Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

PEGGY NOONAN: PEOPLE FEEL ALIENATED FROM THEIR GOVERNMENT - - WITH GOOD REASON

She writes:

 We are at a remarkable moment. We have an open, 2,000-mile border to our south, and the entity with the power to enforce the law and impose safety and order will not do it. Wall  Street collapsed, taking Main Street's money with it, and the government can't really figure out what to do about it because the government itself was deeply implicated in the crash, and both political parties are full of people whose political careers have been made possible by Wall Street contributions. Meanwhile we pass huge laws, bills so comprehensive, omnibus and transformative that no one knows what's in them and no one—literally, no one—knows how exactly they will be executed or interpreted. . .

This is not the old, conservative and long-lampooned "I don't trust gummint" attitude of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. It's something new, or rather something so much more broadly and fully evolved that it constitutes something new. The right never trusted the government, but now the middle doesn't. . .   (more . . .)

SANITY IS GETTING HARD TO FIND

Examples:

-- U.N. elects Iran to its commision on . . .   women's rights.  (I am not making this up!) See also the Fox News article.

-- Navy to allow women to serve on submarines

  -- In contrast to the above, Mark Steyn exemplifies the sanity that is getting more and more rare.  Steyn is the author of America Alone.  He granted a 5-part video interview to Peter Robinson.  I am linking to the 3rd in the series -- "Civilizational Exhaustion."   I wish I had time to produce the text of Steyn's statements.  Click here.  Don't miss this six minute interview!!

FREUD, FREE SEX, AND HUMAN COURTS

Glenn Sunshine's brief essay explains a lot.   The excerpt below is only a small part of the argument.  It is important to read the whole thing.  (HT: Charles Colson) Emphases in the original.

. . . Freud believed that psychological illness was a result of social repression of our sex drive. Although Freud himself had a generally conventional lifestyle and developed psychoanalysis as a means of dealing with problems arising from sexual repression, the implication of his theory was clear: to enable people to live happy, fulfilled lives, society needed to drop restraints on sexual activity. Hence the sexual revolution of the sixties and seventies.

This idea is deeply embedded in the American worldview. This explains the vehement opposition to abstinence-only sex education despite the studies that show it is more effective in reducing sexual activity than “comprehensive” sex education. The real object isn’t to reduce sexual activity, but to minimize the consequences. Why would you even want to reduce sexual activity if that’s the route to freedom and fulfillment?

Unfortunately, Freud was wrong. Sexual “freedom” has resulted in an epidemic of depression among young women, an explosion of sexually transmitted diseases, rampant out of wedlock births and the associated poverty that comes from single parent households, a sky-high divorce rate, and on and on and on. And it has not made people happier or better adjusted. None of which makes any difference, of course, because as is all too often the case, ideology trumps evidence.

The primary human right

Since in this worldview salvation comes through sex, and since personal fulfillment and happiness is fundamentally about sexual expression, the freedom to express whatever you think of as your sexual identity is our most essential human right.  (more . . .)

QUICK TAKES

Daniel Pipes - "In Europe, Remorse Has Turned to Masochism"  - On the perversity of self-hatred.  Good analysis!

Dennis Prager - "Why We Hear about "White" Tea Parties."  The Left sees the world through the prism of race, gender, and class, rather than through the moral prism of right and wrong.

Thomas Sowell - "Misusing History."   Poisonous distortions in the selective filtering of facts.

"GREEN ENERGY" A PROFOUNDLY DELUDED QUEST

Trevor Butterworth offers a stunning review of Robert Bryce's book, Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future."   It's "stunning" simply because it faithfully displays the book's "brutal, brilliant exploration of this profoundly deluded quest."  One example:

So you want to build a wind farm? OK, Mr. Bryce says, to start you'll need 45 times the land mass of a nuclear power station to produce a comparable amount of power; and because you are in the middle of nowhere you'll also need hundreds of miles of high-voltage lines to get the energy to your customers. This "energy sprawl" of giant turbines and pylons will require far greater amounts of concrete and steel than conventional power plants—figure on anywhere from 870 to 956 cubic feet of concrete per megawatt of electricity and 460 tons of steel (32 times more concrete and 139 times as much steel as a gas-fired plant).

Once you've carpeted your tract of wilderness with turbines and gotten over any guilt you might feel about the thousands of birds you're about to kill, prepare to be underwhelmed and underpowered. Look at Texas, Mr. Bryce says: It ranks sixth in the world in total wind-power production capacity, and it has been hailed as a model for renewable energy and green jobs by Republicans and Democrats alike. And yet, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the state's electricity grid, just "8.7 percent of the installed wind capability can be counted on as dependable capacity during the peak demand period." The wind may blow in Texas, but, sadly, it doesn't blow much when it is most needed—in summer. The net result is that just 1% of the state's reliable energy needs comes from wind.

If using a huge amount of real estate to generate a tiny amount of energy from an intermittent energy source sounds deranged, consider, too, that we haven't yet found the holy grail for storing wind-generated energy. Wind is either an instant energy snack or a famine. It must be used when it's there or immediately replaced when it isn't.

There's much more. . .

WHAT EXPLAINS THE EXTRAORDINARY RISE OF LESBIANISM AMONG YOUNG WOMEN?

Answer:  Pornography among men.  Men prefer their imagination to a real person.  At least that's one explanation.    The Family Research Council posts the following:

When a person's sex drive is properly channeled in the bounds of traditional marriage, it's a powerful force for good. It bonds the husband and wife to one another and gives life to a new generation. It's the foundation of the family, which is why groups like FRC cannot address issues of family structure without addressing issues of sexuality, and vice versa. But when the sexual drive isn't properly contained, it can be highly destructive--to the emotional and physical health of individuals, and to the quality of relationships themselves. A powerful illustration of how the elements of the "sexual revolution" are all interconnected was explained in a recent article in the liberal magazine Psychology Today. Dr. Leonard Sax wrote that a recent survey showed young women are almost three times as likely to consider themselves homosexual or bisexual as young men are.

Why? Well, for women, sexuality is much more "malleable" or "plastic" than for men (so much for the "born gay" theory!). While Dr. Sax doesn't address it, much of the trend lies with our culture of sexual experimentation. This "anything goes" mentality is leading to a disillusionment with traditional sexuality and, in turn, breeding more experimentation. Also, a lot of women conclude that "all the guys she knows are losers." Why are they "losers?" Because virtually all of them use pornography, and according to Dr. Sax, they prefer the fantasy world of pornography to relationships with real women. I don't think that even FRC has ever suggested that heterosexual pornography could lead to an increase in homosexuality--but when one part of our culture of sexuality becomes degraded, every part does.

In the Psychology Today article referenced above, I found the statistics about young women surprising and sad:

Psychologist John Buss estimates that for most of human history, perhaps 2% of women have been lesbian or bisexual (see note 1, below). Not any more. Recent surveys of teenage girls and young women find that roughly 15% of young females today self-identify as lesbian or bisexual, compared with about 5% of young males who identify as gay or bisexual . . .

HOW DOES ONE ACCOUNT FOR THE "GOLDEN AGE OF FILM"?

Chuck Colson offers a cogent explanation.

One of the best films ever made is Frank Capra’s "It Happened One Night," starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. The 1934 comedy features an heiress on the run from her father, and the reporter who joins forces with her. The two fall in love and, alone in hotel rooms, to guard against temptation, they hang a blanket between their beds. They call it “the walls of Jericho.” When the couple finally ties the knot, the “wall” comes tumbling down.

In the 1930s, a plotline that precluded premarital sex was a wise idea. Movie-makers who flouted the Motion Picture Production Code risked a backlash against their films.

As Peter Dans writes in his new book, Christians in the Movies: A Century of Saints and Sinners, the Code’s purpose was to protect filmgoers from films that “will lower the standards of [viewers.]”

In recent years, much fun has been poked at the Code, which went belly up in 1968. But as Dans points out, enforcement of the Code brought about the “Golden Age of Film.” Requiring moviemakers to exercise restraint “was, on balance, beneficial to the creative process,” he says.

Joseph Bottom explains why in the foreword. “Naked breasts are eye-catching, and well-sculpted nudes don’t need much dialogue,” he notes. “So what happens when you can’t show them? Turns out, you have to tell a story instead.”

For example, imagine the plotline of It Happened One Night if no Code had been in force. Nothing would have prevented Gable and Colbert from sleeping together the minute they fell in love—or prevented Capra from

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE'S LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN

Mark Early of Prison Fellowship writes:

You’re probably familiar by now with William Wilberforce, the great Christian statesman who led the fight against the British slave trade. You probably know, too, that Wilberforce is an inspiration for so much of the work we do here at Prison Fellowship and BreakPoint. But how much do you know about William Wilberforce the father?

Wilberforce and his wife, Barbara, had four sons and two daughters. Despite the overwhelming weight of his religious and political duties, Wilberforce made his children a priority. And when they were away at school, he showered them with letters. Those letters tell the story of a father who was loving, encouraging, and always anxious for their spiritual welfare.

My friend Stephanie Byrd thought that this side of the great man deserved attention. And she’s right. She’s put together a book called Amazing Dad: Letters from William Wilberforce to His Children.

In the extensive excerpts from his letters, we see him advise his children about education, career, time management, and financial generosity, but most of all on the importance of a strong and secure faith in God. Without that faith, he told them over and over again, none of the rest mattered.

Having misspent his own youth before his dramatic conversion to Christ, Wilberforce wanted to make sure his children were grounded in the faith from their earliest years. Unlike many other parents in early 19th-century Britain, Wilberforce was far more concerned with their spiritual success than with their worldly success.

His priorities for them were always in the right order. When he wrote to his son Robert, he said,

HENRY LOUIS GATES JR.: THE DEBATE OVER SLAVERY REPARATIONS IGNORES AFRICANS' ROLE IN SELLING HUMAN BEINGS

This important article helps us see slavery in an enlarged context. (HT: The Corner)  Harvard Professor Gates writes:

... While we are all familiar with the role played by the United States and the European colonial powers like Britain, France, Holland, Portugal and Spain, there is very little discussion of the role Africans themselves played. And that role, it turns out, was a considerable one, especially for the slave-trading kingdoms of western and central Africa. These included the Akan of the kingdom of Asante in what is now Ghana, the Fon of Dahomey (now Benin), the Mbundu of Ndongo in modern Angola and the Kongo of today’s Congo, among several others.

Gates goes on to spell out how the slave trade system worked.  

. . . The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred.

I thought it particularly remarkable to read that

In 1999, for instance, President Mathieu Kerekou of Benin astonished an all-black congregation in Baltimore by falling to his knees and begging African-Americans’ forgiveness for the “shameful” and “abominable” role Africans played in the trade. Other African leaders, including Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, followed Mr. Kerekou’s bold example.

Gates asks and answers an important question:

Did these Africans know how harsh slavery was in the New World? Actually, many elite Africans visited Europe in that era, and they did so on slave ships following the prevailing winds through the New World. . .

Read the whole thing.

MUST READ: RUSH LIMBAUGH ON DISGUSTING LIBERAL POISONOUS SLANDER

  Limbaugh's Wall Street Journal article carries the title, "Liberals and the Violence Card."  I commend the article to you.  (HT: Drudge)    I am more and more recognizing Rush Limbaugh's inestimable value to the American Republic.  Click here.

PENTAGON DISINVITES FRANKLIN GRAHAM FROM PRAYER SERVICE OVER ISLAM COMMENTS

HotAir covers the story well and includes a portion of a Sally Quinn interview with Graham.   He doesn't back down from his 2001 statement in which he referred to Islam as "a very evil and wicked religion."  He cites Islam's treatment of women.  

“[I]f you look at what the religion does just to women, women alone, it is just horrid. And so yes, I speak out for women…”

I honor Franklin Graham's forthrightness.   "Political correctness" tyranny must be broken by men and women with the courage to speak the truth.  Bravo! 

Unfortunately, the media turns a blind eye to anything negative about Islam.  Take the attempted censorship of the signs on buses in south Florida offering help to those wanting to leave Islam.   You hadn't heard?  Read the CNS coverage, one of only two news outlets to cover the story. 

Then there's also the media cover-up of Ohio jihadist's arrest.  Of related interest is Comedy Central's submission to Islamic intimidation. 

I was shocked (and encouraged), that CNN interviewed Ayaan Hirsi Ali a couple of days ago.  She's an outspoken critic of Islam.

GOOD STUFF FROM WINTERY KNIGHT

As I have often urged, you really need to visit Wintery Knight on a regular basis.  Here are some recent posts that caught my eye:

Craig Evans vs. Bart Ehrman debate on the reliability of the gospels  (followed by invaluable related links)

John Lennox and Paul Davies debate about aliens and the origin of life.

William Lane Craig Discusses Calvinism and the Problem of Evil

Me: On the subject of Calvinism, Prof. Ben Witherington (a non-Calvinist) offers helpful comments. A robust discussion follows.  Also of interest is Witherington's November, 2005 Christianity Today article, "The Problem with Evangelical Theologies."

AWESOME PHOTOS OF THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN ICELAND

Many more photos. . .  (HT: Jonah Goldberg)

ARE WE STILL AN ALLY OF ISRAEL?

Victor Davis Hanson wonders:

In a recent Gallup poll, 85 percent of Republicans and only 48 percent of Democrats supported Israel rather that the Palestinians. What to make of it?

The hard Left's multiculturalist furor at Israel has made enormous inroads into the Democratic party, as we see with the current "reset" policy of the Obama administration, while the old blue -blood, country-club Republicans who tsk-tsked Israel have almost vanished. Over the last 20 years the Left has reconstructed Israel from a bastion of the traditional liberal Jewish tradition into a Western, capitalist hegemonic oppressor, all of which shows the power of campus multculturalism when a tiny democratic country of 7 million can be reconfigured into a colonial power.  [more. . .]

ETHNICITY, RACE, AND THE U.S. CENSUS

Rob Schwarzwalder makes pertinent points in his short USA Today article.  Excerpt:

Ethnicity and race . . .  define neither humanness nor citizenship, character nor value.

America's charter text affirms that "all men are created equal." The Constitution is premised on this assertion, in that it assumes human dignity and the right of representative self-government. Thus, the census is needed to assure that such self-government can be expressed accurately within the context of the U.S. Congress.

Instead, the Census form categorizes people not by citizenship and place of residence, but fundamentally by race and ethnicity. This is un-American.

Human beings are made in the likeness of their Creator.  This, with their citizenship and home address, is really all the Census Bureau needs to know.

EXTRAORDINARY ARCHITECTURE - KANSAS CITY, MO PUBLIC LIBRARY

FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL (FRC) ADDRESSES THREE ISSUES

I find FRC's Washington Update consistently well-written and well-argued.  Here is today's update:

So Help Us God

Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, [we] must fall with them (Jedediah Morse, 1799). Yesterday, 223 years to the day after patriots ratified an end the Revolutionary War, a judge in Wisconsin ruled to reintroduce tyranny in America--this time, from the bench. In a decision that is rocking our nation to its very core, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb determined that a national day of prayer--a tradition as old as the country itself--is unconstitutional. "...[R]ecognizing the importance of prayer to many people does not mean that the government may enact a statute in support of it..." With all due respect, the government may do exactly

ANOTHER PROBLEM OF DEFORESTATION

From an e-mail:

CHRISTIAN CO-OPS SWAP BURDEN OF MEDICAL BILLS

That's the title of an excellent MSNBC article that examines Christian medical sharing groups such as "Samaritan Ministries."  I have been a member of Samaritan Ministries for a number of years and can testify to its integrity, reliability, and all-round effectiveness.  Ever since I began this blog I have carried a link to Samaritan Ministries in the upper right area of the blog.

"THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS" IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Charles Colson says:

. . . Our founding fathers understood the pursuit of happiness to mean the pursuit of a virtuous life. This concept of happiness comes from the Greek word eudaimonia—which refers to a life well-lived, a life rooted in truth. That is what happiness means, and that is what every man and woman has an inalienable right to pursue—a virtuous life.

JONAH GOLDBERG - "EMPATHY AND THE SUPREME COURT"

I like Goldberg's article, suitably subtitled,

"AP calls it a 'fight-for-the-little-guy sensibility;' I call it state-sanctioned prejudice."

Goldberg says:

Obama and the vast majority of Senate Democrats believe that Lady Justice should peek from under the blindfold every now and then.

He quotes former Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman who wrote last year:

 “I’ve never been sure why Lady Justice wore a blindfold as part of her permanent wardrobe. Yes, it’s supposed to be a symbol of impartiality. But it does limit her vision a bit.” For Goodman, the best judges reject the “myth” of impartiality.

To which Goldberg responds:

Of course impartial justice is an abstraction, but it isn’t so much a myth as an ideal. Since we are all designed from the crooked timber of humanity, we can only approximate perfect justice.

What I don’t understand is why we should abandon an ideal simply because it is unattainable. If I can’t be a perfect husband, should I get a divorce? If an umpire can’t call each game flawlessly, should he stop trying? Maybe for 95 percent of pitches the ump should call ’em straight, but for the other 5 percent he should give the black or gay batters the benefit of the doubt?

He goes on:

In a country this vast, diverse, and dynamic, any judicial conception of the little guy is bound to confuse more than it clarifies. . .

Unless the plight of every gay, black, poor, old, or disabled American is the same, then coming into court favoring a specific category of human being is nothing more than state-sanctioned prejudice.

The benefit of the ideal of impartial justice is that it provides a standard by which judges aren’t asked to rule by prejudice. We’ll never fully get there, but I don’t think we should stop trying.

"LEAVING ISLAM" AD CAMPAIGN BEGINS IN SOUTH FLORIDA

- Update 4/18/10 - Pamela Geller writes:

Looks like Muslims and apostates who want to be free are in desperate need of the SIOA bus ads. Miami Dade capitulated to Muslim Brotherhood bullying and supremacism and killed the ads, and we are suing.

- (Original Post) Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have teamed up to found a new movement: "SIOA" - "Stop the Islamization of America."  They have created signs on Miami buses that offer help and hope to those who fear being killed by relatives or other Muslims should they choose to leave Islam.  Pamela Geller writes:

This is the first time anyone has offered public help to those who are threatened under Islam's apostasy law. In the Land of the Free, government and law enforcement should be on this. But they aren't. So we are. It is time for free citizens to stand for freedom -- or lose it.

Here are some photos:

Geller says the ad campaign is designed to counter the deceptive bus campaigns that Muslim Brotherhood groups (CAIR, ICNA, ISNA) have sponsored across the country inviting conversion to Islam (dawah) such as the following:

 

Pamela Geller's message to those contemplating leaving Islam is:

America is the land of the free, and apostates must know they are free here. Safe here.

Rifqa Bary can do it. So can you. Freedom of religion is an unalienable right. Sharia law holds no weight or legitimacy here. Apostates are deliciously free to leave Islam and be who and whatever that want to be.

That was the objective of the bus campaign created for SIOA and FDI. We set up a website RefugefromIslam.org for would-be apostates from Islam.

We want to help.

Me: Good for Pamela and Robert!

UPDATE: Robert announces it here.

FACEBOOK PRIVACY CONCERNS PERSIST

Story here. (HT: Drudge)

JUDGES AND THE CONSTITUTION

Marco Rubio seeks Florida's Republican senatorial nomination.  His position on judges and the constitution is perfect.  Be sure to listen to the last half as well as the beginning.  It's quite short.  Would that all senators had the same perspective.

HOW WELL DO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS KNOW THE CONSTITUTION?

Here's a three-minute video of a citizen springing a pop-quiz on Congressman Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey   The point is these men and women are sworn to "uphold the Consititution of the United States."  That's mighty hard to do if you don't know what it says.  Shame.    

"Allahpundit" says:

The point here, of course, is to demonstrate what an afterthought the Constitution has become for members of Congress. No surprise, then, that the item that’s currently getting the most votes for the proposed tea party “Contract from America” is the one demanding that each new bill cite the section of the Constitution that empowers Congress to act. Although how useful would that be, really? No matter what the purpose of the bill is, the citation will always, always be to the Commerce Clause. It entitles Congress to do anything it wants, don’tcha know.

AP: OBAMA TO DELETE REFERENCES TO ISLAMIC EXTREMISM FROM NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY

Excuse me, but I find this idiotic.  Click here. 

Ed Morissey has it right:

It makes us look weak and afraid of radical Islamists in general.  It also makes us look dishonest, and it insults the intelligence of everyone Obama aims to impress.  This kind of exercise asks Muslims to engage in intellectual dishonesty, rather than challenge them to oppose the radical Islamists in their midst and defeat that ideology.

Me:  But Morrissey is too kind by half.  This is an administration that is half-witted.  Better make that 1/4 witted.  I happened to hear Rush Limbaugh for a few minutes today.  I think he's right when he concluded that President Obama sees every problem and threat in the world as America's fault, and if we play nicey nice, everybody will love us.   Oh Lord, save us from Ivy League intellectuals like Obama.  (I am not taking the Lord's name in vain.  It is a sincere prayer of mine.)

Here are Limbaugh's actual words:

So this is it.  Obama and his idealists, young whippersnappers, think the United States is the problem.  We are attacked because we deserve to be.  We have been imperialists, we've overstepped our bounds in the world, it's totally understandable why they would attack us and commit acts of terror against us. . . So the premise is we deserve it.  We should have been hit.  It's time we face the facts, and to prevent them from hitting us again, we have to acknowledge that.  Stop calling them Islamic radicals, stop calling them terrorists, instead build them hospitals.  I can't imagine what it must be like to be in a family who lost someone in 9/11 to hear about this guy's plans for the Muslim world. . .

If we can't call Islamic radicals "Islamic radicals," we shouldn't call rapists "rapists."  We should call them "uninvited perpetrators," or "penetrators," if you wish.  Murderer?  Do you think people like being called a murderer, even if they are?  Do you think that's going to forge a decent relationship with murderers?  All we do is put 'em in prison, we make 'em even angrier.  And calling them murderers is even worse.  We just need to call them something vague, like a "carbon footprint reducer."  That covers all kinds of political correct ground.   Serial killer? Who wants to be called a serial killer?  Doesn't that offend people?  We don't want to have an outreach to serial killers, do we? "Global warming warrior."  Call a serial killer a "global warming warrior" 'cause that's a massive carbon footprint reduction.

SPIRITUALITY AND BASKETBALL: TRACING THE GAME'S ORIGINS

The desire to serve God resulted in the invention of the game of basketball.  John A. Murray, writing in the Wall Street Journal, tells the fascinating story of James Naismoth, the game's inventor.  The year was 1891.  Naismoth

moved to Springfield, Mass., to serve as a physical-education instructor at the Young Men's Christian Association's International Training School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College). Naismith's vision? "To win men for the Master through the gym."

Encouraged by his director, Luther Gulick, Naismith set out to create an indoor activity for students during the winter months. Having studied European gymnastics models, and toyed with indoor versions of football, soccer and lacrosse, Naismith spent two weeks testing various games with his assigned athletics class—with no success. Finally, Naismith decided to draw from all of these sports: with a ball that could be easily handled, play that involved running and passing with no tackling, and a goal at each end of the floor. Thus, at a Springfield YMCA in 1891, was the game of basketball born.

It's an extremely interesting, short read.  Chuck Colson adds his personal comments.

CONGRESSMAN PAUL RYAN'S FIRST-RATE SPEECH ON AMERICA'S ECONOMIC CRISIS

Click here.  Ryan's speech beckons us to a new American Revolution.  Ryan has produced a taxonomy of what is dangerous about the Democratic takeover of government, health care, and private industry, but he doesn't leave it there.  He offers a road map towards what needs to be done.  Mark it on your "Favorite" list.  Refer to it often.  If we heed Ryan's warning and advice, we may yet see a burst of renewal and a turning from the current threatening clouds on the horizon.  The stakes are high.

(I hope Mark Steyn's Puddleglum view -- that America is now incapable (read: "too far gone") to muster the required strength for the "long march" to freedom - can be proven wrong.  Though I fear he may be right.)  Ryan's speech: [emphases mine]

PRSIDENT OBAMA AND PRESIDENT BUSH THROWING A BASEBALL FROM THE MOUND

I was struck by Daniel Foster's observation:

Watching the president [Obama] throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Nats game yesterday (which you can watch on the homepage), I couldn't help but think of President Bush's first turn at that task. Yankee Stadium in October of 2001, under much different circumstances.

As Bush chatted with the Yanks in their clubhouse before the game, he was reportedly told by Derek Jeter that, if he missed the plate, he'd be booed — "United We Stand" or not.

As you can see, though he was burdened with heavy body armor under his FDNY fleece, Bush didn't miss the plate. He fired a sinker in there for a belt-high strike. Just sayin'.

Me: If you watch Obama throw a baseball, and you are a guy who has personally played catch since you were a kid, you won't be impressed.  To put it mildly.  Below:  President Bush at Yankee Stadium shortly after 9/11.   Impressive.  To put it mildly.

THE C-SPAN ARCHIVE REVISITED

I published once before about the c-span archive and I do so once again on the strength of Jim Kearney's recent post which highlights additional video.  Herewith some of Kearney's recommendations (and only some, check his post for more):

Sarah Palin might enjoy C-SPAN’s interview with an earlier conservative superstar, Margaret Thatcher, discussing The Downing Street Years in 1993.

Important thinkers are also stars in the C-SPAN firmament. Free from pressures

FJORDMAN REVIEWS WAFA SULTAN'S "A GOD WHO HATES"

Pamela Geller today published Fjordman's devastating review of Wafa Sultan's new book, "A God Who Hates."  I thought I knew a lot about Islam, but learned a lot more from the review. 

Fjordman writes:

The book A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam was written by Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American ex-Muslim. Breaking with Islam takes tremendous courage, as the traditional death penalty for leaving Islam is still upheld today. The only good byproduct of Muslim immigration to the West is that it has allowed a handful of such former Muslims to publish their thoughts about leaving Islam. One of these titles is Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out, edited by Ibn Warraq. Another is

IPAD LIMITATIONS

I had no intention of buying an Ipad in the first place, but if I had thought about it, these problems would have caused me to drop the idea.

CHRIST IS RISEN!

The Stone is rolled away!!  He is Risen!!

Andrew Petersen - Rise Up, O You Sleeper, Awake: Jesus Makes All things New!  (HT: Justin Taylor)  A free song from Andrew Peterson, from his album The Resurrection Letters volume 2:

Download the MP3.

Here are the lyrics:

Come broken and weary
Come battered and bruised
My Jesus makes all things new
All things new

Come lost and abandoned
Come blown by the wind
He’ll bring you back home again
Home again

Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
The dawn is upon you
Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
He makes all things new
All things new

Come burning with shame
Come frozen with guilt
My Jesus, he loves you still
Loves you still

Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
The dawn is upon you
Rise up, O you sleeper, awake
He makes all things new
He makes all things new

The world was good
The world is fallen
The world will be redeemed

So hold on to the promise
The stories are true
That Jesus makes all things new
(The dawn is upon you)

Words by Andrew Peterson

Music by Andrew Peterson, Ben Shive, and Andy Gullahorn

-- Ben Witherington provides a useful discussion of the Shroud of Turin (it just may be authentic!) and concludes:

  If the Shroud of Turin is genuine, it is a miracle worth discussing.  But at most it points to a much greater miracle, the message of which is this----   God's Yes to life, is a thousand times louder than death's No!  Death does not have the last word about us,  God does.  

QUICK TAKES

Ed Morrissey - Amnesty International: Haters of Western Civilization and defenders of Jihad.  Really?  Yes. Right up there with CAIR and Human Rights Watch.

--  Mark Steyn - Shame!  Black Congressmen lie about racial epithets   Breitbart - $100,000 offered for evidence.  No takers