Vox Popoli

in2n writes:

Kind of like VDs comments, come to think of it, a guy who considers it no conflict of his Christian lifestyle to write F— You on public posts, advocates the indiscriminant killing of FBI agents, and thinks taking explosives to public schools works in society’s best interest.

There is no conflict between Christian faith and writing the word “fuck” or using it in conversation with friends inclined to a more vulgar persuasion. I find it tremendously ironic that many societally-conscious Christians are far more squeamish about using common words for sexual intercourse, defecation, urination and genitalia than they are about the only things they are commanded not to do, namely, taking the Lord’s name in vain and swearing oaths. I don’t recall where it is written that in order to be saved, one “must believe with his heart and confess with his tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord… and don’t you dare say fuck, either.”

True, Paul writes in Colossians 3:7-9: “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.”

In other words, using “filthy language” is right up there with getting mad and telling white lies. Is it better not to? Yes, of course, but I’ll consider taking people like in2n seriously when they get as righteously wroth with a little old lady saying “by Heaven” or a wife getting bent out of shape because her husband forgot to take out the trash as they do about someone cracking a vulgar Hitchhiker’s joke.

In general, I do tend to try avoiding the use of such language, not only in person but on this blog since there are many regular readers who find it distasteful. However, this is simply common courtesy, not an endorsement of the moral position of the religious language police.

For what is today condemned as verbal filth by nothing more than social mores will, over time, often eventually be embraced by them. Languages are dynamic, and I daresay that the word “fuck” is already far more acceptable in today’s society than “nigger” or even “faggot”. Would in2n assert that every self-professed Christian who ever used the racial epithet in the eighteenth and nineteenth century is now burning in Hell? It’s certainly possible, considering that no one actually knows precisely on what God’s judgment is based, but I don’t think that’s the reasonable interpretation based on God’s Word. It certainly doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the fruits on which we are told to pass our own judgment.

Moreover, I did not advocate the indiscriminant killing of anyone, I merely hoped for justice in the agents’ murder of an innocent young girl, justice which the corrupt police and courts have utterly denied. I still sincerely hope that God will provide that which Man has not. I have yet to see anyone attempt to prove that destroying the public schools would not be in society’s best interest; does in2n seriously believe that Jesus Christ would support the anti-christian secularist brainwashing that currently takes place there?

I also seem to recall that Jesus Christ’s only stated opinion on a public building was that it would be demolished. If one follows the omnniderigents’ practice of extrapolating general rules from solitary Biblical actions, one must conclude that the destruction of the public school buildings is not merely desirable, but a veritable Scriptural mandate.

UPDATE – Digital Cowboy happens to have made this timely post yesterday: For those that didn’t pick up on the title of this post, it’s a quote from Tombstone. For those that did pick it up, did you know that in the time that movie was set, it was an expletive? In the mid and late 1800’s, the word “kidding” was used the way “f***king” is used today. It makes sense if you think a bit about it.

I can’t help but relish the notion of in2n unleashing the full fury of the Pharasaical pulpit the next time someone says that they’re “just kidding” in shis presence.

UPDATE: I’ve always been curious about the notion of so-called profanity. If it is derived from the concept of a sacriligious use of that which is holy, then the logical assumption is that those offended by “profane” terms related to the excretionary function actually worship – or at least hold holy – the stank.

Bob Novak on the unveiling of the IRS:

A Senate rider inserted in an emergency appropriations bill in the dead of the night, which would close a rare window into political foul play at the Internal Revenue Service, was quietly removed Tuesday in Senate-House negotiations. That offers full disclosure of a major scandal that has been percolating for a decade….

Although none of the four Republican letter-signers sits on Appropriations, they prevailed. In the Senate-House conference Tuesday, the House objected to the Dorgan amendment, and the Senate receded. The report may soon be public, and people who have read it say the worst suspicions about the IRS will be confirmed.

Actually, Bob, that’s not even close to the worst suspicions about the IRS. But it will be nice to see them exposed for the executive branch hitmen that they are.

The commentariat has lost one of its most unique members:

Retired Army Col. David Hackworth, one of the most decorated veterans in U.S. history who became a vocal advocate for military reform, died yesterday in Mexico at 74.

Hackworth returned from Vietnam as a strong critic of the war, later becoming a journalist and author of several best-selling books. He had written a weekly column for WorldNetDaily for seven years.

Hackworth was in Mexico for treatments of bladder cancer, which he had battled for some time.

I never met Col. Hackworth, but I always respected his opinions even when I disagreed with them. Unlike those of us who have never served in the military, Hackworth never forgot that grand geopolitical strategies depend entirely in the end on the individual soldier and he was their greatest advocate, constantly putting pressure on those he called “perfumed princes” to treat them fairly and give them what they need to do their job.

Back in the days when I watched more Fox, I always enjoyed his appearances there, as his casual black mocknecks and laconic air of being half-amused at the host’s questions was as individual as his column subjects. His column was one of those that set WND’s opinion page apart and it will be badly missed.

I hope that WND will be wise enough to find a milblogger to step in to fill Col. Hackworth’s large standard-issue boots instead of another clueless conservative du jour.

Craig Westover interviews him:

On “New Urbanism” and gentrification

…it goes with everything the “new urbanist” movement is all about, which is ironically in a lot of ways the abandonment of the project of dealing with the poor and disadvantaged and going for what they call the “choice rider” and a tool for gentrification. And not a very good tool for gentrification.

In a lot of ways what I think of the new urbanism as baby boomers wanting to move back to the city and those “really unpleasant, nasty to deal with minorities and foreigners and all these people are in our way — they ride the bus, so we don’t want to ride the bus, so we want a nice bright shiny train.”

Essentially it’s an attempt by all the white-flighters to take back something they thought they didn’t want. But now that they’re getting older — they’re empty nesters — they want it back, so they either reproduce it in the suburbs, which some of them do, or they want to take the city back and sort of gentrify this area — not through economic means, but by the government imposing it on people. “You go away. We take it. And we make it how we want it. And you pay for it, by the way.”

Say, David, next time why don’t you just kick them in the crotch, then have your dog mark them. They’d probably find it less painfula and humiliating.

Jayuf sees all, knows all:

Will, after reading a VD post like this, always look to Me-So-Michelle first.

I didn’t mention anything about the First Lady’s little stand-up routine at first because it was such an absolute non-issue that I thought it was going to blow over as soon as the first white woman disappeared or someone made a right turn on red in Los Angeles. Despite my low opinion of Me So, I honestly didn’t think she’d latch onto this one.

But then I saw some Corner posts today indicating that apparently she was unable to resist the temptation to play clueless cultural scold. Again. Following fast on the heels of her discovery of the Goth subculture, I think this makes it official; Malkin has achieved her goal of becoming the Maureen Dowd of the Republican Party. Perhaps one day soon, she’ll realize her dream of getting a Fox News show where she, too, can interview the fiances of runaway brides. EXCLUSIVE interviews, no less.

By the way, I’d like to assure everyone that I’m not possessed, it’s just that I inadvertantly rolled my eyes a little too hard and they’re having some trouble finding their way back into position.

It’s at moments like this that I realize how many light years away I am from my fellows in the right-wing commmentariat. In fact, the first thing that popped into my mind when I read the first wild overreactions to Mrs. Bush’s joke was a song oft-sung by my college rugby team… that poor wallaby….

This Laura Bush thing is ridiculous. The only thing that Laura Bush should feel any need to apologize for is telling such a hoary old chestnut of a joke. Usually, the animal being milked is a steer. I’m about as citified as one can get short of actually being David Beckham and even I know that.

People who insist on making a big deal of it are either A) desperate to score any anti-Bush points they can, B) astoundingly clueless about the country on a Dennis Leary level, or C) really, really, really hopelessly bad in bed.

brmerrick sees a cruel divinity:

God didn’t give Andrew leukemia, but He did allow it to happen, knowing full well what the outcome will be, and hiding the outcome from Andrew and his family.

This makes God seem awfully cruel, when one work from His mouth would take Andrew’s leukemia away and spare his God-fearing family greater pain.

I wholeheartedly disagree, and while I’m not particularly enamored of what will no doubt be the can of worms this will open, I will attempt to explain why. And regardless of how badly this twists your panties, do try to keep in mind that belief in the existence or nonexistence of God’s power has nothing to do with one’s Christian faith. After all, it is written that the demons, too, believe.

First, there are two possibilities. Either evil is part of God’s plan and has from the beginning, or God is somehow constrained in his ability to unleash his power upon this Earth. The Biblical fact that God gives Man dominion over the Earth, a dominion which the Scrptures explain was subsequently given in turn to Satan, strongly suggests the latter.

Second, Jesus Christ himself states that Man has certain authority over evil in his own right. If evil is from God, then Man must have authority over God, a more fundamentally heretical notion than the idea that God’s hand is somehow constrained. This limited human authority is underlined by the situation in which his disciples complained that they could not cast out certain demons and Jesus explained that only prayer – in other words, an appeal to God’s authority instead of the use of their own – would suffice to address that sort.

So, my conclusion is that the leukemia inflicted on Andrew is either a random occurrence or intentionally inflicted by the evil being that both Paul and Jesus Christ recognized as the ruling power of this world. I believe that doctors, secular and Christian alike, are doing God’s work as they war against sickness and disease, just as Jesus Christ commanded his disciples.

Indeed, to assert that a child suffering leukemia is God’s will is to imply that those attempting to heal them are doing evil by defeating it. The problem of evil is not a difficult one, one once is able to accept the notion that God is not a cruel and easily bored puppeteer. Omniderigence leads inevitably to doubt, because it requires accepting the idea that evil stems from God.

But if everything is in God’s hands and moving according to God’s plan, then what need is there for Jesus Christ?

The surgery went very well and was a complete success. The doctor had estimated 45 minutes and ended up clocking in at 43… not that anyone was counting, of course. He was also 100 percent certain that the removed cyst was benign, confirming the ealier opinions of the pediatrician and radiographer. Thank you all very much for your prayers.

Also, in case you missed the note posted by Andrew’s grandfather about his grandson in the comments from a few days ago, it went as follows:

I am Andrew’s grandfather. Andrew is doing very well. After the first round of Chemo, he recovered completely and shows no sign of his disease. He has completed his second round and is recovering his blood supply. He will go home for a week or so this week. His hair has be reduced to a few wisps like an old man. But he never lost his energy this time and is VERY active. My wife and I spent the day with him on Sunday, and he wore us out playing play-do, reading, running around the hospital with his mask and little hat to cover his bald head, trying to understand his jibberish and hand gestures. But we loved every second. A crying screaming brat is music to your ears when he may otherwise have died.

But it is very hard on his whole family. The doctors and nurses are well trained to never give any encouragement or discouragement, i.e., they never say he is going to be okay or he is going to die. So we have to rely on hope and prayer.

During his first round of chemo, he developed a stomach infection and nearly died, but they did not tell us that. We found out by accident. Dr. Stella stopped by and prayer over him. That did the trick. She gave my wife some inside info the rest of the doctors and nurses could not.

Leukemia is never gone. It could pop up anytime during the rest of his life. It is not like watching a scary movie that you can just turn off. It will always be with us and we do not know how it will end.

My daughter and her husband have lived almost every night at the hospital for two months, and look forward to living there until August. His maternal and fraternal grandmothers and aunts have spent days and nights at the hospital. Andrew has spent one week at home and gets to spend one week between each of the 5 rounds of chemo. Andrew has had a feeding tube in his nose for two months, because the chemo makes food seem inedible. He has a tube sticking out of his stomach to inject the chemo and antibiotics and blood transfusions.

Highlights are when we read that people around the world such as yourselves are praying for Andrew. It is so wonderful when some anonymous soul provides pizza through Greenmill for all the family and staff on the 8th floor of the hospital. Or while spending Easter at the hospital and Boston Market provides complete meals for all the families. It is the little things that count.

It is devastating when you hear a code red and the little child next door is no longer there.

Prayer works. Prayer has provided the doctors and nurses, many whom are Christians. Prayer has provided the doctors with the skill to design the treatment that appears to be saving Andrew. Prayer makes Andrew understand that all this must be necessary. Prayer gives his parents and family the courage to stay the course. God has given Andrew family.

Your praying is working. Please continue.

Sincerely.
Granddad

Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. sustained injuries after being thrown from his motorcycle at a speed approximating 35 mph on Sunday night. Winslow will remain in the Cleveland Clinic for an indefinite period until swelling in his right shoulder and right knee is reduced and further evaluation can be completed, according to a club statement. Bill Bonsiewicz, Browns VP of communications, said he was unaware if Winslow underwent surgery or if surgery would be needed. Bonsiewicz declined to characterize Winslow’s playing status for the 2005 season.
— Cleveland Plain Dealer

The NFL Network reported Winslow’s contract contains wording that forbids him to ride a motorcycle. If Winslow breached the contract he may have to repay part or all of his $6 million signing bonus and $4.4 million option.
— Akron Beacon Journal

So much for the Browns savior-in-waiting. If I were Cleveland’s head coach, I’d be tempted to use this as an excuse to simply drop the guy, or at least trade him. Talent doesn’t do you much good when you’re a bonehead of this caliber. Randy Moss may be annoying and he may not play every play, but at least he manages to get on the field every now and then.

Phyllis Schlafly, as usual, is significantly ahead of the curve:

The British government admits that more than half its major laws, and 80 percent of all its laws, now originate in Brussels. No law passed in Brussels has been successfully overturned by Parliament….

The European nations’ loss of sovereignty to the EU should be a warning to Americans. The EU is a model for how global-governance advocates in the United States plan to morph trade agreements into one government for the Western Hemisphere.

NAFTA came first, under which a foreign tribunal was able to override U.S. laws and give Mexican trucks access to all U.S. highways. Congress will soon vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the plan to integrate our prosperous economy with the poverty of Central America.

Then will come Free Trade Agreement of the Americas which, according to the Quebec Declaration signed by Bush in 2001, will bring about economic and political “hemispheric integration.” Americans who want to retain American sovereignty should speak up now.

This is why Republicans and Democrats must abandon their parties now in favor of any party that rejects the abandonment of American sovereignty. Both Republicans and Democrats are absolutely committed to the American Union, a New World imitation of the sovereign bureaucratic superstate.

Ignorance will not be an excuse. You are being warned now. If you support George W. Bush or if you support Hillary Clinton, you are selling your nation, your Constitution and your liberties in exchange for well-fed serfdom.