Rockin’ (losin’ my mind) Girl Blogger «

re: more blogs to check out...

Considerettes » A “Subversive” Film

re: "Arnold Kling exposes a new movie. // The Acton Institute has produced the most subversive movie I have ever seen. The Call of the Entrepreneur, which is being released on an agonizingly slow schedule, is a threat to tyranny everywhere, including here at home..."...

Brandywine Books: Star Tracts?

re: "...He assumed (I take it. Could be wrong) that believers in proselytizing religions spread their messages out of a simple desire to make people agree with them. A conviction that “I’m right, and I won’t rest until I’ve convinced everybody else that I’m right.” A sort of intellectual bullying impulse. /While from my point of view, the central question is a purely practical one. I believe that there is something radically wrong with the human heart. It is literally “sick unto death.” And I have been entrusted with the medicine that cures that sickness. If I didn’t believe people were perishing, I wouldn’t be greatly troubled that people in Madagascar have a different world view than I do..."...

WorldNetDaily: Rejected church plans cost city $1.2 million

re: "The city of Lake Elsinore, Calif., whose officials said they preferred tax revenue to worship services when they rejected a church's building plans, now has paid the Elsinore Christian Center $1.205 million for that decision. /The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in the church's favor in 2006, and the case was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court when the city asked to settle the dispute, according to officials with Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a national non-profit law firm working to protect religious liberties. /The appellate ruling found that the city violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which codifies the First Amendment and provides that governments cannot use land use regulations, such as zoning, to place a "substantial burden" on churches unless there is compelling state interest..."...

AP: Anti-Indecency Measure Wins Approval

re: WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate committee on Thursday acted to restore the government's authority to fine television and radio broadcasters for airing profanities, even if they are fleeting references. /The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved a bill that would undo an appeals court ruling that invalidated the Federal Communications Commission's new profanity policy....[snip]...By a 2-1 vote, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York tossed out the profanity rules and said the FCC failed to "articulate a reasoned basis for its change in policy." /In response came the "Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act," sponsored by Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark. It would require the FCC "to maintain a policy that a single word or image may be considered indecent." /Rockefeller said in a statement that the legislation "is a small but critical step in making sure that the airways remain free of words and images that are patently offensive to the vast majority of Americans." /Co-sponsors were the committee chairman, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and the top Republican, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska..."...

CitizenLink: Pro-Life Signs OK in Minnesota

re: "The Minnesota Supreme Court last week reversed the conviction of two pro-life advocates who were charged with creating a public nuisance and violating a city sign ordinance. /In 2004, Rob Rudnick and Luke Otterstad stood on an Anoka sidewalk spanning the Ferry Street Bridge. The two held signs with a pro-life message. Police arrested the men after an anonymous caller complained. /Rudnick and Otterstad were convicted, but the Supreme Court ruled the state had failed to prove an essential element of the public-nuisance charge and affirmed the First Amendment rights of the men to display signs..."...

hat tip: The Alliance Alert

Howstuffworks "How Washing Machines Work"

re: "...have you ever wondered what's inside that trusty washing machine? /How does it spin the clothes so fast without leaking water? Why is it so heavy? How does the agitator switch directions? In this edition of HowStuffWorks, we'll venture inside a washing machine to answer all of these questions and more..."...

Political Radar: Sex Ed for Kindergarteners 'Right Thing to Do,' Says Obama

re: "ABC News' Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is "age-appropriate," is "the right thing to do." / "I remember Alan Keyes . . . I remember him using this in his campaign against me," Obama said in reference to the conservative firebrand who ran against him for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Sex education for kindergarteners had become an issue in his race against Keyes because of Obama’s work on the issue as chairman of the health committee in the Illinois state Senate. / "'Barack Obama supports teaching sex education to kindergarteners,'" said Obama mimicking Keyes' distinctive style of speech. "Which -- I didn’t know what to tell him (laughter)." /"But it’s the right thing to do," Obama continued, "to provide age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in schools."..."...

hat tip: NewsBusters

Valerie Plame's Suit Against White House Dismissed, How Will Media Report It? | NewsBusters.org

re: "A federal judge has just dismissed Valerie Plame Wilson's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration. /Will this be the lead story of this evening's newscasts? Regardless of the answer, the Washington Post reported moments ago..."...

Restricting Family Size May Become Unavoidable, Says Environment Group -- 07/19/2007

re: "London (CNSNews.com) - A British advocacy group is warning that compulsory restrictions on family sizes may become "unavoidable" if the Earth is to be saved from disaster. / The Optimum Population Trust, a group that advocates curbing global population growth because of humans' impact on the environment, says that over the next 50 years, the planet will have to deal with the largest generation of adolescents and teenagers in history...[snip]...By 2050, OPT projects that the world's population will be using the biological capacity of two Earths. It says this will lead to a massive population crash through a combination of violence, disease and starvation. / To prevent this, the report advocates a mix of government policies to prevent women worldwide from having more than an average of two children. / Recommendations for developing countries include funding to provide women much greater access to contraception and abortions. / Despite the fact that fertility rates in nearly all European countries has dropped below two -- demographers say the generational replacement level is 2.1 -- the trust said fears of "a baby shortage" are misplaced... /Donna Nicholson, a spokeswoman for the Scottish chapter of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said that the problem facing many developing countries is not overpopulation but global inequality. /The United States produces enough food annually to feed the entire world, she said. At the same time, the crippling debt facing many African countries drives them to cut back on education and health care. ...[snip].../Josephine Quintavalle, head of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, another British pro-life group, said she found it frightening that the OPT report was getting attention. /She said Europe was facing a situation in which in just a few years, more people would be over 60 years of age than under 60..."...

An Examination of the Media and the Global Warming Hoax

re: Rush Limbaugh: ...It is a story in BusinessandMedia.org (pdf). It's a website. It is written by R. Warren Anderson, a research analyst, and Dan Gainor, he's a Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow. These guys are think tank people. And they've done an analysis of the last 100 years of journalism on global warming. It's entitled "Fire and ice." It's 17 pages when you print it out. But this puts the blame for all of this hysteria on global warming exactly where it belongs, and that is the media! Now, for a hundred years we've had wacko scientists trying to advance agendas, and if the agenda happens to fit the media -- and the agenda here, by the way, is chaos...[snip]...Here's the opening paragraph. "It was five years before the turn of the century and major media were warning of disastrous climate change. Page six of The New York Times was headlined with the serious concerns of 'geologists.' Only the president at the time wasn’t Bill Clinton; it was Grover Cleveland. And the Times wasn’t warning about global warming -- it was telling readers the looming dangers of a new ice age. The year was 1895, and it was just one of four different time periods in the last 100 years when major print media predicted an impending climate crisis. Each prediction carried its own elements of doom, saying Canada could be 'wiped out' or lower crop yields would mean 'billions will die.' Just as the weather has changed over time, so has the reporting -- blowing hot or cold with short-term changes in temperature...[snip]...CALLER: -- you need to understand there's a reason why they call it scientific consensus rather than scientific theory, and the reason is theory needs to incorporate all the known data, and there's some excellent reports out there right now showing that the nearby planets in our solar system are experiencing solar rises in their surface temperature... ...So if we're going to accept the scientific consensus as theory, we have to conclude that our American economy is causing a greenhouse effect across the whole solar system. Now, they realize they can't get away with calling it a theory so they've come up with this code term, "scientific consensus" to hide the fact that they're advancing a political agenda rather than scientific fact..."...

AP: Suspect in prison food bribery case flees Oregon, officials say

re: PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A fired state prison food manager has fled from federal investigators before he could be charged with taking more than $1 million in bribes, but his wife was arrested Wednesday, authorities said. /Farhad "Fred" Monem flew to Buffalo, N.Y., on July 1 but did not make the return trip scheduled July 11, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday by Robert Salisbury, an Internal Revenue Service supervisory agent...[snip]...Fred Monem, a native of Iran, came to the United States in 1979 to avoid military service. Relatives in Iran include his father, according to court papers. /The United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 and has no extradition treaty. Federal officials said, however, they had no information Monem has fled to his native country...[snip]...The bribery charges against the Monems were based almost entirely on statements filed by four food vendors who earlier pleaded guilty to bribing Fred Monem. The statements, which had been disclosed previously, outlined how the vendors paid Monem in cash and by check to steer more than $20 million in business to them. /Fred Monem had built a good reputation at the state Corrections Department for driving down the cost of feeding the state's 13,300 inmates. He shifted much of the agency's purchases to the "spot" food market, arranging to buy deeply-discounted name-brand foods that were overstocked or nearing their expiration date. /Investigators were tipped to the bribery scheme last October by a former employee of a Los Angeles vendor..."...

Brandywine Books: Literary Contests

re: "I've gotten word of two literary contests currently running..."...

scribbit: Tiny Books and Secret Diaries | A Blog About Motherhood in Alaska

re: "...creating tiny hinged diaries..."...

Captain's Quarters: Falcoms QB Indicted On Dogfighting Conspiracy

re: "The Atlanta Falcons may have to count on their backup quarterback in the 2007 season. According to ABC News, a grand jury indicted the star QB on felony charges surrounding an alleged dogfighting conspiracy centered at his mansion..."...

Captain's Quarters: What The Nation Doesn't Need Is A Ten-Dollar Tax On Cigars

re: "Democrats have decided to pass a 20,000% tax increase as part of their new fiscal program for America. The target -- this time -- is cigars, on which they plan to escalate the current federal nickel tax to $10 per stogie..."...

Mommy Life: The continuing campaign to deny Christians rights

re: "...In the UK, while Muslim and Sikh girls may wear head scarves and bracelets in school, Christian girls may not wear purity rings. /Lydia's family took her school to court. The outcome: not only did they lose, but they were ordered to pay the school's attorney fees. Read the story here..."...

The Jewish Ethicist: Happy Returns

re: someone asks "If a store has a two-week return policy, is it ethical to buy something from the store with the intention of using it and then returning it for money back?" (The short answer is no. In the longer answer, Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir explains why, citing Jewish law.)

Joe McKeever: Full-Bodied Preaching

re: "...I probably had thought of it as positive preaching, the way I omitted the dark side of the message for many years. I would bring a message on faith, for instance--the source of it, illustrations of it, examples of it, reasons for it, proofs of it, the blessings of it--but never once touch on the other side: what is its opposite, what lack of faith means, what failing to believe produces in people's lives, how it insults the Savior, and why some people never seem to have faith. /In a similar vein, I have figured out why most memoirs are so boring... there's no conflict... /A novelist reveals a technique she uses to put zest into her novels. Above her computer, she has fixed this message on an index card: "Things get worse.".../ Look at the conflict all through the narratives of Scripture.../The darkness has always been there; Scripture simply records it. /It's the preaching of some of us...that leaves it out, that deals with life as all lightness and fluff..."...

Let the chimeras live say Catholic Bishops! - Mary Meets Dolly

re: "...Now, here is where things get interesting and we Catholics may need to reevaluate what we think we know. In response to the possiblility of the creation and destruction of human chimeric embryos in the UK, Britian's Catholic Bishops have said that if they are created, chimeric embryos should be allowed to live. /How outrageous does that sound? Allowing a human-monkey to be implanted and born to a human or monkey mother? Have they lost their minds? No, I do not think they have..."...

hat tip: Jennifer F.

"Et tu?": Friday Favorites for July 13

re: interesting links...

Mexican Migrants Carry H.I.V. Home - New York Times

re: Marc Lacey article: "...As sweeping proposals for immigration-law changes founder in the United States, the expanding AIDS crisis among the migrants is largely overlooked on both sides of the border. Particularly in Mexico, AIDS is still shrouded by stigma and denial. In the United States, it is often assumed that immigrants bring diseases into the country, not take them away. /But AIDS is spreading quickly in rural Mexican states with the highest migration rates to the United States, researchers say. The greatest risk of contracting AIDS that rural Mexican women face is in having sex with their migrant husbands, a new study found...Research has shown that migrants have more sexual partners than those who stay at home. For women, life on the road brings risks of rape and sexual abuse. For many migrants, being displaced from their homes and families is a lonely experience, one that prompts them to form new relationships in the United States. /Adding to the problem, both Mexico’s northern and southern borders have become magnets for prostitutes and drug dealers, drawn by the flow of migrants north...AIDS has not yet exploded in Mexico and is focused mostly among prostitutes and their clients, and drug users and gay men, experts say. The AIDS rate here is still considerably lower than that in the United States, nearly half as low, according to United Nations statistics published in 2006. The H.I.V. infection rate for people ages 15 to 49 in the United States is about 0.6 percent, compared with 0.3 percent in Mexico, the United Nations says. /Yet the high-risk behavior that various surveys have documented among many Mexican migrants worries researchers. “Our concern is it could take off in this population in the future,” said Dr. Lemp, who is leading a joint United States-Mexican study of migrants and AIDS. /The first AIDS cases diagnosed in Mexico in 1983 were found among migrants, researchers say. Since then, studies have continued to show that migrants to the United States make up a significant percentage of those contracting the disease..."...

A New French Revolution’s Creed: Let Them Ride Bikes - New York Times

re: "...These were not the leading riders of the Tour de France racing toward the finish line, but American tourists testing this city’s new communal bike program... /More than 10,600 of the hefty gray bicycles became available for modest rental prices on Sunday at 750 self-service docking stations that provide access in eight languages. The number is to grow to 20,600 by the end of the year. /The program, Vélib (for “vélo,” bicycle, and “liberté,” freedom), is the latest in a string of European efforts to reduce the number of cars in city centers and give people incentives to choose more eco-friendly modes of transport. /“This is about revolutionizing urban culture,” said Pierre Aidenbaum, mayor of Paris’s trendy third district, which opened 15 docking stations on Sunday. “For a long time cars were associated with freedom of movement and flexibility. What we want to show people is that in many ways bicycles fulfill this role much more today.”..."...

Offering Comfort to the Sick and Blessings to Their Healers - New York Times

re: Jan Hoffman article: "...the emergency department at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in Upper Manhattan is in full cry... Time for the Rev. Margaret A. Muncie to work the floor. /Not shy, this pastor with the clerical collar, the Ann Taylor blazer and the cheerful insistence of one whose own mother called her a steamroller. Among the first women ordained an Episcopal priest and a self-described “Caucasian minority,” she’s an odd bird among the ethnically diverse staff and especially the patients, most of them black or Latino. But she keeps pecking her head behind curtains, parting gatherings of worried family members, impervious to startled looks of suspicion... / She’s not there to thump. Deftly, she asks people how they’re feeling, then lets them vent their pain and fear, their anxiety and frustration. She nods, a little pushy with her probing... /And always, at the end of a visit: “Would it be all right if I prayed with you?” The health care chaplain will touch a forehead, hold a hand and quietly pray worries to the Divine, speaking with inflections that, as needed, may be Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim... “My job is to be present to patients without judgment,” Chaplain Muncie says... “and to help them find out what is meaningful to guide them through the stress of illness.” /Most health care facilities around the country work with clergy members... Some hospitals merely have a list of on-call pastors; others retain professionally trained, board-certified health care chaplains, like Ms. Muncie, who is the only full-time cleric at St. Luke’s. (The hospital also has a rabbi and an imam part-time, and a supervisory program for theological students.) /These varying levels of commitment have less to do with differing philosophies about spirituality and healing than with the bottom line. Insurance carriers do not reimburse for a chaplain’s salary...[snip]... /Every year, the chaplain performs a “Blessing of the Hands.” She wheels a cart adorned with a tablecloth, flowers, a bowl and an MP3 player. Surgeons, nurses, aides crowd around as she dips their hands in water, blessing their healing work. /Although intercessory praying for the sick has existed since the time of ancient shamans, the chaplain’s role now reflects the impact of modern technology on medicine. In her nearly five years at St. Luke’s, Ms. Muncie has helped mediate “do not resuscitate” decisions, organ donations and bioethics disputes. After a visit, she she puts the details in a patient’s chart..."...

French bill would weaken transit strikes | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

re: "PARIS — Public transit strikes, a fact of life in France, would no longer force trains and buses to a complete halt under a controversial bill presented to parliament Tuesday. /Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand said the bill would guarantee at least some service for the public. /Opposed by unions, the bill would require public transit providers and workers to continue minimum service if a strike occurred — a key campaign promise by conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy. /The government said as much as 70 percent of French people support the measure and denied suggestions from labor leaders that is meant to weaken unions. /The bill also would require individual workers to declare their intention of striking two days before a walkout began. Bertrand said that would allow commuters to plan ahead for strikes..."...

the evangelical outpost: The EO 100

re: Joe Carter lists one hundred Christian blogs that have captured his attention...

hat tip: JollyBlogger

Higher Up and Further In: Blogger Reflection Award

re: more recommended blogs...

Hate Crimes - Prison Fellowship

re: "Never judge a book by its cover, so goes the old expression. But what’s true about books is even more true about legislation. For example, a bill pending before the Senate is titled the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.” Since few people want to promote “hate crimes,” preventing hate crimes sounds like a laudable goal. Right? /Not if you read what’s between the covers: The title of this bill ought to be the “Thought Control Act of 2007.” /I told “BreakPoint” listeners and readers about the bill when it was pending before the House. Unfortunately, that bill passed the House and now faces Senate ratification—this time, in typical Washington fashion, as an amendment tacked on to the National Defense Authorization Act. /The law is just as dangerous now as it was then..."...

Quote of the Day - PalmTree Pundit

re: "From Jeremiah Burroughs' The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment: /It is a saying of Luther: 'The sea of God's mercies should swallow up all our particular afflictions.' Name any affliction that is upon you: there is a sea of mercy to swallow it up. If you pour a pailful of water on the floor of your house, it makes a great show, but if you throw it into the sea, there is no sign of it. So, afflictions considered in themselves, we think are very great, but let them be considered with the sea of God's mercies we enjoy, and then they are not so much, they are nothing in comparison."...

Virginia Arbery: Ending Down syndrome pregnancies bears all the marks of a pogrom | Dallas Morning News

re: "The year Julia was born in New Hampshire, 1987, I was the only geriatric pregnancy in the state issuing in a Down syndrome child. When I recovered from the pediatrician's insult – I was 37 – I learned from him that the other nine mothers in the state to deliver Down syndrome babies were still in their 20s. /I asked him why this was the case; conventional wisdom had led me to believe that the likelihood of giving birth to a Down syndrome child increased with maturity. When he told me that most woman over 34 usually had amniocentesis done to avoid giving birth to a Down syndrome child, I was stunned. After first being dismayed by – what to call it? – my demographic solitude, I soon turned my attention to what Down syndrome meant practically for my new infant. The books we quickly read, and the instruction from excellent social services helped us. Operating outside the realm of reason and structure were other powerful supports – call them graces..."...

Reformed Chicks Blabbing: Diane Sawyer is laughed at when she asserts that journalists are fair and truthful

re: "I am so glad this happened to her so that she can see how the public views her profession:
Diane Sawyer: "You know, I wanted to sit on a jury once and I was taken off the jury. And the judge said to me, 'Can, you know, can you tell the truth and be fair?' And I said, 'That's what journalists do.' And everybody in the courtroom laughed. It was the most hurtful moment I think I've ever had."..."...

Books, Inq.: Adieu, Librairie de France!

re: "A New York landmark to close in 2 years."

Books, Inq.: Media habits of one highly effective librarian

re: "You'd think the Librarian of Congress must have enough information to deal with, but noooooooo! He's always trawling for more..."...

Harry Potter and the diminished returns - Los Angeles Times

re: "...The basic strategy for chains such as Barnes & Noble and Borders as well as online sellers is simple: They hope to attract more customers with lower prices. The chains in particular want to build loyalty by holding elaborate release-night parties, just like independent stores do...[snip]...But will the strategy work? Some call it a dangerous gamble, because the so-called halo effect, in which customers come for one book but buy other similar titles as well, has rarely materialized. "Harry Potter is a remarkable phenomenon," Greco said. "But he's a one-hit wonder." / Indeed, at big retailers like Target, Costco and Wal-Mart, the wizard from Hogwarts is just one more loss leader — a heavily discounted brand name that brings in people who also buy toothpaste and beach chairs. / In a cruel irony, these giant retailers have become a supplier of Harry Potter books for smaller, independent book shops, which in some cases get better deals from big-box stores than from regular distributors. / These independent stores, in fact, may be the biggest losers of all, because they operate on smaller economic margins and cannot afford to offer such deep discounts. In Southern California and across the nation, many are offering the book at or close to its full $34.99 price, hoping that the elaborate Harry Potter parties they throw on the night the book is released will attract large crowds of loyal customers..."...

hat tip: Books, Inq.

Rising cost of Potter magic | NEWS.com.au Entertainment

re: "WHILE fans count down the sleeps until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released on July 21, booksellers are counting the cost of stocking the blockbuster series' finale..."...

The Great Global Warming Swindle: Newsroom: The Independent Institute

re: "Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth has met its match..."...

VOA News - Powerful Quake Strikes Northwestern Japan; 7 Dead, 700 Injured

re: "A strong earthquake has hit northwestern Japan, killing at least seven people and causing a small radiation leak at a nuclear power plant. /Officials at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant say the earthquake sparked a fire at the site, which led to water containing radioactive material leaking into the Sea of Japan. They say the radioactivity level of the water is within safety levels and poses no danger to the environment. / About 800 people in northwestern Japan are suffering from injuries from the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck Monday just off the coast, southwest of Niigata City. /The earthquake and its aftershocks caused hundreds of buildings to collapse and made buildings sway in Tokyo, 250 kilometers away..."...

Thousands turn out for opening day of new Tacoma Narrows bridge

re: "TACOMA -- Thousands turned out for opening day festivities at the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge on Sunday as state transportation crews geared up to open the milelong span to traffic. / The party started in the morning with a 5K run and walk across the bridge that drew more than 10,000 participants. /Then state Treasurer Mike Murphy and House Speaker Frank Chopp paid the first toll and crossed the bridge in a 1923 Lincoln Touring Car, the first to cross the original bridges built in 1940 and 1950. /The deck later opened to pedestrians who were invited to stroll across before it was to open to traffic early Monday morning...[snip]...At 5,400 feet from end to end, the new bridge -- built parallel and to the south of the 1950 span -- is the longest suspension bridge built in the United States since the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in New York in 1964. /The original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, dubbed Galloping Gertie, was the world's third-longest suspension bridge when it opened on July 1, 1940. /It collapsed in a windstorm about four months later, becoming famous as "the most dramatic failure in bridge engineering history," the Department of Transportation said on its Web site..."...

magistramater's Xanga Site - Transitory Roast Beef

re: "When I work in the kitchen alone, I listen to Vanity Fair through Librivox, free audiobooks from the public domain. If you love a deep, delicious English accent, take a moment, click on the link, and scroll down to chapter 8 to listen to Graham Williams read. There are many different volunteer readers, but he is hands-down the best. If I could afford it, I would hire Graham Williams to read every book in my library..."...

Weekend Stubble: Doc's Revenge

re: "...the Supreme Court threw out the ban on minimum pricing that has been around since the Dr. Miles decision of 1911. In short, manufacturers haven't been able to dictate prices to retailers, only "suggest" them. But now?...[snip]...It's a remarkable decision, and all the more noticeable in that it has generated no conversation yet on its potential effects over the long term to bookselling. Chains live on a steady diet of deeply discounted bestsellers. Should a major book conglomerate decide to impose minimum pricing, chains will no longer take this tactic entirely for granted, and may lose a vital advantage over indies..."...

Restoring a Super G

re: "Mechanics at the Empire Aero Center (EAC), an MRO facility in Rome, NY, have worked on impressive planes before. But the small plane that arrived on June 8 looked like a metallic jigsaw puzzle. Never before have they faced the daunting task of reassembling a model, virtually from the ground up. /
Known as the Lockheed “Super Constellation,” this bonafide 53-year-old antique is so unique that its rediscovery has set the aviation world abuzz. It turned plenty of heads even before it arrived at EAC. Indeed, a plane carted along the back roads of rural northern New York and the Adirondack Mountains, starting in Toronto and arriving in a convoy of five flatbed trucks will stir the curiosity of lots of people..."...

iea ::: From romantic to realist, one man's journey toward council reform

re: July 3, from an article by John Blundell in The Scotsman: "HERE is a wildly unlikely sentence. Interesting ideas are emerging in a Scottish local authority. Municipal matters are just so staggeringly dull. How can ordinary mortals get to understand the labyrinthine ways of civic finance let alone the special dialects of local bureaucracy? Yet I think I can detect the ghost of Sir Walter Scott in events beginning to stir in the Scottish Borders Council (SBC). / We have a new political entity - the Borders Party. It won only two seats in June but they are resolved to take every seat one day. The founder, Nicholas Watson, was awoken from his political slumbers when SBC announced they were going to engulf the countryside around Abbotsford, the temple of Scottish romanticism, with hundreds of noddy homes..."...

iea ::: Communists still threaten freedom and democracy in Europe

re: from July 4: "In a report* published today by the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr Ljubo Sirc CBE** demonstrates that communists still control a significant proportion of the economy and the judiciary in a number of central and eastern European countries. More alarming still is the revelation that during the accession process for formerly communist countries the European Union failed to ensure that the accession criteria regarding the rule of law were met. / Using Slovenia as a case study, Sirc provides evidence that both the European Commission and the European Court of Human Rights have turned a blind eye to the failure to enforce private property rights – in particular the failure to implement restitution and denationalisation legislation. Consequently, since much of the property confiscated under communism has not been returned to its rightful owners, old communist managers still control a high proportion of Slovene businesses. / Sirc also reveals that the Slovenian judiciary is dominated by communist-totalitarian judges. This is not just a problem for Slovenia. Communist judges from the accession countries are now playing a significant role in the European Courts and in future may threaten the rule of law and property rights throughout the European Union..."...

EU Referendum: Arrogance and ignorance

re: "Anthony Jay, former BBC producer and co-writer of "Yes minister", holds forth (at length) in The Daily Telegraph today, in a clinical dissection of "media liberalism" – as it applies to the BBC. / The hidden joke of the piece, of course, is that what applies to the BBC also applies, to a greater or lesser extent, to the whole of the MSM, including the newspaper in which Jay writes. / For those (very few) who really want to try to understand the media, and why it exercises such a malign influence on political discourse – and life in general – however, Jay does us a service. He isolates some of the underlying currents which determine the phenomenon - for once correctly – identified by the title of the piece: "Here is the news (as we want to report it)"..."...

Five-Minute Education and Five-Day Indoctrination « David’s Daily Diversions

re: "...So we have five minutes of mental arithmetic, a bit of Mandarin, and a week of global warming. Am I the only one who thinks this is nuts?..."...

Betsy's Page: The British are destroying history education

re: "...How can you even imagine teaching British history to British students and strip Churchill from the curriculum? Is the goal of these educators to destroy any pride at all that children might develop in their country's history? I can see how teaching about Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce's fight against slavery can fit in with the "teach only the warts" approach to history teaching, but you would think that such an plan would want to include Gandhi also. And how do you teach World War II and not have Hitler in the curriculum. Is the whole curriculum going to be taught in the passive voice: wars were started; battles were fought; and wars were ended. Let's just not mention any individuals who might have been key in those events..."...

Planet Gore on National Review Online: Live Earth Aftermath

re: The Times was underwhelmed, noting that concerts are an unwieldy vehicle for this message. Spectator editor Matt d'Ancona was there, and he seemed to enjoy the music, but had this useful neologism for us: //Call it 'nan-archy': the anarchy of rock'n'roll grafted onto the spirit of the nanny state. The Red Hot Chili Peppers bounce and rave pleasingly in front of a huge rolling message board which instructs us to recycle our old mobiles, not to wash our towels too often, and to 'rethink' how we bring our shopping home. There was a time when some members of this band struggled to live more than a day at a time. Now their horizons stretch beyond rehab and they tell us how to live the rest of our lives. Yes, it's Nan-archy in the UK. //Is it really any wonder people didn't tune in? What little I saw of the concerts on TV (the MSN stream was so slow I only got to see the end of Snow Patrol's set, the only act I had any real interest in) seemed to be a mix of decent music, infomercials for green products and bizarrely silly pledges scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Things like "Tony B has pledged to turn off lights he's not using" summed up the spirit of the event: public recognition and plaudits for promising to do things your grandmother would have clipped you across the ear for not doing. /Anyway, the event was also crashed by Bureaucrash and DemandDebate.com, whose boss Steve Milloy writes // DemandDebate debuted at Live Earth (New Jersey) with four aerial banners (each with different messages questioning Gore and global warming), and T-shirts and beach balls bearing the message, "I'm more worried about the intellectual climate." We had two six-man teams distribute T-shirts and beachballs inside and outside the stadium..."...

Planet Gore on National Review Online: How advocacy groups dictate state policy

re: "Paul Chesser of North Carolina's John Locke Foundation has a useful article in today's Washington Times about how one advocacy group, funded by leftist foundations, is taking over state policy decision-making on global warming..."...

allAfrica.com: Africa: Live Earth Vs. Africa (Page 1 of 1)

re: "...So why do the pessimists think we won't adapt to another change in climate? Why are they hyperventilating about what is likely to be a relatively minor environmental shift? Perhaps they dislike the idea of Africans really developing. But if global warming is real and does change the climate in Africa, then we will need greater wealth and access to modern technologies in order to adapt. /Schemes that bar us from those technologies and undermine economic growth will prevent us adapting to change. What will the ageing politicians and rock-star ecologists do for us then?"

hat tip: Planet Gore

NPR : Mysteries, Race Intertwine in 'New England White'

re: "All Things Considered, July 12, 2007 · Before he started writing novels, Yale law professor Stephen L. Carter wrote best-selling, nonfiction books about race, religion and politics. /So it wasn't surprising when his first work of fiction — the legal thriller The Emperor of Ocean Park — was packed with sharp and sometimes cutting observations about the same issues. / Carter's second thriller, New England White, also examines a circle of upper-class African Americans. And it, too, focuses on the fictional university town of Elm Harbor... [snip]...Carter talks about the inherent scariness of New England college campuses, the important role of clubs in the social order in what he calls "African America," the difference between thrillers and mysteries, and why he hopes readers consider his book to be both."

NPR : A Rare Snow Storm Hits Argentina

re: "Morning Edition, July 10, 2007 · In Argentina, a popular tango from the turn of the last century is getting a lot of airplay. It's called "What a Night!" and was inspired by a rare snow storm. A storm brought major snow to Buenos Aires on Monday for the first time since 1918. The snow came as the country celebrated its Independence Day holiday. This year, they had snowmen and snow angels to join the celebration."

CitizenLink: Broadcast Listeners: Excerpt from Censoring the Church

re: video about Christians charged with felonies under Pennsylvania's "hate crimes" laws, for sharing what's in the Bible...

What Athol Wrote...: THE OAK LEAVES, by Maureen Lang

re: book review of novel featuring a child with a mental disability...

hat tip: Saturday Reviews

wltx.com | From College To A Coma

re: "(Columbia, SC and Lenox, MA) – It’s been six years since 28-year-old Danny Duke was left for dead in the middle of the University of South Carolina’s campus. Since then, little has changed. The person responsible has not been found, Danny remains in a coma, and his family is still by his side..."...

hat tip: USA Today

Townhall.com::Tactics vs. Principles in The Death Penalty Debate::By Jonah Goldberg

re: "...But the point is that it shouldn't matter whether capital punishment is a deterrent. The death penalty cannot be justified by the deterrence argument alone. As the late sociologist Ernest van den Haag wrote, "Deterring the crimes, not yet committed, of others does not morally justify execution of any convict (except to utilitarians, who think usefulness is a moral justification)." It is child's play to make the utilitarian case for executing shoplifters, but as all but the most morally stunted should see, hanging one shoplifter cannot be justified by the argument that it will deter another. /Like van den Haag, I support the death penalty because I believe that in some cases the death penalty is just. But, save perhaps in the realm of military justice or some truly grave crisis, executing to set an example for others is an indefensible rationalization of mob rule. That is what they have in China and, too often, that is what some advocates of the death penalty argue for here."

Persecuted Church Weblog: The Inseparable Love of God

re: "Look at this picture. The man behind bars is a Christian leader presently facing blasphemy charges in Indonesia. He is one of more than 40 Christian leaders who were imprisoned in April, after a video recording of them praying for Muslims was leaked to Islamic organizations..."...

Persecuted Church Weblog: Why Am I Concerned About Dependency?

re: "A couple of years ago, I was challenged by someone who asked why I was so concerned about the creation of dependency on Western aid amoung Christians in restricted nations. "What has this to do with persecution?" I was asked. A good question, to be sure. The ministry of The Voice of the Martyrs is that of serving the Persecuted Church. This is our sole focus. / But the truth is, dependency has a great deal to do with persecution..."...

hat tip: Considerettes

Michael Gerson - What Atheists Can't Answer - washingtonpost.com

re: "British author G.K. Chesterton argued that every act of blasphemy is a kind of tribute to God, because it is based on belief. "If anyone doubts this," he wrote, "let him sit down seriously and try to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor."...Proving God's existence in 750 words or fewer would daunt even Thomas Aquinas. And I suspect that a certain kind of skeptic would remain skeptical even after a squadron of angels landed on his front lawn. So I merely want to pose a question: If the atheists are right, what would be the effect on human morality?..."...

Charles Krauthammer - Deserting Petraeus - washingtonpost.com

re: "...Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. Or what can work. A year ago, a confidential Marine intelligence report declared Anbar province (which comprises about a third of Iraq's territory) lost to al-Qaeda. Now, in what the Times's John Burns calls an "astonishing success," the tribal sheiks have joined our side and committed large numbers of fighters that, in concert with American and Iraqi forces, have largely driven out al-Qaeda and turned its former stronghold of Ramadi into one of most secure cities in Iraq..."...

hat tip: Captain's Quarters

Polio case leads to health alert - National - theage.com.au

re: "HEALTH authorities are contacting people who flew to Melbourne from Bangkok early this month, after a fellow passenger was diagnosed with polio. /The 22-year-old Pakistani student, who lives in Melbourne, is the first person in Australia to be diagnosed with polio in 20 years. He reported symptoms soon after returning from a holiday in Pakistan earlier this month. Tests last night confirmed the polio virus. /Victoria's chief health officer, John Carnie, said health authorities had started contacting at least 100 passengers of Thai Airlines flight TG 999, which left Bangkok on July 1 and arrived in Melbourne on July 2, as a precaution. But the risk of infection is believed to be low..."...

High-ranking Hells Angels bikie arrested - National - theage.com.au

re: "Police have arrested an alleged high-ranking Hells Angels bikie club member, one of five people detained in raids on two Sydney premises overnight. /The raids were conducted by State Crime Command Gangs Squad detectives, attached to Operation Ranmore, set up in May to tackle outlaw motorcycle gangs..."...

Australian wins top crime-writing prize - Books - theage.com.au

re: "Ballarat-based author Peter Temple hopes his win in the world's richest and most prestigious crime writing prize will create opportunities for other Australian crime writers. /Temple received the UK Crime Writer's Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger award - popularly known as the Gold Dagger - for his novel The Broken Shore...He is the first Australian author to win the award, worth £20,000 pounds (A$47,000). Previous winners have included Patricia Cornwell, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell and John le Carre..."...

Global warming zealots are stifling scientific debate - Opinion - theage.com.au

re: Ian Plimer, from July 12: "...Science is married to evidence, scepticism and dissent. This evidence is from experiment, measurement, observation and calculation. Scientists hotly debate the methods of acquisition of evidence. Once the evidence is validated, a scientific theory is offered as an explanation. This theory must be in accord with all previous validated data and can be changed with new data. Science has no consensus, science is anarchistic as it submits to no authority, and the latest scientific view is only transitory. Science is apolitical, and when it has submitted to political pressure in the past, it has been at great human cost. Noise, political pressure or numbers of converts does not validate a scientific concept...[snip]...Since the beginning of time, climate has always changed. It has warmed and cooled faster than any contemporary change. Nothing happening at present is unusual. The atmospheric carbon dioxide content in the past has been hundreds to thousands of times the current figure and the world did not end. Quite the contrary — life thrived. Computer models are models, albeit primitive. They are not predictions, they are not scenarios..."...

The Paragraph Farmer: A bird, a plane, a Motu Proprio?

re: round-up of news related to the Catholic Church...

SPUC: weekly update, 4 to 10 July

re: "...Schools in Britain can now give abortifacient morning-after pills to girls as young as 11 without telling their parents..."...

Senate Democrats Sneak "Hate Crimes" Bill into Crucial Defense Bill

re: "WASHINGTON, D.C., July 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Senate Democrats will hold US troops fighting the "War on Terror" as hostages in exchange for sweeping "hate crimes" legislation if the Senate votes this week, perhaps as early as Monday, to include it in the defense spending bill. / Instead of introducing the legislation giving sexual orientation "hate crimes" protection as a separate bill, Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) opted to introduce the "Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" as one of hundreds of amendments to the Defense Reauthorization bill requested by President Bush. / "There's no question this is an attempt to sneak the bill in under the most shameful circumstances because they are attaching it to the defense of our military troops," Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel told LifeSiteNews.com..."...

hat tip: The Alliance Alert

FIRST THINGS: What Is Anglicanism?

re: Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi: "...I have the privilege of serving as archbishop of the Church of Uganda, providing spiritual leadership and oversight to more than nine million Anglicans. Uganda is second only to Nigeria as the largest Anglican province in the world, and most of our members are fiercely loyal to their global communion. But however we come to understand the current crisis in Anglicanism, this much is apparent: The younger churches of Anglican Christianity will shape what it means to be Anglican. The long season of British hegemony is over..."...

Don't Cry For Che Guevara - Acton Institute PowerBlog

re: "Cuban–American author Humberto Fontova has a new book out entitled, Exposing The Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him. Che worship is something I have been fascinated with for quite some time, especially among the young Americans who are hyper consumers. Investor’s Business Daily ran an interview of Fontova concerning his new book on July 10 and here are some essential quotes by Fontova from the interview..."...

Commentary: Illegal Immigration and the Church: Philanthropic Lawlessness

re: "...Many Christians – lay and clergy – assert that they have moral license to break the law in order to hide illegal immigrants, especially those whose deportation would separate them from children who are U.S. citizens. "We don't accept a broken law that causes separation of families," says Richard Estrada, an associate pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Los Angeles. Other churches, however, have expressed sympathy for those seeking shelter but have chosen not to provide sanctuary – some citing a lack of resources or fear of legal liability, others expressing concern that the rule of law be upheld. /It would be easy to believe that this divide is only a difference of emphasis, illustrating the classic tension between the demands of Christian charity and a proper respect for governmental authority. Obviously, Christians in the debate should care about both. But a closer examination shows that competing values are not at stake, with no painful choice to be made between them. Quite simply, the New Sanctuary Movement's lawbreaking solution is neither a prudent civic response nor a necessary act of compassion. /Instead, illegal immigration raises two separate matters of conscience, which pro-sanctuary Christians blur and equate. The first is the question of immediate need and the Christian duty to extend compassion. The second is the long-term issue of how best to preserve the common good..."...

Dr. Sanity: NARCISSUS RUNNING WILD

re: "If only the mother Ledeen comments on could actually see her son's choice to enter the military and go to Iraq as his choice; i.e., the choice of a grown individual who is separate from her, she might indeed be sad or even very upset at his choice but not suffer such a severe narcissistic blow to her sense of self. /If she could see her son as a man separate from her own self; with ideas and beliefs of his own; entitled to make his own decisions and live his own life, she might be able to cope better. But what individuals like herself and Cindy Sheehan share is not some "higher moral authority", but one of the most serious defects in narcissistic development. / They fail to see others as separate human beings and relate to them only as extensions of themselves..."...

Pants Suit Plaintiff Asks Judge to Reconsider - washingtonpost.com

re: (from Wednesday, July 11, 2007): "Roy Pearson isn't giving up his legal battle against the dry cleaning business he claims lost his pants. Late last night he asked the judge who ruled against him to reconsider his $54 million lawsuit. /Pearson filed court papers urging D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff to take another look at his case against Custom Cleaners. Bartnoff rejected the claims in a ruling June 25 , saying Pearson had not shown that the Northeast Washington shop violated the city's consumer protection laws./ Pearson's filing said that Bartnoff should have placed more significance on the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" sign that had been posted at the store. The business's owners, Soo and Jin Chung, are asking Bartnoff to order Pearson to pay $83,000 in their legal fees. /Pearson, an administrative law judge, can still take the matter to the D.C. Court of Appeals..."...

hat tip: OpinionJournal

Power Line: A Lone Survivor's Story

re: "During the second hour of our radio show on Saturday, we interviewed Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell, author of Lone Survivor. Luttrell was a member of a Seal mission in Afghanistan intended to take out a high-value Taliban target. The mission went awry, and he and his three comrades came under fire from a large contingent of Taliban fighters. The story of how Luttrell survived, although badly wounded, is little short of miraculous. He was kind enough to spend three segments with us. It's a riveting story..."...

Power Line: Much ado about not much

re: "I haven't commented on the lobbying Fred Thompson may have done on behalf of an abortion rights group in 1991, and frankly I don't think it deserves more than passing comment. Thompson had a solid anti-abortion voting record in the Senate, whereas Rudy Giuliani favors a woman's right to choose and Mitt Romney did too until fairly recently. As Thompson explained on this blog (quoting John Roberts), "it’s a tradition of the American Bar that goes back before the founding of the country that lawyers are not identified with the positions of their clients." Having myself represented an alleged (and later convicted) war criminal and illegal immigrants, among other "politically incorrect" clients, I have no time for those who raise these questions about Thompson's legal career, whether in an effort to assist other candidates or otherwise..."...

Power Line: A call to action

re: "Peter Hegseth is the Minnesota native and Princeton alumnus who served as an officer with the 101st Airborne in Iraq. He now heads up Vets for Freedom, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans group dedicated to supporting the troops and their mission in Iraq. They will be heading en masse to Capitol Hill on July 17, and deserve the support of all of us. If you’re an Iraq or Afghanistan vet, please consider joining them. If not, please consider supporting them. In a message this morning, Pete makes the following points..."...

University of Florida News - Hardwood fuel is a win-win idea

re: "...The linkage between biodiversity, climate change and wildfire control emerges from the fact that most of our region historically supported open-canopied pine savannas, not forests. Most of the extraordinary biodiversity in these savannas is lost when broadleaved trees are allowed to invade and close the canopy. /Hardwoods invade when fires are suppressed. Shade from these fire-sensitive invaders kills the hundreds of species of understory herbs that historically fueled the low intensity fires that burned through every year or two. Hardwood domination also leads to the demise of gopher tortoises, fox squirrels, red cockaded woodpeckers, and many more species of concern. /After dense forests are allowed to replace open savannas and woodlands, the fires that are inevitably ignited burn hot - very hot. Decades of fire suppression results in dangerous accumulations of fuel, fires that are too intense to stop, and lots of losses, financial and otherwise. /What Brian and I found was that, by selling the invasive hardwoods to the highest bidders, the costs of pine savanna restoration are greatly reduced or even made profitable. Unfortunately, the hardwood market isn’t so good, so most of the invasive hardwood biomass in the 13 restoration projects we studied was sold for fuel chips. The fuel chips are burned in place of fossil fuels to generate electricity..."...

Say No to Dr. Death Petition :: BlogsforTerri

re: "After his release from prison on June 1 for "good behavior," Jack Kevorkian, a.k.a. Dr. Death, resumed his promotion of assisted suicide as a humane conclusion for the terminally ill. He told Larry King that he felt it was important to speak to young people in high school and college about these issues. /
Apparently the University of Florida agrees. According to the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, Dr. Kevorkian, a convicted felon and defrocked doctor, is scheduled to speak to the students there and will be paid $50,000 to do so by the University of Florida student government association. /The Foundation has released an alert and has posted a online petition that asks the University rescind the invitation to Kevorkian..."...

Please Don't Confuse This Story with Terri Schiavo :: Bobby Schindler :: BlogsforTerri

re: "One can't help but wonder if perhaps the mainstream media is feeling a growing sense of uneasiness regarding Terri's death. / In the two years since my sister died I have witnessed an increasing determination on their part to convince the public that she was "hopeless" and in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) regardless of any and all evidence to the contrary. / I believe this is happening because of the increasing number of questions now being raised as to the veracity of the PVS diagnosis, which was the litmus test used to kill Terri - a litmus test which is still being used to justify the killing of others who are said to be in this condition. / Just last month researchers found that over 40% of the people diagnosed as being in a PVS are, in fact, misdiagnosed..."...

A rare sighting: Reason in the law - The Washington Times

re: Paul Greenberg commentary, beginning, "Reports of the death of common sense in American law may have been premature. It seems to be making a comeback. /As this term of the U.S. Supreme Court reached its final week, there were signs that the justices are breaking from the mindless muddle that characterized the O'Connor Court. (As the swing vote on the court, Sandra Day O'Connor seemed to think it her duty to avoid taking clear positions.) /The turn to clarity since Justice O'Connor's departure was most evident in the court's 5-to-4 decision in a couple of school integration cases..."...

Lady Bird Johnson dies at 94 (OneNewsNow.com)

re: former first lady, known for her beautification projects, has died of natural causes at home...

Lesbian Couple Files Complaint against Church for Refusing Civil Union Ceremony

re: radicals are trying to force a Methodist retreat to disobey the United Methodist Book of Discipline...

TCS Daily - Supreme Court Justices Save Children from Educationists—Finally

re: Mary Graber recounts her school's (very bad) experiences with forced segregation in the 1970s...

TCS Daily - The Cultural Illiteracy of the Easy Atheists

re: Mary Graber: "Best-selling atheist authors are capitalizing on a wave of ignorance and stupidity...[snip]...Consider the great works of literature written by Christian authors. Though I saw these authors mocked in graduate school, the force of their ideas prevails. Their wisdom and humanity contrasted sharply with the nonsensical nihilism put out by trendy authors. /Reading Milton led me back to the Bible. Shakespeare revealed the evil of atheism through characters like Iago. Dostoyevsky exposed the evils of pride and self-devised "justice." /How odd, then, for Hitchens to invoke literature as he does... [snip]...I am sad to say that if you go into a Christian bookstore you will not see Dostoyevsky on the shelf. Instead, you'll find pastel-covered saccharine tomes, the pious stories of easy Christianity that the devout Catholic Flannery O'Connor disparaged. /Of course, easy Christianity is vulnerable to easy atheism, which is what is offered in Hitchens' tome. It's a shame the great works of Christian literature are not to be found on the shelves of Christian bookstores. It's a bigger shame that they haven't done any good on Christopher Hitchens' bookshelf either."

TCS Daily - Political Liquor's Economic Hangover Just Beginning

re: Dr. Henry I. Miller: "From pre-school to planning funerals, green is in. Very in. But green policies and decisions need to be based on more than a vague desire to save the planet. The principles of the natural sciences and economics must play an essential role -- a part of policy-making that often eludes politicians. The latest examples are the federal government's efforts to reduce the United States's dependence on imported oil (now more than 60 percent) by shifting a big share of the nation's largest crop, corn, to the production of ethanol for fueling automobiles. / Good goal, bad policy. In fact, in the short- and medium-term, ethanol can do little to reduce the vast amount of oil that is imported, and the ethanol policy will have widespread and profound ripple effects on other commodity markets. Corn farmers and ethanol refiners are ecstatic about the ethanol boom, of course, and are enjoying the windfall of artificially enhanced demand. But it is already proving to be an expensive and dangerous experiment for the rest of us..."...

Cafe Hayek: What the founders understood

re: from something written by John Baden, as quoted by Russell Roberts, "...Their work exemplified Enlightenment thinking and displayed heavy emphasis on reason and science. Our Founders well understood the potential for plunder and worked to minimize it. Their task was to create institutions strong enough to protect citizens in their person and property, while constraining politicians and special interests from exploiting and controlling others. /While perfection eluded our Founders due to the compromises necessary for ratification (consider neglect of women, slaves, and Indians), it was a marvelous beginning. They limited government’s ability to transfer wealth and opportunities; otherwise, as is Europe, benefits would flow to the powerful and well connected. Here, individuals had incentives to improve their lot by being productive rather than predatory. Americans’ surest path to self-improvement came from moving human and natural resources to ever-higher values. As a result of our focus on productivity not plunder, we became rich beyond belief..."...

Gina Cobb: Message to India: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Infant Girls Included.

re: "HYDERABAD, India — A newborn baby girl was buried alive by her family in southern India on Thursday but was rescued when a farmer saw the baby's hand sticking out of the ground, officials said...[snip]...Is there any bright spot in this story? /Only this. That someone cared enough to save this baby out of the millions who have been killed. An Indian farmer named Ram Kumar noticed the baby's hand in a field. He and other villagers rushed the baby to a hospital. /A tiny ray of hope shines in a vast darkness."

Gina Cobb: Attack on Clarence Thomas Betrays Subtle Bias in Surprising Places

re: "In Friday's Best of the Web, James Taranto does a terrific job of addressing an attack on Clarence Thomas by Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman for failing to support affirmative action..."...

Gateway Pundit: Maliki Announces Transfer of Security Operations in Basra

re: "Iraqi forces will soon take control over Basra, the second largest city in Iraq..."...

Townhall.com::Bond, James Bond, Returning in Book Form

re: "James Bond will soon be back, in bookstores. "Devil May Care," a novel written by British author Sebastian Faulks and authorized by the estate of the late Ian Fleming, is due to come out in 2008, the centennial of Fleming's birth. /According to the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, "Devil May Care" is set during the Cold War and, like so many Bond adventures, moves about a variety of scenic locales..."...

FOXNews.com - Helium Balloons Carry Man in Lawnchair 193 Miles

re: "BEND, Ore. — Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks — and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons. /Destination: Idaho. /With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast — he could turn a spigot, release water and rise — Couch headed into the Oregon sky. /Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home...It was Couch's second flight. /In September, he got off the ground for six hours. Like Walters, he used a BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually parachuted to safety.
This time, he was better prepared. The balloons had a new configuration, so it was easier to reach up and release a bit of helium instead of simply cutting off a balloon. /He took off at 6:06 a.m. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. As he made about 25 miles an hour, a three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from below...Couch decided to stop when he was down to a gallon of water and just eight pounds of ballast. Concerned about the rugged terrain outside La Grande, including Hells Canyon, he decided it was time to land. /He popped enough balloons to set the craft down, although he suffered rope burns. But after he jumped out, the wind grabbed his chair, with his video recorder, and the remaining balloons and swept them away. He's hoping to get them back some day..."...

Texas State Lawmaker Opposing Deadly Force Bill Shoots Would-Be Thief

re: "HOUSTON — A state lawmaker who opposed a bill giving Texans stronger right to defend themselves with deadly force pulled a gun and shot a man he says was trying to steal copper wiring from a construction site, police said Monday. / Rep. Borris Miles told police he was fixing a leak on the second floor of the Houston house he's building Sunday night when he heard a noise downstairs and saw two men trying to steal the copper. After Miles confronted the pair, one of the men threw a pocketknife at him, Houston Police spokesman Victor Senties. /Miles, a former law enforcement officer, shot the man in the left leg, police said...[snip]...Police said Miles, who is in his freshman term, is licensed to carry a concealed weapon. No charges have been filed against Miles, Senties said. /Miles, a Democrat, voted against a bill that gives Texans stronger legal right to defend themselves with deadly force in their homes, vehicles, and workplaces. The so-called "castle doctrine," passed by the Legislature this year, states that a person has no duty to retreat from an intruder before using deadly force. The law goes into effect Sept. 1."

hat tip: Rush Limbaugh

Former Weather Channel Bigwig Debunks IPCC and Global Warming Hysteria | NewsBusters.org

re: Joseph D'Aleo has published an article on how the report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change was twisted and hyped.

Nurses Investigated In Oregon Assisted Suicide Case - Killed Patient Without a Physician

re: "...Mara Woloshin, a spokeswoman for the Melcher family said the revelations about the nature of Wendy's death have devastated the family, who believed she had died of cancer, and prompted them to wonder if Melcher genuinely gave consent. "The family wants some answers," Woloshin said. "This family is bleeding from the emotional pain. They have been broadsided." /"They think someone may have participated in ending Melcher's life prematurely without (Melcher's) consent," said Woloshin...[snip]...The issue of informed consent is crucial in the argument against assisted suicide and euthanasia. Euthanasia opponents have pointed to the erosion of the principle of consent and the fallibility of "safeguards" in the Netherlands, the country that pioneered legalized doctor assisted killing..."...

The Cruelest Irony of All - When "Those Who Heal You Will Kill You"

re: "...Presently, however, there is a steady cultural shift in the medical community away from the understanding of the physician as healer, towards an acceptance of the physician also as killer. It may be tempting to immediately think "abortion," and while that is a true instance of the disturbing trend at work, the problem is deeper than that, and is creeping into every nook and cranny of the medical arts, to their very foundation. /It is no accident that the Hippocratic oath was abandoned by the medical community in the 1970s--an act that has had a devastating effect upon the healthcare professions. /Only yesterday, for instance, LifeSiteNews ran a story about the fact that two nurses have been charged in Oregon for performing an assisted suicide, which seems like a positive story at first glance, at least insofar as the nurses are being charged. But the story is suffused with the same cruel irony found in the story of the U.K. terrorists. For the nurses have come under fire, not because they killed their patient, but because they killed their patient without a physician present...[snip]...Stories like these are multiplying, so that hardly a day goes by when we don't report on a case where someone who has been trained to save lives, has instead used their knowledge to prematurely end a life..."...

Stanley Kurtz on Doctors Who Kill on National Review Online

re: "How could doctors, pledged to heal, conspire to murder and maim? In the wake of the foiled British terror plots, that is the question on everyone’s lips. It’s anything but an idle query. On the contrary, if we attend not to the plot’s specifics, but to the larger questions raised by the paradox of murderous healers, the solution to the terror-doctor puzzle takes us deep into the mystery of Islamism..."...

Phi Beta Cons: Two Concepts of America

re: Carol Iannone: "The first concept is that America is a proposition nation—dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal—and that she consists of ideas—freedom, equality, democracy, self-government—which are the entitlement of all men everywhere. This is the view of President Bush and Condoleezza Rice. Michael Gerson's July 4th column reflects this view. / The second concept is that America is indeed based on universal ideals, but that she is also a concrete nation, with a specific history that made these ideals manifest, a culture that is especially suited to the realization of these ideals, and a people that have been cultivated to their proper exercise. This view is reflected in William Bennett's article linked this week at NRO..."...

Phi Beta Cons: Addition to Mark's List

re: Carol Iannone: "I'd like to add to Mark's list for a proposed anti-progressive syllabus Midge Decter's An Old Wife's Tale. It's written as a memoir, which is a hugely popular genre today, in general and in the academy as well. It is sharp, lively, based on the author's expansive reading in primary sources as well as her primary experience as a supremely attentive witness to the rise of the contemporary women's movement. It's a book that challenges the reigning orthodoxy and from which students might obtain a complete, systematic, and alternative view of feminism and what it has done to our culture. /On another note, several times Ms. Decter draws attention to the foul and explicit language used by feminists and wonders if she is alone in being very bothered by that. This raised an interesting question in my mind. Is the unbelievably disgusting and perverse material we see on TV today...[snip]...as well as the fact that whole cohorts of people talk dirty and deploy the f-word as every part of speech—is all this due at least in part to the fact that women let down the standard of expecting decent language and respectable conversation in polite company and themselves began to talk and act like sailors on leave in foreign ports?..."...

FIC Blog » Major Announcement From FIC

re: Brian Brown: "...Effective August 1st I will become the executive director of a new group: the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). I am joining Maggie Gallagher, one of the leading pro-family voices in the country, to fill a gap in our national efforts to protect marriage and defend the family..."...

The consequences of ethanol for the poor | Spero News

re: Ray Nothstine: "Ronald Reagan once said that the most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' His one-liner immediately comes to mind when looking at the problems behind the federal government’s campaign to boost production of corn-based ethanol with a massive, 51 cent per gallon subsidy. Ethanol and other bio-fuels are advertised as one of the main cures for our oil-thirsty economy. But it’s clear that the ethanol boom, with a major assist from Washington, is succeeding in simultaneously raising both fuel and food prices..."...

hat tip: Acton Institute

Acton Commentary: Follow the Money: Stem Cells and Subsidies

re: Jennifer Roback Morse : "...This is the ultimate irony of the conflict over stem cells. Umbilical cord blood produces cells that are more practical than those obtained from embryo destruction. If we would allow the embryos to be born, we would have a ready supply of something more therapeutic and less costly. And, we get a free prize: a cute baby, as a by-product. A win-win situation all around."

The Rapid City Journal: Judge stops DME eminent-domain hearing

re: "...The commission has been asked to grant DM&E the right of eminent domain to extend its east-west line into Wyoming's Powder River Basin. /The railroad must cross a number of West River ranches and other land owned by people who don't want to sell. Therefore, DM&E needs eminent domain, the right to condemn and acquire land, to complete its line. Eminent domain is reserved for companies that can show the project's public good outweighs the property rights of individual landowners. /However, former Gov. Bill Janklow, serving as the attorney for several West River landowners, filed an affidavit in 6th Circuit Court arguing that the Transportation Commission's procedure for hearing eminent domain cases did not follow state law. /On Monday, Judge Anderson agreed to bar today's hearing. He also ordered the Transportation Commission and the South Dakota Department of Transportation to appear for a Tuesday, July 24, court hearing to show cause why it should be allowed to proceed with its eminent-domain case."

The Rapid City Journal: Families told of loss at shelter

re: "HOT SPRINGS -- The scene at Mueller Community Center on Monday morning was grim as about 30 people drifted into the auditorium. /Some were in suits and ties, others in their pajamas, but no matter their differences, each had the same thing in common - they all lost their homes..."...

The Rapid City Journal: Firefighters knock down blaze near New Underwood

re: NEW UNDERWOOD - For Bob and Barbara Dedic, whose ranch is on Pioneer Road northwest of New Underwood, Saturday night's wildfire got a little too close for comfort. / In fact, the flames were within 6 feet of their house. / "It got a little warm," Bob Dedic said with a chuckle Sunday. / When the flames came near their home early Saturday evening, Barbara took the pets and left. However, Bob stayed behind to keep the fire away from their home and other buildings. / If he hadn't stayed, Dedic believes, they would have lost their home. Earlier Saturday, he had rigged up a 300-gallon tank and a pressure sprayer - just in case of fire. / That night, he put the machine to good use. He saved his buildings. /The loss was limited to pasturelands and some hay bales. / The fire, which began about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, went on a 5,000-acre rampage Saturday night and Sunday morning. It burned a wide swath of grass and trees along Elk Creek north of New Underwood..."...

The Rapid City Journal: NSF picks Homestake for national lab site

re: "The National Science Foundation has chosen Homestake gold mine in Lead as the site for a proposed national underground science laboratory, state officials announced today...[snip]...However, construction of the so-called “Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory,” or “DUSEL,” is not guaranteed. The decision announced today means that scientists supporting the Homestake proposal will get up to $15 million over the next three years to develop a full-fledged plan for a lab 7,400 feet underground. / A DUSEL at Homestake could cost $300 million to build, and it would require the approval of the National Science Foundation, the National Science Board, the White House and Congress. That could take years. / But science could begin sooner. Now the state of South Dakota will continue its plan to re-enter the mine, pump our water and start an “interim DUSEL” 4,850 feet underground. Experiments could begin in the interim lab as soon as next year..."...

The Rapid City Journal: Man killed in fire was 'generous, giving'

re: "HOT SPRINGS -- With the Alabaugh Canyon Fire ablaze but still considered to be a relatively safe distance from their home, Dave Beeman went into Hot Springs on Saturday evening to get a load of water to assist in the fire suppression if it was needed to defend his home. /A few hours later, the water was needed, but there was no time to use it. / Beeman, 46, died in his home as it was rapidly engulfed by flames..."...

A Priest Goes on "Time Out" -- Time to Rethink the 'Christian Muslim' Idea

re: "...The Bishop of Rhode Island, it seems, has a rather different take on Rev. Ann Holmes Redding and her new Muslim faith. /According to The Seattle Times: /An Episcopal priest who announced last month that she is also a practicing Muslim has been suspended from the priesthood and other Episcopal leadership roles for a year. /The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, who until March was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral here, should "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, wrote in an e-mail to church leaders..."...

Embassy of France in the US - Future of Europe

re: Speech given by M. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the Republic, at the public meeting on Europe (excerpts), Strasbourg, 2 July 2007

Embassy of France in the US - France/United States

re: "In the spirit of its mission statement, “The French Will Never Forget” (www.thefrenchwillneverforget.com), organized an extraordinary gathering of approximately 2500 people in Omaha Beach, Normandy for July 4 th 2007. The crowd formed on the sand the letters of the phrase: “FRANCE WILL NEVER FORGET”, aimed at honoring the fallen American heroes who scarified their lives to liberate France at the end of WW II. /The United States Ambassador to France, H.E Craig R. Stapleton and his spouse attended the event along with several American and French personalities. They all joined the crowd on the beach and actually helped form with many other people the letter F of FRANCE..."...

"The French Will Never Forget"

re: "The French People have always cherished and valued the tradition of friendship and alliance between France and the United States, which dates back 225 years. Whatever circumstances and differences of views this friendship might have gone through, we want to reaffirm strongly this profound feeling. We cannot, do not, and will not ever forget the ultimate sacrifice American heroes made during the two World Wars to liberate France. To show our gratitude and demonstrate again this feeling, we have launched an unprecedented initiative, a symbolic gesture to lay by July 4 a red rose on each and every one of the 60,511 graves and 11 Missing In Action monuments of Americans fallen in France during World Wars I & II..."...

hat tip: Frank Wilson

Tempering justice with mercy « Bookworm Room

re: presidential power to grant reprieves and pardons...

Higher Up and Further In: Founding Documents of the United States

re: "Learn Out Loud is offering a free audio download of the Founding Documents of the United States. Almost two hours of audio recordings, featuring the following documents..."...

TB patient questions CDC's actions - USATODAY.com

re: "ATLANTA — The globe-trotting tuberculosis patient who sparked an international public health incident in May said Friday he was tricked into a federal quarantine./Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta attorney, he would have gladly gone into isolation if health officials had asked him to. Instead, he said they asked him to swing by a New York City hospital for testing after his European vacation, then posted armed guards outside his door..."...

Possibly tainted toothpaste found in Massachusetts - USATODAY.com

re: "BOSTON (AP) — The concern about tainted toothpaste imported from China has spread to Massachusetts, where public health officials issued a consumer warning Thursday after suspect products were found in stores in nearly a dozen communities. /Officials urged consumers to avoid any toothpaste labeled "Made in China," any toothpaste labeled "Colgate" that is manufactured in South Africa and any toothpaste without English language labeling. /Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said toothpaste from China and counterfeit Colgate toothpaste may contain diethylene glycol (DEG), a chemical used in antifreeze. /Massachusetts was not initially listed as a state where higher volumes of the product were found. But officials said Thursday that suspect products continue to be found, particularly in small, independent discount stores..."...

Activities for ESL/EFL Students (English Study)

re: "...Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL) This project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) has thousands of contributions by many teachers..."...

hat tip: VOA Special English: Games With Words

VOA News - Kidnapping of British Girl in Nigeria Provokes Outrage

re: "Officials in the tense delta region of Nigeria are searching for the three-year-old daughter of a British oil worker who was abducted on Thursday. For VOA, Gilbert da Costa in Abuja reports that the kidnapping of Margaret Hill has been widely condemned in Nigeria..."...

La Shawn Barber’s Corner » The True Meaning of ‘Black Pride’

re: "...even if certain schools end up primarily black or primarily white because of residential patterns, the government should not have the power discriminate against people based on race or prefer certain races to “balance” schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA) was supposed to put an end to that power. It states in part (emphases added): /“Desegregation” means the assignment of students to public schools and within such schools without regard to their race, color, religion, or national origin, but “desegregation” shall not mean the assignment of students to public schools in order to overcome racial imbalance. /That is the principle of Brown v. Board of Education embodied in the CRA. How much clearer can it be? /If private individuals want to create racially exclusive schools (or hire certain people based on race), that’s their right as private business owners. We have freedom of association in this country, and that freedom includes (or should include) providing services to whomever we want to provide services. But the government must stay out of the skin color business..."...

Brandywine Books: Fun Loving Intellectuals Making Up History

re: "Apparently, if you want to argue that your country needs a radical makeover, a complete rebuild from the source code, then you will want to write intellectual books describing the horrid genocide by the country's founders even if it didn't actually happen. That's what Theodore Dalrymple suggests in article on a skirmish in Australia over that nation's history..."...

Gateway Pundit: Over One Million March Against Terrorism in Colombia

re: "Over one million Colombians marched from the Amazon jungle outpost of Leticia to the Caribbean city of Cartagena to demand liberation of the country's kidnap victims from Leftist terrorists..."...

hat tip: Doug Payton

contentions » weekend reading

re: "Reflections on the high promise and assorted problems of American nationhood have always been a regular feature of COMMENTARY. Since the magazine’s inception in 1945, we have published many of the country’s leading thinkers on the great questions of American purpose and practice, whether in our own culture and politics or in our relations with the rest of the world. This weekend we offer a few prime selections..."...

Books, Inq.: Your nominations, please ...

re: looking for a 'perfect line of poetry'...

Books, Inq.: My sentiments exactly ...

re: "...'My idea of a high-trust society differs from that of many elites. Elitist journalists think that a high-trust society is one where we trust the mainstream media. Elitist politicians and activists think that a high-trust society is one where we trust legislators, regulators, and experts to exercise broad authority. In contrast, I believe that a high-trust society is one in which processes ensure that elites are subject to checks and accountability. It is particularly important for legislators, regulators, and experts to have their authority limited and their accountability assured...'...Here's an idea: How about taking all the most reliable meteorological data from, say, 1950, and feeding it into one of these climate models and seeing if the results describe what in fact took place weatherwise in, say, 2000?"...

Perhaps It’s Because There Aren’t Any Numbers Of Them? « Expat Yank

re: "...Northern Ireland perpetually appears to be about the best example anyone can ever seem to summon up for “Christian terror” . . . and it’s wrong, at that. Given that, it seems worth repeating...…The IRA is a nationalist organization that rooted its “revolution” in the politics of the nation-state and socialism. Yes, most IRA members were and are undoubtedly at least nominal Roman Catholics. However, referring to them as “Christian terrorists” would have been a major misnomer because their goal was never, say, to re-create the medieval “Papal States” on Irish soil, or to eject all “non-believers” from Italy and re-establish papal rule there"..."...

Something That Is Actually Not High Enough? « Expat Yank

re: UK road tax rates, and the fine for not having the disc in a little pouch in the lower left of the windshield...

Book note: The Sewing Room, by Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

re: "...The... quote was taken from Crafton's book, The Sewing Room, a collection of essays about her life which I'm enjoying much. If you like Phillip Gulley or Philip Jerome Cleveland, you'll like The Sewing Room."...

Cinnamon Stillwell: Photos You Won't See in the Mainstream Media

re: from June 21, 2007: "...No one knows who he is or anything about his background, but Diogenesis pops up every few months with a series of posts composed of photos (from journalistic and military sources) from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, interspersed with a random assortment of other subjects and accompanied by text that is most decidedly pro-American, pro-Israel, and pro-Western. Or, as he puts it, "Ye Old Quagmire-Free News." In short, these are reports you definitely won't see in the mainstream media. / Diogenesis has been at it again since May, so I'm posting links..."...

Marriage and Caste in America

re: "A generation ago Americans undertook a revolutionary experiment to redefine marriage. Where historically men and women had sought a loving bond, largely centered on the rearing of children, the new arrangement called for an intimate—and provisional—union of two adults. Now, as Kay Hymowitz argues in Marriage and Caste in America, the results of this experiment separating marriage from childrearing are in, and they turn out to be bad news not only for children but also, in ways little understood, for the country as a whole. The family revolution has played a central role in a growing inequality and high rates of poverty, even during economic good times..."...

Save the Catholic Schools! by Sol Stern, City Journal Spring 2007

re: "We almost lost Harlem’s Rice High School a few years ago. And what a defeat that would have been for all New Yorkers, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. For the past three decades, Rice has rescued at-risk African-American boys and turned them into responsible men who go on to college and then give back to the community. Yet despite this academic success, Rice almost succumbed to the demographic changes and financial pressures that have led to the closing of thousands of excellent inner-city Catholic schools and needlessly deepened the nation’s urban-education crisis. /It’s hard to exaggerate the challenge that Rice and similar schools voluntarily take on..."...

Books, Inq.: Declaration of independence ...

re: bookstore tourism, focusing on indies...

Callapidder Days: Spring Reading Challenge wrap ups

re: links to wrap-ups by the participants in the Spring Reading Challenge...

JOLLYBLOGGER: Missional Blogs I am Reading

re: the pastor at JollyBlogger is increasing his focus on the missional church...

The Scotsman - Brown to swap 'sofa' rule for collective government

re: "GORDON Brown is to shed some of his powers of patronage as Prime Minister, as he moves to enshrine the concept of collective government in contrast to Tony Blair's "sofa" rule. /A statement to the Commons on the future constitution, originally due today but delayed until later this week because of the Glasgow terror attack, will set out ways he will relinquish some duties. /Measures include giving parliament a final say on going to war as well as the power to vet appointments of senior public officials. It will propose the Prime Minister relinquishes his powers of appointing bishops to the Church of England..."...

The Scotsman - Scotland remains defiant as full extent of plot unfolds

re: "...MUSLIM and Asian community leaders yesterday condemned the attack on Glasgow Airport, saying all Scots must stand together to fight terrorism. /About 100 people, including religious leaders and community elders, gathered at Glasgow's Central Mosque, joined by Alex Salmond, the First Minister, and there was visible relief as it was confirmed by police that the suspects were not Scottish. /Bashir Mann, chairman of Glasgow Central Mosque, said: "The Muslim and Asian communities condemn such acts. This is evil and evil must be eradicated." /Mohammad Sarwar, the Glasgow Central Labour MP, said the criminals behind the attacks must not be allowed to damage good relations between Asian and non-Asian Scots. "These people don't care who they kill, whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim," he said..."...

The Editors on Supreme Court on National Review Online

re: a "little reality check" on the Supreme Court's last term...

Treating autism with mind games | The Providence Journal

re: college journalism student Rachel Blatt provides a well-researched, well-written article on the NeuroDevelopment Center, which treats autism and other disorders with a combination of treatments, including neurofeedback training.

Justin Katz: Moral compass swings to nihilistic pole

re: "...In the worldview of modern conservatism, a basic insistence on morality, founded most fundamentally in the right to life, is what permits freedom. The principles that this worldview suggests are meant to structure society such that its various interests can remain in healthy balance without government interference, enabling government — with its powers of compulsion and susceptibility to corruption — to remain limited in its scope. Moral behavior ought to be enforced through the pressures of responsibility, and the alternative to an insistence on self-reliance and personal restraint is an allowance of public dictation, of regulation of our every decision. /In a society with nigh upon unlimited rights to abortion, the single greatest and most universal responsibility, parenthood, may be rejected with the need to develop neither a mature approach to the behavior that initiates it nor restraint of a primal urge. The untrammeled availability of this filicidal biological “undo” creates a mindset that begets conclusion after conclusion that nothing has consequences of such magnitude that rationalizations and modern science cannot dispel them. /For these reasons, I just don’t think that I would be able to reason my way around to voting for a presidential candidate who is not pro-life..."...

hat tip: National Review Online

John O'Sullivan on Future War on National Review Online

re: "In the stable and prosperous bi-polar world of 2030 in which we live today, it is hard to recall how close the multi-polar world of 2020 came to limited nuclear war and even to wholesale Armageddon. Still harder to grasp is how remote from the 2020 conflicts were their cause — and how beneficial that cause seemed when it occurred in 2015. But the discovery of a vast oil field in northern Canada that year set in motion a series of events that eventually led to . . . well, let’s trace its extraordinary impact..."...

As Cozy as Spring: Who are we racing?

re: "...We are planning a[n] author focus for next year, the charming Elsa Beskow. I have loved Children of the Forest from the first day it arrived in our friendly Amazon box. Most bookstores sadly don't carry Elsa Beskow's books (at least not the stores I am checking). I managed to find Peter in Blueberry Land yesterday - perfect, as we are still abundantly blessed with bowls of blueberries. It is just as sweet as the others I've read. Happily, both of my children enjoy these books - not always a easy with a four year age difference..."...

BrothersJudd Blog: WHEN EVEN THE FRENCH CAN FIGURE IT OUT:

re: building an axis of good, from an article by Alexandre Adler, 6/27/07, Le Figaro...

Carol Platt Liebau: Marriage versus Life

re: "It seems quite reasonable that people would believe that one can have a happy marriage without children. What would be a more interesting question is whether Americans believe one can have as happy and fulfilled a life without them."