Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

FOR THOSE DOING RESEARCH ONLINE - AMAZING TECHNOLOGICAL HELPS!

The ever-helpful Justin Taylor has posted a link that should prove a huge help to those doing serious research.  He links to David Instone-Brewer at Tyndale House in England:

With the following free software you can:

• access your work on any computer, and write it at the same time as a colleague
• never lose your work - automatically save to the internet every few seconds
• never ruin your work - previous versions of a document are always available
• add library catalog entries to your bibliography automatically, in your chosen style
• attach notes to a book or article which you can search and find later
• copy web pages or articles or documents which you can search later
• search videos from many sources (like YouTube) and save them (increasingly important!)
• copy pages from online books and save them as searchable documents
• save photocopies online and search them as though they were text documents

Check out his post for four free softwares that, when combined, can do all of this.

Me:  Amazing!!!  The website has a lot of items posted on its left side,  including  this post for backing up work.

Advancing Eugenics Through Euphemism

I am indebted to Ramesh Ponnuru at the Corner for pointing his readers to this important article.  I found it stunning.  The following paragraph sounds like a positive announcement of the advance of science, something heartwarming, something for which we should give thanks.  But read the article dissecting this news piece and find out what was going on behind the "achievement."

"First baby tested for breast cancer form BRCA1 before conception born in UK," says the press release from University College London. "The first baby tested preconceptionally for a genetic form of breast cancer (BRCA1) has been born." The release quotes Paul Serhal, medical director of the hospital's Assisted Conception Unit: "This little girl will not face the specter of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life. The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter. The lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations."

Me: Don't forget to read the reality behind the announcment.

Top 100 Theology Blogs

Click here.    HT: Matt Harmon (listed as #11!) via Justin Taylor (listed as #75)

Update: Having had a chance to look at a few of the blogs, it is clear to me that they are not listed in order of excellence.  In some cases, I am puzzled to know how the blog made such a list in the first place.   I am, in short, disappointed.  

Francis Schaeffer Revisited

In the course of reviewing two new biographies of Francis Schaeffer [HT: Between Two Worlds], Douglas Groothuis says the following: [my emphases]

Let me mention two basic ideas that I (as a professional philosopher, unlike Schaeffer) find profound and helpful.

First, Schaeffer taught that worldviews need to be compared on the basis of objective criteria. That is, one does not simply presuppose one's worldview apart from rational testing. Every worldview-or basic perspective on life's deepest questions-needs to pass three individually necessary and jointly sufficient tests. First, it must be internally consistent. That is, its defining beliefs must cohere with one another. Second, a worldview needs to fit the facts of reality; it must be "true to what is," as Schaeffer put it. A worldview needs to match the external facts of history and science. (This shows that Schaeffer held to the correspondence view of truth, not the "coherency theory of truth," as Hankins claims [91].) Third, a worldview needs to be livable to be credible. This means that it must pass the existential test of fitting the facts of the internal world. For example, any worldview that denies the objective reality of evil (such as secular relativism or Eastern monism) cannot be lived out consistently, since we intuitively know that rape, murder, and racism are wrong. These three apologetic criteria can be nuanced and made much more sophisticated, but they form the backbone of any solid apologetic method. These truths are far from outdated!

Second, Schaeffer repeatedly emphasized that the God of Christianity was an "infinite and personal" being, and that humans were not machines or little gods, but made in the image of this infinite-personal God. In other words, for Christianity, personality is the deepest and most profound ontological category of reality-not impersonal time, space, law, chance, matter or some impersonal sense of deity held by Eastern religions. Schaeffer's apologetic capitalizes on this uniquely personal sense of reality held by Christianity. Persons, though fallen, have objective and eternal meaning on this scheme-as does community, since God himself is a Trinity: a relationship of divine persons coexisting in one Godhead from eternity.

Pro-Life University-Level Article

At least that's what I think of this contribution by Scott Klusendorf

Trouble in Turkey

- Update 1/14/09 - Secularism is waning in Turkey.  Bassam Tibi, a senior professor based in Germany, examines "Turkey's Islamist Danger" from a European perspective. This is a tremendously insightful article.   (HT: Michael Rubin)

- (Original post) Michael Rubin reports:

As the international media focuses on Gaza, trouble is growing in Turkey as the government continues to round up political opponents, academicians, and secular intellectuals on charges of alleged involvement in a plot against the government. (My background on the case, here). 

VDH Contrasts Sarah Palin with Caroline Kennedy

I think Victor Davis Hanson's contrast of the two superb.

Shoring Up Conservative Intellectual Defenses

Update 1/14/09 - In following up yesterday's post and in response to requests for specific help in explaining the financial mess we are in, John Hood suggests:  " read, copy, and distribute University of Missouri Professor Lawrence White's briefing paper for the Cato Institute, published a couple of months ago. It's concise, straightforward, and persuasive. A key graf:

The actual causes of our financial troubles were unusual monetary policy moves and novel federal regulatory interventions. These poorly chosen policies distorted interest rates and asset prices, diverted loanable funds into the wrong investments, and twisted normally robust financial institutions into unsustainable positions.

- (Original post) -John Hood posted  important observations:

A likely feature of the political debate of the next few years will look something like this. Conservatives will make a specific argument about a specific public-policy dispute — say, NR's editorial today questioning the need and wisdom of appropriating the second half of the TARP funds — and liberals will then respond not with a meaningful rebuttal of the specific argument but instead with a general attack on conservative credibility. "Your free-market ideology led to the worst recession since the Great Depression," they will assert. "Why should we believe anything you say now?"

Getting ready for this tactic means mastering the details of the bipartisan economic policy mistakes that have led us to the present moment, including excessive money creation, coddling of Fannie and Freddie, whipsaw imposition of post-Enron accounting rules, and regulatory constraints on production and investment. But it also means shoring up the intellectual defense of our basic conservative principles. The process will need to include

Obama Proposes Eliminating Medicare Advantage

Bad idea. As this article notes, Medicare Advantage allows seniors to choose a private health plan rather than get their health coverage from the traditional Medicare program.  Some of my family members will be very disappointed when they hear this news.  [HT: the Corner]

Tony Dungy, Coach of the Indianpolis Colts, Delivered His Retirement Speech

What a guy!  Speech here.  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said:

Tony has inspired millions through his response to personal tragedy and professional success alike. A role model first and coach second, Dungy will have a legacy of service that outlasts any football record or championship. For seven years in Indiana, he used his celebrity platform to promote adoption, prison ministry, family values, outreach to the poor, and simple Christian decency.

As his own pastor said, Dungy came to Indianapolis with the understanding that "faith would come before football" and he managed to exceed expectations in both. In his retirement speech yesterday, Tony said, "I remember... saying that our goal was to win... but that we needed to win the right way, we needed to win with the right kind of players that... our young men and women in this community could look up to and say, 'I want to be like him, or him, or him.'" 

Birth Control Pill Inventor Laments Demographic ‘Catastrophe’

This is a story that GetReligon.org says never made it into the American press, but should have.  Mollie Hemingway writes:

Here’s a bit from the Guardian, which covered the story and its reaction in the Vatican:

Roman Catholic leaders have pounced on a “confession” by one of the inventors of the birth control pill who has said the contraceptive he helped create was responsible for a “demographic catastrophe”… .

The assault began with a personal commentary in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard by 85-year-old Carl Djerassi. The Austrian chemist was one of three whose formulation of the synthetic progestogen Norethisterone marked a key step towards the earliest oral contraceptive pill.

Djerassi outlined the “horror scenario” that occurred because of the population imbalance, for which his invention was partly to blame. He said that in most ofEurope there was now “no connection at all between sexuality and reproduction”. He said: “This divide in Catholic Austria, a country which has on average 1.4

David Horowitz Turns 70 and Muses . . .

On January 10th,  David Horowitz turned 70.  He writes:

. . . The older a person gets, and the more he knows, the worse things can look. And so it has  been over the course of my lifetime. One thing I have learned is that apart from scientific and technological advances people -- taken in the aggregate -- do not learn from their experience or from history's crimes and mistakes. The greatest delusion of mankind is the idea of human progress -- again not counting scientific and technological progress. If slavery were economic, for example, it would still be an institution universally accepted. Of this I have no doubt. We are in the midst of the fourth world conflict in 100 years -- with several hundred million already dead. Yet huge numbers of supposedly progressive individuals and organizations and governments in the West are extending sympathies and support to our enemies -- a fanatical religious cult, intolerant, bigoted, barbarian and genocidal, as though World War II and the Cold War had never taken place. . .  [my emphases]

ARCTIC SEA ICE

Jonah Goldberg reports:

Arctic Sea Ice is back to 1979 levels. Funny how that hasn't been front page news. Of course, it's just a snapshot, but whenever the snapshots point to global-warming-catastrophe, it's headline news.

1/12/98 Update/correction follows . . .

Tim Tebow the Magnificent

GetReligion.org takes a look at the coverage given Tim Tebow, the University of Florida's outstanding quarterback, who just happens to be an outspoken Christian as well.  Wikipedia has an entry chronicling the achievements of this amazing young man.

Update: A friend sent me a link to an article noting Tebow was homeschooled and that "While expecting Tim, her fifth child, Tebow's mother Pam was advised to have an abortion in light of having contracted amoebic dysentery. She refused."

I later came across an article pointing out that Tim Tebow inscribed John 3:16 on his eye black for last night's BCS National Championship game.  The biblical reference became the most popular search item on Google.com. Searches for the Bible verse reached a peak during Friday night's game.

The NY Times Reports on Seattle Pastor Mark Driscoll

I'm not sure what to make of Mark Driscoll since I have no firsthand knowledge of him or his church.  Nor am I sure what to make of this NY Times article on Driscoll.  But "Allahpundit" responded to the article saying:

"Having watched a few of his videos on YouTube, I think the Times gave him a bad rap. . .  If you want to hear him discuss masturbation or oral sex, poke around here. The Times gives the impression that he’s some sort of heretic or shock jock, but every lesson I saw was entirely conventional. More interesting are these two vids. [Click through to the Allapundit post].  The first deals with predestination, which seems more mundane as he explains it than I thought it would be . . .   [more . . .]

Update #2 - 1/13/08 - Christianity Today magazine reports very favorably on a new book by Driscoll (co-written with theologian Gerry Breshears, Death by Love: Letters from the Cross. The C.T. review is well worth reading. 

Update #1:   Justin Taylor reports that Dr. Don Carson recently spet a weekennd preaching and teaching at Mars Hill Church.  Audio and Video of the talks are available here.  They include Session #1: “The Center of the Whole Bible” (Romans 3:21-26); Session #2: “The Strange Triumph of a Slaughtered Lamb” (Revelation 12); Session #3: “A Miracle Full of Surprises” (John 11); Session #4: “Why Doubt the Resurrection of Jesus” (John 20:24-31); Session #5: “The Ironies of the Cross” (Matthew 27:27-51)

A Jew Living in Britain No longer Feels Safe

Francesa Segal writes in the Guardian:  (HT: HotAir)

In August 2001, I turned 21 and my parents gave me a Star of David necklace. Then a month later, the world changed and my mother, with remarkable foresight, began her campaign to rescind the gift, begging me to take it off because she was frightened it would make me a target in the wake of mounting evidence that fanatical Islamism was tightening its grip on the country. My argument was always the same - when I am no longer safe being identifiably Jewish on the tube, I don't want to live in England.

Now it's happening and I am devastated. . .    (more . . .)

Thomas Sowell: The Reality of Government-Controlled Medical Treatment

Sowell begins his article saying:

Before you do anything else, make a note to read The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care by Sally C. Pipes. It might literally save your life, by checking the political stampede toward a government-controlled medical profession — usually presented politically as “universal health care.”

It is one of the painful signs of our times that millions of people are so easily swayed by rhetoric that they show virtually no interest at all in finding out the hard facts. Any number of other countries already have government-controlled medical professions. Yet few Americans show any interest in what actually happens to medical care in those countries.   [more . . .]

Homeschooling Boom in America

It's up 74% since 1999.  Reasons given (from a 2007 survey):

• Concern about the school environment, including reasons such as safety,drugs or negative peer pressure – 88 percent

• A desire to provide religious or moral instruction – 83 percent

• A dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools – 73 percent

• Nontraditional approach to children's education – or "unschoolers" who consider typical curriculums and standardized testing as counterproductive to quality education – 65 percent

• Other reasons, such as family time, finances, travel and distance – 32 percent

• Child has special needs (other than physical or mental health problems) that schools cannot or will not meet – 21 percent

• Child has a physical or mental health problem – 11 percent

more . . .

Bad News on Illegitimacy

Roger Clegg notes:

. . . the National Center for Health Statistics came out with its latest numbers yesterday (final data for 2006), and they aren't good. By population subgroup, the percentage of children born out of wedlock is 70.7 percent for non-Hispanic blacks, 64.6 percent for American Indians/Alaska Natives, 49.9 percent for Hispanics, 26.6 percent for non-Hispanic whites, and 16.5 percent for Asians/Pacific Islanders. Illegitimacy correlates with just about any social problem you can name (poverty, crime, dropping out of school, substance abuse, etc.), and it — not discrimination — is the principal cause of racial disparities in all these areas. . . 

Me: I am amazed at the lack of animated angst among cultural elites concerning these figures.  How can they but further underscore the continuing collapse of our culture?

Pro-Hamas Demonstration in Ft. Lauderdale: Raw Hatred on Display

"Go back to the ovens!" shouted one female demonstrator.   Video here.

- Charles Krauthammer on what Israel needs to do about Hamas.

Euphemisms vs. Reality

Victor Davis Hanson throws cold water in our face to wake us up:

For just one week we should ban the verb "stimulate" and the noun "stimulus" — and substitute instead the more honest "borrow," or "print," or "debt"; as in "The government plans to borrow another $1 trillion for the economy," or "The administration today decided to print another $300 billion in cash." Or "Congress met to consider a $1 trillion debt program." But as it is now, the euphemisms only take us ever more distant from reality, as trillions of dollars are bandied about as if they were mere five and tens in the government wallet.  [my emphases]

Well said.

Obama's Views on "Economic Justice" Examined

Andy McCarthy wrote today the following:

In this pre-election article, I took my best shot at explaining why Obama's "economic justice," which sometimes travels under the heading "Second Bill of Rights" was so flawed ... and monstrous.  Here, fwiw, are the relevant passages:

As Obama sees it, the Warren Court failed to “break free from the essential constraints that  were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution.” The judges instead clung to the hoary construction of the Constitution as “a charter of negative liberties” — one that says only what government “can’t do to you.” For Obama, economic justice demands the positive case: what government “must do on your behalf” (emphasis added).

True to form, Obama has twisted the most elementary points. First, the Framers viewed government as a necessary evil: required for a free people’s collective security but, if insufficiently checked, guaranteed to devour liberty. The purpose of the Constitution was not to make the positive case for government but for freedom. Freedom cannot exist without order, and thus implies some measure of government. But it is a limited government, vested with only the powers expressly enumerated. As the framers knew, a government that strays beyond those powers is necessarily treading on freedom’s territory. It is certain to erode the very “Blessings of Liberty” the Constitution was designed to secure.

Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)

- Update 1/23/09 - Kathryn Jean Lopez published an outstanding interview with Robert P. George of Princeton, on the life and legacy of Neuhaus.  When asked what he would recommend to Neuhaus newcomers, George said:

I would suggest beginning with some of his great essays, such as “A New Order of Religious Freedom,” “The Idea of Moral Progress,” “ ‘Salvation is from the Jews,’ ” “How I Became the Catholic I Was,” and “We Shall Not Weary, We Shall Not Rest.”

- Update 1/22/09 - Chuck Colson remembers Neuhaus and offers comments on "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."  A valuable bibliography appears at the end of his remembrance.  1/23/09 - Christianity Today engaged Colson in an insightful interview on Neuhaus and the future of "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."

- Update 1/13/09 - Three minute video of Neuhaus on manliness and marriage

- (Original Post) Richard John Neuhaus has passed away.  I feel bereft.  The world has become an emptier place, and a certain sadness fills my soul.  The world has lost a towering figure, a penetrating thinker, a noble man -- not to mention an elegant writer.  Yes, he was a Roman Catholic, but we Protestants benefited enormously from his perspectives on the world, and he understood  us as well, since he had been a Lutheran.  He was a pioneer in "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."  See the National Review editorial for a fine summation (albeit with a few minor inaccuracies) of Neuhaus' contribution to the world.

John Podhoretz in his tribute called Neuhaus

"perhaps the most important and influential religious intellectual in the United States since the passing of Reinhold Niebuhr. . ."  In 1984, he wrote the book for which he will be remembered, "The Naked Public Square" — a concise masterpiece about the role of religion

Drudge Headline: "Video: Palin Finally Unleashes on Media, Takes on Couric, Fey, Olbermann..."

 Click here.

UNIQUE PHOTO TECHNOLOGY

A friend sent the following e-mail to me:

Place your cursor at the top of the photo. You will notice it is 6:10 PM.  Bring the mouse down slowly over the photo without pressing the button on the mouse.  Do not right or left click. Night time appears, the lights come on, and at 7:40 PM, it's dark!   Photo Technology at its best!

Click  below.

   http://61226.com/share/hk.swf

Hard to Believe Department: Adult Women Play House with Fake Babies

Actually they're dolls, expensive dolls.  A TV station reports (click through for video):     (HT: The Corner)

WASHINGTON - Many people like to stop and play with newborn babies, but now some adult women are playing house with fake babies.

Some women are even going as far as taking day trips with the fake babies to the park, out to eat, and even hosting birthday parties for them.

Forty-nine-year-old Linda is married with no children of her own. Now, she says she feels like a mother because she has Reborns — dolls made to look and feel like the real thing.

"It's not a crazy habit, like, you know, drinking, or some sort of, something that's going to hurt you. It's like a hobby and it doesn't really hurt anybody," Linda said.

These women are paying big bucks for this hobby, from $100 to a few thousand dollars. For Reborn owner Lachelle Moore, the fake babies fill a void.

"What's so wonderful about Reborns is that, um, they're forever babies," said Moore, who has grown children and grandchildren. "There's no college tuition, no dirty diapers... just the good part of motherhood," she added.     

Me:  Sick.  Our addiction to all things virtual has reached new extremes.

Who's Tracking You?

This article in the current (January, 2009) Popular Mechanics magazine has prompted me to re-think my internet use to some extent.  It left me with the understanding that anything done online is automatically preserved for history and for anyone smart enough to get at it.  Every click is recorded.  I knew that before, but the article drove the point home more forcefully than ever.  Of particular concern to me are online storage  websites that I need to rethink.

How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn

Mint, a free personal finance software website, offers valuable (and easy to understand) privacy protection information for Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn here.

Charles Krauthammer on the Moral Grand Canyon that Separates Hamas and Israel

For Krauthammer's excellent article, click here.  (HT: Hugh Hewitt)   On Hamas' lethal arsenal (one reason why Israel is reluctant to invade with ground troops), click here.

FOX NEWS DOCUMENTARY: Son of Hamas Leader Rejects Islam for Christianity

- Update 1/3/08  Revised TV schedule - Escape from Hamas airs Saturday at 9 p.m., with repeats at 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. EST, and Sunday at 9 p.m., with repeats at 12 midnight, 2 a.m., EST. 

Note: I watched the Saturday evening broadcast.  What an amazing program.  As I watched, I couldn't believe a TV station would have the guts to televise this man's story.  Amazing!  A must see!!  If you are a Christian, you will be stirred to see the hand of God upon this young man's life. - See also the valuable website:  Answering Islam: A Christian-Muslim Dialog. 

- (Original post) Fox News has published a fascinating story [HT: HotAir] of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the most influential leaders of the militant group Hamas.  Yousef said the organization betrays the Palestinian cause and tortures its own members.   Yousef converted to Christianity and attends an evangelical Christian congregation in San Diego, California.  From the article:

Yousef, 30, said he realized the true nature of Hamas and radical Islam during a stint in an Israeli prison. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and converted to Christianity.

"Islam is not the word of God," said Yousef. "If you want to be offended it's your problem. But you know something? Go study. Think for a second that I might be right. So wake up, look at your path, see where you're going. Are you really going to heaven with 72 virgins after you kill yourself and kill another 20 people?"

A major documentary featuring Yousef and the inner workings of Hamas, will be aired this weekend.  According to Fox,  

Yousef talks more about his extraordinary story of faith, courage, violence and betrayal in a FOX News documentary, "Escape From Hamas," hosted by Bill Hemmer.

Escape from Hamas airs Sat at 10p, with repeats at 1am and 4a, EST, and Sun at 9pm, with repeats at 12 midnight, 2am, EST.   

Two short videos introducing the documentary can be found here and here. 

Republicans and Democrats Differ on Support for Israel's Actions in Gaza

Jonah Goldberg posted the following:

From Rasmussen:

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel’s decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first, a view shared by just 27% of Republicans.

While 75% of Republicans say Israel is an ally of the United States, just 55% of Democrats agree. Seven percent (7%) of Democrats say Israel is an enemy of America, but only one percent (1%) of Republicans say the same. For 21% of Republicans, Israel is somewhere in between, and 28% of Democrats agree.

I do like the bit about how Israelis should  have "tried a diplomatic solution first."  This is a classic example of ideological knee-jerkery substituting for information. Hamas launched (or permitted to be launched) 6,464 rockets into Israel over the last three years. Israel did little to nothing but try "diplomatic solutions."

Me:  I agree with Jonah Goldberg.  I don't understand what Democrats would have Israel do given there were 6,464 rockets launched against her.