Good News from the News World
ABC reporter John Stossel reports what conservatives have said for a long time: the liberal news keeps reporting BAD news everywhere, which is merely a lie. Stossel gives his ten media myths; number one is that life is getting worse.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Sad Truth about Katrina
Knight-Ridder reports that "Four months after Hurricane Katrina, analyses of data suggest that some widely reported assumptions about the storm's victims were incorrect.... The victims weren't disproportionately poor.... they also weren't disproportionately African American....The one group that was disproportionately affected by the storm appears to have been older adults. People 60 and older account for only about 15 percent of the population in the New Orleans area, but the Knight Ridder database found that 74 percent of the dead were 60 or older. Nearly half were older than 75. Lack of transportation was assumed to be a key reason that many people stayed behind and died, but at many addresses where the dead were found, their cars remained in their driveways, flood-ruined symbols of fatal miscalculation."
Knight-Ridder reports that "Four months after Hurricane Katrina, analyses of data suggest that some widely reported assumptions about the storm's victims were incorrect.... The victims weren't disproportionately poor.... they also weren't disproportionately African American....The one group that was disproportionately affected by the storm appears to have been older adults. People 60 and older account for only about 15 percent of the population in the New Orleans area, but the Knight Ridder database found that 74 percent of the dead were 60 or older. Nearly half were older than 75. Lack of transportation was assumed to be a key reason that many people stayed behind and died, but at many addresses where the dead were found, their cars remained in their driveways, flood-ruined symbols of fatal miscalculation."
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Lessons on America from an UNLIKELY Source:
Michael Barone, editor of the Almanac of American Politics, wrote a piece this week in US News and World Report, describing the last 25 years of American Politics, and the things it can teach. In his article, he gives the following lessons:
First, that American military power can advance freedom and democracy to all corners of the world. Under Reagan and his three successors, America has played a lead role in extending freedom and democracy to most of Latin America, to the Philippines and Indonesia and almost all of East Asia, and, most recently, to Afghanistan and Iraq, with reverberations spreading through the Middle East. Area experts said, often plausibly, those countries' cultures were incompatible with democracy. Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and brave men and women in those nations proved them wrong.
Second, that markets work and that lower taxes and less onerous government produce more economic growth than the alternative. About 43 million jobs have been created in the United States since December 1980, while the number in the more statist nations of western Europe is on the order of 4 million. Markets are creating millions of jobs in nominally Communist China and once socialist India.
Third, that politics and effective government can, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, change the culture. The crime-control methods pioneered by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the welfare reforms pioneered by Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, imitated around the country and followed up by federal legislation, resulted in huge decreases in crime and welfare dependency.
These lessons have been widely learned and widely applied by George W. Bush and also to a large extent by Bill Clinton. But not, curiously enough, by those who see themselves as the best and the brightest, our university and media elites. They would still like to see America's power reined in, as it was in the 1970s. They are insouciant about the costs that larger and more intrusive government and higher taxes impose on the economy. They think that leniency and subsidy are the appropriate responses to deviant and self-destructive behavior. They think our most important right is a right to kill our unborn children. You have to be awfully smart, someone once said, to believe something so stupid. And to be so blind to the clear lessons of the past quarter century of history.
Barone, no right-wing Christian fundamentalist, prescribes the right political and cultural medicine to an often short-sighted American mind.
Michael Barone, editor of the Almanac of American Politics, wrote a piece this week in US News and World Report, describing the last 25 years of American Politics, and the things it can teach. In his article, he gives the following lessons:
First, that American military power can advance freedom and democracy to all corners of the world. Under Reagan and his three successors, America has played a lead role in extending freedom and democracy to most of Latin America, to the Philippines and Indonesia and almost all of East Asia, and, most recently, to Afghanistan and Iraq, with reverberations spreading through the Middle East. Area experts said, often plausibly, those countries' cultures were incompatible with democracy. Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and brave men and women in those nations proved them wrong.
Second, that markets work and that lower taxes and less onerous government produce more economic growth than the alternative. About 43 million jobs have been created in the United States since December 1980, while the number in the more statist nations of western Europe is on the order of 4 million. Markets are creating millions of jobs in nominally Communist China and once socialist India.
Third, that politics and effective government can, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, change the culture. The crime-control methods pioneered by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the welfare reforms pioneered by Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, imitated around the country and followed up by federal legislation, resulted in huge decreases in crime and welfare dependency.
These lessons have been widely learned and widely applied by George W. Bush and also to a large extent by Bill Clinton. But not, curiously enough, by those who see themselves as the best and the brightest, our university and media elites. They would still like to see America's power reined in, as it was in the 1970s. They are insouciant about the costs that larger and more intrusive government and higher taxes impose on the economy. They think that leniency and subsidy are the appropriate responses to deviant and self-destructive behavior. They think our most important right is a right to kill our unborn children. You have to be awfully smart, someone once said, to believe something so stupid. And to be so blind to the clear lessons of the past quarter century of history.
Barone, no right-wing Christian fundamentalist, prescribes the right political and cultural medicine to an often short-sighted American mind.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Iraq & the Middle East
Amid the strong reason for hope in Iraq, the press at home stays obsessed with the supposedly bad news there. Ben Connable, a Marine actually stationed in Iraq, writes about what is actually occurring here. Indeed I want to echo his thoughts.
Meanwhile, more reason appears as to why Iraq matters: the dangerous voice of Iran's president was heard again this week, with his spewing of anti-Jewish rhetoric, denying the Holocaust (haven't we heard this before!). The story exposes the reasoning that many want to dismiss of the critical need for a stable democracy in Iraq, even at the cost of American lives.
Even the New Republic has to admit the historic nature of the Iraqi legislative vote! Lawrence Kaplan states that the elections were a turning point: "But yesterday really was a milestone. However torturous the path to Iraqi democracy may have been--and a series of U.S. errors made it needlessly so--for America at least, the path ended yesterday."
Amid the strong reason for hope in Iraq, the press at home stays obsessed with the supposedly bad news there. Ben Connable, a Marine actually stationed in Iraq, writes about what is actually occurring here. Indeed I want to echo his thoughts.
Meanwhile, more reason appears as to why Iraq matters: the dangerous voice of Iran's president was heard again this week, with his spewing of anti-Jewish rhetoric, denying the Holocaust (haven't we heard this before!). The story exposes the reasoning that many want to dismiss of the critical need for a stable democracy in Iraq, even at the cost of American lives.
Even the New Republic has to admit the historic nature of the Iraqi legislative vote! Lawrence Kaplan states that the elections were a turning point: "But yesterday really was a milestone. However torturous the path to Iraqi democracy may have been--and a series of U.S. errors made it needlessly so--for America at least, the path ended yesterday."
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Life, Death, and Christmas
Herod had no room in his heart that first Christmas, and was thus ghoulishly-inspired to kill all of the children in Bethlehem. This Christmas season, one can see similar insanity here in the states, in Europe, and a little further south as well.
In South Dakota, the state legislature ventured into the heated abortion debate and produced a 72-page report calling for a ban on the practice. The study found that that since abortion ends the life of a “unique, whole, living human being” the state has “a duty to change the law” in order to “protect the child’s life.” Although the task force was selected by the state’s elected representatives, several members walked out before the final vote on the report because they claim the panel was comprised overwhelmingly of abortion opponent and therefore didn’t represent the views of most South Dakotans.
Meanwhile, a Study Shows Affects of Abortion. The University of Oslo studied post-abortion mental anguish, and found it left lasting emotional scarring. The BBC reported that the researchers compared 40 women who had had a miscarriage with 80 who chose to have an abortion. Women who miscarried experienced more mental distress during the first six months after losing the baby, but after two years only 2.6 percent still felt distress. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of women who voluntarily aborted reported distress after six months, and 20 percent still suffered after five years.
Talk about Post-Abortion Trauma!
Every year in Britain, 50 babies are born-alive -- after an abortion attempt. Babies born alive. Don't you just hate medical malpractice? The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is mounting an investigation into this horrible rash of babies born alive -- according to their standards an abortionist is supposed to be sure they stop the baby's heart with a direct injection of potassium chloride.
The problem? "In practice, few doctors are willing or able to perform the delicate procedure," says Britain's Sunday Times. Another problem? Abortion is legal in Britain up to the 24th week of pregnancy, but some babies born earlier do survive:
'They can be born breathing and crying at 19 weeks' gestation,' [Stuart Campbell, former professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George's hospital, London] said. 'I am not anti-abortion, but as far as I am concerned this is sub-standard medicine.' Fortunately, not everyone has such a warped definition of "medicine." The Times goes on to report that, "Doctors are increasingly uneasy about aborting babies who could be born alive."
Enter Gianna Jessen, who was one of those pesky babies who just insisted on being born alive. Gianna is a young American woman who survived a saline abortion. Today, despite living with cerebral palsy as a result of the "sub-standard abortion" that almost killed her, Gianna has become a marathon runner.
And in April, Gianna will be running in the London Marathon to draw attention to the Alive and Kicking Campaign. They are working toward reducing the legal upper limit for abortions from 24 weeks to 18 weeks, which would halve the yearly number of abortions in the UK.
Abortionist Makes His Patients "Born Again!"
In one of the most disturbing articles I've read in a long while, an Arkansas abortion provider states that he offers women hope while (in his words)---he "destroys life." The full articles is here.
Finally, a Mayor Oulaws Death!
Because his town is running out of room for burials, and handcuffed by laws that limit cremation, a Brazilian mayor has proposed a law to make death illegal!
Herod had no room in his heart that first Christmas, and was thus ghoulishly-inspired to kill all of the children in Bethlehem. This Christmas season, one can see similar insanity here in the states, in Europe, and a little further south as well.
In South Dakota, the state legislature ventured into the heated abortion debate and produced a 72-page report calling for a ban on the practice. The study found that that since abortion ends the life of a “unique, whole, living human being” the state has “a duty to change the law” in order to “protect the child’s life.” Although the task force was selected by the state’s elected representatives, several members walked out before the final vote on the report because they claim the panel was comprised overwhelmingly of abortion opponent and therefore didn’t represent the views of most South Dakotans.
Meanwhile, a Study Shows Affects of Abortion. The University of Oslo studied post-abortion mental anguish, and found it left lasting emotional scarring. The BBC reported that the researchers compared 40 women who had had a miscarriage with 80 who chose to have an abortion. Women who miscarried experienced more mental distress during the first six months after losing the baby, but after two years only 2.6 percent still felt distress. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of women who voluntarily aborted reported distress after six months, and 20 percent still suffered after five years.
Talk about Post-Abortion Trauma!
Every year in Britain, 50 babies are born-alive -- after an abortion attempt. Babies born alive. Don't you just hate medical malpractice? The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is mounting an investigation into this horrible rash of babies born alive -- according to their standards an abortionist is supposed to be sure they stop the baby's heart with a direct injection of potassium chloride.
The problem? "In practice, few doctors are willing or able to perform the delicate procedure," says Britain's Sunday Times. Another problem? Abortion is legal in Britain up to the 24th week of pregnancy, but some babies born earlier do survive:
'They can be born breathing and crying at 19 weeks' gestation,' [Stuart Campbell, former professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George's hospital, London] said. 'I am not anti-abortion, but as far as I am concerned this is sub-standard medicine.' Fortunately, not everyone has such a warped definition of "medicine." The Times goes on to report that, "Doctors are increasingly uneasy about aborting babies who could be born alive."
Enter Gianna Jessen, who was one of those pesky babies who just insisted on being born alive. Gianna is a young American woman who survived a saline abortion. Today, despite living with cerebral palsy as a result of the "sub-standard abortion" that almost killed her, Gianna has become a marathon runner.
And in April, Gianna will be running in the London Marathon to draw attention to the Alive and Kicking Campaign. They are working toward reducing the legal upper limit for abortions from 24 weeks to 18 weeks, which would halve the yearly number of abortions in the UK.
Abortionist Makes His Patients "Born Again!"
In one of the most disturbing articles I've read in a long while, an Arkansas abortion provider states that he offers women hope while (in his words)---he "destroys life." The full articles is here.
Finally, a Mayor Oulaws Death!
Because his town is running out of room for burials, and handcuffed by laws that limit cremation, a Brazilian mayor has proposed a law to make death illegal!
Mayor Roberto Pereira da Silva’s proposal to the Town Council asks residents to “take good care of your health in order not to die” and warns that “infractors will be held responsible for their acts.”
The bill, which sets no penalty for passing away, is meant to protest a federal law that has barred a new or expanded cemetery in Biritiba Mirim, a town of 28,000 people 45 miles east of Sao Paulo.
'Narnia' Rules Hollywood. . .No Surprise!
C.S. Lewis' classic children's tale "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" has struck the big screen in a BIG way. It grossed 67.1 million (which puts it just behind the 3rd "Lord of the Rings" but ahead of the other two of the series)and showed what every level-headed person already knows: the best way for Hollywood to make money is to produce movies that support (or at least do not violently offend) the morals of those they wish to fill the seats! Nobody is seeing the gay cowboy movie, but millions are flocking to see Lewis' moral tale. Americans flock to The Passion movie, the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc movies. . .but stay away from the "hot" movies that the left says we are supposed to like.
More along this lines as well from Tammy Bruce. The author and radio host says today's films appeal more to award judges than ticketbuyers and offers some advice for the movie industry "... take your gay sheepherder, noble communist supporting reporters, big-business is evil, Americans are hopelessly and inherently corrupt and violent and unfaithful movies and go to Cannes where at least the Parisian set will love you." See her entire commentary here.
C.S. Lewis' classic children's tale "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" has struck the big screen in a BIG way. It grossed 67.1 million (which puts it just behind the 3rd "Lord of the Rings" but ahead of the other two of the series)and showed what every level-headed person already knows: the best way for Hollywood to make money is to produce movies that support (or at least do not violently offend) the morals of those they wish to fill the seats! Nobody is seeing the gay cowboy movie, but millions are flocking to see Lewis' moral tale. Americans flock to The Passion movie, the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc movies. . .but stay away from the "hot" movies that the left says we are supposed to like.
More along this lines as well from Tammy Bruce. The author and radio host says today's films appeal more to award judges than ticketbuyers and offers some advice for the movie industry "... take your gay sheepherder, noble communist supporting reporters, big-business is evil, Americans are hopelessly and inherently corrupt and violent and unfaithful movies and go to Cannes where at least the Parisian set will love you." See her entire commentary here.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Christmas Wars
There are endless discussions going on about Christmas and its exclusion by many this year, in favor of the more politically-correct "Happy Holidays." While I join multiples of millions of other Christians in chagrin at this development of the 20th/21st Century, I was taken back by the ideas of conservative commentator Cal Thomas' thoughts on the subject. See his thoughts here! In short, he says "Don't expect the world to either act like the Church, or get the message of the Savior to the masses on our behalf." Ouch. Thanks for the reminder, Cal.
Meanwhile, Rev. Scott Stiegemeyer imparts the delicious information that St. Nicholas, who would later become the model for Santa Claus, attended the Council of Nicea, which affirmed the deity of Christ. Not only that, he got so fed up at the heretic Arius that he went up and slapped him, for which he had to apologize. See the whole article here.
We need to work that into our Christmas imagery: Santa Claus going around battling heretics who deny who Jesus is. And giving a gentle but heart-felt slap to people who take Christ out of Christmas. Department Store Santas quizzing children who sit on their laps about the Two Natures of Christ and giving clerks who say "Happy Holiday" a slap. Also teachers who forbid the singing of Christmas carols because they mention Jesus.
We will need songs ("Santa Claus is Coming to Slap"; "Frosty the Gnostic"; "Rudolph the Red Knows Jesus"). And Christmas specials ("How the Arian Stole Christmas").
To Christmas, or Not to Christmas. . .
It seems as if every major town is having to decide whether to call their tree the "Holiday Tree" or "Christmas Tree." Kids in their elementary schools are no longer allowed to sing traditional Christmas songs like "Silent Night," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Now it is only songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Nativity scenes have been removed from parks and other public squares. Department stores are instructing their employees to say "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas." It is though the world and culture think that they would be better if Jesus Christ had never been born.
This "war" is at the heart of religious pluralism. Pluralists argue that no religion can have a monopoly on holidays, no religion can be superior, no truth can be absolute, and no savior is unique. Foundational to the pluralist argument against Christianity is to discredit the historicity of the Christian faith by arguing that the New Testament documents are unreliable and fictional, and that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ is a "myth" and should be understood in a metaphorical sense. If the New Testament can be found as false and fictitious and the Incarnation of Jesus be reinterpreted as a myth, then Christianity is not "true" "absolute" "unique" and "superior."
It is morally repulsive in our post-modern society that say that there is only one Savior, only one way to salvation, only truth to embrace. They would argue that religious tolerance is the only true path to peace with the integration of everyone's beliefs and values as one world theology united under the same God which every religion is oriented.
Yet it ironic to see that the only people who pluralists don't tolerate are Christians (the intolerant ones). If they are to be true to their virtues of tolerance, then why don't they tolerate Christians and whoever wants to say "Merry Christmas?" It is also doubly ironic to see that those leading the pluralist push to relativize religions are so-called Christians themselves. It is as though they are ashamed to profess Jesus as Lord, as "the way, the truth, and the life." They don't want to believe that Jesus was fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, and conceived by the Holy Spirit. To do so would to ground Christianity into history and make Christianity truly unique and superior to all other religions.
So next time you say "Merry Christmas," know that you are spreading more than holiday cheer. You are doing more than just fighting a "war" about trees, slogans, or school programs. You are declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord--that Jesus is the great I AM, the one who was, and is, and is to come. Truly, he is the "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace."
"No Room" at Church?!
There also is much ado about some Mega-churches and their cancellation of services on Christmas day this year. While I understand some of the reasoning behind the "Family First" mindset, I would find myself more in touch with the musings of Ben Witherington in his characteristic "It's about God!" style. Christmas Debate!
Winter Solstice? Bah Humbug!
Finally, be sure to read the article by Gene Edward Veith who dispels the common notion that Christmas originated as a pagan holiday, and was later co-opted by early Christians to celebrate their Savior. Veith Article I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from a SBC University (Music major; Bible minor), a Master's Degree in Divinity, and a Ph.D. in Theology (both from Mid-America Baptist) and erroneously believed this myth.
As Veith points out, like many other myths that are propogated by well-meaning people (i.e. Senator Joseph McCarthy overran the whole government with a propped-up Red Scare that found no evidence of Communism; the only way to help poor people is to offer them more welfare, etc), the concept that Christians only began celebrating the Savior's birth after pagan had been worshipping the Sun for centuries is unfounded.
While it is beyond dispute that Jesus was not born on Dec. 25th (at least, the best case scenario is that it is only a one in 365 possibility!) the worship of Jesus for His incarnation into our world has long-standing support in both history and church theology.
There are endless discussions going on about Christmas and its exclusion by many this year, in favor of the more politically-correct "Happy Holidays." While I join multiples of millions of other Christians in chagrin at this development of the 20th/21st Century, I was taken back by the ideas of conservative commentator Cal Thomas' thoughts on the subject. See his thoughts here! In short, he says "Don't expect the world to either act like the Church, or get the message of the Savior to the masses on our behalf." Ouch. Thanks for the reminder, Cal.
Meanwhile, Rev. Scott Stiegemeyer imparts the delicious information that St. Nicholas, who would later become the model for Santa Claus, attended the Council of Nicea, which affirmed the deity of Christ. Not only that, he got so fed up at the heretic Arius that he went up and slapped him, for which he had to apologize. See the whole article here.
We need to work that into our Christmas imagery: Santa Claus going around battling heretics who deny who Jesus is. And giving a gentle but heart-felt slap to people who take Christ out of Christmas. Department Store Santas quizzing children who sit on their laps about the Two Natures of Christ and giving clerks who say "Happy Holiday" a slap. Also teachers who forbid the singing of Christmas carols because they mention Jesus.
We will need songs ("Santa Claus is Coming to Slap"; "Frosty the Gnostic"; "Rudolph the Red Knows Jesus"). And Christmas specials ("How the Arian Stole Christmas").
To Christmas, or Not to Christmas. . .
It seems as if every major town is having to decide whether to call their tree the "Holiday Tree" or "Christmas Tree." Kids in their elementary schools are no longer allowed to sing traditional Christmas songs like "Silent Night," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Now it is only songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Nativity scenes have been removed from parks and other public squares. Department stores are instructing their employees to say "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas." It is though the world and culture think that they would be better if Jesus Christ had never been born.
This "war" is at the heart of religious pluralism. Pluralists argue that no religion can have a monopoly on holidays, no religion can be superior, no truth can be absolute, and no savior is unique. Foundational to the pluralist argument against Christianity is to discredit the historicity of the Christian faith by arguing that the New Testament documents are unreliable and fictional, and that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ is a "myth" and should be understood in a metaphorical sense. If the New Testament can be found as false and fictitious and the Incarnation of Jesus be reinterpreted as a myth, then Christianity is not "true" "absolute" "unique" and "superior."
It is morally repulsive in our post-modern society that say that there is only one Savior, only one way to salvation, only truth to embrace. They would argue that religious tolerance is the only true path to peace with the integration of everyone's beliefs and values as one world theology united under the same God which every religion is oriented.
Yet it ironic to see that the only people who pluralists don't tolerate are Christians (the intolerant ones). If they are to be true to their virtues of tolerance, then why don't they tolerate Christians and whoever wants to say "Merry Christmas?" It is also doubly ironic to see that those leading the pluralist push to relativize religions are so-called Christians themselves. It is as though they are ashamed to profess Jesus as Lord, as "the way, the truth, and the life." They don't want to believe that Jesus was fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, and conceived by the Holy Spirit. To do so would to ground Christianity into history and make Christianity truly unique and superior to all other religions.
So next time you say "Merry Christmas," know that you are spreading more than holiday cheer. You are doing more than just fighting a "war" about trees, slogans, or school programs. You are declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord--that Jesus is the great I AM, the one who was, and is, and is to come. Truly, he is the "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace."
"No Room" at Church?!
There also is much ado about some Mega-churches and their cancellation of services on Christmas day this year. While I understand some of the reasoning behind the "Family First" mindset, I would find myself more in touch with the musings of Ben Witherington in his characteristic "It's about God!" style. Christmas Debate!
Winter Solstice? Bah Humbug!
Finally, be sure to read the article by Gene Edward Veith who dispels the common notion that Christmas originated as a pagan holiday, and was later co-opted by early Christians to celebrate their Savior. Veith Article I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from a SBC University (Music major; Bible minor), a Master's Degree in Divinity, and a Ph.D. in Theology (both from Mid-America Baptist) and erroneously believed this myth.
As Veith points out, like many other myths that are propogated by well-meaning people (i.e. Senator Joseph McCarthy overran the whole government with a propped-up Red Scare that found no evidence of Communism; the only way to help poor people is to offer them more welfare, etc), the concept that Christians only began celebrating the Savior's birth after pagan had been worshipping the Sun for centuries is unfounded.
While it is beyond dispute that Jesus was not born on Dec. 25th (at least, the best case scenario is that it is only a one in 365 possibility!) the worship of Jesus for His incarnation into our world has long-standing support in both history and church theology.
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