Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - ALWAYS WORTH READING ON IRAQ

Victor Davis Hanson offers his latest assessment on the situation in Iraq and the Middle East.   VDH is always worth reading, all the more so to the degree that his viewpoint diverges from others.   He remains optimistic on Iraq.

REBIRTH OF CHRISTIAN FICTION

Christian fiction is coming on strong in sophistication and depth.  Charles Colson's highlights this renaissance in a good Breakpoint Commentary.  Some of the modern authors he mentions include Susan Howatch, Jan Karon, Tim Winton, Leif Enger, Marilynn Robinson, and Elizabeth Strout.   Breakpoint articles are generally very good in themselves, and especially appreciated are the list of "resources" at the end.

SOME ON THE LEFT STOOP TO SLEAZY SMEARS AGAINST DR. JAMES DOBSON

Some on the radical left know no limits to which they will stoop to smear someone.   Dr. James Dobson responds to the sleazy smear campaign launched against him by the group known as "Campaign to Defend the Constitution."    He names the people behind the organization and makes clear just how unprincipled the people are who oppose his family values message.   Lying as a way of doing battle, whether by the right or by the left, is the kind of behavior proscribed in Revelation 22:15. 

THE DA VINCI CODE - SOME PRELIMINARY COMMENTS

I plan to write much more about the Da Vinci Code phenomena in later posts, but for now the MSNBC/AP article published April 24th deserves a read.  It offers a good overview of some of the factual critiques that are being offered.   Also, I note that Westminster Theological Seminary has set up a special website that looks especially good.  It may be found here and for future reference the url is:   http://www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com/    (HT: Smart Christian) 

TONY SNOW: A GOOD MAN FOR PRESIDENT BUSH'S PRESS SECRETARY

Tony Snow, President Bush's new press secretary, penned an extraordinary column on Good Friday titled "Testing Our Faith".  (HT: Smart Christian)   It talks about Easter and the public square.  It's not hard to discern where he stands.  A good man, this Tony Snow.   

Peter Robinson, over at the National Review's  "Corner" says:

Tony Snow is smart, funny, and billiantly savvy in the ways of Washington; a devoted husband and doting father; a master of print, television, and radio alike; a patriot; a thoroughgoing conservative; a man of immense personal courage, as witness his struggle with cancer; and simply one of the nicest guys I know.

Have I made it clear that I consider his appointment good news?

UPDATE:  4:28/06  Deroy Murdock offers Tony Snow some advice on how to get the President's message out there.   Well worth reading. 

REBUTTAL TO TIME MAGAZINE'S "SPECIAL REPORT" ON GLOBAL WARMING

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has issued a 29-page  point-by-point rebuttal to Time Magazine's April 3, 2006 "Special Report" on Global Warming.

Hat tip: The Corner, National Review

STUDENT-DRIVEN SUDAN DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN GROWS

The Sudan divestment campaign now taking place on major universities is heartening news.

At least seven universities have gotten rid of some of their assets, including the 10-campus University of California system, Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Brown. Divestment campaigns are under way at several other universities, including the University of Maryland, Indiana University and the University of Virginia.

Read about it here.   China is a major culprit in propping up the Sudan regime and its terrible conduct. 

WORKABLE WAYS TO STEM THE UNCONTROLLED IMMIGRATION STAMPEDE

Michelle Malkin is totally at odds with President Bush's immigration policy.  After discussing the issue herself she posts a number of e-mails from readers, including the following.  This person's suggestions for controlling illegal immigration seem sensible and workable to me.   

It is truly heartrending to hear my President publicly call those who believe in the rule of law, and the security of our nation, compassionless and unrealistic.  Even more frustrating is to hear him using a straw man in saying that mass deportation is impractical.  Of course it isn't practical, but it isn't needed!  We did not import the illegal aliens en mass, and we don't need to deport them en mass.  Just enact the changes necessary to "demagnetize" the United States.

We have instant background checks for guns. The Social Security Administration says something similar could be up and running for verification in less than a year. 

Prohibit the issuance of any sort of driving certificates without proof of legal residency or citizenship. 

Modify the Simpson-Mazzoli Bill to allow and encourage local law enforcement agencies to question and apprehend illegal aliens. 

Send a few businessmen to prison, and heavily fine the businesses involved.

Change our citizenship rules to be in compliance with most of the other countries, which require at least one parent to be a citizen of the country for a child to be a citizen by birth. 

Build a meaningful fence or other barrier along our southern border. 

Do these few things, and the flow will slow, and eventually reverse itself.  Fail to address this issue, and it almost certainly will result in a situation which is beyond repair in the future, and terrible political damage in the present.

Respectfully, the proud son of a naturalized citizen,
Alan [B.]

THE FEMINIZATION OF THE CHURCH

Holly Pivoc of Biola University has penned  an interesting article on The Feminization of the Church: Why Its Music, Message and Ministries are Driving Men Away.  The article covers a lot of ground,  and to my mind, it's very much on target.  I certainly agree with the  observation on music found in many evangelical churches.

An example of the feminization of the church is its music.   Typical praise songs refer to Jesus as a Christian’s lover and praise his beauty and tenderness.   Rarely do they praise his justice or strength. . . .   

   Mike Erre (M.A. ’04) — the director of a men’s ministry of over 400 men at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, Calif. — said feminine expressions of spirituality are more validated than masculine expressions.

“The classic example is the worship pose of the eyes shut and the arms raised in this tender embrace, singing a song that says, ‘I’m desperate for you.   You’re the air I breathe.’   Guys don’t talk to guys like that,” Erre said.

There's lots more in this article than just music, but that in itself, is not a small matter.

Hat tip: Smart Christian 

BRITISM IMPERIALISM AND INDIA

In an interesting review and critique of Professor Efraim Karsh's new book, Islamic Imperialism—A History,  Andrew G. Bostom finds an occasion to quote Ibn Warraq, a secularist of Pakistani origin, who compared British imperialism in India with Islamic imperialism saying

Do we still have to apologize, for example, for the British Empire, when, in fact, the British presence in India led to the Indian Renaissance, resulted in famine relief, railways, roads and irrigation schemes, eradication of cholera, the civil service, the establishment of a universal educational system where none existed before, the institution of elected parliamentary democracy, and the rule of law? What of the British architecture of  Bombay and  Calcutta.  The British even gave back to the Indians their own past  it was European scholarship, archaeology and research that uncovered the greatness that was India;  it was British government that did its best to save and conserve the monuments that were a witness to that past gory.  British Imperialilsm preserved where earlier Islamic Imperialism destroyed thousands of Hindu temples.  

"ISLAMIST WATCH" INSTITUTED - AN IMPORTANT NEW AID IN COMBATTING ISLAMIST STRATEGIES TO SUBJUGATE THE WORLD TO ISLAM

I am gratified to note that an Islamist Watch is now being initiated under the Middle East Forum to monitor the nonviolent methods and strategies that radical Islamists are using to further their goals of bringing the world under the subjugation of Islam.   In the organization's own words:

Summary: Islamist Watch combats the ideas and institutions of nonviolent, radical Islam in the United States and other Western countries.   It exposes the far-reaching goals of Islamists, works to reduce their power, and seeks to strengthen moderate Muslims.

Introduction: The Threat of Lawful Islamism

Islamists ultimately seek hegemonic control via a worldwide caliphate that applies the Islamic law in full.   Afghanistan under the Taliban offers one model of what they would establish globally.

Terrorism is one method to advance these projects but it is not the only one. Indeed, the activities of nonviolent Islamists arguably will prove a more effective tactic in the long term.   For while the public intuitively understands the threat of terrorism and is mobilized by it, and while states have well-developed institutions (law enforcement, intelligence agencies, the military, the justice system) to protect and fight against it, the activities of nonviolent extremists are not alarming and institutions do not exist to deal with this problem.   And how can terrorists impose their will on whole societies?

The Progress of Lawful Islamism

Quietly, lawfully, peacefully, Islamists do their work throughout the West to impose aspects of Islamic law, win special privileges for themselves, shut down criticism of Islam, create Muslim-only zones, and deprive women and non-Muslims of their full civil rights.

Lawful Islamists advance their cause through lobbying politicians, intimidating the media, threatening international boycotts, making predatory use of the legal system, advancing novel legislation, influencing the contents of school textbooks, and in other ways exploiting the freedoms of an open society.   They advance their agenda in incremental steps, each of which in itself is minor but in the aggregate point to fundamental changes in society.

Be sure to visit the website for more information and for examples of how the Islamist agenda is advanced.    The website provides excellent links providing important documentation. 

I regard this as an extremely important website that needs to be bookmarked.   This is the battlefield for the foreseeable future.

DANIEL PIPES: CAIR BACKS DOWN FROM ANTI-CAIR

On March 8, 2006, I posted an article CAIR:  ISLAMISTS FOOLING THE ESTABLISHMENT.    Now Daniel Pipes has published an article,  CAIR Backs Down from Anti-CAIR, which provides an update of a recent lawsuit.  Pipes reports the following:

In a stunning setback, the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ defamation suit against Andrew Whitehead of Anti-CAIR has been dismissed with prejudice. The Anti-CAIR website, www.anti-cair-net.org, reports a “mutually agreeable settlement,” the terms of which are confidential.  However, Whitehead notes that he issued no public apology to CAIR, made no retractions or corrections, and left the Anti-CAIR website unchanged, so that it continues to post the statements that triggered CAIR’s suit.  Specifically, CAIR had complained about Whitehead calling it a “terrorist supporting front organization … founded by Hamas supporters” that aims “to make radical Islam the dominant religion in the United States.”   It also objected to being described as “dedicated to the overthrow of the United States Constitution and the installation of an Islamic theocracy in America." 
 

That clears the decks; no additional actions are pending between these two parties. In brief, Whitehead won a sweet victory, while CAIR suffered a humiliating defeat.

Daniel Pipes concludes his article saying,

With CAIR’s hopes of defeating its opponents in the legal arena at least temporarily defeated, the next step for those of us in North America unwilling to live under Islamic law is to thwart the organization's social and political ambitions.  I am doing my part by announcing today the establishment of  "Islamist Watch"  a new project to combat the ideas and institutions of nonviolent, radical Islam in the United States and other Western countries. 

Update: 5/8/06 - See the important interview that Jamie Glazov at Frontpagemag.com conducted with Reed Rubinstein, the attorney who litigated the anti-CAIR victory.  It contains lots of important facts about CAIR that the public doesn't generally know.   Imbedded in the interview are these telling sentences

The reason I think this world view has traction among many Mid-Eastern and South Asian Muslim elites, is that I saw these same themes reappear over and over again on a variety of Muslim websites, that I explored, and in many mosque sermons and Islamic publications that I read.   In the course of defending Mr. Whitehead, we engaged in a great deal of wide-ranging research, and I must tell you that I found entering the Islamic Internet world was like walking through a sewer.   The contempt and intolerance for difference and dissent (even by other Muslims) is shocking. Anti-Americanism and disdain for Western civilization is a given.   The oppression of women seems to be a basic cultural norm.   And, of course, raw, eliminationist anti-Semitism is ubiquitous.   Frankly, the obsessive fixation on Jews, Jewish control of the

United States

, and Jewish worldwide plots at times led me to believe there is some sort of mass psychosis at work. . .

RADICAL MUSLIMS RALLY IN NEW YORK CITY, CHANT "ISLAM WILL DOMINATE THE WORLD"

You won't believe what a group of Muslims (the Islamic Thinkers' Society) had to say in an April 20th rally in New York City.  Steve Emerson at the Counterterrorism blog  reports on the story using the following title:  "Islamists' message to Israel at New York City rally:  'The mushroom cloud is on its way!'"   Accusations of "hate" are thrown around all too readily in our society, I think, but in this case such an accusation is completely accurate and appropriate.  Read the following chants.

Israel won’t last long… Indeed, Allah will repeat the Holocaust right on the soil of Israel
Takbeer! 
Response: Allahu Akbar!

Islam will dominate the world
Islam is the only solution
Islam will dominate the world
Islam is the only solution
Takbeer!
La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad-ur Rasool Allah

* * *
Another mushroom cloud, right in the midst of Israel!
Takbeer!!  Allahu Akbar! 

A sign said "Islam Will Dominate" with a picture of an Islamic flag over the White House.  A video can be found at this site.

FROM THE GULAG TO THE KILLING FIELDS

I've just received notice of a book about to be published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).  Edited by Paul Hollander, and titled From the Gulag to the Killing Fields:    Personal Accounts of Political Violence and Repression in Communist States,  advance materials say

It gathers together more than forty dramatic personal memoirs of Communist violence and repression from political prisoners across the globe.   From these compelling accounts several distinctive features of Communist political violence can be discerned.   The most important, argues Hollander, is that communism was "violence with a higher purpose"—that is, it was devised and undertaken to create a historically superior social system that would not only abolish scarcity, exploitation, and inequality, but would also create a new and unique sense of community, social solidarity, and personal fulfillment.

Nothing, of course, was allowed to stand in the way of this effort to radically and totally transform the human condition—least of all human beings. 

I have no doubt this is a tremendous book, and one I would like to read.   

NORTH KOREA FREEDOM WEEK, APRIL 22- 30, 2006

Open Doors, USA is rallying Christians across the United States to pray for those suffering for their faith in North Korea.   Some helpful information about events taking place as well as background on North Korea, prayer suggestions and bulletin inserts can be found here.   Open Doors says

The objective of this week is to create greater awareness of the most oppressive country in the world, North Korea.  In addition to diplomacy and advocacy, the NKFC is encouraging churches across the country to participate in the North Korea Freedom Week by uplifting North Korea in prayer.  Christians in this country are experiencing intense persecution and are desperate for the prayers of believers around the world. 

EVOLUTION - PROBLEMS WITH THE BIRD-DINOSAUR THEORY FOR THE ORIGIN OF BIRDS

Fazale Rana of Hugh Ross' Reasons to Believe organization,  wrote a fine brief article  on the problems of transitional forms in the fossil record.   Rana says that it is common for evolutionary biologists to "point to 'feathered' dinosaur fossils, interpreted as transitional intermediates between birds and theropod dinosaurs (like the raptors in the movie,  Jurassic Park.")    He goes on to say:

The bird-dinosaur theory for the origin of birds has become "orthodoxy" among evolutionary biologists.  Based on morphological (anatomical, physical) similarities between birds and theropods, a majority of evolutionary biologists conclude that birds evolved from these bipedal dinosaurs.   In this scenario transitional forms between theropods and birds should be uncovered in the fossil record.   A few years ago, the discovery of certain theropods (dated at about 125 million years in age) in the Yixian Formation of China's Liaoning province seemed to satisfy this key prediction.   These fossils possess structures that have been interpreted as feathers by some paleontologists, making them candidates for transitional intermediates between dinosaurs and birds.

However, new work by an international team of paleontologists challenges this standard evolutionary assertion.⁴ Detailed analysis of a new fossil specimen of Psittacosaurus, a dinosaur thought to have no place in bird ancestry, indicates that the features interpreted as theropod feathers are actually frayed integument (skin).    Researchers also amassed additional evidence that severs the evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs.   For example, they demonstrated that the foot-and-toe structures of birds and theropods are fundamentally different even though superficially they appear to be similar.    The team also showed that all the "feathered" dinosaur transitional forms occur in the fossil record 30 million years after the appearance of the first true birds. Plus, some of the "feathered" dinosaurs, such as Caudipteryx, are not dinosaurs at all-rather, they're flightless birds.

According to Alan Feduccia, the paleontologist who led the research team that investigated Psittacosaurus, constant promotion of the bird-dinosaur theory in National Geographic, Nature, and Science creates a false sense of confidence about how birds originated.⁵ In the midst of this publicity, the study conducted by Feduccia's team raises serious questions about the validity of the most widely held evolutionary explanation for bird origins. Feduccia says that "[t]he theory that birds are the equivalent of living dinosaurs and that dinosaurs were feathered is so full of holes that creationists have jumped all over it, using the evolutionary nonsense of 'dinosaurian science' as evidence against the theory of evolution."⁶

Check the article to check out the footnotes.

CAMPUS RADICALISM CAN CAUSE AN OPPOSITE REACTION

Here's an interesting interview with Travis Rowley, a recent graduate of Brown University who has written a book,  Out of Ivy: How a Liberal Ivy Created a Committed Conservative.   To those who don't realize just how politically radicalized many of our universities have become, this interview will prove fascinating and not a little dismaying.  The following excerpt from the interview summarizes leftist thought well.

I truly believe that the underlying driving force behind leftist philosophy is a disdain for America.  In fact, the entire book leads up to this one conclusion.  The book is peppered with entertaining stores about my clashes with various components of the campus left, but that's merely the setting I have used to deliver the more important message concerning the intentions of hard-core liberalism.   Brown's campus left wasn't made up of mild American liberals.   This is the Far Left we're talking about.   They are much more devious than the person who simply believes in taxing the wealthy a little more than we tax the poor.  I didn't know it at the time, but I was arguing with Communists, Marxists, anti-Christians, and anti-Americans.  Hatred for America was a very difficult scheme to decipher for a politically ignorant student, but I eventually found the campus to be operating off of the intellectual premise that American liberty, Christianity, capitalism, and the United States were the root causes of all world tragedies.

To prove this, the campus left made a tireless and incessant effort to undermine America by constantly reminding everyone of certain people's claim to victim-hood, oppression caused by the American system.  Homosexuals were victims.  Minorities were victims.  Women were victims.  Muslims were victims.  Indians were victims.  Anyone who dared to question this premise-that certain people were injured by America's past and present-was doomed for what liberals saw as the appropriate social consequences.  Their problem was, that once they marked particular people as victims, they were forced to point out the perpetrators who had inflicted such harm.  If you listened closely, you would hear them saying that it was the straight, white, and patriotic Christians who were to blame--the American mainstream.  9/11 couldn't have more perfectly demonstrated the reason why liberals fought so hard to maintain an image of victim-hood for certain types of people.

ISRAEL'S ANTI-ISRAEL LEFTIST ACADEMICS

Some of us in the West suppose that Israel stands united against her enemies.  This article  provides an introduction to Israel's leftist anti-Israel elements.  Steven Plout focuses on Tel Aviv University and writes that

Israeli universities are crawling with extremist faculty members, many of whom hate their own country, endorse the enemies of their country, and collaborate with Bash-Israel organizations around the world, sometimes even with open anti-Semites.

UPDATE:  4/23/06 - Since writing the above, I have become acquainted with more of the literature.  The Amazon book reviews for Fabricating Israeli History; The 'New Historians' should be read.  Knowledgeable scholars heap praise on this book.  They applaud the refutation found here of revisionist historiography.   

ANN COULTER - WE NEED TO CONQUER OUR FEAR OF CONDEMNING SEEDY BEHAVIOR

Here's a great article by Ann Coulter on our inability to condemn seedy behavior for fear of seeming a hypocrite.   Definitely a must-read!!

CHINA'S GLOBAL ALLIANCES AND FRIENDSHIPS

I've posted several articles on China recently, but this one  by Frederick W Stackelbeck, Jr., published today, offers an extraordinarily helpful survey of the way China has created a global network of friendships and alliances that are at odds with the United States.   The article surveys China's activities on all the continents.  It seems to me the U.S. has been sleep-walking for years by its negligence.

UPDATE:  A very informative four-member panel discussion titled China: Time Bomb Walking is well worth reading.  It was published April 21, 2006.

UNITED FLIGHT 93 - A MUST SEE MOVIE

Dennis Prager says  United Flight 93 is a movie every American needs to see.   It's about the plane that was hijacked by Muslim terrorists and heading for Washington, D.C. when it was brought down by its heroic passengers, thus saving perhaps thousands of lives.

The only people likely to object to this film are those who don't want Americans to become aware of just how conscienceless, cruel and depraved our enemy is, or those who think that our enemies can always be negotiated with and therefore object to depicting Americans actually fighting back.

Teenage and older children in particular should see this film. If the younger teens have nightmares, comfort them. But young Americans need to know the nature of whom we are fighting. If they are attending a typical American high school or college, they probably don't know.

Congratulations to Universal Studios on making this film (presuming that, as assured to me, they removed the post-film politically inspired message). And shame on Hollywood for only making one such film in five years.

Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter, also has a review which concludes:

In years to come, United 93 may enter our mythology in ways unimaginable. But for now, we have a starting point. "United 93" is a sincere attempt to pull together the known facts and guesses at the emotional truths as best anyone can. Then, in the movie's final moments, the impact of the heroism aboard United 93 becomes startlingly clear. 

UPDATE:  4/26/06 Debbie Schlussel calls United 93 the "Movie of the Year"

Even though it is only the fourth month of the year, I'm confident in proclaiming "United 93" the Movie of the Year.   It's a good bet that Hollywood will not produce such an important and provocative film in the remaining eight months.

CHINA: THE RISING SUPERPOWER

The British online newspaper, The Independent, writes of China's President Hu Jintao's visit to President Bush today.   The article includes facts of China's economic and political rise which constitute a major challenge to the United States and the world. 

HEDGING AGAINST CHINA

A Heritage Foundation study by John J. Tkacik Jr. concludes

Beijing’s behavior in the international arena has moved too far in the wrong direction for anyone to say that China will ever act as a responsible stake­holder without considerable pressure.  Unless Chi­nese leaders believe that their policies will bring serious consequences, they will have no incentive to moderate them.

That American leaders now openly talk of “hedg­ing” China should give their Chinese counterparts pause, but unless the talk of hedging is accompa­nied by action, China will dismiss it as just more bluff and bluster.   If China successfully calls Ameri­can bluff and bluster, its power and influence in Asia will only strengthen, and America’s will dimin­ish.   The predictable result will be a 21st century Asia under China’s sway and Asian democracy sub­ject to China’s gentle protection.

CRISIS IN EUROPE

Bruce Bauer offers a panoramic view of the European immigration crisis through a bibliographic review of recent books and the various positions that they take.    I consider it very valuable.

MUSLIMS' ATTEMPTED MUZZLING OF SPEECH IN MEMPHIS

I found this account of Muslim students at the University of Memphis acting unruly and attempting to disrupt a speech by Brigitte Gabriel, an expert on the Middle East, truly irritating and maddening.  As she writes,

We have grown to expect these things on the major East and West Coast "elite" university campuses that harbor radical professors and anarchist student and radical Muslim community activities.   But not in the heartland where I spoke last week at the University of Memphis. What was shocking was that it occurred in the South, in "Bubbaland" as my friends from the region call it.

Read the article and see what you think.

WHY POLITICIANS LIE, AND WHY WE BELIEVE THEM

David Kupelian of WorldNetDaily explains the power of telling giant falsehoods.

"There's a dark magic in boldly lying, in telling a big lie – repeatedly, with a straight face and with confidence and authority.

"One of the greatest liars of the last century – Adolph Hitler – taught that the bigger the lie, the more believable it was.

"During WWII, the U.S. government's Office of Strategic Services – a precursor to today's CIA – assessed Hitler's methods this way:

"His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."(emphasis added)

"In his 1925 autobiography "Mein Kampf," Hitler – who actually did lie his country into war, and a whole lot more – explained with remarkable insight the fantastic power of lying:

… [I]n the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes. ...

"Hitler's principle is exactly what prominent Democrats, who qualify as some of the "expert liars in this world," are constantly banking on every time they insist the president of the United States lied America into war."

DR. LAURA - HOW TO SURVIVE A BAD CHILDHOOD

Here's an intriguing excerpt (courtesy WorldNetDaily) from Dr. Laura's newest book Bad Childhood---Good Life:  How to Blossom and Thrive in Spite of an Unhappy Childhood.   

Richard Kirk offers an excellent article, "Hating Dr. Laura", which lays out the politically incorrect advice she offers.   Here's most of the article: 

They hate it when she downplays the importance of feelings and places moral obligation on a higher plain than emotion. 

They hate how Dr. Laura badmouths "psychobabble" and demands that callers say what they really mean when they talk about "dealing with" their "issues."

They hate it when Dr. Laura makes people feel bad about doing bad things.  

They hate it when she turns the expectations table and asks dissatisfied female callers, "How would you like to come home to you every day?" – a query inevitably followed by an extended period of silence. 

They hate it when the daily dispenser of hardcore compassion responds to "It's so hard" whiners with the callous retort, "So what?" 

They hate it when Dr. Laura answers "How do I ..." questions with straightforward replies: "How do I get over the pain?" "It takes time." "How do I stop being a complainer?" "Stop complaining." 

They hate Dr. Laura for destroying the illusion that there's an easy way to do difficult things – for not pretending that a pill or a slick technique can undo messes and avoid hurt feelings. 

They hate it when the petulant moralist employs the term "slut" or labels callers "selfish" and tells them to think about others – as if she were qualified to judge someone's "personal value system." 

They hate the fact that Dr. Laura disparages popular ideas about "venting" and "confrontation" – concepts endorsed on TV shows where problems are resolved after shouting matches that last less than five minutes. 

They hate it when she uses the term "shack-up" for relationships where couples don't pledge to stay together "in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live" – as if their unwillingness to publicly express their commitment to each other implies a lack of commitment. 

They hate it when the impertinent shrinklette exclaims, "At least a prostitute gets paid!" 

They hate the fact that Dr. Laura puts the lives of children above the sex lives of adults – and that she has the audacity to suggest staying together for the sake of the kids. 

They hate it when she looks at custody arrangements through the eyes of children and asks parents to imagine how their offspring feel about being shuffled back and forth and "crammed" – not "blended" – into his, hers and ours families. 

They hate that Dr. Laura dismisses the adult-centered excuse, "Kids adapt," and has the gall to say that mothers who don't want to raise their children shouldn't have them. 

They especially hate it when she condenses current legal reasoning on the subject of abortion into a simple, morally indefensible proposition: "If she wants it, it's a baby. If she doesn't, it's not."

They hate when she says "Hoooah" – as if soldiers make the world a better place.

And they hate it when she says, "Do the right thing" – as if most actions aren't gloriously gray. 

Most of all they hate it when, having turned off the radio in disgust, a barely perceptible but persistent voice keeps whispering in their ears: "You know, don't you, that what Dr. Laura just said, is right?"

IRAN - WE HAVE FLINCHED TOO LONG

Mark Steyn, one of the sharpest commentators writing today, offers a City Journal essay on the Iran situation.  His sketch of Iran's modern history vis-a-vis the West reminds us of just how weak and feeble the West has been in its response to this singular threat.   It's a long article, but well worth reading. 

VIETNAM FOR HOMESCHOOL PARENTS (AND OTHERS)

Jonah Goldberg at the Corner of National Review Online received the following e-mail offering guidance to someone looking for help on studying the Vietnam War from a more conservative position.  I think it's worth reproducing.

Jonah,

About two years ago, I did my senior thesis on the conservative approach to Vietnam.  Instead of going to mainstream sources, it almost seemed that I had to relearn everything about Vietnam from the ground (war) up.  There are a few good resources that, if used properly, and if the parent has a good background knowledge of the war from a conservative perspective, could be used to teach kids effectively.

For the parent, I would suggest both Admiral Jeremiah Denton's account of life in the Hanoi Hilton [When Hell Was in Session] , Norman Podhoretz's excellent 1982 book Why We Were in Vietnam (completely conservative perspective, as you well know).   Both of these would familiarize a parent with the conservative interpretation of life in Vietnam and the reasons for going to war, which are the main contentions of liberals.   Most often, in my research, I found that the spin originated from an attempt to whitewash Kennedy's involvement in Vietnam, and to play up the misdeeds of the troops, and the moral superiority of the anti-war crowd.   If either of these is tackled with facts, then the argument collapses.   A good familiarity with Nixonian foreign policy concerning Vietnamization, and a good solid understanding of the Tet Offensive (what many would consider the turning point TOWARD America in the war) would be, at least, a place to start.

I would start with the Eyewitness Books Vietnam War: they have a kid-level run-down of the events, and they'd form enough of a basis for knowledge that a parent could create lesson plans based on the way that the war is broken down in the book.   From there, the old Time-Life books that they used to sell on television (while a little liberal), have really nice photos and maps.   Most bookstores will have photo anthologies of the war on their clearance racks, too.

As much as it pains me to say it, PBS had an excellent documentary series a few years ago that, while it has a decidedly liberal tilt, was incredibly well done, and comprehensive.   It was called Vietnam: a Television History, and it has hours and hours of video that spans from the time the British and French first situated themselves in Vietnam until the last days.   It has one particular episode critiquing the medias role in the anti-war movement that was particularly useful.   For these, PBS has an online resource called Battlefield: Vietnam that has some good outside resources.

Goldberg heard from other homeschooling readers who suggested Michael Medved's tapes.

Ramesh Ponnuru suggests these resources:

When I was in high school, I found books by Guenter Lewy, Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger (I'm thinking of White House Years and Years of Upheaval) helpful in providing an intelligent conservative perspective. A 1985 article by John P. Roche for NR--called, I believe, "The Strange Death of Liberal Anti-Communism"--was also worthwhile. The Irony of Vietnam, by Leslie Gelb and Richard Betts, was not a "conservative book" but was quite interesting. If I were working now on the paper that got me reading those books then, I would probably add Michael Lind and H. R. McMaster to the list.

A reader responded to Ponnuru

Just saw your item on Vietnam books.  I agree that anything written by John Roche, whether from his time in government or after, is worth reading. As something of a Vietnam buff myself, I think the most comprehensive, however revisionist, book I've read on the war is Michael Lind's "Vietnam: The Necessary War." (I assume that's the Lind work you were referring to.) [Correct--RP]   Despite Lind's recent zaniness about George W. Bush and his general haughtiness, his Vietnam book is second to none.

Mackubin Owens offers these ideas: 

In addition to Lewy and Podhoretz and some of the others folks have noted, people ought to read Lewis Sorley's A Better War, Doug Pike's PAVN, and Peter Braestrup's classic on coverage of Vietnam, Big Story.  My friend Gerry Turley has a riveting account of his adventures as an advisor in The Easter Offensive. It is riveting. T he best novel is Jim Webb's Fields of Fire. Mark Moyar, one of a new generation of scholars has written Phoenix and the Birds of Prey, well worth the read.  Jug Burkett's Stolen Valor has taken some heat, but no one that he has accused of being a fraud has been willing to take him to court and testify under oath.

The trouble for people who want good stuff is that all the "clearing houses" for Vietnam are left-wing. Several years ago, I attended a book fair at my son's Catholic school. He was 10 at the time and was interested in military stuff so I was looking to buy him something to read. I found a history of American wars that was written for teenagers, and since he was a pretty good reader, I thought he could handle it. It was fine until it got to Vietnam. Then it simply rehashed the left wing litany of sins and atrocities. My Lai loomed large. I put it back and concluded that the left-wing narrative is too deeply embedded to be rooted out, at least during my lifetime.

OLYMPIC ATHLETES - REPRESENTATIVE OF GENERATION ME?

Curt Smith says "Our young, spoiled, narcissistic, shallow Olympians better not be the best we’ve got."

The 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie yelped "Kids!  What's the matter with kids today?" Back then not much, as a matter of fact.   A lot, evidence suggests, nowadays. Torino's Winter Olympics showed what's the matter with kids: Many are rude, narcissistic, and spoiled to the gills.

The culture is beginning to reap the inevitable consequences of the reigning educational and entertainment  philosophies.

JUGGLING (LITERALLY) TO TEMPO

Chris Bliss juggling to music.  Quite amazing.

FACE-OFF: LIBERAL DENOMINATIONS VS. THE INSTITUTE ON RELIGION AND DEMOCRACY

The Institute on Religion and Democracy does yeoman work in supporting orthodox believers caught in the meshes of a denomination's liberal bureaucracy.  Following is an example of their "Weekly Update" to supporters.

Controversy Over UCC President's "Gettysburg Address" Continues - A few weeks ago, I [Steve Rempe] wrote an article on a speech given by the Rev. John Thomas, President of the United Church of Christ.  Today, an article in the New York Times examines the increasingly incendiary language being used by Thomas toward conservative Christians, both inside and outside of his denomination.  An IRD press release looks deeper at the reasons for Thomas' growing frustration.

- Presbyterian Action Briefing Now Online  - The Winter 2006 issue of Presbyterian Action Briefing is now on the IRD website.   Find out more about the ongoing debate within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on divesting from corporations doing business in Israel.   Other articles examine the secretive nature of the PCUSA's Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy; the February meeting of the General Assembly Council; the continuing loss of membership by the PCUSA; and the false presumption of scrutiny church members have concerning the General Assembly.

THE EVER-PRESENT EUGENICS TEMPTATION

Chuck Colson keeps his eye on the ever-present eugenics temptation. 

". . . what’s being promised is a world where those who are considered “unfit” never are born and, thus, never are a burden on the rest of us.  Whether we admit or not, we still seek the improvement of the “race” by identifying those who carry “undesirable” traits and preventing their births.

What we are doing to babies with Down syndrome, who have been “targeted for elimination” by doctors, governments, and insurance companies, is only the beginning.    The more we learn about the genetic basis of “undesirable” traits, the longer the list of those we “target.”

The only thing standing in the way of this are the same people who stood in the way of the old eugenics: Christians.   As Bruinius [author of Better for All the World] tells us, it was Christians, people like Billy Sunday and William Jennings Bryan, who led the opposition to eugenics in the United States.   And in Britain, it was G. K. Chesterton, the great writer.

If the “new eugenics” is to be stopped, it’s because today’s believers in “divine law” and the “sanctity of human life” are prepared to join this distinguished company.

An excerpt from the book mentioned above, Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and  America's Quest for Racial Purity can be found here.    Chuck Colson's article links to a good Bible study, (actually a sample sermon on biotechnology) titled "Image is Everything."   It explores the significance and the ramifications of Genesis 1:26-31 and Luke 1:26-38 and is very excellent.

PRINCETON'S LGBT PANEL DISCUSSES "THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S OBSESSION WITH GAY SEX"

A warning:  don't look to universities (and particularly LGBT organizations) to provide even-handed treatment of "hot topics".   Two days ago there appeared in The Daily Princetonian a thoughtful guest column critiquing a recent panel discussion at Princeton with the above-mentioned title.    Hmmm...  No bias evident in that title, is there?   Well, in addition to problems with the title, the student writing the column noted the failure of organizers to invite a conservative Christian to participate on the panel.   He offers many other constructive criticisms as well.   Max Pakaluk at Phi Beta Cons dryly observes:

Universities which are normally so reluctant to give their students any sort of moral formation are quite clear when it comes to this issue.

THE DEATH OF HUMANISM AND THE DEATH OF MANKIND

I think Gene Veith's post (below) extremely important.   As Humanism deconstructs, it is Christians who will be left virtually alone to advocate the dignity of humankind.

The End of Humanism

Remember how humanism used to compete with Christianity? How "secular humanism" exalted human beings and made deities out of us? Well, you can hardly find that particular religion anymore. Postmodernists routinely ridicule humanism, deconstructing the notion that human beings are all that great, or capable, or valuable.

Now we have Professor Eric Pianka of the University of Texas-Arlington telling the Texas Academy of Science--to a standing ovation--that "we're no better than bacteria" and calling for the use of the Ebola virus to exterminate 90% of the world's population, so as to save the planet.

This sort of thinking is not all that rare on college campuses.  Certainly the animal rights activists, ethicist Peter Singer, and others, in insisting that human beings are no different at all from animals and that animals in some ways should be privileged over human life, are, literally, anti-humanist.   Humanists, of course, having rejected the Christian underpinnings for human rights and the value of human life, had no basis for their assertions, and now their philosophy is in shambles.   Notice again, as I keep saying and demonstrating in my book "Modern Fascism," postmodernism, by contrast, provides the underpinnings for totalitarianism, brutality, and holocaust.   In the meantime, it will be up to Christians to be the advocates for human life and dignity.   Now that "secular humanism" is being exterminated, we can rehabilitate an old Reformation term and cultivate a "Christian humanism."

I regard Gene Veith's book mentioned above, Modern Fascism:   Liquidating the Judeo-Christian Worldview, as one of the more important books I have read in the past several years.

HT: Smart Christian

A MUSLIM REFORMIST'S STRONG CRITIQUE OF ISLAMIC HISTORY AND BEHAVIOR

The views of Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar, a Muslim reformist, are worthy of careful study.  He makes many points that rarely get appropriately discussed.  A sample:

Anyone who studies Islamic history discovers that Islam was tolerant only during the Mecca period, when it was weak.   This is the period in which the tolerant verses were revealed, such as the verses... 'You have your religion and I have my religion [Koran 109:6]' and 'Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly preaching, and reason with them in the best ways [16:125].'...

"Later, the Prophet emigrated to the city of Al-Medina, and the first Koranic sura revealed to him there - the sura of Al-Baqara - starts with a rejection of the other... Later [verses] call to fight anyone who does not convert to Islam: 'And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out [2:191]'... Subsequently, the sura of Al-Tawba was revealed, and the 'verse of the sword': 'So when the sacred months have passed, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush [9:5]'... The 'verse of the sword' and all the [other] warlike verses of the Al-Medina period were revealed later than the verses of the Mecca period, and as the newer verses, they [come to] replace the Mecca verses. According to the religious scholars, the 'verse of the sword' abrogates at least 120 tolerant verses. So where is the tolerant side of Islam?...

"If we put aside the theoretical statements of the Koran and the hadith, and examine the actions of the Prophet and his companions... will we find anything that can be regarded as tolerance and acceptance of the other?   The Prophet, after all, drove the Jews out of the Arab peninsula and made raids on the Arab tribes so that they would convert out of fear.

There is much more in this article that needs to be read and studied.   I'll need to content myself with only one more quote. 

"How can we call for co-existence between religions when the religious scholars of Al-Azhar, Najaf, and Qom say every day that the Bible and the New Testament are falsified, that Christians are polytheists because they worship the Trinity, and that Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs? [When] every Friday, the [Muslim] worshipers call upon Allah to eradicate the Jews. . . .

ACADEMIC LIES ABOUT ISLAM AND KILLING APOSTATES

Robert Spencer, the authority on Islam whom I have quoted before,  notes that 

The Abdul Rahman case in Afghanistan has given rise to a spate of articles in the Western press, assuring Westerners that Muslims do not actually kill or want to kill apostates.  While these may be reassuring to non-Muslims, many of them have been downright misleading about the real status of the death penalty for apostasy in the Islamic world.

He proceeds to analyze and deconstruct the arguments of M. Cherif Bassiouni, a professor of Law at DePaul University and President of the International Human Rights Law Institute.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21943

"GLADIATOR, AMERICAN STYLE" - GREAT VIDEO

For a powerful expression of what we owe our service men and women for "Operation Enduring Freedom" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom," see this remarkable short video:  "Gladiator, American Style."

PRAGER ON BEHAVIOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEFTISTS AND CONSERVATIVES

Dennis Prager, my favorite Jewish commentator, regularlycomes through with insightful observations.    In this article  he asks the questions, "who hates whom more, leftists or conservatives?"   To read the questions is to know the answer: 

1. During the 2004 elections, which car was more likely to be "keyed," i.e., deliberately scratched -- a car with a "John Kerry" bumper sticker in an overwhelmingly conservative area, or a car with a "George W. Bush" sticker in an overwhelmingly liberal area?

2. When speaking at colleges, do right-wing or left-wing speakers need and receive police protection?

3. In a debate between a right-wing and a left-wing speaker before an audience equally divided between left and right, which audience group is more likely to boo and hiss at the speaker with whom it disagrees -- the liberal or the conservative?

Prager offers an explanation:

There are a few reasons for this discrepancy.  One is that the more left one goes, the more one is likely to encounter people who substitute "social justice" for personal morality.  Another is that in the eyes of most leftists, people who oppose their "progressive" views on the environment, the war and taxes are such morally inferior people that they are not owed decent behavior.

There's more.  Read the whole article.

KATIE COURIC AND MEREDITH VIEIRA - MORE MEDIA BIAS - SIGH...

I wonder if it is worth while to post this Cal Thomas article citing the leftward bias of the media.   After all, how many articles and citations are necessary to get the point across?   Well, for those interested, here are a few more.   The Media Research Center reports that

Meredith Vieira, the replacement for Katie Couric at Today, marched in an anti-war protest in 2004 and has said of the Iraq war: “Everything’s  been built on lies.   Everything! I mean the entire pre-text for war.

A video of Meredith Vieira's statement can be viewed here.   More here.    The MRC catalogs Katie Couric's statements here.   

UPDATE:   4/10/06 Time Graham offers more on Katie Couric.

POLL: MOST DON'T BELIEVE IN BODY'S RESURRECTION

According to a news report of a Scripps-Howard/Ohio University Poll, most Americans don't believe they will experience a resurrection of their bodies when they die.   

Only 36 percent of the 1,007 adults interviewed a month ago by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University said "yes" to the question: "Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?" Fifty-four percent said they do not believe and 10 percent were undecided.

"This reflects the very low state of doctrinal preaching in our churches," said Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and editor of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology.

I totally agree with Dr. Mohler.  This is tragic.  The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of the gospel proclamation.   Because of Christ's resurrection, we too shall be resurrected.  Christ is the first fruits of that future resurrection of believers (I Corinthians 15:20-23; indeed, all of I Corinthians.)  Churches today evangelize in terms of accepting Christ and going to "heaven."   This formulation  fails to do justice to the  Biblical revelation.   Many people have a sense of heaven as some sort of disembodied "spiritual" existence without reference to the resurrection of the body.   I definitely want to revisit this subject at some future time and discuss it at some length.

I should note that the article goes on to say:

Fifty-nine percent of people who profess a "born again" faith, one of the hallmarks of evangelical Protestantism, said they believe in personal resurrection, the highest level of belief among any group in the poll.

That's a bit more reassuring but still far too low a percentage.  (The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.)

A LEADERSHIP COURSE I WISH HAD EXISTED YEARS AGO

A publication came my way recently that mentioned  The Leadership Matters Course.   This course for Christian mission leaders looks absolutely wonderful.  I wish such a course had been available to me years ago.   The two week course is given in various locations around the world.

The Leadership Matters Course is structured to be presented in a training mode rather than a lecture mode. ‘Training’ in the ITA context is focused on developing skills, and doing it in such a practiced way that the trainees will remember the principles taught. They will remember far more because they have had opportunity to actually practice the new skill, or apply the new insight, rather than only having a record of it in a handbook.

DADA EXHIBIT AT NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Chuck Colson at "Breakpoint" weighs in with comments  about the current Dada exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  In addition to his commentary, I appreciated the links at the end of the article and the reference to a number of books I hadn't known about, including some on Christians and the arts.

50 TOP WEB DOMAINS

This is of some interest.  The Washington Post  lists the 50 top web domains as of the end of February, 2006.   Heading the list is Yahoo.com, followed by Google.com, msn.com, aol.com, ebay.com, microsoft.com, passport.com, mapquest.com, hotmail.com, and myspace.com.   Check the link for all 50 domains.  There might be some surprises.  I found some I had not heard of before.  The accompanying Washington Post article can be found here.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER ABDUL RAHMANS OF THE WORLD?

Paul Marshall, expert Muslim analyst, writes about  the deaths of many Muslim apostates  throughout the Islamic world.   He concludes:

Abdul Rahman's plight is merely the tip of the iceberg.   Like the violence over the Danish cartoons of Muhammad, or the Ayatollah Khomeini's demand that Salman Rushdie be killed for blasphemy, it reveals a systematic, worldwide attempt by Islamists to imprison, kill, or otherwise silence anyone who challenges their ideology.

We need to go beyond the individual case of Abdul Rahman and push for genuine religious freedom throughout the Muslim world.   Especially we need to push for the elimination of laws against apostasy, blasphemy, heresy, and "insulting Islam."   They seek to place dominant, reactionary interpretations of Islam beyond all criticism.   Thus--since politics and religion are intertwined--they seek to make political freedom impossible.

INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL PIPES ON IRAQ

An insightful interview with Middle East Scholar Daniel Pipes can be found here.      One small excerpt: 

Q: Is there anything major that the Bush administration should do now to make things go smoother?
A: We did something good in getting rid of the Taliban and getting rid of Saddam Hussein.   That is really the extent of our role, to get rid of the hideous totalitarian regimes.  Let me add that I see these issues as basically sidelines.   We are engaged in a war, a profound war and long-term war, in which Afghanistan and Iraq are sideshows.   The real issue is the war that radical Islam, a global phenomenon, has declared on us and that has already been underway for many years, and we're still at the beginning of it.   That's the really major issue.

Pipes' critique in this interview of what the U.S. has done right and wrong is worth reading.   His views are  a bit unique.

MEDIA WAR ON CHRISTIANS: REAL OR IMAGINED?

Don Feder reports on the way the mainstream media treated the recent "War on Christians" conference.  Of this conference he says, "It was the first to address escalating attacks on Christians from Hollywood, the news media, academia, the courts, and activist groups like the ACLU and Anti-Defamation League."

After illustrating the way the mainstream media sought to trivialize and marginalize the conference, Feder produces a litany of points illustrating the hostility with which the media and elite opinion views Christians.  His conclusion:    "The war on Christians is real.   So too is the media’s thoroughly biased coverage of same." 

Feder sets the record straight.  It  would be laudable if elite opinion makers went to the trouble to try and absorb what he is saying.

DALAI LAMA OBSERVES AMERICAN ODDITIES

I have many theological disagreements with the Dalai Lama (to put it mildly), but he shows himself a shrewd observer of the West's ironies with the following comment.

It is fascinating.   In the West, you have bigger homes, yet smaller families;  you have endless conveniences -- yet you never seem to have any time.  You can travel anywhere in the world, yet you don't bother to cross the road to meet your neighbours," he said.

HT:  Drudge Report