Right Space

New Blog

2007-03-14T15:36:00.001-07:00

Right Space is now here.

Examine the text (Muslims certainly do)

2006-08-19T22:41:00.000-07:00

Cal Thomas on The Real Teachings of the Koran:

Soloman says the outlets for Islamic ideology are religious - seminaries, the madrassas (Koranic schools) and especially the mosques. "From the beginning, Mohammed used the mosque to propagate this ideology. It was in the mosque that jihad was declared (and) that troops were sent to conquer the rest of the world. The mosque was the seat of government and Americans are right to be concerned about (their growth)."

He asks Americans to inform themselves about the real teachings of Islam and not to fall for what various Islamic groups say it teaches. Soloman says, "The simplest Islamic book you open" teaches that all unbelievers (in Islam) are profane people. "Because of the (Koranic) text and what it says, it incites violence." He begins quoting verses from memory, too quickly to write them all down. One is, "Slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush." (Surah 9:5)

Dangerously Adrift

2006-08-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Gerard Baker has a disturbing piece in the London Times in which he analyzes the current state of US foreign policy. In many many respects, it sums up my current thoughts on the leadership of the Bush administration. The administration's recent handling of the Israel-Lebanon war has led me to believe that unless it retools its foreign policy, Bush's presidency could well go down in history as a failure--not because of Iraq per se, but on account of his rendering America as a force to brazenly scoff at rather than as force to fear and respect. Baker ends his column thus:

Now we have the worst of all worlds. Not only is the US despised around the globe, it can’t even make its supposed hegemony work.

It’s one thing to be seen as the bully in the schoolyard; it’s quite another when people realise the bully is actually incapable of getting anybody else to do what he wants. It’s unpleasant when people stop respecting you, but it’s positively terrifying when they stop fearing you.

What we have now is a situation in which the world’s only superpower, with the largest economic and military advantage any country has ever enjoyed on Earth, is pinned down like Gulliver, tormented by an army of fundamentalist Lilliputians.

Some will say that the US’s ineffectiveness is a direct result of the loss of its “soft” power. Alienating the rest of the world has weakened its ability to achieve its objectives. Idiocies such as Abu Ghraib and the brief flirtation with torture as a legitimate instrument undoubtedly hurt America’s image. But I don’t truly see how the failings in the Middle East could have been avoided by Washington’s being nicer to foreigners. What’s been missing is resolute leadership.

It is hard for me to recall a time when the world was such a scary place. No one should rejoice at America’s weakness. The world is scarier still because of it.

The circle of strife

2006-08-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

I found the following video posted at Little Green Footballs (the blog that recently broke the story of the photoshopped-pictures from the Israel-Lebanon war). The video has the first footage I've seen of Hitler meeting the Mufti of Jerusalem (the man who Yassar Arafat claims is his uncle). A lot of people have been making analogies between what's happening now in the Middle East and what happened in the 1930s. Usually, analogies are taken too far and made to quickly. But I believe that the more we learn about what's happening now, and the more we study the past, the more appropriate this particular analogy becomes. I hope our leaders don't forget the lessons of the past--just as I hope they don't turn a blind eye to the dire challenges we face today.

The war on terror is over

2006-08-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem post has a must-read breakdown of the UN backed cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon. In short, she argues passionately that this agreement (codified in the form of a UN resolution) represents a catastrophic loss for Israel and the US and a victory for Hezbollah. Sadly, she's right. The Bush administration has handed a terrorist organization a victory, and in doing so has effectively ended the war on terror. My faith in Bush's resolve and leadership with respect to the greatest threat our country now faces has been utterly shattered.

Why, why, why can't we learn from history? Diplomatic compromises with Hitler in the 1930s cost us dearly in the 1940s. The folly of attempting to broker a lasting peace with a bunch of Islamic terrorists who will stop at nothing to kill as many Jews and take as much land as they can should be even more apparent to us now than the futility of negotiating with Hitler was to the leaders of the day in the late 1930s. I fear that in the years to come, we too will pay dearly for our desire to appease the appeasors of the world.

Terrorist Tactics

2006-07-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

Images of the suffering coming out of Lebanon are chilling and have a very predictable and powerful way of galvanizing world opinion against Israel. EU Referendum, however, has a post documenting the despicable extent to which many of these photos have been staged. It would appear that the only thing more valuable to these Islamic savages than a dead Jew is a dead Muslim child. Just one more example of the death cult of Islamic fascism finding greater value in death than in life.

On a related note, Naomi Regan makes the following point in a recent article:

Terrorists and their supporters have lost the right to complain about civilian casualties, since all they have done this entire war is target civilians. Every single one of the more than 2,500 rockets launched into Israel is launched into populated towns filled with women and children. Just today, another suicide belt meant to kill civilians in Israel was detonated harmlessly by our forces in Nablus.

So, don't cry to me about civilian casualties. Cry to those using your babies and wives and mothers; cry to those who store weapons in mosques, ambulances, hospitals and private homes. Cry to those launching deadly rockets from the backyards of your kindergartens and schools. Cry to the heartless men who love death, and who, however many of their troops or civilians die, consider themselves victorious as long as they can keep on firing rockets at our women and children.

Lesson learned the hard way

2006-07-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

Click here to read how this excerpt from a story applies nicely to the Israel-Hezbollah situation.

Each punch opened a cut on the Marine's startled face and by the time he had been backed completely into the corner he was blubbering for someone to stop the fight. He invoked his split lips and chipped teeth as reasons to stop the fight. He begged us to stop the fight because he could barely see through the river of blood that was pouring out of his split and swollen brows.

Nobody moved. Not one person.

Good article

2006-07-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

So much writing is out there on the war Israel is rightly waging against the terrorist group Hezbollah. But I thought this piece, more than most, is right on the mark: Patience is Wearing Thin

A few excerpts:

Finally, the world is accepting that the Middle East problem was never about so-called occupied land -- but only about the existence of Israel itself. Hezbollah and Hamas, and those in their midst who tolerate them (or vote for them), didn't so much want Israel out of Lebanon and Gaza as pushed into the Mediterranean altogether. And since there will be no second Holocaust, the Israelis may well soon transform a perennial terrorist war that they can't easily win into a conventional aerial one against a terrorist-sponsoring Syria that they can...

What then would be the new Western approach to terrorism? Hard and quick retaliation -- but without our past concern for nation-building, or offering a democratic alternative to theocracy and autocracy, or even worrying about whether other Muslims are unfairly lumped in with Islamists who operate freely in their midst.

Any new policy of retaliation -- in light both of Sept. 11 and the messy efforts to birth democracies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the West Bank -- would be something of an exasperated return to the old cruise-missile payback. Yet in the new world of Iranian nukes and Hezbollah missiles, the West would hit back with something far greater than a cruise missile.

If they are not careful, a Syria or Iran really will earn a conventional war -- not more futile diplomacy or limited responses to terrorism. And history shows that massive attacks from the air are something that the West does well.

So in the meantime, let us hope that democracy prevails in Iraq, that our massive aid is actually appreciated by the Middle East, that diplomacy ultimately works with Iran, that Syria quits supporting terrorists, and that Hamas and Hezbollah cease their rocket attacks against Israel -- more for all their sakes than ours.

Snapshot of tyranny

2006-07-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

North Korea has been in the news a good bit recently for their missle launches. No doubt, the North Korean government is going to regret its ill-thought provocations. However, in all the international bravado, one can quickly forget about just how bad it is for the citizens of North Korea. They live under the brutal control and oppression of a truly evil regime. Given the situation in North Korea, these pictures are probably as close as I'll ever get to having an idea of what it's like over there.

Discovery

2006-07-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

The above is a photo I took of Shuttle Discovery from the town of Titusville--about 11 miles from the launch pad. Sadly, after waiting over 4 hours, NASA scrubbed the launch with only 9 minutes to go in the countdown. They'll try again tomorrow (Sunday), and we'll be there hoping will beat the odds (60%) that bad weather will delay it further. Whether there's a launch or not, I'm thrilled to be here--to see the Shuttle in person and see the thousands of other people from all over the world who've come to watch something truly spectacular.

Ohio

2006-06-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I spent the weekend visiting a friend (JD) in Ohio. I'd never been to Ohio before, and I must say that I had a great time. My first full day there we went to Cedar Point--the worlds largest amusement park as I understand it. The rides were incredible. One ride in particular was thrilling: in 4 seconds it propelled you to 120 m.p.h. which allowed you to shoot up to a height of 420 feet. From that height, you had a few split seconds to take in the gorgeous view of Lake Erie before you plummeted straight down to the ground. Pure Bliss. Sadly I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to keep up with my camera. But check out the link above and you'll get an idea as to why you too should go to Cedar Point.

The next day JD, his dad, and I visited the Air Force musem in Dayton. I took most of my pictures there. The museum consists of three monsterous hangers which, displayed chronologically, contain aviations finest aircraft. Here's a Wright Flyer (can't remember if it's an origional or model):

And, fastforwarding several decades, here's a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

And here's my favorite: the Apollo 15 Command Module. So cool to think that this thing orbited the moon and reentered earth at 25,000 m.p.h.

After the Air Force museum, JD and I attended a Reds game in Cincinnati. The Reds, hosting the Cubs, lost, but I had a blast anyway. I saw the Cubs hit a grand slam (my first MLB grand slam to watch in person) and Griffey hit his 547th home run.

All in all, a great trip.

For a United Georgia

2006-06-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yo, vote 4 Miss Angela

Btw, turn the speakers up. Then turn them off.

Christians and the "Code"

2006-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine gave me a copy of The Da Vinci Code. So, in light of all the (now bad) press for the movie and the fact that it's the best selling work of fiction ever (and no, Sir Ian McKellen, I'm not referring to the Bible), I read it, hoping to understand why it's such a phenomenon and what all the fuss is about. And by the way, I took this picture last year completely unaware that just a few yards in front of me lay buried the Holy Grail. What was I thinking...had I simply realized the great pyramid in front of me contained 666 pieces of glass and that Mitterand was in a secret society that protected, well, secrets, and that the curator of the Louvre was really good at anagrams. . .

But back to real reality. Having read it, I very much understand at one level why it would cause a fuss. I still, though, don't understand why it's the hit that it is. Sure, it's page-turning suspensful, but so are a lot of other airport books. There's hardly any character development, no psychological intrigue, and the plot is too predictable. Dan Brown occasionally bores the reader by needlessly explaining tid bits like the Fibinocci sequence. It's as though he's assuming the reader lacks a certain modicum of intelligence (and given the 40 plus million who've bought the book, maybe he's on to something). I have no interest or intention of ever paying to see the movie.

As to the fuss, I understand it. Of course it's a work of fiction. But in the fictional reality of this novel, Christ was but a man who, although lived a profoundly moral life, was nevertheless not divine. He died and to this day remains dead. Furthermore, the Bible itself is spoken of as nothing more than a collection of false tales and myths hand picked by "the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great."

Chills should run through any Christian when the divinty of Chirst or the authority of the Bible is questioned or denied--regardless of the genre or medium. So, yeah, I understand the fuss. To counter by saying that it's just a work of fiction, that Christians should be strong enough in their faith so as not to be upset by a novel completely misses the point. The issue isn't so much the impact the book has on the life or faith of a believer in Christ. What's so important is the influence the book may have (recall again it's massive worldwide appeal) on those who don't associate themselve with Christianity or those who nominally call themselves Christian but for all practical purposes are completely secular (think Europe). For these people, such an appealing work of modern culture is in a prime position to influence their thoughts on Christianity.

I write all this to say this: I believe that the Christian's response to this book and movie should not be shrill or bombastic. Nor should the Christian be unconcerned about the popularity of the book or the book's anti-Christian premise. To state it in the positive, a Christian must be prepared to declare the truth about the gospel of Christ and the real hope that is Christianity. This must be done, though, with humility and respect. In other words, I Peter 3:15. That's my hope anyway--that all the hullabaloo surrounding The Da Vinci Code will prompt the Church to shore up on apologetics and to pursue all the open doors of dialogue this cultural sensation will produce. And, Lord willing, the church will be larger and stronger for it.

100 Million and Counting?

2006-05-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Heritage Foundation released a study that should give every American pause. Here's the first paragraph:

If enacted, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years, allowing an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years—fully one-third of the current population of the United States.

The Politics of Right and Wrong

2006-05-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

In a recent essay, Time's Andrew Sullivan had the following to say:

So let me suggest that we take back the word Christian while giving the religious right a new adjective: Christianist. Christianity, in this view, is simply a faith. Christianism is an ideology, politics, an ism. The distinction between Christian and Christianist echoes the distinction we make between Muslim and Islamist. Muslims are those who follow Islam. Islamists are those who want to wield Islam as a political force and conflate state and mosque. Not all Islamists are violent. Only a tiny few are terrorists. And I should underline that the term Christianist is in no way designed to label people on the religious right as favoring any violence at all. I mean merely by the term Christianist the view that religious faith is so important that it must also have a precise political agenda. It is the belief that religion dictates politics and that politics should dictate the laws for everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike.

That's what I dissent from, and I dissent from it as a Christian. I dissent from the political pollution of sincere, personal faith. I dissent most strongly from the attempt to argue that one party represents God and that the other doesn't. I dissent from having my faith co-opted and wielded by people whose politics I do not share and whose intolerance I abhor. The word Christian belongs to no political party. It's time the quiet majority of believers took it back.

I agree with Mr. Sullivan that the word Christian belongs to no political party (as if a word could belong to anyone). But I couldn't disagree more with his underlying thesis, namely that one should keep his religion seperated from his politics. It's not surprising, then, that I can't agree more with my brother-in-law's response to Sullivan's essay:

I am appalled at Andrew Sullivan’s subtle attempt to compare the Christian Right with Islamic extremists in his article “My Problem with Christianism.” Christianity and Islam are two separate religions with a separate set of beliefs and ways to respond to the world. It was a lowball and unfair move by Sullivan to make that comparison. With that said, Sullivan falls into the same trap he preaches against with his incorrect categorization of the majority of Christians. He describes Christians based on his own views of religion and politics. It is obvious Sullivan is no student of church history and the Bible, which is our objective standard for how we interact in this world.

The Bible tells us as Christians we are Christ’s ambassadors. This means there should be no separation between our religious life and our public life. Jesus and our early church founders (Peter, James, John, Paul etc.) are perfect examples. Their public life was a living mirror of their inner religious life, so much so that the governments of their time persecuted and killed them out of fear of what they were doing to public opinion. Church history is filled with examples of Christians whose religion “dictated their politics.” And what were those counter cultural issues they took a stand on in their public lives? The same moral issues that many in the Christian Right represent today. I believe Sullivan’s assessment of today’s evangelicals is wrong. As one of the thousands of evangelical Christians in America I am glad to carry on the tradition of our fathers in having my faith dictate my political views.

Joel M. Borkert

Well said. I recently had a conversation with a 1L in lawschool. The subject eventually turned to politics and this individual said, "I just can't believe how President Bush tries to impose his morality on everybody. Don't you find that wrong?" My response went something like this: I don't think the issue is George Bush imposing his morality. I don't see how any politician (or anyone for that matter) can come to any political conclusion without moral considerations guiding him. Republicans AND Democrats base all their decisions to some degree or another on their moral framework. It's just that different moral paradigms are at play. Our politics reflect our values, and our values are formed by our moral considerations. Those moral considerations are ultimately going to be consistent with and dependent upon our religious faith, whatever it may be.

This student I talked with and Mr. Sullivan both suffer from the same self-righteous illusion that they are the objective, enlightend ones, capable of divorcing their personal, private faith from their public political positions. The fact of the matter, though, is that if we're to be spiritually and intellectually honest, we can't simultaneously believe in the virtue of our faith if we advocate political positions that run counter to it. Such a truth respects no party line.

Cool Comet

2006-05-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to spot Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, but I'm hoping the sky cooperates tonight. I thought the above photo of the comet is stunning.

Sick Elephant

2006-05-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Peggy Noonan argues that it may take a GOP defeat in November to remind the Republican's of what the voters really want. I think she's right. It's also possible that two years of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi might be enough to ensure that a majority of American's won't even think about voting for a Democrat in the 2008 Presidential election.

Shame on US

2006-05-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

It looks like the US is going to soften its stand and, in conjunction with the EU and Russia, cave in and allow money to be channeled to the terrorist run Palestinian government. Stupid stupid stupid. You'd think after 9/11 we'd learn that giving money to a state of blood thirsty self combusting savages who's stated goal is the elimination of the state of Israel is a bad idea.

Of course, knee-jerk reaction aside, the concern is that but for the foreign aid to the Hamas led government, civil war will break out in the West Bank and Gaza and that this would be bad for, well, everyone. Maybe so. But as long as the US and the rest of the world holds the hands of the Palestinians, they are never going to learn responsible government. Elections have consequences, we're fond of saying. The Palestinians elected a terrorist organization to run their government. I think, practically speaking, (admittedly not politically speaking) the best thing to do is let them reach a breaking point--a point where they realize their real problems aren't Israel and the US but their own leaders who use Islam, corruption, and popular ignorance to divert attention away from themeselves and on to easier, more convenient scapegoats. Why take responsibility when they can rewrite history, play the helpless victim card and demand that they be taken seriously while plotting to blow up malls and pizza parlors?

It's worked so far. And we're not any closer to making them realize it's not a prudent course of action.

Here's Big Lizard's take on things...

87% was a B- in grade school...

2006-05-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

One more reason why 60-plus Republican Senators would be nice: What's Behind the New Fight over Judges

The title says it all

2006-04-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

A country with no future destroys its past

A looming crisis?

2006-04-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Fall of France and the Multi-Cultural World War

Newt on Iraq

2006-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

In a recent speech, Speaker Newt--whose opinions I lend a good deal of credence to--called the US occupation in Iraq an enourmous mistake. I'm not sure yet if I agree with him or not, but I certainly have become less enthusiastic about our chances of getting a worthwhile return on our investment of time, blood, and dollars. Only time (and a lot of it) will tell for sure. But I'm becoming more worried that our quagmire in Iraq will discourage us from taking the proper actions with respect to Iran.

Cups

2006-03-31T12:12:00.000-08:00

What is it about coffee shops and liberals? I'm in Cups--you know, a trendy kind of coffe place with something sounding like Radiohead playing in the background--a place where you bring your laptop or your New York Times and pass the time away sipping some excessively hyphenated named latte with a nice plate of sliced fruit on the side. It's not that I don't like places like this--I do. I mean, they have free wireless, good tasting coffee, and the people, as far as I can tell, are nice. But I can't help but think that these types of places are Meccas for liberals.

"Ha! Major League Baseball is launching a steriods probe. I'll be believe that the day I believe Bush." So says the chap who just sat next to me. I wonder if he realizes that a former Democratic majority leader is heading up the investigation in the baseball probe...

Skylines

2006-03-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

Here's someone's list of the top 15 skylines in the world. Obviously this is subjective, but it's still good overview of some beautiful urban landscapes.

The first little bit of the school...

2006-03-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

For Thomas and Mollie:

I haven't a lot of time (nor have I the last few days). But before we hit the town this afternoon I wanted to at least post a picture of Vienna Christian School. We took a ton of pictures of just about everything we saw. This picture is what you see when you walk through the front entrance. We arrived just as a class was let out.

Mollie, this is a picture (obviously) of the music room at the school. There was a young couple there named Lance and Mindy. Mindy was sitting at the piano. She reminded me a lot of you--I think because she was sitting at the piano wearing glasses kinda like yours.

I wish I had more time but we have to go. We're going explore Budapest a bit this afternoon and tonight, we're going to a performance of Rachmaninov's Second Concerto. I'm, in a word, ecstatic.

Arrival in Budapest

2006-03-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

After two very smooth flights, we've made it to Budapest. Sam has been a great host and guide so far. Getting around would have been a great deal more difficult had he not been here to assist us. Once we arrived at Sam's flat, we set off for lunch in the center of Budapest (Sam lives in the Southeast part of this vast city). A half hour train/metro ride took us to the resturaunt pictured below:
After lunch, we walked through the city a bit and eventually found our way to the castle which overlooks Budapest:

Note the faint outline of the Parliament building in the background of the last photo.

I hope to post a more detailed account of what we did and what we saw, but I'm afraid the thirty plus hours I've gone without sleep has done a number on my brain.

ATL

2006-03-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

Spring Break has finally arrived! Tomorrow afternoon we fly out for a week in Budapest. Right now, we're enjoying an evening in Atlanta. I haven't spent much time in Atlanta in the past few years. I'm amazed at how big this city is. I'd like to come back soon when I have time to visit Six Flags and the new aquarium I've read so many good things about.

Critical Mass

2006-03-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

National Review Online has a great article about the new admissions policy approved by the faculty at Ole Miss Law School. Please read this.

Hat tip: Lain

My kind of hotel

2006-03-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that most people in the country seem opposed to the UAE port deal, I think it may not be such a bad thing if, for no other reason, the Emerites build hotels like this.

Marching ahead

2006-03-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

Time flies. I know February is the shortest month, but good grief! I can't believe it's March. I hope I can blog a bit before spring break next week. We'll be going to see Sam in Budapest. We'll also take a peak at Bratislava and spend a night in Vienna. I'm very much looking forward to the rest. There's something completely satisfying about getting on a plane knowing you're about to fly several thousand miles away from everything you've been dealing with. Breaks are a good thing. And they are even better if spent traveling.

No darkhorse in Mississippi

2006-02-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

Gov. Haley Barbour has announced that he will NOT run for President in 2008. Instead he plans on running for reelection to the governorship in 2007.

I think this is a smart move on his part. He'd be a longshot at best this go around in a Presidential bid. Eight years as governor would give him the opportunity to shore up a legacy in Mississippi (assuming Katrina reconstruction is successful) and place him in an even more pristine position to run for President in 2012 (assuming there's not a GOP incumbent President).

Les caricatures

2006-02-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

A French publication reprinted the 12 Danish cartoons that have sparked worldwide protest in the Muslim World. It will be interesting to see if France's large number of Muslims use this as another excuse to mire the country in social chaos or decide that a letter to the editor would be more appropriate. I'm not getting my hopes up. Jacques Chirac was quick to condemn the fact that the cartoons were reprinted, but I can't help but wonder if him addressing the issue just raises its profile all the more within his own country.

By the way, have I mentioned that these same 12 cartoons were first published in September?

Surprise Surprise

2006-02-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

As if the election of Hamas in the Palestinian territories wasn't enough reason to quit sending them aid, this article should be the final nail in the coffin.

At least $700 million in funds from the Palestinian Authority's coffers have been squandered or stolen by officials over the past few years, an internal investigation revealed yesterday.

Happy blogging

2006-02-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

According to one study, blogging actually is theraputic for people. Here's the gist:

A study of the phenomenon of blogs - or online diaries - found people writing them feel happier and more organised.

"Feeling that you have a forum for expressing yourself can make a huge difference to your psychological well-being," said psychologist Honey Langcaster-James, a Big Brother analyst.

I don't know about blogging per se, but reading that article certainly made me happy.

Indian fire

2006-02-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to a rather long bibliographical essay written by a Forest Service historian. The excerpt below sets forth a thesis that I've never considered before:

[T]he modification of the American continent by fire at the hands of Asian immigrants [now called American Indians, Native Americans, or First Nations/People] was the result of repeated, controlled, surface burns on a cycle of one to three years, broken by occasional holocausts from escape fires and periodic conflagrations during times of drought. Even under ideal circumstances, accidents occurred: signal fires escaped and campfires spread, with the result that valuable range was untimely scorched, buffalo driven away, and villages threatened. Burned corpses on the prairie were far from rare. So extensive were the cumulative effects of these modifications that it may be said that the general consequence of the Indian occupation of the New World was to replace forested land with grassland or savannah, or, where the forest persisted, to open it up and free it from underbrush. Most of the impenetrable woods encountered by explorers were in bogs or swamps from which fire was excluded; naturally drained landscape was nearly everywhere burned. Conversely, almost wherever the European went, forests followed. The Great American Forest may be more a product of settlement than a victim of it.

New-found paradise

2006-02-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

Absolutely amazing. There's no telling what else is out there waiting to be discovered...

Check out MSNBC's gallery of photos (to the right of the article).

Better than a cut

2006-02-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

The White House has proposed a 1% increase in NASA's budget for 2007. Here's the basic breakdown:

Within the NASA request, roughly $6.2 billion would go to the international space station and space shuttle programs, about $3.9 billion would go toward the development of new human and unmanned spacecraft needed to replace the shuttle and send astronauts to the Moon, about $5.3 billion would go to space and Earth science missions, and about $720 million would go to aeronautics research.

Religion of Tolerance

2006-02-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Filibuster Cartoons.

Party of Tolerance

2006-02-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

For some liberals, the idea of impeaching President Bush isn't enough:

Method to the madness

2006-02-05T12:46:00.001-08:00

Michael Novak gives his take on why the Democrats do what they do. I'd recommend reading the whole thing.

Conventional wisdom seems to say that the Left has gone around the bend, is jumping off cliffs, is stark raving mad.

But there is a method in the madness of the Left. There has always been a method in it. The Left is not engaged in an “argument,” it is engaged in a revolution in the name of all that is just and right and good. Therefore, it does not aim to out-argue its opponents, but to shame them, to drive them from the field in ignominy, to make them figures of ridicule, moral indignation, and revulsion.

Go back and read your Lenin. Revisit the show trials. The point is that no one dares defend such bad people. (This tactic works. Think twice before defending Bush on a college campus. How much indignation can you bear?)

Better yet, watch Ted Kennedy in action. His attacks on Judge Alito, like his earlier attacks on Judge Bork, were not intended as arguments, and certainly showed little regard for fact. They were all bluster, moral indignation, character assassination, ridicule, ostracism. If words could kill, his were the words of an assassin.

Religion of Peace

2006-02-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

The Danish embassy in Syria has been reduced to ash and Muslims the world over are livid after the publication of a Danish cartoon of Mohammed. I understand that a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed is blasphemous in Islamic theology. As a Christian, I would find a cartoon that mocked Christ offensive and blasphemous. But the difference is that when Christ is depicted in a cartoon or Jews are drawn in a degrading way (as they often are in the Islamic world), Christians and Jews don't respond like this:

By the way, Michelle Malkin has a list of Danish products you can buy in support the Danes.

8, 9, or 10?

2006-02-01T12:16:00.000-08:00

The diameter of the "10th planet" has been confirmed at 1,864 miles, making it significantly larger than Pluto, which boasts a diameter of roughly 1,400 miles. One article on this subject notes that "Zena" is the largest body discovered in the solar system since the discovery of Neptune in 1846. Let the debate rage on...

Justice Alito

2006-01-31T09:22:00.000-08:00

Today Judge Alito became Justice Alito on a 58-42 vote. A few months ago Republicans were at their worst. The nomination of Harriet Meyers represented everything conservatives hate about the GOP: spineless incompetence after a stunning electoral victory. However, credit must be given where credit is due. The GOP responded to the groans of those people that form the vibrant base of the party with the nomination of Alito. From everything I've seen so far, Alito is exactly what conservatives have hoped their President would give them: a person who values the Constitution for what it is rather than for what it could grow into if we were to read it in light of the changing desires and expectations of society.

Had the Republicans have had the bare majority of 51 or 52 votes, it's much more likely the Dems would have been emboldened enough to actually succeed in stopping the nomination. Simply put, elections do matter. Roberts and Alito are the proof. The success of the Roberts and Alito nomination is enough reason to continue supporting the Republican party, no matter how gutless and inept they can be at governing as the majority party. You can support the GOP by donating here. Maybe a donation of $58.58 would help reinforce the message.

Raising of the flag

2006-01-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

The new Palestinian government.

Palestinians choose terror

2006-01-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

In 2000 Bill Clinton gathered Ehud Barak and Arafat together at Camp David in order to agree on acceptable terms for a lasting peace in the Middle East. During the Camp David negotiations, Israel made unprecedented concessions to the Palestinian authority. Among other things, Israel offered more than 93% of the West Bank as well as Arab east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. The Palestinians categorically rejected these offers and refused to put forward any plausible ideas on their own. Dennis Ross, Clinton's top negotiator, talks extensively about this in his book, The Missing Peace.

For years, all sides in the peace process have been talking about their hopes for establishing a peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Politicians and diplomats in every party from every country concerned about the Middle East have waxed eloquent about continuing the pursuit of peace. But as we learned from 2000, the only way the two sides can reach an agreement is if BOTH sides put offers on the table that contain reasonable concessions on both sides.

If there was any question left as to how serious the Palestinians are about peace with Israel, the answer came yesterday. Hamas, officially sanctioned by the US State Department as a terrorist organization, won a majority of the vote in the Palestinian election. In all seriousness, I would love for someone to tell me how you can have peace negotiations with a people whose government is ruled by a terrorist organization that has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel.

As one columist has written, this election was an earthquake. The secularists have been outed. The Islamists now control.

Backed against a wall

2006-01-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

J. R. Dunn writes at The American Thinker about the position Israel now finds itself in with regards to Iran:

An acute observer might well think that everyone involved was trying to ease the way for a strike to be carried out – by the U.S. or Israel or both. It really wouldn’t matter so long as the EU and the UN were not involved. (The French nuclear threat only highlights this point – it’s best read as a statement intended to direct Iranian intentions elsewhere.) Israel, after all, does have a history of the coup de main, the all-or-nothing strike such as occurred in 1956, 1967, and 1981. Look at the situation from Israel’s point of view to grasp how far it may be forced to go. This is the state founded in the shadow of the Holocaust, as a lifeboat for [the] oldest surviving nation on Earth. The only people the world ever consciously tried to destroy.

It's very easy for doom and gloomers to overstate the horrors of what could happen. But I don't see how the situation with Iran isn't extremely serious. And, given the diplomatic brick walls that Europe and the US have been running into, I don't see how Iran can be peaceably disarmed. The only questions are when will action be taken, who will act, and what will be Iran's response.

King of Pop

2006-01-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

I don't know why this amuses me so much:

MANAMA, Bahrain - Michael Jackson visited a mall in Bahrain’s capital Wednesday, covering himself in a black abaya robe traditionally worn by conservative Bahraini women and a veil hiding his face.

Here's the link.

Support the troops

2006-01-25T13:45:00.000-08:00

Joel Stein's op-ed in the LA Times has been blasted by conservative blogs all across the internet. His piece begins with the words "I don't support our troops." My thoughts on his position are a bit mixed. He doesn't support the troops because he doesn't support the war in Iraq. Here are his words:

But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken — and they're wussy by definition.

There's something to this--although his analysis is dangerously simplistic. I believe that there are many people who would not have gone into Iraq but, now that we're there, support a successful end to the mission and, of course, support those soldiers who will carry out the mission. On the other hand, I think some of the rhetoric against the war by many Democrats has been so harsh that it's very difficult to reconcile the comments with a position of supporting the troops. I have a hard time understanding how you can support the troops and not support what they are doing now. And I recognize that there is a huge difference between supporting what they are doing (something all Americans should do) and disagreeing with the decisions that led to their deployment (something we should vigorously debate).

All this brings me to another statement Mr. Stein makes:

The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying.

The idea that the soldier pulling the trigger is ultimately responsible for whatver death or injury might result is ludicrous. Assuming the soldier is acting under command (which is almost always the case) the buck stops with the Commander in Chief. In other words, the commanding officers are "ultimately" responsible. The soldier is bound to follow orders and do everything within his ability to carry out the mission assigned to him. Any moral outrage should be directed towards those who give the orders--not the one's who are bound by law and duty to carry out those orders. Mr. Stein then assumes that all of our troops are "ignoring their morality." This is an odd statement. It presupposes that all the troops are (or should be) morally opposed to what they're doing. This in turn presupposes that they're all bound by the same moral code, which raises the entirely serarate issue of whether we are bound to a universal morality. His statement also seems to suggest that soldiers and not their COs should be the ones to decide what they do. This begs, as he acknowledges, ineffeciency. It also begs chaos--a state that would lead to an America left protected by a military armed more with moral autonomy than with might. But I suppose that this would be a liberal's dream: a military that favors moral pontification more than the use of force to advance American "imperialism"--as Mr. Stein calls it.

In response to this column, Michelle Malkin has proposed 25 ways to ignore Joel Stein and support our troops.

Comatose

2006-01-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

More posturing from Iran: "We'll put Israel in eternal coma."

Chocolate

2006-01-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Linda Chavez blasts New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin for being the rascist that he is.

And here's CNN's article about Nagin's "I'm-really-sorry-that-some-people-took-that-the-way-they-did" apology.

Public schools

2006-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

I'm sure John Stossel wasn't surprised to see that the NEA flipped out over his 20/20 piece documenting the massive amounts of money public schools waste.

Defeat

2006-01-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

A great column by Barry Casselman: The jaws of defeat.

Democrats get it wrong again

2005-12-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

The blogosphere is full of excellent, in depth posts that take to task the Democrats and the New York Times (really two different arms of the same monster) over their apparent outrage on the Bush administration spying on terrorists in the United States without a court order. I hope soon to compile a list of sources that describe in better words than would come from me just how silly (and dangerous) the democrats are acting. In the meantime, though, Opinion Journal* has a great discussion of the political peril the Democrats risk as they continue their hysterics over Bush's decision to spy on terrorists. Here's one point I hadn't really considered before:

It's worth pondering just what it is that the Democrats are arguing here. They claim not that President Bush isn't doing enough to keep America safe from terrorism, but that he's doing too much. The implication is that the threat of terrorism within America is not all that serious and never was--that 9/11, horrific though it was, was a one-off.

There is, at the very least, a tension between this blasé approach and the oft-heard Democratic claim that liberating Iraq increased the threat of terrorism. If that threat still isn't serious enough to justify the merest attenuation of "civil liberties," then this argument against Iraq, even if true, is trivial.

*(I couldn't find a link to the Opinion Journal entry the above quote is from. It was a December 28 post entitled "Complacency Threatens Civil Liberties."

Munich

2005-12-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

The Christmas holidays are eagerly anticipated for a variety of reasons--among them, the arrival of promising movies at the box office. Three movies topped my list of must see movies this year: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, King Kong, and Munich. I enjoyed the first two and am awaiting the release of the third. My interest in Munich is grounded primarily in my fascnination with the status of Israel surrounded by countries that hate it and what it does to ensure its security. In 1972, Israeli athletes were the target of a savage terrorist attack. The Mossad saw to it that the PLO terrorists who assasinated its Olympic athletes were brought to justice in the years that followed.

From what I've read, Munich is about the aftermath of the tragedy at the Munich Olympics. This piece, however, posted at the American Thinker gives me pause. I still plan to watch this movie but will do so with a great deal of skepticism.

Speculation

2005-11-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

Virginia Governor Mark Warner, a Democrat, has granted clemency to Robin Lovitt just before his scheduled execution. The key piece of evidence (a pair of scissors) was accidently thrown away by a clerk and at the time of Lovitt's conviction, the DNA evidence could only prove that the blood on the scissors was that of the victim. The defendent's DNA was not found on the weapon. Gov. Warner thought the loss of this evidence constituted an extraordinary circumstance that warranted clemency. Based on what I know, I respect this decision. We should never execute a person if there's any lingering doubt. The moral argument for the death penalty is sound; its practical application in the hands of men is not. That's why governors have the power of clemency--it serves as a final check on the inherent weaknesses in man's attempt to administer justice.

I was upset, though, by the New York Times incorporating into its reporting on this story an analysis of the political ramifications of Warner's decision. Warner is widely speculated to be a viable contender for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008. The Times leaves the reader with the impression that this decision was tempered in significant part by Warner's political calculations as he anticipates a Presidential run.

The problem with this is that Warner has presided over 11 executions. As governor, he's had 11 opportunities to appease the liberal base of his party by granting clemency before an execution. 11 times he didn't grant clemency. Could it be that Warner made this decision because there really was doubt in Lovitt's case?

How nice it would be if newspapers actually reported the news instead of incorporating rank speculation into their accounts.

A Voice of Reason. And it's a Democrat.

2005-11-29T20:23:00.000-08:00

Senator Lieberman just returned from a Thanksgiving visit in Iraq. His op-ed in the Wall Street Journal is worth reading. It's even worth doing the sign-up if you have to. His perspective on the situation in Iraq is well thought out and buttressed by first-hand experience on the ground. Were that that rest of his party and the slimy Republicans who care more about polls than progress more like him.

Who said that?

2005-11-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

Bookmark this blog.

Intergalactic Politics

2005-11-25T09:19:00.000-08:00

One of the many reasons its hard to take Canada seriously:

OTTAWA, CANADA (PRWEB) November 24, 2005 -- A former Canadian Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister under Pierre Trudeau has joined forces with three Non-governmental organizations to ask the Parliament of Canada to hold public hearings on Exopolitics -- relations with “ETs.”

By “ETs,” Mr. Hellyer and these organizations mean ethical, advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.

On September 25, 2005, in a startling speech at the University of Toronto that caught the attention of mainstream newspapers and magazines, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."

Mr. Hellyer went on to say, "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."

Hellyer revealed, "The secrecy involved in all matters pertaining to the Roswell incident was unparalled. The classification was, from the outset, above top secret, so the vast majority of U.S. officials and politicians, let alone a mere allied minister of defence, were never in-the-loop."

Hellyer warned, "The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. He stated, "The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."

Hellyer’s speech ended with a standing ovation.

Merry Winter Break

2005-11-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

Why the left hates Christmas

A long time ago...

2005-11-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

A sometimes overlooked, but great generation:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lloyd Brown remembers Armistice Day in 1918 as few -- ever so few -- veterans can.

"For the servicemen there were lots of hugs and kisses," recalls Brown, of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, a teenage seaman aboard the battleship USS New Hampshire, in port stateside when the fighting stopped. "We were so happy that the war was over."

Now 104, Brown adds, "There's not too many of us around any more."

No one knows exactly how many of America's World War I veterans will celebrate Veterans Day, which marks the armistice of November 11, 1918, that ended what then was considered the Great War. An estimated 2 million Americans served in Europe after the U.S. entered the war in 1917.

Today, the Veterans Affairs Department lists just eight veterans as receiving disability benefits or pension compensation from service in World War I. It says a few dozen other veterans of the war probably are alive, too, but the government does not keep a comprehensive list.

Problems in Paris

2005-11-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

La France should read this: Will rioters burn the French social model?

Lunar Dragon

2005-11-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

So it looks like China is looking to land a man on the moon in 2017. This is interesting for several reasons--the least of which isn't that NASA plans to return Americans to the moon in 2018. At this point in the game, the Chinese propaganda machine is far more capable than their manned space program. To the Chinese's credit, they have become only the third nation in the history of mankind to launch men into space. But to go from only two manned flights to landing a man on the moon (and presumably returning him safely to the earth) in only 12 years requires a tremendous amount of resources--resources I'd be surprised to see China muster given various socio-economic factors within its borders.

Also of interest are their various pretexts. I don't doubt that China would be pleased to know more about the lunar atmosphere and the applicability of Helium 3. But make no mistake, a lunar mission--like the rest of their space program--would be about about global prestige.

Peanuts

2005-11-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Carter Then and Now on Iraq's WMDs.

Praise for Alito

2005-11-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

Bork this.

Filling the footsteps of a giant?

2005-11-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

Hat tip to Charles Blanchard for this excellent article at National Review: Missing Parks.

The final line sums it up:

Detroit buried a giant on Wednesday. How sad that Rosa Parks is survived by pygmies.

Racist attacks...

2005-11-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Yet another example of how disgusting and hypocritical Democrats are when it comes to race:

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.

Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.

Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report -- the only Republican candidate so targeted.

But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with "pointing out the obvious."
...
Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.

"Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community," she said. "His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people."

Three's a crowd

2005-11-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

It appears as though distant Pluto has three moons instead of one. Astronomers, however, are baffled by the orbits these moons occupy; the orbits simply don't adhere to expectations derived from evolutionary models. This discovery, like so many others in astronomy, frustrate rather than support the model of cosmic evolution that scientists so faithfully adhere to. Yet scientists will go to great lenghts to find an explanation--no matter how much of a stretch or improbability it is--that is compatible with evolution. If discovery after discovery fails to buttress the naturalistic framework of science, couldn't it be possible that nature itself reflects the handiwork of a Designer?

Back to blogging

2005-11-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

I've neglected my blog during the last several weeks because school has been busier than ever. I hope that I can be a bit more faithful in posting those things that I find particularly interesting or noteworthy.

For Sale

2005-10-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?

Vermin

2005-10-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens on the "peace" movement:

There are only two serious attempts at swamp-draining currently under way. In Afghanistan and Iraq, agonizingly difficult efforts are in train to build roads, repair hospitals, hand out ballot papers, frame constitutions, encourage newspapers and satellite dishes, and generally evolve some healthy water in which civil-society fish may swim. But in each case, from within the swamp and across the borders, the most poisonous snakes and roaches are being recruited and paid to wreck the process and plunge people back into the ooze. How nice to have a "peace" movement that is either openly on the side of the vermin, or neutral as between them and the cleanup crew, and how delightful to have a press that refers to this partisanship, or this neutrality, as "progressive."

From Slate.com 9/27

McCain

2005-09-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

According to Michael Barone, you should keep an eye on John McCain as 2008 approaches...

Old Europe

2005-09-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

Mark Steyn has an astute take on the recent German elections. His column begins by demonstrating how a story from southern France typifies the social welfare problem facing Europe as a whole:

If you want the state of Europe in a nutshell, skip the German election coverage and consider this news item from the south of France: a fellow in Marseilles is being charged with fraud because he lived with the dead body of his mother for five years in order to continue receiving her pension of 700 euros a month.

She was 94 when she croaked, so she'd presumably been enjoying the old government cheque for a good three decades or so, but her son figured he might as well keep the money rolling in until her second century and, with her corpse tucked away under a pile of rubbish in the living room, the female telephone voice he put on for the benefit of the social services office was apparently convincing enough. As the Reuters headline put it: "Frenchman lived with dead mother to keep pension."

That's the perfect summation of Europe: welfare addiction over demographic reality.

Think of Germany as that flat in Marseilles, and Mr Schröder's government as the stiff, and the country's many state benefits as that French bloke's dead mum's benefits.

A shadow of hope

2005-09-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

I'm usually a harsh critic of the New York Times (and for good reason). But, when they avoid indulging their political leanings, they tend to have really good articles. Here's a prime example: Coastal Cities of Mississippi in the Shadows.

Humor for the day

2005-09-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

This is hilarious: Bush Causes Hurricane!

Reid knows best

2005-09-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

Harry Reid, the Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate, had this to say today:

"An investigation of the Republican Administration by a Republican-controlled Congress is like having a pitcher call his own balls and strikes," the Democrat said, making an analogy to baseball.

"Katrina makes it clear this government has failed," Reid said. "We must find out why immediately to make sure the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina never happens again."

I would love to know what Sen. Reid thinks the Bush administration could actually do to prevent destruction next time something like this comes our way:

The great divide

2005-09-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

I normally don't pay much attention to polls unless a campaign is in full swing. But ABC News has released a poll which suggests two things that really aren't that suprising. In the first place, public anger at Bush over his response to Katrina isn't nearly as great as the media furor would suggest. Secondly, the public's opinion of Bush's response is split right down the political divide. Republicans are pleased with Bush and Democrats are not. The poll notes:

Partisanship, as noted, plays a huge role: Nearly three-quarters of Republicans approve of the president's performance, and two-thirds rate the government's overall response positively. About seven in 10 Democrats take the opposite view on both scores.

The media's constant coverage of how allegedly poor Bush's response was isn't surprising given the media's pleasure in Bush-bashing and the fact that most of the victims in New Orleans who were/are stranded in the city are more likely than not to be opposed to Bush in the first place. Most of the victims were minorities who by overwhelming majorities were already convinced that Bush didn't care about them. Their traumatic experiences after Katrina (an act of God, not government) only reinforces this misguided perception.

Gas Gouging

2005-09-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Clarion-Ledger reports of price gouging in the Jackson area. Click this link to read the article and see the photographic proof.

Media Mess

2005-09-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

The media's coverage of the Gulf's destruction has provided some dramatic images. But it has also proven to be the absolute most disgraceful display of mindless Bush-bashing. The Democrats have long since crossed the line of decency and respectful restraint. John Hinderaker at Powerline writes the following:

The mainstream media's handling of Hurricane Katrina and the disasters in New Orleans is a disgrace, possibly the worst instance yet of media bias. Insane claims by left-wing nuts that President Bush botched the recovery effort on purpose so as to kill black people are repeated by the MSM in a chin-stroking mode, as if to say, "It's an interesting question--they might be on to something." Meanwhile, no one points out that it was President Bush who implored Governor Blanco to issue a first-ever mandatory evacuation order for the city, an action by the President that probably saved tens of thousands of lives.

Similarly, the media yammmer on and on about the allegedly slow federal response to the hurricane, without noting that the Governor of Louisiana has the power to call out the National Guard. Accusations that lawlessness and looting in New Orleans are somehow the federal government's fault are repeated endlessly; hardly anyone bothers to criticize the looters and other criminals themselves. And where is the outrage that should be directed toward the New Orleans Police Department? They were the authorities on the scene, and they, under the direction of the city's Mayor--who had an emergency plan in place, but apparently made no attempt to implement it--had the responsibility to maintain law and order. Yet some policemen reportedly joined in the looting, while a great many others turned tail and abandoned their responsibilities.

I couldn't agree more.

He goes on to argue that the Bush adminstration needs to begin passionately refuting all the baseless attacks being leveled at it before they become irrepairably mired in a public relations nightmare from which they won't ever awake. Again, I couldn't agree more.

Finally, Mr. Hinderaker's post linked to this article in which Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (a Democrat) physically threatened President Bush:

"If one person criticizes our sheriffs, or says one more thing, including the President of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," says Landrieu.

"The President came here yesterday for a photo-op, he got his photo-op but we are never going to get this fixed if he does not send us help now."

The people of the Gulf need action and cooperation. Not hysteria. Any reasonable person would expect those still stranded and suffering to be hysterical--and for good reason. But our society can't afford for our leaders to respond as such.

Sage Advice

2005-09-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hugh Hewitt has some great suggestions about what the White House should do in the next few days. After clicking the link, scroll down a bit to read his ideas.

The President in Biloxi

2005-09-03T00:23:00.000-07:00

You can read the President's remarks in Biloxi here.

Today...

2005-09-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

Apart from 9/11, no event has induced in me so many intense emotions as has the aftermath of Katrina. I awoke this morning, turned on the TV and was greeted by the Congressional Black Caucus blasting the Bush administration. My heart despaired and my mood descended into a sour state. How dare they conspire to orchestrate a political--yes, political--attack on their most hated enemy when there's still far too much action that's needed on the ground in the Gulf? How dare they turn this into a racial issue? How dare they insunuate that all of the federal government (elected by a majority of Americans) would be quicker to help these victims had they been predominantly white?

The attacks didn't stop there. The floodgates (if I dare use that word) had opened. The media was in attack-Bush mode all day. People at school were blasting Bush. But people in New Orleans were dying. I think, why can't we see this situation stabalized before we look to point fingers? But then I realize that I hope for too much.

America's moral and civil fabric has been rendered as desolate as the Gulf is now. Years of dialogue and public discourse fueled by hatred, spite, and sheer contempt has brought America to a point that shames me. For the first time in my life I'm wondering if the strength of the American people is being overwhelmed by hatred, needless confusion, and mindless passion. I pray not. Now, if ever, we must trust the sincerity of our leaders. We must be compassionate and understanding. There's plenty of time ahead to critique the government's response, but let's wait until the stranded have been rescued and the dead have been counted.

Apart from the Bush-bashing I've seen from, quite frankly, all fronts, I've also witnessed the continued human tragedy as it unfolds before my eyes on live TV. I go from anger to sorrow. I can't imagine what so many of these people I see are going through. The tears I see on my wife's face tell me that she's thinking the same thing. Lord, comfort these people. Grant them grace and cause the rest of us to see that there are callings in our daily life that transcend malicious political opportunism.

Psalm 46

2005-09-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Words fail. Pray for the South.

Chaos reigns
The President Speaks
Mississippi Mourning
Urban Warfare...In the United States
Rebuild New Orleans?
Could More Have Been Done?

Angry about high gas prices? Remember next time you go to the pump that we're blessed to have a car to gas up.

Top Ten

2005-08-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

In what shouldn't be a surpise to anyone, Ole Miss once again made the list of the top ten drinking schools. Apparently, though, we're taking lessons from University of Wisonsin, which landed the number one spot.

Amazing Grace

2005-08-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

This is just the sort of story that inspires hope and optimism within me concerning our commitment to Iraq. This is proof that even in one of the most hostile places in the world to Christianity, God works in amazing and powerful ways to establish His Gospel and protect and strengthen His Church.

Relief is on the way

2005-08-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

So gas prices are really high. People are upset about this. Somehow they think its a God-given right that gas stay at a price they think is cheap. Perhaps all the folks who haven't quite been able to handle gassing up without loosing their nerve would take comfort from this commentary, which suggests that the spike in gas prices is likely nothing more than a bumb in the road. The market (so long as government stays out of it) will take care of things for now.

Boom in size

2005-08-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

Last time I was at Borders, I noticed some of the new release mass market paperbacks were taller than what has been the standard paperback size. Well, here's an article explaining it.

Why I Like Howard Dean

2005-08-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

CNN's article about Howard Dean's most recent remarks begins like this:

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) -- Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean argued Friday that Republicans will make immigrants the "scapegoats" in the next election.

At a rally, Dean garnered the loudest applause when he said Republicans would make immigration a pivotal issue during upcoming elections, as they did gay marriage and affirmative action in previous elections.

"Do you know who the scapegoats are going to be? Immigrants," he said. "In Colorado, the chairman of the Republican Party endorsed Tom Tancredo for re-election. That is morally reprehensible. The governor of California, a supposed moderate Republican, invited the Minutemen to visit California. We do not need vigilante justice."

There a number of things that can be said about this but a few in particular jump out. First, the use of the word scapegoat is a bit too cynical (even for a bitter Democrat). Illegal immigration is a valid campaign issue. It's an issue reasonable minds can disagree on and it's an issue that one would expect the rival political parties to take seriously and offer plausible solutions to the problems it presents. If in Dean's mind the Republicans are scapegoating any time they try to run on an issue, then it would seem that Mr. Dean has little confidence in competing in the arena of ideas. Rather than counterpoint whatever approach the rival party may take to immigration, Dean tries to disqualify the GOP entirely--portraying them as mean brutes taking cruel advantage of a defenseless, underprivileged group of people. Were Dean a shrewd politician, he would offer ideas and not invectives. He would craft a Democratic approach to tackling the problem of illegal immigration that would put the Republicans on the defensive.

Dean's failure to go this route demonstrates the Democrats' greatest problem: they are more inclined to go for the cheap shot to get a rise out of the far left rather than craft a more moderate approach (in process and substance) that would do more good for the country AND for their political fortunes.

In reading Dean's comments, I couldn't help but notice that Dean is basically saying "Hey, look at the Republicans! They're going to talk a lot about immigration in the next campaign. Shame on them." Proof again that every time Dean opens his mouth the GOP gets more votes. Just from a political point of view, this guy is crazy. Why in the world would he want to point out to everyone that the Republicans want to address illegal immigration while at the same time make it clear that the Democrats think that's a mean-spirited thing to do? A majority of Americans think that illegal immigration is a serious problem facing this country. You would think Dean would be directing his party in such a way that they could capitalize on this concern. But instead, it seems that Dean and the Democrats are more afraid of losing their Hispanic block of votes than the Republicans are afraid of not gaining any.

This raises another point. Both parties have been acting like idiots when it comes to this issue. Republicans have a lot to loose, though, when it comes to illegal immigration because more people expect more out of them. Most people know the Democrats never have taken this issue seriously, and I think few expect them to risk the millions of Latino votes they have in their pocket. Unfortunately, Republicans of late have been too tempted by the recent success they've had increasing their share of Hispanic votes in the last three elections to address the issue as needed. Whichever party comes across as the more serious about addressing head on the illegal immigration problem will gain seats in 2006 and will have a substantive advantage when it comes to winning the crucial block of independent voters in 2008.

For now, it looks that however lame the GOP's approach to immigration is, the Democrats will make it look good.

An argument for the bomb

2005-08-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

A few years ago my Asian Studies class had a debate about the merits of dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. This debate stands out in my mind because only two or three students were making arguments in support of President Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb. Our professor was passionately opposed to the decision and, naturally, scores of my classmates nodded their heads in eager agreement with what she said. It's regretful to see how little perspective people today have on the various factors that prompted us to drop the bomb.

Katherine Kersten in the Minneapolis Star Tribune provides a needed reminder of the alternative to dropping the bomb. She writes:

As the 60th anniversary of "the bomb" approaches, we've largely forgotten conditions in 1945. Our children get ideas about the war from books such as "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes," an elementary school favorite about a young Hiroshima victim. They learn of the bomb's horrors but not why it was dropped.

Those who lived through the war, however, can still remind us.

She goes on to note all the hundreds of thousands of American AND Asian lives that would have perished had we proceeded with a protracted invasion of Japan that, arguably, could have made the invasion of France look like a walk in the park. Read the whole thing.

Barone

2005-08-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

Michael Barone, whose political insights I have come to greatly appreciate, has finally joined the blogosphere. I can think of few people in the world of punditry who have a better understanding of both the micro and macro components of American politics.

Exploring...Options

2005-07-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

NASA continues to trouble shoot the faulty sensor that prompted a delay in the launch last week. Judging from this article, it appears that NASA is even willing to bend a few of its rules to get Discovery launched before the launch window closes.

Miranda rights

2005-07-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Want to see the moons of Uranus? Here's how...

Good Point

2005-07-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

I usually enjoy the writings of Thomas Friedman, even though I often disagree with him. Here, however, I think he's on the mark.

The Muslim village has been derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks. When Salman Rushdie wrote a controversial novel involving the prophet Muhammad, he was sentenced to death by the leader of Iran. To this day - to this day - no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden....

The double-decker buses of London and the subways of Paris, as well as the covered markets of Riyadh, Bali and Cairo, will never be secure as long as the Muslim village and elders do not take on, delegitimize, condemn and isolate the extremists in their midst.

Read the whole article: If It's a Muslim Problem, It Needs a Muslim Solution

RTF

2005-07-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

The Shuttle's return to flight will occur no sooner than 2:40 eastern time on Saturday, July 16. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see the launch delayed until September. Hopefully not, though.

UPDATE: NASA is now saying the Shuttle won't fly until Sunday at the earliest...

UPDATE: It's looking unlikely that the Shuttle will by flying Sunday or any time in the immediate future.

Kudos for Karl

2005-07-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal does an excellent job of showing how Karl Rove, far from being legitimate fodder for a liberal feeding frenzy, should actually be respected for blowing the deceptive cover of Joe Wilson.

The real cause of terrorism

2005-07-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

The terrorist attacks in London have once again prompted people to ask why terrorism occurrs--what's its root cause. Pundits in the media are constantly tossing around a range of suggestions: the Iraq war, Bush's neocon foreign policy, poverty, a lack of democracy and core democratic values, the perception of historical oppression of Muslim people by Western powers. And while all of these cause some level of anger in many parts of the Islamic world, none of them are the cause of terrorism.

Simply put, terrorists kill others (and themselves) because of their unwavering devotion to Islam. Their religious precepts are grounded in the teachings of the Koran which mandate that the faithful to allah must wage a holy war against the infidels. And the definition of an infidel is not hard to find. The Koran is saturated with references to Jews and Christians and how they incur the wrath of allah--and how this wrath justifies their killing.

The Muslim who killed Theo Van Gogh--the Dutch filmmaker who documented some of the horrors of Islam--has said just as much in court.

"I can assure you that one day, should I be set free, I would do exactly the same, exactly the same," he said, speaking slowly in sometimes halted Dutch.

He said he felt an obligation to Van Gogh's mother Anneke, present in court, to speak, but offered no sympathy.

"I have to admit I do not feel for you, I do not feel your pain, I cannot -- I don't know what it is like to lose a child," he said as Van Gogh's family and friends looked on.

"I cannot feel for you ... because I believe you are an infidel," he added.

"I acted out of conviction -- not because I hated your son."

This article briefly recounts his crime:

Several months before he was killed Van Gogh, a distant relative of 19th-century painter Vincent van Gogh, had directed a short film called "Submission", which linked abuse of women to Islam.

A letter was left on his body that included quotations from the Koran and threats to several Dutch politicians, including Somali-born lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the script for "Submission".

We would be far shrewder as a nation in fighting terror if we understood, unlike President Bush, that Islam is NOT a religion of peace.

UPDATE: I found this column by Mark Steyn, arguing that Islam does incubate terrorism.

What Bias?

2005-07-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

In what comes as a shocking surprise, the broadcast media is biased against Bush.

No, really...it's true.

Tepid approach?

2005-07-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to see how far out of their way the Mainstream Media will go to downplay good economic news during Bush's tenure. If this were the Clinton administration, the Washington Post would be gloating.

4:55?

2005-07-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

Look for Chief Justice Rehnquist to announce his retirement today...

Don't blame Iraq

2005-07-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens displays his sagacity concerning the terrorist attacks in London.

Upcoming

2005-07-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Things continue to go well in Hawaii. We're going to Chinatown for lunch today, the Dole Plantation on the north side of the Island tomorrow, and hopefully a scenic, rugged hike on Sunday. Hopefully it will be a good weekend and I'll be able to post some new pictures.