American Republic Enduring

An interesting quote I read yesterday:

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." (Alexis de Tocqueville - French writer & historian)

For The PC Sake We Ignore The Far Worse Violence Problem Among Young Blacks

A recent article on black-on-black violence caught my attention. Average Americans are too little aware of the problem that Lee Habeeb's description of the problem illuminates. I'm shocked that the media and our country's leaders spend so little time/effort addressing this, aren't you?

Muslims Murdering Their Own Children Because Of The Clothes They Wear?

I have to begin this blog with a prayer that this story is completely bogus because it's so horrible but with various sources reporting it the story appears to be credible. I hope you're sitting down.

Incredible as it sounds, according to an MSNBC story today it appears that Muslims don't have any qualms about murdering their own youth. According to MSNBC, 14 children have been stoned to death so far in a wave of this in various areas of Iraq the past three weeks.

That's the number according to some of Iraq's more official sources. Incredibly, an unofficial report in the Brussels Tribunal estimated the number of killings to be between 90 and 100. The childrens' crime? Unacceptable hair and clothing styles. Check out MSNBC's story here:
http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/10/10634539-iraqi-teens-stoned-to-death-for-wearing-emo-clothes

I strongly desire to go on a rant about this but I can find no words sufficient to describe the horror I feel about this. Perhaps it's not necessary because, for people with an ounce of humanity, the story says all that needs to be said about what's going on there except it begs one question. This kind of behavior within a claimed religion of peace? Really?

Geo-Political Considerations In Addition To Humanitarian Impacts Of The Upheaval In Syria ... Things You Really Need To Know

Tempting as it is to add commentary to the content of the following link, it's difficult to add value to the analysis therein. To know more about what's going on in Syria than you'll see/hear from mainstream media and to understand why it's so important for geo-political as well as the obvious humanitarian reasons, you ought to read this:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/290009/don-t-let-assad-win-charles-krauthammer

The Media's Bias Is Showing Again

When I first checked on national issues yesterday morning one thing was prominent in The Media: how dare the Republicans schedule a president candidate debate on MLK Day and hinting (of course!) that it demonstrates how racist they are for doing that!

All those comments disappeared a couple hours later and I just found out it was because they were reminded that Democrats conducted a president candidate debate on MLK day in the previous presidential campaign. If Democrats do it, it's automatically ok. If Republicans do it it's automatically bad because, y'know, they're Republicans. You can't make this stuff up folks ... it's hilarious.

Media Bias Against Conservative Values Is Exposed In Last Weekend's Republican Presidential Debate

Few editorial comments are necessary for this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TRiqgUyEuU&feature=youtu.be

I'll only say that throughout these debates Gingrich has been very consistent and very, very persistent calling out The Media and the current administration for their anti-conservative, anti-religion bias. Loooooong overdue and well-deserved criticism!

How Shallow Are We?

When Kim Kardahsian is considered "relevant talent" to have at a New Year's Eve party, that's shallow.

When said appearance at TAO in the Venetian room on New Year's Eve is seen as worth $600,000, that's shallow.

What exactly IS KK's "talent"?

Those are all rhetorical questions in case you haven't figured that out. So please don't bother telling me what you think are the answers because I have no interest in knowing. After all, anything about KK is beyond boring and irrelevant.

What's Wrong With Parents? How SAD Is This?

(Note: I've purposely blurred the faces to protect their identity)



Parents are AWOL from their kids' lives all across our country. The picture above speaks volumes. We were in this bagel shop the entire time the mother in this picture was there with her son. The ENTIRE time she was there she had her face buried in one of those internet tablets. Most of the time her son just sat there and looked at her.

How sad for the boy to have a Mom who's more interested in what she wants to do than having some fun time with him. What will this do for his self esteem? What does it tell him about how important he is to his Mom? What will he remember about these times 'together' with her? That it was fun and he felt loved and important? Sadly, it's not likely!

How sad for the Mom who chose to connect with the internet rather than connect with her son. She missed an opportunity to share some laughs with her son, get to know what's going on in his life and give him a chance to know her better. Actually, he WAS getting to know her better, eh?

Sad. Sooooooooo Sad!

Chris Matthews ... Funny Without Even Trying To Be

During Chris Matthews' intro to his program on TV today, he said he was wondering whether Huntsman's and Romney's religion (Mormon) might start being discussed in the media and followed that up with 'so we'll discuss it on today's program'. Chris, I think you just answered your own question! Does anyone else find that humorous?

What Passes For News These Days: Casey Anthony & Rod Blogojovich

To Main-Stream Media: can we please get through a day without the latest update on Casey and Blogouevich? The fact that you think these trials are worthwhile news deserving daily(!) coverage in detail attests to the shallowness of your thinking. It's really hard to take you guys seriously any more.

Did You Notice: Unemployment Rate Is Back Up To 9.0

The economy isn't by any means in a solid recovery mode yet. A steadily declining unemployment rate would be a welcome thing.

BTW, did you notice how the media handled this news? "The unemployment rate rose to 9.0 but it's still 0.8 below November's rate." That's a fair way to put it of course but can you envision the headline if it were a 'Bush recovery' we're going through? Something like "The unemployment rate is back up to 9.0 ... are we in a recovery or not? When are we going to get to the 8.0 rate he promised we'd have by the end of 2009?"

I know. This recession IS harder to defeat than Senator Obama thought it would be. But doesn't this prove how naive he was at the time? (Remember how he and his supporters vehemently denied the claim that he was inexperienced and naive?) Doesn't this prove how little he understood the problem, much less what it would take to fix it? Time has proven him to have been pretty naive and unrealistically optomistic about nearly everything he promised he'd fix within a year. We elected him on the basis of how smart and capable he said he was, right? So, why is this all okay ... no big deal?

al-Qaeda Is Gonna React? Why Is That A Problem?

I don't want terrorist attacks any more than anyone else but you kow what? The terrorist cells exist already and they're absolutely committed to carrying out attacks. So, saying we're nervous about motivating them, by way of killing Bin Laden, to attack us in retribution doesn't really change what they were going to do anyway does it?. It only changes when they'll do their evil.

There's something to be said for 'smoking them out' now. To me, it's more benefit than problem. The sooner they surface so we can deal with them, the better. An irrational, mostly emotional reaction has other advantages for us. In doing that they're more likely to be careless and that works in our favor too.

Bottom line: if al-Qaeda wants to get all worked up over this and cause trouble, I say bring it!

Good Job All! The World Is A Better Place Without Bin Laden.

Props to President Obama for continuing to make finding Bin Laden a top priority and finally giving that terrorist his due. The people in our military and intelligence services who made it happen deserve our nation's thanks.

It's not a time for diminishing that accomlishment but to enjoy the satisfaction that comes with ridding the world of the man most singularly responsible for 9/11 and many other terrorist actions over the past dozen years.

What Does A Culture's Charity Say About Its Nature And Character?

To what extent does genuine charity (ie, generously and freely given support) contribute to civility or, for that matter, to civilization? And, therefore, what does it say about the culture, country, religion. or other group of people from which it comes? Or doesn't come?

It's no secret that America is the most charitable country in the world. We send money, aid and people to countries in need. Freely given with no strings attached. In fact, we don't just 'send' stuff; we go. So it was with Haiti for example. What happened and didn't happen with that aid is a source of great frustration to many Americans but it won't keep us from doing what's right on our end.

I've wondered for some time about some other cultures and what they think and do regarding charity toward others whether they even know them or not. Whether the country needing charity is a friend or not. One of the cultures/groups I've been most curious about because I never hear of 'good stuff' they do is Muslims and Muslim countries. Well, The National Review just answered that question for me. The answer is disappointing.

Because Muslim countries seem to be hostile towards other countries so much (both non-Muslim countries and Muslim countries embracing a different branch of Islam), I didn't expect that charity toward others would be high on their priority list. But I didn't expect what The National Review discovered:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265437/uncharitable-andrew-c-mccarthy

I'm disappointed by that. I was hoping appearances were deceiving and that the news would be good.

To me, an honestly peaceful nature begets compassion then charity is one of the key byproducts of that. This leaves me wondering more than ever what Muslims mean when they claim theirs is a religion of peace. I recently challenged that, noting that peace is not just the absence of war. Real peace is not a passive thing; it's active. There seems to be real hateful, explosive, and dangerous rage lying just below the surface with far too many Muslims. Indeed, many (most?) Muslims who's prefer living in real peace appear to be reluctant to speak out against that hostile nature. Why? Is it true they fear retribution? Fear and peace don't go together folks.

What chance does genuine(!) peace by or within Muslim countries have then, especially considering they seem incapable of living in peace even with each other? What are the chances of defeating radical Islam if all of us on this planet don't start addressing this like grownups? They're important questions aren't they? In fact, deadly serious?

Which Is The Bigger Outrage, Really?

A church pastor in Florida burned a Quran. It's a stupid and sick thing to do. Burning Qurans is not something that I want America to be known for. It's an insult to all Muslims and it demonstrates a level of intolerance the large majority of Americans oppose.

But then this happens. A mob of 'average citizens' in Afghanistan storms a UN compound and randomly kill UN workers over what an unrelated person did on the other side of the planet. Let's see. Burning a book (okay, a holy book!) versus killing innocent people who are in your country as volunteers to help rebuild your country/society. Which is a worse offense? Maybe I should ask, which ought to be the worse offense in a sane world? This is soooo far from 'civil'. In fact, it seems to be the very definition of barbaric.(Look it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me.)

When I hear Muslims call Americans intolerant (for things like wanting to understand what's behind radical Islam for example) and then I hear about a mob of average muslims murdering innocent people (who were actually loving on them, resepecting them and sacrificially demonstrating compassion toward them) because of what some totally unrelated loon in Florida did I wonder where the balance is?

If Islam is truly a religion of peace, how could Muslims do something like this to innocent people who are sacrificially and selflessly(!) helping them? I haven't heard yet but I don't expect all the murdered UN workers to have been Americans. What does that say about the Muslim form of justice? Even if they were Americans, the mob had no way of knowing it in advance so they obviously didn't care who they killed. For all they knew, some of the murdered UN workers could have even been Muslims too. I doubt those in the mob had any way of knowing that either.

Muslims cannot call it justice to murder innocent people. Real justice doesn't work that way. Real moral justice isn't delivered at random. In fact, the Quran is very strong on delivering harsh justice ... to those who committed an offense. Cut off the hand of a thief, lashing, etc. It's all done to specific people for their offenses. Justice cannot be random and still be justice.

So, there's nothing just or moral about what that mob did in the name of their religion of peace. If there's real peace in their hearts as so many Muslims claim, how can peace-loving Muslims murder someone engaged in trying to make their lives better? In what nature of religion is such a thing possible, much less be acceptable?

If Muslims want non-Muslims to believe that Islam is religion of peace they have an odd way of trying to prove it. The mob made a point for sure. I think I get it now.

What's interesting about my religion and ironic about this circumstance is that I'm called to forgive and to love those in that mob anyway. As you might imagine, I'm struggling with that right now but it's what I must try to do. It's what I'm accountable to do. So, how do I accomplish that? What will my reaction be? Well, it starts by: 1) forgiving them even though I don't want to and 2) praying for them to find real peace and learn to appreciate people who sacrificially try to help them in their challenging lives.

Middle East Travails: On Islam As Religion Of Peace

I truly believe many Muslims, especially those choosing to live here in America, desire to live in peace. How they reconcile claimed peacefulness with many of the things said in the Quran that appear to be pretty hostile in nature toward anyone who is non-Muslim is a mystery to me but that's something to explore another day. Today I just want to muse over what's happening in the Middle East ... ie, Muslim against Muslim.

Today it is a curiosity to me while watching events unfold in the Middle East what are the roots of/behind the fighting under way. Why are people dying in this fighting? Much of it appears strictly 'political'. However, there's no denying the fact that a significant percentage of the hostility pitches Sunni against Shiite. One 'faction' of Islam against another. I'm trying hard not to make unreasonable and uninformed assumptions or conclusions about it but the Sunni versus Shiite aspect is clear and completely factual. Just as it has been in the past ... in the Iran/Iraq war for example. Just as there used to be within Iraq between a governing minority of one Muslim religious 'faction' over a majority of the other Muslim 'faction'. There clearly is a major 'struggle' going on between Sunnis and Shiites ... historical and ongoing. And it seems destined to play out in religion/faction-based(!) deadly fashion. One thing it is not (at least in what's playing out right now), is peaceful. There is in fact hostile and deadly stuff playing out there. It is not between Muslims and infidels. It appears to be significantly between one Muslim religious 'faction' and another.

So, I'm asking myself and contemplating 'bloggingly', how can it be that Islam is peaceful by nature as many Muslims are asking us to believe while, at the same time(!), very large numbers of Muslims are killing and otherwise punishing each other in the name of their 'version' of Islam? Sadly, as they have in fact been doing for a long time? They ask us for understanding (as being a peaceful religion) while killing each other and living in great hostility and antipathy toward one another on little bases other than whether others are Shiite or Sunni.

This is all aside from the clear hostility/antipathy many (most?) have toward all infidels (non-Muslims), especially Americans and Jews. That's a subject for another day. All I'm talking about here is the apparent abiding and deadly anger many Muslims have toward each other. How peaceful are we to believe they are based on how they actually behave? Are they able and willing to live in peace or not?

On a slightly different note, I'm having great difficulty reconciling what they say represents peace with the concept of freedom. I hear some of the rioters saying they want freedom. But history and today's actions leave me wondering what 'kind' of freedom they mean. Freedom for only Sunnis or Shiites like they are? When they get into power will they promote and practice freedom for all Muslims of any 'faction'? Freedom demands justice too but are they thinking justice of the kind called for in the Quran? That can be pretty harsh. You won't find fogiveness mentioned very much in the Quran. If you think 'eye for an eye' in the Christian Old Testament is harsh, check out what represents justice in the Quran. I'm NOT 'judging' the Quran as wrong here. I'm only suggesting we be realistic about what it says justice is. You and I can decide for ourselves whether we like/approve it or not.

So, what are they fighting for is my question. Peace? Freedom? Justice? Is that what some of them think Sharia Law is based on or represents? What, exactly do peace, freedom and justice look/act like in practice(!) in their view? I'm just asking because I can't tell what those concepts represent to most Muslims in the Middle East right now. I'm NOT judging Muslims or Islam. I'm trying to understand what they want from and of me. What various factions say and do only leave me more confused. And I AM saying one thing: what's going on within the religion doesn't look very peaceful to me. Obviously, they're having difficulty living in peace with each other.

I have NO idea what it DOES mean. I'm trying really, really hard not to be judgemental about Islam and what's going on in the Middle East. Mainly because I don't know enough (I'm too ignorant at this point) to 'judge' any of it. But if they truly do want us to believe theirs is a religion of peace, there's a lot going on that appears to be inconsistent with that. Is their religion one of peace or isn't it? If it is, then why not act like it is?

Gee, Thanks San Jose

Having experienced a property crime (from grill stolen from a car to home-invasion burglary) approximately every year and a half for 25 years in San Jose, CA, our family has finally recoverd something from the experience. Our oldest son just got his stolen motorcycle back. Sorta. Basically, it's been destroyed. Impossible to restore for less than the cost of a replacement bike.

Thanks a lot San Jose! Couldn't be happier I no longer live there.

Much For Which To Be Thankful

Thank God for the country in which I live. We're far from perfect but we live in a country where the founders established a form of government directed toward the goal of real freedom and opportunity. We haven't executed that vision perfectly by any means but we keep trying and that's the beauty and wisdom of it.

God Bless you and yours! God Bless our country to continue striving to live up to it's potential in all the good ways.

Haiti Heartbreak

(Image from the AP)

Oh My! I found myself mesmerized by this picture. Just kept staring at it trying to grasp in my pea brain what it must be like. I failed completely. I still don't get it. Pictures like this (and there are MANY more) express what words cannot.

The magnitude of the devastation is incomprehensible isn't it? So is the amount of suffering. They need so much ... relief agencies of any and all kinds, our most generous donations and our prayers. And they'll need it for, literally, years ahead.

Ohio State Simply Outplayed Our Oregon Team

Gotta give kudo's to Ohio State and their fans. They simply outplayed our boys. Our boys' heart and desire and even talent was evident but on that day they made too many mistakes and the quality of play just wasn't up to their usual level. Ohio State was clearly on top of their game and deserved the win so congratulations to Ohio State, their fans and the Big Ten for a job well done.

We hope to meet you again in the same contest next year to even the score. ;-)