Saddumb and His Terrorist Buddies

Yet another lie goes into a tailspin:

Documents from Saddam Hussein's regime that are slowly being translated show Iraq trained thousands of Islamic terrorists at camps inside the country before the war.

The evidence – affirmed in interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders – contradicts the claims of anti-war critics who charge Iraq became a magnet for Islamic terrorists only after the U.S. invasion.

Steve Hayes of the Weekly Standard reports that from 1999 through 2002, "elite Iraqi military units" trained about 8,000 terrorists at three different camps, including Salman Pak, where American forces found an airliner fuselage that possibly was used to practice hijackings.

Hayes, who claims more than a dozen corroborating sources, says many of the trainees were from North African-based terrorist groups with ties to al-Qaida.

The U.S. has collected more than 2 million documents, audio and videotapes and computer hard drives, but only about 50,000 of these of these items have been examined so far by a skelton crew with limited resources.

Along with Salmon Pak, the military units trained terrorists at camps in Samarra and Ramadi who, some intelligence officials believe, are responsible for attacks against Americans and Iraqis.

Three interesting tidbits I gleaned from this article:

1. Saddumb had ties to Al-Killya, however tenuous they may have been.

2. It's a distinct possibility that some of the terrorists trained in Iraq under his watchful gaze attacked Americans.

3. There are 2 million documents and other items--and only about 50,000 have been scrutinized--yet we already have this much evidence? This indicates a massive, damning case against Saddumb, once the documents are analyzed in their entirety.

But don't worry, guys 'n gals. I'm sure the Left will wave its magic bong and come up with ten or twenty new lies and bury this one under their avalanche.

Bust VS. Bust

Television star Pamela Anderson is leading a campaign to have the bust of Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Harland Sanders removed from the Kentucky state capitol.

"The bust of Colonel Sanders stands as a monument to cruelty and has no place in the Kentucky state capitol. . ."

. . .she said, displaying her own bust proudly.

Christian and Islamic Violence

"What's the difference between Christianity and Islam, when it comes to violence? Followers of both religions have committed heinous acts against innocent people."

"It's fundamentalism that we should decry, no matter what religion."

I've been challenged with silly comments and questions just like these a number of times--on Vox's blog, and elsewhere. Rather than making a cogent point, they just demonstrate an ignorance all to common in our society.

Actually, the one similarity between Islam and Christianity is that both are monotheistic. Beyond this, comparisons unravel faster than a ball of yarn in the deft paws of a kitten.

For the sake of brevity, I'll stick with two major differences between these belief systems.

First, Christianity has no doctrine of jihad or its equivalent; no exhortation to the masses to kill in the name of Jesus; no insistence upon subjugating, destroying, or forcibly converting the heathen. So people who call themselves Christians--yet engage in such behavior--are operating outside the bounds of Christian doctrine. Even more to the point, they actively are violating the teachings of Christ.

Not so with Islam. Conquest through the sword is historically and doctrinally a pivotal part of Islamic law. Muhammed (A.D. 570-632) spoke in favor of it, and believe me, he practiced what he preached. He ordered assassinations; he led armies into battle; he and his followers went on caravan raids --and all to the end of propagating Islam.

Second, examples such as certain episodes in the Crusades, the Salem witch-trials, the worst aspects of the Spanish Inquisition, Christian defenses of trans-Atlantic slavery, etc.--none of these represents Christian thought or behavior historically or currently. They are not indicative of Christian doctrine; in fact, they exemplify what happens when scripture is ignored completely, or severed from its greater context. An honest student of history and Christian belief cannot point to these events and say: "See, look where Christianity leads its followers--down a dark and evil path."

But what of Islam? Is jihad representative of Islamic teaching?

Absolutely. Muhammed himself insisted upon it. His successors carried it out religiously--no pun intended--such that in a relatively short span of time, all of the Arabian peninsula, Egypt, the Persian Empire, many of the Byzantine Empire's holdings, and huge portions of Spain and North Africa fell into Muslim hands through conquest after conquest. Other forays into Europe followed. After a long war of attrition, the Byzantine Empire fell to Turkish Muslims. The Spaniards won back their lost territory in a bloody, seven hundred-year struggle against the Muslims known as the Reconquista, which ended the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

The jihad continues today; it really never has ended, flaring up bright and deadly as Muslims grow in strength, and simmering when they fall into weakness. From just shortly after Muhammed received his first "vision," until today, Muslims have been murdering in the name of Allah, somewhere on the globe. This is neither unrepresentative of Islam, nor extreme--unless you consider Islam itself extreme.

So, "What's the difference between Christianity and Islam, when it comes to violence?" Simple. People who take the Bible seriously--especially the teachings of Jesus--become less inclined to kill others. But people who take the Koran and the utterances of Muhammed seriously become more inclined toward murder.

Global Confusion

Apparently, a side-effect of global warming is record low temperatures in India:

INDIA'S capital New Delhi recorded its lowest temperature for 70 years yesterday as unusually cold weather continued to cause havoc across Asia.

When I was a stripling, the prevailing theory amongst environmental nail-biters was that a new ice age was about to freeze up the works. But we've made a 360-degree turnaround from a winter-wonderland, thanks to modern innovations in junk science.

I'm not convinced global warming is occuring. Theories disseminated by chicken littles, leftists and dirt kissers never impress me. But even if hard, irrefutable evidence for this phenomenon is brought forward, assigning blame to the U.S. for this trouble is a Grand Canyon-sized leap in logic. I mention this last because America is the devil du jour, as the French would say.

Environut: (Rolling Eyes and frothing at the mouth) "We're all gonna die!"

Normal American: "How can you be sure?"

Environut: "Because we say so!"

Normal American: "Assuming global warming is a legitimate concern, how do we know the sun's radiation output isn't the culprit?"

Environut: "Heretic! How dare you blame Mother Gaia's Giver-of-Life-and-Warmth?! The Sun's radiance surrounds us and binds us all together!"

Normal American: "I think you've seen the Star Wars films a few too many times."

Environut: "America is the source of all Mother Gaia's ills! The U.S. created global warming as a mechanism for enslaving the rest of humanity, just as the AIDS virus was manufactured in a laboratory to the detriment of those of African descent! Death to America!" (Begins drooling and contorts in a fit of apoplexy)

Normal American: "Guard, you can open the door, now. I know these walls are padded, but I believe he's injuring himself, just the same."

"Yo, Whitey, Can You Point Us to the Border?"

Tagged

It seems Arielle has tagged me for a response to a meme--which hurt, by the way--so I guess I'll give it Ye Olde Collyge Trye:

Five favorite fiction authors:

1. Hillary Clinton
2. Robert E. Howard
3. J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Louis L'Amour
5. Robert A. Heinlein

Five Favorite Non-Fiction Authors:

1. Paul Johnson
2. C.S. Lewis
3. Thomas Sowell
4. Will Durant
5. Paul Fregosi

Five Favorite Children's Authors:

1. C.S. Lewis
2. Lloyd Alexander
3. Scott O'Dell
4. Robert Louis Stevenson
5. Theodore Taylor

Favorite Book Read in 2005:

Under the Influence: How Christianity Transformed Civilization, by Alvin J. Schmidt

Books You're Looking Most Forward to Reading in 2006:

1. The Holy Bible
2. Sinister Barrier, by Eric Frank Russell

Five Books on Faith That You Would Recommend:

1. The Holy Bible (obviously)
2. Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
3. The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel
4. Who Moved the Stone?, by Frank Morison
5. More Than a Carpenter, by Josh McDowell

Five Books That Made You Laugh Out-Loud:

1. Slander, by Ann Coulter
2. You Can't Put No Boogie-Woogie on the King of Rock-and-Roll, by Lewis Grizzard
3. Dave Barry Slept Here, by Dave Barry
4. The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
5. You Don't Say: Sometimes Liberals Show Their True Colors, by Fred Gielow

A Fictional Character You Would Like to Emulate:

Aragorn, from The Lord of the Rings (I've always wanted to kill me a few orcs)

Have You Ever Had a Crush on a Fictional Character? If Yes, Which One?:

Yes. Seven-of-Nine on Star Trek Voyager (Those who have seen the show need no explanation)

The Best Biography You've Ever Read:

The Four Gospels

A Book You Love with a Short Review:

The Silmarilion, by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is perhaps the most complex book of fiction I've ever read--and the most rewarding. It covers the first great Ages of Middle-Earth, before the Third Age and The Lord of the Rings. Beginning with the world's creation, Tolkien takes us on an epic adventure spanning thousands of years, using some of the most evocative language imaginable. Here, many of the questions left unanswered in his more famous books--or persons and places merely mentioned in passing-- are covered in intimate detail. For example: Where did the elves and dwarves come from? How did Sauron become an evil, corrupt power-monger? Who were some of the great human and elvish heroes of Middle-Earth's past, and how did they live and die? This book fills in many of the gaps, illustrates Tolkien's Christian worldview more fully, and presents itself as a history book written by a master storyteller. In my opinion, it is his best book, though many would argue with this assertion. It is both a challenge and a treat for the imagination, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Modern Parenting

Parents of three young boys in Britain have been sentenced to nine months in jail for keeping their children in what has been described as "sheer hell" conditions reminiscent of a Charles Dickens novel.

The boys, all under 5, were found by a health worker malnourished and wearing ill-fitting filthy clothes, unable to talk properly and using shouts and screams to communicate.

Jonathan Bush and Nicola Hillier, both 24, of Norwich, told authorities there was no deliberate attempt to harm their children, but they were unable to cope due to financial pressures.

* One of the children was so hungry, he tried to eat a piece of frozen meat from the freezer, while his brother was seen picking a cracker out of an ashtray full of cigarette butts;

* The boys were found wearing diapers so soiled, they were hanging around their knees;

* They played in a garden filled with dog feces, and suffered cuts from broken glass inside the house;

* On one occasion, two of the children were left naked in a playroom with no heat;

* One boy had chipped his collarbone after being left on a sofa, and there was also an unguarded open fire in the living room, with one child suffering burns to his arm.

"Unable to cope due to financial pressures?" What a crock. I nominate these "people" for the Grand Cop-Out Award for 2006. I suppose financial woes explains the filth, the days-old diapers, having broken glass underfoot indoors, and the unattended children huddling around an open fire. Yep, a few extra bucks in the piggy bank would've eliminated those problems.

Despite the ubiquitous filth, Bush's security-officer uniform was found hanging freshly washed and ironed.

What a surprise. I also loved how Judge Slaponthewrist pontificated in the article about the horrible neglect, then deemed a sentence of nine months an appropriate one.

If there was any real justice, these paragons of parenting would be tied to posts in the town square, and beaten with a cat-o'-nine-tails.

The U.N.: What's Not to Love?

Fundamentally Wrong

In a recent interview in GQ magazine, former President Jimmy Carter described Christian fundamentalists thusly:

I define fundamentalism as a group of invariably male leaders who consider themselves superior to other believers. The fundamentalists believe they have a special relationship with God. Therefore their beliefs are inherently correct, being those of God, and anyone who disagrees with them are first of all wrong, and second inferior, and in extreme cases even subhuman. Also, fundamentalists don't relish any challenge to their positions ... It makes a great exhibition of rigidity and superiority and exclusion.

Isn't it nifty how having once served as President of the United States automatically graces one with the right of newly defining words that have been around for ages? "Invariably male leaders?" Who's this guy kidding? I think large numbers of evangelical women believe otherwise.

The hubris he projects onto his political and ideological opponents is one in which he is well-steeped, given the brazen arrogance of his remarks. The notion that fundamentalists assume those who disagree with them are inferior on a personal level, or subhuman, is patently absurd. Further, the point about bristling when challenged is inane, since human beings of any creed or religion generally don't bask in having their intellectual positions challenged. This is in no way exclusively characteristic of fundamentalists.

I consider myself a Christian fundamentalist. What's the real definition? Someone who believes the Bible is the Holy and inerrant Word of God, and who takes its teachings seriously. I've been around people I'd describe as fundamentalists all of my life; and not once have I ever met one who even remotely exemplifies Carter's characterization. I know the former president enjoys writing fiction, but it seems he's failed in distinguishing it from the real world.

No, his is a typical leftist description of fundamentalists--an observation usually touted by people who know less than nothing about those of whom they speak. I've heard the same gibberish regurgitated at Vox's blog, with regularity. Carter--and others of his ilk--paint with a mile-wide brush in describing fundamentalism--as if there's no discernible difference between Bible-believing Christians and ecstatic jihadis all gussied up in their best Allah-go-to-meetin' bombvests. It sickens me, not just because it's a filthy lie and creates hatred and distrust where none should exist; but it's an easily disproven lie.

I'm not sure if Carter is willfully ignorant, or engaging in conscious falsehoods. But those who embrace his revisionism do so at the expense of truth.

Good Rules of Thumb

Military Technological Innovations

Deep Mierda

Hospital emergency rooms in Florida may soon be closing their doors as a result of increased demands by uninsured and under-insured patients – many of them illegal aliens.

As WorldNetDaily previously reported, a study by a prominent medical attorney concludes the porous border with Mexico and the resulting influx of illegal aliens poses a major public health threat to the U.S.

Madeleine Pelner Cosman, author of a report in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, is particularly concerned with increases in multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis, chagas disease, dengue fever, polio, hepatitis A, B, and C, she told Lou Dobbs on CNN in June.

"Certain diseases that we thought we had vanquished years ago are coming back, and other diseases that we've never seen or rarely seen in America, because they've always been the diseases of poverty and the third world, are coming in now," she said.

As WorldNetDaily reported, even leprosy is suddenly on the radar of health officials.

Cosman recommends closing the border to all illegal traffic, rescinding the citizenship of "anchor babies," those born in the U.S. to parents of illegals, and making the aiding and abetting of illegals a crime.

"We have a terrible, absolutely vicious, law called EMTALA: the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which is really the culprit that requires every emergency room, and every physician of an emergency room, to treat illegal aliens for free," she said.

Cosman said 84 hospitals in California have been forced to close because of the high cost of treating illegal aliens with only 50 percent of all treatments reimbursed by government.

While politicians often mention there are 43 million without health insurance in this country, Cosman's report estimates that at least 25 percent of those are illegal immigrants. The figure could be as high as 50 percent.

"Today, legal immigrants must demonstrate that they are free of communicable diseases and drug addiction to qualify for lawful permanent residency green cards," writes Cosman, a medical lawyer, who formerly taught medical students at the City University of New York. "Illegal aliens simply cross our borders medically unexamined, hiding in their bodies any number of communicable diseases."

But we need these illegals--uh, I mean, undocumented workers--or America will collapse! Gringos cannot & will not tax their puny brains with such work as picking grapes, oranges, strawberries; washing dishes; mowing yards; hammering nails; and plunging toilets. And we know that if we stop doing these strenuous tasks, the gringos will shrivel up and die. So who cares if they get consumption or some other horrible and all-but-eradicated disease? Who cares if they can't get their legs stapled back on in an emergency room, since Julio's gunshot-wound is being treated, first? Heck, who cares if they don't like crime waves and depressed wages?

Gringos should shut up and accept their allotments in life. They have plenty of fresh fruit, clean china, immaculate lawns, well-shingled roofs, and sparkling comodas. And when Dubya kisses our feet on bended knee for our troubles, we smile graciously and say:

"De nada, puto."

Why Inbreeding is Wrong

Barbie's Confused

A third gender choice available to young participants of a poll on the Barbie doll website was changed after initially offering children the options of "I am a Girl," "I am a Boy," and "I don't know" – eliciting charges that Mattel, the company that owns Barbie, is intentionally promoting gender confusing among kids.

Apparently due to the criticism, the third gender option has now been changed to "I don't want to say."

"I don't know?" OK, if you're old enough to go online & vote on whether or not Barbie should have breast augmentation surgery, you're certainly old enough to determine your own sex. If you don't know if you're male or female, you're either a hermaphrodite, brain dead, an extraterrestrial, or yer parents didn't learn you right.

I doubt this was a mistake on Mattel's part. If it was, it was a rather obvious one. It's curious that no change to the poll was made until the complaints began pouring in.

Your Legacy is Showing

Dying for "Honor"

Nazir Ahmed appears calm and unrepentant as he recounts how he slit the throats of his three young daughters and their 25-year old stepsister to salvage his family's "honor" - a crime that shocked Pakistan.

The 40-year old laborer, speaking to The Associated Press in police detention as he was being shifted to prison, confessed to just one regret - that he didn't murder the stepsister's alleged lover too.

Isn't that touching?

Hundreds of girls and women are murdered by male relatives each year in this conservative Islamic nation, and rights groups said Wednesday such "honor killings" will only stop when authorities get serious about punishing perpetrators.

And yet Pakistan "was shocked?" Huh? There's nothing shocking about such behavior in Muslim countries. It's fairly common.

It is the latest of more than 260 such honor killings documented by the rights commission, mostly from media reports, during the first 11 months of 2005.

Bibi recounted how she was woken by a shriek as Ahmed put his hand to the mouth of his stepdaughter Muqadas and cut her throat with a machete. Bibi looked helplessly on from the corner of the room as he then killed the three girls - Bano, 8, Sumaira, 7, and Humaira, 4 - pausing between the slayings to brandish the bloodstained knife at his wife, warning her not to intervene or raise alarm.

"I was shivering with fear. I did not know how to save my daughters," Bibi, sobbing, told AP by phone from the village. "I begged my husband to spare my daughters but he said, 'If you make a noise, I will kill you.'"

"The whole night the bodies of my daughters lay in front of me," she said.

Speaking to AP in the back of police pickup truck late Tuesday as he was shifted to a prison in the city of Multan, Ahmed showed no contrition. Appearing disheveled but composed, he said he killed Muqadas because she had committed adultery, and his daughters because he didn't want them to do the same when they grew up.

He said he bought a butcher's knife and a machete after midday prayers on Friday and hid them in the house where he carried out the killings.

"I thought the younger girls would do what their eldest sister had done, so they should be eliminated," he said, his hands cuffed, his face unshaven. "We are poor people and we have nothing else to protect but our honor."

Despite Ahmed's contention that Muqadas had committed adultery - a claim made by her husband - the rights commission reported that according to local people, Muqadas had fled her husband because he had abused her and forced her to work in a brick-making factory.

"Women are treated as property and those committing crimes against them do not get punished," said the rights commission's director, Kamla Hyat. "The steps taken by our government have made no real difference."

Ahmed, who did not resist arrest, was unrepentant.

"I told the police that I am an honorable father and I slaughtered my dishonored daughter and the three other girls," he said. "I wish that I get a chance to eliminate the boy she ran away with and set his home on fire."

Just another in the long list of examples of Muhammed's Peaceniks acting out their "pacifism."

Calling Islam a "religion of peace" is not only stupid and factually wrong, but it's also evil, in my opinion.

Yes, Rosemary Did Have a Baby

Nate's Christmas Present

Happy New Year!

Another year rolls 'round, again. It's hard to believe how fast time flies--whether you're having fun, or not. It seems like such a short time ago that the new century had just begun.

Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits. ~Author Unknown

New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. ~Author Unknown

New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain

The above quotes address the lighter--or perhaps even cynical--side of the new year. But I really subscribe to the optimistic approach:

Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will. --Jonathan Edwards

If we endeavor in living for Christ in the new year, everything else will fall in place. It offers a tabula rasa for us to start anew and begin writing a fresh page of our personal histories. Of course, each day that God gives graces us with this gift, but none are so apparent as New Year's Day.

Even if all other resolutions fail--and they usually do--making Jesus an important part of life is a success. I say this humbly, and without clambering up on a high horse. I've met with plenty of failure in this department. Thank God that He judges us according to Jesus, and not ourselves. It's my prayer that each of us move closer to Him in the coming year.

I wish all of you blessings, good health, and happiness.

It's All America's Fault

Toronto Has Record Surge of Gun Violence:

A city that prides itself as one of the safest in North America is bewildered by a surge in violence that has produced a record number of shooting deaths this year, the latest a 15-year-old girl on a street filled with holiday shoppers. Canada's prime minister and Toronto's mayor blame weapons smuggled in illegally from the United States, but others point to a growing gang problem.

Whatever the cause, Canadians recoiled Tuesday after a gunbattle the previous day in Toronto left the teenage bystander lying dead and six other people wounded in a street near a popular shopping mall.

It was the 52nd death inflicted by a firearm this year in Canada's biggest city, which is nearly twice as many as last year and raised the overall homicide toll to 78 --not far below the record 88 homicides of 1991.

Martin (the Prime Minister) vowed earlier this month to ban handguns if his Liberal Party wins re-election in the Jan. 15 parliamentary elections. But ownership of such weapons is already severely restricted, and critics accused him of playing politics with the violence spree.

"The U.S. is exporting its problem of violence to the streets of Toronto," he complained.

That's the spirit, guys! Blame America First! Apparently, the whole world is afflicted with this disease. It couldn't be that your culture is morally decadent. Nah. Nor is it possible that your lax immigration and judicial systems have contributed to outbreaks of gang violence. 'Course not. The answer must be that the eeeeeeeevil Americans are at fault--either by omission, or commission. Yep, now that we know that those devils to the south are to blame, I'm sure all these problems will shimmer and vanish like a mirage.

Let's see: violence in other countries is America's fault. Check. World hunger and global warming is America's fault. Gotcha. Islamic expansion efforts are America's fault. OK. And the poor Martians who came to Earth to aid us with our population problems in War of the Worlds died horribly as a result of American meddling.

Now that we've established who is culpable, I suggest two solutions for you good folks in Toronto:

1. Tighten gun control laws. After all, if such laws are severely restrictive already--but have zero effect--the only reasonable answer is to make them more restrictive. Right?

2. Continue in the same vein of America-bashing. After all, look at the success and self-improvement it bestowed upon the people of Iran.

They Gotta Learn Sometime

Christmas Aftermath

I had a great time seeing the family, and making my rounds from house to house. Over the river and through the woods, and all that. My nephews and nieces received enough toys to supply every child in a small sub-Saharan country with Christmas gifts. Talkin' 'bout spoiled. My wife and I exchanged presents, and though My True Love didn't get me ten lords a'leaping, nine politicians lying, or eight jihadis exploding, she did buy me some nice stuff, which I appreciate.

Around this time every year, I learn anew just how much food a human can consume without bursting. For those of you who are unsure, it's measured in tonnage. The crane that transported me to and from my car attests to that.

I'm sure Richard Simmons is lying in a swoon somewhere from weighing the implications--no pun intended.

I've said all that to say this: I hope everyone enjoyed time with family and friends as much as I did. If so, I know you had a good Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

This is the time of year in which we take a step back and remember that Christ came into the world not for His own aggrandizement, but to save our souls from hellfire. He was born in a lowly state, to a poor family. He suffered many of the same hardships that you and I weather today. He was reviled and cast out by His people, and ignored or mocked by others. As an adult, He traveled about the countryside, spreading his Gospel, healing the sick and afflicted, and bringing hope to the hopeless. After only a few short decades on this earth, He was imprisoned, tortured, and murdered in one of the most barbaric and excruciating methods devised by humankind. But His death--though awful beyond comprehension--was not in and of itself unique.

But something unprecedented happened. Dying, He took the burden of every man, woman, and child's sins--past, present, and future--upon His weary shoulders. In unblemished innocence, He became sin for the salvation of a people who were lost without Him. That is the novelty of His passing.

But that's not the end of the story.

The grave could not contain Him. In an event that has shaken the very foundations of the world, God the Father brought Him back to life eternal, to sit by His side in Heaven, thus proving His authority and power over that seemingly unconquerable enemy, death. Jesus assured us in His Gospel that we, too, can attain everlasting life, if we just accept Him as our Savior.

All of this began in a manger, in a stable. As the old saying goes: "Jesus is the reason for the season." Without Him, there is no Christmas. So as we gather with friends and family, share good food, and exchange gifts, let us remember and honor Him. For in His birth, we, too, gained Life.

Mery Christmas, and may God richly bless each and every one of you!

Christmas and Its Origins

This is an excerpt from the book Under the Influence: How Christianity Transformed Civilization, by Alvin J. Schmidt. I offer it as food for thought and consideration:

Frequently one hears that Christmas Day, like Sunday, is a holiday that evolved out of the religious cult of Mithraism--namely, that the date of December 25 comes from the Roman emperor Aurelian's edict in A.D. 274 that established the festival of Natale Solis Invicti (Birth of the Unconquerable Sun) as he dedicated a new temple to the sun as near the Mausoleum of Augustus. The widely held belief that Christmas Day came about as a result of Christians having Christianized sun-god worship fails to consider the argument that Christians in some geographic areas--in northern Africa (primarily in Egypt), for example--were already observing Christmas Day as early as December 25, in A.D. 243, thirty years before Aurelian's edict. They associated Christ's birth with the Old Testament prophecy in Malachi 4:2, which calls the predicted Messiah "the sun of righteousness" (Natalis Solis Iustitiae in Latin). If the argument is true, then the Christians did not choose December 25 to Christianize Aurelian's decision, but rather the emperor, by establishing the Birth of the Unconquerable Sun, may have tried to paganize the Christian observance of the birth of Christ, the "sun of righteousness." The latter gains added plausibility when one recalls that Emperor Diocletian in the Great Persecution of 293-305 reinforced Aurelian's edict in order to "expunge Christianity."Moreover, also in the mid-fourth century, Christians considered March 25 "to be the actual date of both Christ's Passion and Resurrection and his conception [sic] so that December 25--exactly nine months later--was originally chosen from a computation based on the assumed date of Jesus' death, resurrection, and conception." Hence the attempt to link Christmas Day with Mithraism's sun god festival does not have unequivocable historical support.

Liberal Iconoclastic Pagan Solstice Anthem

Deck the halls with condom wrappers.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
See our jack-boots; ain't they dapper?
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
'Tis the season for unreason.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!
Aiding hostiles sure ain't treason.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Clap your hands for fruitcake marriage.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
Noble virtues we disparage.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
We adore social upheaval.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!
Christian thought is so Medieval.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Relish slander, smears, and libel.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
Kiss the Koran. Mock the Bible.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
We know Lenin would adore us.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la!
"Hill in '08!" is our chorus.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!


--With apologies to the author of "Deck the Halls."

Washington D.C. Nativity Scene

I found this on the 'net; it cracked me up.

U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. this Christmas. This isn't for any religious reason though.They simply have not been able to find three wise men and a virginin the Nation's capitol. There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable.

The 12 Days Of Christmas (For the Politically Correct)

I didn't write this, but I sure wish I had. I'd credit the author, if I knew who he/she/it (see, I'm all about inclusiveness) was:


On the 12th day of the Eurocentrically imposed midwinter festival, my Significant Other in a consenting adult, monogamous relationship gave to me:

TWELVE males reclaiming their inner warrior through ritual drumming,

ELEVEN pipers piping (plus the 18-member pit orchestra made up of members in good standing of the Musicians Equity Union as called for in their union contract even though they will not be asked to play a note),

TEN melanin deprived testosterone-poisoned scions of the patriarchal ruling class system leaping,

NINE persons engaged in rhythmic self-expression,

EIGHT economically disadvantaged female persons stealing milk-products from enslaved Bovine-Americans,

SEVEN endangered swans swimming on federally protected wetlands,

SIX enslaved Fowl-Americans producing stolen non-human animal products,

FIVE golden symbols of culturally sanctioned enforced domestic incarceration,

(NOTE after members of the Animal Liberation Front threatened to throw red paint at my computer, the calling birds, French hens and partridge have been reintroduced to their native habitat. To avoid furtherAnimal-American enslavement, the remaining gift package has been revised.)

FOUR hours of recorded whale songs

THREE deconstructionist poets

TWO Sierra Club calendars printed on recycled processed tree carcasses

AND a Spotted Owl activist chained to an old-growth pear tree.

Full of It

Dover Area School Board members violated the Constitution when they ordered that its biology curriculum must include the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III said.

The plaintiffs challenging the policy argued that intelligent design amounts to a secular repackaging of creationism, which the courts have already ruled cannot be taught in public schools. The judge agreed.

"We find that the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom," he wrote in his 139-page opinion.

This is just good old-fashioned stupidity dandied up in a black robe. Exactly what religion was espoused, here? The Religion of Possibilities? Intelligent Design advocates aren't even in synch on Who or What created the universe. Some believe in the God of the Bible; some believe highly advanced aliens got tired of counting quasars one day and fashioned the earth and its inhabitants like Da Vinci splashing paint across the canvas. The point is, if ID involves the promotion of religion, could someone be so bold as to explain which one? How rabidly secular, and how typically representative of what passes for atheist "tolerance." Even the mere conjecture of God's existence is now paramount to a theocratic coup.

Jones wrote that he wasn't saying the intelligent design concept shouldn't be studied and discussed, saying its advocates "have bona fide and deeply held beliefs which drive their scholarly endeavors."

As opposed to Darwinistic evolutionists, who are utterly dispassionate and objective in their beliefs. Who's he kidding?

But, he wrote, "our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom."

And the basis of its unconstitutionality is a non-existent clause in the aforementioned document. If James Madison scrabbles out of his grave, lurches down to the Library of Congress with a fine-toothed comb and a magnifying glass, even he will have no luck locating the "separation of church and state," concept in the Constitution. A declaration of love and loyalty to King John, sealed with a kiss in the Magna Carta, is of greater likelihood.

Said the judge: "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy."

Oh, yes, how dare they express religiosity in public, those witch-burning, Bible-thumping, freedom-stomping miscreants!

The real purpose of ID is the offering of an alternative to Darwinian dogma. I don't necessarily subscribe to specific intelligent design theories, but I appreciate what they're trying to do.

I'm a hard-core creationist. I wonder what Judge Clueless would think of me?

This judge's citation of the Constitution as the foundation of his argument is laughter-fit inducing. What a mockery of everything our Founders held dear. Not only is he uninformed, but he's proud and brazen in his ignorance. We've reached a pretty low state, when judges cannot decipher the simple language of the Constitution, while simultaneously--perhaps magically--finding whole concepts and clauses which are as phony as a North Korean's smile.

We've come a long way down, since 1776.

Not much left to do, but flush.

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

It came upon a midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
'Peace on the earth, good will to men,
from heaven's all-gracious King!
'The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled;
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.

But with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel strain have rolled
two thousands years of wrong;
and man, at war with man, hears not
the love song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
and hear the angels sing.

For, lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet bards foretold,
when with the ever-circling years,
comes round the age of gold,
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendours fling,
and the whole world give back the song
which now the angels sing.

Imagine: Variant Version

In honor of John Lennon's recent boneyard tour anniversary, I've written a tribute of sorts to this departed hippie.


Imagine there's no freedom;
It's easy if you try.
Hell all around us.
It makes you wanna cry.
Imagine all the people
In abject misery. . .

Imagine you've no country;
It isn't hard to do.
No borders around us.
English is taboo.
Imagine all the people
living on welfare. . .

You may say I'm a schemer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us;
Trampling liberty can be so fun.

Imagine one big commune.
It's simple as can be.
No food or health care.
Forget prosperity.
Imagine good ol' Big Brother
Scouring the bourgeoisie.

You may say I'm a traitor,
But I'm not the only one.
Someday soon you will join us,
By choice or at the barrel of a gun.

Southron Improvisation

"Stand still, Bertha. I'll make a ringer 'round yore pretty red neck. "

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Movie

Hey, everybody, I just wanted to let you all know that I just got back from seeing this film. Wow, what an experience! It's the best movie I've seen since The Return of the King, and one of the best I've seen, period. It's violent, but not graphic or gratuitous, so even the chillun can see it. The special effects are top-knotch. It also follows the book very well, and does not dilute the message presented. After having read the book and now having viewed this film, it's hard for me to understand how anyone can suggest that it has no Christian undertones.

I highly recommend it.

Open Season

Fifi had endured quite enough of Rover's meddling.

So Long, "Dookie"

The case became the state's highest-profile execution in decades. Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes argued that Williams' sentence should be commuted to life in prison because he had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs and violence.

Oh, yes, a few kiddie books just washes away all that pesky blood.

In the days leading up to the execution, state and federal courts refused to reopen his case. Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied Williams' request for clemency, suggesting that his supposed change of heart was not genuine because he had not shown any real remorse for the countless killings committed by the Crips.

"Is Williams' redemption complete and sincere, or is it just a hollow promise?" Schwarzenegger wrote. "Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."

Williams' supporters stood at the back of the room and gave what looked like black power salutes several times, said the reporters. After he was declared dead, the supporters left and yelled in unison, "The state of California just killed an innocent man," said the reporters.

Williams was condemned in 1981 for gunning down convenience store clerk Albert Owens, 26, at a 7-Eleven in Whittier and killing Yen-I Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, 63, and the couple's daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, 43, at the Los Angeles motel they owned. Williams claimed he was innocent.

Witnesses at the trial said Williams boasted about the killings, stating "You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him." Williams then made a growling noise and laughed for five to six minutes, according to the transcript that the governor referenced in his denial of clemency.

What Conan the Governor said is right-on. Why in the world should he be given clemency, when he's not even repentant of these horrific acts? By all accounts that I've read, his guilt was unquestionable.

His supporters are nothing but vicious anti-white fools, for the most part.

The Left never ceases to amaze me with its callousness. These people wail and gnash their teeth over the plight of monsters, while the innocent murdered don't even warrant a footnote in their protests.

The Funeral and After

The funeral went well, yesterday evening. I'm not sure how many people showed up, but I'd say it was at least three hundred. If the number of people attending one's funeral is a testimony of love, then my grandfather was a well-loved man, indeed.

This morning, the burial service included an honor guard and twenty-one gun salute, preceded by a few words from a minister friend of the family. Quite a few people braved the cold weather, as well.

I just wanted to say thanks again for all the prayers and well wishes. They're very much appreciated. The family is sorrowful, as is expected, but we're all getting by.

"Arkansas Man Scales White House Fence. . ."

. . .When I first saw this heading on World Net Daily, I immediately thought: "Bill, give it up! You had your two terms in the Oval Brothel. It's over. Move on."

South of Heaven

The Devil's work is far from done. More than a third of Scotland's clergy still believe in the literal existence of Hell as a place, according to a new survey.

What interested me about this is that only just over a third believe? How does one rationalize non-belief in Hell after reading the Bible? Much of scripture makes no sense, if one assumes it's a fictional place. Take Jesus' parable of Lazarus and the rich man, for example.

UPDATE

Erik pointed out to me that the link was broken. I failed in finding the original story, so I linked a different story that gave the same report. Sorry 'bout that, folks.

Rest in Peace, Granddad

At 11:00 PM EST, December 8, my grandfather went home to be with the Lord. He was just over eighty years old.

He'd endured a rare form of bone cancer over the past two-and-a-half to three years, going through ups and downs in his health and spirits during that time.

When the end came, it was in his own home, surrounded by family. He slipped into unconsciousness and became unresponsive, his breathing shallow. Shortly thereafter, he passed away peacefully and without suffering.

He was a wonderful man--perhaps the best man I've ever known. He would give the shirt off his back to help a person in need. He was self-made, too, with no formal education beyond the eighth grade; yet through hard, unrelenting work and perseverance, he achieved financial success and retired from his job at ALCOA Aluminum Company, debt-free and with a good pension.

But even more importantly, he was a success as a human being. Friends and acquaintances respected him. His family admired and loved him. He raised four children who grew into fine adults.

He saw heavy combat action in the Army in World War II, in the European theater. He witnessed the deaths of many friends in those days, and even in his later years, had difficulty speaking about those times. He went on to serve in the Air Force during the Korean War.

And he loved Jesus. He provided a fine Christian example to all who knew him, and served as a deacon in his local church for about twenty years. He was never ashamed of that name above names.

I know now that he rests in the bosom of our Savior, and theirein is no suffering or sorrow any more. He is far, far better off than you or I, and that is the one consolation I've gained from his passing. He is in the presence of the Father, and one day, I'll see him again.

It's difficult for me to write these words, but I wanted to share with my readers a brief glimpse of this extraordinary man's life, to honor him with these few feeble sentences strung together with memories. I also wanted to share that blessed assurance we each have in Christ. He does not discriminate against those who search him out earnestly. Seek, and you shall find Him. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Now my grandmother must pick up the pieces of her life and figure out how to cope with losing her husband of fifty-three years. She, too, has Christ in her heart. I'm sure He'll carry her through her grief. I don't often make prayer requests, but I humbly ask that those who are willing, pray for her strengthening and recovery from this awful loss. And remember the family in your prayers. I would appreciate that more than words can say.

Sometimes death is seen coming, far down the road, giving us time for preparations. Others, it swoops in upon us suddenly, without notice. Yesterday in the early evening, there was no indication that this was my grandfather's final day on earth. And yet he is gone from us, now.

Hold your children and grandchildren and siblings and spouses and parents close. If you haven't said "I love you" lately, say it now. There may not be a chance tomorrow.

I love you Granddad. I'm glad you're home. The rest of us will be on in a little while.

"Kill Me! I Dare You!"

Saddam Hussein told the judge at his trial Monday that "I am not afraid of execution" during an unruly session in which the first witness took the stand and testified that the former president's agents carried out random arrests, torture and killings.

Of course he's not afraid. He has lots of experience with execution.

Remember Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941.

God bless those Americans who died that day, in their nation's service.

God bless their families.

And may God bless and keep those who survived that harrowing ordeal.

Amen.

China Is No One's Friend

Remember our red, rotund friend in the east? You know, the one with most favored nation trading status; the one that loathes Christianity and hates with a passion every ideal that we take for granted? The one that revels in stamping out liberty in size fifteen steel-toed boots?

Yep, that one. Well, here's what's going on in good ol' China, these days:

The communist Chinese government bulldozed a Catholic Church building in Xi'an city, wounding 16 nuns.

The U.S.-based China Aid Association, citing "reliable sources," said about 30 uniformed young men rushed into the church with wooden sticks in their hands at about 6 p.m. Nov. 22.

Two hours later, a bulldozer started tearing down the place of worship.

China Aid said officials from the government's religious affairs bureau came to the site, and the destruction was halted until the next evening.

Then, about 40 uniformed young men armed with sticks started beating the nuns, who were defending the church building, China Aid said.

Sixteen nuns suffered severe wounds, including eye injuries and broken legs.

China Aid described the attackers as "government-hired gangsters."

All Protestant and Catholic churches in China are required to be under control of the government, and groups that do not register – the vast majority – are labeled "illegal cults."

If that's not enough, here's some more:

A United Nations rights investigator has said that torture was still widespread in China and accused authorities of trying to obstruct his work on a historic 12-day fact-finding mission.

Torture methods cited in a press release at the end of his trip included use of electric shock batons, cigarette burns, submersion in pits of water or sewage and exposure to conditions of extreme heat or cold.

Some techniques were apparently so widespread that they had generated a special terminology, such as "exhausting an eagle", where prisoners are forced to stand on a tall stool and beaten to the point of exhaustion.

Police in Tibet and Xinjiang have engaged in long-standing crackdowns on separatists, and human rights groups regularly report widespread abuse of detainees there.

Consider this: If the UN--perhaps the most corrupt and inefficient organization on planet earth--has made this determination and is concerned about these abuses, how deep and pervasive must the problem actually be?

Keep these stories in mind, the next time you hear someone imply that China is our friend. If we are known by the company we keep, the United States should distance itself from this wretched hellhole as much as possible.

The Chronicles of Narnia's Christian Foundation

From an AP article in my local newspaper:

But many regard them as Christian allegories and the heroic lion, Aslan, as a symbol of Jesus. . .Douglas Gresham (C.S. Lewis' stepson), wanting no part of America's culture wars, says some characters and events could be interpreted as Christian symbols. But Lewis didn't regard The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a Christian book, though his beliefs influenced the story--as they did everything he wrote.

From The Sunday Times Online (Britain):

An unpublished letter from the novelist C S Lewis has provided conclusive proof of the Christian message in his Narnia children’s books.

In the letter, sent to a child fan in 1961, Lewis writes: “The whole Narnian story is about Christ.” It has been found by Walter Hooper, literary adviser to the Lewis estate.

Douglas Gresham, Lewis’s stepson, said recently: “Churches in Britain and America are promoting the film as a Christian film, but it’s not . . . and the Narnia books aren’t Christian novels.”

The letter, written from Magdalene College, Cambridge, where Lewis was a don, contradicts this. “Supposing there really was a world like Narnia . . . and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours) what might have happened?” he wrote.

“The stories are my answer. Since Narnia is a world of talking beasts, I thought he would become a talking beast there as he became a man here. I pictured him becoming a lion there because a) the lion is supposed to be the king of beasts; b) Christ is called ‘the lion of Judah’ in the Bible.”

I'm sure this is old hat for all you Narnia fans. Isn't it astounding, though, that secularists will go to such lengths and depths to deny Christ, even in a book of fiction? I love the AP article quote: "But many regard them as Christian allegories. . ." The word "regard" implies that it's debatable; it's not. All one has to do is read the books--particularly the final novel--and the answer is irrefutable. Suggesting otherwise simply is a lie.

And Gresham; what a class-act he is: He honors his stepfather's memory by planting seeds of doubt about the intentions behind the books, when there is no doubt at all. The AP article mentions as an aside that he once had a "spiritual epiphany," and now works with his wife in an ecumenical ministry. Of course, his epiphany is not defined in the article. For all we know, he believes Irish potatoes have devine qualities, and should be objects of adoration and worship. Or perhaps he practices Druidic rites, naked under a full moon.

This is just a bit of extrapolation on my part, but I suspect that he didn't share Lewis' religious views, so admitting the overt Christian message behind the books irks him to no end. So just as with Tolkien's works, we have people scrambling out of the woodwork in droves, denying or questioning the Christian principles behind the stories. After all, we can't designate two of the greatest creations in modern literature as Christian in their origins. The mere thought is horrible beyond words.

What's next? Maybe Quo Vadis? and Ben-Hur had no relation to Christianity, either?

I know the Bible isn't fiction, but it is the world's bestselling book. Pretty soon we'll have folks smiling and shaking their heads in condescension, informing us in all their wisdom that scripture isn't Christian; it was a great book of adventure written by rabid secularists.

Rear View

When the Amish take to technological innovation, they do so reluctantly.

A whole car is only fifty years away.

Californy Ain't No Paradise

Recently released crime statistics show the homicide rate in California is 265 percent higher than the death rate suffered by U.S. and British military personnel in Iraq.

According to the report "Crime in California 2004," compiled by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, there were 2,394 reported homicides in the Golden State last year. That compares with 905 deaths of coalition forces in Iraq, chiefly Americans and Brits, during the same time period.

Such comparisons have been made by defenders of the action in Iraq, who say the number of casualties for a war of this length are extraordinarily low.

This is a fair point that helps us keep things in their proper perspective. I wonder why folks like Red Kennedy, Lurch Kerry, and I, Gorebot aren't calling for a withdrawal from the west coast? With two-and-a-half times as many deaths in the Golden state as in Iraq within the same time-frame, it's pretty obvious that the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Democrat Party over the Iraq War is just heavy-handed politics. Nothing more.

Makeover

"You'll be a brand-new man, when we're done with you."

Too Offensive

"Each year, we gather here to celebrate the season of hope and joy – and to remember the story of one humble life that lifted the sights of humanity. Santa, thanks for coming. Glad you made it. I know you've got a lot of commitments this time of year. By the way, we have a lot of chimneys at the White House if you're looking for something to do." --George W. Bush, joking at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, December 1.

Sadly, I expect nothing better than this from our president. He found the time and opportunity for mentioning Santa and making a joke, but just as there was no room in the inn, there was no room for an overt mention of Jesus in his remarks. I suppose that might've offended some wild-eyed jihadi lurking on the fringes of his audience.

We wouldn't want that.

Tear it All Down with a Ho Ho Ho!

The secularizers are gearing up for another year of kicking baby Jesus out into the cold, dark streets. Even as I type this, I see a Rambo-like montage playing in my head: of atheists and their fellow travellers donning their Che Guevara sweatshirts, pulling on their Santa suits, gripping their baseball bats tightly, and using photos of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and other zealots of the "Christian Right" as target practice. Then these thugs and enemies of religious freedom goose-step into the back alleys and steal their way down Main Street, U.S.A., breaking crosses, smashing creches, and wishing everyone "Happy Holidays!" at the tops of their whiny voices. The red Santa coats are fit for the occasion, since the color represents that of their ideological ancestors, those whom they adore. And when they have finished leeching every conceivable drop of joy or relevance from this time of year, they dust off their hands and return to their communes and the rocks from under which they crawled, happy in the knowledge that they've been about the good work of dismantling liberty, never wondering what will rear its head in the New World Order displacing the old.

Just today, I heard a story from Florida, in which a mayor allowed a menorah on public property, while refusing the installation of a nativity scene.

They're just getting warmed up.

I realize some of my godly readers don't celebrate Christmas, and I respect that. I think the Redeemed can have honest, amicable disagreements on this issue. But make no mistake; the war on Christmas simply is one front in a wider conflict: the all-out assault on religious freedom, and Christianity in particular. We should take this seriously; our evil enemy certainly does.

I love the old rabid leftist canard: "We won't allow manger scenes, because we're afraid they might offend someone." Of course, this is patent nonsense, and it doesn't take much candle power to see through the lie. First, no one has a right not to be offended. How would one even begin securing such an intangible? Second--and more importantly--if minimizing offense really was the goal in these situations, these people would behave in a fashion diametrically opposite their current reaction. We live in a country in which 85% of the population is either Christian, or associates itself with Christianity. For any arithmetically-challenged atheists who've accidentally stumbled on this website in abject horror, that's well over three-fourths of Americans. So where does the likelihood of offense lie? In the aforementioned 85%, or in the remaining 15%, which consists all other religions; i.e., Judaism, Killslam, etc. The short of it is that far more people are outraged by this behavior than otherwise would be if a baby Jesus was swaddled on the front lawn of every public building in the nation, 365 days a year.

Though the ultimate end of all this is the eradication of free religious expression, they're zeroing in on Christianity first. The reasoning is simple: they hate American ideals; Christianity is interwoven in this nation's founding and history; therefore, there is a connection between the two in reality and in the minds of the destroyers. Damaging one helps undermine the other. Their sappers are hard at work burrowing under our fortifications.

And Satan himself is their general, watching over the battlefield with a smirk.

Big McTrouble

"Officers, I don't care what Ringling Brothers told you! Their treatment of clowns is abominable and barbaric! I just had to bring that big-top down!"

A Miracle?

A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.

She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said. "They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said.

"If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage," he said.

Kidnapping young girls has long been part of the marriage custom in Ethiopia. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where most of the country's 71 million people live.

I know this report is from a few months back, but I'm just now hearing about it, and I couldn't pass up saying a few words. I often hear Christians lament that miracles don't happen anymore. "Why doesn't God perform miraculous acts, today, like He did in biblical times?" I've been asked this question on several occasions, to which I usually respond:

"Who says He doesn't?"

I'm not suggesting rock-solid certainty that this story exemplifies divine intervention; but who am I to say that it's not an act of God?

Step Away from the Chalupa

After Pedro lost his endorsement deal with Taco Bell, he spiraled into a life of drug addiction.

Just Trying to Make a Living

Assaults on U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Tucson and Yuma sectors averaged about one a day in the past year, and the number of attacks there more than doubled compared with the previous year.

Nationwide, the number of assaults nearly doubled, with attacks on agents based in Arizona making up more than half the incidents.

From Oct. 1, 2004, to Sept. 30, the Border Patrol registered 687 assaults on its agents, up from 349 during the same period along the Southwest and Canadian borders. All but one of the attacks occurred on the Southwest border, officials said.

In Tucson and Yuma, there were 365 assaults during the past fiscal year, up from 179 the year before. The increase reflects the growing influence of organized criminal syndicates in border trafficking, officials said, and the higher profits involved in smuggling migrants across the border for as much as $2,000 per trip.

Federal law enforcement officials told Congress last week that drug cartels from Mexico have gotten much more aggressive in smuggling drugs and people across the border, hiring local gangs on both sides of the international line and arming members with assault rifles, grenades and other weapons.

Agents say they frequently are subjected to grapefruit-size rocks being thrown at their trucks from the Mexican side of the border. Trucks carrying drugs or migrants have tried to ram Border Patrol vehicles when the agents attempt to stop the vehicles. And shootings are becoming more frequent, with 45 in the Tucson and Yuma sectors in fiscal year 2005, up from 15 in 2004.

But, but, waitaminute! I thought all those crossing our borders were just good, decent, docile poor folks who wanted jobs? That's what the newspapers, tv networks, and politicians tell me.

You mean they're lying? I'm stunned!

Supply and Demand

It seems American companies will stoop to any low in catering to wetbacks. I hope that poor child on the label wasn't the guinea pig.

I wouldn't wanna change those Huggies.

A PETA Moment

Let us offer a moment of silence for all the turkeys that have gone to that big poultry paradise in the sky, this Thanksgiving.

I know I did more gobbling than they.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I think we all should count our many blessings. Would that each of us made every day a time of thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for our salvation and a future home in Heaven at his side. I'm grateful for many, many things--not the least of which are my good friends in the blogosphere, especially my readers and commenters. May God bless and watch over each one of you, during this holiday weekend. Have fun!

Why Women Don't Need Driver's Licenses

Views on the Iraq War, Part II

Continuing where I left off, I'll address a couple of different outlooks on the war. So strap on your helmets, grip your Dubya dolls tightly, and away we go!

It seems there are two schools of thought. The first goes something like this: Saddumb Husinsane was a threat to our national security. He had WMDs and had used them in the past against the Kurds and Iranians. He made an attempt on the life of George H.W. Bush (thanks to CZJA for reminding me of this). He openly called for jihad and terrorism against the United States on Iraq's government-controlled television. He had ties to Al-Killya, though we're unsure how deep those roots went. He had a long history of contention with us, and he repeatedly violated the cease-fire with the U.S. that ended the first Gulf War. He had the ability and the means for aiding and abetting terrorist strikes against Americans. Finally, he was a destabilizer in an already unstable region where American interests were at stake. The fruition of his pan-Arab ambitions would have constituted further chaos in the Middle East. Thus an invasion of the country and his subsequent overthrow was justified completely.

Now for the second perspective: Saddumb was a brutal, demonic dictator who raped, plundered, and tortured his people for decades. He was a monster of the worst sort, and Iraqis lived under a brutal yoke of oppression during his rule. The Iraqis deserved freedom just like that of Americans. They deserved a representative form of government, and the rule of law--not life under the maniacal whims of a hitlerian devil. Active involvement in the liberation of enslaved peoples is the United States' moral duty. Iraqis needed our help, and they were entitled to it. Thus deposing Saddumb and instituting a republican government in Iraq was justified and honorable.

Some subscribe to one or the other of these views, while some believe they overlap. As for me, I find no fault with the first line of logic. In fact, I supported early phases of the current Iraq war for these very reasons. I believe overthrowing Saddumb and his murderous sons and regime was a good thing, and I'm proud the United States took him out. I believe his political demise makes us safer. As a brief digression, I also agree with the Afghanistan campaign, finding it just and moral.

But those arguing in the war's favor lose me when they launch into the second approach detailed above. Here's my rationale:

1. I'm not convinced Iraqis deserve freedom. Perhaps that sounds cruel; I'm just being honest. Since Saddumb first exerted power, I've seen little evidence that Iraqis have a genuine hunger for liberty. This was not a situation reminiscent of Revolutionary America, in which the colonists rose up and demanded that the British "Bugger off!" No, this was a scenario in which the United States did all of the dirty work. We didn't aid in a rebellion; there was no rebellion. If not for us, Iraq still would languish in misery, and no one would care. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Islam. Iraq does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, it lies in the heart of a region with no history of liberty. Primarily, this is a corollary of Islam. A prevailing characteristic of this warped religion is intolerance. Freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, freedom of action and religion and association--these concepts have no meaning within sharia law. None whatsoever. Liberty and Islam have the same compatibility as oil and water, or Bill Clinton and a chastity belt. So take a geographical realm with no historical conception of freedom, add to that a religion that is the antithesis of the very idea, and you have astronomical odds working against you, in terms of the construction of a stable and successful representative government within that framework.

3. Given the odds of success, I believe the sacrifice of American soldiers' lives in this endeavor is unconscionable. Even if I thought we'd triumph in the long term, Iraqi freedom is not worth the deaths of my fellow countrymen. Not to me.

4. I do not accept the argumentation that America is duty-bound in divesting other countries of their demigod totalitarians. I don't see it as our moral obligation or constitutional mandate. Nor do I think this worldview is representative of our Founding Fathers' outlook. How does one harmonize such a perspective with scripture? Jesus Christ, Himself, did not liberate humanity from temporal slavery and burdensome governments, though he held untold power and influence in the palm of His hand. Certainly, He could have done this. Yet He did not. So a condemnation of America for turning from this primrose path requires criticism of almighty God's own actions. The short of it is this: if He did not choose this tack, why should we assume that He expects it of us?

5. If liberating Iraq and rebuilding the country for its people's betterment was necessary and wonderful--since Husinsane abused his people--then someone please clear things up for me: why single out Saddumb for toppling, and why stop with him? We see evils perpetrated against innocents all over the world, today. Government-sponsored murder and terror is neither unique to Iraq nor the Middle East. We find it in China, Vietnam, North Korea, the Sudan, and Somalia, just as we witness it in Iran, Syria, and any number of other Islamic dystopias. So following this train of logic, consistency demands that we invade and crush the wicked governing bodies of all these countries, and more. If you're rolling your eyes by this point, rest assured that I'm just filling in the plot others have outlined.

The focus has shifted from overthrowing a madman who was a direct threat to our national security, to rebuilding Iraq and providing its people with freedom in abundance--theoretically, at least. The first was a great idea; the second is far more problematic and inconsistent in its investiture.

Views on the Iraq War, Part I

I haven't spoken of the Iraq war in a while, so I thought I'd bore you cross-eyed with the topic, yet again.

I'm a proud member of the dwindling minority who still thinks Saddumb Husinsane actually harbored weapons of mass destruction. Why? Two reasons: One, he used them, and more than once. Two, he admitted that he possessed them to the U.N weapons inspectors (AKA the "Look Busy" club), but claimed he destroyed them. Interestingly, he refused to divulge the location of their dismantlement.

I also believe he had them as recently as the eve of the second invasion of Iraq by U.S. forces. A sizeable number of people have come forward in interviews and claimed the Iraqis shipped out unknown materials in large quantities in freight truck convoys, just days before the first troops poured into the region. The U.S. government has other intelligence confirming this. The vehicles made a beeline for the Bekaa Valley in Syria, a country run by (surprise, surprise) Ba'athists, which is Saddumb's political party. I accept the possibility of presumptuousness, on my part, but I don't think this was Husinsane's personal teddy bear collection.

He had the opportunity and the time for spiriting such weapons away, hiding them, or destroying them, which would explain why American soldiers weren't tripping over nook-yuh-luhr warheads while searching hovels and spider holes throughout Baghdad.

Finally, WMDs were found in Iraq, just not in massive quantities. The media deserves credit for keeping this swept in a nice, tidy pile, under the rug.

As someone who did not vote for Bush in the last election, I can honestly say the accusations against him regarding WMDs are some of the most reckless, cynical, and thoroughly dishonest examples of political opportunism I've ever encountered. We have a country full of politicians who were totally convinced Iraq had WMDs. Miraculously, those same officials became skeptical of their existence at the precise moment that George Bush decided in favor of an invasion of the country. Labelling this a coincidence is pure generosity. Politicians--particularly Demonscats--who once preached the dangers of Saddumb's regime flip-flopped faster than froglegs in a skittle and accused Bush of misleading us and, in some cases, outright lying to the American people. Let me just remind everyone that before the invasion, everyone believed Iraq had WMDs. Everyone, across the board. In fact, so certain were they of this fact, some jabbering heads on tv actually used it as an excuse for not invading Iraq, out of fear of what Husinsane might do.

This one example shows me that the Demonscats comprise the party of political whoredom, and nothing else.

Loozeeanna Saturday Night

The Scariest Movie of All Time

"Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the commune. . ."


No wonder Norman Bates was such a twisted feller.

Gun-Grabbers United

San Francisco voters this week passed what could become the nation's strictest gun ban when they outlawed not only the sale of guns in the city, but required almost everyone who is not a cop, security guard or member of the military to surrender their handguns to police by April 1.

Supporters of Proposition H say that with 76-gun related homicides this year and 90 last year, taking away people's firearms will help fight crime.

Excellent idea! Gun control never works, thus the solution is tighter restriction on legal gun ownership. Makes perfect sense.

There's a term for nations where only government officials have guns; they're called police states.

And how exactly does banning guns within San Francisco fight crime? Most criminals do not obtain firearms through legal channels; most law-abiding citizens do. I'd love to hear an explanation how targeting those who obey the law for the actions of criminal thugs aids in decreasing crime. Criminals, by definition, flout the law. Telling them that owning a gun is illegal is worse than pointless.

Turning law-abiding citizens into criminals over night with the stroke of a pen doesn't strike me as a very imaginative or intelligent solution. Whether the voters came out in droves in favor of this proposition or not, it's unconstitutional, and a clear infringement on the rights of those who own firearms.

Of course, in leftist dystopias, results don't matter. Neither do personal rights, unless they contribute to the cause. Only intentions and putting on airs are of importance.

Sugarcoating the Status Quo

Michael Chertoff, Homeland Insecurity Secretary, says deportation of illegals isn't practical:

"The cost of identifying all of those people and sending them back would be stupendous. It would be billions and billions of dollars," Chertoff told Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel program "Hannity & Colmes" last night.

Asked the talk-show host: "Why don't we say, no, you're here illegally, you didn't respect our laws, you ought to go home?"

Chertoff again appealed to the issue of cost, saying, " Sean, you know, it's really an issue of practicality. I mean, as a practical matter, we've got to identify these people and pull them out of the shadows."

A couple of points. First, why is it that the government cares not a whit for how much something costs, except in cases involving illegal immigration? The pricetag on any number of other problems is a non-issue; but suddenly, when faced with deporting illegal aliens, well, it just isn't cost-effective. Since when is the government known for its frugality?

Second, Chertoff's being deceptive, here. Will deporting illegals cost a fortune? Yes. Will it cost more than they're leeching from us already with their presence in this country, as we speak? I don't see how. Free medical care, drastically reduced tuition fees, lost jobs Americans should be working, incarceration costs--these are just a few of the problems we're contending with, due to illegal immigration. And what of property damage, rapes, robberies, murders, and all the associated strains both material and emotional for those affected? The list goes on.

Setting aside the monetary aspect, you can't put a pricetag on many of the effects of crime and cultural dilution.

"… What this would let us do is acknowledge the reality that we've got hundreds and thousands of employers all over this country who are employing illegal aliens. Sometimes, individual citizens employing people in their home."

Which is against the law, last time I checked. It's obvious that the nonexistent or selective enforcement of immigration laws is a contributing factor in the rampant employment of illegal aliens. The government is at fault for this problem, yet it uses the situation as an excuse for doing nothing.

Not having mass deportations is spitting on the law, shrugging off national security, and laughing in the faces of those who have enough respect for our laws that they stand in line for ages, jumping through all the necessary hoops put before them, on the path to America.

It's a disgrace, and it's costing us. We'll keep right on paying for it, too.

Bizarre Celebrity Children Names

As if you needed additional proof, most celebrities are nuts. Here are a few names entertainers graciously have bestowed upon their children, bringing them (the celebrity parents, not their children) much pleasure in the process.

Moon Unit
Dweezil
Ahmed Emuukha Rodan
Diva Muffin

All the above are Frank Zappa's children.

Apple: Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter.

Heavenly Hirani Tiger Lily: Michael Hutchence's daughter.

Prince Michael and Prince Michael II: Michael Jackson's children.

Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q: Bono's offspring.

Zowie Bowie: David Bowie's child.


I'm not sure if a "Diva Muffin" is Whitney Houston's favorite breakfast food, or her best-loved drug. Paltrow's kid probably will be the butt of many unpleasant jokes for her entire life. I just hope she doesn't grow up to be a bad Apple, as a result, and rotten to the core. And I wonder what kind of magic mushrooms Frank Zappa ingested, just before scribbling those atrocities on their respective birth certificates? Who knew that Hutchence brought a Peter Pan character into the world? Seems like he spent way too much time in Never Land. Speaking of Never Land, I didn't know Michael Jackson was royalty. Oh, yeah, he's the king of pop. Never mind.

Asked once why he gave his children such unusual names, Zappa reputedly said simply: "Because I wanted to."

That kinda says it all, doesn't it?

I think I'll name my first child John Smith, just to balance the scales a bit.

Can't Stop Thinking About Sex

It seems the 9th Circle of Hell Court has decided that there is "no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children."

The three-judge panel of the full court further ruled that parents "have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students."

Six parents sued the Palmdale, Calif., School District after finding out their kids had been asked a series of sexual questions in class. They included asking the children about the frequency of:

Touching my private parts too much

Thinking about having sex

Thinking about touching other people's private parts

Thinking about sex when I don't want to

Washing myself because I feel dirty on the inside

Not trusting people because they might want sex

Getting scared or upset when I think about sex

Having sex feelings in my body

Can't stop thinking about sex

Getting upset when people talk about sex


Most of you know what I think about the public skewels. This is just another in a loooooong list of reasons why my children never will step foot in those hives of hedonism. Sending your kid to one of these "institutions" is voluntarily surrendering parental discretion and authority, which I think is a terrible idea.

That said, this kangaroo court may have nothing in the way of wholesome values, but it makes up for this lacking in unmitigated gall. Taxpayer funding keeps the public "schools" from foundering. The parents who send their children there are taxpayers. Of course they should have a say-so in what is taught. That's Common Decency 101.

Sexuality and all its ramifications is tied irrevocably to morality. So in essence the court's ruling is: parents have no rights as exclusive arbiters of moral teachings for their children. The government-run "schools" may teach a counter-message, if they choose. If so, parents have no recourse. In other words, grin and bear it.

This is an attack against parents and an assault against the family. The interesting side-note is that much of these curricula are spirited in under the radar, outside parental awareness. Moms and dads aren't given the facts for debating at school-board meetings. They simply have no idea what's going on, until too late. How anyone could believe that the government has no agenda in direct conflict with that of most parents is beyond me. And these corrosive intentions become less subtle by the day.

One final open question: If parents have no rights as exclusive providers of information on sex, where does one draw the line over the rights they do have?

Disappearing Act

I know I haven't had much of a presence in the blogosphere, the last couple of weeks. I've been pretty busy with work and family, and I've barely made time for my own blog, much less those of others. I'm writing this just so everyone will know I'm not abandoning my blog buddies, or suddenly finding their spaces unworthy of commenting. Hopefully, things'll wind down a bit, come the first of December; then I'll be back to my regular routine of posting and commenting on other blogs. Until then I'll keep updating, here, every day, or maybe every other day.

In short, I'm not pulling a Harry Houdini on ya.

God bless you all.

Embrace the Dark Side

Just one question, my friends:

Does this picture surprise anyone?

I mean, really.

A Little Knowledge. . .

In much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.--Ecclesiastes 1:18

It always amazes me that some people believe the Bible is just a weighty tome filled with fairy tales. Yet it's verses like this one that belie this belief. I know from personal experience that this verse is the gospel truth (no pun intended). Over the years, as I learn more about the world and how it works, I'm more saddened at the evil of Man. There's a perceived invincibility inherent in youth. Of course, a cold slap of reality awaits just down the road, when sickness or infirmity comes, or when loved ones die of illness, accidents, or old age. I once believed politics was a fairly straightforward process, in which one party was bad, and the other was good. Voting for the "good " party candidate was the obvious choice. With time came the unpleasant realization that it's largely a corruption-riddled machine for propping up the elite, with few "good" guys embroiled in the concoction, on either side. A numbness sets in at the thought that most people will reject God and spend eternity separated from Him and their loved ones, in self-inflicted everlasting punishment.

Without Christ, information becomes more difficult to process; knowledge works against one's happiness and security; the world seems a place filled with shadows and pools of ever-spreading darkness.

Our hope is found in Jesus, and nowhere else. What a marvelous thought that one day, all the darkness will be gone; all the shadows will flee; the Deceiver will be cast into the Lake of Fire with his angels.

Imagine a time when wisdom will not be a burden, and knowledge will not cause pain.

That time is coming!

Dubya bin Bush

"Condi, I can hear the muezzins wailin' in the distance. Git yer burkha and yer prayer-rug. We're goin' to the Everlasting Jihad of the Religion of Peace Mosque, today. I hear they're havin' a bombvest-makin' workshop, an' I don' wanna miss it!

A-Rioting We Will Go

Youths armed with gasoline bombs fanned out from Paris' poor, troubled suburbs to shatter the tranquility of resort cities on the Mediterranean, torching scores of vehicles, nursery schools and other targets during a 10th straight night of arson attacks.

Standing operating procedure for Muhammed's Peaceniks: attack and obliterate the helpless and innocent--or symbols thereof, such as nursery schools. It's difficult fathoming how family conversations go, after Ahmad Jihad gets back home to his wives and 37 kids, after a night of pillage and rapine.

Ahmad (coming in the front door): "Wife, where's my supper? I've worked up an appetite. Allah may be merciful, but he never had to work on an empty stomach."

Submissive Wife: "My dearest and most revered husband"--

Ahmad: "Most revered?! Most revered?! You mean you have more than one husband whom you honor? Where's the other one? Hiding in the closet? Bring my food, while I find my machete."

Submissive Wife: "Please, Lord, I just wanted to know how your night went with Habib and the poor boys!"

Ahmad (relaxing and sagging onto his divan): "Ah, changing the subject, I see. I'll humor you, until after I've had my repast. Everything went fine. We beat a few infidels cross-eyed, cried and gnashed our teeth for the media cameras, and torched a few nursery schools. The last brought particular satisfaction, since the children of Shaitan offered fierce resistance. But the mighty fist of Allah struck them down in the street, and they toddled away in their rubber pants and Pampers in terror. It was quite a rout."

Submissive Wife: "Allahu Ackbar!" What a sublime victory!"

Ahmad: "Indeed. But do not presume your praise has made me forget your adulterous escapade. Honor demands that I decapitate and drag your worthless carcass into the street. The harem scarcely will miss you, though I bid your Arabian Stallion Stew a fond adieu. Farewell, my desert flower."

Thunk!

Pretty far-removed from Father Knows Best, eh?

Through a Glass, Darkly

Now we see as through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.--1 Corinthians 13:12

This is one of the more interesting verses in the New Testament, and it's one of my favorites. Isn't it nice to know that the murk of knowledge and understanding we have, today, is a pale comparison to the clarity we'll acquire, in Heaven? I don't know if the Lord will answer all our questions; but I know we'll see Him, unrestricted, and undimmed in all His glory. I long for that day.

Sometimes I'm impatient about it. I suppose the waiting will make it all the sweeter.

Post-Halloween Traumatic Stress Disorder. . .

. . .or just indigestion, after devouring too much candy & too many trick-or-treaters?

Aw, who cares? I just like the picture, since it describes my take on the so-called holiday to a tee.

They really are worth a thousand words.