Friday, October 5. 2007
Sally Morgenthaler, author of the book Worship Evangelism, has given up on the notion. In this article she despairs that her thoughtful book became an excuse for churches to develop an "if you build it they will come approach" to evangelism that has both failed in developing proper worship and truly effective authentic evangelism. Today, instead, she challenges leaders to separate worship from evangelism so that we can honor God in the first and live with and love our neighbors as the means to the second.
Read the whole thing at It Takes a Church.
Violence in middle-class schools. How come nobody wants to admit that rotten behavior comes from rotten character, and not from the outside? A Davos Declaration on Tourism. To my vast surprise, the tourist industry did not declare a ban on air travel despite its effects on the global warming crisis. They really do care, though - and that's what counts. Al Qaida bagman in the bag. Lucianne. That has gotta hurt. No more Halloween in Broomfield. What's Broomfield? And who dislikes Halloween other than evangelical Christians? Moslems? WTF? WTH? Ancient engineers, without "math skills." Without math, too. Science Daily "Where have all the peaceniks gone?" Am. Thinker, re Burma The venerable Hamilton College finally gets a Hamilton Institute. In part, they objected to "Hamilton." Huh?
Thursday, October 4. 2007
 Not surprising, but... EU Referendum.
Who elected Soros to anything? He's just a megalomaniacal rich jerk with a lot of opinions - and a low-down schemer. Furthermore, I do not really think of him as an American: I think of him as an "American of convenience" who keeps his money offshore and whose loyalties are international. And yes, them is fightin' words.
"The NRA might be right after all," in USA Today. h/t, The Corner. Better late than never to respect our Constitution.
Paul at Powerline presents a heck of a min-opus from Douglas Kmiec of the Romney campaign on habeas as it applies to foreigners and terrorists.
From the Free Online Dictionary: 1. Specious or excessively subtle reasoning intended to rationalize or mislead. 2. The determination of right and wrong in questions of conduct or conscience by analyzing cases that illustrate general ethical rules.
It's odd that a word would have two such antithetical usages, but one can see how the perjorative usage could have grown out of the second. The subject arises because Prof. Deneen takes a look at Georgetown Law's decision to permit internships at institutions which are not consistent with Catholic teachings. The Prof sees in that decision a failure to apply the necessary casuistry to the issue.
Hey, Michael Moore - check out these photos taken with a cell phone camera in three Havana hospitals. h/t, Jawa
Wesley Clark proposes regulating free speech. How often do we have to point out the totalitarian impulse at the core of the Left? If it weren't for that, we wouldn't care so much...although we do like Capitalism too: wealth is a darn good motivator for effort and achievement, but it's about freedom, too, to pursue whatever your dreams might be. Gen. Clark seems to have forgotten why he was in the military.
"It's unbelievable, it's strange but true,
It's inconceivable it could happen to you.
You go north and you go south
Just like bait in the fish's mouth.
Ya must be livin' in the shadow of some kind of evil star.
It's unbelievable it would get this far.
It's undeniable what they'd have you to think,
It's indescribable, it can drive you to drink.
They said it was the land of milk and honey,
now they say it's the land of money.
Who ever thought they could ever make that stick.
It's unbelievable you can get this rich this quick.
Every head is so dignified, every moon is so sanctified,
Every urge is so satisfied as long as you're with me.
All the silver, all the gold, all the sweethearts you can hold
That don't come back with stories untold, are hanging on a tree.
It's unbelievable like a lead balloon,
It's so impossible to even learn the tune.
Kill that beast and feed that swine,
Scale that wall and smoke that vine,
Feed that horse and saddle up the drum.
It's unbelievable, the day would finally come.
Once there was a man who had no eyes,
Every lady in the land told him lies,
He stood beneath the silver skies
And his heart began to bleed.
Every brain is civilized,
Every nerve is analyzed,
Everything is criticized when you are in need.
It's unbelievable, it's fancy-free,
So interchangeable, so delightful to see.
Turn your back, wash your hands,
There's always someone who understands
It don't matter no more what you got to say
It's unbelievable it would go down this way." "Unbelievable," off 1990's critical failure Under The Red Sky. I could not find any live performances on youtube, though there have been a handful over the years, but did discover that there was, against all odds, a music video made of the song. I don't believe it won any awards, but it does allow you to hear the original album version.
 In the UK, Moslem youth advised to use violence against the Infidel. h/t, Insty. That, my Brit cousins, is called an "insurgency."
All the love and sensitivity in the world will not fix it any more than they can cure cancer - because people want to erase you not for what you do, but for what you are. And just a brief question off-topic: Does Glenn Reynolds really have a day job? If he does, even if it's teaching at the law school, how does he find time to find - and to post - so much interesting stuff, day after day?
 Burma, Gun Control, and David Hume. Samizdata
Dead or alive? Neoconservatism's future by Muravchik in Opinion Journal Taliban, failing on the battlefield, turns to child suicide bombers Moral Equivalence Department: Auschwitz=Abu Graib. No Pasaran Tyler Cowen rips Naomi Klein's Disaster Capitalism, in the NY Sun Cleaning up: LA catching and deporting hundreds of criminal illegals. Prominent Canadian pol defends their health service, goes to US for treatment.
Wednesday, October 3. 2007
Hey, all you visitors from Dr. Helen, Hot Air, etc: Check around our blog while you are visiting. You might like us. We even have a shrink who posts regularly occasionally - Dr. Bliss. This personal ad, and the reply, are said to have appeared on Craig's List personals:  What am I doing wrong?
Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy. I'm not from New York. I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think I'm overreaching at all.
Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?
Here are my questions specifically:
- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars,
restaurants, gyms
-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt my
feelings
-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?
- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east
side so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who have
nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop dead
gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the story
there?
- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment
banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they
hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for
MARRIAGE ONLY
Please hold your insults - I'm putting myself out there in an honest
way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up front
about it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn't
able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a
nice home and hearth.
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial
interests
The good reply below on continuation page. (Photo is not the gal who wrote the personal ad. This is one of Theo's girlfriends.)
Continue reading "Dating Economics: Buying vs. Leasing"
We always told you he was full of it. He sure rakes in the bucks with his fearmongering crusade, doesn't he? Apparently he is not too worried about sea level rise. h/t, Worstall.
 Cogent and stunningly right, from Jonah Goldberg via Driscoll:
In The L.A. Times, Jonah Goldberg writes, "I have no interest in 'questioning' Couric's patriotism. Rather, I'm interested in questioning her definition of it": I've come around to the view that the culture war can best be understood as a conflict between two different kinds of patriotism. On the one hand, there are people who believe being an American is all about dissent and change, that the American idea is inseparable from "progress." America is certainly an idea, but it is not merely an idea. It is also a nation with a culture as real as France's or Mexico's. That's where the other patriots come in; they think patriotism is about preserving Americanness. Yet the strangest and most ironic aspect of our national culture is that we have an aversion to talking about a national culture. Samuel Huntington, one of the country's premier social scientists, has become something of a pariah for constantly reminding people (in books such as "The Clash of Civilizations" and "Who Are We?") that the United States is a nation, not just a government and a bunch of interest groups. Many liberals hear talk of national culture and shout, "Nativist!" first and ask questions later, if at all. They believe it is a sign of their patriotism that they hold fast to the idea that we are a "nation of immigrants" -- forgetting that we are also a nation of immigrants who became Americans.
Exactly right. Although we have numerous local subcultures, most of us also live within, and treasure, the larger national culture which it would take a better writer than I am to define succinctly and without corniness - but I can say that it's not about "progress" and it's not about immigrants.
You cannot be too paranoid to understand the scheming behind politics. Powerline: Now we learn from The Politico that in an internal White House staff memo from 1993 Hillary's staff saw federal coverage of children as a “precursor” to universal coverage. In a memo called “Kids First,” Clinton’s staff laid out backup plans in the event the universal coverage idea failed. According to the Politico, one of the key options was creating a state-run health plan for children who didn’t qualify for Medicaid but were uninsured. Under this approach, said the memo, "health care reform is phased in by population, beginning with children.” In this way, “Kids First is really a precursor to the new system. It is intended to be freestanding and administratively simple, with states given broad flexibility in its design so that it can be easily folded into existing/future program structures.”
Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon died in the blow-up of the Columbia. Among his gear was a drawing of the earth, from beyond the moon, by Petr Ginz, a Czech author, pamphleteer (he would be a blogger today), and drawer of pictures who was killed in Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of 16. Petr never ceased believing that he and his young friends would be rescued. His sister survived the Holocaust. The story of Petr is in The Diary of Petr Ginz.
RWNH. I think this sort of thing just makes life more interesting for Rush. He is beyond intimidation by the Hillary-Soros Media Matters. Nobody who ever listened to him for ten minutes would imagine that he would insult a soldier. This pure BS "story" will be gone in two days. What the story is really about is about Media Matters and MoveOn flexing their muscles at the beach.
Crittendon on Obama. He is an easy target, though.
 We are troubled by overfishing in the Atlantic. It's a "tragedy of the commons."
Don Boudreaux quotes a letter which asks whether an infusion of property rights might solve the problem: Fisheries are the classic tragedies of the commons and fishermen are behaving rationally when they overfish, for all of the benefits of each fish caught accrue to them while the costs are borne by the population as a whole. Fishermen are also behaving rationally when they “fish” for politicians in Brussels or national capitals, for if French fishermen do not, they will suffer when Italian fishermen do and vice versa.
Read the whole thing.
 We all expect hardball and ugly politics when large amounts of power are in play, but there are tactics and methods which go beyond hardball. But the Dem attack machine, funded by Soros organizations, appears to have no conscience whatsoever - which is why I am so offended by it all. You can't really blame it all on Soros - they are working hand-in-hand. It's a war for them.
If everyone is going to get a bit ad hominem here, let's be reminded that Soros was a Nazi collaborator, despite being Jewish. OK, he was young, but it might say something about how he operates: he admits "that's when my character was formed." When someone at MoveOn claimed to "own the Democratic Party," they weren't kidding. The Dems jump when Soros says jump. Tammy: The purely fascist tactic of ritual defamation, condemning dissent, and attempts to silence voices that do not pledge allegiance to the Left, has now consumed local and federal Democrat lawmakers. In one of the most remarkable and shameless displays of Thought Police tactics, Democrats now carry the water for the Soros Gestapos which exist to squelch public discussion of which they do not approve or does not confirm to their nihilistic leftist agenda. Make no mistake--this is one of many volleys launched in an effort to revive the necessary and ultimate leftist grab for power--a return of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which would kill the freedom of market and listener driven talk radio.
I don't know whether it's about the Fairness Doctrine or about shutting up opinion preparatory to the election, but I do think it is all about intimidation. After all, they already have Imus' head as a prize - and as a warning. Read Tammy's whole rant.
MSM running from the Rush "phony soldier" story being pushed by Media matters. h/t, Insty. And Riehl on the Dem quagmires MoveOn and Media Matters are creating. Good comment from a commenter at Gun Shots about the UN's program to disarm people: Why do we need guns? The UN does a fine job of protecting the citizens of member nations. Rwanda. Bosnia. Darfur. China.
Commenter might have included Burma. In The Buffalo News: Global warming alarmists must be held to a higher standard. A good short piece asking 4 simple questions. Stuart Taylor runs through the most egregious recent examples ouf double-standard free speech in higher education. h/t, Volokh Neuhaus: Christianity "not only disestablished but banished" in Canada. Bloomberg wants surveillance camers around NYC, calls opponents "ridiculous." Call me ridiculous, Mr. Mayor. Nanny-statists always have a totalitarian side.
Tuesday, October 2. 2007
The Taliban did not permit photos, or any images, and they sure did not permit homosexuality. However, these rules did not apply to them. Watch the video slideshow. h/t, Taliban Glam piece at Attack Machine.
Some of our readers might like to bookmark Classical Virtuoso, a blog which seeks out the best classical performances on YouTube. I wish I had a way to route through my good speakers.
 After years of a pragmatic, uninspiring and relatively non-ideological Bush, the GOP "brand" has become muddied and tattered. Thus we read depressing pieces like this one in the WSJ.
Although I do not consider myself a Republican, I do consider myself to be a Conservative, with erratically Libertarian aspects. I also believe, perhaps wrongly, that it is in the best interest of the Repubs to continue to stand for conservative ideas. However, I am fully aware that it is the only task of political parties to gain power and easy jobs with great benefits for their members, not to marry any ideology. I also predict that Iraq and terrorism will fade as the major political issue - not disappear, but move to second or third or fourth place. Why? Because Bush will have been successful in defusing some of the most ominous threats (yes, I do know Islam will be a chronic threat for many years). I would like to see a candidate who is able to refresh the brand in a warm, cheerful, optimistic way. Am I asking for another Reagan? Editor's note: Great minds think alike. Kudlow today: The GOP has some re-branding to do
The more you tax people, the less money they have to take care of themselves and their families, so the more they are inclined to turn to the government (ie their neighbors' money) for help, so politicians raise taxes to buy their votes, rendering them that much less able to care for themselves and their families. The News Junkie
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