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.
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"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. "
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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"
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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."
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The real winner is George Bush. Even though the US made pro-forma complaints about Israel's policy, Israel ignored them, and followed Bush's example, that a nation has the right to defend itself even against world opinion and against the paper mache UN and its "courts," which are really instruments of anti-US and anti-semitic propaganda.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See Ed Koch on Michael Moore at Very Bad Figs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just wondering.