Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

AMERICAN SOLDIERS ON AMERICAN BASES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE ARMED!

I suppose my headline is common knowledge to a lot of people, but it was news to me.  Stephanie Gutmann, (author of  The Kinder, Gentler Military:  How Political Correctness Affects Our Ability to Win Wars. writes at The Corner

"Overseas, you are ready for it. But here, you can't even defend yourself," said Jerry Richard, a Fort Hood solider who was nearby when Major Nidal Hasan went on his shooting rampage.

What do the Pentagon bureaucrats have to say about that? If soldiers on this base had been allowed to carry the weapons they use overseas, the service weapons they train with, Hasan would have been able to shoot perhaps one or two people, not 41. (As of this writing, 13 are dead, 28 wounded.)

"It's a tragedy to lose soldiers overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on U.S. soil," said President Obama.

Indeed. How ironic: Survive Iraq or Afghanistan then get picked off like a game bird in a bland, institutional "Soldier Readiness Center" in Texas.

REACTIONS TO OBAMA'S DECISION NOT TO ATTEND THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

November 9th is the date of the grand celebrations in Berlin.  President Barack Hussein Obama will not be attending.  Should he be?  Conservatives think so.  Here are some reactions published by National Review Online:  (excerpts - read the whole article for more complete reporting)

FRANK GAFFNEY

Nine words say it all: Undermine our allies. Embolden our enemies. Diminish our country.

That’s the Obama Doctrine in a nutshell, and the slighting of Germany with regard to one of the most symbolic and consequential expressions of the quest for freedom undertaken in the  teeth of Soviet oppression does all three.

PAUL KENGOR

Obviously, this is an outrage. There’s no good excuse for it, even as Obama’s disciples grasp for one.

First, this is what we ought to expect from a president whose mentor was Frank Marshall Davis and who, in the 1980s, when President Reagan was seeking to breach the Berlin Wall, was being educated by — and chose to “hang with” — what he himself acknowledged were “Marxist professors.” Obama was raised, nurtured, and

HOW IMPORTANT IS "HUMAN RIGHTS" IN OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY?

Answer:  Not Important at All.

I find that disgusting.  Chuck Colson's report is an eye-opening, important read.  I knew about Obama's refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama, following are some things I didn't know:  (excerpts)

Obama and his aides have also reportedly refused to meet with a representative of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

And now we learn that the President has been quietly cutting off aid to groups that monitor human rights abuses and fight on behalf of human freedom—especially in Iran.

Colson says:

In the Wall Street Journal, David Feith and Bar Weiss write that the administration has eliminated millions of dollars in funding for the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Freedom House, and the State Department’s Iran Democracy Fund.

These actions go against everything America stands for. Our worldview is largely informed by our Christian heritage—one that puts human dignity first. Has this administration forgotten that human rights have always been America’s greatest export?

Colson points out rightly,

We believe that all humans are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, as our Declaration of Independence says. We can’t just write off these rights for the sake of climate change or the economy; they’re central to who we are.

[More . . .]

PEACE PRIZE CARTOONS (from an e-mail)

EUROPE DUMPS DEMOCRACY

Paul Belian reports:

The Czech Republic ceased to exist as a sovereign state when Vaclav Klaus, its president, put his signature under the Treaty of Lisbon at 3 pm November 3^rd, 2009. The Czech Republic was the last of the 27 member states of the European Union to ratify the treaty which turns the EU into a genuine state to which it members states are subservient.

 The new European superstate, however, is not a democracy. It has an elected parliament, but the European Parliament has no legislative powers, nor does it control the EU’s executive bodies. The latter, who also have legislative power overriding

LIGHT BLOGGING. . . ON THE ROAD

Yesterday I had poor internet access and was unable to do any blogging. 

The most comprehensive reporting on Major Nidal Malik Hasan and the Fort Hood shooting remains Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugged.  She is doing outstanding reporting on the Muslim aspect of this terrorist act.  The Arab street is rejoicing.  I like the irony of this: it was an American woman who took down the jihadist.  Check Atlas Shrugged for updates and links.

UPDATE: Frank Gaffney, in reporting on President Obama's strange comments on the Ft. Hood incident, notes:

. . . Perhaps the president publicly handled this attack as he did because he was unsettled by the fact that the alleged shooter is a devout Muslim, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who evidently adheres to the theo-political-legal program authoritative Islam calls “Shariah.”

Now, Shariah requires its adherents to engage in jihad — the imposition of Islam, by force wherever possible. This reality was characteristically obscured by Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, a Muslim Brotherhood front and unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism financing conspiracy.

During a news conference, he preposterously declared: “No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence.”

Actually, Shariah not only justifies such violence but also demands it.

To cite but one example of the requirement for individual Muslims to wage jihad, Shariah expert Andrew Bostom observes that the influential Ottoman cleric, Sheikh Shawish, wrote in 1915:

“To whoever kills even one single infidel of those who rule over Islamic lands, either secretly or openly, there is a reward like a reward from all the living ones of the Islamic world. And let every individual of the Muslims in whatever place they may be, take upon him an oath to kill at least three of four of the ruling infidels, enemies of Allah, and enemies of the religion. He must take upon him this oath before Allah Most High, expecting his reward from Allah alone, and let the Muslim be confident, if there be to him no other good deed than this, nevertheless he will prosper in the day of judgment and we ask the Most High to extend the People of the Faith by the favor of their Lord.”

In short, the Fort Hood “outburst of violence” (to use the president’s formulation), looks like the first successful incident of jihadist mass murder in America since 9/11. This could not be a message happily conveyed by a chief executive committed to “outreach to the Muslim world” and so deprecating of his predecessor, who had managed for seven years to prevent such incidents here in America.

[ more . . .]

IRANIANS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST THE REGIME THROUGHOUT IRAN

Atlas Shrugs has numerous video and photos.   An example:

What is the response of the United States?  Michael Ledeen says,"Obama Speaks Appeasement to Evildoers"

As Michael Rubin notes, there are ongoing demonstrations against the Iranian regime all over the country. It seems clear that the violence from the Revolutionary Guards and Basij is worse than anything to date. The Supreme Leader delivered a verbal beating to President Obama, demanding a full American retreat. And what does our president do? He issues a statement that doesn't even mention the regime's savagery, instead mewling and whining, asking for the Iranian regime to make nice. Here he is, in full Carter/Chamberlain mode:

We do not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. We have condemned terrorist attacks against Iran. We have recognized Iran’s international right to peaceful

EMERGENT CHURCH: IS TRUTH REALLY PLURAL?

Albert Mohler offers a major review and critique of John R. Franke's Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth,  (HT: Between Two Worlds).

In recent years, John R. Franke, a professor at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, has been among the foremost proponents of the embrace of a postmodern worldview. A major figure in the emergent church, Franke has been a significant critic of modern evangelicalism. In his new book, Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth, Franke offers an argument that pushes the postmodern envelope and offers what amounts to a completely new way of understanding truth. Truth, Franke argues, is inherently plural.

Franke's new book is part of the "Living Theology" series published by Abingdon Press in cooperation with Emergent Village. The book deserves close attention, for it presents a vision of truth we are sure to confront in years to come.   [more . . .]

DEALING WITH TRAGEDY: STEPHEN CURTIS CHAPMAN

Justin Taylor provides excerpts from a Christianity Today interview with Stephen Curtis Chapman:

Steven Curtis Chapman’s new album, Beauty Will Rise, is the first recording he has done since the tragic death of his 5-year-old daughter, Maria Sue.

CT’s Mark Moring interviewed Steven about the album and about the pain in their grief. Here’s an excerpt:

Ain’t feeling it at all. I’m just not sure. I needed to hear my pastor speak truth again to me. I needed to hear somebody say again, here’s what’s true.

That has been an important process, the whole thing of taking every thought captive and saying, God, this is what I choose to believe. Because I’ve found myself, especially in the first few days and weeks after Maria went

MALAYSIA REFUSES TO LET CHRISTIANS HAVE 10,000 BIBLES THAT USE "ALLAH" FOR "GOD"

Robert Spencer reports:

Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Malaysia: an update on this story. The Malaysian government is refusing to release the confiscated Bibles: "Actually the publications, the Bibles are already banned."

A Christian spokesman says: "This constitutional right (to practice freely) is rendered illusory if Christians in Malaysia are denied access to Bibles in a language with which they are familiar."

Uh, yeah. Details here.

PAMELA GELLER OFFERS HER VIEWS ON THE BLOGOSPHERE

I have come to find Geller's Atlas Shrugs an important daily read.  Among other things, she understands the threat of Islamic supremacism, and works tirelessly for conservative principles.  She is also the major chronicler of the Rifqa Bary case.  She posts excerpts of her interview with "Stop the ACLU."  Following are a few excerpts:

My political party is capitalism. I think the Constitution is as close to a religious document as you can get. America is the most noble experiment in human history: noble, moral, benevolent and successful. My goal at the outset was preserving the America I grew up in – fighting for the free, protecting and defending the individual’s rights against majority tyranny and minority plotting. And that is still my goal. . .

Turning to the overall picture of the right blogosphere…. what has changed for the worse is the abandonment of the issue of Islamic supremacism by the big blogs — the most dangerous threat facing the West, more dangerous than Nazism, more insidious than communism and they won’t touch it. Of course Jihad Watch covers it comprehensively, but that’s what Spencer does. Islamic jihad is not a tangential issue. It is the defining conflict of our time.

Her response to a question about new blogs I found helpful:

The most interesting blogs are the international blogs like New Zeal and anti-jihad blogs like the Finnish Tundra Tabloids that are doing incredible work exposing the scoundrels on the Hill.  New blogs like Brave New Commie,Vigilant Squirrel Brigade, and summer patriot, winter soldier offer a refreshing new perspective. But guys like Vanderleun, who have been around awhile, are still fresh, original and delish. And Oleg at The People's Cube, outstanding.    [MORE . . .]

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD: A MESSAGE FROM CONGRESSMAN MIKE SPENCE

Congressman Mike Pence released the following video, urging all Americans to rise up and let their voices be heard in opposition to the Pelosi health care plan.

Transcript:  (from Gateway Pundit):

“As President Ronald Reagan said: ‘Since the American founding, we have been a people with a government, not the other way around.’”

“Now comes the Pelosi plan for a government takeover of health care. It is a freight train of runaway spending, bloated bureaucracy, mandates and higher taxes.

“If the liberals in Washington have their way, they will forever change the relationship between the government and ‘we the people.’

“If the Pelosi plan for a government takeover of health care passes, we will each become

ARIZONA WOMAN RUN DOWN BY HER FATHER IS DEAD IN HONOR KILLING

Robert Spencer has the story. 

Yet another honor killing in the United States. An update on this story. A press release from the Peoria, Arizona, police department (thanks to Lee): Victim run down by her father dies Noor Faleh Almaleki dies from injuries received on October 20, 2009.  [more ..]

Pamela Geller chimes in:

No more martyrs. No more dead girls. Stand up for your children, your daughters, your wives, your lovers. STAND UP AGAINST ISLAMIC LAW. Another terrible  addition to the gruesome gallery of Islamic gender apartheid.

Rally for Rifqa's Civil Rights on November 16th.   Jamie Glazov of Frontpagemag interviews Geller about the rally for Rifqa here.

HUGH HEWITT: DEEPAK CHOPRA'S HATE SPEECH

Ironic, isn't it, that the Left complains about "hate speech," but employs it repeatedly.   Hugh Hewitt writes:

President Obama signed “hate crimes” legislation last week, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement praising the new law, saying that in “this country, no one should suffer persecution, discrimination or violence because of who they are, how they look or what they believe.”

Amen to that thought, and amen especially to the idea of protecting belief, including beliefs unpopular within liberal opinion elites. Perhaps the president and the speaker can find some time to let their left-wing supporters know that the accusation of hate is itself hateful, and that slanders against Christians for holding to their beliefs and the beliefs of hundreds of generations of Christians before them are as repugnant to them as the verbal attacks by bigots on people of color.

Spiritualist Deepak Chopra comes to mind as one of the Left’s loudest purveyors of hate speech. Chopra has a problem with the beliefs of mainstream Christianity and its place in America and

PLANNED PARENTHOOD DIRECTOR RESIGNS AFTER WATCHING ULTRASOUND OF ABORTION PROCEDURE

TV newscast (video) tells the story.  (HT: Drudge)   Ed Morrissey adds further:

 After eight years working at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, including two years as its director, Abby Johnson suddenly decided that she could no longer participate in abortions. What pushed Johnson out was both an ultrasound of an abortion and a renewed emphasis on the cash-generating business in the failing economy. After being told to deemphasize prevention and market for abortions, Johnson finally had enough:  [more . .]

DOUG GROOTHUIS SUMMARIZES PASCAL'S ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

Doug Groothus, Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary, and author of the valuable, Truth Decay (among other books), reviews various books at Amazon.Com.  If you value his opinion, as I do, you'll want to subscribe to the RSS.  

Here is Groothuis offering a 10-minute introduction to Pascal's Anthropological Argument.

PAMELA GELLER KEEPS US UP TO DATE ON RIFQA BARY

Geller writes:

Here's an excerpt from my latest at Newsmax:

Ohio Christian Girl Still Trying to Escape Muslim Parents Pamela Geller, Newsmax

Last Tuesday, Oct. 27, she was returned to Ohio and placed in foster care in Franklin County. Eric Fenner, the executive director of Franklin County Children Services, said that he has “no reason to believe Rifqa wouldn’t be safe with her parents” — with the father who according to Rifqa said, “If you have this Jesus in your heart, you’re dead to me. You’re not my daughter . . . I will kill you.”

And even now in Ohio, Rifqa Bary’s civil rights are being violated. She is being held prisoner: She is not allowed use of the phone or the Internet, unlike thousands of other children in foster care. Why? What is her crime?   [more . . .]

See also here.

SELECT POSTS FROM WINTERY KNIGHT BLOG

I have some catching up to do with what Wintery Knight has been up to.   Following is a selection.  All are worth "clicking through" to read:

-  How good are the arguments in the new book by Richard Dawkins?

-  Skincare company uses aborted fetal tissue in anti-aging cream

-  American Library Association silent as librairies ban books about ex-gays

- UK Woman gets police visit after writing letter protesting gay pride parade (Must read)

- Hindu/Christian debate on anti-conversion law in India

- New books of interest to Christian apologists

         Update:  One of the books listed is Dr. Stephen Meyer's Signature in the Cell about which Charles Colson has important things to say.  Dr. Douglas Groothuis, for his part, rhapsodizes:

The book is no less than magisterial, an adjective that curmudgeons such as myself seldom use. At every level--philosophical, scientific, historical and literary--it is a superb treatise.    Reading every word of its 508 pages of text (not counting end notes)--as I did--repays the reader greatly.

WASHINGTON POST WON'T COUNTENANCE DESCRIPTION OF HOMOSEXUAL CONDUCT AS "UNHEALTHY"

In case you hadn't notice, folks, it's about 11:55 PM as far as Free Speech in the United States is concerned.  And one of the big boys -- e.g. The Washington Post -- isn't on the side of free speech.  That probably isn't news to anyone who has been awake the last few years.  The Family Research Council reports:

In a last-ditch effort to sway voters away from Virginia 's GOP ticket, the Washington Post unleashed a stinging op-ed against Ken Cuccinelli, the pro-family candidate for state Attorney General. Desperate to get its dig in before next Tuesday, the Post lashed out in "Mr. Cuccinelli's bigotry," an article that tried to paint Ken's conservative social views as "an embarrassment to Virginia." According to the Post, Cuccinelli's biggest crime is describing homosexuality as "intrinsically wrong." In an interview with a local paper, Ken also said, "I happen to think that [homosexuals] represent... behavior that is not healthy to an individual and in aggregate is not healthy to society."

The Post's hostility is mind-boggling when you consider that Cuccinelli's statement happens to be true, given the data on the health risks of homosexual conduct. As for his personal faith, if the

PELOSI CARE - ICHABOD!

  Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council comments:

In a tightly controlled press conference yesterday afternoon, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released her 1,990 page version of health care overhaul. What does it cost, you ask? That depends on who you talk to. Speaker Pelosi would like us to believe that the bill is cheap--but in truth, the plan clocks in at over $1.5 trillion dollars when you include the companion "Doc Fix" bill also introduced yesterday. Instead of truly reforming the health care system, the Speaker's bill is more about social engineering than helping those in need. The new legislation, H.R. 3962, guarantees that the government would use tax dollars to fund abortions by using the marketing gimmicks that were prevalent in the Capps amendment.

And the rewards for abortionists don't end there. The Speaker also added a separate bill, the Indian Health legislation, into her overall reform. The move is crafty, because Speaker Pelosi has

REMINDER: THE BOAT GOES FIRST!

TURKEY: AN ALLY NO MORE

Some people may wonder why I blog about Turkey.  Simple.  It's Islamist drift spells major effects on Europe and Israel and the Middle East.  Daniel Pipes, an astute observer of issues Islamic and of the Middle East writes:

“There is no doubt he is our friend,” Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, says of Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, even as he accuses Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman of threatening to use nuclear weapons against Gaza. These outrageous assertions point to the profound change of orientation by Turkey’s government, for six decades the West’s closest Muslim ally, since Erdoğan’s AK party came to power in 2002.

Three events this past month reveal the extent of that change. The first came on October 11 with the news that the Turkish military – a long-time bastion of secularism and advocate of cooperation

ORAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE (INCLUDING THE BIBLE)

 The following links showcase a couple practitioners of the "oral interpretation of literature" that I think might be of interest to some.  Years ago I knew a fellow doing an M.A. in that subject at Northwestern University.  He now teaches homiletics (preaching) at a major seminary.  Anyway, for what it's worth, these bear checking out:  [HT: Between Two Worlds]

          - Ryan Ferguson reciting Hebrews 9-10, reciting Psalm 25, reciting Psalm 22. 

           - Until November 1 you can download (for free) Max McLean’s reading of Martin Luther’s speech, “Here I Stand” (24 minutes).

          - Speaking of Max McLean, more on him can be found here and his new book, Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture.  Incidentally, back in May I blogged about McLean's Chicago theatre performance of Mark's Gospel and included a link to Justin Taylor's interview with him.

HUGE PRO-LIFE RALLY IN MADRID, SPAIN

Mark Early reports:

This past Saturday, a demonstration in Madrid drew an estimated one and a half million protesters. That’s between 3 and 4 percent of Spain’s entire population, the equivalent of 9 to 12 million Americans gathering in Washington.

What government policy were they demonstrating against?  Sending troops to Afghanistan? Was it Spain’s nearly 20 percent unemployment rate?

None of those—they were protesting a proposal to liberalize Spain’s abortion laws. They were there to tell the government, their fellow Spaniards, and the rest of the world that “every life matters.”    [more...]   Photos here.

KRAUTHAMMER - OBAMA ATTACKS ON BUSH "DISGUSTING, BEYOND DISGRACEFUL"

I was watching Fox News when Krauthammer made his comments captured below.  I said, "Right On."   Disgusting indeed.

Krauthammer transcript:  [my bolding]

I want to point out one thing about what Obama had said when he talked about “the long years of drift.” There is something truly disgusting about the way he cannot refrain from attacking Bush when he’s being defensive about himself. I mean, it’s beyond disgraceful here. He won election a year ago. He became the Commander [in] Chief two months later. He announced his own strategy — not the Bush strategy, his strategy — six months ago, and it wasn’t off-handed, it was in a major address, with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense standing with him. And now he’s still talking about “the drift” in the Bush years. What’s happening today is not a result of the drift, so-called, of the Bush years, it’s because of the drift in his years. It’s because of the flaws in his own strategy, which is what he’s actively examining.

Me: Alas, this transcript from HotAir, fails to include Krauthammer's last few sentences, the last of which reads:  "He ought to be honest, forthright, and courageous enough as a President to simply say 'I'm rethinking the strategy I adopted six months ago, and not, once again, childlike, attack his predecessor." 

Yes.  Exactly.  "Childlike!"  The right word.  Let the man grow up, and be a man.  "Childlike," indeed.

DER SPIEGEL INTERVIEWS CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER ON OBAMA

Krauthammer is always worth reading, and his views on Obama are scintillatingly clear.  The following excerpts offer a sampling, but I urge you to read the entire interview which is quite comprehensive. [HT: Peter Wehner at the Corner]

SPIEGEL: Do you really believe that Obama deliberately wants to weaken the US?

Krauthammer: The liberal vision of America is that it should be less arrogant, less unilateral, more internationalist. In Obama's view, America would subsume itself under a fuzzy internationalism in which the international community, which I think is a fiction, governs itself through the UN.

SPIEGEL: A nightmare?

Krauthammer: Worse than that: an absurdity. I can't even imagine serious people would believe it, but I think Obama does. There is a way America will decline -- if we choose first to wreck our

THOMAS SOWELL - "DISMANTLING AMERICA"

Thomas Sowell, in the following column, states my own views perfectly.  (HT: HotAir)

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers-- that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?

Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free

TEENAGE RUNAWAYS TRY TO SURVIVE ON THE STREETS

From the Family Research Council:  "Running Away From the Real Problem":

In yesterday's edition, the New York Times launched a powerful, two-part story about hurting teenagers who have run away from home and are trying to survive on the streets. Sleeping in the woods or in public bathrooms, these children--1.6 million of them, according to federal studies--are desperately defending themselves against hunger, predators, and the cold. Ian Urbina, who wrote the piece for the Times, blames the rising trend of runaways on the economy, claiming that the recession is forcing kids to leave home.

"Foreclosures, layoffs, rising food and fuel prices, and inadequate supplies of low-cost housing have stretched families to the extreme, and those pressures have trickled down to teenagers and preteens." The stories he tells are harrowing. Little girls camping

IN EUROPE, THE NOOSE AROUND FREE SPEECH TIGHTENS

Pamela Geller, over at Atlas Shrugs, titles one of her posts today,  "DO NOT OBJECT TO ISLAAAAAAAAM":

European Union set to outlaw objections to Islamic practices

This would, of course, render us mute and hence defenseless in the face of the advancing jihad -- and that is just what it is designed to do. Free Speech Death Watch Alert: "Objections to Muslim and Homosexual Practices to be Unlawful in Europe - Media MIA," by Paul Belien for Hudson NY, October 26 (thanks to Magnus):

If all goes as planned, the 27 member states of the European Union will soon have a common hate crime legislation, which will turn disapproval for Islamic practices or homosexual lifestyles into crimes. Europe's Christian churches are trying to stop the plan of the European political establishment,

GRAPHIC DISPLAY OF NEWSPAPER DECLINE

With the exception of the Wall Street Journal.  Get a load of the collapse of the Los Angeles Times!  Amazing!   For more commentary and a larger graph, click here.  (HT: HotAir)

 
 

AARP HAS A MAJOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST

 Does it work for retirees or for itself?  Ed Morrissey over at HotAir has the story:

We first mentioned this a couple of months ago, when the AARP lost 60,000 members in a month for backing ObamaCare and its cuts to Medicare and Medicare Advantage.  Dan Eggen at the Washington Post reports in more detail on the political connections AARP gets for its acquiescence on Medicare cuts and the potential financial advantages it sees in political support of the administration’s efforts to overhaul the health-care industry:

The group’s dual role as an insurance reformer and a broker has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks from congressional Republicans, who accuse it of having a conflict of

THE STORY OF TAPS (Click through to "continue reading...")

From an e-mail:

  "This is interesting...I did not know this. 

 

E-MAIL FROM A FRIEND ON BASIC ECONOMICS

1* "You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity."

2* "What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving."

3* The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else."

4* When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for is the beginning of the end of any nation.

5* You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it..."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Atheist Christopher Hitchens offers this discovery as a result of his numerous debates with theists:

I have discovered that the so-called Christian right is much less monolithic, and very much more polite and hospitable, than I would once have thought, or than most liberals believe.

Me:  That comes as no surprise to me.  I am glad that the Christians he has debated, and those in the audience,  have displayed manners.  Hitchens, of course, has much more to say.

Update 10/27/09 - Something of the flavor of the Hitchens - Doug Wilson debates can be found in this Huffingtron Post exchange.

BEN WITHERINGTON - "WHY ARGUMENTS AGAINST WOMEN IN MINISTRY AREN'T BIBLICAL"

Well, I must say, Witherington marshals good arguments indeed.  Before reading his post, I had adopted John Stott's position (as I understood it), namely: welcome women on church staff but reserve the role of senior pastor for a male.   Actually, the whole issue of church structure leaves me with many questions.  But as to the role of women, I think Witherington's position requres serious consideration.

HANK HOUGH - FREEDOM THROUGH OBEDIENCE

Hank Hough trains dogs whose lives flourish under his leadership.  He draws parallels between their obedience to him and our obedience to God.  In both cases, we don't need leashes!  Hough and his dog "Prophet" appeared on the Hour of Power today (video and text can be found at the link).  Two years ago the following was posted on YouTube.

DANIEL TAYLOR: "STORY-SHAPED FAITH'"

I enjoyed and profited from reading "Story-Shaped Faith" by Daniel Taylor.  It appears as chapter 5 in the book "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God" (ed. by John Piper and Justin Taylor).  It's available on the internet for free here.)  Taylor discusses how "story" plays such a central place in the Bible and in our lives.  He writes: (my emphases)

ISLAMIC "HONOR KILLINGS" IN THE UNITED STATES

Robert Spencer writes on the Arizona Muslim who "ran down daughter for rejecting Iraqi values."  Spencer is interviewed below on Fox and Friends:

BREAKING:  Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs tells us that THE FLORIDA JUDGE HAS ORDERED RIFQA BARY BACK TO OHIO DESPITE ISLAMIC THREAT.

Geller writes:

UNBELIEVABLE: Judge Dawson has ordered Rifqa Bary back to her home state. This despite the horror described in her testimony in the FDLE report (here). The welfare of this child had nothing to do with the submission to sharia in this case. It was apostasy, and yet Islam was never put on trial. But it should have been.

This girl is not safe in Ohio. Period.  

Me:  This is terrible news.  Officials in the United States are unbelievably ignorant about Islam and honor killings.  For the history of the case and continual updates, see Pamela Geller.  Her post today includes photos of victims of honor killings from around the globe.

Update 10/24/09: Audio of Rifqa Bary's interview to FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) is available here.

GEERT WILDERS SPEAKS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Pamela Geller offers photos and major coverage of Gert Wilders appearance at Columbia University, including a five-part video of his speech.  She titles her post "Geert Wilders Rocks Columbia Univeristy."  She offers a link to an mp3 of the speech (here), as well as the full text of his speech.  Wilders is the producer of the film, Fitna which warns of the threat of radical Islam utilizing quotes from jihadis, imams and Quranic texts.  If you haven't seen it yet, you need to do so.    The text of his speech follows:

DALE KUEHNE - "SEX AND THE iWORLD" (CAN WE BE HAPPY WITHOUT SEX?)

Big subject.   Discussion needed.  Enter Dale Kuehne's  Sex and the iWorld: Rethinking Relationships beyond an Age of Individualism.   Reviewers  of this book (including Chuck Colson and Mark Earley), give the book rave reviews.  From what I can tell, the book looks like "must reading" to counter the propaganda that is ruining lives.  A few introductory pages (worth reading) are available here.

TIM KELLER'S SERMONS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE

At least many of them.  Click here.  (HT: Justin Taylor).  Keller is the author of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism and has spoken at numerous universities throughout America and at Google headquarters.  I blogged about him previous ly here.

BOB KAUFLIN - "WORDS OF WONDER: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE SING?"

A few days ago, I posted various links  I had found at Justin Taylor's blog, "Between Two Worlds."  One link offered free online reading of the just-published, The Power of Words and the Wonder of God.   Today I began  reading Bob Kauflin's contribution, "Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing?" (Chapter 6) What a great meditation on our experience of music in church.  A few quotes:

If the teaching in our church was limited to the songs that we sing, how well taught would we be? How well would we know God? . . .

We Need a Broader Emotional Range in the Songs We Sing
If music is meant to help us engage emotionally with words, then most churches need a broader emotional range in the songs they sing. We need songs of reverence, awe, repentance, and grief as well as songs of joy, celebration, freedom, and confidence. The holiness of God cannot be adequately expressed in a two-minute up-tempo pop song. The jubilant triumph of Christ’s victory over sin can’t be fully communicatedin a slow a cappella hymn. . .

Anticipating the Songs to Come
So, what are we doing in our local churches to promote, encourage, and participate in the kind of corporate singing we see in Revelation? What are we doing to discourage it? Leaders should be faithful to model and instruct the church in the purpose of singing, because we live in a musically addicted culture. We need to teach how music functions in corporate worship so that our singing more and more resembles what we see in the book of Revelation. There, in the context of the new heavens and the new earth, we’ll forever lift up undistracted, passionate, unified, Word-centered songs to the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb who was slain.

There is so much value to this chapter that I am including it below:

Robert Crumb's Genesis (via Ben Witherington's blog):

And now for something completely different.   The Bible as graphic novel, or at least graphic comic book.  Robert Crumb is well known to underground comic book aficionados.  To the rest of the reading public-- not so much. Robert Crumb was born in Philly and began his drawing career coming up with playful and witty greeting cards. He became a sort of cult figure in the 60s for creating characters like Fritz the Cat and there was even a documentary about him in 1994, but FYI, his comics were too R or even X rated in some cases for most.  For the last eighteen or so years of his life he has lived in France (and laments he still  hasn't mastered the language) with his fellow cartoonist wife Aline Kominsky.

Now however this super-lapsed Catholic has decided to depict scenes from all 50 chapters of Genesis, with the emphasis on verbatim. Those of us who knew a bit about his snarky past were holding our collective breath, but Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, author of the well-titled book Up,Up, and Oi Vey (the history of how Jews had influence on the creation of fictional super-heroes) reassures us that Crumb has not given us a crumby treatment of Genesis. Of course the literal depiction of murder, incest, rape, and a host of the other things that go on in Genesis itself is enough to curdle one's milk and curl one's hair.  Hide the babies and pack up the old ladies. But then alas,  the Bible is hardly a  G or PG book--- it tells it like it is, even when it comes to all our human falleness.  It is thus not a surprise that in the 224 pages of this book (out today and published by W.W. Norton) some of these pen and ink drawings reflect the sensual and violent character of some of these stories.  This is a comic book my Mom would not have let me read in the 9th grade!  Indeed she would have said 'Exodus with this Genesis'.   [more . . .]

HUGH HEWITT INTERVIEWS RICHARD DAWKINS

Some might find this transcript of Hugh Hewitt's hour interview with Dawkins interesting. To me, who knows something about the impressive manuscript evidence for the New Testament versus other classical documents, this segment proved especially interesting:

HH: On the person of Jesus Christ, did He exist?

RD: I suspect He probably did. I suspect there are lots of itinerant preachers, and one of them was probably called Yehoshua, or various other versions of Jesus’ name, but I don’t think that a miracle worker existed.

HH: How do you rate the evidence for Christ’s existence, manuscript evidence, eyewitness evidence, things like that?

NEW ACORN VIDEO FROM PHILADELPHIA !!!!!!!!

Ed Morrissey has the story:

Surprise! ACORN and its defenders, including the media, have tried to argue that the organization was not totally corrupt because James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles got tossed out of its Philadelphia office.  Media Matters even went so far as to air an interview with ACORN office director Katherine Conway-Russell that asserted that she refused to help them, called the cops, and threw them out.  Big Government has now released some of the video of that visit — and it appears that a lot of media outlets will have some retractions to write this afternoon.  

Morrissey says:

Big Government will air the full, unedited video and audio streams later today or tomorrow, in order to demonstrate the poor performance of the media in this story.  Bertha Lewis and ACORN will be shown to have lied, and outlets like the Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer will have to scrape the egg off of their faces for accepting their word at face value.

CLAUDIA ROSETT - "FIRST THEY CAME FOR FOX NEWS"

- Update 10/21/09 - The Real Reason the White House is attacking Fox News: Containment  (Interesting article)

- (Original Post) Rosett writes: 

You don’t have to love Fox News to see how dangerous it is when the President of the United States gives his staff and advisers a green light to single out and denigrate by name a specific news organization. As we surely all know by now, this is what the White House has been doing to Fox. . .  Welcome to the road to China’s Xinhua News Agency and Russia’s Channel One TV.

Me: The White House's attempt to control news it doesn't like is another reason to be wary of its totalitarian impulses.

CHURCK COLSON - "LAWS GONE WILD: THE CASE OF GRANDMA GOING TO JAIL"

Colson is right:  "Too many regulations, and too little common sense."  Read on. . .

Lisa Snyder is the kind of neighbor everybody likes to have. Every school day, the Michigan mom welcomed neighborhood children into her home—kids whose mothers have to leave for work an hour before the school bus picks up the kids. Snyder didn’t charge anything—she just wanted to be a good neighbor.

But then someone reported Snyder to the authorities—and the state of Michigan told her to stop babysitting, or else. The Michigan Department of Human Services said if Snyder wanted to take care of unrelated kids in her home, she had to get a daycare license.

It’s an example of laws gone wild—too many regulations, and too little common sense.

CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP MOCKED BY WRITER IN HARPER'S MAGAZINE

"Breakpoint's" Ralph Early has the story.  Key quote:

Sadly, instead of an objective look at the work of CEF, Aviv’s article is what I would call a prime example of “othering”—of defining some individual or group as being different in some fundamental way and therefore not belonging. In history this “otherness,” often based on race, religion, behavior, or appearance, has often led people to view these “others” as less intelligent, subhuman, or having strange and threatening worldviews. For Aviv, it appears that Christians are that strange “other”—they’re exotic creatures to be put under the microscope and feared.

. . . worrisome is the history of what this kind of “othering” produces: it’s dehumanization.  And that’s only one small step removed from oppression, disenfranchisement, and frequently even violence. That’s one slippery slope I hope we never see our culture go down.

Read the whole article.

AL SHARPTON'S RACIAL DEMAGOGUERY

Who will expose this charlatan for who he is?  It falls to Michelle Malkin.  If you want to know this man's sordid past behavior (which the oldline, liberal press refuses to talk about), read her column. 

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: FREE SPEECH OUT THE WINDOW?

David Horowitz writes about the hate campaign at Temple University:

Everywhere you look these days Americans’ most basic freedom is under attack by the jihadists of the international left. The infamous UN Human Rights Commission which includes the worst human rights violators on the planet (now joined by the Obama Administration) has recently passed a resolution against religious defamation — defined as linking Islamists to terrorism. At home Democrats have attached a “hate crimes” amendment which would make thinking a crime to the new defense appropriations bill.