Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

Bedbug Epidemic Attacks New York City

Pretty amazing!  Story here.   (HT: Drudge)

Is Fred Thompson the Most Thoughtful of the Republican Presidential Candidates?

I have been slowly coming to that conclusion.  Fred Thompson's closing YouTube message to the people of Iowa reinforces that persuasion.  He offers substance and consistency and thoughtfulness that I find impressive. Peter Robinson at The Corner says the following (my underlining):

While the other contenders are frantically saturating the Iowa airwaves with 30- and 60-second attack ads—Romney is guiltiest, if only because he’s richest—Thompson has sat himself down, looked into a camera, and spoken for a quarter of an hour, calmly and straightforwardly making his case.  I myself find this impressive—in a way, moving.  Thompson seems to have stepped out of the eighteenth century.  He trusts voters to think.  And if the comments on YouTube are at all representative, plenty of people agree.

Me:  Positively, I am impressed with Thompson.  Negatively, I don't feel happy about  rich people (e.g. Romney) totally outspending  every other candidate and blanketing a state with unending TV ads.

More "Merry Christmas" Greetings This Year?

Carol Iannone reports:

This year the "Merry Christmas" salutations and farewells were more numerous than ever.  A few years ago, it seemed, even in Christian churches and among Christians, a "Merry Christmas" might be met with embarrassment or disapproval, because if a non-Christian happened to be passing by, he might feel excluded.  But this year I gave many Merry Christmases and received even more, even in the supermarket and at the newsstands, and even from clearly non-Christian folks!  This is how it should be.  It spreads holiday cheer to all.  And it shows what a little pushing back against multi-culti and PC can do.

Me:  My experience tallies with Carol's, I am glad to say.

Quick Takes

I hope to read these articles carefully sometime soon:

Mary Eberstadt - How the West Lost God

Joel Achenbach - What Makes Up My Mind?

(HT: Chuck Colson: A Rational Belief)

Benazir Bhutto: Killed by the Real Pakistan

Andrew C. McCarthy exhibits clear thinking on Pakistan, even if it be sad and unsettling to accept.  Some excerpts:

A recent CNN poll showed that 46 percent of Pakistanis approve of Osama bin Laden. . . .

McCarthy contrasts the Pakistan of our fantasy with the real Pakistan.

The real Pakistan is a breeding ground of Islamic holy war where, for about half the population, the only thing more intolerable than Western democracy is the prospect of a faux democracy led by a woman . . . .

The real Pakistan is a place where the intelligence services are salted with Islamic fundamentalists: jihadist sympathizers. . .

The real Pakistan is a place where the military, ineffective and half-hearted though it is in combating Islamic terror, is the

Heroine of Freedom: Interview with Syrian-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan, Outspoken Critic of Islamic Extremism

I found this Frontpage interview with Wafa Sultan (described as "a Syrian-American psychologist and internationally known critic of militant Islam") well worth noting.  Major quote:

FP: What is the appropriate response to the threat of Islamic totalitarianism?

Sultan: First, the west must recognize that Islam is viewed by the majority of devout Muslims not merely as a religion but also as a political ideology of domination. Therefore it should not be treated by the west as a religion only. I have been told numerous times by the Muslim community where I live, that they are here to spread Islam and replace the American Constitution with the Islamic Sharia. One member flatly told me; “wait and see that America will soon collapse.” This is precisely why when 9/11 happened I was shocked but not at least surprised.

More of the interview below (emphases mine): 

Sultan: . . . I was a faithful Muslim up to the moment I witnessed the killing of my teacher. That moment heavily traumatized me and I began to dive deeply into the Islamic texts to figure out what is the nature of G-d I have been worshiping. However, I was not able to freely express my thoughts, until I

Palestinian Economic Collapse Would Create Ultimate Betterment For Palestinians

Daniel Pipes has written another fascinating article, "The Benefits of Palestinian Economic Collapse."  Why are Palestinians suffering so much when so much economic aid hs been sent their way?  Read Pipes' article.  Be shocked.  And Enlightened. 

Western financial aid to the Palestinians has, I showed last week, the perverse and counterintuitive effect of increasing their rate of homicides, including terrorist ones. This week, I offer two pieces of perhaps even stranger news about the many billions of dollars and record-shattering per-capita donations from the West: First, these have rendered the Palestinians poorer. Second, Palestinian impoverishment is a long-term positive development.

Authors and Publishing People List Their 3 Favorite Books Read in 2007

From John J. MIller at The Corner:

David J. Montgomery, who blogs at Crime Fiction Dossier, has been asking mystery and thriller writers to name their favorite books of the year. It's a book browser's nirvana.

Me: Yep, it's a pretty amazing list of books, all right.  A huge variety.  Note: the favorite books are not necessarily crime fiction.

Barack Obama and Islam

Update 1/7/08 - Daniel Pipes updates his article, demonstrating it's accuracy against Media Matters for America objections.

- Daniel Pipes makes interesting and well-informed observations.

If I were a Muslim I would let you know,” Barack Obama has said, and I believe him. In fact, he is a practicing Christian, a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ. He is not now a Muslim.

But was he ever a Muslim or seen by others as a Muslim? More precisely, might Muslims consider him a murtadd (apostate), that is, a Muslim who converted to another religion and, therefore, someone whose blood may be shed?  . . .

“I’ve always been a Christian,” said Obama, focusing on his own personal lack of practice of Islam as a child to deny any connection to Islam. But Muslims do not see practice as key. For them, that he was born to a line of Muslim males makes him born a Muslim. Further, all children born with an Arabic name based on the H-S-N trilateral root (Hussein, Hassan, and others) can be assumed to be Muslim, so they will understand Obama’s full name, Barack Hussein Obama, to proclaim him a born Muslim.

DVD: Into Great Silence

Thomas Hibbs comments on a countercultural DVD, Into Great silence, which brings one into the depths of monastic life.  Of the DVD, Hibbs says:

N ietzsche once trenchantly quipped that “...our modern noisy, time-consuming industriousness, proud of itself, stupidly proud, educates and prepares people more than anything else does, precisely for unbelief.”The truth in that statement is perhaps never more on display than during the Christmas season. . . .   Those in search of an antidote might consider watching the newly released DVD Into Great Silence, Philip Groening’s movingly observed study of the daily lives of Carthusian monks at La Grande Chartreuse, founded in the French Alps in 1084.

A prize winner at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, the film has received universal acclaim for its minimalist style, its cinematography and especially its attentiveness to the spiritual dimension of existence to which the Carthusian life aspires. Given that contemporary entertainment fosters an attention deficit in all of us and that the film makes no effort to provide even the scaffolding of a plot, this is not, initially at least, an easy film to watch. But as it unfolds, the virtue of taking one’s time becomes evident. The virtue is most profoundly captured in one of the texts interspersed through the film: “Behold the silence that allows the Lord to speak a word in us: That He is.”  (more .  .)

Divorce Takes a Toll on the Environment

Update 12/29/07 - See Theodore Dalrymple's comment at the end of this post.
--
Reporting on a Michigan State Study, a Breakpoint article summarizes:

Researchers there found that divorce “exacts a serious toll on the environment.” How? It boosts “the energy and water consumption of those who used to live together.”

Why this should be the case is not hard to understand: Divorce turns what used to be one household into two. The efficient use of resources, including money, that comes naturally to families living under the same roof no longer applies. In its place are two of just about everything. The researchers calculated that, as the result of divorce, an additional 38 million rooms had to be heated and lighted. 

The impact of this divorce-induced consumption is not trivial, they say. The researchers calculated that if divorced couples had stayed married, the “United States would have saved 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 627 BILLION gallons of water”—and that’s in 2005 alone.

Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed "Man-Made Global Warming" Claims in 2007

From the U.S. Senate report.  More here.  (HT: Drudge)

Study Links Abortion and Preemies

This article is notable not only for what it says, but for the fact that Time magazine has published it.  Normally very little that is negative toward abortion makes it into the mainstream press. 

China's New Best-Seller: The Bible

Time magazine has the story.   Excerpt:

. . . But in the face of China's larger restrictions on religion, some overseas aid groups say, a boom in Bible production doesn't mean much. "It reflects the rapid growth of the number of Christians in China," says Bob Fu, who runs the U.S.-based China Aid Association, an advocacy group for mainland Christians. "But I don't see that can be a sign of increasing religious freedom." Several Chinese have recently been arrested for illegally bringing Bibles into the country, Fu points out. On Nov. 28, police raided the house of Beijing bookstore owner Shi Weihan, confiscating Bibles and other

Record Low Temperatures Being Set All Over the World

David Deming of the Washington Times reports a year of global cooling.  (HT: Drudge)

Peter Robinson Calls this Huckabee Ad "Incomparably the Finest Ad of the Season"

Click here.   Read on for the context of Peter Robinson's comment.

Trying to figure out what's going on in the Hawkeye state, I spent a few moments just now looking over Huckabee's campaign videos on YouTube. Without exception, they're brilliant—brilliant. In the ads in which he himself appears, Huckabee is engaging, warm, relaxed, and persuasive; the best I can recall since the Gipper himself. And the "surrogate" or "third-party" ads are almost as good. The "Switch to Huckabee" series adopts the lightness and cleverness of recent Apple ads; they're arresting, funny, hip. (That's right. An ad about a Baptist preacher is hip.) And the ad entitled "It's a Whole New Race" manages to be amusing and devastating all at once. Incomparably the finest ad of the season, "It's a Whole New Race" amounts to something a lot like a work of political genius.

Huckabee has also produced what some call the "Floating Cross Christmas Message" ad.  Ron Paul doesn't like it, and quotes Sinclair Lewis,  "When fascism comes it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying

Cultural Conservatism as a Defensive Necessity

I think this e-mail sent to Mark Steyn at the Corner makes an important point:

Social conservatism is mostly defensive, protecting against others who are trying to use the government to control us according to their cultural opinions.

The reality is that in many cases the government must make a decision, like on which textbooks to buy and how to spend money. That means that cultural pacifism means letting the other side make the decision, and if they want, (ab)use the government to hurt us in the name of political correctness.

David Brooks Has Positive Things to Say About Barack Obama's "Inner Self"

Click here.

Two Homosexual Men "Produce" a Newborn Baby

With modern technology and some female help.  Check the Los Angeles Times' article and the following Family Research Council commentary:

It's not just the definition of marriage that is being attacked by the homosexual movement--it's also the definition of parenthood and of family itself. This was literally brought home today by an article in the Los Angeles Times regarding two homosexual men who wanted to have a child together. They bought an egg from one woman, rented the womb of another, and mixed their sperm so that they wouldn't know which of them is the biological father. After "a four-year journey that involved three egg retrievals, 65 eggs, seven fertilization attempts, three surrogates and more than $200,000 in

Seasons Greetings to Republicans and Democrats (Humor)

From a friend's E-mail:

To My Republican Friends: 
 
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

To All My Democrat Friends:
 
Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

Vishal Mangalwadi - "Can the Words of Men Be the Words of God?"

This article constitutes Appendix I of Vishal Mangalwadi's forthcoming book, Must the Sun Set on the West? An Indian Explores the Soul of Western Civilization.  Mangalwadi is an unusually creative and original Indian Christian thinker from whose works I have benefited greatly.  He is also making available an 11-part audio CD lecture series delivered this past fall at the University of Minnesota titled, "Must the Sun set on the West? 

McCain's Negatives

This morning Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) endorsed John McCain for President of the United States.  So did the Manchester (NH) Union Leader.

McCain has many virtues. Mark Levin lists his negatives:    (Update: Drew Cline of the Union Leader responds to Levin's critique at the end of this post; Further update 12/18/07 - Andy McCarthy responds to Drew Cline, and so does Mark Levin)

In sum, John McCain has been weak on homeland security, joining with numerous liberal Democrats to argue for closing Guantanamo Bay, applying the Geneva Conventions to unlawful enemy combatants, extending certain constitutional rights to detainees, limiting tried and true interrogation techniques, and conferring amnesty on illegal aliens (which would include OTMs; that fact that Bush supported the same thing is no defense).  He aggressively opposed the Bush tax cuts, even after they were scaled back.  He is behind the McCain-Lieberman Stewardship Act, which is a

How To Track Down Anyone Online

From Lifehacker.com   Click here.  Another site has still more ideas.  I stumbled upon both at popurls, quite an interesting collection of popular articles, photos, and videos.

Reports of the Demise of Social Conservatism are Greatly Exaggerated

Jeff Bell of the Weekly Standard does an excellent job sketching the history of social conservatism and its continuing vitality. Click here.  [Update: 12/17/07 As indicated below, I added a paragraph from this article to the post.] 

A quote from his article:

The striking thing about the history of the left is its singleness of vision amid a breathtaking variety of means. [He offers a list].The goal of the left is the liberation of mankind from traditional institutions and codes of behavior, especially moral codes. It seeks a restoration (or achievement) of a state of nature, one of absolute individual liberty--universal happiness without the need for laws.

The proposed political way stations chosen by the left in its drive toward this vision have varied greatly. To name a few: abolition of private property (socialism); prohibition of Christianity and/or propagation by the political elite of a new civil religion to replace it; confiscatory taxation, especially at death; regulation of political speech to limit the ability of certain individuals or classes to affect politics; the takeover of education to instill new values and moral habits in the population; confiscation of privately held firearms; gradual phasing out of the nation-state; displacement of the traditional family in favor of child-rearing by an enlightened governmental elite; and the inversion of sexual morality to elevate recreational sex and reduce the prestige of procreative sex. This is, it must be emphasized, a partial list.   . . . [I added this paragraph after the initial post].

His concluding paragraph:

Put aside the stereotypes. Whatever its virtues or flaws, social conservatism isn't going away. It is not, and never was, the crazy aunt in the attic. It continues to be the essential building block of Republican presidential majorities.

This article makes a significant contribution towards understanding our current cultural situation.

Ellen Goodman's Columns Need Regular Fact Checking

Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review notes:

Mark Steyn: Freedom of Speech vs. "Human Rights Commissions"

Mark Steyn notes:

If you want to know the difference between a country with a First Amendment and a country with "Human Rights Commissions", here it is:

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission's decision to impose a 'lifetime' ban on a local Catholic's freedom to publicly criticise homosexuality, was upheld this week in its entirety by Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench.

Analyzing How Religion in the News Gets Reported: GetReligion.org is indispensable

Religion is in the news Big Time these days - Shootings at YWAM and New Life Church in Colorado, Romney & Mormonism & Huckabee, Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas, etc. etc.  I am indebted to a friend for reminding me that the place to go to sort out coverage of religion in the news is GetReligion.org   It's a terrific site where experienced journalists analyze how religion stories are being covered.  Example (from GetReligion writer Terry Mattingly):

When it comes to covering the Youth With A Mission shootings, journalists in the mainstream media are still searching for a template to use.

What’s a template? It’s a pattern, an intellectual road map, a set of guiding principles for coverage based on years of experience and previous coverage (especially the coverage in major newsrooms that set the standards for other journalists across the nation).

For example: Let’s say that a heavily armed conservative Christian guns down some worshippers in a congregation affiliated with the pro-gay Metropolitan Community Church after days or weeks of spewing violent, anti-gay language on the Internet. This fits the “hate crime” template.

A white racist blows up a predominantly African-American church. This fits the racism and “hate crime” template.

A Christian attacks a local mosque. Hate crime. A Muslim attacks a local synagogue. This act is transfered over to a more complex template linked to terrorism. It is not simply a hate crime.

If ex-gay activists disrupted a same-sex union in an Episcopal parish, that would be a hate crime. If gay-rights activists disrupt a Mass in a Catholic parish, that fits into a civil-rights protest template. It is not a hate crime.

In the case of the late Matthew Murray, journalists are trying to figure out the nature of the “health issues” and/or convictions that kept driving him out of conservative Christian organizations. The current Associated Press report — click here for a version via Newsweek — is a good way to sample what is going on.   (more . . .)

This has become a "must read" website for me.

Can We Make Boys and Girls Alike?

Stanley Kurtz answers the question.

Businessmen Don't Necessarily Make Good Presidents

Or, put differently, you don't have to be a good businessman to be a good president.  Peter Robinson, of the National Review, dissents from NR's endorsement of Mitt Romney saying:

This just in from Andy Ferguson, mainstay of The Weekly Standard and the author of one of the best books of 2007, Land of Lincoln:  Adventures in Abe's America (if you have yet to read Land of Lincoln, be sure to buy a copy for your stocking):

Lincoln was a terrible manager and businessman who had at least two enterprises go bankrupt underneath him, probably three. There are several pages on the subject in…"Land of Lincoln."…[See] pages 172 - 174.

The idea that the dispositions and skills that make a man successful in business and money-making are somehow identical to, or even compatible with, the gifts that make a great democratic leader is simply preposterous. Would Ross Perot have been a good leader, or Henry Ford? Anyone who thinks this knows nothing of human nature, democratic politics, or corporate management. In my opinion.

"National Review" Taken to Task for Endorsing Romney

Joe Carter (of the Huckabee campaign) says:                                                 

Has National Review jumped the shark?

I don’t mean to be glib or facetious in raising the question for I love the magazine dearly. NR was a formative influence on my political philosophy and continues to shape my thinking. It introduced me to conservative ideas, policies, statesmen, and writers. Indeed, three of my favorite conservatives—Ramesh Ponnuru, Ross Douthat, and Byron York—still write for the august publication.

But over the past few years (at least that is the time that I began noticing) there has been a shift to what I call "Manhattan Conservatism." Because almost all of the NR staff lives and works in New York City, their concerns and values tend to reflect a NYC/DC-centric urban cosmopolitism. They've adopted a watered-down form of big-tent fusionism in which embracing any non-liberal ideas are enough to earn you the label of "conservative" (a Manhattan Conservative can have the same views on abortion and gay marriage as the liberal intelligentsia so long as they embrace supply-side

Has National Review jumped the shark?

I don’t mean to be glib or facetious in raising the question for I love the magazine dearly. NR was a formative influence on my political philosophy and continues to shape my thinking. It introduced me to conservative ideas, policies, statesmen, and writers. Indeed, three of my favorite conservatives—Ramesh Ponnuru, Ross Douthat, and Byron York—still write for the august publication.

But over the past few years (at least that is the time that I began noticing) there has been a shift to what I call "Manhattan Conservatism." Because almost all of the NR staff lives and works in New York City, their concerns and values tend to reflect a NYC/DC-centric urban cosmopolitism. They've adopted a watered-down form of big-tent fusionism in which embracing any non-liberal ideas are enough to earn you the label of "conservative" (a Manhattan Conservative can have the same views on abortion and gay marriage as the liberal intelligentsia so long as they embrace supply-side

9 Democrats Vote "No" on House Resolution Marking Christmas

Unbelievable!  And especially since there were no "No" votes marking Muslim and Hindu holidays.  Michelle Malkin reports (my emphases):

Congressman Steve King reacted this morning to the nine “NO” votes on his resolution to honor Christmas and the Christian faith. The vote shocked Capitol Hill observers because votes on similar resolutions honoring the holidays of Islam and Hinduism passed without any NO votes.

Appearing this morning on the Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends, King said, “The [nine] naysayers didn’t make it to the floor to debate. I would like to know how they could vote Yes on Islam, Yes on the Indian Religions and No on Christianity when the foundation of this nation and our American culture is Christianity…I think there’s an assault on Christianity in America.”

YouTube video here.

The Council on American-Muslim Relations (CAIR) Has Published a Media Spin Guide

Robert Spencer takes a closer look and speaks truth to propaganda.

Kenneth Timmerman's New Book: "Shadow Warriors"

Pretty shocking stuff.  Shadow Warriors carries the subtitle, "The Untold Story of Traitors, Saboteurs, and the Party of Surrender."  This Frontpagemag interview with Timmerman spells out the

vast, underground network of government officials, former intelligence officers, members of Congress and their staffs, who were in bed with a complacent, anti-Bush media. They were eager to publish anything that did damage to this president, even if it put the lives of our intelligence officers or of our front-line troops in jeopardy.

ME: If you've ever wondered about the State Department's unconscionable revolt against the administration, it looks like Timmerman's book will serve as an important resource.  He covers a lot of other ground also.  Read the interview.

270 Christian Leaders Arrested in Shandong Province China

The Family Research Council links to the story:

Linyi (AsiaNews) – Police in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong have arrested 270 Protestant pastors from house Churches for taking part in an “illegal religious gathering” in the district of Hedeng near the city of Linyi. At present about 150 Christians are still in a state prison, this according to a US-based NGO, the China Aid Association (CAA), which lobbies for freedom of worship in China.

The arrests took place last Friday at around 1.30 pm local time. The Protestant clergymen had met to study the Bible when about 50 policemen from 12 different towns stormed the meeting place, blindfolded and handcuffed them two-by-two, and then taken them to a local police station for questioning.

According to Reverend Li, an eyewitness, the raid was “violence and swift.” Police arrived in armoured trucks and prevented anyone from leaving the area. About 120 Christians were eventually released after paying 300 yuan (US$ 40) as an “interrogation tax.”

Beijing allows evangelical Christianity to exist in China but only within the Three Self-Patriotic Movement, an organisation set up in 1950 soon after Mao’s

Saving the Planet by Not having Children

Yesterday I blogged about the professor who advocates a baby tax to save the planet (by reducing births).  Today Chuck Colson writes about young people choosing self-sterilization as an environmental statement.  (Uuderlining that follows is mine.)

A recent story in the U.K.’s Daily Mail told readers about British women who refuse to have children because children are not “eco friendly.”

One of these women, Toni, works for an environmental group. She said that she “shudders with horror” at the thought of a “little hand slipping into hers—and a voice calling her Mummy.”

The “shudder” is caused by the thought of the child’s environmental impact. As Dave Barry likes to say, “I am not making this up.” I wish I were.

So, when Toni learned she was pregnant 10 years ago, she quickly had an abortion to “protect the planet.” Then, to make sure that such a “mistake” could not happen again, she had herself sterilized at age 27. 

What did the child’s father think about all this? He sent her a “congratulations card” and later married her. Apparently, he agrees that “having children is selfish. It’s all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet . . . ”

Edward Said, Fabricator and Plagiarist

Michael Rubin posts the following:

Edward Said remains the subject of hero-worship throughout much of the academy. He is often quoted approvingly by students and professors whether they have read him or not.  Most everyone that cites Said's  Orientalism is unaware of his methodology or his cherry-picked sample (he ignored Russian and German work, even though Russian and German scholars account for perhaps 90-percent of Orientalist scholarship in the time periods he examined).   Fabricating facts and plagiarism are only one part of Said's legacy, however.  Efraim Karsh and Rory Miller provide a useful review of Said's record and legacy, here.

More on "The Golden Compass" Movie

Update 12/13/07 - Don Feder has observations worth reading, even if one has read all the other posts on "The Golden Compass" I have put on this blog.

**
Although I have blogged before on the "Golden Compass" movie, I think Archbishop Chaput's recent comments deserve coverage.  Chaput is head of the Catholic Archdiocese in Denver. He writes (my underlining):

The aggressively anti-religious, anti-Christian undercurrent in “The Golden   Compass” is unmistakable and at times undisguised. The wicked Mrs. Coulter alludes approvingly to a fictional version of the doctrine of Original Sin. When a warrior Ice Bear — one of the heroes of the story — breaks into the local Magisterium   headquarters to take back the armor stolen from him, the exterior walls of the evil building are covered with Eastern Christian icons. And for Catholics in our own world, of course, “Magisterium” refers to the teaching authority of   the Church — hardly a literary coincidence. The idea that any Christian film critics could overlook or downplay these negative elements, as some have seemed to do, is simply baffling.

Strangest of all — and in striking contrast to the Harry Potter and Narnia   stories — is the absence of joy or any real laughter in the movie. The talented   child actress who plays the film’s leading role is hobbled by a character that is uniformly unpleasant, rebellious, belligerent and humorless; the kind of   young person described by one of my parent friends as needing a “long time-out.”

Read his entire review.  It's not long.  (HT: Hugh Hewitt) 

Canada: Father Killed Daughter for Not Wearing Hijab

Update 12/13/07 - Mark Steyn notes the Canadian news reporting evasions and contortions to avoid saying anything negative about Islam in reporting the story.  He concludes:

Honor killings" were something we assumed took place on the fringes of the map - the Pakistani tribal lands, Yemen, Jordan. They now happen in the heart of western cities, and western feminist groups are silent, and western media rush to excuse it as just one of those things, couldda happened to anybody. The underlying message the press coverage communicates is horrible and heartless: the murder of Aqsa Parvez is an acceptable price to pay for cultural diversity.

**
Story here.  (HT: Drudge)

Friends and classmates of a 16-year-old girl who police say was murdered by her devout Muslim father in a Toronto suburb told local media Tuesday she was killed for not wearing a hijab.

Police said in a statement they received an emergency call at 7:55 am local time Monday from "a man who indicated that he had just killed his daughter."  (more . .)

Saudis Give Big to U.S. colleges

To further their agenda.

Video Press Conference with Jeanne Assam, Heroine of Colorado Shootings

This website from the CBS4 Denver carries the video press coverage.  I am not sure how long it will be up. 

Update: This YouTube post uses a different camera angle.  It is superior to the CBS4 video.

Unsettling News: Unmarried Birth Rates in the U.S.

John Derbyshire cites statistics:

The National Vital Statistics Report for 2006 came out last week, with some dismaying demographic data. "Percentage of births to unmarried women" (Table 1) was 38.5 percent nationwide, up 1.6 percent from 2005.

For Hispanics the number was 49.9 percent, up 1.9 percent. This confirms the suspicion, widely voiced among immigration-restrictionists, that Hispanics are assimilating all right, but to urban-ghetto norms, not bourgeois ones.

Not to worry, though: those husbandless Hispanic women and their fatherless children will not—absolutely not! no way!—form a huge new client base for the future welfare state. And they will all vote for conservative Republicans. Of course they will!

(For Non-Hispanic Whites the figure was 26.6, up 1.3. For Non-Hispanic Blacks, it was 70.7, up 0.8.)

Hadley Arkes: What Rudy Needs to Do to Win Pro-Life Support

Hadley Arkes, one of the sharpest strategic minds around, offers his analysis.   This follows on an article I reported on earlier.

Spy Novelist Charles McCarry

Anybody who enthusiastically recommends a book has my ear.  It's rare I ever find time to find out if I agree or not, but at least I make a mental note (or a literal jot) of the recommendation.  Today both Michael Ledeen and John J. Miller at The Corner sing the praises of spy novelist Charles McCarry.

Here's Michael Ledeen:

You Know About Charles McCarry, Of Course...   

He's the greatest Washington writer, and my favorite author of "spy books," but the main thing is that he's a truly magnificent writer.  His latest is called "Christopher's Ghosts," and even if you haven't read any of McCarry's other books, you should buy this and curl up with it. I couldn't stop reading it, which is why there have been circles under my eyes the past couple of days...

Here's John J. Miller:

I haven't seen the new Charles McCarry novel, but let me echo Michael Ledeen's sentiment that he is a great spy novelist — I've reviewed him on the pages of NRODT, and he's a writer whom readers of The Corner would appreciate. My favorite McCarry novel is "Shelley's Heart", which is a fantastic story of political intrigue in Washington, D.C. Highly recommended.

Baby tax needed to save planet, claims expert

Oh my...  This item would go in the "hard to believe department" if I had such a category. (HT: Drudge)

A WEST Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus "baby levy" at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child.

Writing in today's Medical Journal of Australia, Associate Professor Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child's lifetime.

STUDY: Regular Cellphone Use Increases Tumor Risk...

AFP reports:

Regular use of mobile telephones increases the risk of developing tumours, a new scientific study by Israeli researchers and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed on Friday.

An extract of the report seen by Israel's Yedoit Aharonot newspaper put the risk of developing a parotid gland tumour nearly 50 percent higher for frequent mobile phone users -- more than 22 hours a month.  (more)

(HT:Drudge)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks "Where are the Muslim Moderates?"

Amazingly, today the New York Times published Ayaan Hirsi Ali's op-ed, "Islam's Silent Moderates."  Good for them!  Also amazing is the courage of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but we've become used to it.  She begins her op-ed with a quote from the Koran

The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with 100 stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. (Koran 24:2)

And continues:

IN the last few weeks, in three widely publicized episodes, we have seen Islamic justice enacted in ways that should make Muslim moderates rise up in horror. . .  [She relates the incidents]

But while the incidents in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and India have done more to damage the image of Islamic justice than a dozen cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, the organizations that lined up to protest the hideous Danish offense to Islam are quiet now. . .

But take a look at the verse above: more compelling even than the order to flog adulterers is the command that the believer show no compassion. It is this order to choose Allah above his sense of conscience and compassion that imprisons the Muslim in a mindset that is archaic and extreme. . .

If moderate Muslims believe there should be no compassion shown to the girl from Qatif, [earlier described] then what exactly makes them so moderate?

Better Not Leave Islam for Christianity in Britain if You Want to Live

The  Daily Mirror has the story:

The daughter of a British imam is living under police protection after receiving death threats from her father for converting to Christianity.

The 31-year-old, whose father is the leader of a mosque in Lancashire, has moved house an astonishing 45 times after relatives pledged to hunt her down and kill her.

The British-born university graduate, who uses the pseudonym Hannah for her own safety, said she renounced the Muslim faith to escape being forced into an arranged marriage when she was 16.

She has been in hiding for more than a decade but called in police only a few months ago after receiving a text message from her brother.

In it, he said he would not be held responsible for his actions if she failed to return to Islam.

Also from the article:

A study this year found that 36 per cent of British Muslims between 16 and 24 believe those who convert to another religion should be punished by death.   (more)

(HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner)

Accusations of "Islamophobia" Chill Free Speech

Darcy notes: "The Canadian Islamic Congress  as we all know has filed a Human Rights complaint  against Macleans magazine for publishing an excerpt from Mark Steyn's book America Alone."

Stanley Kurtz takes this very seriously. After reviewing the situation (he includes several valuable links), Kurtz concludes:

Connect the dots and you will see that the attack on Mark Steyn in Canada is part and parcel of a world-wide assault on free speech that has already reached well into America. This is our battle. It is essential that there be widespread public condemnation of the attack on Mark Steyn. Not only does this "human rights" complaint have to fail, it has to fail miserably and with embarrassment. Otherwise, whatever the formal result, the chilling effect will be one more victory for the forces trying to destroy our rights.

Me: I recommend reading not only Kurtz's full comments but also the excerpt Macleans published from Mark Steyn's book.

Pope John Paul ll on Islam

From Pope John Paul II's Crossing the Threshold of Hope:

"Whoever knows the Old and New Testaments, and then reads the Koran, clearly sees the process by which it completely reduces Divine Revelation. It is impossible not to note the movement away from what God said about himself, first in the Old Testament through the Prophets, and then finally in the New Testament through His Son. In Islam, all the richness of God's self-revelation, which constitutes the heritage of the Old and New Testaments, has definitely been set aside. 

"Some of the most beautiful names in the human language are given to the God of the Koran, but He is ultimately a God outside of the world, a God who is only Majesty, never Emmanuel, God with us. Islam is not a religion of redemption. There is no room for the Cross and the Resurrection. Jesus is mentioned, but only as a prophet who prepares for the last prophet, Muhammad. There is also mention of Mary, His Virgin Mother, but the tragedy of redemption is completely absent. For this reason not only the theology but also the anthropology of Islam is very distant from Christianity."

Me: I think this an excellent summary statement.

William Lane Craig - Tolerance and Certainty in Religion: Are They Mutually Exclusive?

William Lane Craig reports on recent activities in San Diego:

I presented a well-attended lecture on the question “Is Uncertainty a Sound Foundation for Religious Tolerance?”  My target here was certain philosophers who claim that religious tolerance should be based on two factors:  (1) our grasp of moral principles which state that persecution of other religions is wrong and  (2) uncertainty that one’s own religion is true. 

Such philosophers want to foster as much uncertainty about religious beliefs as they can and as much certainty about moral beliefs as they can as a way of increasing tolerance.  I pointed out that this strategy backfires in a number of ways.  In the first place, with respect to a religion like Christianity, which commands us to love our neighbor and even our enemy, it’s not uncertainty but certainty of that religion’s truth that will increase religious toleration. Fostering uncertainty about such a religion will actually decrease people’s motivation to be tolerant.

In fact, for any religion which sees morality as based in God, undermining people’s belief in God will undermine their confidence in the very moral principles which state that persecution is wrong!

In the second place, for people in many of the world religions, like Hinduism or Buddhism,