Brutally Honest

Bush didn't lie... Saddam did...

Via American Digest comes this must read Investor's Business Daily piece:

Yes, the linchpin of opposition to the Iraq War — never really strong to begin with — has taken some real hits in recent weeks. And "Bush lied" — the anti-war mantra about the president, Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction — looks the most battered.

Inconveniently for critics of the war, Saddam made tapes in his version of the Oval Office. These tapes landed in the hands of American intelligence and were recently aired publicly.

The first 12 hours of the tapes — there are hundreds more waiting to be translated — are damning, to say the least. They show conclusively that Bush didn't lie when he cited Saddam's WMD plans as one of the big reasons for taking the dictator out.

Nobody disputes the tapes' authenticity. On them, Saddam talks openly of programs involving biological, chemical and, yes, nuclear weapons.

War foes have long asserted that Saddam halted his WMD programs in the wake of his defeat in the first Gulf War in 1991. Saddam's abandonment of WMD programs was confirmed by subsequent U.N. inspections.

Again, not true. In a tape dating to April 1995, Saddam and several aides discuss the fact that U.N. inspectors had found traces of Iraq's biological weapons program. On the tape, Hussein Kamel, Saddam's son-in-law, is heard gloating about fooling the inspectors.

"We did not reveal all that we have," he says. "Not the type of weapons, not the volume of the materials we imported, not the volume of the production we told them about, not the volume of use. None of this was correct."

There's more. Indeed, as late as 2000, Saddam can be heard in his office talking with Iraqi scientists about his ongoing plans to build a nuclear device. At one point, he discusses Iraq's plasma uranium program — something that was missed entirely by U.N. weapons inspectors combing Iraq for WMD.

And missed by our beloved MSM who've been busy trumpeting Bush's alleged lies while ignoring Hussein's.

Hey, pass this on to your friends too, God knows you won't read this kind of stuff in your paper and He knows you'll not hear it on the evening news.

Bush numbers down, CBS knows why

Greg Sheffield brings us the low-down... and I do mean low-down:

In its classic "fair and balanced" tradition, CBS slanted in favor of Democrats its poll that found Bush has a 34 percent approval rating and a 59 percent disapproval rating, an all-time high for a CBS poll.

On the bottom of the PDF version of the poll (page 18) it says how many Democrats versus Republicans were contacted.

"Total Republicans" contacted: 272 unweighted and 289 weighted.

"Total Democrats" contacted: 409 unweighted and 381 weighted.

"Total Independents" contacted: 337 unweighted and 348 weighted.

Interesting eh... but not surprising given that this is the less than vaunted ex-employer of Dan "fake but accurate" Rather...

And then there's this:

Apparently the Washington Post and CBS have their difficulties with mathematics these days. Earlier today, the Post reported that the death toll in Iraq from reprisals following the destruction of the Askariya shrine in Samarra had topped 1,300. Later today, most news organizations agree with Iraqi and American officials that the Post's numbers were greatly exaggerated...

So can anyone blame the President when he hails alternative media?

President Bush, for the first time, is hailing the rise of the alternative media and the decline of the mainstream media, which he now says “conspired” to harm him with forged documents.

“I find it interesting that the old way of gathering the news is slowly but surely losing market share,” Bush said in an exclusive interview for the new book STRATEGERY. “It’s interesting to watch these media conglomerates try to deal with the realities of a new kind of world.” 

Indeed.  A kind of world that fact checks the so called fact checkers... and finds them falling woefully short.

Pass this on, especially to those who get their news from the MSM.

Serious Unhingement

Remember folks... they like to call this something other than subversive... in fact, they like to call it patriotism:

Storm the White House
Multi-Day Event, Beginning March 15, come when you can and stay as long as you can - we are taking over the White House until they leave.
Wednesday, March 15th 2006 12:00 AM
Washington, DC USA

TAKE THE WHITE HOUSE BY STORM - Stop Genocide, Torture and Occupation

U.N. SOS - We need your help to end the reign of international criminals.

It is our duty and the duty of the United Nations to rescue the people of the world from the U.S. dictators. Murder for occupation and theft of land is illegal. Murder of journalists is criminal. Remove the traitors who have stolen the U.S. budget and used it to commit international crimes against humanity.

If we were being bombed and our journalists were being murdered here in the U.S. by a foreign country's military, we would hope that the people of that country would stop what they are doing and go to their president's office and demand that it was stopped. If we were the ones burying thousands and thousands of our family members and watching the destruction of the homes, schools, churches and offices that we had worked for decades to build, we would hope that someone, somewhere would care enough to do something for us. We must stop the criminals in our government NOW. There is no meeting with Congress that is going to change what they are doing. We must put the power of the people into action and stay there until they leave!

Inviting everyone to the White House for a protest rally to show that we do not accept the criminal government, illegal wars and the permanent occupation planned for Iraq and Afghanistan. For Nat Turner, For Martin and Coretta, For all the Torture and Assassination in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti and many others - We will not allow the Slave Holders that Still Prevail in this Country to Rule us any longer. Imprisonment and torture based on race, religion, resources or region is no different than the slavery we sought to abolish years ago. The Administration is Criminal and if they will not step down, we must storm in, show them how many of us do not accept a criminal government. How can we stand by and watch them kill our brothers, sisters, journalists and friends for their dollars?

We're talking serious loons here folks... serious loons... let's see how many moonbats show up on March 15th in D.C.  And let's see how many so called mainstream Democrats react.

Stay tuned.

H/T to Citizen Smash.

Cartoon Wars: The American Counter-Offensive

Via the EclectEcon-omist.

My favorite:

Reminds me, on a less violent scale, of the tolerance and respect accorded me by certain members of The Religous Left.

The Elite's double standard and the danger posed

Ben Stein spells it out:

So here's where we are: we have a first amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech and separation of church and state. That means so-called artists can make art of a crucifix soaking in urine and of holy Christian images made of animal dung and no one can stop them. That means bookstores of brick and on-line can sell Mein Kampf and the vilest writings of Hitler's lackeys. These horrible excrescences are protected and the media screams bloody murder if anyone tries to protect the sacred in Christianity and Judaism from the most putrid attacks.

But the media censors itself about the cartoons mocking the prophet of a religion many of whose adherents want to destroy our country and our way of life. We will fight to the death to protect the artists who create Piss Christ, but we'll also fight to the death to protect the feelings of the people who hate us and kill our children. We have surrendered our free expression to people who are at war with us. They kill us in the name of a religion and we bow and scrape to that religion while letting people dump on Christianity and Judaism.

There's a word for this, beyond the words Stockholm Syndrome and the words Political Correctness. The word is cowardice. Or maybe an even shorter word: defeat. Wake up, America. This is serious.

Ben has articulated in detail what I tried to communicate in title only here.

H/T to Winger.

I can't be surprised...

... by the success of John Grogan's "Marley and Me -- Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog":

The story is more than a recounting of Marley's antics that include chewing through doors, expulsion from obedience school, clawing paint off concrete walls, devouring furniture, swallowing valuable jewelry and swooning over soiled diapers.

The excitable, good-natured lab also knows how to protect the family's tiny children and consoles the couple when they grieve over a miscarriage.

The nonfiction book has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 17 weeks. It seems likely to break the barrier of a million copies sold, a feat generally accomplished by no more than a dozen books each year in the U.S. hardcover non-fiction market.

"It's really not just a dog book," Grogan said in an interview with Reuters.

"Before Marley, our life was about career, relationship, and ourselves," said Grogan, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. "He helped us shift from an egocentric life to something more generous."

In the book, Grogan wrote: "Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things -- a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in the shaft of winter sunlight.

"And as he grew old and achy, he taught he about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty."

A month has passed since we lost our beloved Sadie and daily we're dealing with the emptiness her death has brought us.  I still find myself amazed at how deep our affection for her was.  I had never thought that I could get so attached to a dog.

Mrs. BH has set foot in the backyard only a couple of times since January 23rd.  She's told me that it's still too hard to go back there and not expect to see her. It's where we spent a lot of time with Sadie. 

We come home from work and at times forget that she's gone and then a quick glance over at the chair we usually found her in and it all comes back, along with that painful longing her death has left us with.  It seems odd to even write those words, after all she was just a dog.  Even as I write them, sitting in the lazy-boy with the laptop, I expect to see her plop down beside me where I could reach down, as I have countless times before, and scratch her behind the ears, something that brought her visible joy.

There have been times at night when the imagination plays tricks on me and I think I hear her breathing.  She used to sleep on my side of the bedroom in her bed and more times than not I'd have to nudge her because of her snoring. God but wouldn't I love to hear that snore again. 

There were many mornings when as I got up to start my day, I'd reach down and cover her back up as she lay in her bed.  Many of those mornings she'd give me a look that seemed to say thanks.  Many of those same mornings she'd lay in that bed covered up well past the time Mrs. BH and I had awakened to begin the day.  Now there's a rather large empty space where her bed used to be, an empty space matched by the one felt deep down inside.

All this over a dog yes, but a dog that unconditionally loved us, that minded little when we were cranky, that brought comfort when we needed it, that somehow made us feel secure, snug, wanted and yes... beyond doubt, loved.

Sadie, I think, gave us a glimpse, a peek, a small token, by design I'd like to believe, of God's love for His creation.  When He made creation, He called it good.  When He created Sadie, He did that which was exceptionally good.

We miss that goodness very much.

UPDATE: If this post is a bit of a downer for ya, I encourage a visit to Dr. Bob who has his own dog story that's more than a tad upbeat.

Jason McElwain, autistic team manager: Hitting nothing but net

There is something simply redeeming about this goose-bump raising story (with accompanying video):

It was the stuff of Hollywood, but it was real.

Senior Jason McElwain had been the manager of the varsity basketball team of Greece Athena High School in Rochester, N.Y.

McElwain, who's autistic, was added to the roster by coach Jim Johnson so he could be given a jersey and get to sit on the bench in the team's last game of the year.

Johnson hoped the situation would even enable him to get McElwain onto the floor a little playing time.

He got the chance, with Greece Athena up by double-digits with four minutes to go. And, in his first action of the year, McElwain missed his first two shots, but then sank six three-pointers and another shot, for a total of 20 points in three minutes.

Sweet.  Simply sweet.

The Religious Left and their utopian ideal will kill us all

.

Any questions?

The New Viking

Porgy & Bess was definitely a jewel in the crown of George Gershwin.  It heralded an all black cast at a time when white performers wearing black face would have been more acceptable and blended complex classical and jazz musical elements generating a musical which would require its musicians to ascend to the difficult task of its performance.

It was both socially and musically challenging.

With this in mind, sail with me across the pond to Denmark where at one time Porgy & Bess was having a social impact of another sort.  Place yourself in this moment in Denmark, many years ago, brought to you by an old NY Times article:

His music surfaced unexpectedly in Denmark one evening just after World War II in Tivoli, Copenhagen's idyllic amusement park. The lights that German troops had smashed during the occupation had just gone on again. In the restored concert hall, an evening of music concluded with a rendition of ''It Ain't Necessarily So,'' from Gershwin's ''Porgy and Bess,'' and the audience applauded with astonishing ardor.

Why? Some Danes explained: During the occupation, the nightly Danish-language German propaganda broadcasts would boast of great German victories and humiliating Allied defeats. And every night an elusive resistance station would cut in, at the conclusion of the German boasts, with the opening bars of ''It Ain't Necessarily So.'' No words; no comment. George Gershwin had become a Danish folk hero. In a dark hour, he provided a theme song of optimism.

There they were in war torn Europe, trying to maintain some perspective of reality while being presented with so many Nazi lies when they heard the beginning of a song that said this:

I'm preachin' dis sermon to show,
It ain't nece-ain't nece
Ain't nece-ain't nece
Ain't necessarily ... so !

How poignant that the music of George Gershwin, Jewish no less, would bring optimism to the Danes who were among the many nations facing a most heinous regime. It all speaks to the essence of the Danish people.  Nelson Ascher over at EuroPundits makes this perceptive observation:

I’d say this proves quite clearly that 60 years ago the Danes had already a much more developed sense of humour than those who are nowadays burning down their embassies or those who are too cowardly to speak up against the barbarians.

Now that we've moved from America to Europe, lets pan out from those events of WWII and the events of today and look at it all wearing the glasses of history. 

Vikings used to be tyrants.  Feared and dreaded.  They would sail themselves somewhere uninvited, rape, pillage and burn, take what they pleased, and leave chaos in their wake.

Sound familiar?

If I'm not mistaken, those in what is now Europe cowered back then too.  Until something happened.  Remember?  Generations later, these people who would turn the bravest knees to jelly are now offering ski poles to their competitors in the Olympics.  Forever changed.

If I may make a bold pronouncement, I might suggest that Europe is now facing the new Viking, and how fitting that the Vikings of old are in the centre of the action. The past has tempered them, perhaps for such a time as this.  They are quietly persistent.

So for all of us in the global village who are finding our social norms challenged let us never forget what played a significant role in taming the Vikings.  It is the same thing that will bring peace today. 

And above all, when sifting through the heaps of information tossed at us, let us never forget that sometimes:

It ain't necessarily so.

Hat tip to Pajamas Media where Nelson Archer has posted.

...Leslie

Jesus, proof-texts, Liberalism and Islam - Yes, they're connected

The always brilliant (yet sleepless) Leslie brings us to Some Strange Ideas:

All Christians throughout history have used proof-texts. Jesus did. Paul did. The Patristic writings are full of them. The Reformers would list out whole pages of individual texts to support a point, often from Scripture but also from the church fathers and the medievals. As one recent commenter pointed out on the blog Faith and Theology, even contemporary academic theologians proof-text. They just prefer selections from Barth and Moltmann to the Bible.

Perhaps we would not need any of these concise statements if we all had time to read extensive exigetical studies on every relevant point in Scripture, but I also don't think that all of the Bible is so hopelessly complex that it warrants a graduate degree to understand. Sometimes it just means what it says, and a short saying does just fine.

The whole thing is worthy.  In fact, Daniel Nairn, the blogger with Some Strange Ideas is impressive.  The guy's only 26.  I have some suits (that I still wear) that are older than Daniel.  But I digress.  I encourage folks to check Daniel out.  Here's something I found  over there that just resonates (and yes, I'm excerpting at length here but read it anyway, trust me it's that good):

Rough sketch: The ideological system of Liberalism and traditional Christianity have been at odds since the salad days of the enlightenment, when Voltaire and his buddies seemed like voices in the wilderness. As the progressive liberal order grew in intellectual respectability and raw numbers of followers, the clash between the Christian world-view also intensified. Pretty standard history.

However, liberals figured out fairly quickly that subversion from underneath was far more effective than direct confrontation with the previous order. The cry "there is no god" was soon replaced by, "sure there is a god, but he is like this." To mesh with the axiom of personal autonomy, the Christian faith gradually became defined as an individual spirituality and its public view of truth was careful extracted. This is an old story. Many classic books were written to address this: For the Reformed, Gresham Machen wrote Christianity and Liberalism. For the Anglican, G.K. Chesterson wrote Orthodoxy. Of course, the movement that bares the name fundamentalism arose out of the Fundamentals, published in response to liberal theology. And, the subversive liberal missionary efforts show no signs of letting up.

Now ... I want to do anything I can to defend the meatiness of Christian doctrine against a force that seeks to transform it into a vacuous shell of meaning - because I am a Christian. However, what am I to do when I see the exact same thing being done to the religion of Islam? Perhaps the most prominent liberal missionary is Canadian Journalist Ishrad Manji, who has written the book The Trouble with Islam Today. She takes a hard-edged approach to radical Islam, and has received some flak from other liberal Muslims who are more multi-culturally sensitive. She writes:

"I appreciate that every faith has its share of literalists. Christians have their Evangelicals. Jews have the ultra-Orthodox. For God's sake, even Buddhists have fundamentalists. But what this book hammers home is that only in Islam is literalism mainstream."

And, or course, she would like to reduce this number and promote independent-thinking "Islam for the 21st century." There are numerous other liberal activists around the globe hoping to do the same thing.

I cautiously applaud this effort as a way to make Muslims more amenable to free society, even as I resist the same exact tactics when they are lodged against Christianity, as they have been for more than a century now. Could Christians see this as a sort of pre-evangelism for Muslims, a group that has been notoriously difficult to penetrate with the gospel? Liberalism, after all, arose out of Christianity, and still bears some affinity to a Christian moral system. Is it possible that the full glass of Islam can be emptied into the amoralism of liberal autonomy, only to be filled again by the true liberation that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

26 years old.  Incredible.

Put Some Strange Ideas on the blogroll.  I did.  And thank you Leslie, what a find (and folks, she was quite the find herself... all these brilliant youngsters, it defines hope for me).