September 2006 Archives

A Rose By Any Other Name has the story behind this photograph.

God Bless our troops.

Nobody has any control over things like the country they're born in, their sex, or their race, but a person's religious beliefs do not fall into that same category. Believing in Islam is something a person chooses to do.

Keep that distinction in mind when you read Dean Esmay's challenge to Michelle Malkin and other conservatives for their alleged islamophobia. Don't miss Michelle's response, as well as retorts by The Jawa Report, Bryan Preston, Donald Sensing, and Dean's own wife Rosemary Esmay.

More:

• "Islamofascists"? Darn right. It is not America's fault that these evil people hate us.
• Warnings to "moderate" muslims: Max Boot, Big Lizards, Captain's Quarters, Victor Davis Hanson, and me (here and here).

Two retired Army Major Generals, John Batiste and Paul Eaton, showed up on Capitol Hill again yesterday to grandstand for the cameras and demand that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resign.

Sound familiar? Yep, we've been here before. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee meeting was not an actual Senate committee meeting. Only one Republican showed up, and he wasn't even a Senator. What was Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina doing there, I wonder?

At any rate, allow me to refresh everyone's memory about the deafening chorus of retired generals and admirals calling for Rummy's head. The folks in blue represent the five or six identified gadflies, multiplied by two because I'm feeling generous. The folks in green represent all of the other retired flag officers.

Of course, I'm being unfair. I failed to mention that Generals Batiste and Eaton had retired Colonel T.X. Hammes sitting beside them.

Feel better now, Democrats?

I just stumbled across an amusingly accurate description of the theological silliness in many a liberal Christian church, courtesy of an atheist named Brian Flemming:

Liberal Christianity, despite being non-hateful and on many issues even ethical, is hopelessly incoherent, however. Liberal Christianity says a perfect God wrote a perfect book--but he made mistakes. Or, alternately, liberal Christianity says the book is an extremely flawed and even disgusting work written by men--but special attention should still be paid to it. Liberal Christianity says religion shouldn't stand in the way of science--but a dead man did really rise from the dead. Probably. Or, at least, it's not unreasonable to believe that he did (or that he turned water into wine and walked on water). Liberal Christianity says the love of Jesus is the only way to Heaven--but if some people don't believe that, it's fine to let their deluded souls go off to Hell without even trying to stop them. Or maybe Heaven and Hell don't exist at all--but it's still very, very important to praise this figure called "God." For some reason.

Liberal Christianity wants to drink the Kool-Aid but pretend there's no cyanide in it. And nothing pisses off liberal Christians more than having the incoherence of their beliefs laid bare.

Rev. Joseph Phelps, a liberal Christian (who does, by the way, believe Jesus actually rose from the dead and is capable of saying so in as casual a manner as this parenthetical), dealt with my critique of his brand of Christianity in the easiest--and most empty--manner: by accusing me of being a "fundamentalist" atheist. I'm getting so tired of this line that I usually just ignore it, hoping the audience will simply see through it. But sometime I suppose I'll have to come up with a pithy way of explaining that a person who believes that 1 plus 1 equals 2 is not embracing "fundamentalist" math. He's simply rejected 1 + 1 = 3 as flawed.

Although Flemming finds little use for conservative Christians (we "fundies" believe crazy things, he says), he's certainly on target in these paragraphs.

Hat tip: Brutally Honest

Check out the improvised seal at Pandagon, and tell me you don't feel just a wee bit of cognitive dissonance. "Irony" is putting it mildly.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 made it through the House, and now heads for the Senate where it'll see a roll call vote this week. In case you're wondering where the ~700 miles of new fencing will go, just click on the thumbnail below.

I drew the fence using the text of the bill, but I only eyeballed the endpoints. Minor inaccuracies aside, you can still see where the new fence will go if the Senate passes the bill.

I don't know where existing fences are, so keep in mind that this only shows new stretches.

--

Update: Michelle Malkin is underwhelmed by the Senate Majority Leader's commitment to an up-or-down vote, not to mention funding the fence after it's authorized.

Mike DeWine appears to be closing the gap on Sherrod Brown:

The Quinnipiac University poll found that 45 percent of likely Ohio voters favored Brown, while 44 percent backed DeWine and 11 percent were undecided.

The telephone poll of 876 likely voters, taken between Sept. 11-17, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Sept. 1 had Brown slightly ahead of DeWine, 46 percent to 40 percent.

Remember it's just a poll. The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day. Even so, this is encouraging news.

--

Update: If you want polling analysis, go check out NixGuy. If you're really really into polling, RaceTracked gives you what you want.

Sunday's vile Islamic protest outside a London cathedral inspired me to "pull a Reuters" on the photographs taken by Joee Blogs:

At least it would've been honest.

Are you bothered by the terms "Islamofascism" or "Islamic Fascism"? Don't be. Here's a small sample of people who argue effectively in favor of recognizing the reality that's staring us in the face.

J. Peter Mulhern
Steve Huntley
Victor Davis Hanson (here and here)
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
President Bush (here and here and here)
Tony Blankley
Arnold Kling (sort of)

--

Update: The Religion of Peace

Update: Joseph Loconte diagnoses "The Fascist Disease" in The Weekly Standard.

As part of of The 2,996 Project, I'm remembering Damian Meehan, who was 32 when he died in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. The following biography was written by his family.

Growing up in a large family in Manhattan's Irish Inwood in the 1970's, gave Damian all the necessary essentials for a very happy childhood. Six older brothers, an older sister and a baby sister set the tone for a perpetual smile and a unique laugh that became a very integral part of his personality. His big brothers, Shaun, Michael, Eugene, Kevin, Chris and Paul, while always creating obstacles and torment in his daily life, grew to love, protect and admire this most gentle of siblings. His sisters Kitty and Janine just adored him from day one.

Damian's loving nature made his life a very happy experience. He was such a happy kid and people loved being around him. His easygoing personality and perpetual smile endeared him to a wide circle of friends. He attended Good Shepherd grammar school in Inwood and made many close friends there that would stay with him through life. As a child he played in Inwood Hill Park and spent his summers at the Four Green Fields. Both Inwood and the Four Green Fields, played major roles in his early and developing years, that led to friendships that were to last a lifetime.

Damian was so trustworthy, that his parents allowed him to travel by subway to attend Power Memorial High School. Unfortunately, Power closed in 1984, just after Damian's freshman year, so he decided to finish at St. Raymond's in the Bronx, where a few of his brothers also attended. Upon graduation, Damian chose SUNY New Paltz for college. Two years later, his Dad convinced him that there was more to learn at home. Damian decided to join his sister Janine at Lehman College, where he was first introduced to Janine's friend, Joann McCarthy. It was definitely love at first sight - and the rest is history. While in college, Damian worked at the Columbia Tennis Center in Inwood, along with various bartending jobs throughout the city. In August of 1993, Damian decided to try Wall Street and it was his brother-in-law, Marty Boyle, that introduced him to the wild world of finance. He worked for Dean Witter, which later became Carr Futures, and he came under the guidance and counsel of Brendan Dolan and they became fast friends for the rest of their lives.

On June 6, 1998 , at the age 29, Damian married the love of his life, Joann McCarthy at Mount St. Ursula Church. They were just a perfect couple; so much love, devotion and respect that was obvious to all. They settled in Riverdale. The following year they bought a house in Glen Rock, NJ near their friends Brendan and Stacey Dolan, and Kathy and Joe Holland.

On January 23, 2000, Damian Peter, Jr. was born - the arrival of Damian, Jr. could not have been more perfect. It was a great time in Damian's life. He loved being a father and cherished every minute spent with his son. He was so proud of little Damian and always boasted about his accomplishments. They had their own rituals. Every night, little Damian would stand on the couch and watch out the window for his "gogga-gogga" to come home from work, and if Damian got home after little Damian's bedtime, his Dad would immediately go into his room and stand over his crib and talk to him while he slept. It was an unbelievable bond.

Damian was a gifted athlete. Gaelic football was a big part of his life from a very young age; he won every under-age medal with Good Shepherd as a full back and continued at Junior and Senior grades with additional success. When Good Shepherd could no longer field a full team, Damian went to play for Donegal, along with Dave Mc Sweeney, another former Good Shepherd player. Those were great years for Damian, as he took immense pride in the fact that he was playing for his parent's native county team. He trained really hard and thoroughly enjoyed playing at this top level at Gaelic Park and internationally as part of the New York panel.
Damian also enjoyed running, even more so in the last few years, when he began competing in races with his brothers and sister, Kitty. Damian was an excellent runner, his siblings watched in awe, as he ran the toughest hills effortlessly, and always managed to have the fastest time. Damian also enjoyed golfing and did so quite often with his brothers, extended family and childhood friends from Inwood, Chris Lee and Donn McNamee.

Most of all, Damian was a "family-man", in every sense of the word. He loved going up to the Four Green Fields because it meant spending time with family and close friends and sharing many laughs. He loved playing Bingo and the card games that followed in the dance hall into the wee hours of the morning. He looked forward to participating in the basketball tournament every July 4th and Labor Day weekend. Last Labor Day weekend, Damian spent quality time with his family and friends at the Four Green Fields, and had a great weekend. Everything was perfect. Damian was always making plans for next month and for the next five years. Life was so good: health, happiness and a secure future. Little did we know that we were all enjoying the very best time of our lives. A week later, came the devastation of September 11th, leaving such so much pain, anguish, devastation and heartache that will never heal. Life will never be the same again.

In the early hours of October 2nd, Damian's brothers Michael, Eugene and Kevin brought us the tragic-yet joyful news that Damian had been recovered on Monday, October 1st with a bunch of firemen and civilians on West Street. The news was so final - we had lost our beloved Damian forever. Damian's wake at William's Funeral Home was an incredible scene, as thousands came to say goodbye to our Damian, and yet again at Good Shepherd Church on October 8th, as Father Kevin Devine led us all in a final farewell to one of the most beautiful human beings ever created. Damian now rests in peace at St. Anastasia Cemetery in Harriman, New York.

On January 13th 2002, Damian and Joann's little daughter, Madison Margaret was born and it was finally a day to rejoice. Damian Jr. is delighted with his baby sister.
We will never forget Damian and we will all make sure that his children know the type of man their father was. For all of us, our Damian was truly one of a kind.

Rest in peace, Damian. You are not forgotten.

Please visit The Damian Meehan Memorial Fund and consider making a donation to their scholarship program.

Here's what's happening in the back-and-forth over the origins of morality, as fought between me and my conservative atheist colleague at Porkopolis. This post will stay at the top of the blog as long as the debate continues.

In the last week, Iraq's rebuilt army added over 100 new officers and twenty new medics to its ranks. These stories go largely unreported because they seem "trivial" to the mainstream media. But constant additions and improvements move us ever closer to victory in Iraq.

Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.

It's the home stretch in the 2006 campaign season, and Newshound has collected the best of the past week's political blogging.

Recently I asked Porkopolis about the nature of morality:

When I first asked my question and used the word "ought", I meant it in its mandatory sense. Perhaps I should re-word my question. How about:
 

"Why must I behave morally, if there's
no transcendent moral Lawgiver?"

Porkopolis' latest response:

'Must' implies a mandate (as in 'mandatory') and is a concept that would be inconsistent with the free will that is a precondition for moral choices. Even a 'transcendent moral Lawgiver', if it existed, would find a morality resulting from mandates/coercion to be diluted relative to a morality that comes from free will.

As noted above, there is no guarantee that an individual will act morally once provided with the rational argument for the Golden Rule; just as there's no guarantee for morality once an individual is given the faith-based 'transcendent Lawgiver' argument.

I'm not talking about a lack of free will at all. I know that we have free will and that there's no guarantee that anyone will behave well. As Greg Koukl puts it: "The nature of a moral law is that it can be disobeyed by creatures with moral free will. If it couldn't be disobeyed, it wouldn't qualify as a moral law."

What I am talking about is a transcendent moral Lawgiver who sets out objective moral standards and expects us to freely obey them, or else suffer some kind of penalty. Without a transcendent Lawgiver, how does it make any sense to say that anything I do is morally "wrong" or "evil"?

Unless I'm mistaken, when Porkopolis thinks about "moral behavior" he's thinking of "behavior that imparts evolutionary advantages to me and my species." In other words, I think he's looking at it as a system of incentives, not as a transcendent moral Lawgiver's objective standards that carry penalties for willful disobedience.