RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Free Speech on the Run in the West by John Leo: "In Canada, a teacher drew a suspension for a letter to a newspaper arguing that homosexuality is not a fixed orientation, but a condition that can be treated. He was not accused of discrimination, merely of expressing thoughts that the state defines as improper. Another Canadian newspaper was fined 4,500 Canadian dollars for printing an ad giving the citations -- but not the text -- of four biblical quotations against homosexuality. As David Bernstein writes in his book 'You Can't Say That!': 'It has apparently become illegal in Canada to advocate traditional Christian opposition to homosexual sex.'"
==================

The ultimate target of all politically correct movement, multiculturalism if you will, is the Bible. The reason: the Bible carries its own internal proof of authority and its very own authentication as the Word of God. Multiculturalism denies that there is such a thing as self-evident truth, or truth that evidences itself. The very idea of self-evident truth is a biblical, Christian idea that is based upon the fact that the world is God's creation and carries its own imprimatur of authenticity. If there are many gods [the basic premise of multiculturalsim] then truth resides only in the eye of the beholder--worshippers of this god see truth this way; worshippers of that god see truth that way.

This is the reason why modern liberal "Christians" have no defense against the growing threat of radical Islam. They have nothing in their spiritual or intellectual arsenal to draw on. But how do you accept someone's religious view if at the foundation of that religious view is that you must be killed? As an uncle of mine used to say, "I wouldn't trust that guy, even if he was on my side."
.

Cherry Picking, II

Pick wisely? 

How do you get to truth, if you do not pick the right cherries? In the long, long continuum between knowing nothing about nothing to knowing everything about everything, which facts are relevant? During the Civil War only a fool or a desperately wounded man almost without hope would go to one of the hospitals, because it was a certain death sentence. Doctors did not know about the microbes that caused diseases and used rags to clean the wounds. These rags were moistened in buckets, spreading germs from patient to patient. Just one little fact, if known, would have saved the lives of thousands. What good was their medical knowledge if they did not know that microbes spread diseases. The work of Pasteur would come later and change medicine forever. What other facts do we not know? What other nonsense have we been spreading because of what we do not know.

What about God? How shall we gain the knowledge of God. The great religions of the world pick their cherries and, depending on their selection, they organize against those who pick other cherries. Millions have died in defense of this cherry or that cherry. Is there a hierarchy of facts? Are some more important than others? What makes a fact a fact, and what makes a fact a truth? All Christians believe that Jesus said, "This is my body." That's a fact, Jack. But what does "is" mean? If I show you a picture of my wife and say, "This is my wife," does that mean I am married to a piece of paper? Two great divisions of Chrsitianity are based upon a different interpretation of what "is" is. Who is right? or is no one right? Do we have all the facts?

Michael Polanyi would have us be tutored by masters so that we will know what facts to discard as anomalies and which facts to keep as relevant. But what if you pick the wrong guru? What if he bleieves that the world sits on the back of a great monkey? What if he believes that it is ok to do experiments on human sub-species in order to gain knowledge, as Hitler's doctors did? Rome would have us submit to her superior knowledge, for she has the right cherries. Salt Lake City insists on the superior qualities of her cherries, and Mecca is convinced that everyone should be killed that won't believe hers.

How do you know? What if it is all delusion, after all? Maybe we should take Peter's counsel and all go fishing. Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

I submit there is a better way. What if God has already picked the cherries and He has told us which facts are relevant? If He has, then it would come to us with authority, wouldn't it? And wouldn't we return to our bottomless pit if we didn't pay attention to Him? Hmmm? More on this next time.

Justice Scalia: Guns Not Just for Crime: "'I grew up at a time when people were not afraid of people with firearms,' said Scalia, noting that as a youth in New York City he was part of a rifle team at the military school he attended."
-----------
I like this guy, but he should also say that guns are used for self defense against gangsters and tyranny. The Second Amendment is not about freedom to go hunting, but the freedom to protect liberty.

Amendment Two: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Switzerland requires all citizens to be armed and trained in the use of arms, for they are well aware that armed citizens are necessary for the defense of our homes and families.

Dead Men's Voices

You should keep up with reading Dead Men's Voices. This is really good stuff.

Cherry Picking and Truth

Cherry Picking 

This blog has been revised and updated.

This is to continue the theme of my last blog. Because it is impossible to know everything about anything we resort to "cherry picking." President Bush was accused of "cherry picking" the facts concerning intelligence prior to the war with Iraq in order to gather those facts which would justify entry into the war. Cherry picking one set of facts, some come to the conclusion that Bush is very evil and lied to get us into a war with a nation that was no threat to us. Cherry picking another set of facts, some conclude that he is a saint and a great American hero for having the courage to face evil and spare our nation from that evil.

But what else was he to do in the modern intellectual climate? Literally millions and millions of factoids are gathered every day by the sophisticated electronic and photographic intelligence, people on the ground, agents in other countries, and the intelligence of other countries that is shared with the United States. How is this organized? I suspect that it is filtered and reviewed electronically first by computers to sort out what appears to be relevant and reports are printed. These are further analyzed for "relevance." Then people look at them and put together reports for other people to look at. Along the way literally millions and millions of facts are discardeded. Who is to know what relevant factoid may be in that mass of discarded information? How is relevance decided? At what point in the long, long continuum from knowing nothing to knowing everything does the information become true? And even with our great technology, how far are we from knowing everything?

To change the illustration: in the millions and millions of factoids about people's lives, how does the historian decide what factoids are important? What filter does he use? Has he read all the books? The simple truth is that the further we go back the fewer are the sources. What do we know about the daily lives of the people of Europe in the first century after Christ? How many sources are there? How many firepits dug up, how many dwellings have been excavated? How much information is lost completely, and how much information is still buried and will never be found? How can such things be known? If we knew more about Gaul we might conclude that Caesar was justified in killing a million or so of them. At what point in the long, long continuum from knowing nothing to knowing everything does the information become the truth? If we cannot understand that, then what is the purpose for history?

Gilbert's policeman did not have a happy lot because as he put it: "When a 'coster's finished jumping on his mother, he loves to lie a-basking in the sun." If all we knew about the man was that he loved to get a good sun-tan we might think him a jolly good fellow, but one other factoid--the fact that he regularly assaults his mother--changes our perspective. On the other hand, additional information about his mother might change again our perspective on whether he might be justified in beating on his mother. At what point in the long, long continuum from knowing nothing to knowing everything does the information about the 'coster become the truth?

But what if character is revealed by what facts you choose to "believe." If I believe that my character is revealed by the facts I choose to "believe" and yours is revealed the same way, then I can be certain that I am a good guy by carefully cherry-picking. You will be convinced that you are a good guy, too, by carefully cherry-picking another set of facts, how are we ever to talk to each other? At what point in the long, long continuum from knowing nothing about ourselves to knowing everything about ourselves does the information about ourselves become the truth? If we compare ourselves among ourselves are we wise?

Still another illustration. Darwin was certain that the "fossil record" would prove the truth of evolution. So for a hundred years or so, millions and millions of dollars and man/woman hours have been spent assembling the "fossil record." It seems to be more and more elusive the farther we go. But have we only scatched the surface? How many milliions and millions of bones and petrified objects and other objects of interest lie beneath the ground and beneath the oceans, or even in the oceans. What lies fourteen thousand feet under Pikes Peak? At what point in the long, long continuum from knowing nothing to knowing everything does the information become the truth?

Still another illustration. Does the truth of a proposition lie in its utility, as "evolution is true because it enables us to explain things we couldn't explain before"? If so, then what keeps magic from being a reliable tool for explanation. Why can't a curse be the reason for the calf having two heads, or the house burning down, or the hail destroying the crops? Could homosexuality be the result of a curse, or is it a blessing? But, science doesn't permit the supernatural, does it? No, but who is to say a curse is supernatural. Why cannot a curse have a perfectly natural explanation? Is it even possible to define a curse? People lie, and may pretend to cast curses when they cannot do so. Are there those who can? Does a pretended curse have the same effect as a real curse if the person cursed believes he is cursed? Maybe, but maybe examining a curse has the same effect as observing a photon: the observation changes the properties. If that would be true we would have no way of knowing whether the curse was cast or if it was a real curse at all or not. Has all the information been gathered about curses? What effect does bad language have on plants and children and people and pets? Maybe there are forces and influences in the world that "natural" science hasn't studied and cannot study because observation changes the properties of that which is studied. Why is this unreasonable? Some work has been done on the paranormal, but what are we to make of such things? The Bible and other ancient sources say a great deal about curses. Hiel felt the effect of the curse of Joshua many years later, when he rebuilt the city of Jericho. Noah cursed the Canaanites. Have all the curses been studied? At what point in the long, long continuum from knowing nothng about witchcraft to knowing everything does the information become the truth? To reject it out of hand is to go against the testimony of a great many people. By what art is that rejection done?

Is the only solution agnosticism? Is there nothing that can be known for certain? One young postmodern expressed it this way, "There is nothing I would die for, because I might be wrong." Is this the way the world ends, not with a sigh, but a whimper?

Historical Fictions - Books & Culture

At the link above D. G. Hart reviews Peter Charles Hoffer's Past Imperfect . It is well worth the read and is a good diagnostic of the state of historical studies today.

This is an important and relevant article, in my view, but the author may be spitting against the wind in the present climate of history. I am reading David Fischer's 1970 book, Historians' Fallacies, right now. He was trying to come to a "logic of historical thought." It evidently didn't "take."

Michael Polanyi's irrationalism has had a great influence on all the "sciences" in the last half of the last century. How can you know anything if you can't know everything? If history is more than storytelling, then how do you choose which facts to tell? Polanyi denies the possibility of objective science in favor of the art of science, that the scientist must study under a master until he is instinctive about his choice of which facts to accept and which facts are "anomalies."

Do we practice theology that way? Some do, and they shelve the verses that don't "fit" or they torture them to fit. They get a bigger hammer. But IS theology an art by which we pick and choose which "fact" of the Bible or "nature" we choose and which are anomalies that can be safely discarded? I think not.

I think Hart is looking over the bottomless pit and asking himself the question "In the long, long continuum between telling everything and telling nothing, at which point does the story become a lie?" The Iraqi was will look very different from the perspective of the man whose house has just been destroyed by a terrorist bomb from that of a member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs. Everyong knows THAT, but what is TRUE?

On a more fundamental level, how can there be a logic of anything if words have no meaning? It is the crisis that Postmodernism has brought us to from Kant and the others. We are as foolish as Hart's modern historians if we take these presuppositions into theology.

"All that hate me love death" Prov. 8:36

Media Ignore Saddam's Uranium Bombshell: "Tape recordings released over the weekend show that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear weapons program at least as recently as 2000 - but the press has decided the bombshell development isn't newsworthy."
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The Vice Presidential hunting mishap is much more worthy news, because the feckless democrats can make immediate political hay from it. If Saddam DID have WMD's and successfully hid them, that would make Dubya look like a rocket scientist, and we can't have THAT, now can we?

The problem is moral rot, of course. When too large a segment of a society cannot tell the difference between truth and error, then they are open to political and social pipedreams and conspiricy theories and the very fabric of institutions begin to unravel, and the fissures between warring factions become greater and greater. When too many people are willing to say ANYTHING and make ANY charge, no matter how irresponsible and far-fetched--in order to gain an immediate politcal advantage, everything begins to fall apart. May it not be so with us, but may the citizens of this great country understand the grave issue involved.

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2006�: "
MAIN PRESS PLANS ANOTHER WEEK OF CHENEY SHOOTING COVERAGE
Sun Feb 19 2006 10:57:36 ET

If the nation's top magazines have the pulse of the country -- get ready for another exhaustive week of exhaustive Cheney shooting coverage!

This just in... Both TIME and NEWSWEEK are planning high impact covers of Cheney for newsstands starting tomorrow, with each magazine rolling out top staff bylines and thousands of words on the hunting incident: TIME: With deep reporting by John Cloud, Mike Allen and Matthew Cooper/ Washington, Cathy Booth Thomas and Patricia Kilday Hart/ Austin, and Hilary Hylton. NEWSWEEK urgently brings in its big investigative guns: Evan Thomas, Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Richard Wolffe, Holly Bailey, Mark Hosenball and Eleanor Clift in Washington and Carol Rust in Texas. "
----------------
They are completely out of touch with reality.

Dick Cheney is a real patriot to put up with this stuff. He doesn't need the money, the stress, the foolishness, but he is faithful to his office and does his job because he loves his country.

Do these reporters who live by lies and slander love anything?

Chicken Little 
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Independent Online Edition > Environment: "A satellite study of the Greenland ice cap shows that it is melting far faster than scientists had feared"
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"The sky is falling! The sky is falling" --Chicken Little.

HBO's Gumbel: Lack of Blacks Makes Olympics 'Look Like a GOP Convention' | NewsBusters.org: "So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world�s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. "
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Bryant, you should have said a Clinton Cabinet. Have you looked at the Republican cabinet? Or do you have to be a democrat to be black? Isn't it racist to say that blacks all think alike?

Isn't here, y' know 

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World News - Ohio School Board Eliminates Disputed Evolution Language: "COLUMBUS, Ohio. The Ohio school board voted Tuesday to eliminate a passage in the state's science standards that critics said opened the door to the teaching of intelligent design."
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When the gospel prospered in the ancient town of Ephesus under the preaching and teaching of Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla, the religion of the worship of Diana was brought into great danger. [Acts 19] People came from all over the world to worship Diana at the famous temple there and Demetrius and others made a great deal of money selling images of Diana. It could not be tolerated that the religion of Ephesus and those around the world that worshipped Diana should be brought into disrepute. So they made a great stir, for their wealth and fortune depended upon deceiving the people about Diana.

In the same way, Intelligent design must be resisted by the educational and political establishment. Too much money is involved in the teaching of evolution and the false idea of God that spawns the foolishness. No one must ever be allowed to get close to the subject. God is like the elephant in the room that everyone pretends is not there. Government grants for everything from the study of the spotted owl to global warming to the psychology of relgion and mental disorders and chemical addition depend upon a foundation of evolutinary thinking.

No matter how foolish the presuppositions of evolution or how many facts the "science" of evolution has to disregard, it cannot be set aside. There is too much money involved. Ha!! And you thought it had to do with knowledge and fairness. Even the education of our youth must be sacrificed to the silver and golden gods of our idolatry.

They Deserved to Be Mocked

Great blog at Wheat and Chaff on mocking false gods. The true and living God can defend Himself.

New Blogs!

There are new blogs at my "Very Good Figs" and "Very Bad Figs." Click on the links at the right.

BREITBART.COM - Record-Setting Snow Buries Northeast: "The National Weather Service said 26.9 inches of snow had fallen in Central Park, the most for a single storm since record-keeping started in 1869. The old record was 26.4 inches in December 1947. "
====================
Terrible. Should be a congressional investigation. Obviously a case of global warming. Who can doubt it now? [In the 80's some would have blamed the Russian weather machines. Earlier, in the 60's and 70's it would have been a case of the coming new ice age.] But something is going on--funny stuff everywhere. Bush and Cheney are obviously up to something that probably involves oil profits.

Does Anyone Doubt It Now?

If you think that the Islamic war on the cartoons is a silly thing, you are right. In your western perspective you are right.

But you have another think coming, as my grandma used to say.

In my other think over the last few days, several rather unpleasant things intruded into the silliness.

1. There are many silly things done in the name of religion in the United States and in the other secular democracies. It is bearable because it is one of the costs of liberty. But the silly things being done in the name of Islam are not bearable. We forgive a child for being silly; we cannot bear the silliness of a murderer.

2. It is one thing for a man to be silly; it is another thing for millions to be silly. As long as Hitler was saying his silly things in beer halls he was laughable, but the world stopped laughing when he gained the power and might of Germany and the obedience of the German people. It suddenly stopped being funny. The affair of the cartoons shows that the present silliness of Islam isn't funny, either. The very existence of liberty and freedom is at risk. "To Hell with freedom" read one of the signs among the protestors. This is not the sentiments of one or two silly people, but the sentiments of millions around the world.

3. Silliness can be tolerated unless it is in possession of deadly weapons. We may tut, tut over the rantings of a child who is angry about something, but the whole business is changed if the child is holding a shot-gun, or in the case of the His Silliness in Iran, the makings of nuclear weapons. There is no tut, tut about that.

There are dangerous days ahead.

Politics News Article | Reuters.com: "Cindy Sheehan, the anti-Iraq war activist whose son was killed in the conflict there, put an end to speculation on Thursday that she would launch a long-shot bid to become a U.S. senator from California."
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aaaaah, shucks.

Some Thoughts on Cartoons

The evidence is in that the Islamic riots over some old cartoons are not a spontaneous reaction to Danish blundering, but a well staged presentation sent as a warning to the West. The message: It is for the same purpose that drove the Japanese to atrocities in Korea and the Philippines in WWII, the Nazi's to do the same in Europe, and Al Capone to bash heads with baseball bats.

You remember the bully on the playground? I remember one when I was in the third grade. He was a big dumb kid who should have been in the fifth grade, but he had failed twice in his first five years of school. [You are really old if you can remember when kids failed in school. Self-esteem sensitivity laid that practice to rest.]

Every disagreement with that big dumb kid always ended the same way, "Wanna make something out of it?" Nobody ever did, because he was twice as big as the rest of us and used terror to impose his will.

This is exactly what Islam is doing. It's bully boy tactics. Remember how effeminate Europe complained that the "Arab street will erupt" if Bush took strong military measures against Saddam. They didn't, of course, because they didn't care a bit about Saddam. This war is not about politics; it is about religion.

If the west can be painted as warring against Mohammed, the prophet, the bullies hope that they can raise enough emotional support for their beloved jihad. Won't work, of course, just as it didn't work for Capone, Hitler, or the Land of the Rising Sun.

Didn't work for the big dumb kid either. Even sixty-some years later I get pleasure remembering the day he had his clocked cleaned by a mild-manner boy in the fourth grade. Really bloodied his nose, and in those days you had lost the fight if your nose bled.

Are They Nuts?

I see that Russia has warned the rest of the world about having a nuclear confrontation with Iran. Nice and pious.

I wonder what song they would be singing if the Islamic terrorists who shot up the school a few years ago in Russia had had an atomic bomb? Hmmmmmm?

boooooooom! 

Michael Jackson Sings for the Pope. Not So Strange?

US News Article | Reuters.com: "He [Father Giuseppe Moscati] dismissed the recent controversy surrounding Jackson, who is living in Bahrain after a Californian court acquitted him of child molestation charges last June.

'He has been cleared of all charges,' Moscati said.

'As a celebrity he is perhaps a bit remote from the teachings contained in the Pope's prayers. But if he can help us put together a group of singers that fulfil the criteria of the project then we'll study the proposal,' he said.
---------------------------

Well, maybe yess, maybe no. But keep him away from the altar boys.

Go to Red Sky Brothers!

You will find an innovative and hard-hitting blog at the Red Sky link on the right. Enjoy.

Maybe the West is Winning!!

My Way News: "Thousands of Syrians enraged by caricatures of Islam's revered prophet torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday - the most violent in days of furious protests by Muslims in Asia, Europe and the Middle East."
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Sort of ironic, isn't it? How could anyone get angry with Norway and Denmark? Anything goes there. Everyone and everything are loved and respected. Why get mad at vanilla pudding? Islam seems bent on self-destruction: just hit anyone handy. Why convince the wimps of Europe that you are evil afterall?

But then, Bush has done such a good job of protecting the American homeland that Islam has not been able to create an incident here--only liberals can make a nuisance of themselves, and we have learned to yawn over their activities.

If you cannot kill the one you hate, just hit anyone in sight.

But then, when fanaticism becomes sensible, it is no longer fanaticism, is it?

A Chance for Greatness

Some are born great,some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. [Shakespeare, from Twelfth Night

Very dangerous days are ahead for America and for Christianity. It is time for the church of Jesus Christ to shed the nonsense, the entertainmentism, the blatant heresies, the lust for fame and wealth, the sinfulness of our ways for the enemy that we face is fierce and implacable. What will it take for us to repent: our wives and daughters being executed in our football stadiums?

It is time to take the Bible seriously and return to the robust and manly faith of our faithers.

These are times that will thrust greatness upon Christians. The church is very weak today. False churches are strong and attract great numbers of people to their religious circuses and entertainment. There the people utter banalities or gibberish and think they are in the very heights of spirituality, as if people are edified by nonsense. Gain is confused with godliness.

I have great feelings of foreboding tonight. The war began long ago, with the birth of Mohammed in 570 AD or so. Islam's attempt at the conquest of the world was thwarted by brave Christian soldiers at Tours, France, in 732, under the command of Charles Martel. The Crusades were only a temporary part of the long war of Islam against Christianity and brought only a time of respite for Europe. Christians were put on the offensive for a while, but soon the onslaught was renewed and wave after wave beat upon Christian civilization until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 left Europe vulnerable. The history is long and complicated; war is sometimes ugly, but Christianity fought for its very life, and Islam fought to keep the gains that had been won by the force of arms at the expense of Christians. Over two hundred years of war followed the conquest of Constantinople. Only in 1683 after Islam was repulsed at the walls of Vienna did Europe know peace from those who thought they would gain heaven by slaying Christians. But Islam has never changed its fundamental faith, that the whole world must fall under the rule of the Islamic faith. There is no separation of church and state in the dogma of Islam.

The modern conflict, punctuated by the bombings of 9/11, is just a renewal of an ancient and deadly conflict. America does not realize it yet, but America has not caused the hatred nor can she do anything to assuage it. The evil is real and it is a religious evil. The only way Spain could gain religious peace was to expel Islam, and they did in 1492, after the fall of Granada. Harsh, but effective. But no harsher than the dictum of Islam to conquered Christians: Become Islamic, pay heavy tribute, or die. Spain's treatment was humane by the standards of the day.

From 1683 until 2001, a period of 318 years, the Western World was asleep, forgetting history, forgetting the deep roots of religious hatred that were being nourished in Islam. We should have known, but we disregarded the warning signs in our day. We were under a religious delusion of our own, that those who hate can be pacified by tolerance and kindness. We should have learned from the Nazis, the Fascists, and the Communists, but we didn't. We have to be hit in the head over and over again.

We forgot the words of Christ, "He that is not with me is against me," and we thought that our forbearance and kindness would evoke forbearance and kindness in others. It was wrong, of course. We should love and forbear, not because it is a good policy and will make us friends, but because it is the right thing to do. But love and forbearance does not imply that we must pretend that false religions and hateful religions are equal to the faith of our Lord Jesu Christ. We will not win men to vrtue by becoming an enemy of virtue.

But the gates of hell will not prevail upon the church of Jesus Christ, for Christ rules from heaven and is above all things [Eph. 1]. Men will have greatness thrust upon them and will do valiant deeds. The West may suffer immensely because we are a wicked people, but the future does not belong to the Crescent any more than it belonged to the Hammer or Sickle or the Swastika. Immense amounts of blood will flow and the world will be cleansed by that blood and life will spring from death. There are yet American heros in our future and we will not lose this war.

Even the evil of Islam has its purpose. It involved Charles V in so many wars in the sixteenth century and he was never able to deal with Luther and the Lutherans until it was too late and the Reformation was in full flower. God makes even the wrath of men to praise Him. God also has a purpose in this present war. This preacher hopes and prays that it will be the opening of the gospel to the Islamic world in a way that has never been seen before. What joy it would be to see northern Africa, the Middle East, Persia, and Egypt once again under the domination of Christian civilization as it was before the sword of the Prophet laid it waste. Islam should give back all the land it stole in the 7th and 8th centuries. Not to Israel, but to the people of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose land it was. Fair is fair, afterall. [These last sentences were written with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek].

Mohammed is dead. Those who worship dead prophets know nothing but death. Not only does Islam not have separation of church and state, they also do not have a Risen Lord Jesus Christ. We pity them, but must not yield our families and institutions to their dark control.

They will have no rest, and no peace, until they bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some temporary victories may cause Islamic children to dance in the streets as they did after 9/11 but such victories will be temporary. Julian the Apostate learned the power of Christ and exclaimed after receiving his death wound, "Galilean, Thou hast conquered!"

Do you?

International News Article | Reuters.com: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened Iran's nuclear plans on Saturday to the threat posed by the Nazis in their early days, as top U.S. officials urged a tough line to stop Tehran from making an atomic bomb."
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I suspect that the war with Iran is coming. My guess? A bombing run by Israel, followed by invasion from France, England, the USA, Germany, and others. Russia will squawk, but they have become irrelevant. China will watch, N. Korea will sneer. India will continue to build her economy to become the major economic power of Asia. Just guessing. Not a prophet or the son of a prophet.

Congressional liberals will wet their pants but they are also irrelevant.

A most dangerous era. A lot of casualties in the future.


Thar she blows! 

Arab Cartoons Trash 9/11, Holocaust: "One knee-slapper that ran Qatar's Al-Watan newspaper nine months after the 9/11 attacks shows former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon watching as an Israeli plane crashes into the World Trade Center. The Arabic words alongside the Twin Towers are 'The Peace.'
Then there's the cartoon that appeared in the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustur in October 2003, which depicted the railroad tracks to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The punchline? Israeli flags have replaced the swastikas flying above the death camp - with a caption that reads: 'Gaza Strip or the Israeli Annihilation Camp.�
And for those who can't appreciate the humor in that tableau, there's always the cartoon that ran in Saudi Arabia's Arab News in April 2002, which shows Prime Minister Sharon wielding a swastika-shaped axe to chop up Palestinian children.
As Mr. Gross notes: Most print media in the Arab world are under the full or partial control of the ruling regimes. "
========
'Nuff said. A man is known by his enemies as well as by his friends. The wise man can tell the difference.

Excite News: "Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said the dispute pitted 'the whole Islamic world vis-a-vis Denmark and vis-a-vis the trend of Islamophobia.'"
========
"Islamophobia" indeed. I know the cure. Let the Mullah renounce publicly the inlammatory language of hate, i.e. calling America the "Great Satan." Let them begin to treat their women with dignity and respect, allowing them basic God-given liberty and rights. Let them renounce war as a means of spreading Islam. Let them admit Christian ministries and churches into their lands. Let them allow Christian schools in their lands. Let them allow the free distribution of Bibles in their lands. Who is afraid of whom? When they allow as many Bibles is Islamic land as there are Korans in America and when there are as many Christian missionaries working and living safely in Islamic lands as there are Islamic missionaries living safely in America, then the talk of "Islamophobia" will not be necessary. Old debate technique: accuse your enemy of what you are yourself.

You don't build walls to defend the truth; you build walls to keep the truth out. Truth doesn't need defending and walls will not keep it out.

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2006�: "A woman accused of using racial epithets while waiting for food at a Connecticut Taco Bell drive-through window was arrested Wednesday."
----------
Interesting. Should we now arrest Julian Bond of the NAACP for calling Republicans "Nazis" and that Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are "tokens"?

The trouble with using words in extreme ways is that it is always self-defeating. Calling Republicans "Nazis" will not make people think that the Republicans are nasty. They know Republicans and in the last election more Americans voted for President Bush than anyone in the history of America. But most Americans don't know the Nazis or how nasty they were because history isn't taught anymore. All they know is what they get on the history channel, and who watches that? Too many American kids don't know anything about history and cannot tell the difference between World War I and World War II. They think Martin Luther was a civil rights leader in the sixties and that Benedict Arnold is a way to fix eggs for breakfast.

So to call Republicans "Nazis" will not attach disgust to the name of the Republicans we know; instead, it will make people think that the Nazis were not so bad. After all, George Bush seems like a rather decent fellow; "I wonder what it was about Hitler?"

But believe me. Dubya is not Adolph. Do you think that a Julian Bond type could have said what he did in Hitler's Germany, saying that the Nazis were no better than Spanish Inquisition under Torquemada. And no, Torquemada was not an early model of a Ford sedan.

But turn the Bond types loose. Our black citizens can think for themselves and cannot help but respect the likes of Colin Powell, Thomas, and Rice and other distinguished black republicans. Bond's stupidity will just make more black Republicans. Amen to that.

Compare and Consider

A few days ago, Pat Robertson made some stupid remarks about the Prime Minister of Israel--something about him being punished for giving away the land. He later, under protest from CHRISTIANS, apologized for his remarks.

Where is the self-discipline among the clerics of Islam in the flap over cartoons in Denmark papers? Are they telling their firebrands to shut up and go home and stop being idiots in trying to suppress free speech? No, because Islam does not believe in free speech except in countries that do they not control. Free speech in Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or Saddam's Iraq? You have to be kidding.

There is not even any protest from the so-called American moderate Islamists about the idiocy of the protests around the world.

It is time for Europe and America to realize the nature of the enemy--yes, enemy--that we face. The religion of the Prophet dsires nothing but the political and religious oppression and suppression of Christianity. If not, then let them say so with the same vigor and energy that they use against Danish cartoons and Salmon Rushdie. If they hold Western values, then let them stand for them. Thin skins belong to Nazis and other philosophies and theologies that cannot stand the sunlight.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Muhammad cartoon row intensifies: "Newspapers across Europe have reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for a Danish paper whose cartoons have sparked Muslim outrage. "
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Every paper in the free world should publish them. Will Islam get to decide what is published in the papers? Europe better wake up. Those editors who waffled and ran like chickens on this issue have just surrendered their papers to the Muslim clerics.

Do you think that Christians could decide what the papers in Saudi Arabia print or don't print?

United Press International - Security & Terrorism - Some US troops question Woodruff coverage: "At least 2,242 troops have died in Iraq since the war's start, 1,753 of them killed in action. Another 16,000 have been injured, half of them seriously enough to require evacuation from the battlefield. According to the Pentagon, 60 percent of the deaths are the result of IEDs. IEDs have injured more than 9,200 troops, nine times more than gunshots.
'The point that is currently being made (is that) that press folks are more important than mere military folks,' a senior military officer told UPI Tuesday. "
-----

I am sorry Woodruff got blown up, but I wouldn't trade one of these brave Marines for ten thousand newsmen. The modern liberal newsman works against the liberty and constitutional guarantees of the American people. Our brave soldiers defend our freedoms and liberty. The fuss about the Woodruff matter shows how self-serving the newsmedia is. They report more on themselves than they do on the sucesses of the military.

Former Democratic Chief Counsel: Ted Kennedy Disgraced Himself: "In my view (as a Democrat and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee), Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has disgraced himself and our party by misusing his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee to achieve self-serving partisan ends"
==========
With all due respect to the former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, how could Senator Kennedy possibly disgrace himself. Senator Kennedy has a dog named "Splash." I suppose that is to remind him of Mary Jo Kopechne who took her last gasping breath submerged in Kennedy's car which had run off a bridge in Chappaquiddick. Where was Kennedy? He had swum to safety and was with counsellors trying to think up a story that would get him off the hook. Mary Jo's family was bought off by Kennedy money, the justice system corrupted by Kennedy family and money, but Ted Kennedy was finished as a possible presidential candidate. This is only one of the sordid incidents involving drunkenness, adultery and fornication, corruption and extreme liberal politices, generated no doubt from the guilt the whole family feels from receiving the inheritance of Hitler-loving Joseph Kennedy, who made his money in bootleg liquor during prohibition. Joseph was too much even for Franklyn Roosevelt, who dismissed Joseph from his post as ambassador to England because of his [Joseph's] pro-Nazi sympathies.

Do you doubt these things? Look them up. This man is the conscience of the Democratic party?

Go read Andy McIntyre

Good quotations from Dante and others at Dead Men's Voices. Click on the link to the right.

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Bad Law, Good Ruling by E.J. Dionne: "I believe that legalizing physician-assisted suicide is a mistake. I also believe that having federal courts and bureaucrats decide the issue is a mistake. This is a question that should be debated by the people and their representatives. "
----------

So why should the same logic be applied to abortion. Roe vs Wade is horrible law and horrible politics. It should be overturned and the debate should take place in the state legislatures and among the people. We have never had that debate, and we need it desperately. I guess that just makes too much sense.

Go see Wheat and Chaff

Matt has a great blog on the "God shaped hole" idea. Click on the Wheat and Chaff link to the right.

The Daily Princetonian - Sen. Clinton calls for sanctions against Iran: " Though never mentioning President Bush by name, Clinton strongly criticized the current administration's policy toward Iran. 'I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations,' Clinton said."
============
Baby Bear said, "My Iraq porridge is too hot." Mamma Bear said, "My Iran porridge is too cold."

Goldilocks didn't say anything, for she was with the grownups.

US Senator cautions against Iraqi government sectarianism - Yahoo! News: "'It is going to be essential that those key ministries, particularly defense, interior and finance put people in them who will lead the ministry without regard to the sectarian influences that have so often guided decision-making,' he said."
--------------

Just shout louder; no one is listening 

Thank you, Senator Kerry. To get advice from you about sectarianism in goverment is rather like having Senator Ted Kennedy caution us about driving over bridges late at night with female passengers, or Ex-President Bill Clinton lecture us on the danger of using power to get sexual favors, or having Senator Byrd give us advice on the dangers of the Ku Klux Klan.

Are we all daft? But then maybe Senator Kerry has put sectaritanism aside and will vote for the confirmation of Judge Alito? Maybe. And maybe Osama bin Laden will become a Christian missionary to Israel. Maybe. Maybe physicians will learn to heal themselves and the blind will be able to lead the blind afterall. Maybe.

Excite News: "The United States, EU, Russia and China met Monday to discuss Iran's nuclear program, with Washington and the European Union pushing to bring the Islamic state before the U.N. Security Council."
-----------------

Big whoopee! It's a law enforcement problem, you know. Iran does want to yield to the "world law" -- that decided by the United Nations, so they must be arrested and brought to court. It's all nonsense, of course, and if the United States and its European allies ever gets United Nations world law established and enforced, American preachers will be going to jail for preaching against sodomy, women preachers, adultery, fornication and affirming capital punishment, or for saying that Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved.

Iraq used oil money to bribe Russia, France, and Germany for supoort in the U.N. I wonder how much Irani oil money is slopping around there.

Have no fear, though, the only result from all this palaver will be talk and more talk. The American elite will not begin to "get it" until Israel is hit by atomic bombs or such weapons are used against American population centers.

Babylon is fallen, but she makes a great deal of dust as she goes down.

Pat Robertson: Sharon Feels 'God's Wrath': "Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for 'dividing God's land.'
'God considers this land to be his,' Robertson said on his TV program 'The 700 Club.' 'You read the Bible and he says 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine.''"

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

Every time Pat Robertson opens his mouth he adds to the sum total of ignorance in the world. He is like the false prophets in Jeremiah's time, who pretended that they had sat in the counsel of God and knew the mind of God: Jeremiah 23:18: "For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?"

It is certain in general that God will and does judge the world, but true ministers are not so certain about the specific details. When Pat's time comes, what will he be being judged for?

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - British Woman Marries Dolphin: "JERUSALEM, Israel - Sharon Tendler met Cindy 15 years ago. She said it was love at first sight. Last week she finally took the plunge and proposed. The lucky 'guy' plunged right back.
In a modest ceremony at Dolphin Reef in the southern Israeli port of Eilat, Tendler, a 41-year-old British citizen, apparently became the world's first person to 'marry' a dolphin."
=======

Well, why not? Love is all that matters, isn't it? One thing about it, though. She won't have to bother with that "love, honor, and obey" stuff, will she?

NY Times 'Stonewalling' on NSA Leak: "New York Times executives are 'stonewalling' on questions about the paper's decision to publish top secret information about the Bush administration's use of the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance operations against terrorists, the paper's public editor charged on Sunday."
--------------

Stonewalling? STONEWALLING? The New York Times?

That's what Republican Presidents do, isn't it? Didn't they accuse Reagan of stonewalling on Iran-Contra? Didn't Nixon stonewall on Watergate in those glorious, golden years of Baby-boomerism?

How can it be?

Hey, Old Grey Lady. Times have changed. Liberals cannot get away with lying about Republicans anymore. Some blogger will call your bluff. I know, I know. Bloggers aren't real "journalists." They don't get paid for lying about Republicans. Isn't that what a "journalist" is trained to do.

Telegraph | News | Putin sends a shiver through Europe: "Russia took Europe to the brink of a winter energy crisis yesterday when it carried out a Cold War-style threat and halted gas deliveries to Ukraine, the main conduit for exports to the West."
--------------
We should caution Europe, especially Germany and France, from doing anything but talk about this at the U.N. Oil is not worth the life of one French soldier and Europe will just have to show love to Russia, because they must have done something.

Even worse, Putin's quarrel is not even with Europe, but with the Ukraine, who is turning toward the West after the Orange Revolution in 2004. Why should Putin not like that. Does he not like Europe?

France and the other European countries should take some time to do some real heart searching, to try to find out what they have done to make the Russians not like them. They have tried to repent of past colonialism and Christianity, but who knows? Maybe some remnant of elitism or something--maybe riches or something--hm. They should really think about it.

It might be that France was much to harsh on their Islam citizens recently, or maybe not hard enough. Who knows the Russian mind? But they should think about it.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | S Korea cloning research was fake: "Research by South Korea's top human cloning scientist - hailed as a breakthrough earlier this year - was fabricated, colleagues have concluded."

========

And so the trend continues. We are to put our trust in science and scientists. [See my blog on this][Click on link and scroll down]

Tongue in cheek: If all religion is phony because some preachers are phony, then we are justified in labelling all science as phony because of phony scientists. Right?

FOXNews.com - Politics - Judge Upholds Ban on Christian Prayers in Indiana Legislature: "WASHINGTON - A federal judge in Indianapolis says he won't reconsider his decision barring the Indiana House of Representatives from opening its sessions with specifically Christian prayers. "
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Thus, the triumph of the radical state. The radical priniciple triumphed very early in our country in the view of the separation of church and state and the inherent antinomianism and atheism of that position is now coming perfectly clear. The original Constitution only forbade the Congress from making any law about a state church--either to establish one or to forbid the states from establishing one. One of the unintended consequences of the Civil War amendments was to extend this provision to each of the states, in effect doing by amendment what the Fathers had forbidden in the First Amendment. Full implementation of this radicalization of church/state relationship would only come after World War II and the dream of removing all religious tension from the world in order to have world peace [!!}

The Indiana House of Representatives can only pray to that which is no God. Dead people, praying in dead faith, to dead gods. The only living God is He who became incarnate in Jesus Christ: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (Joh 17:3 AV).

Be not deceived. The people who try to remove Jesus Christ out of the public square do so because they want to put the image of their own dead god there.

Is this what you really want?

The absolute separation of church and state was the invention of heretical radical cults during the aftermath of the Reformation. It spawned revolution after revolution. Their view was heretical then, and is heretical now. The scripture speaks quite differently: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." (Ps 33:12 AV) One thing the radical view has always produced is lawlessness. Scripture says that rulers are to be a terror to evil works [Rom 13:3]. But what are evil works? Some of our courts and rulers today say that it is evil to display the Ten Commandments, to forbid sodomy, to hire whom you want or rent to whom you want. There are ten thousands of anti-Christian and anti-morality laws on the books that confiscate good, forbid righteousness, and condone and support godlessness and wickedness.

When the Scripture is removed from the foundation of morality--the radical position--then all that is left is natural law. With Karl Barth, that disappeared, and all that is left is anarchy. Without the True and Living God, how can you have natural law? So law becomes the whim of the legislature or the courts. Political wimpishness being what it is, it is the court that rules.

The message of the Scripture to rulers is very clear, "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." [Ps. 2:12].

Jesus knew who He Is, and said it clearly, "He that is not with me is against me." To forbid prayers in the name of Jesus is to forbid prayers to the true God. It is as simple as that. There are millions of true Christians in this country, but the government is moving rapidly toward anti-Christ. There are some things that you simply cannot be neutral about without dire consequences to yourselves and all around you. A burning house, the plague, and the approaching tornado all demand a commitment to truth. Those who refuse will not know what hit them.

“Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.” (Isa 30:13 AV)

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - 2005 Man of the Year: Rep. Mike Pence by Larry Kudlow: "For these reasons Mr. Pence has been chosen as the Human Events man of the year. As legislation is slowly rolling through Congress to restrain spending and extend vital pro-growth tax cuts, Pence and his pals have changed the thinking of their own House leadership as well as the president himself."
===========

Hurrah for Mike Pence and for Human Events. Read the article for a Christmas present for yourself.

 
A very merry Christmas to you all. The coming of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, changed the world forever. He is patient and long-suffering with mankind and calls men to faith and love, but that is no comfort for those who remain without repentance and faith.

As Mary said in Luke 1:49-53:
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

You can take it to the bank. 

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005: "Politically, the left is making a big mistake in focusing on the issue. Bush is well-served by bringing the terrorism debate home. Isolationists -- about 40 percent of the nation, divided between the two parties -- will not back him on a war in Iraq but sure will support him against attempts to handcuff homeland security in the name of privacy or civil liberties. By raising this issue -- and the concomitant issue of the Patriot Act renewal -- the Democrats are snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."
--------
FYI

What Is Science, Then?

So the judge has it figured out. Intelligent Design is not science, but is an attempt to introduce religion into the public schools.

My oldest son was like that with his brothers for a time when he was small and they were smaller. He always set the rules for the games they played and so he always won. Wiorked every time. Humanism can keep religion at bay by defining it out of the game.

A smart aleck little kid might ask, "But isn't all that stupid stuff about monkeys becoming men taught for the purpose of keeping religion out of the schools?" Tell the kid to shut up; he might rock the boat and some high priced people might lose their jobs. They know they are lying to the kids and that evolution is a farce, but, hey, lying pays good, and people keep their license to fornicate, sodomize, and collect their paper dollies. The carousel will go on forever, won't it?

“11 Yea, [they are] greedy dogs [which] can never have enough, and they [are] shepherds [that] cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
12 Come ye, [say they], I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, [and] much more abundant.” (Isaiah 56:11-12 AV)

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Have The Democrats Walked Into a Trap......Again? by John McIntyre: "With their publicly defeatist language, John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean reinforce these 'soft on security' steroretypes, a weakness that more sober-minded Democrats have been trying to mitigate since the late 60's and 70's. Unfortunately, this mentality dominates the Democrats' political base and more accurately represents where the heart and soul of the modern Democratic party lies than the very tiny sliver of Joe Lieberman Democrats. The Party of FDR, Truman and John Kennedy -- at least on foreign policy -- is clearly no more. "
-------------

FYI

Kerry Wants Bush Impeached: "Sen. John Kerry said on Thursday that if the Democrats retake the House, there's a 'solid case' to impeach President Bush on a charge that he misled the country about pre-war intelligence."
==============

Isn't this guy a piece of work? This is a good reason to vote democratic this next year isn't it?

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005: "The paper failed to reveal the urgent story was tied to a book release and sale."
======

Some papers practice journalism, but they are becoming fewer and father between.

The New York Times practices lobbying for the Democratic Party, shilling for their own publications, and subversion of the U. S. Constitution. It's not even good fiction.

"Using ''Pollaganda'' to Influence Public Opinion" by Mark Alexander: "Perhaps the most significant and insidious method the Leftmedia utilizes to shape public opinion, especially in the six-month period leading up to presidential elections, is ''media polling,'' a subtle scheme of circular propaganda we call ''pollaganda.'' Indeed, you'll be hard pressed to find any front page or nightly news broadcast between now and November 2 that doesn't reference such polling. Of note, polls that support Democrat candidates are often above the fold in lead stories, while polls that are favorable to conservative candidates are below the fold and mentioned only in a negative or qualified context. "
=============
Just ran across this article from 2004. It is very up to date, showing how the liberal media uses bogus polls to direct public opinion. What contempt they have for the voter!

"The Republican Party.s latest ad is a shameful and disgusting attempt to distract the American people from the problems in Iraq." --Senator Inouye

========

No, Senator Inouye, it is your party's cut and run rhetoric that is shameful. Your energy should be directed to the real skunks in your party that are betraying their country.

Every war is fought on three levels: on the battle field, in the arena of world opinion, and in the domestic opinion. Treason in any area betrays the troops and nation.

This writer lived through the Viet Nam area when the voters rejected to treason of the Kerrys and the Jane Fondas only to lose the war by the betrayal of the media and the politicians over the nothing of Watergate. Those who hyped the Watergate fiasco betrayed their country for political gain just as surely as Benedict Arnold betrayed his country.

The American people are much more sophisicated, the liberal East Coast media monopoly is no more, and the liberal monopoly of Congress is broken, and we will not tolerate this current treason.

We can hardly wait to get out to vote in 2006 and get rid of more American chickens. Bring 'em on.

Blogging My Blog

Concerning the Don Quixote quote below:

It was not the Constitution or the Bill of Rights that gave us our freedoms. It was the brave men at Trenton, Princeton, Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Normandy, Iwo Jima, lately in Irag, and many other places around the world. Paper means nothing if not backed up by arms. If you don't believe it, wave the Ten Commandments the next time some burgler breaks into your home. Read them to the pedophile and rapist. Faith without works is dead. It is the work of the policemen and the military that preserves the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. God knocked down the walls of one city in Israel's conquest of Canaan to show He could do it. The other cities were taken by the assault of the troops. Both kinds of operations were equally the work of the Captain of the Lord's Host. Read the book of Joshua.

When we no longer believe that the military does not do the work of God, then we will deserve to lose our liberties.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" he was not talking about debate, lying down in the street, fasts, and campus demonstrations. The signers meant war and force of arms. "Divine Providence" meant the wisdom and direction of their arms by the only wise God. Our liberty is given to us by God, and only American chickens will be the cause of its loss. The bloody feet in the snow at Valley Forge testify to its true cost.

Two-Edged Sword: "Welcome to the bottom of the slippery slope. The "diversity of views" argument is being tossed around by almost all the Federal Vision adherents. They want the Westminster's view to take a back seat again, and allow the many other views on doctrines like justification and the sacraments. "
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Great blog by Rev. Lee Johnson, up in the land of ice and snow, Herreid, SD.

Excite News: "'I will do everything I can, including a filibuster, to stop this Patriot Act conference report, which does not include adequate safeguards to protect our constitutional freedoms,' said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who was the only senator to vote against the original version of the Patriot Act."
=========

And so the brave Don Quixote bravely charged the windmills, because that was less dangerous than defending liberty by supporting the war in Iraq. The democratic liberal senators cannot find courage to defend freedom by arms, but they will try to talk the Patriot Act to death in the name of paper freedoms. These freedoms won't mean much if our men at arms are neutralized by these wimps.

Politics from Tom Sawyer

I knew I had seen a debate of this spirit before some place. I mean the liberal response, ala Howard Dean and John Terry, to the resurgence of George Bush over the past two weeks. Then I remembered. Of course, from Mark Twain:

"I can lick you!"
"I'd like to see you try it."
"Well, I can do it."
"No you can't, either."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"I can."
"You can't."
"Can!"
"Can't!"
An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:
"What's your name?"
"'Tisn't any of your business, maybe."
"Well I 'low I'll make it my business."
"Well why don't you?"
"If you say much, I will."
"Much -- much -- much. There now."
"Oh, you think you're mighty smart, don't you? I could lick you with one hand tied behind me, if I wanted to."
"Well why don't you do it? You say you can do it."
"Well I will , if you fool with me."
"Oh yes -- I've seen whole families in the same fix."
"Smarty! You think you're some , now, don't you? Oh, what a hat!"
"You can lump that hat if you don't like it. I dare you to knock it off -- and anybody that'll take a dare will suck eggs."
"You're a liar!"
"You're another."
"You're a fighting liar and dasn't take it up."
"Aw -- take a walk!"
"Say -- if you give me much more of your sass I'll take and bounce a rock off'n your head."
"Oh, of course you will."
"Well I will ."
"Well why don't you do it then? What do you keep saying you will for? Why don't you do it? It's because you're afraid."
"I ain't afraid."
"You are."
"I ain't."
"You are."
Another pause, and more eying and sidling around each other. Presently they were shoulder to shoulder. Tom said:
"Get away from here!"
"Go away yourself!"
"I won't."
"I won't either."
So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate. But neither could get an advantage. After struggling till both were hot and flushed, each relaxed his strain with watchful caution, and Tom said:
"You're a coward and a pup. I'll tell my big brother on you, and he can thrash you with his little finger, and I'll make him do it, too."
"What do I care for your big brother? I've got a brother that's bigger than he is -- and what's more, he can throw him over that fence, too." [Both brothers were imaginary.]
"That's a lie."
"Your saying so don't make it so."
Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:
"I dare you to step over that, and I'll lick you till you can't stand up. Anybody that'll take a dare will steal sheep."
The new boy stepped over promptly, and said:
"Now you said you'd do it, now let's see you do it."
"Don't you crowd me now; you better look out."
"Well, you said you'd do it -- why don't you do it?"
"By jingo! for two cents I will do it."
The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with derision. Tom struck them to the ground. In an instant both boys were rolling and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like cats; and for the space of a minute they tugged and tore at each other's hair and clothes, punched and scratched each other's nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory. Presently the confusion took form, and through the fog of battle Tom appeared, seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists. "Holler 'nuff!" said he.
The boy only struggled to free himself. He was crying -- mainly from rage.
"Holler 'nuff!" -- and the pounding went on.
At last the stranger got out a smothered "'Nuff!" and Tom let him up and said:
"Now that'll learn you. Better look out who you're fooling with next time."

DNC's Dean: U.S. Will Lose War in Iraq: "Democratic Chairman Howard Dean on Monday likened the war in Iraq to Vietnam and said, 'The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong,' comments that drew immediate fire from Republicans."
=======

These poor people still have the disease. They caught it at college in the sixties and seventies. It is a strange delusion that they won a wonderful victory over the EVIL Richard Nixon and the Military/Industrial Complex back in those good old days, and they are good people and know what is best for America. They also won a victory over EVIL traditional Christianity and morals. They rock and rolled, fornicated, sodomized, and opened the flood of pornography. They were FREE.

Re 9:21 "Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

Robbie in 'secretly gay' libel win | This is London: "Robbie Williams has accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages over claims that he was a secret homosexual."
------------

And what is wrong with this? Why is this libel? What would Robbie be damaged by this rumor? If there is no stain on homosexual behavior, then why sue?

A Military War Hero

He was a genuine American hero. In fact, if it had not been for his heroism and valor, the great victories of George Washington at Trenton and Princeton would not have been possible and the entire outcome of the War for American Independence might have had a different outcome. He had showed tremendous perseverance in the Canadian campaign against Quebec, but his great triumph had been the relief of Fort Ticonderoga, which made it possible for three or four thousand troops to be sent south to Washington for those great winter campaigns

But the greatest was yet to come. There was no question that his dramatic courage was the reason for the defeat of the the British general "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne at the battle of Saratoga. This great victory gave Benjamin Franklin the leverage he needed to persuade the French that the war might succeed and that they should be allied with the Americans [the French have always been difficult]. He had made many enemies by refusing to obey orders and by his arrogance and self-service. These enemies stood in the way of promotion and the fame he thought was rightfully his.

But these achievements are all forgotten, and they should be. Former heroism and service in the military is not a pass for treason, and Benedict Arnold is remembered in history for treason. He conspired with the British Major Andre to betray the Fort at West Point, which would have given the British control of the Mohawk River, leaving the American cause hopeless. The plot was discovered and Major Andre was captured and hanged on a tree made famous by Washington Irving in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Arnold only escaped hanging by fleeing to England, dying in disgrace in 1801, despised by the new American nation and her patriots.

Gee, I wonder what the modern application might be?

Hurrah for "Standards"!

The Guardian: "The UN said yesterday said that Saddam Hussein's trial would never satisfy international standards because of ongoing violence and flaws in Iraq's legal system"
=============

Let's see now.... And what would those "international standards" be? Those in practice in Irag when Saddam was in power? Or those presently in place in Iran? or Syria. China, maybe? Algeria? or throughout Africa? Hmmmm.

1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah. Psalm 52:1-5

Things are always different and changing, and somehow all the same.

My Way News: "'No red states here,' Marshall told the crowd, using a term used to describe Republican-leaning states.

In her apology Friday, the chief justice said she regretted making the comment.

Marshall said it was 'an unconsidered, spontaneous attempt to connect with the exuberant celebratory feeling in the audience, reflecting the balloons I had seen.'"
====================
Sorry, apologies do not wash away bigotry, especially in a state judge or other high official.

Oops! I forgot. Apologies are only useless for Republicans or Christians. Liberals can say what they please, especially if they are talking about conservatives or Christians.

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Conn. Students Get Fines for Cursing: "Keila Ayala, 17, a Hartford Public sophomore, said she was ticketed for shouting an expletive in an officer's face while handcuffed for taking a swing at him."
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Well, now. Isn't that completely unreasonable? People should be able to cuss out policemen and strike at them without repercussions, shouldn't they? Who do the cops think they are? cops?

Top News Article | Reuters.com: "VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican newspaper said on Tuesday that homosexuality risked 'destabilizing people and society', had no social or moral value and could never match the importance of the relationship between a man and a woman.

"The remarks were contained in a long commentary published to accompany the official release of a long-awaited document that restricted the access of homosexual men to the Roman Catholic priesthood.

"The article by Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a French Jesuit and psychologist, said homosexuality could not be considered an acceptable moral alternative to heterosexuality."

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Hurrah for the Vatican! Too bad they haven't been keeping watch over their own house for the past umpteen years. Maybe they will get better now.

I hope the Episcopalians and others who have been getting soft on sodomites will pay attention. Rome has this one right, at least as far as they go.

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005: "CNN OPERATOR FIRED AFTER SUGGESTING 'X' OVER CHENEY WAS 'FREE SPEECH'

A CNN switchboard operator was fired over the holiday -- after the operator claimed the 'X' placed over Vice President's Dick Cheney's face was 'free speech!'

'We did it just to make a point. Tell them to stop lying, Bush and Cheney,' the CNN operator said to a caller. 'Bring our soldiers home.' "
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Did anyone honestly believe that it was a computer malfunction? Why does anyone listen to these people any more?

Where am I going? 

Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online: "In the current issue of The Atlantic, Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology and linguistics at that New Haven trade school otherwise known as Yale, offers an interesting perspective on the whole God thing. He makes a very powerful case that belief - or a tendency toward belief - in the supernatural in general and God in particular is hardwired into our systems from birth. His article is titled 'Is God an Accident?'

"Citing among other things some very clever experiments with babies and young children - don't worry, no babies were harmed in the process of writing his article - Bloom argues that we come into this world preprogrammed to divide the world into spirits and objects, or minds and bodies. This, argues Bloom, is an evolutionary adaptation designed for one thing - socialization - which has made us susceptible to another thing: religion."
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I assume that Jonas Goldberg assumes that it is a good thing that no babies were harmed in the writing of Bloom's article. Though he also finds Bloom's articles "annoying," he really gives no good reason for either of these observations.

But maybe there are no reasons. If Goldberg is right in reducing the reasons to "mystery" then the world of "the spirit" is reduced to preference, isn't it, and what are we to make of that? If the only difference between Muhommad and Christ is only a preference, what does anything at all matter?

It might be very chic in the airy confines of academica and Washington, D.C. to talked learnedly about such preferences, but the 9-11 bombers did not think they were dying for a preference, and neither did our brave soldiers at Bunker Hill, The Alamo, or Iwo Jima. Those who risked their lives in Afghanistan and those still doing so in Bahgdad don't think so either.

To say that faith rests in mystery is comfortaable, of course. You don't have to examine it, or subject it to "truth claims." That way you do not have to be "annoyed." Truth can be very annoying, however. I am sure that Saddam was quite annoyed that Allah didn't deliver him from the Marines searching his hole in Iraq.

A lie is very often comfortable and can bring escape from annoyance, rather like alcohol. Truth never.

BTW, I usually like to read Goldberg. Bloom's article is based on evolution, and I find it annoying also, for the same reason that Goldberg's is annoying. Both are trying to explain a mystery that is not a mystery, but something that God Himself has revealed in Scripture. Blindness is blindness, no matter if it is called conservative or liberal.

Russians seek to put restrictions on NGOs - Europe - International Herald Tribune: "MOSCOW Russia moved Wednesday to impose greater government control over charities and other nongovernmental organizations, including some of the world's most prominent, in what critics described as the Kremlin's latest effort to stifle civil society and democracy"
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Totalitarian states are boringly predictible. When the state claims the divine attributes of solving everyone's problems, then it must have no competition--even religion and charity must come under the control of the state. It is a bit ironic, however, that organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Greenpeace, and Amnesty International which are generally liberal organizations with statist objectives are found to operate "under the cover of implementing humanitarian and educational programs in Russians regions, [and] ... lobby for the interests of certain countries and gather classified information on a wide range of issues." [Nikolai Paturshev, director of the Federal Security Service (Russia)].

Power Line: "The only war the Democrats really have their heart in is the war to undermine the Bush administration."
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You ought to read Powerline. It is a great blog by some great Americans.

TorontoSun.com - Toronto And GTA - Hatred blinds U.S. to truth: Journalist: "'If we stop trying to figure out the other side, we've given up. The person on the other side is not evil -- they just have a different perspective.' "
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This is the basic trouble with liberals, represented by the Chris Matthews quote above. Liberalism does not accept the idea of evil. The rapist, the murderer, the pedophile, thugs like Hitler and Saddam just have different "perspectives". We need to understand them.

We do understand, Chris. What is there to understand? We know what the perspective of Al Queda is. Islamists want us dead, the United States destroyed and turned into an Islamic state ruled by the Mullahs. Now it may be that Chris and his crowd have annulled in their minds the Ten Commandments, but there are a lot of us out here who think that wanting Jews and Christians to be dead is evil. We believe in the devil and we believe that there are people who do the devil's work. Al Qaeda are not the only such people who think it is ok to break the Ten Commandments, but its a start to understand that there is evil in the world. Hatred and murder are the devil's work, according to Jesus who said that the devil was a liar and a murderer from the beginning and liars and murderers do their father's work.

If you cannot understand the basic principles of morality, then people shouldn't listen to you.

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that 'intelligent design' isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.

"The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was 'wrong' and was akin to mixing apples with oranges.
...
"'If they respect the results of modern science, and indeed the best of modern biblical research, religious believers must move away from the notion of a dictator God or a designer God, a Newtonian God who made the universe as a watch that ticks along regularly.'

"Rather, he argued, God should be seen more as an encouraging parent.

"'God in his infinite freedom continuously creates a world that reflects that freedom at all levels of the evolutionary process to greater and greater complexity,' he wrote. 'He is not continually intervening, but rather allows, participates, loves.'"
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Now just isn't this ducky? Isn't it comforting that God is so parenting, that he encourages the freedom of the "evolutionary" process, of blood and tearing of tooth and claw? There is no wrath, you know, and resistance against evil is so non-sentimental. Let us be "parenting" to all men like our imaginary Father in heaven; let us learn to "participate, allow, and love" the likes of Saddam, Hitler, rapists, murderers, and other unwashed, for they have needs, too, you know.

Maybe Newton's idea of God was defective; maybe Augustine's view was defective; maybe even the view of Rev. George Coyne is defective, and it appears suspiciously like the view of Karl Rahner, at least in his latter dialectic period.

What about the biblical view of God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Hm?

Encouraging parent? To whom?

6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. --2Thess. 1:6-10.

Are you among those who believe the testimony of the Apostles. Or do you just do your own thing? It's not a good idea [to do your own thing]. Paul thought it was a good and righteous thing for the ungodly to be dumped into hell. [vs. 6]. But what did he know?

My Way News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Joseph Wilson, the husband of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, called on Thursday for an inquiry by The Washington Post into the conduct of journalist Bob Woodward, who repeatedly criticized the leak investigation without disclosing his own involvement.
'It certainly gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. He was taking an advocacy position when he was a party to it,' Wilson said."
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Well, I guess if there is anybody that would know about such stuff, it would be Joseph Wilson, whose cause is going up in phlames.

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: No Longer Ready For His Closeup: "A few nights ago, I had dinner with a friend of mine who used to be a reporter at a big city daily and has since moved on to another line of work. He said he recently visited his former colleagues at the paper and that it was like returning to the salt mines: malaise and despair was the mood there, with everyone looking for a way out."
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But of course. How can you have any self-respect when you know that you are a liar, and the public knows you are a liar, and you know that the public knows you are a liar. What is needed is a complete overhaul of America's newspapers, with new reporters, new editors, and new papers. The economics will make it happen.

Bill Clinton: Saddam's Aides Mostly 'Good, Decent': "Former president Bill Clinton praised Saddam Hussein's lieutenants and their underlings on Tuesday, saying they were mostly 'good' and 'decent' people.'"
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Bill, of course, has the sterling character and moral compass necessary to discern such things.

Senate Republicans Pushing for a Plan on Ending the War in Iraq - New York Times: "In a sign of increasing unease among Congressional Republicans over the war in Iraq, the Senate is to consider on Tuesday a Republican proposal that calls for Iraqi forces to take the lead next year in securing the nation and for the Bush administration to lay out its strategy for ending the war."
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Do you hear the war cry of the American chicken? What do you call the unilateral end of a war. Surrender, isn't it. I had hoped that Osama was wrong, that we had the guts to fight a war to the end, but it may very well be that the World War II generation was the last one to have that courage. The children of the same people that betrayed us in Korea and Vietnam and tried to betray us to Russia will betray us to radical Islam, if they have their way. Bush is right on this one. There is a deliberate re-writing of history going on, for the one who lies before must lie now to cover his tracks.

But you know what? Histories are written by lying men to lying men. History is written by the eternal decree of God, and it is what it is. What happened is what happened, and even the rocks will testify against the web of deceit that men weave.

Of course, this is just grandstanding by Republican Senators who want to play like they are doing something when really they are not doing anything.

"...for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.... [Is. 28:15]

New York Daily News - Home - John Leo: Poor babies: The top victims of 2005: "Poor babies: The top victims of 2005 Nobody is responsible for anything anymore, since almost everyone is a victim. Here are the top victim stories of 2005:"


Boo, Hoo! 

CBS News | Bill Clinton Defends His Legacy | November 11, 2005�13:00:01: "(AP) Former President Bill Clinton called Congress' impeachment of him an 'egregious' abuse of the Constitution and challenged those who say history will judge him poorly because of his White House tryst with Monica Lewinsky. "
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Poor Bill. He still thinks he is what the news should be about. Let me see, where does he rate in the issues that are before the American people? Iraq, Supreme Court, Korea, War on Terror...? Where would you put Lewinsky?

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - French PM Acknowledges Racial Divide: "'We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth,' Villepin said. 'What is being questioned is the effectiveness of our integration model.'"
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What integration model? The humanist one that humans come in all moral and philosophical and religious varieties and all are to be accepted without distinction? But this is to deny reality, and most of all, the God who is the creator of reality.

Mal 2:17 "Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?"

Babylon

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "The euro fell to a nearly two-year low against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday on concerns over the ongoing violence in France and as traders looked for the gap to widen between key European and American interest rates. "
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Babylon is fallen, is fallen, is fallen.

Ruling Your Spirit

Excite - Sports News: "Terrell Owens' brief - but tumultuous - time in Philadelphia ended Monday when the All-Pro wide receiver was told not to return to the team this season. ... Though he's perhaps the best wideout in the NFL, Owens caused far too many distractions with his selfish behavior. "
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Pr 25:28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.

The greatest of all abilities is to have contol over your own spirit, your emotions, your pride, your innate selfishness, your own self-will. Maybe Owens will learn this someday before his football skills erode.

The Eli Formula

Telegraph | News | Leaders fiddle as France burns: "He rejected calls by a police union for troops to be sent in but said that 1,500 reservists were being called up and repeated an appeal to parents to keep adolescent rioters off the streets."
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Oh dear. Maybe the French will have to use the army--do they still have one? Maybe the Eli formula will not work on Islamic terrorists any better than it did on Hophni and Phinehas. ["Why do ye do such things?"]

Do you think they will call Rumsfeld and Cheney for advice on how to deal with this stuff? Ya, think

See Bad Figs

See my new post on "Mama" and "Mommy" at "Bud's Very Bad Figs." Use the link at the right.