howard Dean's reference to the 'most interesting theory' that President Bush might have had foreknowledge of the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States suggests that Dean has gone around the bend.

But Dean is in good company with many of his fellow Democrats. Former Vice President and Democratic elder statesman Walter Mondale has joined the crowd, although he distinguished himself with spectacularly bad timing."

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

It is time to recognize that Jesus' words are true: if you are not for Him, you are against Him. Neutrality in some things is hostility to the truth. As Christians we are not even to pretend for a moment that Jesus Christ is not the only Savior for the world. The Bible is clear, if a man does not believe in Christ he will go to hell at the last day. Don't be ashamed of that message. Be good to all men, but don't deny the truth for political reasons.

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Christian References a No-No at Public Schools: "A New York City school allowed a Hanukkah menorah and the star and crescent of Islam to be displayed on school property as historic symbols, but banned a nativity scene because it was deemed religious.

"Elsewhere, prayers have been stopped at school football games and one Seattle high school student had his state-sponsored college scholarship stripped when officials discovered he'd be majoring in theology. "

Monday, December 22, 2003

But of course, "holiday" cannot last either. No one is concerned about any Holy Day nowadays. We are much too interested in sex and possessions to think of anything as "holy." Smacks of fanaticism, don't you think?


Rich Lowry on Christmas on National Review Online: "But the triumph of such potential offensiveness was only temporary, and soon a reaction against it began, initially led by store clerks ordered to refer to the annual late-December holiday only as 'Holiday.' By the late 20th century, Holiday had evolved into something close to its current version, in which no religious affiliations, symbols or meanings are allowed to interfere with the enjoyment of the Holiday Spirit."
Christians need to remember the words of Christ, "He that is not with me is against me." When does "tolerance" and "multiculturalism" become a denial of Christ? The answer to the question is not hard. Denial of Christ comes the minute you receive or pretend to receive the idea that salvation and blessedness can come without Him. Is a little social acceptance worth your soul?

Jay Nordlinger on Christmas on National Review Online: "A lot of us have been irked by 'Happy Holidays,' in place of 'Merry Christmas,' for a long time. Many years ago, I was working at a large firm in Washington, and it was 'Happy Holidays,' 'Happy Holidays,' 'Happy Holidays,' until you wanted to scream. One afternoon, just before Christmas, I said to a friend there, 'Merry Christmas.' I said it in a soft, gentle, but kind of mischievous way. He just grinned at me, understandingly. You would have thought we were engaging in something subversive, which was just plain weird."
Scrooge was right, of course. Dickens' stories were anti-Christian and anti-love, as sentiment always is. Never trust anyone who sees spirits. To paraphrase Scrooge, "Are there no Scriptures? Is there no Christ? Is there no consequence for wrong-doing?"

Jennifer Nicholson Graham on Compassion on National Review Online: "As a mother, I still worry about Tiffany and her brother, but, as a conservative, I know that as long as the neighborhood — the village — cared for them, her mother never would. Maybe, with the help of a jail and a poorhouse, the little family will get it together, discover the value of work. It's a long shot, but, as the magnet on my refrigerator says, 'Dreams come true at Christmas.'"
Andrew Apostolou on Iraq & Libya on National Review Online: "Yet the evidence indicates that what brought Libya to the table was not multilateral engagement, but the brave and much criticized strategy of forcing terrorism sponsoring dictatorships to meet their obligations or meet their Maker. Indeed, the Libyans appear to have boosted rather than curbed their WMD ambitions after the U.N. suspended sanctions in 1999. The appeal of WMDs for Khaddafi and others was their potential value, not just as weapons with which to attack or deter, but also as bargaining chips. WMDs were hooks upon which to catch credulous foreigners looking for dialogue and oil contracts."

The wimps in France and Germany might learn from the use of strength to do good. There is a time and place for everything, even for a cat 'o nine tales. The "rod is for the fool's back," is the way Solomon put it.
Andrew Apostolou on Iraq & Libya on National Review Online: "Libya's announcement that it will close down its weapons-of-mass-destruction programs is an important vindication of American and British foreign policy. After nine months of talks, Colonel Khaddafi's regime has acknowledged the existence of weapons that were long denied. According to initial reports, Libya had the ability to manufacture chemical weapons, had attempted to acquire the ability to produce both nuclear and biological weapons and had ballistic-missile programs. The American-intelligence assessment that Libya was up to no good has been proved correct. Israeli intelligence, which had long been dismissed for pointing to Khaddafi's nuclear ambitions, has chalked up a much-needed success."

The wimps in Paris and Berlin could well learn the value of the right use of power to do good.
Andrew Apostolou on Iraq & Libya on National Review Online: "Libya's announcement that it will close down its weapons-of-mass-destruction programs is an important vindication of American and British foreign policy. After nine months of talks, Colonel Khaddafi's regime has acknowledged the existence of weapons that were long denied. According to initial reports, Libya had the ability to manufacture chemical weapons, had attempted to acquire the ability to produce both nuclear and biological weapons and had ballistic-missile programs. The American-intelligence assessment that Libya was up to no good has been proved correct. Israeli intelligence, which had long been dismissed for pointing to Khaddafi's nuclear ambitions, has chalked up a much-needed success."
Andrew Apostolou on Iraq & Libya on National Review Online: "Libya's announcement that it will close down its weapons-of-mass-destruction programs is an important vindication of American and British foreign policy. After nine months of talks, Colonel Khaddafi's regime has acknowledged the existence of weapons that were long denied. According to initial reports, Libya had the ability to manufacture chemical weapons, had attempted to acquire the ability to produce both nuclear and biological weapons and had ballistic-missile programs. The American-intelligence assessment that Libya was up to no good has been proved correct. Israeli intelligence, which had long been dismissed for pointing to Khaddafi's nuclear ambitions, has chalked up a much-needed success."

Sunday, December 21, 2003

One side benefit of the overthrow of Saddam. How many other two-bit dictators are having second thoughts?

Telegraph | News | Revealed: the real reason for Gaddafi's WMD surrender: "One Cabinet minister said: 'It demonstrates that change can be brought about by standing tough. There is no question that this change of heart by Gaddafi was brought about by the fact that the US and Britain were seen to be standing up to and called Saddam Hussein's bluff.'"
Anyone want to take a bet on how much of this was money paid by European and United Nations connections to Iraq? A side bet that this was the reason for opposition on doing anything about Iraq. It would be interesting to know if any of this money was used to corrupt American elections.

More Than $1 Billion in Iraqi Assets Found in Foreign Banks (washingtonpost.com): "Officials are pressing the hunt for many billions more Hussein is believed to have moved out of Iraq, worried that those funds are going to terrorist groups or are financing Hussein loyalists' attacks on U.S. troops. 'There was a staggering amount of plunder as a result of the oil-for-food program and other schemes,' said the Treasury Department's recently departed general counsel, David Aufhauser, who until this month helped direct the search. 'While some was spent on ostentatious palaces, most is unaccounted for.' "

Friday, December 19, 2003

Divided on the War? Not Really (washingtonpost.com): "You could see the public mood reflected in the statements of Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) a couple of weeks ago. One of the most popular Democrats in the country, and also one of the shrewdest, Clinton dismissed the antiwar argument: 'I think that Saddam Hussein was certainly a potential threat' who 'was seeking weapons of mass destruction, whether or not he actually had them.' Her husband, another popular Democrat, said the same last July. "
Two weeks ago I downloaded a new driver for my monitor--I don't know why, but probably because the computer never performs to our satisfaction. At the end of the download, when I was instructed to restart the computer, it went into a loop and never would boot. After wasting about a day trying to make something work--it wouldn't even recognize the rescue disk I had made a few days before.

I finally took the whole thing to a bunch of kids at a computer repair place and they fixed me up. I had acquired a variant of the blaster worm. I had a good fire wall and a good virus system, but something happened, no one seems to know why.

Anyway, my computer had to be rebuilt and reloaded, and so that is where I have been for the past two weeks. I managed to read a little news, make a few comments, but mostly I was loading, unloading, uploading, and reloading. Seems as if it is working pretting good now. I appreciate all of you who have continued to browse in this fig orchard, even though it has been rather barren lately. Keep coming back, tell your friends, put a link on your website, and God bless you very much.

I have also been able to update the Trinity Church website, and recent sermons on Christmas are posted there. Try the link on "recent sermons' at the right.
FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Sunnis Don't Believe Saddam Was Captured: "In this restive city and across Iraq's Sunni heartland, many Saddam loyalists refuse to believe that a disheveled and bearded man in U.S. captivity is their ousted leader, whose 23-year rule boosted their position as the country's political elite."

Hey, these guys are acting like American conspiratorial theorists! You know, FDR knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor before the attack occurred; that Ike was a communist who aided and abetted communism; that the American moon landing was staged in Hollywood; that the "eye" in the pyramid on American money is the proof that Zionist Illuminati control the U.S., and the Jews dominate higher education and the media, and that the Red Chinese are massing troops in Mexico, that Dubya and his Attorney General are subverting the Constitution to remove Habeas Corpus, etc. etc.

It is true, that when people depart from the true history of the world as is set forth in the Holy Scriptures, they have to devise some other story to explain what is going on--if the Living God doesn't rule in the affair of men, then some dark force must. Of course, if you accept God as the Ruler, then you have to reconcile that with the problem of evil, which the Bible does. The evil is because man is under the curse of Adam's sin. But if you accept the truth that it is God, and He is not a dark force, then there must be something wrong with mankind. That is the simple truth. Man lies under the curse of God because of Adam's sin, but under the promise of blessing through faith in the Gospel, that Jesus Christ is the Last Adam who came to gain an eternal inheritance for those who believe and thus escape the curse of Adam's sin.

You don't have to believe the Gospel if you don't want to, but you cannot escape the consequences to your thought and world view if you reject it. Either way, you must deal with Jesus Christ.

Thursday, December 18, 2003

The Congress of the United States betrayed the consitution. George W. Bush betrayed the constitution. The rabid, liberty-hating newsmedia [who want a monopoly for themselves in the two months before any election] betrayed the constitution. And the Supreme Court has betrayed the Constitution [what's so unusual about that?]

The people are going to have to fix it, but they are too busy chasing sex and self-indulgence to even know what is going on.

Mark Tapscott: Wake Up Conservatives! Supreme Court just did what could never happen here: "President Bush reportedly had reservations but signed the 2002 campaign finance reform law anyway because he believed like most Americans the Supreme Court would never approve a law letting Congress silence political speech."
See the next article. Yep, why should the NYT care about lying reporters. It's a way of life.

New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - Bill O'Reilly: The assault on morality never lets up: "The New York Times described the situation using the same tactic it did during the Ronald Reagan movie drama. The controversy was generated by 'conservatives,' those kill-joys who want to ruin all the fun. Here's how The Times put it: 'After loud and sustained protests from socially conservative groups and feminist groups, the company announced ... it was withdrawing the [catalogue].'"
Why is the NYT sensitive about lying? The news media has been lying all my life: about Christianity, about the Bible, about Americna History, about morality, about Islam, about education, about evolution, about abortion, about homosexuality, about ??? So what's the big deal?

Michelle Malkin on Charlie LeDuff & New York Times on National Review Online: "The hotshot LeDuff is now in hot water over his cribbing of anecdotes from someone else's book about kayaking down the Los Angeles River for his own Page One fluff story about � you guessed it! � kayaking down the Los Angeles River. An embarrassing correction published in the New York Times on Dec. 8 explained:
An article last Monday about the Los Angeles River recounted its history and described the reporter's trip downriver in a kayak. In research for the article, the reporter consulted a 1999 book by Blake Gumprecht, 'The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth.' Several passages relating facts and lore about the river distilled passages from the book. Although the facts in those passages were confirmed independently-through other sources or the reporter's first hand observation-the article should have acknowledged the significant contribution of Mr. Gumprecht's research."
So, you see. Even in Iraq there are people with sense.

Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus on National Review Online: "Zebari said -- you can just see it -- 'The United Nations as an organization failed to help rescue the Iraqi people from a murderous tyranny that lasted over 35 years. Today we are unearthing thousands of victims in horrifying testament to that failure.' And 'the U.N. must not fail the Iraqi people again. So we ask you today, please put aside your differences, pull together, and work with us and all those who have contributed and sacrificed so much to realize our shared objective of a sovereign, united, and democratic Iraq.'"
Hmmmmm. I wonder if Saddam's fate had anything to do with this.

The Associated Press: "Iran signed an accord Thursday that gives U.N. experts full access to its nuclear facilities, yielding to international pressure to end two decades of secrecy and prove it has not tried to build atomic weapons."
My Way News: "A federal appeals court ruled Thursday for the first time that prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba should have access to lawyers and the American court system."

So these people have paid taxes and exercised their responsibility to the American legal, social, and economic system? To what end will humanistic socialism go?

Then, if a man has the right to take money out of one man's pocket because the first man is hungry, in need of medical care or a good education, or lacking in self esteem, why should we complain when aliens "have a right" to American justice. Of course it is irrelevant, I suppose, that these people were in a war to overthrow that American system of justice, society, and economics. Only an American judge could see any sense in this decision.

See my article on Covenants of Feeling.
'Tis the crazy season indeed. When people are convinced that the Bible is a made-up conspiracy, they cannot help but find conspiracy everywhere. If the Bible is the mother of all conspiracies, then we are certainly living in a stinking world, and before long we will be finding conspiracies under every rock and behind every tree. This is the paranoia of madness.

Newsday.com: Wash. Congressman Questions Saddam Timing: "Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., told a Seattle radio station Monday the U.S. military could have found Saddam 'a long time ago if they wanted.' Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said: 'Yeah. Oh, yeah.' "

Monday, December 15, 2003

Truth has a way of breaking in and demolishing the lies. The liar thinks he can establish for himself and others a world different from reality. This world exists only in his imagination, but he thinks that he can etch it on other people's imaginations also.

But this can only be successful for a time. Truth is the daughter of time, someone once wrote. Truth will out, is the way our grandfathers put it. The man who paid the families of suicide children in Palestine has been shown to be a coward, not believing enough in his own cause to die fighting for it. There is something fitting about thinking that Saddam's last hours of freedom were spent in a "spider" hide a few hundred yards from one of the great, luxurious palaces that he built with money stolen from the Iraqi people.

One day in my childhood, I was complained to my grandfather about a bully at my school. He told not to fret, that bullies are cowards. The bully terrorizes others because he is really afraid of people and thinks that they will respect him only if he beats them up. Saddam has finally demonstrated to the world that this is true. He would send children on suicide missions to blow up Jews, but he himself will cower in a rat hole, seeking to hang on to his worthless life.

One again, we have it demonstrated to us that not all human beings are of equal value. The value of a human being is established by the moral and ethical choices that he makes. When will the world learn?

MySA.com: Jonathan Gurwitz: "Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported that the new Iraqi government has uncovered documentary proof that Mohamed Atta, mastermind of the 9-11 attacks, was trained in Baghdad by the Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal. That Abu Nidal was for two decades an honored guest of the Baathist regime ought to be enough to demonstrate the ineluctable connection of Saddam with international terrorism. "
Sorry, I have been off line for a few days. My computer was infected with a worm, and it has taken me days to get it right--I hope I have it all better now, so I can continue to entertain you on these pages. Son Matthew said I ought to document the story on the last post. I try to post only things that I believe are from reliable sources, and not just stuff that is sent to me by email. I think I got it from Nexmax mail service, but who knows now? All my docs are down the cyberhole, unless I happen to have them at the seminary. I will look when I go in today.

But this has been a good week, in spite of my worm. Hurray for our special forces, who captures the Ace of Spades--living like the rat he was in a hole. Who says America doesn't have heroes now? We have a bunch of them in Iraq, in spite of the American Chickens living in Hollywood, who try to excuse their wicked life-styles by trying to save the whales or some such thing.

Speak of whales. I think we should save the whales. Collect the whole set. [Not original with me; my neice sent it to me.]

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Why aren't these stories told by the talking heads on TV?

"Otwell and Lindner tour the building, which is cold and dusty. But inside several of the rooms are old products they can sell - hundreds of Iraqi flags they've sewn, dresses and pillowcases. Already the team has arranged for the factory to produce all the uniforms for Iraq's civil defense forces, and piles of cut brown pant legs line the floor.
Now the workers are getting $60 a month, part of which is spent on housing them at the factory. Otwell and Lindner promise to come back soon, and ask the workers to make a list of things that they really need, so maybe next year the factory can get some upgrades. On the way out, the workers jump and clap, as Lindner and Otwell escort the old boss - who had come back to the factory despite a previous arrest by Iraqi police for beating the workers - away from the building.
Across town, another mission is under way.
'Welcome, welcome to our school,' chants a line of 7-year-old girls in Arabic at the Abu Ghuraib Primary School, which the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion took under its wing to restore after it was badly looted postwar.
The now-bright-blue school has new equipment and new electrical wiring that feeds bright bulbs by the teachers' blackboards.
As each soldier walks through the entrance to the official ribbon-cutting, the girls chant louder in Arabic, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.'
Inside, headmistress Ibistam Mahdi cuts a yellow ribbon, and thanks the men through a translator.
'For the 350 girls here, it is a lot better,' Mahdi says."
My computer has been in the shop since last Thursday, so what I do on these sites is done at New Geneva Seminary in my office. The computer just quit on me and wouldn't boot. It is very frustrating, but the nerds at the computer repair [they look 'way too young to be professionals and holding my very life in their hands] assure me that they will save all my data and get it up to running by late this afternoon. Until then, I have had time to talk to my wife, so the days have not been completely wasted.
It will come to America eventually--the suicide bomber, I mean. Ralph Peters has some perceptive remarks in the NY Post.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "But the terrorists will not and cannot win. They'll only renew our determination. We'll hit back even harder. They'll shed our blood, but we'll do even more to frustrate their dreams of a global dictatorship of merciless dogma.
The only winners will be the media, who will magnify each suicide bombing until it seems to have happened a hundred times and to have done a thousand times more damage than it did.
In the age of global communications, the television image, too, is a weapon of genius. And our enemies know it. Ultimately, the suicide bomber's real target isn't the casualties. It's the cameras. "
If those who have the name "Christian" the answer should not be confusing. The Bible is clear on homosexuality, and all who live in that life are under the wrath of God, for it is an abomination in the eyes of God. [These are not my ideas, but the ideas of the Holy
Spirit who speaks in Scripture]. Christians ought not to equivocate, but make the case: homosexuality is sinful.

The case against same sex 'marriage' - The Washington Times: Editorials/OP-ED: " How much difference can one person pressing an argument make? In the case of Andrew Sullivan and marriage rights for gays, the answer is a huge and perhaps decisive difference. In the eight years since he published 'Virtually Normal,' which concluded with a call for gay marriage rights, he has refined his argumenttoforcethose confronting it tomakea choice among three options: 1) accepting gaymarriage; 2) stating a moral objection to homosexuality and homosexual life itself; and 3) incoherence. "

Monday, December 08, 2003

I said it back there then, and have been saying it since. It took 9/11 for it to make the public media. Jeremiah said centuries ago that the reality of Scripture would trump dreams every time [Jeremiah 23].

PREVIEW: Imagining "Imagine": "Imagine there's no heaven . . . No hell below us . . . Imagine all the people living for today. Okay, let's imagine that; let's imagine six billion people who believe that flesh and blood is all there is; that once you shuffle off this mortal coil, poof, you're history; that Hitler and Mother Teresa, for example, both met the same ultimate fate. Common sense suggests that such a world would produce a lot more Hitlers and a lot fewer Teresas, for the same reason that you get a lot more speeders / murderers / rapists / embezzlers when you eliminate laws, police, and punishment. Skeptics and atheists can say what they like about religion, but it's hard to deny that the fear of an afterlife where one will be judged has likely kept hundreds of millions from committing acts of aggression, if not outright horror. Nothing clears the conscience quite like a belief in eternal nothingness."

Friday, December 05, 2003

The really sad thing is the bias against Christianity in the Christian churches, manifested by hatred of the creeds, traditional liturgy, the doctrines of the person and work of Christ, hatred of precision in the doctrine of the Triune God, hatred of the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture, animosity toward the Law of God, the ordination of women and sodomites, and hatred of other defining doctrines of Scripture. The enemies are within the gates, and persecution of Christians often comes from the church itself. Maybe it will take persecution to save us.

David Limbaugh: The 'offensiveness' of Christianity: "Of course, it's not the case. There is an intrinsic bias in our popular culture against Christianity, and it's getting worse. The only thing that isn't clear to me is whether the liberal secularists who deny it are oblivious to the discrimination or are being deceitful. I actually think there is some of both."
Scripture says that governments are ordained by God to repress evil and reward the good. That doesn't mean just domestic evil and domestic good. Hitler was evil and WWI was a good war. Saddam was evil and this, too, is a good war.

New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - A.M. Rosenthal: We're still learning how evil Saddam was: "But I and my close friends have heard from enough experts in the field to conclude that the Saddam loyalists who are attacking U.S. troops in Iraq now still dream of acquiring nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and of one day setting them off. "
Hey, Science is going to save us, isn't it? The scandal of the modern age concerns the faking of science, from Margaret Mead, Sigmund Freud, to global warming and aids research. But fake science gets money from the government.

The Washington Times -- America's Newspaper: "Three Maryland researchers have admitted fabricating interviews with teenagers for a study on AIDS prevention that received more than $1 million in federal funds."

Thursday, December 04, 2003

Everyone is a victim. No wonder no one is grateful for anything. See article below. John Leo: Hey, we're all vicitms here: "Expert victimologists estimate that 91.2 percent of people in North America and Europe now qualify as victims, at least in their own minds. This is because hurt feelings keep spreading, and 'society' keeps grinding us down. "
Of course, Rebecca. Why should you be surprised? People do not practice the art of graditude nowadays. Witness the events after 9/11. Millions and millions of dollars in private and public benefits were showered on the families of victims. What did we see? Whimpering for more.

It was your duty to drive the kids. They have it coming to them. It is an entitlement like prescription drugs for the elderly. Don't expect anyone to say thanks. You only did what you should have done.

Rebecca Hagelin: Bring back human kindness - please!: "What was missing? Two simple words: 'Thank you.' Out of six guests, only one uttered the phrase. Let me quickly add, these kids are from good, decent families. "
The abortion industry is just that, an industry that rakes in millions of dollars based on lying to women about life, sex, babies, and religion. It isn't about choice, it isn't about liberty, it isn't about love and compassion. It is about money. There is big money in killing babies. They don't fight back, and their mommies pay the killers. Planned Parenthood ought to be renamed, "Have Forceps, But Won't Travel; You Come to Us." Read this story and weep:

Michelle Malkin: The predators of Planned Parenthood: "Planned Parenthood's outspoken activists remain stone-cold silent about Holly Patterson. She's the teenager who died of tragic complications from taking the abortion drug cocktail RU-486, which she obtained from a northern California Planned Parenthood clinic in September. Holly and her unborn child suffered a painful, bloody and prolonged death."
I have been saying this for about fifty years. But I am one of those right-wing nuts I guess. Why is it, when people come around to see the truth, they never give any credit to those who were right all the time.

Jonah Goldberg: Scrap the U.N., create League of Democracies: "This is a time for big ideas and I've got one: Let's scrap the United Nations. Wait, don't go away. I'm not dusting off the standard 'U.S. out of the U.N.; U.N. out of the U.S.' right-wing screed. But I am serious."
To ask the question is to answer it.
Alan Reynolds: Deflating inflation: "'Some Fear Inflation Is Ready for a Comeback,' or so says the headline of a Wall Street Journal story by Ken Brown. Only six months ago, I felt obliged to debunk deflation scares that were in vogue at the time. Now we are suddenly being urged to worry about inflation. Do things really change that quickly, or do journalists just have to keep discovering something new for us to worry about? "
Yes, laws and constitutions are flexible things, that must not get in our way if the situation "warrants" it. Thus all freedoms can be overthrown on the basis of "necessity."

Telegraph | Money | Brussels considers imposing currency controls: "It is widely assumed EU law guarantees the free movement of capital but, after combing through the treaties and court judgments, EU experts have concluded that this 'absolute freedom' can be limited in an emergency."
Hateful words a war crime - The Washington Times: World: "With a trio of guilty verdicts yesterday, the U.N. tribunal for Rwanda has established that men armed only with words can commit genocide."

Genocide?? When courts make words mean anything, then they mean nothing. My Grandma had it right: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Names can only hurt you if you are a wimp. Of course, slander is another thing, but we have so legalized slander [we call it freedom of speech], that you can say anything about someone in power with complete immunity. {For instance, that Bush is like Hitler}.

The libs want to have it both ways--that words mean nothing [as in the Free Speech movement at Berkeley years ago--or that you can kill a whole race [genocide]. What light is in those who have departed from faith in Christ, the light of the world?

A light note on a dark subject from my favorite college professor.

Mike S. Adams: I'm just a lesbian...trapped in a man's body: "Two years ago, I attended a 'trans-law' seminar here at the university. The purpose of the seminar was to talk about the unique legal difficulties facing trans-gendered persons in the workplace. Several students attended the seminar in order to earn extra credit for their sociology classes. I attended just for fun. "
Jackson is trying to taint the jury pool. Until black people have had their stomachs full of their black "bros" thumbing their noses at law and morality and demand no-color justice, the likes of Kobe, Jackson, OJ, and others will continue to play the race card. Why not? it works.

The black community needs more brave men like Larry Elder. God bless him.

Larry Elder: Michael Jackson & the race card: "Do the police pull him over for Driving While Black? Does a department store detective follow him around, fearing that he may clip some valuable? Does a racist bank refuse to lend him money? Did his adoring fans shun him because he married the daughter of Elvis Presley and fathered two children with a white woman? Yet now his defenders ask us to believe that 'racist' Santa Barbara DA Tom Sneddon stands willing to risk his reputation to add another notch to his belt by bringing down a black man. Please."
Wheat and Chaff: "Assimilation and Law "

Matthew Powell has some perceptive comments on the necessity for assimilation. The ghetto is wrong, even if it is voluntary.
Martin Jacques has the facts right, but the interpretation all wrong. Europe is its own worst enemy, with its sophisticated snobbery over its blase immorality undermining its own moral fiber; its anti-Christian/religious haughtiness turning its citizens into beasts; its socialistic anti-freedom mentality causing it to sink into a third rate economic entity.

And besides, Chirac did not "demonstrate courage" when he "stood up" to America. He showed the moral cowardice of greed, preferring the brute Saddam over Dubya, because he [Chirac] wanted the illegal money from the "oil for food" program to keep flowing into the French digestive system. The French profess sophistication to the point of ennui, but money always trumps truffles. They deserve it of course, because they are, well, French.

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | The end of the west: "Europe is no longer the centre of the world - the future belongs to the might of Asia "
Didn't Hitler have a "final solution" for the Jews? What on earth is this man talking about? Read the article.

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Editorial / Opinion / Op-ed / Geneva is a blueprint for war, not peace: "In Geneva on Monday, Jimmy Carter lavished praise on the agreement and suggested that if he had been re-elected in 1980, he could have pushed something like it. 'Had I been elected to a second term, with the prestige and authority and influence and reputation I had in the region,' he said, 'we could have moved to a final solution.'"
I don't know what Kofi thinks is hell, but I suspect that the victims in Dambodia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Iraq had a pretty good idea. If the UN had its way, the Iraqi victims would still be experiencing it.

Search for a New U.N. Role: "I know that over the years our record has been far from perfect. The Security Council has been unable to prevent horrendous atrocities � the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, genocide in Rwanda. But, to paraphrase Henry Cabot Lodge, the United Nations may not have brought us to heaven but it played a vital role in saving us from hell."
Ann Coulter has it right!! Americans get more outraged by a bad call by the referee on Sunday football than they do about the slaughter of the innocents.

Supreme Court Opinions Not Private Enough: "The nation embarked on its abortion holocaust in 1973, when the Supreme Court astonished the nation by suddenly discovering that the Constitution mandated a right to abortion, despite there being nothing anyplace in the Constitution vaguely hinting at abortion.
Everyone knew the decision in Roe v. Wade was a joke. The decision hinged on the convenient notion of 'privacy,' which, oddly enough, still fails to protect my right to manufacture methamphetamine, saw off shotgun barrels or euthanize the elderly, privately or otherwise. Even Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz has said the decision was wrong. "
Are these the values that Tom Osburn taught. I think not.

Joel Mowbray: Disturbing New Trend: "Win at all Costs": "People should worry, though, about what his firing says about the state of not just college football, but amateur athletics generally. Nebraska's athletic director, in announcing his decision, placed little emphasis on anything other than Solich's inability to create a "win at all costs" program. "

Proud to Be an American? I sure am!

E-MAIL FROM IRAQ ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S VISIT
The following is from an e-mail on the President's visit to Iraq. This
is an "in the building" version of the moment from a young Army
Captain:

We knew there was a dinner planned with Ambassador Bremer and LTG
Sanchez. There were 600 seats available and all the units in the
division were tasked with filling a few tables. Naturally, the 501st MI
battalion got our table.

Soldiers were grumbling about having to sit through another
dog-and-pony show, so we had to pick soldiers to attend. I chose not to
go. But, about 1500 the G2, LTC Devan, came up to me and with a smile,
asked me to come to dinner with him, to meet him in his office at 1600
and bring a camera. I didn't really care about getting a picture with
Sanchez or Bremer, but when the division's senior intelligence officer
asks you to go, you go.

We were seated in the chow hall, fully decorated for Thanksgiving when
aaaaallllll kinds of secret service guys showed up. That was my first
clue, because Bremer's been here before and his personal security
detachment is not that big.

Then BG Dempsey got up to speak, and he welcomed ambassador Bremer and
LTG Sanchez. Bremer thanked us all and pulled out a piece of paper as
if to give a speech. He mentioned that the President had given him this
thanksgiving speech to give to the troops. He then paused and said that
the senior man present should be the one to give it. He then looked at
Sanchez, who just smiled. Bremer then said that we should probably get
someone more senior to read the speech.

Then, from behind the camouflage netting, the President of the United
States came around. The mess hall actually erupted with hollering.
Troops bounded to their feet with shocked smiles and just began
cheering with all their hearts. The building actually shook. It was
just unreal. I was absolutely stunned. Not only for the obvious, but
also because I was only two tables away from the podium. There he
stood, less than thirty feet away from me! The cheering went on and on
and on. Soldiers were hollering, cheering, and a lot of them were
crying. There was not a dry eye at my table. When he stepped up to the
cheering, I could clearly see tears running down his cheeks. It was the
most surreal moment I've had in years. Not since my wedding and Aaron
being born.

Here was this man, our President, came all the way around the world,
spending 17 hours on an airplane and landing in the most dangerous
airport in the world, where a plane was shot out of the sky not six
days before. Just to spend two hours with his troops. Only to get on a
plane and spend another 17 hours flying back. It was a great moment,
and I will never forget it.

He delivered his speech, which we all loved, when he looked right at me
and held his eyes on me. Then he stepped down and was just mobbed by
the soldiers. He slowly worked his way all the way around the chow hall
and shook every last hand extended. Every soldier who wanted a photo
with the President got one. I made my way through the line, got dinner,
then wolfed it down as he was still working the room. You could tell he
was really enjoying himself. It wasn't just a photo opportunity. This
man was actually enjoying himself! He worked his way over the course of
about 90 minutes towards my side of the room.

Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to shake a few hands. I got a picture
with Ambassador Bremer, Talabani (acting Iraqi president) and Achmed
Chalabi (another member of the ruling council) and Condaleeza Rice, who
was there with him. I felt like I was drunk.

He was getting closer to my table so I went back over to my seat. As he
passed and posed for photos, he looked me in the eye and said, "How you
doin',captain."

I smiled and said "God bless you, sir."

To which he responded "I'm proud of what you do, captain." Then moved
on.
--From PCA News
JESUS MAY NOT BE WELCOME IN AMERICA

George Barna finds a mere nine percent of self-affirming born-again
Christians hold a Biblical worldview. The number falls to two percent in
the denominations hemorrhaging members. The study which contacted 2,033
people projected a standard four percent compliance with a classical
Biblical worldview. Even non-denominational independents only reached 13
percent congruence.

For the purposes of the research, a Biblical worldview was defined as
believing that absolute moral truths exist; that such truth is defined
by the Bible; and firm belief in six specific religious views. Those
views were that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; God is the
all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He still rules
it today; salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned; Satan is
real; a Christian has a responsibility to share faith in Christ with
other people; and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings.
+ Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades St., Ventura, California
93003 (805) 658-8885

Christian Observer

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Gary D. Halbert, with the story of the President's trip to Iraq, from InvestorsInsight.

InvestorsInsight.com: "While most Americans praised President Bush for his daring surprise visit to the troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving, there were those who criticized him. In particular, several of the Democratic presidential wannabes, and who else but Hillary Clinton, who made discouraging remarks to our troops on her trip to Iraq the day after Bush left. Also, several of the media outlets that were not invited on the stealth trip to Iraq weren’t particularly happy about it either. We’ll talk about all this later on. "
Doud and the rest of the American chickens know the effect internationally of presidential pictures with caskets. They want the war to fail; they want America weakened, so that an international, pagan, Anti-Christian government can take charge. It won't happen, though, because Babylon is fallen.

The New Republic Online: No Show: "'That is the enemy's entire war objective: to inflict pain. And that is why it would be a strategic error to amplify and broadcast that pain by making great public shows of sorrow presided over by the President himself. In the midst of an ongoing war, a guerrilla war, a war that will be won and lost as a contest of wills, the Commander in Chief--despite what he feels in his heart--must not permit himself to show that he bleeds. "

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

He's right. Trusting Arafat and other Islamists in peace talks is romantic nonsense. The kind that leaves you dead.

Giving Peace Talks a Chance (washingtonpost.com): "It may be romantic nonsense, but it's a nice distraction from reality"
This liberal rag, like all the others, is always ready to settle for less: less freedom, less morality, less freedom from taxes, less religion, and less personal responsibility.

ajc.com | Opinion | It would behoove the U.S. to settle for less in Iraq: "What must we accomplish in that country before it is safe to withdraw U.S. troops, turn over governing authority to Iraqis and leave them to their own devices?"
Where are the "moderate" Muslims?

Over the cuckoo's nest - The Washington Times: Commentary: "One of Pakistan's most respected former army chiefs supplied a chilling explanation last week: because the 'terrorists' are the 'freedom fighters' of a 'Muslim world facing unprecedented oppression and injustice.' "
So how can any serious thinker really believe that the UN is the answer to terrorism? Thank God for Bush's resolve on this.

RealClear Politics - Commentary: "'A U.N. monitoring committee complained yesterday that 108 nations have failed to file required reports on their actions in the war against terrorism, such as freezing assets and reporting the names of suspected terrorists."
The President's political enemies, some of whom would defeat him at whatever cost to America, cannot bear to have him look good. If he does his job as President well, then they must pick and peck and find fault. They cannot bear the idea that if he is a good president, he might well profit politically.

They loved it when Bill Clinton scored a politcal success and made his critics look bad, which he was very good at doing. The difference between this presdent and that one is this: Clinton really did everything for politics. It was enough if he appeared presidential; he cannot be presidential. The New York Post has it right: [click on the link below]

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: " For the Iraqis, it was a message of commitment to finishing the job that has been started. True, the president did not walk the streets of Baghdad and glad-hand a lot of regular Iraqis, but his (first) visit will have lifted the spirits of those who are glad that Saddam Hussein, the man who murdered more Muslims than anyone on the face of the planet, is gone from power. "

Saturday, November 29, 2003

Sober words from Newt.
ajc.com | Opinion | Condition of health care system has been upgraded: "For example, it was increasingly nonsensical that Medicare would pay billions for kidney dialysis but not pay the pennies per day for the preventive-care drugs that let many people keep their kidneys healthy. Similarly, it made little sense for Medicare to pay billions to cover open-heart surgery but not cover the couple of dollars a day for statin drugs so that people could avoid surgery in the first place. "
Doesn't the US constitution require that every state have a republican form of government. This looks like one for the U.S. Supreme Court or the Marines.

Democratic arrogance keeps Bush off ballot: "Because the Republicans will hold their national convention in early September and the Illinois Election Code requires certification of ballots in August, a minor change needs to be made in state law. Madigan, who is also the state chairman, and Jones are holding up certification -- for a price."
The French are a sorry bunch.

OpinionJournal - Extra: "'Follow the money' is an old adage, and it means that economic interest will eventually explain much human behavior. That France opposed the removal of Saddam Hussein because he owed millions to French banks is proof of this. Less well known, but much more troubling, are key French financial links with other U.S. enemies. They raise the belief that the Franco-American conflict over Iraq was just one slice of the action. For France was not just Baathist Iraq's largest contributor of funds; French banks have financed other odious regimes. They are the No. 1 lenders to Iran and Cuba and past and present U.S. foes such as Somalia, Sudan and Vietnam."
Everything is a disease nowadays, from sodomy to fat. Makes it easy thataway. Don't have to take responsibility. There is no biblical hell for the sick, just the hell of Big Brother telling everyone what to do, what to eat, what to drink, how much to exercise, and whether to smoke cigars.

Interesting, isn't it. We throw of the Ten Commandments, and exchange them for a million lifestyle commandments from government. The Ten Commandments are restrictive, but we submit to laws about seat belts, motorcycle helmets, drug and food restrictions, etc. Seems that God holds us personally responsible, but that is too restrictive, so we let government be responsible for us, and laws and taxes multiply like maggots in last week's turkey carcass. The Ten Commandments forbid us to murder our neighbor, but government insists that we keep him alive no matter what, and then taxes us to pay the government inspectors and regulators to see that he never has to suffer for the consequences of his own stupid lifestyle choices.

TCS: Tech Central Station - Addiction Inflation: "An interesting phenomenon creeping into western culture is the medicalisation of what are traditionally thought of as social habits and behaviors. In particular growing numbers of people are claiming they are addicted to all forms of lifestyle choices, such as sex, drugs, alcohol and of course, food. "

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Yes, Mr. Bartlett, you are right. Where are the good old days of gridlock and government shutdowns? When there is gridlock the government can't conceive and produce so much fiscal mischief in order to gain votes and win elections. Bring back gridlock!!

Bruce Bartlett: Bring back gridlock: "On Jan. 23, 1996, Bill Clinton told the nation, 'The era of big government is over.' If so, it sure didn't last very long. Today, the era of big government is back with a vengeance, ushered in by a massive new prescription drug entitlement, a pork-laden energy bill of grotesque proportions and a trade war with China. "
From my favorite Jewish writer:

Dennis Prager: Dear American soldier in Iraq: "So, first, let me set the record straight. Not since World War II have the stakes been this great. This is a war for the future of civilization every bit as much as the war against German Nazism and Japanese Fascism was. If we had lost that war, the world would have devolved into barbarism."
When will the United States awaken out of its post-WWII dream of hope-so world peace through the UN, and realize that the UN is not the solution to the problem--the UN is a great deal OF the problem.

Freedom Alliance -- Honoring and Encouraging Military Service: "The U.S. Department of State, in a congressional mandated report titled �Voting Practices in the United Nations, 2002,� stated that 187 UN General Assembly members, out of 90 votes cast, voted against U.S. positions by a 69 percent to 31 percent margin on issues such as terrorism, arms control, human rights and the Middle East."
The trouble with putting so much money in one place is that it makes it that much easier for people to steal huge amounts of it.

Czech warns Europe of 'dream world' woes - The Washington Times: World: "EU auditors could vouch for only 10 percent of the $120 billion the bloc spent in 2002. It was the ninth successive year the auditors were unable to certify the budget as a whole. "

Sunday, November 23, 2003

A revolutionary age or people has no sense of history. They scoff at the Fifth Commandment about honoring parents, think that God has repealed the Seventh Commandment about adultery, and think nothing of stealing huge sums of money from taxpayers to bribe voters. Is it nothing to them to overthrow institutions and customs, thinking they can build houses upon sand? They are a most evil generation and will not stop at persecution or murder to fulfill their foul desires. Those who sow to the wind will reap the whirlwind.

Do not be deceived. Everything is up for grabs in this revilutionary age, and any Christian who stands in the way will be swept away in the coming tsunami of relatavism and destruction.

But be of good cheer, child of God. Remember the promise of God: "Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." [Heb. 12:27}

Grove City College: "“Certainly our decision today marks a significant change in the definition of marriage as it has been inherited from the common law, and understood by many societies for centuries.” (Goodridge, et al vs. the Department of Public Health, pg 11)

With these weighty words, a simple majority of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ripped marriage from its historical, cultural and common law foundation and reconstructed it as “an evolving paradigm.” In simple terms, marriage in Massachusetts is now whatever a majority of judges say it is, with no foundation other than their sense of the direction the cultural wind is blowing."

Thursday, November 20, 2003

National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com): "As you know, NR's Richard Brookhiser is not only a crack journalist, but a crack historian (and, no, I'm not referring to his elegant broadsides against the illegality of drugs). Rick is the author of many books, on Washington, Hamilton, the Adamses, and others.

And he has an amazing talent for coming up with an exact and arresting historical analogy. It doesn't much matter what the subject or event is, Rick will find just the right parallel. And on this matter of Bush's reception in London - and the British intelligentsia's furious and fevered contempt for him - he has come up with a beaut. This is, really, the aptest thing you ever saw.
It comes from The Education of Henry Adams. Listen to this, folks:

London was altogether beside itself on one point, in especial; it created a nightmare of its own, and gave it the shape of Abraham Lincoln. Behind this it placed another demon, if possible more devilish, and called it Mr. Seward. In regard to these two men, English society seemed demented. Defence was useless; explanation was vain; one could only let the passion exhaust itself. One's best friends were as unreasonable as enemies, for the belief in poor Mr. Lincoln's brutality and Seward's ferocity became a dogma of popular faith.

There was an episode in which W. M. Thackeray utterly lost it, so disturbed was he about President Lincoln:

On quite insufficient evidence, he burst into violent reproach. Had Adams carried in his pocket the proofs that the reproach was unjust, he would have gained nothing by showing them. At that moment Thackeray, and all London society with him, needed the nervous relief of expressing emotion; for if Mr. Lincoln was not what they said he was - what were they?"

Yes, what were they? Apologists for, and twice-removed perpetuators of, slavery? And if Mr. Bush is not what "they" say he is — what are they? Apologists for, and twice-removed perpetuators of, terrorism and the dictatorships that abet it?

Nice going, Rick. Really nice going.
If for no other reason, it would have been for the women of Iraq that the war should have been waged. America has done wrong in its history, for we are all sinners, but this one was right. But I still would rather we had not sent our girls to fight.

Janice Shaw Crouse on Iraq Women's Delegation on National Review Online: "The women expressed appreciation over and over again and talked with deep sorrow about the Iraqis who were executed, gassed, or mass murdered. They don't even want to think about the torture chambers and the unmarked mass graves documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Pentagon files — 18 tons of documents consisting of five million pages of atrocities. For the women in the delegation, the stories of Saddam's brutality are all too true, as is the fact that women, especially, were targeted by the regime. "
Pruden's got it right. This war protest is a nostalgic exercise in dreaming, but the pot doesn't work anymore.

London's gathering of the clang - The Washington Times: Pruden on Politics: "Those wonderful folks who missed the last hay wagon home from the '60s are desperate not so much to stop the war as to reprise the glory days of their youth, when sex, friendship and 'revolution' flowered in the streets. But the times, they have changed, and Viagra and raisin bran can only do so much. "
They said the same thing in California a couple of decades ago when sodomy was legalized there. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. --Ecclesiastes 8:11

Romney pursues law on gay unions - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics: "'Everybody should take a deep breath' about the Massachusetts decision, said Evan Wolfson, who leads Freedom to Marry, a group fighting for national marriage rights for homosexual couples. 'It's now been almost 180 days since couples began marrying in Canada, and Niagara Falls is still falling - and the sky isn't,' he said yesterday."
A great article by the "other" Limbaugh.

Hijacking the bench - The Washington Times: Commentary: "It is difficult to quantify the degree of misinformation, hypocrisy, malevolence and impropriety issuing from Democratic ranks in their shameless hijacking of the president's judicial appointment power. "
A great article by the "other" Limbaugh.

Hijacking the bench - The Washington Times: Commentary: "It is difficult to quantify the degree of misinformation, hypocrisy, malevolence and impropriety issuing from Democratic ranks in their shameless hijacking of the president's judicial appointment power. "
A great article by the "other" Limbaugh.

Hijacking the bench - The Washington Times: Commentary: "It is difficult to quantify the degree of misinformation, hypocrisy, malevolence and impropriety issuing from Democratic ranks in their shameless hijacking of the president's judicial appointment power. "
A great article by the "other" Limbaugh.

Hijacking the bench - The Washington Times: Commentary: "It is difficult to quantify the degree of misinformation, hypocrisy, malevolence and impropriety issuing from Democratic ranks in their shameless hijacking of the president's judicial appointment power. "

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

This is a great article about the disease in Washington by Marvin Olasky, but he misses the cure. It is certain that the five things he outlines will help mitigate the problem somewhat, but the cure lies int he wisdom of the writers of the Constitution, and specifically the Bill of Rights, especially Articles 9 and 10. The thirst for power is soon lost when there is little power to thirst for. It is the concentration of power in Washington that fuels the disease. The people must retake the power to be respoinsible for their own lives and fortunes, and resist putting that responsibility on to the central government.

WORLD November 22, 2003: Ring worms: "The 'passion for the inner ring' turns bold Washington outsiders into corrupt insiders"
"Over time we will rely increasingly--or take notice, at least, increasingly--on international and foreign courts in examining domestic issues." Thus wrote Sandra Day O'Connor, the "Swinging" Supreme Court Justice in the infamous Texas ruling on homosexualtity recently.

What does it matter that she is sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States or that the Legislature is tasked with passing laws and the Administration with enforcing them The runaway Supremes have been making law for years and trampling upon the Constitution of the United States. Now they are on full speed ahead to sanction European corruptions and perversions which dominated the courts of Europe for centuries and brought persecution to the godly. International law is the mirror image of the US Constitution, and there is a reason for that--it is called the Bible. See the next article.

The Declaration of Independence speaks of rights that are endowed by our Creator. If a judge does not know the Creator or acknowledge Him, how is blue blazes will he/she/it ever know what a right it?
So this is the purpose for our freedom. I suppose a man can marry his dog and the woman her cat. Why not? This poor preacher said years ago, when sodomy was decriminalized in California that it would come to this. I doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out. When transcendent law [Revealed from God] and natural law [revealed in nature] are denied, what is left but whimsy and perversion?

Wake up, Christians! Does truth matter afterall? The persecution that has been on the horizon as a cloud the size of a man's hand is about to burst upon us. What happens if a minister refuses to marry a man to his dog? Thus the result of humanism: In the name of giving perverts the children's bread, we so defile the bread that it become unfit for holy consumption. But the truth of God shall stand: "Marriage is honorable in all, but fornicators and whoremongers God will judge. There will be preachers who will sanctify the corrup lusts of the sodomites, but that will change the unholy into the holy.

Excite News: "'Whether and whom to marry, how to express sexual intimacy, and whether and how to establish a family - these are among the most basic of every individual's liberty and due process rights,' the majority opinion said. 'And central to personal freedom and security is the assurance that the laws will apply equally to persons in similar situations.'"
So this is the purpose for our freedom. I suppose a man can marry his dog and the woman her cat. Why not? This poor preacher said years ago, when sodomy was decriminalized in California that it would come to this. I doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out. When transcendent law [Revealed from God] and natural law [revealed in nature] are denied, what is left but whimsy and perversion?

Wake up, Christians! Does truth matter afterall? The persecution that has been on the horizon as a cloud the size of a man's hand is about to burst upon us. What happens if a minister refuses to marry a man to his dog? Thus the result of humanism: In the name of giving perverts the children's bread, we so defile the bread that it become unfit for holy consumption. But the truth of God shall stand: "Marriage is honorable in all, but fornicators and whoremongers God will judge. There will be preachers who will sanctify the corrupts lusts of the sodomites, but that will change the unholy into the holy.

Excite News: "'Whether and whom to marry, how to express sexual intimacy, and whether and how to establish a family - these are among the most basic of every individual's liberty and due process rights,' the majority opinion said. 'And central to personal freedom and security is the assurance that the laws will apply equally to persons in similar situations.'"
So this is the purpose for our freedom. I suppose a man can marry his dog and the woman her cat. Why not? This poor preacher said years ago, when sodomy was decriminalized in California that it would come to this. I doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out. When transcendent law [Revealed from God] and natural law [revealed in nature] are denied, what is left but whimsy and perversion?

Wake up, Christians! Does truth matter afterall? The persecution that has been on the horizon as a cloud the size of a man's hand is about to burst upon us. What happens if a minister refuses to marry a man to his dog? Thus the result of humanism: In the name of giving perverts the children's bread, we so defile the bread that it become unfit for holy consumption. But the truth of God shall stand: "Marriage is honorable in all, but fornicators and whoremongers God will judge. There will be preachers who will sanctify the corrupts lusts of the sodomites, but that will change the unholy into the holy.

Excite News: "'Whether and whom to marry, how to express sexual intimacy, and whether and how to establish a family - these are among the most basic of every individual's liberty and due process rights,' the majority opinion said. 'And central to personal freedom and security is the assurance that the laws will apply equally to persons in similar situations.'"

Monday, November 17, 2003

These are vicious, mean, and arrogant people in the mode of the old "Laugh In" show, "Prairie Home Companion," the old "Smothers Brothers" show. What is the real joke, however, is that Christian men haven't yet caught on that they are the joke.

WORLD November 22, 2003: They're not kidding: "AL FRANKEN CALLS KARL ROVE 'human filth,' Ari Fleischer a 'chimp,' and John Ashcroft 'something of a nutcase.' Michael Moore calls President Bush a 'nitwit' and (in the voice of God, no less) a 'devil.' Molly Ivins manages to insult millions at once when she approvingly quotes William Brann's crack that 'the trouble with our Texas Baptists is that we do not hold them under water long enough.' Mean-spirited, you say? No, it's all in good fun, the authors say."
This is the reason that the UN cannot and should not be involved in "peace-keeping" occupations. They have no heart for it, because they are a broad coalition for talking things to death, while criminal and gangster petty governments rape the coutnries. The UN is not philisophically able to do anything about it, for they have no idea what a criminal is. They are a kind of international "meals on wheels" and cannot muster the will to oppose evil, because their philosophy requires them to embrace the evil as equal to the good.

The Associated Press: "The United Nations suspended operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Monday after the killing of a French U.N. worker and a series of terrorist attacks."

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