Brutally Honest

Darfur momentum

I think it a good thing really that this kind of pressure is being applied:

Thousands of people joined celebrities and lawmakers at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.

“Not on our watch!” the crowd chanted as a parade of speakers lined up for their turn on a stage on the National Mall, the Capitol serving as a backdrop.

...

The event attracted high-profile speakers such as actor George Clooney, just back from Africa; Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California; Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel; Olympic speedskating champion Joey Cheek, who gave his bonus money to the cause; and Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington.

”If we care, the world will care,” Obama told the crowd. ”If we act, then the world will follow.” Pelosi said Democrats for once agree with Bush: ”This genocide must stop.”

Clooney and his father, Nick, a former television anchorman, interviewed families in Sudanese refugee camps. The elder Clooney described their role as reporters. ”It’s our job to tell you what we saw,” he said. ”Thousands of people hanging on by the most gossamer of threads.”

Those high profile names do however tend to make one pause and think.  One like Sgt. Hook:

I applaud Mr. Clooney and his dad for speaking out, and I applaud those who have taken to the streets calling for “deeds, not words.” I only hope they understand and support what they are asking for.

You see, “deeds” translates to diplomatic action backed up by military action and if one truly wants the genocide in Darfur to end, then one must eventually endorse the employment of U.S. forces to eliminate said evil. Now, I’m all for eliminating evil, however, I can’t help but wonder if Mr. Clooney and his supporters are ready to have American Soldiers and Marines pay the ultimate price in achieving their end. I mean, why aren’t the same folks marching in support of our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan? I’m just sayin.

I wonder, don't you, what The Religious Left will say when troops are inevitably dispatched to the region?

So... you're searching for meaning...

... and you're pondering the deeper things of God... so you stop here and read:

The ideology of capitalism is based on an "individualistic logic"--which is not to be confused with a focus on people--and here we start to see the doctrines of our "religion", all based on a faulty anthropology.

First, it is determined that to be human is to consume. Then, humans are modeled as abstract individuals. The objective, then, is to maximize the number of choices available to the individual, so as to optimize their happiness. (We can see how this system can spin out of control: In order to continue to grow, producers must generate new tastes for their increased production. Apparently there is much that we as individuals desperately need that we are not yet aware of.) The ultimate goal of this "faith" is happiness through material wealth and liberation from social constraint.

Of course, God stands in opposition to this religion. The Levitical principle of Jubilee maintains the connection between people, community and place. This is a very different economic vision than capitalism. Also, the incident at Babel illustrates God's opposition to oppressive conformity. The application of diversity is a biblical principle, and as the transformation at Pentecost demonstrated, all have a place in the redeemed community.

In considering our question it seems that capitalism does indeed function as a "religion" in our culture, and a destructive one at that. We need to stand in opposition to this ideology with our own Christian anthropology: As a community we need to rediscover and emphasize what it means to be human in Christ, who was himself perfectly human, in the face of the dehumanizing powers. We must be willing to give support to Christian communities other than our own. And we must reclaim Christianity's original characteristic of being counter-cultural. The religions of capitalism and Christianity cannot be harmonized; to be a disciple of one is to stand in opposition to the other.

Wow... I feel closer to God now...  you?

But wait, in the comments to this post, there's more:

Capitalism is not a religion because it does not answer the fundamental questions of 'who am i?', 'where have i come from/ am I going?' and 'why?' - although maybe Marxism does?

The Religious Left... doing for Christ and His purposes what only they can do...

Promote Marxism/Socialism over Capitalism while considering this something that will endear you to God and move you...

Feeling moved?

I've enlisted...

... in the 101st Fighting Keyboardists:

Frank J of IMAO, Derek Brigham of Freedom Dogs, and I have decided to create -- for real -- the 101st Fighting Keyboardists and adopt the chicken hawk as our mascot. First of all, the term "fighting keyboardist" describes our efforts pretty well, and we think the pseudo-military terminology is pretty danged amusing. Derek himself designed the logo.

And why the chicken hawk? When we looked into it, it turns out that the chicken hawk is a pretty impressive predator. It's the largest of its family. This species vigorously defends its territory, getting even more aggressive when the conditions get harshest. It adapts to all climates. Most impressively, it feeds on chickens, mice, and rats.

Make of that what you will.Frank, Derek, and I invite you to join the 101st Fighting Keyboardists (motto: We Eat Chickens For Lunch). I'm starting a blogroll and will post the code for other members to display on their blogs. We welcome all of those who feel they qualify for the unit, but especially those who have a sense of humor as well as a sense of purpose. This way, the next time someone refers to you as a chicken hawk for your blogging, you can remind them that as a member of the 101, your talons are your best weapon and that feeding time is near!

Last night's movie has put me in a kick-butt mood, this is probably my best avenue for relief.

H/T to Baldilocks, the first to sign up.

United 93 - You're either for it or for the other side

No, it's not an oversimplification to say so.  And you're a fool to think otherwise.  You either understand what western civilization is facing or you don't.  It's either them or us.  It's black or white.  There is no grey.

United 93 draws the proverbial line in the sand and you're either on the side of the heroic passengers or you're on the side of the Islamists who turned our lives upside down on 9/11.  To try to complicate things is to obfuscate them.  The movie paints the picture clearly.

It begins simply and ominously.

Morning prayer rituals.  Ceremonial washing and shaving.  The hijackers methodically and calmly preparing themselves. 

Gradually the scene shifts and the victims are introduced.

You're lulled into the normal as you overhear snippets of conversations. The pilots speaking of future plans with the wife or a baby that has begun to sleep through the night.  The stewardesses chatting about boring magazines or whether there's enough sugar on the flight.  The passengers leisurely eating fruit or clicking away on their laptops.  All of them doomed.

And then back to the hijackers.  Something other than wide-eyed-frothing-at-the-mouth-fanatical-madmen.  Which of course is the point.  They know what they're doing,  They're purposeful about it.  They're committed.  Are we?

Then there's the foreboding closing of the airplane doors as they ready to pull away from the gate.  The heart begins to pound harder.  The palms of your hands now wet with nervous anticipation.  You know how this ends.

Those who see this movie as exploitive are simply wrong.  Those who believe it's too soon more so.  To say such things is to play into the hands of those who want us dead.  We are at war.  The movie tells us why.  It's good to be reminded.

On the way in to the movie we bump into our neighbors.  They're on their way out and ask us what we're going to see. I chuckle aloud and say we're going to see the movie that will further divide this country. 

A throw away line meant to be funny.

UPDATE: Smash relives United 93's final moments.  A must read.

Touché

Gettin' even...

... in Jesus' name:

As you may be aware, a small newspaper has printed some rather degrading pictures of Jesus, presumably in order to provoke a response, and as a counterpoint to the Mohammed cartoons. Fair enough; as a classical liberal, I support their right to do so.

However, as a Christian, I’m deeply offended by this obscene mockery of my Lord and Saviour. So in response, I’m going to unleash my religion’s most powerful weapon:

Read the rest.

H/T: PJMedia.

Simian Rights...

...seriously:

The Spanish Socialist Party will introduce a bill in the Congress of Deputies calling for "the immediate inclusion of (simians) in the category of persons, and that they be given the moral and legal protection that currently are only enjoyed by human beings." The PSOE's justification is that humans share 98.4% of our genes with chimpanzees, 97.7% with gorillas, and 96.4% with orangutans.

The party will announce its Great Ape Project at a press conference tomorrow. An organization with the same name is seeking a UN declaration on simian rights which would defend ape interests "the same as those of minors and the mentally handicapped of our species."

According to the Project, "Today only members of the species Homo sapiens are considered part of the community of equals. The chimpanzee, the gorilla, and the orangutan are our species's closest relatives. They possess sufficient mental faculties and emotional life to justify their inclusion in the community of equals." 

How long before the Democrats champion this cause and begin voter registration drives at local zoos?

Hmm?

Thanks Tom for the story (and the joke).

Look your loved one in the eye...

... and tell them what they mean to you:

My precious and beautiful wife, Allie, passed away during the night. I found her lifeless body on the floor of the bathroom at 3:30 a.m. The paramedics did everything they could, but she was already gone. We have no idea what happened. She was young (41). She was fit. She was so full of life that it's, frankly, very hard to believe she is gone.

I'm in shock and obviously grieving, but I wanted to let you know and write a few words about what she meant to me. It's my way.

She was my life, folks. She was my inspiration, the one who reached in and brought out all my essays. With her unrelenting encouragement, I've written 65 or so essays about broadcasting, postmodernism and new media. None of that would've been possible without my Alicia Faith.

...

She knew I loved her, and I knew she loved me. We were fortunate and blessed for that. We just talked about it yesterday, about how our love had actually grown since our wedding 18 months ago. I'm so very lucky to have had those months with such a precious and pure soul. Words cannot express how much I miss her.

May God hold her safely in His arms now and forever.

Reynolds brought this one to us.  Bringing to life the inevitability of death, in a gut-smacking way.

My death is something I can deal with.  I cannot imagine losing Linda.  We'll soon celebrate 25 years of marriage.  Tonight we were choosing shore excursions for our celebratory Alaskan cruise we'll take in September.  Then minutes later, I come across Terry Heaton's post.

Lord, be with Terry.  Tangibly.  Help him cope tonight.  Help him hope tomorrow.  And help us all prepare for that day when a loved one is lost. 

I cannot fathom the pain.  I cannot fathom how one moves forward, how one re-engages.  Numerous times I've wondered if my love for Linda is sinful.  An odd thought, I know, probably birthed from that mindset that thinks the overwhelmingly pleasant, the overwhelmingly desirous, must be something God would rather we let go of.  I pray tonight that I will be more cognizant and aware that life is indeed short.  I pray that I'll not underestimate the value of companionship or love returned.  I pray that I'll not waste precious minutes, hours, days doing that which in the end has no meaning.

I pray the same for you.

Enraging the Bush Deranged

Natan Sharansky-style:

There are two distinct marks of a dissident. First, dissidents are fired by ideas and stay true to them no matter the consequences. Second, they generally believe that betraying those ideas would constitute the greatest of moral failures. Give up, they say to themselves, and evil will triumph. Stand firm, and they can give hope to others and help change the world.

Political leaders make the rarest of dissidents. In a democracy, a leader's lifeline is the electorate's pulse. Failure to be in tune with public sentiment can cripple any administration and undermine any political agenda. Moreover, democratic leaders, for whom compromise is critical to effective governance, hardly ever see any issue in Manichaean terms. In their world, nearly everything is colored in shades of gray.

That is why President George W. Bush is such an exception. He is a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability. Even the fiercest critics of these ideas would surely admit that Mr. Bush has championed them both before and after his re-election, both when he was riding high in the polls and now that his popularity has plummeted, when criticism has come from longstanding opponents and from erstwhile supporters.

With a dogged determination that any dissident can appreciate, Mr. Bush, faced with overwhelming opposition, stands his ideological ground, motivated in large measure by what appears to be a refusal to countenance moral failure.

...

Today, we are in the midst of a great struggle between the forces of terror and the forces of freedom. The greatest weapon that the free world possesses in this struggle is the awesome power of its ideas.

The Bush Doctrine, based on a recognition of the dangers posed by non-democratic regimes and on committing the United States to support the advance of democracy, offers hope to many dissident voices struggling to bring democracy to their own countries. The democratic earthquake it has helped unleash, even with all the dangers its tremors entail, offers the promise of a more peaceful world.

Yet with each passing day, new voices are added to the chorus of that doctrine's opponents, and the circle of its supporters grows ever smaller.

Critics rail against every step on the new and difficult road on which the United States has embarked. Yet in pointing out the many pitfalls which have not been avoided and those which still can be, those critics would be wise to remember that the alternative road leads to the continued oppression of hundreds of millions of people and the continued festering of the pathologies that led to 9/11.

Now that President Bush is increasingly alone in pushing for freedom, I can only hope that his dissident spirit will continue to persevere. For should that spirit break, evil will indeed triumph, and the consequences for our world would be disastrous.

Mr. Sharansky spent nine years as a political prisoner in the Soviet Gulag. A former deputy prime minister of Israel and currently a member of the Knesset, he is co-author, with Ron Dermer, of "The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror" (PublicAffairs, 2004). You can buy "The Case For Democracy" at the OpinionJournal bookstore here.

It should all be read.

Oh... and stand by for moonbat rage.

Tip of the fedora to The Anchoress

A matter of time?

I think so. Gerard does too, with effect:

Just a Little "Search and Replace" Exercise with Today's News Out of Egypt

Dozens reported dead and wounded in Aspen, Colorado blasts**

Dozens reported dead and wounded in tourist mecca bombings

Pool Coverage by Rodney G. Wentworth, ("Aspen Social Calendar"), Jack White ("Let's Ski Aspen!") and Jennifer Tiffany Beal, New York Times Spa Critic

Three explosions rocked Colorado Rocky Mountain resort town of Aspen on Monday night, leaving at least 30 people dead and 160 wounded.One blast hit the St Regis Aspen hotel, a second Olive's restaurant and the third explosion rocked the Whole Foods Supermarket in the resort town's tourist area about 7:15 p.m. local time (1715 GMT). Colorado authorities said the blasts were likely not caused by suicide bombers but rather bombs that had been planted.

This is high tourist season in Aspen with many high net-worth individuals bringing in their private jets and families for a Mothers' Day weekend, and and hotels from Glory Hole Park to West Main Street could be expected to be at near capacity.

"There is smoke coming from the area and from the ski slopes and there are people running everywhere," said a local waiter, who did not want to be named.

Thought provoking?  It ought to be.  Read it all.