Iraq intelligence probes prove Bush, Blair weren't fibbing: "But maybe we have to qualify the belief that Saddam's WMD stockpiles never existed as well. As a result of two official investigations and recent U.N. discoveries, we have reason to believe that if Saddam did not possess WMD at the moment of the invasion, he had possessed them only months beforehand and was in a position to do so a second (or third) time if he had succeeded in bluffing himself out of trouble."
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This shows the folly of continually going to the UN, which stalled and stalled by the machinations of the European clients of Saddam, which gave him time to dispose of the weapons.

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Moore's anti-US populism: "Moore, the 50-year-old filmmaker and author of several books, has made a career of traveling round the world talking about how stupid, brainwashed, selfish, greedy, and otherwise rotten Americans are. He regales British audiences with tales of a National Geographic survey which found that many young Americans cannot find Iraq or England on the map -- neglecting to mention that the survey results for British youth were quite woeful as well. Inviting an audience at Cambridge University to share some packs of Doritos, he comments, according to an account in The New Yorker, 'It's still your way, right, to share? You don't want to turn into us -- a society where the ethic is me me me me me me me, [expletive] you.'"
========
fyi

Dennis Prager: Presbyterian church defames Christianity: "They have drawn a line. It is now time for good people, Presbyterians specifically, Christians generally, to distance themselves vigorously and publicly from this morally sick church. And it is time, once again, for Jews to realize that the enemies of the Jews in our day are to be found on the Christian Left while their friends are far more often on the Christian Right.
Many serious Christians ask, 'What Would Jesus Do?' If Jesus were here, he would probably be at Israeli hospitals comforting fellow Jews who were deliberately blinded, paralyzed and brain-damaged by Jew- and Christian-hating Palestinian terrorists. He would surely not be with the Jews' enemies, among whom are now the leaders of the Presbyterian Church, USA. "
--------------
A great article from my favorite Jew.

How a serial liar suckered Dems and the media: "Well, the week went pretty much as I predicted seven days ago:
BUSH LIED!! Not.
BLAIR LIED!!! Not.
But it turns out JOE WILSON LIED! PEOPLE DIED. Of embarrassment mostly. At least I'm assuming that's why the New York Times, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, PBS drone Bill Moyers and all the other media bigwigs Joseph C. Wilson IV suckered have fallen silent on the subject of the white knight of integrity they've previously given the hold-the-front-page treatment, too."
============
The truth is out. Democrats don't know the truth. They think whatever evil is said about Republicans is the truth.

Byron York on Sen. Max Cleland and George W. Bush on National Review Online: "Cleland also said the president's famous '16 word' contention that Iraq sought uranium in Africa 'is a lie.' When asked if he believes former ambassador Joseph Wilson, the Bush critic whose story was substantially undermined in the new Senate report on pre-war intelligence, Cleland said, 'I do believe that Joe Wilson is telling the truth. I believe he has tremendous credibility, and I've met with him personally for hours.'"
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But what credibility have people who believed [or said they did] the fantastic and brazen lies of Bill and Hilary? "None are so blind as those who will not see."

My Way News: "I deeply regret the sloppiness involved, but I had no intention of withholding documents from the commission, and to the contrary, to my knowledge, every document requested by the commission from the Clinton administration was produced,' Berger said in a statement to the AP."
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It looks like this crowd all drink from the same fountain. Bill and Hilary were experts and snowing investigations and losing documents. I suppose Berger's documents are wherever the Hilary's billing records were.

Chicago Tribune | Chirac: Sharon unwelcome until he explains remark: "President Jacques Chirac said Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would not be welcome in France until he satisfactorily explains his statement that Jews should move to Israel to escape anti-Semitism in France."
--------------
Sure, Chirac. Shoot the messenger. Why don't you explain the anti-semitism in France? Could it be because of the large number of Islamists in France that you and your effete colleagues have not had the intestinal fortitude to confront?

Michael Barone: The 'Bush Lied' folks can't be taken seriously: "Official reports issued the last two weeks have conclusively refuted those who have been arguing that 'BUSH LIED' about the dangers from Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction programs. The first report was that of the Senate Intelligence Committee. That committee has been rent by partisan divisions over the last year, but the report was unanimous. "
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So there!  That goes for Michael Moore and all the rest who lied and continue to lie about Bush lying.    The real liars have been exposed.  

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Shocking Success or Abuse of Power?: "'Unlike guns, unlike batons, there are very few if any traces left after the use of these weapons and so officers and those who are using them can get away with using them inappropriately without it being easily detected,' said William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International."
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How much insanity are these people capable of? The tasers leave no mark, do not permanent damage, so this puts Amnesty International out of business. That's the real reason for their protest. If Law Enforcement becomes too efficient and too human, then Amnesty International goes down the drain.

Next, we will have preachers lobbying for more sin, they will have more to do.

BostonHerald.com - Opinion: Al-Qaeda wins one in the war on terror: "They won. The privacy extremists, weak-kneed airline executives and queasy members of Congress forced the Homeland Security Department to drop a plan to electronically profile all air travelers. And make no mistake about it, this is a huge victory for terrorists, too. "
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In spite of New Age "thought" and wishful thinking and Hollywood dreamcatchers, the world is not what I or your dream it to be. It is what it is, and dreams won't change it.

People are not all the same. Religions are not all the same. Men are not the same as women, and there is evil in the world. Evil is not the same as good. It is ok to identify those peoples and religions who are idolatrous and intent on murder. It is folly not to.

The Brotherhood of man died on September 11. How bloodied will the U.S. have to be, before we have the funeral?

OpinionJournal - Featured Article: "In particular, Mr. Bond and Mr. Mfume have done a great disservice to our organization, and to the founders of the civil-rights movement, with their hateful and untruthful rhetoric about Republicans and President Bush. How ironic that they would direct this vitriol at a president who has appointed more African-Americans to high-profile posts, has committed more funds to fight AIDS in Africa, has championed minority homeownership, and has supported more trade and aid for African and Caribbean nations than any other administration.
   ...
 
"Through his education policies alone, President Bush has done more for the African-American community than any previous president, including the so-called first black president, Bill Clinton. That's a secret some black leaders may not want millions of African-American voters to know. But just ask the tens of thousands of parents who took advantage of the free choice and tutoring provisions under the first year of NCLB, the majority of whom were minorities. Poll after poll has shown that African-American parents support school choice, which is directly at odds with the NAACP's position on the issue."
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If Rod Paige keeps it up, he will become my favorite black author. There is a bunch of them, and they don't fit into such organizations as the National Association of Liberal Colored People.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "Five days after the Senate Intelligence Committee stated flatly that Bush administration officials didn't pressure CIA analysts to spin intelligence reports on Iraq, an official inquiry chaired by the former chief of Britain's civil service has said the same about British intelligence and Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.
To sum up: Bush didn't lie. Blair didn't lie. "
==============

Do Democrats lie? The party of Bill Clinton? hmmmm.

Wilson contradictions leave Democrat senators speechless: "The normally mild Roberts is harsh in his condemnation: ''Time and again, Joe Wilson told anyone who would listen that the president had lied to the American people, that the vice president had lied, and that he had 'debunked' the claim that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. . . . [N]ot only did he NOT 'debunk' the claim, he actually gave some intelligence analysts even more reason to believe that it may be true.'' Roberts called it ''important'' for the committee to declare much of what Wilson said ''had no basis in fact.'' In response, Democrats were silent. "
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Neo-Darwinism is firmly accredited and highly regarded by science, though there is little direct evidence for it, because it beautifully fits into a mechanistic system of the universe and bears on a subject--the origin of man--which is of the utmost intrinsic interest." [Michael Polanyi. Personal Knowledge. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1958. Corrected edition 1962. 136.]

No six-day creationist could have said it any better, and Polanyi [Link to Polani Society website] was certainly not that, for he has greatly influenced "post-modern thought" and did much to free[I guess that's the word] the modern world of enlightenment assumptions.

But Polanyi's statement from the highly influential book cited above shows the prejudice of modern science. They WILL not have anything else but a mechanistic world; they WILL not have an anthropology except that which fits into such a world. God cannot and SHALL not exits in their world, unless He can be redefined in terms of their own assumptions. They are emotional about it because Neo-Darwinism fits "beautifully" into their system. Their delight is that of a youth who finds a bag of pot on the street, and goes on his way rejociing that all is right in his universe.

But what of the dark angels? [Revelation 7:1} What of those who hold the four winds of the earth and holds them back only because of the word of the One who holds the seal of the living God? How does He and them fit into the mechanistic universe? What mechanical system restrains these terrible winds?

Pr 10:25 As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

Jer 23:19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

Na 1:3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

[Also: Proverbs 30:4; Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 41:16; Jeremiah 22:22]

But what did the writers of Scripture know? They were led by the Holy Spirit, not mechanistic assumptions.

The New York Times > Science > Will Compasses Point South?: "No matter what the new findings, the public has no reason to panic, scientists say. Even if a flip is imminent, it might take 2,000 years to mature. The last one took place 780,000 years ago, when Homo erectus was still learning how to make stone tools"
==================
Hmm, let's see now. That means I have a bit of time to plan. My count is, assuming that all things will continue as they have from the foundation of the world [a dubious assumption, taking account of Scripture], I will be 780,070 years old when the next one occurs, again assuming that nothing catastrophic appears. I think I will not worry about it for the next 280,070 years. A cool half million years should give me enough time. [Side note: This Homo erectus fellow must have been something of a dolt. Imagine taking 780,000 years to develp stone tools into atomic bombs. We went from Model T's to Space Shuttles in less than a century.]

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Catholics Lament Churches Becoming Condos: "Others across the country have been torn down. Nevertheless, sale to a real-estate developer, even one who'll preserve religious relics, is little comfort for many Catholics."
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It may be a shame, but only to sentiment. It is an idolatry to believe that God is present in any physical thing except by covenant and the ministry and sacraments. It is no more sacred to pray in a church building than in the field, unless the people of the Lord are gathered in that building according to the commands and ordinances of Christ. In fact, if the church is forced to meet in a field in order to worship God according to the First and Second Commandments, the presence of God will be manifest in the field where the saints are, rather than in ornate, rich, and luxurious churches where people have no more concept of spiritual worship than a pig does.

It is the heresy of objective mysticism, when the presence of God is sought in physical things. I loved the "Lord of the Rings" but it is objective mysticism after all. To take such things seriously is idolatry.

There are priests who care more about the relics, the statues, the carvings, the architecture than they do about the children of the congregation. Far better to raze the buildings and burn the idols than to rape the children. Anyone who has even a glimmer of spiritual light will see that, wouldn't they? It the buildings are sold for something useful [like paying off lawsuits], so much the better.

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."
---------------

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."

==============

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."
++++++++++++++++++

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. "
========
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."
===========
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."
--------------

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. "
========
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."
-----
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. "
==========
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.

It's not for the faint of heart. I refer to Michael Polanyi's 1958 classic Personal Knowledge. It has more about epistemology than most want to know. ["Epistemology" is the study of what can be known and how it is known.]

What I find intriguing is how often Polanyi comes up to the reality of man being in the image of God, looks over the precipice, and then refuses to take the leap. It's a shame. It is a great book and valuable, in spite of its humanistic suppositions. I haven't finished it yet, but have already had my mind stirred.

Check out the new post on Theological Figs. Click on the link on the right.

USATODAY.com - Diet: Potato growers say they'll pitch a 'low-carb' spud: "Florida is the first test site in the United States for the European import, which was developed by HZPC, a seed company based in the Netherlands. The potato was developed by crossbreeding and was not genetically modified."
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Hey! Don't mess with the spud. The potato is one of the best things in the world and shouldn't be messed with. I for one, am perfectly satisfied that the Idaho baking potato, slathered with butter, and plenty of salt and pepper, cannot be bad for you. Nervous little people that you see jogging early in the morning, fretting about a calory here or a inch or two there, die young from nervousness and worry.

My favorite quote from all time is from Winston Churchill. When asked what he did for exercise, he said something like this, "Mostly I exercise by serving as pall bearer for my physical fitness friends."

Anything that takes away from a merry heart cannot be good for you. That includes most diets.

Mike S. Adams: Our Republican Substitute Teacher: "'Well,' said the man, 'you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met but, somehow, it's my fault.'"
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Read this great article from my favorite college professor. In a minute or two you will learn more about taxes than if you listened to evening news for four or five years.

Grove City College_Throckmorton_Hiding Truth From Schoolchildren: It's Elementary Revisited: "Noe' Gutierrez, the young man that told his story in the video, came out as gay at 16 but then came out again as ex-gay at 24. On 'It's Elementary,' he was filmed speaking to a San Francisco area middle school on behalf of Community United Against Violence. Mr. Gutierrez was quite involved in gay advocacy and frequently spoke publicly on this topic. However, about six years ago Mr. Gutierrez went through a period of re-evaluation and change. The end result was his change of sexual identity from gay to straight. Without fanfare, Mr. Gutierrez went through a profound experience of transformation and after a while of working through his experience began telling others of his change."
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Can't happen, of course, according to the PC bunch, but it doesn't matter to them that it did. This "scientific" bunch has a long history of ignoring facts that don't agree with their conclusion. In fact, that is one of the accepted methods of modern science--ignore what doesn't agree with your conclusion. If you don't believe me read Michael Polanyi's Personal Knowledge or Knowledge and Being. No friend to Christian presuppositions, Polyani demonstrates the necessity for faith in all scientific knowledge and has been a giant in 20th century scientific thought.

It shows the irrationality that is involved in the attitude of modern science to Christianity. "Christianity cannot be true because I don't want it to be true, and if it is true, I would have to change my moral presuppositions and my truth presuppositions and I don't want to do that so Christianity cannot be true. I will not allow it to be true," pretty much sums it up.

The last two weeks have been very busy. I taught a class on Introduction to Reformed Theology in Baltimore during the week of June 7-12, and this week another minister and I represented our church to the Synod of the United Reformed Churches of North America meeting in Calgary. So there has been little time to blog.

Most of Friday, June 11, I spent driving through the northeastern part of Maryland, driving through small towns and farmland, listening on the car radio to the Reagan funeral. I wonder if we will every hear anything like it again. Of course, it was a funeral in the very best tradition of what was once American state religion, broadly evangelical and protestant, although a catholic priest helped officiate, something we would not have seen in the 19th century dominance of our state religion.

There has been an unending assault on our state religion for the past 65 years or so, using a revised version of American history and interpretation of the First Amendment. There may be even more changes in the next few decades, because of the change in the demographics of America, with a large influx of Hispanics, Eastern Europeans, and Asians. The vitality seems to be going out of evangelicals as they lose their sense of the inerrancy of Scripture and justification by faith.

The bright spot on the horizon, small as a man's hand, is the revival of high calvinism which is taking place throughout the world. The consistent theology and world view of calvinism is greatly feared by humanism of all stripes, but an integrated biblical faith is the only real answer to consistent humanism, whether of the virulent variety of militant Islamism or the seemingly benign form of New Age irrationalism.

It certainly appears that we are in for a ride that will include a lot of change in the next few years. The funeral of Ronald Reagan may well have signalled the end of an age, an age that some may remember with nostalgia, but one that is likely never to come again.

Reason: Objections to These Unions: What Friedrich Hayek can teach us about gay marriage: "But look. No matter how I come at this question, I keep bumping into the same wall. For the entire history of civilization, marriage has been between men and women. In every religion, every culture, every society -- maybe with some minor and rare exceptions, none of them part of our own heritage -- marriage has been reserved for the union of male and female. All the words in the world cannot change that. Same-sex marriage would not be an incremental tweak but a radical reform, a break with all of Western history.

"I'm sorry. I am not prepared to take that step, not when we are talking about civilization's bedrock institution. I don't know that I can even give you good reasons. It is just that what you are asking for is too much."

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Read this article. What great sense it makes. Haven't we had enough human disasters in the 20th century by people who thought they could create social orders that ignored basic human instincts?

A Tribute to Brave Americans.
Memorial Day, 2004

What brave men they were that Christmas night, 1776! George Washington had decided to risk it all on one daring attack. The British with their Hessian mercenaries [Hesse made a living by renting soldiers] had driven the Americans from New York and Long Island. Most American soldiers had signed up for only six months terms and those terms were coming to an end. Washington’s troops had dwindled to about 10 percent of his original force, about 3000 men, many of them without shoes or proper clothing. But they were well armed with plenty of artillery.

The Hessians had taken up positions in Trenton, certain that Washington’s army was defeated and could not fight. Besides, it was winter, and a terrible storm was brewing. But they were fine professional soldiers, the finest in Europe, and they reached deep for energy to post guards and be vigilant. It is a modern myth that they were drunken and asleep that night.

Washington had retreated across New Jersey and crossed the Delaware River and took up positions in Pennsylvania opposite Trenton and NE of Philadelphia.

Washington divided his army into three parts, two parts to attack Trenton from the south and east, the third part under Washington would cross to the north and attack from the north. Two of the armies were unable to cross the river that Christmas night because of the storm and the ice piling up in the river.

Washington and his troops effected the crossing with much difficulty. Yes, Washington stood in the boat, for the boats were huge Durham boats made for carrying the trade that made Pennsylvania farmers rich. Besides only a fool would sit down, for there was always water in the bottom of the boat, and nobody sat down in them, especially during a winter snow storm on December 25. Modern debunkers in history departments for many years have downgraded the status of American heroes.

They were four hours late when they finally got all the troops and artillery across. It was well past dawn when they finally completed the trek south, hauling artillery pieces up steep banks and braving the fierce blowing snow and ice.

Washington did not achieve his goal of a night attack, but the storm helped. They did not achieve complete surprise upon the Hessian troops, for they were spotted by sentries and both sides fought bravely, but the Americans had the advantage of artillery, numerical advantage at that time and place, and finally the Hessian commander called a halt. It was over at 9:00 a.m. Washington’s gamble had succeeded.

The great victory at Trenton shook America and Europe. Fresh recruits lined up throughout the colonies to join the American armies. Inquiries and inquisitions were held in Hesse and England. The English blamed the Hessians and the Hessians blamed the English. Continental currency received a shot in the arm.

The victory at Trenton was probably not the turning point of the war, but if Washington’s gamble had failed, his army would have been pinned with their backs against the Delaware river, and it probably would have been destroyed. Trenton did not gain liberty for America, but it made it possible for the war to continue.

God bless General George Washington, and God bless America.

I do not know what the greatest generation of American was, but we couldn’t even talk about it if it had not been for the generation of 1776.

FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - Frist Campaigns Against Daschle in South Dakota: "'What it indicates now is probably that things have become more partisan,' said Senate Associate Historian Don Ritchie. Ritchie said leaders have traditionally laid off campaigning against one another because they would have been 'trying not to burn too many bridges.' "
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More partisan? Who is Peter Brownfield trying to kid? These are the most partisan Democrats in my lifetime. Have you heard what they are saying about Presdent Bush? Do you know how they have bottled up judicial nominations for partisan reason? Frist is just recognizing reality.

RealClearPolitics: "'Today, the United States is confronted by another ill-considered war, conceived in ideological zeal and pursued with contempt for truth, disregard of history and an arrogant assertion of American power that has stunned and alienated much of the world, including traditional allies. At a juncture in history when the United States needed a president to intelligently and forcefully lead a real international campaign against terrorism and its causes, Bush decided instead to unilaterally declare war on a totalitarian state that never represented a terrorist threat; to claim exemption from international law regarding the treatment of prisoners; to suspend constitutional guarantees even to non-combatants at home and abroad; and to ignore sound military advice from the only member of his Cabinet � Powell � with the most requisite experience. Instead of using America's moral authority to lead a great global cause, Bush squandered it.'
-Carl Bernstein"
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Have you noticed how the willing democratic shills in the press, chortle with glee any time anything happens that they can construe as a disaster for America, in hopes that they can defeat Bush in November. They magnify faults, minimize assets, and hope for American disasters and deaths and disgrace, just so they can gain the power they lust after.

Lesson: our founding fathers were right. The only good government is limited government. People should make most of the decisions themselves that affect their lives, and power and money in the central government should be severely limited to the most basic needs. If the power and money is removed from Washington, then only patriots would want to go there, and scoundrals wouldn't stay.

Michael Moore has become a GM-sized conspiracy theory factory.

The fake-umentary maker recently suggested that Democrat donor Michael Eisner was conspiring with the Bush brothers to censor his latest film, "Fahrenheit 9/11."

In the movie, which recently took the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Moore presents a conspiracy theory that involves Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida, the Saudis and the Bush administration. He bases the crackpot thesis on the news reports that, in the days after 9/11, about 140 Saudis were airlifted back home, two dozen of whom were members of the bin Laden family.

Lost in Moore's mental machinations were the facts that Osama was estranged from his elephant-sized family and had had his Saudi citizenship revoked two decades ago.

If he's looking for real conspiracy fodder, Moore might try checking out some of the new folks that Miramax Films has hired to promote his flick. Howard Wolfson is the ex-campaign press secretary for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Michael Feldman is an adviser from Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane are former Clinton White House advisers.

And then there's the Miramax spokesman who's been talking to the press about the story. He's Matthew Hiltzik, and he worked on Hillary's U.S. Senate campaign.

The Left Coast Report whispers, Vast left-wing conspiracy, anyone?

--from James Hirsen's Left Coast Report. Newsmax.com

OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan: "Fast Eddy Doctorow told a story at the commencement all right, and it is a story about the boorishness of the aging liberal. An old '60s radical who feels he is entitled to impose his views on this audience on this day because he's so gifted, so smart, so insightful, so very above the normal rules, agreements and traditions. And for this he will get to call himself besieged and heroic--a hero about whom stories are told!--when in fact all he did was guarantee positive personal press in the elite media, at the cost of the long suffering patience of normal people who wanted to move the tassel and throw the hat in the air."
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Hurrah for Peggy Noonan!

Michael Moore and Me: "The only problem is none of this is true. It never happened. Moore is a liar. He made it up. It's a fabrication on two levels. One, I've never met Moore or even talked to him on the phone. And, two, I read both The Iliad and The Odyssey in my first year at the University of Virginia. Just for the record, I'd learned what they were about even before college"
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Of course Michael Moore is a liar. He lives in a dream world in which he and his kind fancy they are gods and can create their own reality. The French, of course, and their lovers receive such gladly, and have for years at the perversion and monstrosity they call a film festival.

Hyping Liberal Radio's Rise, But Not Its Fall -- 05/20/2004 - Media Research Center - Media Reality Check: "Then, on May 14, the Chicago Tribune revealed that one inside source said �Chicago staffers were never enrolled in a health insurance plan, though Air America promised coverage and deducted health insurance premiums from their paychecks.� Would that spur a juicy liberal-hypocrisy story in the middle of what big-government lobbies touted as �Cover The Uninsured Week� (May 10-14)? No. "
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You protect your own, and liberals have a cozy relationship with the national media. But there are good places to get the news, and Christians should stop hoping against hope that the national press will get it right. They won't, and we do not need to wait for them to do so. Their monopoly and power is over, thank God, Carl McIntyre, and Ronald Reagan.

EditorandPublisher.com - Information Authority for the Newspaper Industry: "The survey also revealed what some are sure to label a 'values' gap. According to Pew, about 60% of the general public believes it is necessary to believe in God to be a truly moral person. The new survey finds that less than 15% of those who work at news outlets believe that. About half the general public believes homosexuality should be accepted by society -- but about 80% of journalists feel that way."
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As Hamlet's friend might put it, "We did not need one to rise from the dead to tell us that, M'Lord."

The McCain Choice (washingtonpost.com): "I wish President Bush could find a way to reach out across party lines and be a unifier. He campaigned in 2000 as a leader who would heal America's partisan wounds. But in office he has too often done the opposite. No matter how much he invokes the unifying theme of the war on terrorism, he governs as an exclusionary conservative. And his vice president, Dick Cheney, seems to be running for the position of divider in chief. "
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These guys just don't get it. Americans should understand that the only way Bush can be a "uniter" with these mad dog liberals is to surrending the Republican agenda, the right philosophy on the War on Terror, and allow Hilary to sit in the Oval Office. Even then they would find fault. People need to get their blinders off, and recognize that the only campaign tactic the democrats have is to find fault and complain and obstruct. This is their whole platform. Then they blame Bush for the bad feelings.

Fearful strip clubs register voters to oust President Bush: "Fearful that conservatives might turn off the colored lights for good, a trade organization for adult nightclubs is asking owners to register customers and employees and then encourage them to cast their ballots against the president. Micheal Ocello, president of the Association of Club Executives, said the group believes the president's brand of conservatism is bad for business."
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Let's see, now. Adult strip clubs are an important part of the democratic coalition.

Newsday.com: As Cos tells it, we ain't learnt nothin' yet: "'They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English,' he said. 'I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't.' 'Where you is.' ... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. ... Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!'"
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Hurrah for Bill! Cosby isn't right about a lot of things, but he is dead right about this.

What Went Wrong - The flaw in Seymour Hersh's theory. By Christopher�Hitchens: "So a Sarin-infected device is exploded in Iraq, and across the border in Jordan the authorities say that nerve and gas weapons have been discovered for use against them by the followers of Zarqawi, who was in Baghdad well before the invasion. Where, one idly inquires, did these toys come from? No, it couldn't be. ...."
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Even Slate gets it right.

U.S. athletes told to cool it at Olympics - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - May 16, 2004: "NEW YORK � American athletes have been warned not to wave the U.S. flag during their medal celebrations at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens, for fear of provoking crowd hostility and harming the country's already-battered public image.
The spectacle of victorious athletes grabbing a national flag and parading it around the stadium is a familiar part of international sporting competition, but U.S. Olympic officials have ordered their 550-strong team to exercise restraint and avoid any jingoistic behavior. "
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Sodomites don't have to show restraint. Feminists and baby-killers don't have to. Anti-War freaks don't. Anti-American film makers in Holywood don't. Kerry's daughter can strut naked in public. Michael Moore doesn't show restraint. Those who strap bombs on children don't. But American athletes? Yes. Are you seeing a pattern here?

Reason: Temporary Doves: Why are the architects of Kosovo so down on Gulf War II?: "Like Gulf War II, the 78-day NATO air campaign in Kosovo was waged without the explicit authorization of the United Nations. (Of the two, the Iraq war had much more of a U.N. mandate, through Resolution 1441, which gave Iraq a 'final opportunity' -- one it did not take -- to comply fully with all previous Security Council resolutions or else face 'serious consequences.') Like Iraq, Yugoslavia was a sovereign country that was bombed into submission for essentially internal infractions. Both wars were expressions of American exasperation at European impotence in the face of dictatorial slaughter. Slobodan Milosevic, like Saddam Hussein, was described as a modern-day Adolf Hitler, eager to practice genocide against minority tribes while scrambling for horrible weapons to menace peaceful neighbors. Supporters of both wars frequently invoked the Munich Agreement of 1938, in which the West appeased Hitler rather than defend allied Czechoslovakia. Opponents of both wars warned that the target countries were colonially conceived multi-ethnic basket cases not conducive to postwar democratization. And the United States led the fight against both dictators despite urgent warnings from antiwar activists and multilateralism enthusiasts that each new bomb would lower the threshold for waging modern war. Kosovo made Iraq possible."
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It is very simple. Only liberal democrats have permission to use the American military. Republican conservatives can't do anything right. The trouble with George W. Bush is that he is not Bill Clinton. It isn't hard.

All of last week I was in Manitowoc for the 258th Synod of the Reformed Church in the U.S. It was a great time with some really good people. I got home to rain in Colorado Springs [Hurrah], decline in the stock market, and the same old hate Bush speech everywhere.

Typical of media bias was the report on the front page of USA Today [Wednesday, I think] which said that the beheading of Nick Berg was "retaliation" for the American brutality in Iraqi prisons. So its always our fault that they are so nasty. I suppose it was the fault of Jesus that Muslims tried to eradicate Christianity over a period of about one thousand years. [They failed, of course, as they will always fail. Can't get to Jesus on His throne in Heaven.] The Russians have a proverb for it, "Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

Mort Kondracke said it well: "Look at those monsters standing there five of them and they cut the guy's head off, they sawed his head off, shouting God is great. Now that is what we are dealing with, that is the kind of people who will run the world if we do not win this war on terrorism And it is being fought in Iraq and we have got to win and that is it. Full stop. There is just no losing this thing or else the world will be run by monsters." Mort Kondracke - FOX News

The French went crazy in Cannes over Michael Moore. But then, the French affection for Islam goes back at least to Francis, who allied with the Turks against Charles V. So much for Christian brotherhood. The French are the only civilized people, you know [must say it with a sniff, to get the proper effect].

Do you think that Islam has changed its desire to stable its horses in St. Peter's in Rome?

I expect to fly out of Colorado Springs tomorrow morning on my way to Manitowoc, WI, to attend teh 258th Synod of the Reformed Church in the US. I am taking a laptop, but it is unlikely that I will make any posts until I get back. Read a good book. Explore the Basket of Figs website. Or just think good thoughts. God bless.

Dennis Prager: Same-sex marriage: Good for gays, bad for children: "Among gay activists the reason is narcissism. Though gays already have the right to raise children without an opposite-sex parent and the right to adopt children, gay activists want society to enshrine one-sex parenting with its highest seal of approval -- marriage. For gay activists, the fact that a child does best with a good mother and good father is of no significance (or worse, denied). All that matters is what is good for gays. "
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Good sense from my favorite Jew.

Mike S. Adams: The National Day of Comfort: "Without any further ado, I am proud to announce that Monday May 10, 2004, will be the first annual National Day of Comfort on college campuses everywhere. Between now and May 10, I am asking students, faculty, and staff all around the country to set aside several hours (or days) to make a complete list of every form of speech they have ever encountered that made them feel even slightly uncomfortable while on campus."
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What a great idea from my favorite college professor. I can remember a lot of speech, espcially from instructors, that made me feel uncomfortable in college. And then there are preachers...and moms and dads. Maybe even grandpas and grandmas. Let's just quit it--making people feel bad, of course.

Brent Bozell: Memo to the GOP: Where are you?: "The other day, John Kerry had finished addressing the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention and was greeting participants when the C-SPAN camera caught one woman, presumably a member of the Fourth Estate, gushing to the Democratic candidate, 'You've got my vote!' There's no surprise here. It's almost impossible to distinguish between Democrats and journalists in their passion to elect Kerry and defeat Bush. "
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Yes, indeed. We have long known that CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN are unabashed propaganda instruments for the Democratic Party, along with the faculties of the law schools and higher educational establishments.

uReach.com: "New evidence out of Iraq suggests that the U.S. effort to track down Saddam Hussein's missing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is having better success than is being reported. "
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Take that, Hans Blix!

Excite News: "Al Gore, dipping into his 2000 campaign warchest, said Wednesday he will donate more than $6 million to five Democratic Party groups and help presumptive nominee John Kerry fight the 'outrageous and misleading' Republican campaign."
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Well, why not? He has made a career of aiding a supporting charlatans and liars.

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Opinion: Editorials: "The problem isn't that Mr. Kerry may have performed a dramatic act in the name of principle more three decades ago. It's that his backtracking since then suggests he may not have the firmest grasp on the meaning of the word. "
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Well said in the Dallas News.

William F. Buckley: Dumb, Dumbest: "That lesson in nice, reductionist, idiomatic thought brings to mind the current impasse. It is vividly introduced by the April 26 headline on the front page of the New York Times: 'MILITANTS IN EUROPE OPENLY CALL/ FOR JIHAD AND THE RULE OF ISLAM.' The lengthy dispatch speaks of young Arab militants, beginning with one representative group in Luton, England. Some of its members are quoted: 'They say they would like to see Prime Minister Tony Blair dead or deposed and an Islamic flag hanging outside No. 10 Downing Street.' "
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If an organization, a nation, a church, cannot enforce its own vision and reason for existence, it doesn't deserve to exist, and will not for long.

Dennis Prager: Pat Tillman, one of the 36: "Thank God that much of America is talking about and revering the name Pat Tillman. That means we still have hope. A society's moral temperature can be measured in part by whom it celebrates. And for much of my lifetime, the greatest adoration has been showered on the narcissistic and the shallow -- from Britney Spears to Barry Bonds to Norman Mailer."
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A great eulogy for a great American from my favorite Jew, Dennis Prager.

Brent Bozell: The pro-indecency lobby: "This last one comes from NBC president Robert Wright, who wrote a passionate editorial in the Wall Street Journal claiming the TV elite are the titans of 'creative integrity,' and must not be protested. 'Ultimately, we have much less to fear from obscene, indecent or profane content than we do from an overzealous government willing to limit First Amendment protections and censor creative free expression. That would be indecent,' Wright insisted. "
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This is the mind-set of the sixties. Turn everything upside down, re-label vulgarity and obscenity, make evil good and good evil. Opposites are both valid, and truth comes from the dialectics. Because the church has bought into the idea that the Bible contains contradictions, there is no defense from the church, except empty moralisms.

The only absolute that the rebels of the sixties know is this one: I have the right to do as I please, whenever, whatever, however. All who restrain me are pigs.

Thomas Sowell: Bait-and-switch media: " I was invited on as a guest to talk about my new book, 'Affirmative Action Around the World.' But when I phoned in for the interview while the program was on the air, I discovered that another guest was already waiting in ambush, talking about a wholly different topic, minimum wage laws.
When I asked the hostess whether I was on the program to discuss minimum wage laws and she said that I was, I knew that this was the old bait-and-switch game that I had encountered many times over the years."
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Thomas Sowell speaks about the unethical behavior of the liberal press. Isn't it something? These advocates of "fairness" and "equity" are themselves servants of corruption, as the apostle said.

Commentary - Special Article: "The final perfidy, though, is not personal but political. The UN, in the name of its own lofty principles, and to its rich emolument, actively helped sustain and protect a tyrant whose brutality and repression were the cause of Iraqi deprivation in the first place. What can this mean? The answer may be simply that, along with its secrecy, its massed cadres of bureaucrats beholden to the favor of the man at the top, its almost complete lack of accountability, external oversight, or the most elementary checks and balances, the UN suffers from an endemic affinity with anti-Western despots, and will turn a blind eye to the devil himself in order to keep them in power. Certainly there is much in its history and its behavior to support this view. "
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The trouble with idolatry is that gods that you create for yourself must be supported by yourself because they cannot stand on their own feet, being dead. Those who look for world peace from the UN are doomed to justifying the actions of the UN no matter how corrupt it becomes and how many sins are uncovered. Dead and blind gods are served by dead and blind people.

If you want to hear and read a sermon on the biblical case for confirmation, a thoroughly Reformed practice, by the way, click on this link:
Trinity Covenant Church.

Townhall.com: C-Log: The Conservative Web Log: "Jesse Jackson Calls U.S. Military Action in Iraq
During a speech earlier this month at the 21st Century Black Massachusetts Conference in Boston, Rev. Jesse Jackson condemned U.S. military action in Iraq, calling it 'murder' and calling U.S. liberation of Iraq 'crimes against humanity.' He even wents so far as to encourage the United Nations to apply sanctions agains the U.S., stating: 'I'm not sure the U.N. has the power to act against us in a military way, but they have the right to make a moral judgment.' Jackson went on to implore Congress to determine if President Bush's war policies are impeachable offenses, but said Congress itself bears no responsibility for the war, despite having voted to authorize it."

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Does anyone still take this guy seriously? Somebody needs to tell Mr. Jackson that he is not important just because he is black. He is one of the most racist people in America, and no, it is not racist for me to insist that a black man make sense. It would be racist if we did not expect a black man to make sense.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "In 1971, he wanted people to think he had thrown away his medals. In 1984 and ever since, he has wanted people to know he had kept his medals.

But Kerry's interviewer yesterday actually saw him on that day back in 1971: 'Senator, I was there 33 years ago, and I saw you throw the medals over the fence,' Charlie Gibson of 'Good Morning America' said point-blank.
'No,' Kerry said, 'you didn't see me throw the, Charlie, Charlie, you are wrong. That's not what happened. I threw my ribbons across . . . After the ceremony was over, I had a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart given to me, one Purple Heart by a veteran in the V.A. in New York and the bronze star by an older veteran of World War II in Massachusetts. I threw them over because they asked me to.'
ABC reporter Brian Ross uncovered the 33-year-old interview. But Kerry tried to blame the controversy on George W. Bush instead: 'This is a controversy that the Republicans are pushing,' he raged, 'and this comes from a president and a Republican Party that can't even answer whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. I'm not going to stand for it.' "
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The fat lady isn't singing yet, but she is off stage gargling and getting her voice in shape.

Excite - News: "Adding to the U.S. burden, Spanish troops quit Najaf and Iraq in a withdrawal ordered by the new government in Madrid, where opposition to the occupation runs high. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero said only support personnel were left in Iraq and the last of them would be out by May 27."
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I guess that they will now apologize for the utterly self-serving expulsion of the Moors in 1492, and will begin negotiations to give back the Alhambra to Islam. We are so sensitive and enlightened nowadays. Anyone knows that if people hate you, it is because you have not shown them enough love.

Love means never refusing to take blame for whatever you are accused of. It means giving people whatever they demand of you. It means never making a moral judgment. It means talk instead of action. It means never having to say that you believe anything.

Check out the new material at Theological Figs. Click the link at the right.

The Australian: Editorial: Coalition of the whining still wrong on Iraq [April 21, 2004]: "APRIL 2003 was a great month for those who believed the people of Iraq should be freed from the grip of tyranny, and that if they were it would make the world a safer place. April 2004 has so far been a great month for those who believed they shouldn't, and that it wouldn't."
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A great article from down under.

RealClear Politics - Commentary: "Despite the best efforts of his enemies and the media, President Bush has politically weathered the latest violence in Iraq and implications that he could have stopped the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Bush's overall approval rating has taken a hit - his early-April average is 48 percent, down from 54 percent in January - but it's evident that recent bloody insurgent activity in Iraq did not constitute a general uprising in the country and that no conclusive intelligence ever got to the White House in advance of 9/11.

"Pretty clearly, Iraq is not Vietnam, as charged by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chief attack dog for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). "
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Just let things cool down in Iraq, and watch the numbers soar.

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Officials: Chemical Attacks Thwarted in Jordan: " An Al Qaeda (search)-linked terrorist cell recently dismantled in Jordan was plotting to detonate a chemical bomb capable of killing thousands of people and to attack the U.S. Embassy and prime minister's office with poison gas, officials said Saturday."
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Aha! So there are WMD destruction available to Al Queda. Wonder where they come from. Some of those unaccounted for in Iraq, perhaps. Saddam said he had 'em, the UN said he had 'em, and every intelligence agency in the world said he had 'em. I guess it is too much to ask for a little honesty in an American political campaign, where the goal is not to tell the truth but to damage your opponent no matter how outrageous your lie is.

New Scientist: "Climate scientists have been stirred to ridicule claims in an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster that global warming could trigger a new ice age, a scenario also put forward in a controversial report to the US military."
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This is modern science, that we are supposed to believe in stead of the Bible? Click on this link to read about the death of Darwinism. Science, in spite of its tremendous achievements which cannot be denied, is going through a crisis of soul.

New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - Editorials: Spitting in the eye of terror: "Quattrocchi, 35, was a former baker who went to Iraq late last year to work as a security guard for oil pipelines. His goal: to earn enough money to marry his fiancee, buy a house and start a family. His fate: to be kidnapped, held hostage and slaughtered. A tape of his murder shows that as his killers held a gun to his head, Quattrocchi struggled to free himself, not of his bonds, but of the hood that covered his face. He wanted to look death in the eye. His last, defiant words were: 'Now I'll show you how an Italian dies.'"

"Quattrocchi did more than that. He showed how a courageous person lives, just as America and its allies will continue to demonstrate how fearless nations live."
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What a noble and courageous oil worker! We are proud to have such men as our allies in the war against terror, and that there are such men is the reason we will prevail!

NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story: "Notes OpinionJournal.com's James Taranto, the latest bin Laden outburst 'shows a command of Democratic talking points - Halliburton is evil; the president is a 'liar' who commands a 'gang',' etc.
The only thing bin Laden seems to have missed is Ted Kennedy's blast that Iraq has become George Bush's Vietnam."
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Is bin Laden coordinating his propaganda with Jane Fonda Kerry's compaign?

Mona Charen: Who wants to step up and apologize: "These are the people who warned us of the terrible Afghan winter and warned that our troops would face the same fate as those of the Soviet Union and Great Britain. These are the same people who declared that the Afghanistan campaign, three weeks on, had become a Vietnam-style quagmire. It was on the front page of The New York Times.

"These are the also the people who brought you Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley. Kelley is the former star foreign correspondent for USA Today who was recently fired for fabricating stories.

"Well, everybody makes "
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And these were the people who were trying to find the blood in the water at President Bush's press conference the other evening. They asked him really important things that could be used as sound bites in Jane Fonda Kerry's campaign ads: "What mistakes have you made?" and "Will you apologize for ________________" Fill in the blank. It doesn't matter that you didn't do anything wrong. It will feel good if you apologize. Make something up. It isthe American way."

Democrats Are Risking Political Damnation: "During a debate in the 2000 primary campaign, the GOP candidates were asked to name the philosopher who had most affected their lives. Bush's answer was unique: Jesus Christ. As a senior advisor to Al Gore at the time, I recall the reaction in Democratic circles: laughter and disbelief. Bush was seen as a dunce at best, a panderer at worst. 'George Bush probably can't even name a philosopher,' was repeated so often in progressive circles that it became a theme. How could such an 'uneducated person' win?"
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The Democrats should remember wardrobe-challenged Janet Jackson, which was the incident that took Howard Stern off the air and cancelled Victoria's Secret. American values changed after 9/11.

PERSECUTION IN NIGERIA
Religious violence that erupted in the Nigerian state of Plateau a few
weeks ago has resulted in the deaths of eight pastors and 1,500
Christian believers, and the destruction of 173 churches. The Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN) released the names of the martyred pastors
who served Baptist, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Assemblies of God and the
Evangelical Reformed congregations, as well as the Church of Christ in
Nigeria and the Evangelical Church of West Africa. Nigeria’s National
Emergency Management Agency reported that religious violence in Plateau
and Nasarawa states has resulted in the displacement of 25,000 people.
Compass Direct reports: “About 50,000 displaced persons who managed to
escape the hostility have temporarily relocated to some parts of this
state,” placing enormous pressure on local resources. On March 28,
Muslim-Christian violence broke out in the state of Nasarawa,
reportedly claiming the lives of 15 Christians.
Go to PCA news

FYI

Kerry told to seek mate with 'balance' - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics: "Democratic leaders are advising Sen. John Kerry to take great care in picking his running mate and select someone who neutralizes his Northeast liberal reputation and doesn't eclipse him in the charm department. "
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In other words, lie. Try to hide who he is.

Black Leadership Group Says Dodd Must 'Face the Music and Resign' -- GOPUSA: "Members of a black leadership group are asking Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) to resign from his position in the United States Senate because of recent comments he made regarding Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV)."

"How could Senator Dodd have made the comments he did with a straight face? And how can he believe he's going to get away with it?," Martin asked in a press release. "Robert Byrd is a former leader in the Ku Klux Klan, and later an opponent of civil rights legislation. I can think of many places in American history where I wouldn't want him setting our nation's agenda."
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What is good for remarks about Strom Thurmond is good for remarks about KKK former member Byrd, one of the most racist members of Congress. Ex. Nebraska Senator Kerrey should be kicked off the 9-11 committee for the patronizing sexist and racial remarks made about C. Rice.

Students using bracelets as sexual signals: "Health Department Director Jean Malecki sported some of the bracelets at the school board presentation to make a point about the need for more sex education in public schools, especially because of the county's status as an AIDS epicenter, including its youth, and the rising teen pregnancy rate."
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Yep, sure need more sex education in the public schools. Kids hardly know what to do.
We especially need lesbian, sodomite, pornographers, pedophiles, and regular old fashioned fornicators to do the teaching so that the kids can get a good picture of all the options open to them.

Kathleen Parker: In a parallel universe called 'what if.': "Absent absolute proof of such an imminent attack, Bush's Sept. 10 bombing of Afghanistan earned him international condemnation and, in all likelihood, an indictment in coming weeks. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, appearing last night on 'Larry King Live,' said the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal likely would bring charges of genocide against Bush.

Bush also faces federal charges at home for his baseless arrest of 19 foreign nationals, many of them native Saudis, whose 'crime' was attending American flight schools. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has joined the American Civil Liberties Union in a joint suit against both Bush and former Attorney General John Ashcroft, charging racial profiling, unlawful arrest and illegal search and seizure."
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What if Bush had really done what the phony demlibs and numbskull reblibs think that Bush should have done? Kathleen Parker speculates on what they would be saying now? Do you doubt it? Truth means nothing to this bunch, and never has for two generations.

Jay Bryant: Newsweek Misses Tax Freedom Day: "So let me summarize. Newsweek identified three families, one of which made $32,400 in 2003, the second $73,411 and the third $194,000. Each of the three was quoted, bitching about how they hadn't gotten anything out of the Bush tax cuts. But the Times analysis shows that the single-income-mom low income family actually benefited $1,000, or 45% from the cuts, while the middle income folks saved $2,800 (44%) and the high income earners, who told Newsweek all the tax cut benefits must have gone to the 'major corporations who are downsizing and outsourcing,' received at least $6,899 in Bush tax reductions."
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People will lie to get on the news. Won't they?

Mike S. Adams: Who will storm the beaches of Normandy?: "I was reminded of that incident last week when I was discussing the war in Iraq with my friend, Barry Whitehead. We both agreed that this nation would be in serious trouble if we had to fight another war like World War II today. That brave generation of men who stormed the beaches of Normandy has been replaced by a generation of metrosexuals trying to get in touch with their feminine side. Even the body builders become emotionally unraveled when they think that someone might have scratched their plastic bumper."
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Another great article from Mike Adams, my favorite college professor. He took a bit of time off from tilting with feminist windmills to write a sober article on modern wimpery. Question: Who will storm the beaches at Normandy? But then, of course, who will be defending them? Islamic fundamentalists, no doubt. Certainly not the Germans.

Doug Giles: Islam, Jihad and Our Jugular Vein: "As things stand, as I attempt to understand this faith which is radically different from Christianity, there is nothing I've found in Islam that makes me believe it is a peaceful religion. Much as I like and respect you, Mr. President, I'm not dancin' to your 'Islam is a religion of peace' tune."
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Yes. And Mr. Bush, if you really want to do America a service, tell it like it is. Let the dems have the Islamic votes, along with the fems, the sodomites, and the otherwise goofy.

Jack Kelly / The outcome is clear: "Something like the Battle of the Bulge is being fought in Iraq today. In Fallujah, the Baathist remnant and the al-Qaida types are making a stand there -- a choice pretty much made for them by the Marines when they sealed off the city after the murder and mutilation of four civilian contractors there last week -- and are being ground down by the Marines."
---
fyi. A great article: their last gasp.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Fighting the Wrong War: "Two things about that failure are clear to me at this point in our investigation. The first is that 9/11 could have been prevented, and the second is that our current strategy against terrorism is deeply flawed. In particular, our military and political tactics in Iraq are creating the conditions for civil war there and giving Al Qaeda a powerful rationale to recruit young people to declare jihad on the United States."
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How can someone be so right on the 8th of April, and be so wrong on the eleventh? How much money changed hands?

The Seattle Times: Opinion: We must teach the insurgents to respect U.S. power: "Certainly this is not a suggestion to bring back the Mukhabharat or its methods of mass murder, torture and rape rooms in order to pacify Iraq. Rather, the point is that, despite much hand-wringing about 'evil, bloodthirsty American imperialists' in the world, these insurgents clearly understand something that many anti-American ideologues do not: Americans are not to be feared precisely because we are not evil, bloodthirsty imperialists. This lack of fear is a tremendous hindrance to our efforts, because in the cold reality of that region, to elicit no fear is to be powerless, and the powerless do not command respect.

To be successful in Iraq, we do not need more troops. Instead, we need to instill a healthy dose of fear - that is, respect - for our power. This certainly does not mean murder and torture, but it does mean overwhelming military responses to insurgents even in the face of serious collateral damages, as well as collective communal punishments such as reduced electricity and water rations for harboring insurgents. "
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But for fifty years, parents, teachers, police, churchmen have been afraid--yes, afraid--to confront evil, because the malefactor has learned that if he escalates the confrontation, then it will become the fault of the authority figure. Thus the heritage of the revolution of the sixties. I cannot image any teacher or principal that I knew as a boy imagining that it would be their fault if some bratty kid begin to scream and holler because obedience was demanded and enforced with violence if necessary. Furthermore, no parent I knew would have a complaint. But it was the National Guard at Kent State; it was the police at Berkeley; it was the U.S. in Viet Nam.

And so we sent the police to sensitivity school; the army to learn about meals on wheels; principals began to learn to respect "students' rights." Parents could not longer use language to "lay down the law," and make children obey, but learned to use language to manipulate into desired behavior. Kids were thus truly disrespected, as if it somehow were better to be treated as nuts rather than naughty.

So the will to confront and defeat evil was lost, or at least greatly enervated. Does America have the will to do what is necessary to bring order to Iraq? The jury is still out, I think. The dweebs like John Kerry and Jane Fonda and their anti-war cohorts destroyed the will of Americans to withstand the horror of Communism in Viet Nam and carry the blood of millions of people on their hands. They will add the blood of millions of Iraqis, if Americans are persuaded to leave, for everyone that helped America will have their throats cut in the mosques. We are not dealing with civilized people. They have taken heart by the fiascos in Viet Nam and Somalia and think that Americans will run if the cost in blood becomes too great. They are right about one part of America.

The latte crowd in America, hugging trees, self-righteous in their self-congratulating compassion, simpering over their cups, little fingers smartly curled, will never understand what it takes to defeat evil. They are not even sure there is such a thing as evil. They are so compromised in their own lives, living with evil and compromise, as to be unable to decide what evil is and what good is. It is all one to them, for that makes them feel confident that they are good people. Yes, I am speaking of morally corrupt people like Ted Kennedy, who could not find the moral force to try to save a young woman drowning in his car, but thought only of saving his own sorry political hide; of Bill Clinton who turned the Oval office into a porn palace and lied under oath rather than face up to his responsibility for the harrassment of Paula Jones; the list could go on and on, and is not limited to Democrats, for their are plenty of Republican wooses. This is the generation of self-esteem, drugs, rock 'n roll, and sexual anarchy. Leave no desire ungratified; brook no restraint upon your wishes. If confronted, throw such a fit as to intimidate and pass the blame to whoever is in your way: Mom, Dad, Teacher, Policeman, or National Guard. The only reality is the truth of my desires.The remarkable thing is that these reprobates feel morally and spiritually superior to the other America, the ones who know what evil is and are willing to confront and destroy it.

Yes, there is another America, the sons and daughters of Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, Normandy, and the Halls of Montezuma, who know you have to spank kids, expel students, fire teachers, and maybe shoot the bad guys who terrorize the 'hood. They know that evil has to be resisted. If we have enough of these Americans left, we will prevail. Otherwise, the world will regress to the 7th Century. Let Jane Fonda try her feminism on the Mullahs if that happens. Or see what happens when the simpering liberals try to raise their confrontation with the dark hoards of Islam. See how they respond to wimpishness.

OpinionJournal - Featured Article: "It is my view that a political victory for terrorism in Iraq is a much greater danger to us than whether or not we succeed in capturing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Victory in Iraq will embolden radical Islamists as much as our failure to recognize the original danger of their declaration of war against us. "
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This is a great, sober, and non-partisan article from the former democratic senator from Nebraska. Clarke is wrong; Kerrey is right.

Excite - News: "'It's positive that Saddam and his bloody regime is gone, but when one weighs the costs, it's clearly the negative aspects that dominate,' Blix told daily Jyllands-Posten in an interview."
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Yep, Mr. Blix. And one of the great negatives is the loss of your job, eh? But you can make up for it, perhaps, by writing best-selling books lying about the President. Lying is good business.

MSNBC - From Kosovo To Fallujah: "One aim and effect of U.S. intervention in the Balkans--a kind of blurry border where Islam and Christianity meet--was to protect Muslims from persecution. America's harvest of gratitude has not been bountiful."
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Whatever you think of America, she has been true to her modern principles. I do not agree with some of those principles, but the U.S. has been true to herself. When Muslims were being "ethnically cleansed" in the Balkans, we intervened against the "Christians."

But Islam does not understand such principles. There Allah has no principles, because the will of Allah is capricious, enigmatic, without reason. The God of the Bible acts according to His nature and His goodness; that would limit Allah, as would personhood, so personood and goodness are jettisoned for benefit of theological consistency; the Trinity is jettisoned for the same "reason," for whatsoever does not tuck in nicely around all the edges of human reason must be eliminated. People who also are untidy and don't fit must also be eliminated, no matter how nice they might be.

Op-Ed Columnist: The Floo Floo Bird: " The architect Frank Lloyd Wright warned of the floo floo bird, 'the peculiar and especial bird who always flew backward . . . because it didn't give a darn where it was going, but just had to see where it had been.'
That's us. With our eyes fixed on our rearview mirror, we obsessively review catastrophes past when we should be looking through our windshield at dangers ahead.
Today we are engaged in the wrong debate. The brouhaha about whether the new Bush administration treated the threat of Al Qaeda as 'important' versus 'urgent' is history almost as ancient as whether F.D.R. did enough to avert Pearl Harbor. "
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Long live the floo floo bird. The wrong debate, at the wrong time, by the wrong people, with the wrong conclusions. But modern libs only know how to look backward. They have no vision for the future except tax and tax and take power from the people for themselves.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "April 6, 2004 -- THE latest daily tracking polls by Scott Rasmussen show that President Bush has moved up six points in the past week to take a three-point lead over Sen. John Kerry. "
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Time for the dem's to dump Kerry and go to the well again. Surely there are some more old losers from which they can try resuscitation. Gore? Dukakis? Kennedy? Dean? Gephardt? John McCain? {yes, I know!}. Maybe Hillary? But she won't touch it. She looks to 2008.

Dennis Prager: Why no Christian suicide bombers? and other thoughts on Islamic terror: "Golly gee, Muslim terrorists tried to attack Madrid again. How can that be? Wasn't Muslim terror in Spain supposed to end once Spain appeased the terrorists by voting in the socialists?"
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Great article from my favorite Jew. Who says that all religions are the same? Only the spiritually bankrupt can think this way. There are many negatives in Islam, equal in devastating results if not emotional content, to child suicide bombers. There is nothing in Islam to Christ's words, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," because the church is the state and the state is the church in Islam. Neither is there anything similar to Christ's words, "Turn the other cheek," or "Forgive those who tresspass against you," or other such things. Neither is there an Easter in Islam. Muhommed is dead, dead, dead! Therefore, there is no revival in Islam, but only retrogation to the deadness of the past.