washingtonpost.com: Israel's Intifada Victory: "While no one was looking, something historic happened in the Middle East. The Palestinian intifada is over, and the Palestinians have lost."
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The real winner is George Bush. Even though the US made pro-forma complaints about Israel's policy, Israel ignored them, and followed Bush's example, that a nation has the right to defend itself even against world opinion and against the paper mache UN and its "courts," which are really instruments of anti-US and anti-semitic propaganda.

Excite News: "The court also ordered Israel to pay reparations to Palestinians harmed by the barrier and return land seized to construct the wall, which is about a quarter completed.
The court's advisory opinions are non-binding but bear moral, historic and political weight, and they can be the basis for U.N. action."

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Say what? Do people need any more evidence against the UN? Pay reparations? These are the Israelis, O esteemed judicial ones. You know, the ones who are getting blown up every day by Islamic haters, the same ones who were getting paid by Saddam to do it. Remember him? He's the one the UN, your philosophical bedfellows, refused to do anything about but pass resolutions.

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Much of world is more peaceful: "THERE IS A tendency these days -- and I share it -- that urges one on to hit George Bush while he is down. But before he goes, permit me a word in his favor -- or, more accurately, his regime. Briefly put, the world is more at peace than when he came to power. The big powers have never been so relaxed with each other since the late part of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th, and the number of small wars -- ethnic disputes, tribal conflicts, and territorial disputes -- has been going down every year."
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FYI

TIME - Charles Krauthammer - Why the French Act Isn't Funny Anymore: "It is easy to make fun of the French and their pompous pretense to the grandeur they shed a half-century ago when their loss of honor under Vichy, and then their loss of empire, relegated them to the rank of second-class power. But the fun is over. Before Sept. 11, France's Gaullist anti-Americanism as a form of ostentatious self-aggrandizement was an irritant. With a war on -- three, in fact: Afghanistan, Iraq and the larger war on terrorism -- France's willful obstructionism becomes dangerous and deadly. "
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The French have been arrogant and dangerous for centuries. Sometimes their arrogance has been useful, however. Charles V was not able to crush the Reformation in the early days because he had to defend Europe from the Ottoman Turks [Islamic] who were allied with...[drumroll]..the French! France has always looked out for her own perceived interests. Francis I was sometimes allied with Rome against Charles V, when he wasn't coming to an "understanding" with the Turks.

Later on, the French under Napoleon would ally with the Ottomans against Britain. And so it goes. What has principle to do with foreign policy in these days of Machiavelli triumphant? But it has always been very French to be suavely, sophisticatedly immoral--or is that sophisticatedly immorally suave? Or does it matter anymore what a third-rate power does?

The comfort for the saints is this: God cannot deny Himself and will always act according to His glory and character. No comfort for those who presume on His longsuffering.

The New Republic Online: Talk Down: "As so many [applause] as so many of you know, throughout this campaign, John [Edwards] talked about the great divide in America--the two Americas that exist between those who are doing very well and those who are struggling to make ends meet in our country. That concern is at the center of this campaign. It is what it is all about. It is what the 35 years of my struggle have been about and I am so proud that together John Edwards and I are now going to fight to build one America for all Americans."
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Come on, Mr. Kerry? Gonna rob the middle class some more in order to buy votes? That's old hat. Unions are losing power; the young are mostly looking to do their thing and get government out of their lives. "Liberals" cannot seem to come up with a new idea. One thing is comforting, though. Liberalism has failed every where it is tried. Have you ever heard of Ronald Reagan? The country has moved on since the New Deal to better ideas and a better concept of liberty.

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Cosby's comments cut deep: "In his recent remarks, Cosby said young black people are failing to honor the sacrifices made by those who struggled and died during the civil rights movement. He is correct, but again, the same premise applies to young white Americans who are forgetting all those great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers who came to Ellis Island as teenagers and wanted one thing for their children: an education. In learning, those immigrants saw the path to economic security, which is something quite different from the mindless acquisition of material wealth. They passed that value on to their children, who in turn passed it on to their baby boomer children, who somehow are failing to pass it onto their own offspring."
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Ouch! But Cosby got it right across the board, not only for blacks, but also for hispanics, and especially for those WASP children who understand nothing about the Reformation and the struggle for liberty in Zurich and the Palatinate, by Geneva, French Huguenots, William of Orange, John Knox, the Westminster Assembly, and America.

Read this article. It will hurt, but it is true like a hammer.

WSJ.com - Political Capital: "But Mr. Edwards is a trial lawyer. His campaign for the presidency was financed by trial lawyers. And there is nothing that makes America's CEOs see red these days like America's trial lawyers. 'It's visceral,' says one person who works with a group of chief executives. 'You can feel it in a room.' The nation's top executives view the plaintiff's bar as modern-day mobsters, shaking down corporations by bringing endless lawsuits that are too costly and too dangerous to litigate and that result in settlements costing billions to the corporate bottom line. The antipathy, while not new, has never been greater."
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'Nuff said.

New York Daily News - Dave Barry: "The key to 'The DaVinci Code' is that it's filled with startling plot twists, and almost every chapter ends with a 'cliff-hanger,' so you have to keep reading to see what will happen. Using this formula, I wrote the following blockbuster novel, titled 'The Constitution Conundrum.' "
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Finally! Someone--I mean Dave Barry--has finally given the bestselling book, The DaVinci Code, the respect it deserves. Funny, isn't it. When people reject the Scripture, they will believe almost anything.

Yahoo! News - Cosby Has Harsh Words for Black Community: "'Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other n------ as they're walking up and down the street,' Cosby said during an appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference. "
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Hurrah for Bill Cosby! A black man needed to say this, and Cosby has found the courage to say it. He is probably the best one who could. If a WASP like me said it, it would immediately be labeled anti-black and racist. Blacks have been using racist arguments for years, aided and abetted by many of their black leaders who ought to know better. But we are in danger of losing a whole generation of black children, if we cannot get them away from destructive rap, gangsta mentality, and hatred of whitey. There is no future in that. Thank God for Bill Cosby.

See Ed Koch on Michael Moore at Very Bad Figs.

OpinionJournal - Featured Article: "The instant reading of yesterday's Supreme Court rulings on terror suspects is that they were, as the Associated Press asserted, 'a setback to the Bush Administration's war against terrorism.' After reading the opinions, we'd say it's more accurate to call them a modest but important victory for the Presidency."
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The talking head called it a disastrous defeat for the President, but when have the facts bothered them? Every victory, no matter how small or how large, can be turned into a defeat by the biased liberal media. Read this article for a different perspective from that of Dan Rather.

Dennis Prager: Chicago Tribune and WLS-TV revel in humiliation: "Remember Richard Jewell, the guard at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics who discovered a pipe bomb minutes before it exploded? Though one person was killed, Jewell saved many lives. Yet, he went from hero to villain three days later when the news media announced he was an FBI suspect and then camped across from his apartment day and night, pointing their high-powered cameras at his door. His life was dissected in the media, where he was regularly humiliated for living with his mother and other implied failures. Eighty-eight days later, he was cleared of any suspicion."
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Dennis Prager strikes again: A deft skewering of the arrogance of the print and tv media, who can and do destroy lives with all the emotion of a sadistic boy ripping the wings and legs off a fly, and then watching it try to squirm.

Today's media is not the cure for oppressive and arrogant government, but the cause of it. Newspaper and tv people are educated with the same liberal philosophy as those who seek to use government to advance their own social and elitist goals. Both come away with anti-Christian and anti-American ideas, despising the heritage of Christianity and American constitutionalism. The only checks and balance they exercise are against people who believe the Bible and the constitution of the United States. They defend, cover up, and nurture their liberal corrupt buddies in government. You don't have to look far for examples: Teddy Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Robert Byrd. Republican Bob Packwood was driven from office for far milder sexual harrassment offenses than Bill Clinton, and Trent Lott was deprived of leadership for far less racism than Robert Byrd. Richard Nixon was not nearly as corrupt as Ted Kennedy, and has engaged in far more vitriol against conservatives from Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to George W. Bush than ever Dick Cheney. Who get's condemned for using the "F" word?

If it had not been for Rev. Carl McIntire's resistance to the "Fairness Doctrine"--subsequently repealed under Ronald Reagon--the triumph of the liberal press, in bed with corrupt liberal politicians, would have been complete. Instead, we have seen the rise of talk radio, which has tipped the scale a bit, but not much, from the heavy-handed one-sided bias of the print and tv media. McIntire's resistence cost him his seminary, his radio empire, and his entire ministry. I was and am not a supporter of Carl McIntire, but his liberty to speak and minister was robbed by the liberal media, to their shame and curse.

There is a new breeze blowing north of the border. Not a gale, certainly, but a bit of fresh air, that is welcome after the stifling liberal pseudo-moralism of the past. Elections in the people's republic north of the border, sometimes called Canada, have denied the liberals an outright majority, and so they will have to seek alliance with someone in order to erect a government. This will probably take place with the ultra liberals, which will pull the liberals farther to the left, more out of touch, losing more support for them.

They have always been a little daft north of the border, preaching moral platitudes [made-up morality that is only a faint shadow of a once-biblical faith], always a bit insecure because they know that their liberty is protected by the might of the United States. From time to time they sniff self-rightously about their horrid and unrefined neighbor to the south, but mostly it does no harm.

It is a different story when they lend whatever remnant of moral influence they have to hinder the War on Terror. The hatred that Islamic militants have toward the United States is based upon the fact that our culture, the best and the worst of it, is not based on the Koran. Neither is Canada's. Do Canadians think that the Islamists will run away at the sight of the Mounties?

But as I said. There is a faint breeze blowing.

Let's see now. The most popular movies of recent history (I did not see them, and do not expect to}, are

The Passion. This is a sadistic and brutal account of what some very evil people did to Jesus of Nazareth.

Farenheit 9/11: This is a sadistic and brutal account of what some really stupid people would like to do to President George Bush.

Note: I would not compare Dubya with my Savior, for that would be blasphemy, but it is fair to compare the movies, isn't it? I wonder how many people wept through both of them, and for what reasons. Did they eat popcorn through both of them? Did they want to upchuck over man's inhumanity to man?

I know why people hate Jesus Christ. His goodness is a rebuke to wickedness. But why do they hate George Bush? Because the one, who is a sinner, has expressed faith in the Other, the Savior of sinners?

Just wondering.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "Sadr's predictable failure has not captured the headlines in the West largely because it confounds the doomsayers who cannot stomach the fact that Iraq could be liberated and put on the path of democracy by 'the arch-villain America' led by 'a brainless good-for-nothing' like George W. Bush. "
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Wouldn't it be a great thing if the major TV and print media would tell the story about what is going on in Iraq, rather than just serving as propaganda outlets for the Democratic National Committee. Over the past week they have been condemning Cheney for telling the Democrats where to get off in no uncertain terms. They are blaming Bush for not living up to his promise to "change the tone in Washington." It goes this way, you see. Democrats and their supporters like Al Gore and Michael Moore and Teddy [under the bridge] Kennedy can refuse all judicial nominations, accuse Bush of lying, stupidity, and other monstrous crimes against the US and humanity, and if any Bush supporter answers back, then they are at fault for not "changing the tone."

Ah, for a headline something like this, "In spite of continued and wide-spread attempts by President Bush, a most decent and kindly man, to change the tone in Washington, Democrats continued their venomous and bitter attacts against the man they hope to replace in the White House this fall." Oh well. Who expects truth from the party of Bill Clinton?

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Volcker Confident About Oil-for-Food Probe: "In an interview with FOX News on Wednesday former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said that he will be publishing an initial report in about two months, and it will likely be damaging for U.N. officials and many others involved in the oil-for-food program."
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Aha! Seems that UN officials and others [French, Germans, Russians???] had a financial stake in seeing Saddam in power. Could it really be that Europeans would sell out freedom for gold?

Yahoo! News - Court Upholds Sante Fe Wage Ordinance; Landmark Ruling Confirms Power of Cities to Raise Pay for Low-Wage Residents: "SANTA FE, N.M., June 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a sweeping decision, New Mexico state court Judge Daniel Sanchez today upheld the Santa Fe living wage ordinance -- one of the nation's first local laws raising the minimum wage for workers at all large private businesses in the city. The ruling means that thousands of low-wage workers across the city will begin receiving at least $8.50 an hour. "
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Hmmmm. Let's see now. This means that businesses will not move to Santa Fe, unemployment will rise, welfare rolls will rise, taxes will rise, and the authors of these laws will complain about out-sourcing and selfish businesses. Why didn't they raise it to $50 an hour so people could really be comfortable? Hmmm?

In his landmark book Personal Knowledge, Michael Polanyi refers to the atomic theory of chemistry that was established by John Dalton in 1808. It was generally accepted almost at once, yet its meaning was obscure. Fifty years later, more clarity came to the theory when Cannizaro defined the concepts of atomic weight; molecular weight and equivalent weight. Many questions were answered. Polanyi writes:

"Such clarification is irreversible; it is as difficult to reconstruct today the confused conceptions which chemists used during the previous half century (and which for example induced Dalton to reject Avogadro's Law as contrary to the atomic theory of chemistry), as it is to be baffled once more by a puzzle after having discovered its solution.... [In the same way] Great pioneers in hypnotism, like Elliotson, had fallen tragic victims to the confusion previously prevailing, for lack of a conceptual framework in which their discoveries could be separated from specious and untenable admixtures."

It is not too great a leap to jump from chemistry and hypnotism to theology. The whole purpose of theology is to bring by definition and clarification the truth of Scripture into focus. Those who denigrate theology are scalawags and charlatans, who do not wish to have clarification in these matters so they can continue to practice their witchcraft and sorcery in morals and worship.

My Way News: "- The Republic of Georgia said it plans to boost its military contingent in Iraq; 250 servicemen are awaiting orders to depart for Iraq to join the 158 soldiers already serving there, said Givi Iukuridze, the head of Georgia's General Staff. "
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Hurrah for this former soviet of the defunct USSR. They know what tyranny is. Hurrah, again.

Killing stiffens Roh's resolve - Iraq - www.theage.com.au: "South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun denounced the beheading of a South Korean hostage by militants in Iraq but said his country would continue its plan to send more troops rather than bow to terrorism. "
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Maybe there is more backbone in Korea than in all of France, Germany, Russia, and Spain.