Courtesy of Yuval Levin.

Interviewed by Peter Robinson on NRO’s Uncommon Knowledge.

I’ve had a few requests for the links to my appearance on Hardball that took place during my sabbatical from SA (May 30, 2007). There were two segments, and you can watch them here and here.

Nat Hentoff, “a nonreligious pro-lifer” and columnist for the Washington Times, nails it:

[O]n abortion, Mr. Obama is an extremist. He has opposed the Supreme Court decision that finally upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act against that form of infanticide. Most startlingly, for a professed humanist, Mr. Obama in the Illinois Senate also voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act . . . . Furthermore . . . [Obama] “voted to kill a bill that would have required an abortionist to notify at least one parent before performing an abortion on a minor girl from another state.” . . . . 

As I was researching this presidential candidate’s views on the unilateral “choice” that takes another’s life, I heard on the radio what Mr. Obama said during a Johnstown, Pa., town-hall meeting on March 29 . . . ”But if they [his daughters] make a mistake . . . I don’t want them punished with a baby.” Among my children and grandchildren are two daughters and three granddaughters; and when I hear anyone, including a presidential candidate, equate having a baby as punishment, I realize with particular force the impact that the millions of legal abortions in this country have had on respect for human life.

Read the entire piece. It is most excellent.

(LvFT)

[Ed. This is a post from my "Alexham" archives over at RedState. I am reposting it here because I believe the overall message of the post needs to be restated before we gather together for the national convention in September.]

I can still remember the day after the 1994 midterm elections. It was an unusually sunny day in the Southland, and all seemed right with the world. After all of those years in the wilderness, the Republicans had finally taken control of the House, and soon thereafter, the Senate. We would do things differently, we promised. We were a different kind of political party. Unlike the Democrats, who only care for power for power’s sake, we sought power to make a profound difference in the lives of every-day Americans.

How different things look thirteen years later. Somewhere along the line, we lost our way. I think most Republicans instinctively know this, but have trouble articulating exactly when things began to unravel for our party. What we do know is that the Republican Party is at crossroads. We are a party in search of an identity, and the path we choose will have long-term ramifications not only for the GOP, but for these United States. (more…)

Today’s must read, courtesy of Ramesh Ponnuru and Robert Stein.

O.k., this is awesome. Three hundred staffers at the World Bank and IMF sent this signed letter to Pope Benedict, which I am republishing here: (more…)

Gone, but not forgotten.

Courtesy of Joe Carter.

(LvPP)

Courtesy of the always thoughtful Muskrat:

When I worked in intel analysis, the smartest guys I knew would always ask not “what does this quote from, e.g., North Korea, sound like to us,” but “What does it sound like to THEM” — what does it mean on the context of the politics, linguistics, mythology, etc. of the audience for whom it was meant.

No offense, but Wright’s words weren’t meant for Feddie, the staff of NRO, or the rest of the blogosphere. They were meant for a largely (but not entirely) black congregation in Chicago, which had experienced the million little ways that big government can futz up your life in very real ways.

Wright’s words aren’t all that different from right-wing wackos like Falwell and Robertson who see various bad things (hurricaines, 9/11) as divine retribution for the nation’s sins. Falwell, Robertson et al just pick different sins.

This blog has been full of references to a “Culture of death,” which Wright’s words can also be read as condemning, although his concern is the state of the black community, not the prevalence of abortion. But if it’s wrong to waste a life for the convenience of the mother, it’s also wrong to waste a life because society has decided that dealing a little weed or coke deserves a life sentence. (USING a little weed merits felony time in the slammer, unless you went to Harvard or Yale, in which case it merits… the White House)

Update: Just because I select a comment as the ”dissent of the day” does not mean that I necessarily agree with its substance. It just means that the dissent in question was thoughtfully stated, and has points contained therein that are worth considering.

I’ve submitted this letter to the editor in response to this editoral by the Macon Telegraph: 

It is difficult to comprehend how the Telegraph’s editorial board concluded that “abstinence only” education is the cause of a 25% STD infection rate among young women. As the board itself notes, the data upon which the CDC survey is based was generated in 2003 and 2004. Is the board really arguing that the Bush Administration’s support and funding of abstinence programs during these two years is the sole or primary reason so many young ladies have STDs? This strikes me as a patently silly notion.

It seems to me much more likely that the high STD rate is attributable to a rotting culture that teaches young women from a very early age that their self worth is intrinsically bound to their sexuality. It is simply assumed that teenagers will have sex (after all they are only ”animals” with no “divine spark,” right?), and that parents and educators are powerless to do anything about it. So, instead of attempting to build up the character of our children, we resign ourselves to “reality,” and throw condoms and birth-control pills at our daughters. That is a recipe for disaster, folks.

The brutal truth of the matter is that the sexual revolution has not empowered women; it has harmed them beyond measure. There is nothing uplifting about a culture that views women as mere vehicles for sexual pleasure. Our daughters deserve better than that; much better. 

Hooray for the sexual revolution, the feminist movement, and the widespread acceptance of birth control in American culture!     

If only we had handed out more condoms, we could have reached the coveted one-third mark.

As far as I am concerned, rap is pollution.  It contaminates our culture and puts the wrong message in the minds of the young.  Props to prosecutors who are now using rap lyrics against the hoods who glorify gang violence and anarchy in their music.

 When police arrested Ronell Wilson, his pockets were stuffed with the type of violent poetry that boys have been scribbling in notebooks since the advent of gangsta rap.

In his lyrics, Wilson called himself “Rated R,” warned any challengers to wear a bulletproof vest, and boasted of leaving .45-caliber slugs in the heads of his enemies.

The clumsy verses may never land Wilson a record deal, but to prosecutors, they were solid gold.

Wilson went on trial in federal court in Brooklyn this month on charges he murdered two undercover police officers, and the government presented the lyrics to a jury as evidence that the 23-year-old is a remorseless killer.

Prosecutor Morris J. Fodeman asked jurors to take special note of one stanza: “Ain’t goin’ stop to I’m dead.”

The jury convicted Wilson on Wednesday, and he now faces a possible death sentence.

That is the new title of my forthcoming book that will be published in 2007 by Cambridge University Press. It just appeared on Amazon.com here. According to the Leiter Law Rankings, Cambridge is one of the six leading academic presses. It is ranked number one by political scientists and is considered one of the top two publishers in philosophy. Because this book overlaps the fields of law, political science, and philosophy, I am deeply gratified with the forthcoming publication of this book.

Will the real Mitt Romney please stand up?

Very cool.

Won’t you help Benny “Holy Ghost Machine Gun” Hinn buy a private jet for Jesus his own personal comfort? I had a colleague that left his career with the district attorney to be Hinn’s catcher bodyguard and is believed to be pulling in a six figure income. How do these people sleep at night?

From this morning’s Dallas Morning News….

What would Jesus fly?

Globetrotting televangelist Benny Hinn is tired of flying commercial. The Irving-based preacher has put out a call to his flock to help pay for “Dove One,” a Gulfstream G4SP jet his ministry bought so he can travel in comfort. For your seed-of-faith gift of $1,000 toward paying off the $6 million down payment, Pastor Benny promises to put your name in a special place on the airplane so he can pray especially for you in “the highest ‘prayer tower’ in the world.” This according to a brochure on www.bennyhinn.org. The faith healer calls buying the plane “absolutely vital to everything we are called to do, and it is the only way I can continue to do all God is directing me to do.” And some people wonder why televangelists have a bad name.

I wonder if Plainsman is the mayor of this town:

 A tiny town in western Pennsylvania could ask all of its residents to own guns, if a proposal under consideration on Wednesday wins approval from local officials.

Under the proposed law, residents of Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania, would be asked to own guns and know how to use them. Cherry Tree, 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, has about 400 residents.

The town council was scheduled to vote on the proposed “Civil Protection Ordinance” on Wednesday evening.

Introduced last month by resident Henry Statkowski, the measure recommends that “all heads of households maintain a firearm along with ammunition.”

In written comments, Statkowski said homeowners have a right and a responsibility to defend against intruders rather than calling police and waiting for help to arrive.

A funny parody of St. Nick losing it on stage like Michael Richards. See here. (HT to my sister, Elizabeth, who sent me this via email).

From CNN:

A man who pleaded guilty to molesting two girls told a judge he did it because of his wife’s excessive bingo playing.

“My wife was never home,” Floyd Kinney Jr. said during his plea hearing Friday.

Kinney’s explanation did not sit well with Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden,

“Some people, when their wives are not home, decide to do other things, like clean their living rooms,” McFadden said. “Your behavior is beyond the pale.”

Yet another example that we as a nation are slouching toward anarchy. If you are an undercover officer, police informant, or just a citizen who still thinks cooperating with the police is good idea, you’ll love this site. WhosaRat.com is touted as the largest online database of agents and informants. Add this to a growing list of other witness intimidation tactics and, very soon, successful prosecution of many violent criminals may become impossible. I’ve posted on this issue before as it irks me to no end.

Prosecutors in Boston have discussed whether WhosaRat is protected as free speech but have not moved to shut it down. In 2004, an Alabama federal judge ruled that a defendant had the right to run a Web site that included witness information in the form of “wanted” posters.

[Read the complete article here]

Today is World AIDS Day.  One of the articles I have seen indicates that Eastern Europe stands at the threshold of an AIDS epidemic of catastrophic proportions.  Read about it here. 

Bob Weir at American Thinker offers this….

The scene is a darkened, wood-paneled office with a huge oak door providing entrance to a dimly lit, sanctified chamber. On each side of the portal stands a tall, husky man wearing a 3-piece suit and a sinister countenance. A grim-faced middle-aged man sits behind a huge desk next to a floor to ceiling window shrouded in dark drapes. He nods solemnly to one of the sentinels and the man opens the door slowly, revealing the drooping, cowering figure of a has-been comic who made the near fatal mistake of using racist language during his onstage act. –continued here.

Fairfax County, Virginia wants to keep the homeless from getting food posioning. Maybe they overlooked the fact that they will keep the homeless from getting food too. Here’s Jonah Goldberg’s take from the corner.

Yep, in South Carolina we are pretty big on the Clemson v. SC rivalry–maybe some folks too much so.

on Right Wing News.

Allow me to introduce you.  Some prayers would be nice.

Details here. 

NPR reports on the investiture ceremony of the Episcopal Church USA’s first female (apostate) presiding bishop, Kathryn Jefferts Schori. In an interview, Schori embraces Pontius Pilate by actually asking that age-old question, “What is truth?”

A major schism may not be imminent but it is inevitable. I watched this process close up 17 years ago with the PC USA. Regarding the institutional church I have found Jacques Ellul’s comments instructive…

….if his church wants to be faithful to his revelation…it will never be perennial, and can never be organized or institutionalized. If the gates of death are not going to prevail against it, this is not because it is a good, solid, well organized fortress, but because it is alive; it is Life–that is, as mobile, changing, and surprising as life. If it becomes a powerful fortified organization, it is because death has prevailed. — The Subversion of Christianity