January 2005 Archives

This is Megan, a little girl living in southern Indiana who's just been diagnosed with Microscopic Polyangiitis.

What a cutie! Go sign her guestbook and wish her a speedy recovery.

Iraqi quagmire, my foot. The terrorists and naysayers have gotten way too much attention. Here's a reply they deserve.

Citizen Z thinks he's identified the "George Washington" of Iraq's brand-new democracy:

How lucky are we, and the Iraqi people, that the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is who he is? Consider:

1. He's the number one religious leader in Iraq.
2. His followers comprise the 60% Shi'a majority there.
3. He doesn't want to run the country himself.
4. He believes in keeping the government separate from the religious order.
5. He doesn't want to fight a war with the Sunnis.
6. He believes Iraq's leaders should be elected and he lent his own credibility to the cause of getting out the vote.

Take away any of these characteristics and we could be facing a very different situation in Iraq. So I ask again: How lucky is that? It's on the order of blessed, in my opinion.

Meanwhile, Israpundit has an opinion on "insurgents" and leftists, and links to an NYT article touching on Sistani's surprising forebearance to date.

I'll grant that Sistani's so far been remarkably democratic, but that's about all I'll grant. Personally, I'll defer giving Washingtonian praise to anybody in Iraq until they've got a stable constitutional republic over there. I think they've got a very good shot at it, mind you, and I still support our mission there. I'm just not ready to count chickens yet.

Friends of Democracy will be rounding up news of the election in Iraq on Sunday. Click on the banner below to get up to speed.

This post will stay at the top o' the blog through early Sunday evening.

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UPDATE: Give Live in Baghdad a look, too. It's a blog run by Ayad Rahim, a Clevelander who happens to be of Iraqi descent. He's back in Baghdad as of Friday to cover the election.

I'm curious to find out just how many gays and lesbians there really are in America. The gay rights movement often touts the 10% number (or more), and their opposition claims that the number's closer to 2% (or less). I know it takes time to get the federal government to do anything, so why not start a discussion on using the nonpartisan U.S. Census Bureau to directly ask the question in 2010? I suggest something like:

We'll be much better equipped to make sound public policy if we know how large this segment of the population truly is. We'd also have better figures on their household income, childlessness, and other important statistics. It can't hurt.

What do you think?

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More coverage:
GayPatriot

A certain blogger in the Carolinas is remarking on the frigid temperatures down there, where it actually dropped below freezing. Awwww, poor guy.

How can our Border Patrol agents secure our increasingly violent frontiers with less funding? They sure can't look to the Army or Marine Corps for help.

Well, at least we can be happy that Congressman Chris Cannon's no longer on the House Subcommittee on Immigration, so that's one less open borders fan gumming up the works. And there's always public support for border enforcement ... just ask the University of North Texas students who created "Capture An Illegal Immigrant Day" (are you following all this, Matt?).

The Weekly Standard just published a bipartisan open letter urging an increase in the Army and Marine Corps. An excerpt:

The United States military is too small for the responsibilities we are asking it to assume. Those responsibilities are real and important. They are not going away. The United States will not and should not become less engaged in the world in the years to come. But our national security, global peace and stability, and the defense and promotion of freedom in the post-9/11 world require a larger military force than we have today. The administration has unfortunately resisted increasing our ground forces to the size needed to meet today's (and tomorrow's) missions and challenges.

So we write to ask you and your colleagues in the legislative branch to take the steps necessary to increase substantially the size of the active duty Army and Marine Corps. While estimates vary about just how large an increase is required, and Congress will make its own determination as to size and structure, it is our judgment that we should aim for an increase in the active duty Army and Marine Corps, together, of at least 25,000 troops each year over the next several years. There is abundant evidence that the demands of the ongoing missions in the greater Middle East, along with our continuing defense and alliance commitments elsewhere in the world, are close to exhausting current U.S. ground forces. For example, just late last month, Lieutenant General James Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, reported that "overuse" in Iraq and Afghanistan could be
leading to a "broken force." Yet after almost two years in Iraq and almost three years in Afghanistan, it should be evident that our engagement in the greater Middle East is truly, in Condoleezza Rice's term, a "generational commitment." The only way to fulfill the military aspect of this commitment is by increasing the size of the force available to our civilian leadership.

The administration has been reluctant to adapt to this new reality. We understand the dangers of continued federal deficits, and the fiscal difficulty of increasing the number of troops. But the defense of the United States is the first priority of the government. This nation can afford a robust defense posture along with a strong fiscal posture. And we can afford both the necessary number of ground troops and what is needed for transformation of the military.

In sum: We can afford the military we need. As a nation, we are spending a smaller percentage of our GDP on the military than at any time during the Cold War. We do not propose returning to a Cold War-size or shape force structure. We do insist that we act responsibly to create the military we need to fight the war on terror and fulfill our other responsibilities around the world.

Makes sense to me. But hey, what do I know? I was in the Coast Guard.

College Republicans at the University of Central Oklahoma plan on celebrating a Straight Pride Week:

"The general gist is that if you are a straight student on campus be proud, be loud, this is your time to shine," said college Republican Kyle Houts.

The group has posted fliers on campus that read, "we're here, we're conservative, we're out."

Members of the Gay Alliance for Tolerance and Equality say they consider the College Republican's celebration an attack on gay and lesbian students.

"What is there to say about it, 'I'm proud, and I'm straight and I guess white,' I don't know?" said GATE member Jennifer Rodriguez. "I think they definitely are being discriminatory because there's probably a lot of gay Republicans out there."

How very intolerant and non-diverse of you, Ms. Rodriguez.

Hat tip: Backcountry Conservative

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UPDATE: BuckeyePundit mirrors my own sentiments nicely, and The Open End calls for College Republicans at Ohio State to follow the Oklahoma group's example.

As if skydiving itself isn't wild enough.

Hat tip: Backcountry Conservative

The Washington Post has a story on the price of freedom, as paid by 1st Lt Nainoa Hoe of Hawaii. It's moving and well-written. With soldiers like Noe and his platoon, we can only lose if we give up.

Hat tip: INDC Journal

Yesterday, we heard about Nicaragua's problems with maintaining control of its shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles. Today as I was driving, I heard on WTAM that several communities near Hopkins Airport in Cleveland have complained so bitterly about jet noise that the government has responded with a web site ... where you can track passenger jets. That's right. According to WTAM, you can log on to a web site and make sure passenger jets are at their designated altitudes and in their correct flight corridors.

Now, assuming I heard the radio report correctly, am I the only one who sees a problem here? We've potentially got missing SA-7 surface-to-air missiles floating around on the black market, a new web site reveals location and altitude information for air traffic around a major international airport, and just up the road in the metro Detroit area there's a very large community of Muslims. Heck, we have our own home-grown terrorist fundraiser here in town (and don't tell me he's alone).

Hello? Is anybody home at the Department of Homeland Security?

I'll keep looking for a link to the aircraft tracking web site, which I've not found yet. Boy, I hope I'm mistaken.

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UPDATE (12:02 PM): I just got off the phone with WTAM's news room. I've got good news and I've got bad news. The good news: I heard wrong ... there is no jet tracking web site. The bad news: Hopkins Airport is indeed putting such a web site together (according to WTAM). I've already left phone messages with Marty Flask, the Security Director at Hopkins, and with Laura Farmer (position unknown ... I got her number from the Media Relations Manager, Pat Smith, who didn't answer my question about the web site).

UPDATE (3:21 PM): Andrew Cochran of The Counterterrorism Blog just let me know that the Department of Defense has been chasing down Nicaraguan SAMs for two years already, which wasn't in the original story. That's reassuring, since I suppose that if the terrorists had a workable SAM they'd have used it somewhere by now (in Iraq or Afghanistan if not in America). The idea of the jet-tracking web site still sounds foolhardy, though.

UPDATE (9:16 PM): Just to clear up what might otherwise be murky in my hurried post, the government entity involved here is the airport itself, which is owned and run by the City of Cleveland (except security of course, which falls under the TSA). So far as I can determine, this web site idea is not a state or federal one. The feds ought to take notice of this, in my opinion, if it truly will allow detailed jet tracking online.

UPDATE (9:30 PM): Jeff Quinton has thoughts on a similar-sounding system he's seen before, and I sure hope what Hopkins has got planned is no more detailed than that.

... but isn't it customary to actually read a book before you slam it?

If ever you need a demonstration of how liberals destroy the Democratic Party's credibility on national security, here it is.

Chad The Elder at Fraters Libertas wonders if the climate, coupled with the local media's blatant liberal bias and poor writing skills, might explain the bounty of good center-right bloggers in the Minneapolis/St Paul area. He also wonders if boredom might be involved. Now if Chad's hypothesis is true, there must be several promising center-right bloggers in the Cleveland area.

Hmmmm ...

If you haven't done so already, drop by the Columbus-based blog The Open End, where you'll find a team of good writers working in undeserved obscurity. They're not in lockstep with each other, so you'll sometimes find a sharp yet courteous debate going on. However, liberal nuttiness gets a cheerful skewering every day, especially if it involves political correctness at The Ohio State University (a little inside Buckeye joke, there).

Condoleezza Rice won confirmation as the next Secretary of State. The vote total: 85 to 13.

Michelle Malkin asks a great question about Social Security and Homeland Security.

CNN brings us proof that sometimes the only way to stop robbers is to shoot them:

When two men walked into a popular country store outside Atlanta, announced a holdup and fired a shot, owners Bobby and Gloria Doster never hesitated. The pair pulled out their own pistols and opened fire.

The armed suspect and his partner were killed. The Dosters won't be charged, according to local officials, because they were acting in self-defense.

"I just started shooting," said Gloria Doster, 56. "I was trying to blow his brains out is what I was trying to do."

Before my liberal readers get bent out of shape over private citizens "acting like vigilantes" instead of waiting for police to arrive, read another excerpt from the story:

She said she tried to open the register, but one of the men told her she wasn't moving fast enough and tried to shoot her husband. He missed -- and his gun jammed.

At that point, Bobby Doster pulled out a .380-caliber handgun and shot one of the suspects. Gloria Doster then went for a 9 mm pistol she keeps near the register.

"All hell broke loose," she said. "I was trying to shoot and dial 911 at the same time."

Both suspects took cover behind the store's meat counter as the Dosters opened fire. Gloria Doster said she doesn't know how many bullets were fired, or how many times the suspects were hit.

Police arrived about five minutes after receiving Gloria Doster's call; the suspects died a short time later at a hospital.

[emphasis added]

If the Dosters had waited for the police to arrive, the Dosters would be dead today. Their exercise of their right to keep and bear arms saved their lives. When you disarm the populace, gun crime soars.

Remember when the INS sent visas to two of the dead 9/11 hijackers? Well, the idiots in the federal government have outdone themselves. On January 15th, 2005 the Department of Homeland Security finally got around to issuing a green card to Mr. Eugueni Kniazev. He won't be coming in to pick up his card ... because he died in the 9/11 attacks.

Michelle Malkin has all the details. Unbelievable.

Turn up your volume knob, visit the dissident frogman, and click on the red button sitting on the Kansas-Colorado border.

This Frenchman's my kinda guy.

Barking Moonbat Early Warning System has an updated version of the Bill of Rights.

Every time I argue with some liberal who whines about the war in Iraq, they always feel compelled to mouth platitudes about supporting the troops no matter what. But after hundreds of incidents like this one, I have a reply.

Bull.

I just created my own support-the-troops bumper sticker, which you can have for yourself by clicking on the image below.

Buy two and give one to a liberal relative or friend.

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UPDATE: I knew it would hit a nerve. Check the comments here.

Wes Roth just e-mailed me to let me know that Pope John Paul II made an appeal to end the Groningen Protocol:

The Pope has urged doctors and authorities in the Netherlands to think again about their increasingly far-reaching decisions on euthanasia.

He issued his appeal as it emerged that a group of senior Dutch doctors had formally reported themselves for killing 22 terminally ill newborn babies. Their admissions were intended to force the authorities to agree to regulate the practice.

Pope John Paul II said on Saturday: "I urge the authorities and medical personnel and all those who exercise an educative role to weigh the gravity of these questions."

...

The Pope expressed his objections while receiving the new Dutch ambassador to the Vatican, Monique Frank.

He said: "For several years Dutch society, marked by the phenomenon of secularisation, has set in motion a legislative policy concerning the beginning and the end of human life.

"The Holy See has not failed to lay out its clear position and to invite Catholics in the Netherlands always to bear witness to the most absolute respect of the human person, from conception to natural death."

I'm glad he's speaking out. But for all the effect he'll have on today's Dutch, the Pope may as well shout into the wind.

I've commented on the Groningen Protocol before (here, here, and here). I'll be gone most of tonight so I'll be blogless, but my initial observation is straightforward: what more do we expect from a radically secular society? A callous disregard for human life flows predictably from a worldview that denies the existence of objective moral standards, much less any obligation to obey them.

Do the Dutch see the well-worn path they've started on? They don't ... and this road bends ever downwards. It's doubly disappointing to see this banal form of evil sprouting in a place that once was a center of Calvinist thought and reformation. For once, the often over-used Nazi comparison applies.

We in America would be wise not to keep following the Dutch.

If you're a pro-lifer, stop for a moment and ask yourself what you're doing to fight abortion in a concrete way. Roe v. Wade just turned 25, and we've seen lots of marches and vigils and essays from our side. Meanwhile, the slaughter continues.

Do something more. Volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center near you. Help your local right-to-life organizations by manning their booth at the county fair, by organizing a visit by an out-of-town seminar speaker, or by helping them lobby your state and local elected officials to enact pro-life legislation. Donate money to organizations that actually do more than posture and pontificate, and actually persuade the undecided to become pro-life. To use a football analogy, get in the ground game and run the ball downfield. If you truly understand that babies are being murdered daily in your own city, then you'll get involved.

I'll be away this evening at a crisis pregnancy center event, so I'll probably not be blogging much. Think about chipping in, alright?

TigerHawk's masochistic tendencies have resulted in another installment of his service to the right side of the blogosphere: Carnival of the Commies II. TigerHawk wades into the lefty blog cesspool so you don't have to.

If you like things that go boom, you'll be impressed by this footage of helicopter miniguns in action.

Hat tip: Argghhh!

Can we all stop fussing over SpongeBob SquarePants and his alleged dalliances with Patrick the Starfish or other male toons, please?

He's a manly sponge, and definitely not gay. If you have further photoshopped evidence of this, please send it my way (me at brainshavings dot com) and I'll post it here.

The conservative Foreign Service bloggers of New Sisyphus bring a ray of pro-America sunshine back from Paris, of all places.

Courtesy of the White House web site: Bush's Second Inaugural Address.

Courtesy of Captain's Quarters, a bold attempt by ABC News to throw mud on President Bush's Inauguration ... discovered on their website by bloggers:

For a possible Inauguration Day story on ABC News, we are trying to find out if there any military funerals for Iraq war casualties scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20.

If you know of a funeral and whether the family might be willing to talk to ABC News, please fill out the form below[.]

Disgusting. Any spin trying to downplay this is demolished by the fact that ABC deleted the web page once they'd been exposed. Captain's Quarters cached a copy before ABC could destroy the evidence.

This fake VW ad lampooning a hapless suicide bomber made me grin. Anytime we ridicule terrorists, I'll join in the laughter.

Get everything you need to know about the possible dirty bomb threat in Boston at The Counterterrorism Blog.

Hat tip: Powerpundit

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UPDATE: Michelle Malkin's all over it ... especially the illegal immigration angle.

Could this be a head fake? I mean, are the terrorists drawing our attention to Boston while the real target is the Inauguration? Or are they hoping to stretch our security resources thin by forcing us to concentrate on two major cities ... so they can hit a third? Just speculating.

Australian optimist Arthur Chrenkoff looks northward toward China and reads the tea leaves to see if future conflict with America is really a foregone conclusion. Chrenkoff gathers disparate threads from the news that demonstrate China's ambition to control East and Central Asia (military buildups, diplomatic overtures, business deals), but then throws in an interesting wild card I hadn't thought much about recently: the rise of Christianity in Chinese culture, especially among that society's elites.

Fascinating stuff.

But I wonder ... whatever happened to China's secretive Assassin's Mace program? It sure has dropped from sight in the news, but that doesn't mean a doggone thing. Anybody have any news about it?

One other wild card comes to mind: capitalism (see Dinocrat's related post). If free market economics continue to make inroads into Chinese society, can China long remain a communist nation? If it does become some sort of democracy or republic, then it would be much less likely to clash militarily with America. After all, democracies don't attack each other.

Definitely something to ponder.

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UPDATE: More China blogging from Why are all the good names gone ...

From Reuters, we have "U.S. Warns Iran Over Missiles, Punishes Chinese Firms." Since the release of Seymour Hersh's article on Monday, MSM sources have turned an increasingly sharp eye toward anything involving Iranian friction with the U.S.

Oddly, no official announcement of the sanctions was made, leading me to wonder if this is because the United States has no desire to highlight disagreements with China over Iran. Considering U.S. efforts to highlight Iran's intransigence, I would have otherwise expected this to receive more play from the administration:

...

The most indepth coverage was provided in the Times. I found the end of the article to be the most informative. China is a high-growth country with ever-expanding energy needs. Considering the fact that U.S. interest in the Middle East stems largely from a desire to meet its own energy needs, our position on the "moral high ground" regarding the spread of WMD is based primarily on the same sort of realistic calculations China has made in seeking to secure its own national interests:

...

The article suggests that Chinese nonproliferation efforts are taken more as an economic step (to avoid U.S. sanctions) than out of genuine concern for the spread of WMD and delivery system technology:

...

Talk of China and its expanding role in regions such as the Middle East reminds me of the recently waged debate within the EU regarding an end to the current arms embargo levied on China.

I've discussed the idea of political realism outweighing the notion of "shared values" here and here. Steps by some members of the EU (most specifically France) to court China as a strategic balancing point to U.S. influence serve as a reminder that national interests often take precedence over shared values.

Interesting Iranian/French angle. It can be maddening, trying to keep everyone's hidden agendas straight in one's mind.

Want to get really complex? Throw into the mix Colin Powell's recent statements revising America's stance on the "One China" policy, which appear to leave Taiwan twisting in the wind (presumably in exchange for an as-yet-unmentioned something from China). I wonder what Condi Rice will have to say about this (if anything)?

UPDATE 2: Finally! The shipping lane map I've been hoping for! Great find by Little Red Blog, along with more good analysis on the EU-China arms connection.

UPDATE 3: This post has merged at high speed into today's Beltway Traffic Jam.

By all rights, we should know Rafael Peralta's name. The man died a bona fide hero during the Battle of Fallujah. Here's an excerpt from Rich Lowry's column on the sergeant:

Sgt. Peralta, 25, was a Mexican American. He joined the Marines the day after he got his green card and earned his citizenship while in uniform. He was fiercely loyal to the ethos of the Corps. While in Kuwait, waiting to go into Iraq, he had his camouflage uniform sent out to be pressed. He constantly looked for opportunities to help his Marine brothers, which is why he ended up where he was on Nov. 15. A week into the battle for Fallujah, the Marines were still doing the deadly work of clearing the city, house by house. As a platoon scout, Peralta didn't have to go out with the assault team that day. He volunteered to go.

According to Kaemmerer, the Marines entered a house and kicked in the doors of two rooms that proved empty. But there was another closed door to an adjoining room. It was unlocked, and Peralta, in the lead, opened it. He was immediately hit with AK-47 fire in his face and upper torso by three insurgents. He fell out of the way into one of the cleared rooms to give his fellow Marines a clear shot at the enemy. During the firefight, a yellow fragmentation grenade flew out of the room, landing near Peralta and several fellow Marines. The uninjured Marines tried to scatter out of the way, two of them trying to escape the room, but were blocked by a locked door. At that point, barely alive, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it to his body.

His body took most of the blast. One Marine was seriously injured, but the rest sustained only minor shrapnel wounds. Cpl. Brannon Dyer told a reporter from the Army Times, "He saved half my fire team."

Semper Fi, Sergeant Peralta. You were a good Marine.

Leave it to a Coast Guard cook to make better recruiting videos than the Coast Guard itself can. He's posting them at CG Clips. Way to go, Jimmy Z!

Hat tip: Brown Hound

Theyyyy're baaaack! Go see Jib Jab's Second Term for a good chuckle.

And yes, Hillary slaps Bill in this one, too.

CBS News is seeking a replacement for Dan Rather, and they're getting desperate:

"We have to try and reinvent that," he said. "One of the ways we're looking at is making it younger and more relevant, something that younger people can relate to as opposed to that guy preaching from the mountaintop about what we should and should not watch."

Asked twice, Moonves wouldn't rule out a role on the evening news for Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, whose "The Daily Show" skewers politicians and the news media each night. Moonves is co-chief executive of Viacom, which owns both CBS and Comedy Central.

Well, at least CBS' anchor would be openly peddling fake news, so I guess it would be a step up.

TigerHawk has slogged through the lefty blogs this week, so you don't have to. Behold the Carnival of the Commies!

The second half of tonight's game between the Orlando Magic and the Detroit Pistons was delayed when a seeing-eye dog left a deposit on the court:

The dog was with a charity organization, Canine Companions for Independence, that was receiving a $10,000 donation from the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation.

When the Pistons came out for warmups, Rasheed Wallace walked up to the lane where the excrement had fallen, stopped and stared in disbelief. His teammates were just as confused before wide smiles broke out.

Maybe the pooch was a Pacers fan.

The State of California will actually carry out a lethal injection tonight. Governor Schwarzenegger denied a clemency request, so the state will execute Donald Beardslee for a double murder he committed in 1981 ... while on parole for another murder he committed in Missouri. He'll only be the eleventh death row inmate executed since California reinstituted the death penalty in 1978.

"I am not moved to mercy by the fact that Beardslee has been a model prisoner," the governor said. "I expect no less."

That's as it should be. It appears that common sense is making a comeback in California, which is a good thing ... since there are only 639 inmates left on Death Row.

Courtesy of Instapundit comes a story in the UK's Telegraph newspaper documenting anti-regime graffiti on a poster in North Korea. That kind of thing gets you a summary death sentence, so it's remarkable that it even happened (much less showed up on a videotape).

For background on the world's most reclusive and oppressive country, browse the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

Vox Apologia I is up, with ten posts on what apologetics means to today's Christian church.

Just heard something unprecedented on the Rush Limbaugh show. I think that was Mr. Snerdley the Program Observer who closed out the last segment of today's first hour. I thought I heard him say that Rush got so ticked off by the last liberal caller that he had to go cool off. Hmmm ... no dittocam feed, so we'll just have to wait and see.

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UPDATE: Yup, he did. He's back now, warning his audience he's on a short fuse. Uh, no kidding.

UPDATE 2: Here's the segment with the argument, which I'll gladly remove if Rush objects to my posting it. I'll post Snerdley's voice ASAP.

A few years back, our military tossed around ideas for new non-lethal chemical weapons:

Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.

The brainstorming sessions apparently went no further, and the ideas were rejected. Makes you wonder what they're dreaming about today, doesn't it?

Arthur Chrenkoff isn't being paid by the Bush Administration to round up good news from Iraq ... but he should be.

Every Thought Captive and RazorsKiss.net are sponsoring a Christian blog symposium called Vox Apologia 1. The topic is "What does apologetics mean to today's Christian church?" I can't resist this one.

First, a definition. In rough terms I'd define "apologetics" as "defending the faith", although others give fuller definitions based on the Greek root word apologia, which means "a verbal defense, a speech in defense."¹ Christian apologetics is a branch of Christian theology seeking to provide a rational defense of the truth of the Christian faith. When you engage in apologetics, you give an answer to tough questions about subjects like the existence of God, the Bible's reliability as a historical document, Jesus' resurrection, the simultaneous existence of evil and a good all-powerful God, and the like. That covers the definition well enough for our purposes here.

Since I don't hop from church to church, I can only speak for my impression of my congregation, which is part of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Here's what I fear "apologetics" means to my congregation:

That sounds a bit harsh, so let me dial it back a little. If I conducted a survey of my congregation and got replies from a signifant chunk of the ~2,000 official members, I'm confident that over 90% would not know what the term "apologetics" means, nor would they know much about the subject.

It's not that way because they wouldn't be interested if they were given an opportunity to learn. Any blame lies with the 10% of us (myself included) who do know something about apologetics ... and I also blame the inherent handicap we face in a society that tends not to read books, pay attention to anything but a TV screen, and have any spare time to speak of.

Odds are, your church's library has several books by apologists like C.S. Lewis, R.C. Sproul, G.K. Chesterton, Saint Augustine, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, Francis Beckwith, or Ravi Zacharias ... or at least "pop apologetics" books by Lee Strobel, Paul E. Little, Josh McDowell, Hank Hanegraaf, or Phillip E. Johnson.

But if your church is like mine, those books probably have a good coating of dust on them. The most popular books are most likely the ones with the least theological meat in 'em, from authors like Tim Lahaye, Rick Warren, and Max Lucado. Don't get me wrong; these authors are fine Christian men who write well, and their books inspire many people to live better Christian lives.

What their books don't do is teach you to know what you believe, why you believe it, how it differs from what cults and other religions believe, and how the Christian faith makes more sense than any competing worldview out there. That is apologetics. And it's a field that absentminded amateur apologists like me need to get workin' on, so we can educate our fellow believers and offer the world better reasons to become a Christian than "it feels good and helps me cope."

So right now, I think the church has barely a clue about apologetics. I'm hopeful that some years down the road, it'll mean a lot more to the average believer ... who will be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks them to give the reason for their hope, with gentleness and respect.

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Note:

1) The word "apologia" occurs in the original Greek New Testament in the following passages: Acts 22:1 & 25:16; 1 Corinthians 9:3; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Philippians 1:7, 16; 2 Timothy 4:16; and 1 Peter 3:15.

Rick Brady at Stones Cry Out is in the market for a new logo. Here's my offering:

Click it to see it at full size.

Jeremy at Parableman watched a debate on C-SPAN yesterday, where Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer discussed the proper weight to assign to foreign law when deciding controversies in U.S. constitutional law. Jeremy spotted a wonderful example of Scalia's rhetorical skill:

One thing really struck me in his explanation of one small point related to his view, and it displayed his keen rhetorical skill (in the good sense of the term 'rhetoric' and not the sense in which something might be mere rhetoric). It's the sort of thing I would hold up as a model for speaking with those who might disagree. He was explaining why people who disagree with him on this should hesitate to see other countries' moral views as a guide to our own. If you want to avoid being arbitrary and circular, you can't pick and choose which countries to guide you to find ones that agree with you. Then he gives an example. Since very few countries allow abortion-on-demand in the first trimester, the American allowance of exactly that is a minority position. If we were going to allow world opinion to shape our interpretations of rights and laws, we'd have to restrict abortion far more than we do. Most left-thinking types don't want that.

What a great technique for adding extra oomph to an argument. I'll file that one away for future reference. Thanks for catching it, Jeremy.

Dear fellow Cleveland motorists,

I'm a pretty easygoing guy, but lately your collective driving habits have tempted me to mount a bazooka on my hood. To avoid further unpleasantness, I offer the following driving tips:

1. The long pedal on the right is the accelerator. The wide pedal on the left is the brake. Learn the difference.
2. That double yellow line on your left isn't decorative. It means stay the hell out of my lane.
3. When coming to a stop on a dry road, don't brake - release - brake - release - SLAMBRAKE. Start braking early and smoothly, and I won't feel the need to put my front bumper through your headrest.
4. When braking in wet/snowy/icy conditions, apply your preferred dry braking technique from the previous rule, minus the slam at the end. You're in Cleveland, where 99% of primates understand driving in inclement weather. If you can't help doing a 180, don't blame us for laughing.
5. To turn right, you don't need to drift leftward first. Your car is capable of turning ninety degrees directly onto a cross street or into a driveway if driven by a minimally sentient being.
6. The yellow light does not mean "Hurry, next three cars! Floor it and squirt through the intersection!"
7. The green light doesn't mean "sit there gaping." Study Rule Number 1 and apply it.
8. If you're over 65 and peering out between the top of your dashboard and the top of your steering wheel, get a damn booster chair or take the bus.
9. That persistent clicking you hear isn't your watch. It's your left turn signal, blinking moronically as you cruise the Shoreway. I'm the guy behind you, anxiously hoping you won't execute a sudden merge into my passenger seat as I try to pass you ... which will inevitably be followed by your outraged explanation to the nice State Trooper: "But I had my turn signal on, officer!"
10. The posted speed limit is a good guideline when choosing a minimum speed. If you can't bear to get closer than 10 mph below it, take the bus and save my blood pressure.
11. If I'm driving on the city street you're waiting to merge into from that parking lot off to the side, wait 'til I'm at least even with you before you stake a claim to my lane. Otherwise I'm going to remember my sailor vocabulary, and some emphatic finger gestures too.
12. If you're under 18, think you're a good driver, and have the keys to anything with more than four cylinders, I have four words for you: Stay. Away. From. Me.
13. If you're going to drive like a suicide bomber dodging machine gun nests, at least have the courtesy to pass this infidel on the left, okay?
14. I have no bumper stickers, my license plate is readable from 100 feet away, and there's nothing else of interest on the back of my van. Now back off before I brakecheck you.
15. Use your high beams only when you're all alone on the road. When I'm coming toward you (or when you're catching up to me), I take it personally when you cauterize every rod and cone in my eyes. If at all possible I'm going to take you with me as I careen off the road into an oak tree.
16. When a cop has a speeder pulled over on the other side of I-71, you don't need to slow down. He can't jump the concrete barrier and chase you down, even if he's one of Linndale's Finest. Drive on, dummy.
17. Same goes for accidents on the other side. The authorities are busy over there, so look at it as an opportunity to make up some time on your trip. Gawk at it on the evening news, not here in front of me.
18. Bumper-to-bumper traffic jams suck, especially when we're all trying to get home on the highway. It's good form to let alternate cars merge into the flow, which is known as "taking turns." When you decide that your destination is more important than mine by one car length's worth, I'm going to step out of my car and smack you upside the head until you can't think past the kindergarten level ... at which point you'll remember about "taking turns."
19. During those bumper-to-bumper snarls, passing the rest of us lemmings on the shoulder will guarantee 83 calls to the cops with your license plate playing a starring role.

Kindly print out a copy of this little missive and either tape it to your dashboard or have it tattooed backwards on your forehead for future reference. Because the next time you cut me off, the last thing you'll see in your rearview mirror is a speck trailing smoke and approaching awfully fast.

Best wishes,
The Puddle Pirate

I'm blogging from the Arabica Coffee House in North Ridgeville, an establishment I haunt often. It's got good coffee, lots of fresh pastries and tasty sandwiches, ice cream, a comfortable dining area, a drive-through window, free wireless broadband internet access, and a friendly staff made up almost completely of attractive women. I've gone there so many times in the past three years that the manager, Patty (prettiest of the crew by far), is now a good friend of mine. With the amount of disposable income I've left behind there, you'd think they'd put a plaque over my favorite table, but they haven't gotten around to it yet.

If you're passing through on I-80 or I-480 on the West Side of Cleveland, consider stopping in. Arabica's about 5 minutes from either highway. Try the Cafe Voltaire with whipped cream, and throw in a dark chocolate biscotti or an orange & cranberry scone to go with it.

Think our Navy SEALs are just a bunch of bloodthirsty blow-em-up Rambo types? Wrong.

Hat tip: Cheese & Crackers

Thanks to conservative pundit Armstrong Williams (who secretly took $250,000 from the Bush administration to hawk the No Child Left Behind Act, and claimed that others did too), minority conservative pundits are catching major hate from the venomous wing of the loony Left. Not that the lefties were sweet and kind before, mind you, but it's still a nasty display of racism and bile from the folks who claim to be champions of downtrodden minorities.

Not only did Williams do something wrong and unethical ... he's given fuel to the mouthbreathing moonbats, and hurt the rest of the conservative movement much more than Michael Moore ever could. Way to go, Armstrong.

Looking for a simple yet maddening little game? Enjoy.

Hat tip: Drink This...

I've been thinking about how to express my disapproval of conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, who recently admitted taking money from the Bush Administration to become a booster for the No Child Left Behind Act. But now I don't need to worry about finding the words. They turned up on Michelle Malkin's blog because she thought of them first.

We're eyeball to eyeball and the other fellow just blinked.

-- Dean Rusk

Hugh Hewitt spent a good part of the day (and all of his radio show) prodding conservative bloggers and asking why we haven't made a bigger fuss over the CBS News report on Ra^thergate. If you read through Hugh's blog entries today, you'll see that Hugh sees the report as a whitewash, and that he thinks the big guns of the Blogging Right appear overly concerned about their reputations among the mainstream media. Hugh thinks we ought not show mercy in this case. I agree, and here's why.

This situation strikes me as a kind of negotiation. We of the center-right blogosphere expected CBS News to offer something like this:

1. report released on a Friday (to bury it)
2. report released after announcing Ra^ther's successor (again, to bury it)
3. a weak non-apology
4. thinly-veiled contempt for bloggers
5. support from ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, etc.
6. denial of any pro-Kerry motivation, much less any actual coordination
7. Mary Mapes fired

We were hoping for several results from this episode, including:

1. report released on a Monday
2. report released without a Ra^ther successor announced
3. an admission from CBS News that the Killian memos were forgeries
4. due credit given to the blogosphere for unearthing this mess
5. Dan Rather fired
6. Mary Mapes fired
7. top CBS News executives fired (including the president, Andrew Heyward)
8. an investigation into possible coordination between CBS News and the Kerry/Edwards campaign
9. help from CBS' competing news networks in devouring it (motivated by fear)

To our surprise, CBS started off by offering us numbers 1, 2, and 6 on our wish list. Better still, they offered big chunks of numbers 3, 4, 5, and 7.

Think about it. The bigwigs at CBS News are clearly not bargaining from a position of strength, and it's obvious they know it. Now keep in mind that in a negotiation, you never ever reveal your true position right up front. If this is where they've started from, imagine where we could push them to. By giving CBS News (and by extension, all of MSM) a pass on this baldfaced charade they called "news", we'd be letting them return to lie another day.

Another thing: have you noticed the deafening silence among the lefty bloggers today? They tried very hard to ignore the CBS News report, hoping we'd lose interest. If they thought they could win the argument on the merits, they'd be in full cry instead. So the only thing standing between us and resounding vindication is ... us.

Fellow conservative bloggers, stop worrying about what the other side thinks of us and go for the whole wish list, because they'll tut-tut about "blogger triumphalism" no matter what we do. Learn from the GOP, which only climbed out of the electoral gutter after it stopped trying to play footsie with the Democrats. Ra^ther, Mapes, and CBS News are scattered and fleeing. Let's show some spine and mop 'em up.

Tune in to Hugh Hewitt's radio show right now (or listen online). He's going to spend three hours with the folks who brought down Dan Rather, and they'll dissect the CBS Report released today. Everybody who's anybody among bloggers involved in that mess will be on the air. You'll be glad you listened in.

Power Line finally breaks its silence on the CBS Report here. An excerpt:

How is it that Google News considers Democratic Underground a news site ... but not Free Republic?

Here's what you get when you search for "democrat OR republican" using the Democratic Underground as the source. Here's the same search with Free Republic as the source.

Just asking.

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UPDATE: Looks like my chance discovery turned out to be timely. Michelle Malkin's got a budding roundup of posts on Google's apparent bias. Amy Ridenour's speculation about Google's screening algorithms sounds plausible to me, but I don't forsee Google letting us in on anything revealing about their search algorithms. Ater all, that's what made them so popular as a search engine to begin with, and their popularity drives their ad revenues.

Mick Stockinger at Uncorrelated observes that algorithms don't conspire to slant the news. Granted. But algorithm writers certainly can. I'm not saying that Google did any such thing ... I am saying that Democratic Underground's presence in Google News' search results strikes me as a bit odd given Free Republic's absence.

Based on a blurb I heard on the Hugh Hewitt show, I decided to try out the whole blogging-as-more-than-a-hobby thing. Specifically, bloggers who mention a certain movie get goodies, and I checked it out. I sent an e-mail to the publicist and got this reply:

There�s been overwhelming response from bloggers responding to the offer for free tickets to an advance screening of IN GOOD COMPANY. So Universal Pictures and Grace Hill Media wants to respond to that enthusiasm by upping the ante: any blogger who signs up for the free tickets and then posts this offer and a link to the IN GOOD COMPANY trailer on their site will be automatically entered in a contest to win their very own private screening of IN GOOD COMPANY in their town. The winner can either fill the screening with their friends and family, or see the film alone with that special someone � it�s entirely up to them. One lucky blogger here in the US will win. Sign up at info@gracehillmedia.com and send us your link. And of course, all the non-winners will still be eligible to attend an advance screening in their area.

Want to know what my biggest surprise was? Based on the trailer, this looks like an interesting movie that I might actually go see, even if I were paying for the ticket. I'll let you know if it lives up to its billing.

The Daily Demarche has an apparent eyewitness' account of December's terrorist attack on the American Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia:

I keep picking out interesting nuggets from the CBS Report, starting with page 14:

CBS has finally posted a PDF copy of their report on the now-infamous 60 Minutes II segment where they tried to pass off forged memos as real, only to have the blogosphere expose their anti-Bush agenda masquerading as "news." So far the report has no appendices. Appendices and exhibits here.

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UPDATE: CBS fired Mary Mapes, producer of the 60 Minutes II segment. Three news execs were also asked to resign ... but not CBS News' President, Andrew Heyward. His desk is buck-free, Buckhead be damned.

UPDATE 2: The CBS report can't even get basic facts about blogs right. Footnote 86 on page 153 says "Powerline is a Minnesota-based blog run by John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson, both of whom are attorneys." There's a third blogger there, you dingalings. Ever heard of Paul Mirengoff, who blogs from Washington, DC? Try checking the three bios right at the top left side of the blog's home page. You did actually go there and look at the site, right? Time Magazine managed to get the basics right (then again, Time is known for reporting actual news). And it's "Power Line", not "Powerline." Geez, with this kind of attention to detail, how are we going to trust this report's conclusions?

Physics Geek hosts this week's Carnival of the Recipes, where you'll find such delicacies as lasagna, enchilada lasagna, champagne punch, chocolate mousse "cheesecake", sand tart cookies, and Irish coffee.

*burp*

Mark Anderson's latest post at Poor Richard's Almanac reawakens the guitar lust long dormant in my heart. I used to play before I got into an accident that paralyzed my fingers, but now I'm thinking about modifying a guitar to make it playable (perhaps in my lap, steel guitar style). Thanks for reminding me of the joys and frustrations of guitar shopping, Mark!

I see that Hugh Hewitt has chosen him as the Blog of the Month for January 2005. Bravo!

Following the lead of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, a loose group of bloggers has started broadcasting audio over the web. The show's called Homespun Bloggers Radio, and here are the pages announcing show one and show two. To listen to the looped broadcasts, click below:

Click to listen

Perhaps I can record a fake commercial or two for them, or get them to play some of Frank J's audio bits.

A sharp fellow Christian conservative, Derek at Weapon of Mass Distraction, notes the news of atheist Michael Newdow's renewed attack on the Pledge of Allegiance after his previous lawsuit went down in flames. Derek betrays some uncharacteristic pessimism about our side's chances this time around:

"Even though I'm nowhere to be found, Blog is ubiquitous. All loyal socialists should read Comrade Hugh's book to strengthen their Juche spirit."

Federal election law requires every Congressional candidate to fully disclose the name, address, occupation and employer of every donor who gives more than $200 to their campaign. I just browsed through the campaign finance reports for Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, as tallied by the Center for Responsive Politics. As of January 4th, guess which Ohio member of Congress is the most secretive about her donors' identities?

Stephanie Tubbs Jones ran unopposed this year, which might explain her apparent belief that nobody's going to look into her finances. Either she's hiding something or she's just unusually lax in complying with disclosure laws. Which is it?

And please, Miss Jones, don't insult our intelligence by blaming your staff for this.

By objecting to the Electoral Vote count for Ohio, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) just made a very bad political decision. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined her, forcing the Electoral College vote certification to grind to a halt. Jones is up for re-election in 2006, and deserves to be tossed out of Congress on her ear. Boxer just won re-election this time around, so she's obviously hoping the voters forget this when 2010 rolls around.

--

UPDATE: According to National Journal, which notably ranked John Kerry as the Senate's most liberal member, here's how Jones' voting record stacks up since 2001:

Read Jones' profile on Project Vote Smart here.

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UPDATE 2: Here are some of Jones' favorability ratings provided by various liberal groups:

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UPDATE 3: Well, would ya look at that ...

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Correction: I misidentified the liberal Democrat Senator from California as Diane Feinstein. It was Barbara Boxer who joined Congresswoman Jones in subverting the Electoral College. After all, there's a huge difference between Boxer and Feinstein. For example, um ... gimme a minute ... I'll think of something ...

... let's shred what remains of Ashlee Simpson's status as a "singer." I wish I'd recorded her screeching through the halftime show at the Orange Bowl. Imagine the traffic (and the bandwidth charges)!

Hat tip: Wizbang

I just speculated on the faint rumblings of a blog swarm, but I never expected this.

At this point, I'll defer to Technorati and Memeorandum to track this.

Get moving, Congressman Conyers. That buzzing sound you hear is getting louder, and it ain't friendly.

Captain Ed over at Captain's Quarters may well be touching off a blog swarm around Michigan Democrat Congressman John Conyers, whose staff stands accused of taking charity Christmas turkeys and giving them to friends instead of to Detroit's hungry and needy.

Conyers' reaction to press inquiries? Silence.

If he keeps ignoring this story and the blogosphere goes nuclear, you'll be seeing another demonstration of the power of the tail.

More coverage:
Instapundit
Wizbang! (inevitably tagging it "Turkeygate")
Cheese & Crackers
Pejmanesque
hubs and spokes
Three Knockdown Rule
PoliBlog
Turkeygate (too funny!)
Daily Pundit
Urban Republican
You Know What Part
Pajama Journal
BrothersJudd
Chicago Avvocato
The Baron
Florida Pilot
Dinocrat

Via Cheese and Crackers and Blackfive comes the following story of a frighteningly good Marine sniper:

Scientists have invented a fly-eating robot that needs no batteries.

Though the Coast Guard is a much smaller and less technologically-advanced service than the Navy, the world's experts in search and rescue are still stretching their resources to the limit and taking emergency supplies to Thailand.

Rumors continued to circulate today, suggesting that a nationally syndicated talk radio host and would-be bestselling author had infiltrated the crowd at an anti-war rally in Key West recently. ProtestWarrior denied any involvement in the stunt, seen here in a photograph e-mailed to Brain Shavings by a very reliable source.

If you're looking for video, your one-stop shop is still the video page at Cheese & Crackers.

If you're looking for news, go see what Arthur Chrenkoff has pulled together. He's got one heck of a round-up.

As before, please help in whatever way you can:

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UPDATE: Chrenkoff has Wednesday's tsunami news round-up posted. There's some good news mixed in with the bad.

UPDATE 2: Waxy.org also has several videos.

Soon, the 109th Congress will convene for its first session. This time around the Democrats have lost even more seats, and if there's one thing that ticks off a Democrat politician it's losing power. Worse yet, they still seem to think that their message of wacko leftism just didn't get through to the voting public, and that President Bush and the Republicans somehow stole the election.

Democrat outrage is nothing if not predictable, and it's no great stretch to expect petty little snit fits on the floor of Congress once it's back in session. Come to think of it, can calls for impeaching the president be far away? I think not. Which can mean only one thing.

It's contest time!

Be the first to predict the Democrats' calls for political vengeance against President Bush, and you can win expensive and gaudy prizes. That is, if you define "expensive and gaudy" as "affordable by the amateur blogger running this site." Here are the categories and prizes:

1. Date of first call for President Bush's impeachment: _________ (Prize: a Blogshares portfolio consisting of 5,000 shares of Brain Shavings and 5000 shares of The Buckeye Bloggers)
   Bonus -- Representative making that first call: _________ (Prize: $10 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   
2. Date of first article of impeachment referred to House Judiciary Committee: _________ (Prize: a copy of Blog, by Hugh Hewitt)
   Bonus -- First sponsor of this article: _________ (Prize: $50 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   
3. Date of first article of impeachment to get a House Judiciary Committee vote: _________ (Prize: a copy of Right Turns, by Michael Medved)
   Bonus -- First sponsor of this article: _________ (Prize: $50 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   Bonus -- Committee vote tally (yea/nay): _____/_____ (Prize: $50 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   Bonus -- Number of Republicans voting "yea" (non-zero guesses only): _____ (Prize: $50 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   
4. Date of first article of impeachment to reach House floor: _________ (Prize: a copy of Scalia Dissents, by Kevin A. Ring)
   Bonus -- First sponsor of this article: _________ (Prize: $75 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   Bonus -- House vote tally (yea/nay): _____/_____ (Prize: $100 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   Bonus -- Number of Republicans voting "yea" (non-zero guesses only): _____ (Prize: $100 Amazon.com gift certificate)
   

Contest Rules:

Well, the annual morbidity derby is underway at Lawrence Simon's blog. Here's my list of picks:

Did you submit your picks this time around?

If 2004 was the Year of the Blog, wait 'til you see what goes down in 2005.