Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

Interview with John R. Bradley, Author of "Inside Egypt"

Frontpagemag offers an insightful interview with John R. Bradley, a British journalist and author of Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution.

I learned a lot from this interview and am placing it in my Egypt file.

IF GAS PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE

Wm. F. Buckley, Jr. -- His Books and His Influence -- Under Review Again

Update 2/26/08 - For a picture of Buckley in his office, click here.

See the splendid review article  by Linda Bridges and John R. Coyne, Jr. published in the Spring 2008 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.  It's a dandy read. 

My additional posts on Buckley can be found here.

Heather MacDonald on Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Afrocentric Charlatans

Heather MacDonald surveys the weird field of Afrocentric charlatans from whose views Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, took his cues.  Weirdness indeed.  And as MacDonald notes, this is another reason to be suspicious of the creepy-crawly stuff that happens on university campuses.  MacDonald's article follows:

The list of Afrocentric “educators” whom Reverend Jeremiah Wright has invoked in his media escapades since this Sunday is a disturbing reminder that academia’s follies can enter the public world in harmful ways. Now the pressing question is whether they have entered presidential candidate Barack Obama’s worldview as well.

Some in Wright’s crew of charlatans have already had their moments in the spotlight; others are less well known. They form part of the tragic academic project of justifying self-defeating underclass behavior as “authentically black.” That their ideas have ended up in the pulpit of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ and in Detroit’s Cobo Hall, where Wright spoke at the NAACP’s Freedom Fund dinner on Sunday, reminds us that bad ideas must be fought at their origins—and at every moment thereafter. . .

Human-Animal Hybrids: "Humanzees" On the Way?

The Family Research Council posts the following:

According to Dr. Calum MacKellar, the U.K. could soon add "humanzees" to its list of attractions.  In an interview with The Scotsman, Dr. MacKellar, research director at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, says the half-man, half-chimp hybrid is just one of the many species that could become a reality if the government doesn't act quickly. Mackellar warns that human sperm has been and will continue to be inseminated into animals--research that the current Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill allows. The bill, which is creating uproar in Parliament, is schedule for debate in the House of Commons this May. There's no limit to the list of horrors that the legislation would tolerate, including animal-human hybrids, savior siblings, and

Daniel Pipes Revisits Obama's Muslim Childhood Raising Questions about Obama's Character & Integrity

Pipe's carefully researched article adds to one he published previously back in January, 2008.

GLOBAL WARMING: THE LEFT'S LATEST WAR ON THE FAMILY

Don Feder's article has lots of statistics and arguments (actual facts!) to disarm the Global Warming, anti-family zealots.

Canada: Huge Christian Ministry to Disabled Fined $23,000 For Rejecting Homosexual Employee

The Family Research Council notes:

As Ontario's Christian Horizons ministry knows all too well, standing up for your religious beliefs has its price. Last week, the organization was fined $23,000 by Canada's Human Rights Tribunal for asking employees to sign onto a "morality statement" which included a promise not to engage in homosexual relationships. Connie Heintz, a Horizons employee, agreed to the statement, only to reveal later that she was a lesbian. Heintz filed a complaint with the Tribunal claiming that she was "subjected to a poisoned work environment and threatened with the loss of her job." In response, officials ordered the organization to pay Heintz two years' wages, cease all applicant screenings, develop an "anti-discrimination" policy, and send all employees to a "human rights training program." It sounds unfair, yet this is the same rationale that's fueling the U.S. Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) debate. ENDA would mandate employer tolerance of all forms of sexual orientation in hiring, firing, promotion, and many Christian-oriented businesses (such as bookstores and radio stations) may not be protected by the bill's limited religious exemption.

Additional Resources
Huge Christian Ministry to Disabled Fined $23,000 For Rejecting Homosexual Employee

Reverend Jeremiah Wright in Context: No Better

Hugh Hewitt has audio and transcripts of Jeremiah Wright's past sermons.  His defense that the video clips shown on TV were "taken out of context" is now proven indisputably false.  Does that make Rev. Wright a liar?  Quite.

Victor Davis Hanson says the 2008 primary has set back racial relations a generation:

Again, the Obama campaign and its appendages have set back racial relations a generation. Just ten years ago, any candidate, black or white, would have rejected Wright making a speech about genetic differences in respective black and white brains. Now it's given to civil rights organizations by the possible next President's pastor and spiritual advisor — and done to wild applause for an organization founded on the idea that we are innately the same, while being gushed over by ignorant "commentators."

Read all of VDH's comments.  They're important.  See the following:

REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT'S WACKY AND IRRESPONSIBLE USE OF SCRIPTURE

Mark Hemingway offers the necessary corrective:

I was at the NPC breakfast with Wright this morning, and no one seems to have picked up on what I thought was one of the most remarkable comments this morning:

MODERATOR: Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but through me.” Do you believe this? And do you think Islam is a way to salvation?

WRIGHT:  Jesus also said, “Other sheep have I who are not of this fold.”

That was the extent of his answer, and after he gave it, Wright backed suddenly away from the podium to gaze at the audience for dramatic effect.

Now Wright is running around saying that he's not a political person — he's a pastor. But the answer he gives here is far more political than pastoral.

As a practicing Christian, I've always been under the distinct impression that Christianity was not to be regarded as part of a spiritual smorgasboard where all options are equally valid, as Wright seems to suggest here. In fact, the full verse of John 10:16 seems to disprove Jeremiah Wright's own point: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." [emphasis mine] 

It's not news that certain liberal elements of some churches are rank with this kind of relativism, but I don't think that this rejection of the Gospel truth is representative of a Christianity the vast majority Americans recognize. Trinity United Church of Christ describes itself as "Unapologetically Christian," but apologetics does not appear to be one of Wright's strong suits.

GEORGE WILL's QUESTIONS FOR OBAMA

Obama proves to me that eloquent language can mask foolish opinions and disastrous policies. Consider a couple of George Will's questions.

On judges:   Senator, concerning the criteria by which you will nominate judges, you said: "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old." Such sensitivities might serve an admirable legislator, but what have they to do with judging? Should a judge side with whichever party in a controversy stirs his or her empathy? Is such personalization of the judicial function inimical to the rule of law?

On economics:  ExxonMobil's 2007 profit of $40.6 billion annoys you. Do you know that its profit, relative to its revenue, was smaller than Microsoft's and many other corporations'? And that reducing ExxonMobil's profits will injure people who participate in mutual funds, index funds and pension funds that own 52 percent of the company?

You say John McCain is content to "watch [Americans'] home prices decline." So, government should prop up housing prices generally? How? Why? Were prices ideal before the bubble popped? How does a senator know ideal prices? Have you explained to young couples straining to buy their first house that declining prices are a misfortune?

On Michelle Obama's claim of "lives getting progressively worse": : Michelle, who was born in 1964, says that most Americans' lives have "gotten progressively worse since I was a little girl." Since 1960, real per capita income has increased 143 percent, life expectancy has increased by seven years, infant mortality has declined 74 percent, deaths from heart disease have been halved, childhood leukemia has stopped being a death sentence, depression has become a treatable disease, air and water pollution have been drastically reduced, the number of women earning a bachelor's degree has more than doubled, the rate of homeownership has increased 10.2 percent, the size of the average American home has doubled, the percentage of homes with air conditioning has risen from 12 to 77, the portion of Americans who own shares of stock has quintupled … Has your wife perhaps missed some pertinent developments in this country that she calls "just downright mean"?

(More . . .)

DYLANESQUE PARODY OF OBAMA

Really clever YouTube song on Obama: "Stuck with Jeremiah in the pastor's pews again."  Thanks to Lisa Schiffren for the post.

IT'S SAFE TO SAY MICHELLE MALKIN HAS NO USE FOR AL SHARPTON

She reminds everyone of Sharpton's antics in the past, plus a whole lot more.

Shame on every enabler who has aided and abetted Al Sharpton’s campaign to mainstream, enrich, and advance himself as a “civil rights leader” for decades despite his lying, poisonous, police-hating, crime-coddling, race-hustling agenda. 

Read the rest of what Malkin has to say.   It's important.

NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLAR N.T. WRIGHT TALKS ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK "SURPRISED BY HOPE"

N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, England, and one of the top New Testament theologians in the world today, here gives a short talk about his new book, Surprised by Hope.  It is hard to imagine a more lucid speaker and thinker.  His new book deals with the Biblical teaching of the resurrection of the body and the "new creation."  If you have never heard Tom Wright speak, this recording of his address at Trinity Church Boston would make an excellent introduction.

GEORGE F. WILL ON THE DISMAL STATE OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Though he touches on a number of subjects, Will also noted this fact:

Moynihan also knew that schools cannot compensate for the disintegration of families and hence communities -- the primary transmitters of social capital. No reform can enable schools to cope with the 36.9 percent of all children and 69.9 percent of black children today born out of wedlock, which means, among many other things, a continually renewed cohort of unruly adolescent males.

THE FRIENDS OF BARACK OBAMA - Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn

** 4/24/08 - Hugh Hewitt updates with videos and additional commentary. Plus he has a column, "Some of my best friends are liberals.  None of them are terrorists."

- Powerline has devastating clips of  Barack Obama's friends, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.  He claims they left their radical anti-Americanism long ago.  Not so.  This makes Obama's choice of friends all the questionable, to put it mildly.  (HT: Hugh Hewitt)   

Michelle Malkin has more.
 

EARTH DAY -BAD FOR THE UNBORN!

"Earth Day" was yesterday, April 22nd.  Our friends at the Family Research Council remind us that anti-life agendas piggy-back on the day.  (My underlining below).

An estimated billion people are celebrating Earth Day around the world, but few seem to understand its true motivation. Today isn't just another reminder to use recycled paper or drive energy-efficient cars. It's a calculated attack on the sanctity of human life. Population control is inextricably linked to the environmental and abortion movements. For years, the Sierra Club and other green militants have said that the best way to consume fewer resources is to have fewer children. Their own website says, "Talk to your decision-makers and demand an increase of funding for voluntary family planning programs and access to comprehensive sex education for young people." Last year, Optimum Population Trust released

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON OFFERS "SEX CHANGE" TO ADOLESCENTS

The story can be found here.   The Family Research Council comments:

The Boston Globe has published an expose on a Massachusetts doctor who recently launched a sex change program for kids.  The controversial "Gender Management" clinic, located at Children's Hospital Boston, aims to help young people delay puberty so that they can decide if they want to be a man or woman. With patients as young as 10, Dr. Norman Spack has been described as an "evangelist" for transgender kids. In a "Q&A" session with the Globe, Dr. Spack says he administers powerful hormones to help kids "rewrite their future." When asked for the most difficult ethical issue he faces, Spack

BIG RISE IN ITALIAN DOCTORS REFUSING TO PERFORM ABORTIONS

News report here.   (HT: Drudge)

Nearly 70 percent of Italian gynecologists now refuse to perform abortions on moral grounds and the number is increasing, a report by the country's ministry of health said Tuesday. . .   In the south, this increase is even more pronounced and in certain areas the rate has almost doubled," the report adds. In Campania, the region around Naples, the proportion of gynecologists refusing to carry out the procedure reached 83 percent, and in Sicily 84.2 percent.

POPE BENEDICT XVI'S VISIT TO AMERICA

An excellent website covering Pope Benedict XVI's visit, including links to speeches and videos, can be found here.  Rocco Palmo covers the Pope's farewell comments, his homily at Yankee Stadium, his visit to Ground Zero, his valuable personal reflections. 

The Anchoress offers a splendid round-up of press coverage and commentary. 

I have blogged previously about Benedict's visit here.

Michael Gerson on Roman Catholicism's Importance to the Modern World

Michael Gerson writes wisely about what he calls "The Indispensable Church."  After acknowledging embarrassing historical improprieties associated with the Vatican, he says the Catholic Church remains an indispensable institution for several reasons (my underlining):

First, despite charges of dogmatism, the church is the main defender of reason in the modern world. It teaches the possibility that moral truth can be known through reflection and argument. It criticizes what Pope Benedict XVI has called the "dictatorship of relativism" -- a belief "that does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires." "Being an adult," says Benedict, "means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties."

Secularism has traditionally taught that human beings will eventually outgrow religious

BEN STEIN'S "EXPELLED": A MUST-SEE MOVIE (With an additional note on Hitler and Darwinism)

Update 5/6/08 - I have a new post today, David Berlinski Defends the Movie "Expelled"

Update 4/20/08 (later) - Tim over at Random Observations overs an invaluable survey of media reviews which can only be described as "ranting and hysterical".  Tim offers judicious and appropriate responses.  I recommend you click through to read his post.

Update 4/20/08 - The movie is generating a lot of controversy, as expected.  Brent Bozell had the same reaction I did.  He went into the movie bored and came out stunned. Dinesh D'Souza has an AOL article focusing on Richard Dawkins' idea that the origin of life on earth may have been the result of a visit from highly-evolved aliens.  Chuck Colson dispels a number of myths about the movie.  Marvin Olasky's review in World Magazine substantiates the Nazi reliance on evolutionary theory to undergird the holocaust.  Another article examines "Michael Shermer's 'fact-free' attack on Expelled."  Many of these articles can be found on the Discovery Institute website and doubtless many more will be posted there as the controversy continues.  On the other side of the argument,"The National Council for Science Education has opened a website as a rebuttal to the movie.   

- I went to see Ben Stein's movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed  last night (opening night).  It completely exceeded my expectations.  The juxtaposition  of modern visuals and interviews with background historical movies and other images (complete with touches of humor), will hold the attention of both youngsters as well as adults.  Outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins becomes a ridiculous figure in the final interview.

David Klinghoffer has an excellent article showing that Expelled's claim that Darwinism was a crucial part of Nazi ideology is based on impeccable scholarship.  Klinghoffer writes:

Douglas Groothuis Reviews (Very Positively) J.P. Moreland's New Book "The Kingdom Triangle"

I have a high regard for both Groothuis and Moreland.  Moreland has moved into supplementing his apologetics with a complementary emphasis on the devotional life and third wave charismatic spirituality, thus his new book Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power .  Groothuis in his book review summarizes the deficiencies of naturalism and postmodernism, saying;

            In explaining the contemporary crisis, Moreland writes that we have moved from the “thick” world of the biblical worldview to the “thin” worlds of naturalism and postmodernism. A biblical worldview provides the knowledge of God, existential meaning, and authentic drama to all of life. We are creatures of a good and holy God, placed on earth to manifest the virtues of the Kingdom of God. We are immersed in and engaged with a life and death struggle with the forces of evil, yet God is our strength and hope. We are not groping in the dark, but have been given knowable truth in Scripture and elsewhere.

But both scientific naturalism and postmodernism—each in its own way—eviscerate the world of any objective meaning or genuine drama. Naturalism denies the reality of anything outside of what materialistic science can observe. The cosmos is reduced   

J.P. Moreland on Genesis and the Age of the Earth

Moreland here responds in a Q & A session to the objection that if one interprets Genesis to allow for long periods of time associated with the "six days," such a handling of Scripture would logically lead to reinterpreting and denying the virgin birth, the resurrection, and other Biblical doctrines.  Moreland's response helps allay such fears and concerns.  (Moreland's response is but a brief response to a particular question.  The debate is much broader and deeper, of course.)

Update: 4/20/08 - I see that Ken Ham, Carl Wieland, and Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis have jointly posted a lengthy response. 

OBAMA GAVE $26,270 TO HIS CHURCH in 2007

- Yuval Levin posts: 

The Washington Post reports today that, according to their just-released tax returns, Barack and Michelle Obama gave $26,270 to Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in 2007. Together with his $22,500 donation in 2006, that makes just under $50,000 in the last two years. That’s got to complicate this second stage of Obama’s Wright damage control effort—the distancing stage, where he tells us he would have left the church if only Wright hadn’t retired, and that he and his pastor were never really that close.

- The New York Times reports "Book sales Lifted Obama's Income in 2007 to a Total of $4.2  Million"

POPE BENEDICT XVI'S REMARKS AT THE ARRIVAL CEREMONY ON THE SOUTH LAWN OF THE WHITE HOUSE

** Update: The Pope's visit to the United States is being covered over at Beliefnet.com.  A still better and more comprehensive website is here.   

** Benedict's homily at Yankee stadium

** Pope's homily at St. Patrick's Cathedral - addressed to Clergy and religious

** Text of Benedict's address to the United Nations

** Papal Address to Interreligious Leaders

** Benedict XVI'sAddress to Catholic Educators  Kathryn Jean Lopez comments, Pope Benedict pushes back agsinst unCatholic tide

** Text of Benedict's address to U.S. Bishops

- The Pope's speech on the White House lawn may be found  here (among other places).

POPE BENEDICT XVI: Mr. President, thank you for your gracious words of welcome on behalf of the people of the United States of America. I deeply appreciate your invitation to visit this great country. My visit coincides with an important moment in the life of the Catholic community in America: the celebration of the 200th anniversary of elevation of the country's first Diocese — Baltimore — to ametropolitan Archdiocese and the establishment of the Sees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville.

Yet I am happy to be here as a guest of all Americans. I come as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel, and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society. America's Catholics have made, and continue to make, an excellent contribution to  

Victor Davis Hanson Predicts Obama's Hubris Will do Him in

Click here:

Could Former President Jimmy Carter be More of a Disgrace?

He laid a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat.  Andy McCArthy writes:

Yes, Virginia, that was a former President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, laying a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat, the father of modern terrorism.  Little Green Footballs has the photo — h/t TigerHawk.

As I mentioned in this profile of the terror master upon his demise four years ago, in 1973, three years before Carter became president, Arafat ordered the murders of two American diplomats in Sudan.  See Caroline Glick here and Scott Johnson here. (As Scott notes, Arafat's right hand man at the time was none other than our very favorite moderate, current PA President Mahmoud Abbas).

Could Carter be more of a disgrace?

Me: It's hard to imagine, but don't sell him short.  He'll probably find a way.

John O'Sullivan on the Unique Bond Between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher

I found this article fascinating.

John Bolton Writes on "Bush's North Korea Capitulation"

Very sad and foolish indeed.  Read about it here.

John Leo - "The Hazards of Telling the Truth" - on Mary Lefkowitz's Demolishing of Afrocentric Baloney

Update 5/7/08 - John J. Miller posts an audio interview with Mary Lefkowitz.

- At a local college some years ago, I heard a guest lecture by Mary Lefkowitz, classicist at Wellesley College (now retired).  I recognized that she grounded her lecture in established fact and that she was a woman of uncommon courage in her willingness to confront Afrocentric nonsense.  What is Afrocentrism?  John Leo's column explains and at the same time spotlights Lefkowitz's most recent book, History Lesson: A Race Odyssey, "a personal account of what she experienced as a result of questioning the veracity of Afrocentrism and the motives of its advocates. She has advanced the intellectual case against Afrocentrism before, in "Not Out of Africa:How Afrocentrism Became An Excuse to Teach Myth as History (1997); here she takes a more personal approach..."

I am so glad I came across John Leo's article, published today in the Wall Street Journal.  Read it for background into the controversy and weep over the "kind of affirmative action program for the re-writing of history" that is Afrocentrism.  (continued on page 2)

OBAMA'S ACTIVIST HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA

The Family Research Council reports Obama's public statement:

Responding to accusations that his campaign has been too quiet on homosexual issues, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) stated his views in detail in one of his most pointed interviews to date. Sitting down with reporters from the gay magazine The Advocate, Obama was frank about the major current issues.  Here is the Democratic frontrunner in his own words:

"I have actually been much more vocal on gay issues to general audiences than any other presidential candidate probably in history... I reasonably can see 'don't ask, don't tell' eliminated. I think that I can help usher through an Employment Non-Discrimination Act and sign it into law... The third thing I believe I can get done is in dealing with federal employees, making sure that their benefits, that their ability to transfer health or pension benefits the same way that opposite-sex couples do, is something that I'm interested in making happen... And finally, an area that I'm very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union... I, for a very long time, have been interested in a repeal of DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act]."

1. Me: People need to realize that Obama speaks from, and represents, the radical liberal left. He talks about "bringing people together."  It would be the bringing together of the moderate left and radical left.  His elitist views are contemptuous of the majority of people in this country.  Obama represents change that would tear this nation apart.  (I have blogged previously on Obama's liberalism here.)

MICHAEL MCMANUS: COHABITATION A VERY BAD IDEA

Kathryn Jean Lopez interviewed Michael McManus and came up with important information:

Taking the life of cohabitation for a test drive before committing to a marriage has become enormously popular. And yet, with the failure of so many cohabiting relationships, and the swollen divorce rates of couples who cohabit before marriage, such a widespread cultural practice deserves critical examination. Michael McManus, coauthor of Living Together: Myths, Risks & Answers, and President of Marriage Savers, a nonprofit organization, discuss the deleterious effects of cohabitation in an interview with National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What’s so bad about living together?

Michael McManus: Couples who live together are gambling and losing in 85 percent of the cases. Many believe the myth that they are in a “trial marriage.” Actually it is more like a “trial divorce,” in which more than eight out of ten couples will break up either before the wedding or afterwards in divorce. First, about 45 percent of those who begin cohabiting, do not marry. Those who undergo “premarital divorce” often discover it is as painful as the real thing. Another 5-10 percent continue living together and do not marry. These two trends are the major reason the marriage rate has plunged 50 percent since 1970. Couples who cohabit are likely to find that it is a paultry substitute for the real thing, marriage.

THE HISPANIC FAMILY IN SERIOUS TROUBLE

To some it is verboten to speak in negative terms of the growing Hispanic underclass but Heather MacDonald points to the Economist magazine's recent article which again points out the serious facts of the deteriorating Hispanic family structure.  MacDonald writes:

Those of us who have documented the growing underclass culture among second- and third-generation Hispanic Americans have grown accustomed to being called bigoted “xenophobes” by open-borders conservatives. For some reason, these same conservatives don’t object to anyone decrying the consequences of black illegitimacy rates, or the toll of black gang culture on community life. But point out the high Hispanic illegitimacy and school drop-out rates, or the march of ever-younger Hispanics into gangs, and you can be sure of being accused of “anti-Hispanic cant” by people who work overtime to maintain the myth of the redemptive Hispanic.

The list of bigots just got longer. Add the Economist magazine to the group of entities and individuals who need scourging for their anti-Hispanic bias. In the March 19 issue, the magazine reports the “bad news from California: The vaunted Latino family is coming to resemble the black family.” The magazine has the temerity to offer facts that are fighting words in some precincts of the right: “Half of all Hispanic children were born out of wedlock last year.” “The birth rate among unmarried Latinas is now much higher than the rate among black or white women.” “In 1995 the unmarried teenage birth rate for Latinas was 20% lower than the rate for blacks. It is now 12% higher.” “More than half of all young Hispanic children in families headed by a single mother are living below the federal poverty line, compared with 21% being raised by a married couple.”   

Turkey is Nearing the Cliff

Michael Rubin writes persuasively of Turkey's precarious situation and the threat posed by Fethullah Gülen.  One has to read Rubin's article to understand what is going on in Turkey.

LIBERALISM AS AN "IDEOLOGY OF SUICIDE"

A conference, "Free Speech in an Age of Jihad," was held last week in New York City. "Sponsored jointly by The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and The New Criterion, the day-long conference brought together more than a dozen prominent commentators—and an audience of about 200—to discuss the ways in which “soft jihad” is undermining freedom of expression in the West."

Roger Kimball said,

"The unhappy truth is that the threat to civilization in the West comes not only from our enemies but also from within."

Kimball reported on Mark Steyn's speech as follows (the underlining is my own):

Mark’s talk ranged widely, but its central message, he noted, was summed up by the historian Arnold Toynbee: Most civilizations, Toynbee wrote, die from suicide not murder. We in the West preen ourselves on our high standard of living, our freedoms, our pleasures. But what beliefs, what backbone, underwrite those material triumphs? Radical Islam is a fanatical, often a murderous, faith. The welfare-state liberalism of the West is less a faith than a perpetual grievance.

In The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek, hearkening back to Tocqueville’s analysis of “democratic despotism,” noted that “the most important change which extensive

U.S. HOUSING COLLAPSE SPREADS OVERSEAS

Spain and Ireland particularly hard hit, but other countries, too.  Click here  (HT: Drudge)

POPE BENEDICT XVI TO VISIT THE UNITED STATES THIS WEEK

I am not a Catholic, but I have enormous respect for the current Pope as well as his predecessor Pope John Paul II.   Pope  Benedict XVI addresses the United Nations on Friday.  I suggest prayer for his speech at the U.N. and for his visit to the United States.  See the following articles:  President Bush Plans Big Welcome    Pope Benedict XVI Ready to Meet America    George W. Bush Could Well be the Nation's First Catholic President

** Update 4/14/08  - Richard John Neuhaus writes instructively on "The Heart and Mind of Benedict."  Do read Neuhaus' thumb-nail sketch of Benedict below:

Pope Benedict is not a showman, as many – intending praise or blame – said his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was. Benedict is a priest and professor who finds himself in the unexpected position of being pastor of a universal church of 1.2 billion people. This visit to America is a pastoral visit, and he will do what good pastors do: teach, encourage, and gently correct where necessary. The best way to understand Benedict is to listen carefully to what he says.   (Keep reading on next page)

SHARIA IN THE SCHOOLS: MONITORING THE AMERICAN MADRASSA

Michelle Malkin offers an excellent summary of Muslim attempts to produce Muslim schools at taxpayer's expense plus infiltrate school curriculum with Islamic-slanted textbooks.  Malkin's article is all the more useful for the embedded links that add depth and detail to the alarming picture.

** Update 4/15/08 - CAIR comes to the rescue.  Story here.

AN AUSSIE SOLDIER'S HIGH REGARD FOR THE AMERICAN SOLDIER

Michael Ledeen writes:

. . . Here are some very moving excerpts from a communication from and Australian soldier in Baghdad to his dad back home. It shows that our military guys are appreciated—loved, even—by at least some of their peers. There’s so much snarling out there, I thought you’d appreciate this bit of moral uplift, which I think accurately describes most of our guys in uniform:

Before I came over here I thought we (the Australian Army) were pretty…hot….. was I ever wrong!….The Yanks (I hope you don’t mind me using that word) are so professional from the top to the bottom that it is almost embarrassing to be in their company, and to call yourself a soldier….don’t get me wrong, we are good at what we do but the Yanks are so much better…..they are complete at what they do, how they do it and their attitude is awesome….they don’t complain they just get on with

CHINA'S EMERGING MASTERY OF THE WORLD

Anthony Brown's article in the British Daily Mail does an excellent job surveying the ascendancy of China and the corresponding descent of the United Sates and Europe.  This phenomena is more and more in the news, as well it should be, and this article joins others in specifying the facts.  (HT: Drudge)  A  quote:

China is spending 35 times as much on crude oil as it did eight years ago, and 23 times as much on copper.

As it builds gleaming skyscrapers on its fields, China alone consumes half the world's cement and a third of its steel.

What is happening is so extraordinary that economists have had to invent a new word for it - this is not an economic cycle, but a supercycle, a shift in the world economy of historic proportions.

Me: I can remember in the early 70's certain of my friends and I clearly saw the future belonging to Asia.  If Christian faith continues to grow in China and India, then there can be added to these cultures some of the West's most positive heritage - a concern for the freedom of the individual, the sanctity of life, and human rights in general.   I hope it will be so.

SPIRITUAL, BUT NOT RELIGIOUS?

William Lane Craig expresses his pleasant surprise when he encountered a female religious studies professor with a politically incorrect view on "spiritual, but not religious":

She said that when her students tell her that they're very spiritual but not religious, her response is "Hogwash! That's just a mask for a self-centered, consumer-oriented attitude toward religion. Religions come with a tradition, a moral value system, and so on. It's religion we need, not some vague, self-serving spirituality." Wow! Talk about politically incorrect!

Me: Excellently said!

ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE QUR'AN

Andrew G. Bostom writes:  

 My colleague and friend, the gifted and remarkably courageous independent scholar Robert Spencer, has kindly posted a long essay of mine, Antisemitism in the Qur’an: Motifs and Historical Manifestations at his indispensable Jihad Watch/Dhimmi Watch website.  

For those getting impatient with the delayed release of The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism (now due out in late May), this essay derives almost entirely from the book, and as such, provides a preview of the book’s extended introductory survey. Below, I have provided the Abstract and Introduction to this lengthy essay.The full text is available at Dhimmi Watch.   (more . . .)

THE LEFT AND "FITNA" - JAMIE GLAZOV INTERVIEWS EX-MUSLIM ABUL KASEM

The interview can be found here.  (I have blogged previously on Geert Wilders' movie "Fitna" here.)

First, tell us what you think of the new film.

Kasem: I think Fitna is done very cleverly. It lays the full blame of Islamic atrocities to the fount of Islam, the Koran. Anyone viewing this short movie will have no doubt that the Islamist terrorism is the result of the Koran in action. Geert Wilders has demonstrated very precisely what has plagued the world for many years and why the Jihadists are doing what they are doing.

FP: Analyze for us the format that Wilders uses.

Kasem: Wilders uses only five verses of the Koran to demonstrate the potential danger of Islam to a civilised world. These verses are (note the comments by eminent Koran scholars):

8:60 The Muslims should muster all their power and might, including steeds of war (tanks, planes, missiles…) to strike terror in the hearts of the unbelievers (by killing them—ibn Abbas).

47:4 When the believers meet the unbelievers they should smite at unbelievers’ necks (when you fight against them, cut them down totally with your swords—ibn Kathir).

8:39 Fight until there are no more unbelievers (non-Muslims) and tumult (this verse overrides all other verses on fighting the infidels, including the Jews and the Christians); if they accept Islam then leave them alone.

4:56 Unbelievers will be cast in fire, their skins roasted often, skins changed often for more roasting (the skin will be roasted seventy thousand time every day; the new skin will be as white as paper—ibn Kathir).

4:89 Seize and slay the renegades (i.e., apostates of Islam) wherever you find them. (Maududi 4/118: This is the verdict on those hypocritical confessors of faith who belong to a belligerent, non-Muslim nation and actually participate in acts of hostility against the Islamic state).

It is clear Greet Wilders did not present anything original. He merely re-stated the contents of the Koran, forcefully depicting, with true pictures, those verses in action. (more)

Quick Takes

- Sen. Bunning (R-Ky) resists housing rescue effort by the government.  Read Michelle Malkin's post about the brave, level-headed Senator from Kentucky and let your cynicism flow unimpeded towards the Senators who bring on one fiscal mess after another.  They don't even take time to read the bills they pass!

- Tony Blankley rightly warns that with news outlets pulling back from putting men and women on the field gathering news, the lights of true knowledge of events is flickering.  In the future we may not know enough about events to make rational decisions.

LARRY KUDLOW: COST OF THE IRAQ WAR MINISCULE

Larry Kudlow puts the cost of the Iraq war in perspective:

Surprise, surprise. Having failed to penetrate General Petraeus’s story about the great improvements on the ground in Iraq, liberals are now trying to make the case that the cost of the Iraq war may have somehow undermined the economy, and even caused the current slowdown. What complete and utter nonsense.

First point: The U.S. has spent roughly $750 billion for the five-year war. Sure, that’s a lot of money. But run the numbers and the total cost works out to a miniscule 1 percent of the $63 trillion GDP over that time period. It’s miniscule.

More important, the real question we ought to be asking ourselves is what is the cost of freedom? While the Left refuses to acknowledge it, the undeniable fact is that the United States homeland has not been attacked since September 11. Meanwhile, over in Iraq, al Qaeda and other extremist terrorist groups have been utterly routed by U.S. forces. It’s another fact the Left hates to acknowledge.

CHRISTIAN GROUP SUES GOOGLE FOR FAILING TO ACCEPT ANTI-ABORTION ADVERTS

The Daily Mail reports:

A Christian group is suing Google over the internet giant's refusal to take its anti-abortion adverts.

The Christian Institute, a "non-denominational Christian charity", wanted to pay Google so that whenever the word "abortion" was typed into the popular search engine, its link would appear on the side of the screen.

The link would have read: "UK abortion law  -  news and views on abortion from the Christian Institute. www.christian.org.uk."

But Google refused the advert because it said it had a policy of declining sites which mixed the issue of abortion with religious views.

Its Dublin-based advertising team replied: "At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain 'abortion and religion-related content'."

Google does, however, accept adverts for abortion clinics, secular pro-abortion sites and secularist sites which attack religion.

INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS OF MULTICULTURALISM

British Daily Mail headline:  "Muslims' fury forces schools to shelve anti-homophobia storybooks for 5-year-olds.   (HT: Mark Steyn at the Corner)

Two primary schools have withdrawn storybooks about same-sex relationships after objections from Muslim parents.

Up to 90 gathered at the schools to complain about the books which are aimed at pupils as young as five.

One story, titled King & King, is a fairytale about a prince who turns down three princesses before marrying one of their brothers.

Another named And Tango Makes Three features two male penguins who fall in love at a New York zoo.

Bristol City Council said the two schools had been using the books to ensure they complied with gay rights laws which came into force last April.

Read the whole article.  Steyn says to expect more stories like this and I think he's right.

CURRENT QUOTES FROM THOMAS SOWELL

Found here:

- Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.

- There is no question that Barack Obama is a clever and glib fellow. There is also no question that some of the most foolish, dangerous, and horrific things done around the world in the past hundred years have been done by clever and glib fellows.

- Nothing is more fraudulent than calls for a “dialogue on race.” Those who issue such calls are usually quick to cry “racism” at any frank criticism. They are almost invariably seeking a monologue on race, to which others are supposed to listen.

SCIENCE ON THE BRINK OF FINDING THE "GOD PARTICLE"...

So says a Matt Drudge headline.  Story here .