Category: Uncategorized

rdkraus ponders the point:

So, are all who do not believe in the Way, the Truth and the Life going to Hell?

Uh oh.

Is it not possible to be a good and decent human being and lead a good and decent life without belief in the above?

Yes, it’s very possible. I know a few people who manage it, although I didn’t happen to be one of them. The problem is that those fundamentally good and decent people have no ability to oppose evil, lacking any coherent intellectual rationale for condemning and attacking it. So, even these good and decent unbelievers will find themselves in a Hell that is not of their making if the Christian influence is removed from a society.

If one is lucky, one might find oneself in a place like Japan. More realistically, something like the current Middle East approximates the historical norm. And if one is unlucky, one ends up in something like the People’s Democratic Republic of Kampuchea, the Aztec Empire or the Moloch-worshipping kingdoms of Canaan.

Keep in mind that the technology-blessed society in which we live so comfortably developed from the Christian West, not the pagan East or the Islamic Middle East. The track record of pure secularism as seen in the Communist societies has not been kind to technological development, but admittedly, the secularist philosophy/religion is still new therefore the jury is still out.

The godfather of the gay rights movement takes exception:

What “homosexual predilection for cannibalism? What on earth are you talking about? And please don’t cite that one case in Germany not long ago. To characterize millions of people by one instance is irrational.

To be sure, a focus on one instance would be irrational. But I’m not simply talking about the proclivities of Armin Miewes, I’m talking about the 340+ responses he received for his ad seeking a man harboring an interest in being butchered. Do you seriously think a heterosexual man would hear from that many women were he to place a similar personal ad? I’m also talking about the GLBT connection to almost half of the most famous serial killers in history, including big names such as Gein, Chikatilo, Fish and Dahmer to less famous small fry like the gay Mexican killer cannibal of two weeks ago. The link between homosexuality and cannibalism is so old that it is even considered a literary device of sorts.

But I don’t see why one would take issue with statistical links when one can simply redefine cannibalism as morally preferable to eating beef or whatever. If one can make a blanket assertion that homosexuality is an inherent good that is healthier and morally superior to sexual normalcy, who is to say that cannibalism isn’t an inherent good as well? More protein than a vegetarian diet, unlike chickens and veal, people are free-range and as the case of Miewes demonstrates, are capable of expressing their desire to be eaten in a way that an animal never can.

Defensive lineman Reggie White, who terrorized quarterbacks for the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, has died of a massive heart attack at age 43, according to ESPN. Reporter Andrea Kremer said that since leaving he game, he had suffered through his wife’s diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, and had been studying Hebrew in a search to better clarify his religious beliefs.

He left his wife, a son and a daughter. The family issued a statement thanking fans and reporters for their thoughts and asking that their privacy be respected. White was nicknamed the “Minister of Defense” for his football prowess and his Evangelical Christian ordination.

I greatly respected and admired Reggie White. Although he played an unglamorous position, and played for the archrival Packers, he was always one of my favorite players. He was fearless both on the field and off, and his determination to speak openly about Jesus Christ made him a man I wished to emulate in my own public life.

My most indelible memory of the Minister of Defense as a player was a game at the Metrodome. The Vikings had the ball at the twenty, right in front of our seats, and drew up an insane blocking scheme for a screen pass that involved Randall Cunningham rolling out to his right and Cris Carter blocking the defensive end so that the right tackle could pull to the left. This would have been dubious under normal circumstances, but it was a disaster since the defensive end involved was Reggie White. White shoved Carter and with a single push sent him literally flying back seven yards into the quarterback, so hard that when Carter struck Cunningham, both Vikings went down in a heap. He was truly one of the all-time NFL greats.

His race was far too short, but it was well-run indeed. May God richly reward him and give strength and comfort his family.

We watched that tonight as a family, and during Linus’ explanation of the meaning of Christmas, I couldn’t help but reflect how the cartoon is a snapshot of a time that appears to be disappearing, with an open religiosity that is as out of place as the notion of aluminum Christmas trees. One wonders how long it will be before that bit will have to be cut before network censors refuse to broadcast it lest it “offend” someone.

But that is neither here nor there. For unto us a child is given, and if the gates of Hell cannot prevail against him, neither will a passing fad of political correctness. Glory to the Newborn King.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I used to very much dislike being importuned by beggars. I’d usually just ignore them, after all, the chance that they were scamming money for drugs and alcohol was not so much a possibility as a probability given the realities of “homelessness” in America.

It eventually occurred to me, however, that this sort of judgment was not for me to make. Jesus tells us to behave towards the least of our brothers as if they were him, which inherently assumes that they are NOT him and therefore fallible and prone to doing the wrong thing with whatever we happen to give them. The parable of the stewards shows that God will hold them accountable for their actions, and we are responsible solely for our own.

To give when one is asked is not compassion nor is it anything to be commended. It is simply obedience to the will of our Lord. Consider that the next time you encounter a shabby old man with his palm outstretched.

…the greatest weakness of the American press is moral. Our media are relentlessly, grindingly, hermetically controlled or, as we say, politically correct. Everyone with the brains of an aspirin tablet is aware of it. Newspaper do not so much report the news as avoid it. The taboos are endless and rigid. What reporters know, they do not write; what they write, they do not believe. We all understand exactly what the media can say, can’t say, and will say. Sheer dishonesty rubs shoulders with poor content.

This inability to address the truth, however uncomfortable, is what is leading the media reality further and further away from the easily observable reality. This is why the commentary aspect of the mainstream media is simply growing more and more irrelevant.

The structural aspects of the media will continue to be useful, but more and more it will come to resemble the AP newswire, with superblogs replacing the individual papers themselves. This will, I think, be a good thing. If nothing else, it will return some level of variety that has been lost to the print world the last twenty years.

Last week: 12-4. Overall: 147-75. Fantasy: 8-6-1 (lost first round)

W-Pittsburgh Steelers over Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills over San Francisco 49ers

W-Cincinnati Bengals over New York Giants

L-Jacksonville Jaguars over Houston Texans

Dallas Cowboys over Washington Redskins

Carolina Panthers over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

W-Detroit Lions over Chicago Bears

New England Patriots over New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles over St. Louis Rams

Seattle Seahawks over Arizona Cardinals

W-Kansas City Chiefs over Oakland Raiders

L-Atlanta Falcons over New Orleans Saints

Miami Dolphins over Cleveland Browns

W-Indianapolis Colts over San Diego Chargers

L-Tennessee Titans over Denver Broncos

L-Minnesota Vikings over Green Bay Packers

This is a tough week, one of those where I wouldn’t be suprised to go 8-8 or 12-4. But Vox Funk is holding off the White Buffalo by five points and clinging to tenth place in the picks league so we need a decent performance. The fantasy loss last week in the first round of the playoffs was a tough one, especially since I outscored the two teams playing in the other game. But I was always a very long shot against this year’s two powerhouses, which face off this weekend for the championship.

I am not ready to be this old. I’m not ready to become part of the Parents generation, as if I had a choice. But one of my daughters lives half a continent away and can’t get the time off work to make the trip home for the holidays. Another will be coming home for a few days and may bring her fiancé, but then they’ll probably leave to spend a few days with his family. The third will be staying at the house a bit longer, but she’s really planning to spend most of her vacation hanging out with her high school friends.

We’re lucky. We still have The Kid: the 9-year-old late-life surprise who keeps us young and reminds his older sisters that they’re not quite ready to start families of their own, yet. So we’ll haul out the camcorder, watch him tear into the presents, and record every happy shriek and bit of shredded wrapping paper for posterity.

Michael Ledeen barks up a storm on NRO:

The clear strategic conclusion remains what it should have been long before Coalition troops entered Saddam’s evil domain: No matter how strongly we wish it to be otherwise, we are engaged in a regional war, of which Iraq is but a single battlefield. The war cannot be won in Iraq alone, because the enemy is based throughout the region and his bases and headquarters are located beyond our current reach. His power is directly proportional to our unwillingness to see the true nature of the war, and our decision to limit the scope of our campaign.

The true nature of the war exposes yet another current myth: that we are at greater risk because we failed to send sufficient troops into Iraq. More troops would simply mean more targets for the terrorists, since we are not prepared — nor should we be — to establish a full-scale military occupation and to “seal off” the borders with Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Hell, we can’t even seal off the Mexican border with the United States, an area we know well. How can we expect to build a wall around Iraq?

No, we can only win in Iraq if we fully engage in the terror war, which means using our most lethal weapon — freedom — against the terror masters, all of them. The peoples of Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are restive, they look to us for political support. Why have we not endorsed the call for political referenda in Syria and Iran? Why are we so (rightly and honorably) supportive of free elections in the Ukraine, while remaining silent about — or, in the disgraceful case of outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell, openly hostile to — free elections in Iran and Syria? Why are we not advancing both our values and our interests in the war against the terror masters?

Hmmmm… now Ledeen is saying what people like me were saying from the start… Iraq is just a sideshow. But the neocon cabal wasn’t interested in taking on the entire Middle East back when it was a matter for a debate, (although to be fair, Ledeen has always had his crosshairs set on Iran), instead the uncomfortable fact that Saudi Arabia and Iran were far more involved in terrorism than Iraq was swept under the rug in favor of focusing on the more “doable”.

What’s particularly strange about this is the idea that since we don’t have enough troops to secure Iraq against its neighbors, we should attack four more countries. Now, this would have been viable if we stuck to my favored strategy – go in, break things, get out – but it is not feasible given the nation-building mandate that is the administration’s only justification for the present Iraqi Occupation.

For the neocons, it seems that even the realization of the danger inherent to getting what you asked for isn’t enough to prevent them from asking for more. Are Americans really up for occupying Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria as well as Iraq? I don’t think so. And if Ledeen tries to insist that he’s not actually advocating attacking and occupying these countries, then one must ask why American troops are still in Iraq if free elections can be created by the simple fact of the US requesting them.