Brutally Honest

Huh?

I'd like to think I'm pretty informed.  I'm a news junkie, a talk radio fan and of course, I peruse the blogosphere nearly daily.  So I thought, wrongly, that it'd be rare for me to hear an argument I'd not heard before about Obama's PastorGate.

Today I talked to someone who made me think I'm nowhere near as informed as I thought I might be.  I disagreed with the guy when he made his case and said so.  I continue to disagree with him and in fact can't really see that the point he's making is analogous or germane.

However, he's a guy I have some respect for.  Lots in fact.  So I've asked him to guest blog and I think he's pondering it.

His point?

That Catholics like Sean Hannity are hypocrites on the Wright issue because of the pedophilia scandal. 

Like I said, I hadn't heard this line of thinking before and think it faulty.  Quite faulty in fact.  But given who it is I was hearing it from, I thought it'd be great fodder for the blog.

So... stay tuned folks.  Hoping he'll have something up before too long. 

And hold your thoughts (cuz I know some of you will certainly have some) until he makes his case. 

Been there, done that

Via Verum Serum:

“If we really believe the truth, we shall be decided about it. Certainly we are not to show our decision by that obstinate, furious, wolfish bigotry which cuts off every other body from the chance and hope of salvation and the possibility of being regenerate or even decently honest if they happen to differ from us about the colour of a scale of the great leviathan. Some individuals appear to be naturally cut on the cross; they are manufactured to be rasps, and rasp they will. Sooner than not quarrel with you they would raise a question upon the colour of invisibility, or the weight of a non-existent substance. They are up in arms with you, not because of the importance of the question under discussion, but because of the far greater importance of their being always the Pope of the party. Don’t go about the world with your fist doubled up for fighting, carrying a theological revolver in the leg of your trousers. There is no sense in being a sort of doctrinal game-cock, to be carried about to show your spirit, or a terrier of orthodoxy, ready to tackle hertodox rats by the score . . . These are theologians of such warm, generous blood, that they are never at peace till they are fully engaged in war”
- (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 224).

This takes me back to... oh... about 1991 or so... and onward till roughly 2000 when I was humbled and mightily.  Since then, though I cling to orthodox belief (though too often just barely for one reason or another), I'm much more open to at least hearing the other side.  The problem, as I've attested to time and again on this blog, is too often the other side (whom I call The Religious Left) are as black and white about their thinking as those that Spurgeon here is railing against.  In fact, in my personal experience, more so.

Tis sad I think and gives fodder to those who say that Christians keep them from Christ.

"You owe us an apology"

Via Wizbang:

You know, a variant of this could be sung at Obama's church.

I'm just saying.

It's getting a little nipple-y...

... over at Tony's place.

You don't want to miss it.

Trust me.

Disjointed but congruent

Last night Mrs. BH and I spent the evening watching Will Smith's I Am Legend DVD on our Blu-Ray player.  An entertaining flick I must say.

This morning I caught a glimpse of James Carville on some CNN talking-heads show.

I'm convinced Carville's a Dark Seeker.

Convinced.

Carry on.

News fit to connive about

Via NewsBusters Noel Sheppard:

Just how obvious is it that the media's economic and business coverage is so negatively skewed that it has to be part of a political agenda in an election year?

Obvious enough for the folks at Fox News to do an entire segment Saturday morning asking the extraordinary question: "Media ‘Talking Down' the Economy to Get a Dem Elected?"

Despite my surprise seeing "Cavuto on Business" begin with such a question framed at the bottom of the screen, I was almost enraptured by the comments from Neil's guests which not only included regular assertions that this is clearly about getting a Democrat in the White House, but also that media are "committing a crime against the general public" by creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that will end up costing people their jobs in the long run.

More importantly, "if we have a serious recession, a great deal will lie at the media's feet."

Cavuto marvelously began the segment:

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Well, is the economy slowing? Well, yeah it is. But call me crazy, is it as bad as this? This week, the Associated Press claiming Americans are being subjected to, and I quote "economic water torture." And then this little ditty item on the GDP, "The economy nearly sputtered out at the end of the year."  We were up at the end of the year. Why someone here says this is all part of the media's plan to get a Democrat in the White House. Is it?...First to Ben Stein, and Ben, your reaction to this idea that we're going to hell in a hand-basket.

BEN STEIN: Well, the media has been selling us on fear and recession for months maybe years now. Even before there was and really seriously bad news they were selling, selling, selling fear. They have been shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theatre now for months, quarters, I'd say probably over a year. The actual economic conditions are not that bad. I think if we have a recession, if we have a serious recession, a great deal will lie at the media's feet. And I don't know why they're doing it. They're the ones that are going to lose their jobs.

CAVUTO: What do you think of that, that we are going into a slowdown - some would even say a recession - but to hear some in the media tell it, depression?

CHARLES PAYNE, WSTREET.COM: It's really, what the real problem is is that it's not fair to the public that they're supposedly serving. You know, when you stir things up, and I think Ben the analogy to yelling "FIRE" in a crowded movie theatre is absolutely perfect. I mean, when you say something like "water torture," it's not only, to me it just seems that they're taking a shot at the GOP on the economy, but also with the Iraq war and water-boarding. That's exactly what I thought of when I heard it. And, it's so transparent, and, but, the really sad thing is I think they're committing a crime against the general public when they do this.

There's more where that came from.

       

"There's no room for hate"

That from a prominent black leader speaking out on PastorGate:

"I think there's no room for hate, and I could not sit and tolerate that kind of language, and especially over a very long period of time," said Philadelphia's newly elected mayor, Michael Nutter, in an interview with ABC News' David Muir.

"If I were in my own church and heard my pastor saying some of those kinds of things," he added, "we'd have a conversation about what's going on here, what is this all about, and then I would have to make my own personal decision about whether or not to be associated or affiliated."

Asked by Muir if he would he have quit Obama's church, Nutter said, "Absolutely."

So much for Jeremiah Wright's troubles being nothing more than something manufactured by right-wing radio and Fox news eh?

"Earth Hour is symbolic of a spreading soft fascism"

Kate brings us to this enlightening Financial Post piece:

Light, both natural and artificial, has traditionally been associated with The Good. A critical element of civilization has been the development of ever brighter, more flexible, and more reliable forms of illumination, from the tallow candle, through whale oil and kerosene, to Thomas Edison's marvellous invention of the electric light bulb.

Conversely, the absence of light is associated with primitivism and ignorance. Is it not significant, therefore, that radical environmentalists are seeking to persuade citizens of the world to flick the switch? Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver are among the cities planning to dim their lights this coming Saturday between 8 and 9 p.m. as part of "Earth Hour."

The cause, masterminded by the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, is allegedly to raise awareness of climate change. But what needs raising is not so much awareness as knowledge. People are woefully ignorant both about the uncertainties of climate-change science and the implications of climate-change politics. However, the WWF has no interest in discussing or debating the issue. According to them, we should "stop talking and start acting." Check your brains at the door.

Far from being a harmless gesture of support for the environment, Earth Hour is symbolic of a spreading soft fascism, aided by well-meaning individuals and well-meaning and/or cynical and/ or scared corporations. Indeed, what is truly astonishing, and disturbing, about this turn-out-the-lights exercise is how many businesses and corporations have signed on to it. According to the WWF Canada, they haven't had one "no" from any company they've approached.

I loved Kate's rejoinder:

Quite right. At 8pm tonight, rational Canadians will become aware of which of their neighbors live on programmed-control thought timers.

And then be aware that there are those who, while admitting their own token effort won't make any difference, think that an hour of illuminated dissent will result in "driving up your electric bill". This is less awareness raising than it is an IQ test for the candle powered.

Heh.

In honor of Earth Hour, I've done what I should've done long ago.

Added Kate to the blogroll.  She's guaranteed to bring more fodder for my Chicken Little posts I'm sure.

Fitna to be tied

Have you heard about this?

Fitna, Arabic for "strife" or "disturbance", is the work of filmmaker and Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders.  Wilders point is clear: Islamist terror is neither a distortion nor a departure from Koranic teaching.  Terrorists are following the instructions of the Koran to the letter.

Unable to find a Dutch television channel brave enough to play the video, Wilders went to the internet.  But even the internet-based world premier of Fitna was temporarily blocked by fearful Internet registrar Network Solutions.  This is the first time any website has been peremptorily removed from the allegedly free-flowing internet. But after its producers found another web host willing to stand up to Islamist retaliation, Fitna is finally available on-line. You can view Fitna here in English and it is available at a variety of other sites, so it is not going away sson.

Within two hours, 1.5 million people had viewed it in either English or Dutch. By the time you read this, who knows?

I find it interesting how the very people who are quick to defend Jeremiah Wright on the basis that his hate-filled rhetoric contains nuggets of truth are the very people who'd rather none of us saw Fitna.

It's an upside down world people.

Seriously.

Happy Election Folks

From Gerard: