NT06 - Heb 3 - a warning against unbelief

Hebrews 3 contains a strong warning about the consequences of a hard, unbelieving heart. "They shall never enter my rest," says the author, quoting Psalm 95:11.

Strong stuff, especially since the people Psalms is talking about are the Israelites of the Exodus. Despite their miraculous salvation by God's own hand, they repeatedly, continually turned away from Him over a period of decades.

How fickle is the human heart! We so easily forget what God has done for us. It is good that God is merciful and compassionate. As Psalm 130 says, if He kept a record of sins, we would be undone. But the blood of Christ has washed away all our sins, removed them as far as the east is from the west.

A little Friday afternoon weirdness for you

Stop alien cow abductions! Cowabduction.com

Funny, the mind's eye

Actor Jack Wild Dies at 53. Jack played the Artful Dodger in the movie Oliver!, and he was the child start of H.R. Pufnstuf, one of my favorite shows as a child. I used to imagine that he was my best friend. He just seemed to be a really cool kid.

Funny, though, I don't remember him looking like this. I remember the mop of hair, but the face is really unfamiliar to me. Strange.

NT06 - Heb 2 - The best Big Brother ever!

Hebrews 2 contains an amazing promise: Jesus considers us who believe in Him to be his brothers.

Some syncretists (folks who want to mash all religions into one) use this as "proof" of the notion that "we all are (or can become) gods/God."

I think that's a silly interpretation. Brothers (and sisters) are individuals. They are not the same person - not even identical twins. They are different. I've got two boys. While you can easily see the family resemblance, they are each unique.

We also have several friends who are adoptive parents. Especially, children who are adopted into a family may be very different from their siblings.

While they clearly do not share the same nature, they do share equally in the love and support that the family provides, and they will share in the inheritance. And what an inheritance!

Seems I'm not the only one...

...who reads Tom Clancy novels.

An Italian Panel has decided that the plot of Clancey's 2002 semi-thriller Red Rabbit is correct - the USSR ordered the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.

I'm shocked. Shocked.

NT06 - Hebrews 1

I'll get caught up on the rest of Acts, I promise. But now it makes sense to get on track with Hebrews, the next book in our through-the-New-Testament-in-one-year plan.

Hebrews 1 begins with no preable or pastorly introduction, no "Greetings in the name of Christ." The writer cuts to the chase, immediately addressing the issue of whether the Son of God is an angel, or something more. Quoting from the Psalms, the Histories, and the Torah (but curiously not the Prophets - yet), the writer argues that Jesus has divine authority above that of the angels.

So let me see if I got this straight

26 killed and 58 wounded in Iraq means that the country is spiraling toward civil war, but "only" 400 cars burned in French suburbs on a given night means the situation is stabilizing.

Doubleplusungood, eh, Winston?

NOW can't use RICO to stifle free speech

Supreme Court Backs Abortion Protesters

NOW's use of the RICO act was a blatant, heavy-handed attempt to not only stifle the freedom of speech of abortion opponents, but to intimidate them into silence, since under RICO the plaintiff can seize all the assets of the defendant.

Freedom of speech - it's a Good Thing!

NT06 - Acts 8, in which God uses evil for good yet again

In Acts 8, the stoning of Stephen ignites a general persecution against the church in Jerusalem. The disciples were scattered.

Philip went down to Samaria, where God had a divine appointment for him - an Ethiopian official on his way back to Africa.

I'm sure that when Philip fled Saul's rampage, he had no idea that God would use that persecution to bring the Gospel to a new continent and a new people.

Likewise the Ethiopian, returning from a religious ritual in Jerusalem, had no idea that his eyes would be opened to the truth. The eunuch was a religious man - he'd made a long and dangerous journey in order to worship at the Temple - but he had no understanding of what he was reading.

In like wise, many religious people may be celebrating Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday without a clear understanding of what that really means.

Has God set up divine appointments for us to "tell them the good news about Jesus?"

NT06 - Acts 7, in which Stephen gets stoned

Got to do some fast catching up on the ol' Bible-blogging! I've kept up on the reading, but have been terribly remiss in posting. Tomorrow we start Hebrews, so I've got to fast-forward through the rest of Acts.

Acts 7 records Stephen's speech to the Sanhedrin. I've often wondered what it was he said that got them so riled up. Most of his speech is just a recounting of Jewish history. The "killer" comes at the end, though, when Stephen tells them to their face that they've killed the Messiah, and that he sees Y'Shua now seated at God's right hand.

You can imagine that didn't sit too well with the religious leaders.

When they drag Stephen out to stone him, a young man named Saul holds their coats.

Dear Elena

A father writes through his pain.

I need to go home and hug my little girls. When they ask me why I'm crying, I'll just tell them, "Because I love you so much."

Who's making the doughnuts?

Varifrank (ht:HH) as an interesting post on the law of unintended consequences as applied to the Dubai port-management mess.

This whole thing has had me concerned since it broke. I trust the President's big-picture strategic thinking - I agree that true democracy will stabilize the ME.

But tactically, this looks like yet another administration cmmunications and coordination blunder. How is it possible that this deal was investigated and approved without at least running it past the office of the President first? He's the Commander in Chief, the Head of State, and the Chief Executive.

SOMEBODY should have had the brains to say, "Hey, this might fail the sniff test with Joe Sixpack at first glance. We better make sure all the t's and i's are crossed and dotted. And we ought to get the story out ourselves."

Bush has proven to be a terrific strategic thinker. But at some point, somebody has to go make the doughnuts. You have to have competent execution.

The pattern that I see is not encouraging.

Waiting to exhale

Re the ports thingy, this news tidbit: Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement

There is more to nearly everything than meets the eye, eh?

This. Is. Just. Too. Cool.

Multi-Touch Interaction Research The video takes a while to load, but WOW.

Cancer is so Limited

My friend and colleague Laura (see comment on the previous post) was good enough to send along this:

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple Love,
It cannot shatter Hope,
It cannot corrode Faith,
It cannot eat away Peace,
It cannot destroy Friendship,
It cannot suppress Memories,
It cannot silence Courage,
It cannot invade the Soul,
It cannot steal eternal Life.
It cannot conquer the Spirit.


Author Unknown

The Supremacy of God in Suffering

John Piper, on the eve of surgery for prostate cancer, has powerful words of hope in a sovereign God. (The surgery went well and he is recovering.)

Piper has a very high view of God, and that is often confusing to people. It's terrible in its simplicity - God IS GOD. God is fully sovereign in every way, in every respect. Nothing happens that He does not permit, and did not forsee from before His creation of time. Everything - everything! that happens is due to His plan and design, whether or not we can understand it.

That's the sticking point for a lot of people. "I can't understand how a loving God could let my mother die of cancer," they say. So they either dismiss God as callous and uncaring, or limit His sovereignty by saying that pain isn't part of His plan.

They ignore the third path - the paradox that a loving, merciful God can design pain and suffering into our lives. Sometimes we can see His hand clearly - would the Acua Indians have come to salvation if not for the martydom of Jim Elliot?

Oftimes, though, we can't.

And that's where we have to simply accept the paradox. God IS infinitely loving and merciful. Yet He permits suffering.

We can't understand it.


But we don't have to understand everything.





Disclosure - I consider myself blessed to have sat under John Piper's teachings for a decade. He baptized me and my wife, and officiated at our wedding in the old sanctuary at Bethlehem Baptist Church (now the site of the new education wing at BBC).

Also, I lost my mother to cancer when I was 4. I was at my uncle's side when he died of stomach cancer 20-odd years ago. My stepmother died of ovarian cancer about a decade ago. And as an asthmatic, I've stared death in the face a couple of times myself.

Martyrdom 101

A speaker at a Teheran university boasted that his organization has hundreds of potential suicide bombers ready to strike US and UK bases in Iraq, should there be an attack on Iranian nuke facilities.

The things they teach in schools these days.

NT06 - Catching up - why was Stephen set up?

I have been keeping up with the reading, mostly. But I am waaaay behind in the blogging. So let's pick up at the end of Acts 6, where Stephen gets arrested.

The setting is in the first few years after Jesus' earthly ministry, "in those days when the number of disciples was increasing." Acts 6:7 contains an interesting tidbit: "a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

Priests were becoming believers in ha'Mashioch. Levites were starting to think that this carpenter's son from Hicksville was The One.

This was a challenge to the religious power structure.

Especially, it seemed to challenge the belief system of the Hellenic Jews, as we see in verse 9. Now, I don't claim to be an expert in the religious practices of 1st-century CE Hellenic Jews in Jerusalem. (If you are, or if you have links to the same, please leave a comment.)

But anyone who has spent time around people can attest to the fact that folks don't like boat-rockers. Especially if you've just climbed into the boat. Newton's third law applies.

Apology accepted

The Liberal Avenger and I have some sharp differences, but he showed class in this case. Wish I could say the same for some of his blog-mates, but that's their problem.
UPDATE 2/16. Their webadmin sgo (who I had thought was a decent fellow) decided to label me a spammer and block my IP. Life goes on. Speaking of which, I'm waaay behind in my liveblogging of Acts...

Italian Judge gets one right

ROME, Italy (AP) -- An Italian judge has dismissed an atheist's petition that a small-town priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed.

I hope the judge assessed a big chunk of court costs against Cascioli.

Why Mommy is a Moonbat

Detroit Pete sent me a link to this bit of leftist drek. At first I thought it was a spoof. But it seems not to be. Where to begin?

"Democrats make sure we share all our toys, just like Mommy does" - including the very special toys that we thought were just ours, because Democrats don't believe in owning personal property. Everything belongs to everybody, and that couple in the background (who look a bit like Al Franken and Teresa Kerry) should feel really bad about not sharing their cigar and poodle with the man sitting on the park bench.

"Democrats make sure we are always safe, just like Mommy does." Safe from elephants walking through the park, that is. But crazed madmen who want to kill you? Mommy will dialog with them, because after all, their worldview is just as valid as ours. We mustn't be judgemental like those naughty Republicans. After all, a suicide bomber is the poor man's cruise missile.

"Democrats make sure children can go to school, just like Mommy does." Yes. Mommy packs an apple and a carrot into Junior's bookbag, while in the background Mr. and Mrs. Franken celebrate the graduation of their son from a school with an admission fee of $160,000 while the man in the ball cap and trenchcoat from the park bench looks on wistfully. Of course, since here in FairyStoryLand the Democrats are running things, there's no guarantee that you'll learn anything in school, because the teacher's unions have removed all accountability. And there's little likelihood of you getting a job after graduation, since they've taxed small businesses out of existence.

Cheer up, dear. You can always move to Madison and write fairy tales

NT06 - Acts 6, in which deacons are selected and Stephen is arrested

Acts 6 is a very short chapter. The chapter divisions here chop up the narrative strangely, as Chapter 7 is Stephen's trial, speech, and stoning, and Chapter 8 begins with Saul's approval of the sentence. But in Acts 6 we see the effect of growing pains in the first mega-church. (The Jerusalem community of believers numbered several thousand at this point.) It's interesting that the number of Hellenic believers seems to outnumber the Semitic believers, as the first crop of deacons all have Greek names.

NT06: Acts 4-5, in which persecution begins but cooler heads prevail

In Acts 4 and 5, Peter and James suffer the consequences of healing the crippled beggar. It's interesting that the Sadducees are upset because Peter and James are preaching not just Jesus risen, but resurrection in general. (The Sadducess did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, as did the Pharisees.)

The end of 4 and the beginning of 5, where the early community of believers held goods in common, may describe the first commune. Marx thoroughly perverted "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Never underestimate the devil's ability to to twist good into evil. Likewise, never lose hope that God works all things for the good of those that love Him!

5:1-5 imples that Ananias represented the money he gave was the whole price he got from the sale. Verse 4 implies that since the money was his to do with as he pleased, he would have been perfectly justified in holding some of it back for personal use. The grave sin was in trying to "look good" while really holding out. Verse 5 says that great fear seized all who heard of this. Fear of what? One hopes, fear of lying about one's gifts, not fear of not giving.

I find it very interesting that it's Gamaliel who cautions the Sanhedrin about oppsing God's designs. it's widely thought that Gamaliel was the father of Hillel, who is widely oconsidered to be the father of Rabbinic Judaism. To this day, part of the Seder meal is eating a "Hillel Sandwich," a combination of matzoh, maror, and charoset (minus the Paschal lamb eaten in Hillel's time.)

Where's the warrant for MY arrest?

Priest accused of breaking law by claiming Jesus existed.

Unbelievable, and yet completely believable.

reminds me of the old challenge: If it was a crime to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Doesn't look like me at all

According to the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz, I'm a Lamborghini Murcielago!

You're not subtle, but you don't want to be. Fast, loud, and dramatic, you want people to notice you, and then get out of the way. In a world full of sheep, you're a raging bull.

So they say.

Oh, too funny.

Don't click here if you don't "get" Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or if you don't know who Lileks and Hewitt are.

OTOH, if you do, make sure you've swallowed your beverage before clicking the link. For safety's sake, I implore you. James as Patsy... too much.

NT06 - Acts 1-3, In which orders and weapons are issued

Acts is really a continuation of Luke, so it makes sense to take a running start by reviewing the last chapter of Luke before diving into Acts 1. Go ahead, I'll wait.

In verses 1-10 you can see immediately the parallel with Mark 16. There are differences, too. Mark reports that the women were scared and didn't tell anyone, while Luke reconts that they told the disciples. Luke lists Mary Magdelene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and some others. Mark lists the two Marys and Salome. Luke says they saw two men. Mark says they saw one man sitting on the right side. There's also Matthew's version and John's version.

Skeptics love to crow about these differences as "contradictions." How can all these different accounts possibly be true? You can decide for yourself. Read carefully and you'll see that John's account is the only one that's really divergent, but they're not mutually exclusive.

I'll save the details for Easter, though. :-) For now, lets continue on into Acts.

In Acts 1, Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until he sends the Holy Spirit. The disciples choose Matthias to replace Judas. He's not elected, but chosen by lot - to the Jews, a sacred method of making decisions.

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit descends as tongues of flame, and the apostles preach in the languages of their audience. Were they empowered to speak, or were the listeners empowered to hear? Doesn't matter. The Word gets out, and a community of believers begins to form.

In Acts 3, Peter heals a man unable to walk. The telling thing is that he does so not by his own power, but by the power of faith in the name of Jesus. Surely the lame man had been present a few weeks before when Jesus had cleared the merchants and moneychangers out of the courtyard. He may have heard the cries of "Give us Barabbas!" and "Crucify him!" echoing through the streets. And he may well have heard the strange whispers beginning to circulate that Jesus had been seen alive again.

Memo to Mahmoud

Iran Blames Bombings on U.S., Britain: Bombs went off inside a bank and outside an office building belonging to a state environmental agency. Iran's nutter of a president blames the US and UK.

Memo to Mahmoud - if the US or Britain decides to bomb Iran, the targets will not be a bank and an office building.

NT06 - Mark 16, in which we find something very disturbing

Many translations include a note that the most reliable, earliest manuscripts of Mark do not contain verses 9-20. What's stunning to me is that they DO contain verses 1-8. The earliest Gospel ends with the Empty Tomb. That's a real problem for skeptics.

Some skeptics claim that the resurrection story was borrowed from Mithraism, a secretive Roman "mystery cult" that featured a resurrected god-man. Mark was the first canonical gospel written. It was compiled about 50 years after Jesus' death, most likely from eyewitness recollections (Mk 14:51) and a couple of now-lost written collections of Jesus' words and deeds. Fifty years is a long time. winesses die, memories fade, stories can shift with retellings. But Paul's writings show that belief in the Resurrection as a literal, historical event was prevalent just 20 years after the event. And 20 years is not enough time for "legendary accretion" to override living memory.

Other skeptics argue that the Gospels are simply fiction. But as a work of fiction in that culture, Mark really messed up by making the witnesses women. At that time, women were not allowed to testify in court because they were considered unreliable. Besides, there's no description of the moment of resurrection itself. I mean, come on! That's the climax of the story! If you're making it up, you really should have someone there to describe it, right?

You can set aside the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy and look at the Gospel of Mark simply as an historical document. And even from that secular point of view, you're left staring into an empty tomb. Mark says that Mary, Mary, and Salome were trembling, bewildered, and afraid. Can't say as I blame them.

If I didn't know why the tomb was empty, I'd be pretty upset, too.

He's baaack (maybe)

So old Osama seems to have released another tape.

He says that the lack of attacks in America is not due to increased security, but because "there are operations that need preparations." Such as, for example, funding from sources we've dried up, or planning by operatives we've captured and killed by the score? The tape also says, "...the operations are happening in Baghdad and you will see them here at home..." Hm. What "operations" are happening in Baghdad? Car bombs, suicide vests, and roadside IEDs, mostly against soft targets such people waiting in line and gatherings of children. Sometimes they even coordinate the timing of the attacks. How hard can it be to implement "operations" like that in the US? There are a LOT of soft targets in the US. The fact that they haven't hit them indicates that they can't. Doesn't mean they won't, of course. We don't want to let down our guard. (And as long as Bush is President, we won't, thank God.)

And ya gotta love the AP caption for bin Laden's picture (a file photo from 1998, showing the now-a-very-haggard-grey fugitive with dark hair). It calls him an "exiled Saudi dissident". Not "terrorist mastermind". Not "mass-murdering madman". "Exiled dissident".

NT06 - Getting caught up

According to the "Read through the New Testament in a year" plan, I'm up to Mark 15. I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the readings, but a poor job of blogging about it.

Mark 14 recounts the betrayal in the garden, and Mark 15 is the Crucifixion. It of course brings to mind Gibson's Passion of the Christ.

To me, verse 34 is the heart of history. When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" he wasn't just quoting Psalm 22:1. He who had become sin on our behalf was experiencing the awesome eternal emptiness of separation from God. Jesus, the Son, who was with God from before the beginning of time, who referred to God as "Daddy", looked up to Heaven and saw his Father turn His back in disgust.

That's Hell. Forget your brimstone and pitchforks.

Chinook Diplomacy

A little late in noticing this - hat tip to the Paragraph Farmer.

It's a story of how the US provided massive amounts of aid to the victims of the Pakistan earthquake using the heavy-lift Chinook helicopters based in Afghanistan. I don't recall seeing this story reported in the major media - I wonder why?

NT06 - Mark 8, in which Jesus rebukes just about everyone

In this chapter, Jesus hammers on the Pharisees for demanding a sign. The disciples still don;t get it, and Jesus accuses Peter of being Satan.

Jesus also heals a blind man. Skeptics point to this healing and others in Mark where Jesus uses some physical means as evidence that the Jesus legend grew over time. "The original Jesus," they say, "wasn't a divine miracle worker, just a folk healer with delusions of grandeur." (Mark was the first Gospel to be written.)

That totally begs the question of the healings themselves, of course. Mark also contains stories of Jesus healing without physical contact, for example, the Gentile girl in the previous chapter and the paralytic in chapter 2. Perhaps Jesus knew that for this person to accept Jesus' ability to heal, He needed to provide some physical act.

God does a lot of things to help those of us whose faith is weak.

NT06 - Mark 7, in which Jesus reaches out to Gentiles

Jesus takes the Pharisees to task for focusing on the letter of the law rather than its spirit. (The practice of putting man-made rules on a level of or ahead of God's teaching was a major reason I left the Catholic church.) He points out that it's not what we put into our mouths that makes us clean or unclean, but rather what comes out.

Jesus also heals a Gentile girl based on her mother's faith, and heals a deaf-mute. (I wonder how this story resonates with modern American deaf persons. There's a movement in that community to be viewed not as disabled, but as differently-languaged.)

More ammo for the anti-ammo alliance

Judge Alito's wife discloses that the SCOTUS nominee is a crack shot with a shotgun.

"He's a great marksman – he can do double clays," she says, meaning he can hit two clay pigeon targets thrown simultaneously into the air before either hits the ground.

One presumes that the 2nd Amendment will be safe from radical reinterpretation with him on the Court.

NT06 - MArk 6, in which Jesus gets dissed, John loses his head, and a little goes a long way

A lot going on in this chapter. Jesus comes home to a less-than warm reception. We learn that he came from a fairly large family - I've long wondered how folks who claim that Jesus was an only child reconcile verse 3. It's also interesting that his neighbors admit that he has supernatural wisdom and miraculous healing power, but yet they take offense at him.

We learn the unpleasant fate of John the Baptist. I wonder if he will be one of the "martyrs under the altar" of Revelation 20.

Jesus tries to get his disciples a little break from the crowds, but the crowds follow. It gets late and there's no food. So Jesus has the disciples find a little something - a few loaves and fishes - blesses it, and everyone eats their fill. The novel The Robe suggests the possibility that this could have been a case of those in the crowd who had had the foresight to bring food sharing with those who had not. Maybe. But would that have been remembered and passed down? I don't think so.

NT06: Mark 5, in which pigs fly and the dead live again

Jesus is clearly not a capitalist. Yes, I know, to the Jews, pigs are unclean. But still - 2,000 head of swine is SOMEBODY's livelihood, even if they are trefe-herding goyim. No wonder the people of the district begged him to go away. Interesting that nobody sued over the lost herd. I suppose they were sufficiently impressed by the healing of the madman that they figured they'd best not mess with this charismatic preacher - if he can send pigs over a cliff, what might he do to his enemies?

And then there's the very touching story of the rabbi's daughter. I've had a little girl sick, though not, thank God, unto death. I can only imagine the father's anguish.

Jesus raises her from the dead, and then tells the family to keep it quiet? I know I couldn't.

NT06 - Mark 4, in which seeds are planted

The parable of the Seeds and the Sower is probably my favorite parable.

It points out an essential truth about evangelism - the evangelist is not responsible for conversion. Just as the seed grows of its own accord, under the influence of the sun and rain provided by God and the miracle of the tiny life within the seed, the new believer is enabled to come to faith by the Holy Spirit.

But here's a question - if the sower is not blind, doesn't he or she have a responsibility to sow seed in good soil? Is it a waste to sow along the path, or among briars? IOW, as evangelists, should we "qualify our prospects" as they say in the sales business? Should we only attempt to share the Gospel with those who are receptive?

I think the Scripture is clear that we are to sow EVERYWHERE. While the seed is precious, it is not scarce (an interesting economic notion!) It's not our responsibility to only sow where we think seed might grow. God is, after all, in the miracle business.

That's a new observation for me, btw - the notion that we are to sow everywhere. Thank God for blogging - if not for this process of thinking aloud I might not have had that insight.

For years I've held dear another insight, though: Seed grows best in good soil. The Great Plains of the US are ancient prairie. For thousands of years grass has grown, died after a season, and returned to earth to add to the soil. The soil is deep and rich - roots go very deep. The first farmers in Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas had to use special "sodbuster" plows to break it up.

Some folks come from families with a tradition of faith going back generations. Great-great-grandpa was a believer who prayed for his progeny and who raised faithful sons and daughters. That's deep soil.

I don't have that to offer my children and grandchildren. My own soil is pretty thin. But I can do what I can do - pull weeds, remove stones, and shoo away birds.


The rest, as Scripture makes clear, is up to God.

Checks and balances work both ways

"The executive branch shall construe these sections in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President."

The President's Statement on Signing of H.R. 2863, the "Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006", makes it clear that this President understands his Constitutional authority, and will not be bullied by Congress.

NT06 - Mark 3: In which the rubber hits the road

The first part of this chapter, where Jesus heals the man with the shriveled hand, is a part of the Lord-of-the-Sabbath narrative of Ch 2. Jesus is declaring himself to be above the Law. To the Pharisees, this is blasphemy.

Then, Jesus' family is apparently called in to do an intervention. He spurns them, in favor of his disciples.

OK, time to stop.

Mark is the earliest Gospel to be written. According to scholars, it was written in the 80's, about 50 years after Jesus' ministry. It appears to be based on still-earlier, but now lost, textual or oral records of Jesus' teachings and deeds.

The earliest part of the earliest record we have of Jesus' acts and words show him to be - let's be charitably skeptical - a charismatic madman. He's traveling about the countryside, healing, casting out demons (for the skeptics: healing mental illnesses?), attracting crowds so dense you can't push your way through them, and claiming to have the authority to forgive sins and decide what the law of the Sabbath means. IOW, he says he's God.

Is this guy nuts? His family certainly seems to think so.

Or is he something more?

NT06 - Mark 2: In which J-man cops a 'tude, dude!

Shortly after healing a leper and driving out a bunch of demons, Jesus returns home to Capernaum. (When did he move from Nazareth?) Crowds prevent a group of guys from getting their paralyzed bud close to him, so they come in through the roof.

Then Jesus whips out the big whammy - he doesn't just heal the guy, but makes a statement that borders strongly on blasphemy. People seem to be more amazed at the healing, though. Shortly thereafter, Levi takes early retirement from the RRS to join him.

In verses 21-22 (the "old wineskins" passage) Jesus seems to say that his ministry is a radical break from traditional Judaism. And on a Sabbath shortly thereafter, he allows his followers to gather grain in defiance of the legalists. (For the farmer's sake, one hopes it was just Jesus and the five disciples, rather than the hordes of followers.)

I'm curious if the disciples were ignorant of the strict interpretation of the law that forbade harvesting on the Sabbath - even plucking grains to eat out of hand - or if they had asked Jesus whether they could do so.

NT06 - Mark 1: We begin

Isaiah foretold a voice crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord!" Mark links John the Baptizer to this prophecy, with John's proclamation that one is coming after him whose sandals he is not fit to untie.

Conveniently, Jesus arrives on the scene and gets baptized. Mark records that coming out of the water, Jesus has a vision and hears a voice from Heaven. He then goes out and has a wilderness experience.

Coming back from the desert, He calls Simon, Andrew, James and John, who drop their nets and tag along with nary a goodbye. They go to Capernaum, where Jesus causes a local stir by casting out demons and healing a leper. He tries to keep them quiet about who he is, but rumors begin to circulate.

So far the picture we have of Jesus is of a poor, simple (albeit very charismatic) preacher and folk-healer - a hard act to follow, though that doesn't keep some from trying.

NT06 - Mea maxima culpa

So I signed up to read through the New Testament in '06, right? One chapter a day, following a handly little guide from Discipleship Journal. Just five days a week. Five minutes with the Word. Really QUITE doable, y'know?

I'm already behind. WHERE are my priorities?

Life after Europe?

(ht:HH) Odd how you can really enjoy reading something really depressing.

In this long piece for the WSJ online, the incomparable Mark Steyn explains how "tolerance," multiculturalist orthodoxy, declining European birthrates, increasing birthrates in the Muslim world, and Muslim immigration to the West combine to sound the death-knell for Western civilization in Europe.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls...

Fly like a girl

All-female tanker crew flies Afgan mission

Yet another reason to drill in ANWR

A big chunk of the world's oil supply is under the control of Islamic governments who are not exactly pro-American. Another big chunk is under the control of South American socialists who are notably anti-American.

Somebody explain to me again why it's a bad thing to produce more oil and gas domestically?

Yup

Hugh Hewitt's New Year's post reminds me of something that happened back in the early 90's. I was talking with a co-worker, remarking on the explosion of information available online. He said, "There's simply going to be too much information to handle yourself. People will sign up for points of view."

The Shock. The Horror.

NY TIMES: CLAUS OK'D ILLEGAL SURVEILLANCE
ht: Hugh Hewitt.

This is why secrets need to be secret

An Italian judge wants 22 CIA agents arrested for doing their job.

An Irish group wants to search CIA planes.

What part of secret don't they understand?

OWNED!

Sen. Roberts dropkicks Sen. Rockefeller (emph added):

I am puzzled by the release yesterday of a July 2003 letter from Senator Rockefeller ... regarding the recently exposed intelligence collection program ... . Senator Rockefeller asserts that he had lingering concerns about the program ... but was prohibited from doing anything about it.

A United States Senator has significant tools with which to wield power and influence over the executive branch. Feigning helplessness is not one of those tools.

SMMMMMMACKDOWN!

Just for the record, I am persuaded that the operation was necessary and legal, and that it resulted in the apprehension of terrorists and the disruption of their plans to kill Americans. The person or person who leaked this information has damaged the national security of the United States and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.


Just in case you couldn't guess.

NTSB Says Plane Crashed After Wing Fell Off

Ya think?

I know, it was a tragic loss of life. And it highlights the issue of an aging commercial fleet - seaplanes really take a pounding, and this airframe had been in service nearly six decades. There might also be an issue with the fact that the airplane was re-engined - the original radial engines were replaced with turboprops. Since the turboprop is lighter, it had to be placed further forward to maintain the aircraft's balance. That increases the twisting load on the main spar. I'm sure the engineers worked that through, but fatigue cracks are still poorly understood.

Still, that was a really dumb headline.

They banned Kenny!

B@stards!

ht: LA

NORAD Tracks Santa 2005

Very, very cool.

Science Journal: Wikipedia Pretty Accurate

According to Nature Wikipedia is nearly as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Not terribly surprising, but interesting nonetheless. What surprised me was the discovery that the professionally-written, edited, and reviewed Britannica has an average of three errors or omissions per article!

Not just an Ent, but an Evangelical Ent!

A few weeks ago I discovered that I was an Ent.

Now it turns out that I'm an Evangelical as well (I know, it's shocking!).

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Reformed Evangelical 79% Neo orthodox 71% Fundamentalist 50% Charismatic/Pentecostal 46% Classical Liberal 39% Emergent/Postmodern 36% Roman Catholic 18% Modern Liberal 18% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

At least I'm in good company!

Not a tame Lion - redux

Edited to 500 words per the Radioblogger content rules.

I watched the Narnia movie with my older three kids, ages 10, 7, and 6. They are very well-acquainted with fantasy-adventure films and computer-generated special effects, with the Narnia story, and as Christians, with the "back-story".

I found the opening scenes deeply moving, but then things slowed down. The family dynamic among the kids was lacking - they felt more like cousins than siblings. Lucy does light up the screen, though. Mrs. Macreedy seemed to be channeling Professor McGonagal, though, and the Professor seemed cartoonish.

When Lucy finally met Mr. Tumnus, I wanted to scream, "Don't you KNOW about strangers!?!?!?!" I had to keep reminding myself that this story was written long before Amber Alerts became common. Still, when he began to weep about "what he's going to do" I got a serious case of the creeps.

The older children's treatment of Lucy when she returned with her fantastic tale was utterly believable. Jadis the White Witch felt a bit cartoonish, but she positively exudes evil.

I wondered why the children weren't complaining about wet, cold feet. But hey, this is fantasy. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver felt like a real married couple. - we're accustomed to CGI characters, and the dialogue works. The encounter with Father Christmas felt contrived - too much deus ex machina. Lucy's pointed comment to her siblings made it entirely worthwhile, though. The camp of the Narnian army had a magical-yet-believable feel. The armor of the fauns and especially the centaurs looked right. Aslan's facial expressions were ... just ... real. Liam Neeson's voice wanted more rumbly resonance, but when Jadis asks him after their conference how she can be sure he'll keep his promise, the Lion's reaction is perfect.

When Aslan presents himself at the Stone Table, the evil and hatred of Jadis' minions is palpable. The sadness and resignation in the Lion's eyes is real. Oddly, it's the humans - Lucy and Susan - who lack emotion. They should show real shock, horror, and sadness. They don't. If there's a real flat spot in the film, that's it. But as we all know, death has no power over Aslan, as it had no power over Christ. The innocent who willingly gives his life for the guilty fulfills the Deep Magic and shatters the Stone Table.

The battle scenes are fantastic - one simply believes that centaurs and minotaurs are battling hand-to-hand, and that beavers wear chain mail.

Aslan arrives, Jadis is vanquished, and the childen are enthoned at Cair Paravel. Years later, they stumble back through the wardrobe just as the Professor enters the room.

That exchange is my favorite from the whole film. :-)

Overall impressions: As a fantasy film on its own merits, A-. Though some of the storytelling and acting falls short of perfection, Narnia feels as real as Hogwarts or Middle-Earth.

As a film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's classic, a solid A.

As an entertaining family film, A++. My kids – even the jaded 10-year-old - pronounced it, "the best movie ever."

When jokes go wrong

Man Apologizes After Fake Wikipedia Post At least Brian Chase had the guts to stand up and say, "I did it, and I'm sorry." A lot of folks would have just faded into the anonymity of the Internet. He quit his job over the furor, too.

Goes to show that some jokes just aren't funny. I wonder if Ted Rall and Whoopie Goldberg are listening?

Not a Tame Lion

Warning - picked nits, spoilers and inevitable comparisons follow. Bottom line - go see the movie!

I watched the Narnia movie this weekend with my older three kids, ages 10, 7, and 6. They've seen the Star Wars, Potter, and LOTR epics (the younger two have not seen SW3 and no one has seen HP4, and we FF'd through the scary parts of LOTR), and the CGI-heavy "Sky Captain." So this little audience was very well-acquainted with fantasy-adventure films and computer-generated special effects.

We're also familiar with the story. A year or two ago we read through the Narnia Chronicles for bedtime storytime, and the kids watched the BBC production of LWW last year or thereabouts. And as a Christian family, we're also quite familiar with the back-story, as it were.

Going in I was concerned a bit about the previews, having seen what came up on the big screen prior to SW3. I was pleasantly surprised that the theater managers had chosen "The Twenty" and previews that were targeted to the family demographic. They certainly piqued our interest. Maybe H'wood has finally figured out that "values voters" will spend money at the theater, too.

The opening scenes of The Blitz were pretty well done. I'm an airplane buff, and the He-111 interiors looked believable. When Edmund runs back to get the picture of his dad to take into the shelter, that could have set up some good emotional context for later, but as it turned out it didn't have a payoff. It was just a set-piece to show that Edmund doesn't do as he's told, and that kind of fell flat to me.

The following scene where the children are loaded onto trains to escape the war was very moving. It had as much impact as the scene in LOTR2 where the Rohan village mother packes her children onto a horse to escape the approaching orc horde.

At the country manor, Mrs. Macreedy seemed to be channeling HP's Professor McGonagal - I couldn't escape the comparison. The child actors played well at being bored kids, though the family dynamic seemed to be a bit lacking. They felt more like cousins than siblings. The Professor seemed a bit cartoonish as well, at least in appearance.

And then Lucy (finally!) finds the Wardrobe. That transition was very nicely done.

When Lucy goes off with the very charming Mr. Tumnus, I wanted to scream at her - "Don't you KNOW about going off with strangers!?!?!?!" I had to keep reminding myself that this story was written long before Level Three offenders and Amber Alerts became common features of a parent's landscape. Still, when the faun began to weep about "what he's going to do" I got a serious case of the creeps.

Every reviewer seems to rave about Lucy, and I agree - she positively lights up the screen. She doesn't do "sad" terribly well - I know what a heartbroken six-year-old girl looks like - but apart from that she did a wonderful job.

The older children's treatment of Lucy when she returned with her fantastic tale was utterly believable. Edmund then follows Lucy back into the wardrobe and meets Jadis, the White Witch. She seems a bit like a cartoon character, but she positively exudes evil, much as the Satan character in "The Passion." Edmund's betrayal of Lucy on his return to "the real world" further cements our opinion of him.

The filmmakers then take a bit of license to get all four children into the wardrobe, and the adventure can finally really begin. I've walked in the snow in inadequate footware, and I wondered why the children - especially the younger ones - weren't complaining more. But hey, this is fantasy.

The talking animals weren't jarring in the least. We're now well-accustomed to treating 100%-CGI characters as real, and the children didn't break the spell. I heard one patron behind me say, "English beavers?" On reflection, he had a point - they're native to North America. The dialog between Mr. And Mrs. Beaver was well-done. They really felt like a married couple.

Fast-forward to the encounter with Father Christmas. This felt flat to me - too much deus ex machina. I'll need to review the book to see how the children get their weapons, but it felt contrived. Still, Lucy's pointed comment to her siblings after he departs made it entirely worthwhile.

The camp of the Narnian army had a magical-yet-believable feel to it. Certainly more sanitized than the Rhohirrim encampment outside the Dimmul, but not totally contrived. The armor of the fauns and centaurs - especially the centaurs! - looked right. Clearly the LWW armorers took the same care as those on LOTR.

Aslan's facial expressions were completely believable. I felt that Liam Neeson's voice lacked a bit of rumbly resonance - comparisons to James Earl Jones' Musafa are unavoidable. Still, there's a nice contrast between the power of a full-grown lion and the wise and gentle voice of Qui-Gon. When Jadis asks him after their conference how she can be sure he'll keep his promise, the Lion's reaction is perfect.

About Aslan's sacrifice I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said. The evil and wickedness of Jadis' minions is palpable. The sadness and resignation in the Lion's eyes, real. Oddly, it's the humans - Lucy and Susan, who seem to lack emotion. They should show real shock, horror, and sadness. They don't. If there's a real flat spot in the film, that's it.

But as we all know, death has no power over Aslan, as it had no power over Christ. The innocent sacrifice who willingly gives his life in the place of the guilty both fulfills the Deep Magic and breaks the stone table forever. Christian audiences get this. I wonder how non-Christians will see it.

The battle scenes were fantastic, reminiscent of LOTR's battle of Pellinore Fields. This is hardly surprising, since Weta Workshop did the CG work. The special effects are completely transparent - one simply believes that centaurs and minotaurs are battling hand-to-hand. Again, some obvious thought was given to the question, "how does this culture - this species - fight?"

We know the rest of the story - Aslan and the revived victims of the White Witch arrive to turn the tide of battle, Jadis is vanquished, and the childen are enthoned at Cair Paravel. Many years later, they stumble back into and through the wardrobe into the spare room, just as the Professor enters.

The exchange that follows is my favorite from the whole film.


So, finally, my overall impressions. As a fantasy film on its own merits, A-. Narnia certainly feels as real as Hogwarts or Middle-Earth, and visuals sell the story and the characters. Unfortunately, some of the storytelling and acting falls short of perfection, and the music was unmemorable.

As a film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's classic, I give it a solid A. The filmmakers took some liberties, but you have to do that in bringing any story to the screen.

As an entertaining family film, it earns an A+. My kids loved it, pronounced it "the best movie ever." Even my jaded 10-year-old declared that it was better than LOTR or even - gasp! - Star Wars III.

We'll be seeing it again, and I don't mean waiting for the DVD.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

I posted this over at LA's site, but decided it deserved a slot over here as well. It was prompted by a quote from one of the passengers on the Columbia-to-Florida flight saying that they hadn't heard anyone say anything about a bomb.

From the reports I’ve seen, Rigoberto Alpizar made the bomb comments while on the jetway, not on the airplane. Little wonder the passengers still on the plane didn’t hear anything.

Imagine this alternative version, though:

“The effectiveness of the Air Marshalls program was being called into question today after a disturbed man was allowed to rush up a jetway and into the terminal from an airplane that had just landed from Columbia.

The man forced his way off the plane and ran up the jetway with a backpack, shouting that he had a bomb. Air marshalls drew their weapons and ordered him to stop, but he ignored their commands and ran into the terminal. Hundreds of passengers waiting to board their aircraft panicked and rushed for the exits. Forty-two were injured in the stampede, and two were killed in the crush, including an elderly man and a two-year old.

‘He was wild-eyed and panting,’ said one witness who declined to be identified. ‘I was scared he had a gun or a bomb or something. Everybody just ran.’

Not everybody. Frank Wilson, a retired police officer, tripped and tackled the suspect as he ran past. Wilson tossed the backpack - which did not contain a bomb - to the side as he held the disturbed passenger to the ground.

‘I just reacted, I guess.’ said Wilson. ‘Old habits die hard. You see someone running like that, and, well, I just took him down. I’m not as young as I once was - I’m a little sore, actually.’

A spokesman for the Air Marshalls said, ‘Our agents are trained to carefully evaluate a potential threat in order to avoid over-reacting. In hindsight, the passenger was clearly not a threat, so we’re very gratified the Marshalls on the scene did not open fire.’ Asked about the passengers who were killed and injured by the panic in the terminal, the spokesman said, ‘That’s a very tragic thing, obviously.’”

My heart goes out...

...to the parents and family of 6-year-old Joshua Woods, who was killed when a Southwest Airlines jet skidded off the end of the runway at Chicago Midway airport and crushed the car in which he was a passenger.

You talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My prayer is that he is safe in the loving arms of his Savior (whose name is also Joshua), and that God will send comfort to the family.

My heart goes out, too, to the air traffic controllers and the pilot of the flight. They will be wracking themselves for the rest of their lives, playing woulda shoulda-coulda over the decision to clear the flight to land, and then to attempt the landing.

For some reason, it's not newsworthy that our commerical aviation system routinely operates in miserable weather with near-perfect safety year-round.

Still, this Christmas one family is going to be without a six-year-old unwrapping presents under the tree. It breaks my heart.

Shameless

The so-called Liberal Avenger links to a newspaper story about a soldier who was killed in Iraq. LA wants to milk it for all it's worth. He wrote,

Even if it’s a bit hokey, if it is grist for the anti-war propaganda mill, I’m all for it.

Perhaps he can find similar stories for the tens of thousands killed by Saddam.

Or the millions massacred by the Khmer Rouge and the NVA after we pulled out of Vietnam.

Or the hundreds of thousands of US soldiers who died in WWII.


Every soldier's death in this struggle is tragic, but it is not a meaningless tragedy so long as we emerge victorious. Would the dead of Normandy and Iwo call their deaths meaningless, without value? To attempt to exploit a soldier's death - provide grist for the anti-war mill as he so callously puts it - in order to make our mission in Iraq appear futile is to dishonor the honored dead, to piss on their graves.

Serious question for our moonbat friends

The infamous Liberal Avenger and friends have been discussing the war in Iraq, whether or not we are winning, and what we should do. That leads me to turn his hypothetical question around, and ask the following:

Suppose just for a moment that we "wingnuts" are correct, and there really is a global radical-Islamist organization - absolutely ruthless, implacable, and dedicated - that has as its stated goal the destruction of the State of Israel, the elimination of all democratic governments, the establishment of a worldwide caliphate, and the imposition of the strictest Sharia law on every man, woman and child on the planet.

What should we do?

Rall and Trudeau spit on the troops

Garry Trudeau's latest series has wounded Iraq vet B.D. (sans helmet) suffering flashbacks and drinking heavily. The excerable Ted Rall, a far less accomplished artist* and commentator, goes further, insinuating that returned vets are all ultra-violent nutcases, at least as regards their sex lives. (ht - Michelle Malkin).

Thank God for Chris Muir, who can actually draw, and for Michael Yon, who gave us the photos of the jaw-dropping babes gracing the arms of the redoubtable warriors of the Deuce Four (can't WAIT for that new Bruce Willis flick!).

Rall really needs to see somebody about his sick fantasies.

* The airplane Rall has dropping bombs on the girlfriend's house (to break off the relationship) looks like it has the aft end of an F-4 or F-101 (with the horizontal stabilizer removed) and the front end of an F-105. The wing looks a bit like that on an A-4.

All of those are obsolete, long-retired, Vietnam-era aircraft.

Kind of like the Left's tired, tired "Vietnam" meme.

Superman as the Anti-Christ?

In the teaser trailer for Superman Returns, the voice of Jor-El tells Kal-El (the alien soon to be known as Superman) that humans have "great capacity for good. For that reason, I have sent them you, my only son."

God sent Jesus, his only Son, for precisely the opposite reason.

HT: Michelle Malkin

Paging Mr. Lynne, Mr. Barry Lynne....

Michelle Malkin reports on yet another excerable 9th Circus decision. This one supports an "educational" program that has children in a public school role-playing at Islam, including reciting Arabic prayers and fasting during Ramdan.

HELLOOOO?!?!?! Where's the ACLU on this? Where's Americans United for the Separation of Church and State?

More: Daniel Pipes reported on this in 2002.

George meets Ghengis

Gateway Pundit: George Bush Makes History, Praises Mongolian Democracy

Great photos.

What liberal media bias?

Two big stories out of Iraq this morning. This on the wires:

Iraq "Full" Coverage on Yahoo! News (quote marks added) leads with the AP report of "U.S. Forces Mistakenly Fire on Vehicle:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces mistakenly fired on a civilian vehicle outside an American base in a city north of Baghdad on Monday, killing three people, including a child, the military said."

Then there's this, from the blogs:

UPDATED: Arab Media Reports al-Zarqawi Dead:
"According to the Jerusalem Post, at least one Arab television network has reported that al-Qaeda mastermind in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been killed.

The report says that coalition soldiers encircled al-Zarqawi’s hideout, at which point several terrorists blew themselves up in order to avoid capture."

Which one will you see on CNN tonight or read about in the papers tomorrow?

Three guesses, the first two don't count.

Semper Fi, indeed

I have nothing to add to this; it speaks for itself.

Our Humvee was in the kill zone, and we were taking a lot of fire. A rocket-propelled grenade hit the weapon I was holding, an M-249 SAW, and just blew my hands off and blew my leg open. My femur was fractured and sticking out. My artery was hit, too, and bleeding like crazy. One of the Marines was able put the tourniquets on.

I was irritated that I couldn’t pull the trigger. I was thinking, “Damn, I can’t shoot back; what can I do?” What I could do was talk to my Marines and issue orders and supervise. I was still in a leadership position even though I didn’t have my hands.

- Sgt. James E. Wright

Good!

The House GOP is growing a spine. They're forcing a vote on Murtha's irresponsible resolution to cut and run in Iraq. With a GOP majority, the resolution will fail, of course. The only question is by how much. Democratic Representatives will have to decide whether to break with their party by voting for Murtha, or break with their base by voting against him.

Any Republican foolish enough to vote for surrender, of course, will be out of a job next election.

Break out the Orville Redenbacher's - this is gonna be good!

Dear Senator Kerry

I just saw you on CNN denouncing "another Swift Boat attack" on John Murtha's character by people who never chose to wear the uniform of the United States. I'm not sure what you meant by that.

The Swift Boat vets were themselves verterans - some of whom served alongside you, and who called into question your inflated version of your wartime service. If anyone had standing to question you about your claims, or your character under fire, they did. It's not their fault you lied about spending Christmas in Cambodia, or claimed to have served with a man you didn't, described covert operations for which no records exist and no corroborating witnesses have come forward, or wrote your own award recommendation. They just brought these facts to light.

The criticism of Murtha's proposal to abandon the Iraqis to the same fate as the South Vietnamese and Cambodians is simply pointing out that if retreat and surrender did not bring peace and freedom to Southeast Asia, it is unlikely to work in Southwest Asia. That's not an attack on the man's character, it's an attack on a very stupid idea.

To the best of my knowledge, the only charge against Rep Murtha's character has been that by proposing we cut and run, he has denigrated the sacrifice of those who have bled and died so that the Iraqi people have a shot at determining their own future. No one has intimated that he did not honorably serve his country in uniform.

Some of Murtha's harshest critics, by the way, are active-duty soldiers and Marines and their families. They have counted the cost, and paid the price, and see Murtha as selling them out. Do you consider their criticisms valid, Senator Kerry?


"Chickenhawk" disclosure: I tried to join the USAF in the late 80's. They didn't want a flatfooted, nearsighted asthmatic. My dad served with Nimitz. Had Truman not dropped the bomb he probably would have been taken out by a kamizake attack on a carrier during the invasion. One of my uncles was a paratrooper who jumped at Normandy and the Bulge, earning two Purple Hearts with an Oak Leaf Cluster. He carried shrapnel in his legs to his dying day. Another uncle was infantry in Italy I believe. Another uncle had three ships shot from under him in the Merchant Marine (*they* couldn't shoot back). Another uncle lost a finger to a Howitzer breech mechanism in the hedgerow country. My Scoutmaster was a mud Marine in Korea.

No, I was never shot at. But I knew them what was. And I believe that they would be repudiate Rep. Murtha without hesitation.

How to grow a spine

#1. Dump Frist
He's in love with the idea of being in the Senate. He sees himself as a modern-day Byrd (as Byrd imagines himself to be). I like the idea of a Senate, too. Deliberation and all that is not a bad thing - the founders had a good idea. And the asbestos thing was overblown- Frist was talking to the National Association of Manufacturers, and the asbestos litigation issue is HUGE in their world.

But still. Frist has demonstrated time and again that he'll sacrifice party, principle, and President for precedent. Get him gone.

#2. Get Delay back on the mound
Or at least coaching from the bullpen. Back in the game somehow.

#3. Schedule an up-or-down roll-call vote on an IMMEDIATE withdrawal of troops from Iraq. No amendments. Bring it on, let's git'r done, as they say.

SAFE

So Pennsylvania Democrat Re. John Murtha wants to "immediately redeploy U.S. troops consistent with the safety of U.S. forces" and let the Iraqis fend for themselves.

Yes, let's keep our troops safe, by all means. Bring them home. Keep them safe.

We'd best ground the Air Force, too - it's not safe to fly those big jets. Keep the Navy in port - that water is deep and cold out there. It's not safe. Don't let the Army drive those tanks - what if they were to run over someone's foot? And for the love of safety lock up all those dangerous guns and missles and things.

We don't want anyone to get hurt. Especially not the men and women who have volunteered to go in harm's way to defend the rest of us. Let's all stay nice and safe.


Until the masked men come to our door with their beheading knives.


UPDATE: The new headline paints John "Cut-n-Run" Murtha as a "Hawkish" Democrat. He's a decorated Vietnam vet, a former Marine intel officer. How can he POSSIBLY want to visit upon the Iraqi people what the retreat from Vietnam visited upon Southeast Asia?

Unbelievable.

Netflix for geeks

Cool beans!

I'm an Ent

Who knew?


Entish

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

The good, the bad, and the Uruk-Hai

If I were Lileks, I'd have sound clips. But I'm not, so you'll have to use your imagination.

I'm watching the extras extended edition DVD of the Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers, taking a break to get a bite to eat, and it suddenly strikes me. The Rohan theme - dah dah dah di dah di dah dah, dah dah dah di dah di dah daaah... sounds a WHOLE LOT like the theme from the Clint Eastwood classic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Who-ee-oo-ee-ooh bwah bwah bwah. Who-ee-oo-ee-ooh bwah bwah bwaaah...

The Rohirrim are people of the horse. They live in wooden towns on windswept plains. The men are brave and loyal, the women are strong and stoic. They have swords instead of sixguns and a king rather than a sherriff, but STILL!

Has anyone noticed this before?

This needs a good fisking

TCS: Tech Central Station - Is Intelligent Design a Bad Scientific Theory or a Non-Scientific Theory?

So full of errors and bias I'm amazed that Glenn linked to it.

Crank it up to eleven

I quit trying to explain this to my intermediate guitar students some time ago. The new electronic tuners are good enough.

Tune it or die.

Absence of evidence = evidence of absence?

Shifting Icebergs May Have Forced Penguin Evolution

So three widely-separated colonies of penguins are genetically identical. But-but-but, evolution says that they should be different! So we have to come up with a mechanism to explain why evolution doesn't seem to have happened in a place where it should. Whew! Crisis averted.

Oh - the article includes this statement:

Microevolution involves small-scale genetic changes in a species over time. The classic example is a color change undergone by British pepper moths in response to changing levels of air pollution.

Only problem is, that example is a well-known hoax, not a classic example.

How do you say "Mein Kampf" in Farsi?"

Clifford May echoes my own thoughts:

Eighty years ago, Adolf Hitler published an autobiography-cum-manifesto. Its title translates as “My Struggle.” In it, Hitler talked of his desire for revenge against France, the German nation's need to control more land, and the means by which his National Socialist Party could gain power. It also included, of course, a clear indication of his genocidal intentions against the Jews. Last week, Iran's president echoed those themes. He talked about his “struggle” – the word translate into both Arabic and Persian as “jihad” -- his desire for revenge against America and the West, the Islamic nation's need to control more land, and the means by which his Militant Islamist movement could gain global power. Of course, there are differences between Hitler in 1925 and Ahmadinejad in 2005. Perhaps the biggest is this: When Hitler made his threats he was an obscure politician whom hardly anyone took seriously. By contrast, Ahmadinejad is the president of a large and wealthy nation that operates terrorist organizations and is well on its way to developing nuclear weapons. (emphasis mine)

(emphasis mine) Couple that development with the riots in France, and things are getting...interesting.

Are the New Testament Gospels Reliable?

WOW. The erudite and readable Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts has completed a 30-part series on the historical reliability of the Gospels. In his closing segment, Robers notes,

I don't believe I've proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the New Testament gospels are historically reliable. I do believe, however, that I've shown it is reasonable to regard these gospels as historically accurate.

I've long argued that proof "beyond a reasonable doubt" - the standard set in criminal law - is not a rational standard to evaluate the historicity of the Gospels. Indeed, theologically it is impossible to do so. If the truth of the Gospels is proven beyond doubt, then there is no room for faith.

"Preponderance of evidence" and "most likely explanation" - the civil legal standard - is a far more reasonable standard to employ.

Lots of reading to do.

An even more insignificant protest

A few weeks ago, perhaps as much as 100,000 people marched in Washington to protest the war in Iraq, the existence of the state of Israel, global warming, etc. I noted then that it was statistically insignificant, since the marchers represented at best 3.3% of the population - a fringe movement by any definition. Today, about 9,000 students cut classes nationwide to protest the war in Iraq.

That's .003 percent - 1 in 33,333. If the population were the bloodstream, and the protestors were alcohol, the nation would not only be legal to drive, a blood test wouldn't even pick it up.

Scientists in a snit

In an escalation of the nation's culture war over the teaching of evolution, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association announced yesterday that they will not allow Kansas to use key science education materials developed by the two organizations.

The refusal came after the groups reviewed the latest draft of the Kansas State Department of Education's new science education standards and concluded that they overemphasize uncertainties about the theory of evolution and fail to make it clear that supernatural phenomena have no place in science.

Next up, watch for the NAS and the NSTA to castigate Kansas for using "substandard" curriculum materials.

As if any more proof was needed...

...that the UN is a worthless, toothless organization:

Key U.N. Security Council members dropped the threat of sanctions against Syria on Monday in a last-minute effort to get all 15 nations to back a resolution demanding that Damascus cooperate with an investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.

The resolution had called for possible economic sanctions if Syria didn't comply, citing the U.N. Charter. But the new text dropped the reference to the charter, saying only that if Syria doesn't cooperation "the council, if necessary, could consider further action."

During negotiations that began Sunday night and continued early Monday morning, the five veto-wielding council members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — also agreed to drop an appeal to Syria to renounce all support for terrorism

What part of "wiped off the map" don't you understand?

Iran's president addressed a conference call called "The World Without Zionism." Citing Ayatollah Khomeni, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that, "Israel must be wiped off the map."

This from a nation that is pursuing nuclear weapons.

Greg's Fly Baby

Memo to self - Furl this page.

Pulled Pork Busters

The only thing to say is, HEH. Indeed.

Who would Jesus Bomb?

Lileks went off on another screed this week, about an anti-war protestor with a sign reading, "Who would Jesus bomb?" It prompted my old buddy Pete from Detroit to write the following:

I get SO tired of these sanctimonious prigs. The OBVIOUS answer (and the point of the barb at W) is that Jesus was not a bombing kinda guy. And so it is. Were he to deal out vindication he'd be much more personal about it - the scene with the moneychangers in the temple being a classic example. Then again, there's the lesson of Sodom and Gommorah. Granted, that wasn't specifically Jesus, but it's hard to think of a nuke attack being described in biblical terms any more accurately.

We also know God takes a dim view of people who oppress Jews, their armies, and their sons (hello, Pharoh, the plagues weren'tenough? You had to drive the army into the sea?). So, from various perspectives, we have indications that the divinity has visited retribution on those who cheat the people in the name of 'religion' and convenience, (Oil for Food, anyone?), the sexually promiscious (Yasser, Saddam, his sons) and oppressive regiemes and their minions.

Also, more to the point the people he would certainly NOT bomb would be tourists at a disco, families in a pizza place, soldiers in theirbarracks (or on a boat), grandmothers on a bus, kids on a school bus or even actually IN the school. Those, I think, are the ones Jesus would not bomb.

Which side are these *sshats ON, anyway?

Cool!

News Map ht: Ken Hensley

Happy birthday, Your Excellency!

Baroness Maggie turns 80 today. (My Dad does the same shortly.)

A fitting tribute to the Great Lady is Mark Steyn's comments on Hugh Hewitt's show today (as transcribed at radioblogger.com). They contain a cautionary note for those U.S. conservatives carping about President Bush today:

And it shows the danger when you have...you know, great leaders are very rarely honored by their parties, because the parties are full of all the safe time servers. And that's what Mrs. Thatcher's Torry Party was. She was a bold, courageous leader. You see it now. Tony Blair in Britian, John Howard in Australia, and George W. Bush in the United States. And innumerable Eastern European leader that nobody knows the names of. These are all essentially Thatcherite leaders operating Thatcherite policies at home and abroad. And yet the one place where she didn't have a working majority in those few months in 1990, was her own political party.

(Emphasis mine.)

An idiot, but a dangerous idiot

On the eve of the first free, deomocratic constitutional referendum in the country's history, Michael Fisk says that Iraq has descended into anarchy.

I guess in his little enclave in the Green Zone he doesn't have access to Michael Yon or Arthur Chrenckoff.

What makes Fisk a dangerous idiot rather than simply an idiot is that people listen to him, thinking that he is speaking the truth. Not many people, and not powerful people, but generally loud people. And unfortunately, often a few loud people get noticed by many or powerful people.

A great, great speech

The President finally gave the speech he's been needing to give for a couple of years. This is why we're fighting, and what we're fighting for.

We put the fun in disfunctional

A quick shout-out to the members of my family that I finally got brave enough to tell about this blog. I know we disagree about many - ok, most - political, social, and religious issues, but I love you guys to the end of time. So break out the Maalox and keep reading.

Molech must be pleased

Netherlands legalizes killing babies (Donald Sensing).

Like the death of a parent, you know it's coming, you see it coming, it's not really a surprise, but you're still stunned when it happens.

Maranatha!

She blinded me .. with SCIENCE!

When I get around to putting a blogroll on this thing, Mark Shea and Patrick O'Hannigan are gonna be on it.

Missing the point on Miers

UPDATED - the original was WAY too long and rambling.

Half the conservative world is up in arms over Harriet. "How do we know she's a real conservative? How do we know she's a strict constructionist?" they cry.

It's blindingly obvious to me - she's an evangelical Christian.

Harriet Miers has attended and been active in an Evangelical church for decades. Social moderate-conservatism is in the water, the air. (You'll also find some extremely strong social conservatives, but fewer in Evangelical than in Fundamentalist churches.)

Many of Miers's critics grudgingly accept that she's probably a social conservative. But they're unsure about her stance on the interpretation of the Constitution. Again, her faith-based worldview informs this.

Evangelicals study the Bible, trying to discern the writer's original intent. "What's the 'therefore' there for?" There are wide-ranging arguments over how to interpret many passages (most a result of different ways to translate the original languages and discussions over cultural and historical context), but the bottom line is, "What does the Bible SAY?" We let the text speak for itself, and take the most plain meaning possible.

I'm not worried about Harriet Miers rewriting the Constitution.

Note: I wrote this BEFORE I saw the post on Captain's Quarters or the WSJ article talking about this very issue. Great minds think alike, eh? :-)

Be mindful of the consequences of errors in your work

NASA said today that the likely cause of the PAL-ramp foam coming off Discovery's tank was workers damaging it either by cutting it while working nearby, or leaning against it and cracking it. The loose blanket under the window had shoddy stitching. The bits sticking out on the belly tiles were improperly glued.

The shuttle is the most complex machine ever built - over one million pieces, each one delivered and assembled under government contract by the lowest bidder.

I used to think that was funny.

More signs of the impending end

Jeb Bush is piggybacking on Disney's marketing of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to get school children to read the C.S. Lewis classic for his statewide reading initiative.

Hide your children.

Seriously, it'd be great to have some organized protests. Then we can put The Narnia Chronicles on the "read a banned book" table at the public library.

Great minds think alike

I'm delighted that Hugh, Beldar, and Thomas Lifson all share my point of view that Harriet Miers is a very shrewd choice.

The vocal red-meat red-staters need to understand that this President thinks and acts strategically, not tactically. They might have preferred a nominee that would generate a nuclear war on the floor of the Senate, but even if the Byrd option were imposed (and I frankly don't think Frist has the spine to pull the trigger) and cloture forced, it would be a Pyrrhic victory. It might have the base whoopin' and hollerin, but the vast majority of voters would be turned off.

This way, the President gets a solid conservative whose views are personally known to him and keeps his powder dry until Stevens retires after the 2006 elections.

As my kid's sensei says, the best way to win a fight is to avoid it.

What is Web 2.0? - definition from examples

John Hagel has a thoughtful post on what Web 2.0 is. Up to this point, it's been a concept with lots of examples, but without a definition. Hagel provides a definition and goes through each word of the definition in exegetical fashion to show why it fits.

Good stuff on many levels, not the least of which is providing a worked example of developing a list of attributes from a set of prototype examples.

Miers for SCOTUS

I'm puzzled, too, but I suspect there is more going on than meets the eye.

As Counsel, Miers has worked with the President. Bush has gotten to know her, to know her views. They are certainly not very different from his own.

Miers has no judicial record, and a thin record was the one bit of damp ammo the Democrats had on Roberts. That and the 'Texas Mafia' line (Miers and Laura Bush were classmates, I've read) may be all they have on Miers as well. We'll find out soon enough. No record and a charge of cronyism may be enough to sink the nomination. In which case, one might assume that Bush did the political calculus, and has another nominee in the wings.

Bush isn't running for re-election. His poll numbers are pretty much meaningless. But with cries of dismay coming from the right, the opposition simply isn't going to be energized, except for the terminal-BDS crew.

Crazy like a fox? I hope so.