:: Netmarcos' Notes ::

:: Thursday, July 31, 2003 ::

Ah, c'mon! You just gotta read this one! Greenwood Acres Full Gospel Baptist Church will pay white people to attend services during August to increase the diversity of its congregation.

Bishop Fred Caldwell said he will pay $5 per hour for Sunday services and $10 an hour for the Thursday service. The idea came to him during his sermon Sunday.

'Our churches are too segregated, and the Lord never intended for that to happen. It's time for something radical.'

:: Mark 4:14 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Simply unbelievable. WorldNetDaily: Liberal segregationists in the schools

Phyllis Yarber Hogan, a member of something called the Oberlin Black Alliance for Progress, agrees: "When you talk about slavery," she told the Cleveland Plain Dealer last week, "students need to understand it is not our fault. Our ancestors did nothing wrong to be enslaved. How do you work through that when the person teaching it is the same type of person who did the enslaving?"

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The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, up to their eyeballs in political corruption scandals and campaign-finance evasion and embezzlement investigations, naturally have nothing to say about this blatant classroom racism. But oh, can you even imagine the national uproar if a white school-board president and a "White Alliance for Progress" objected to black teachers teaching 19th century American history because they were the "same type of persons" who were ignorant slaves at the time?

Read it all. Read some more. Follow the story. Pay attention to the outcome. Weep for our nation's children who are under the control of this corrupt, misguided and self-destructive racially bigoted educational system.

:: Mark 10:02 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Wendy McElroy on FOXNews.comadvises students and parents to pack a few important items when they head back to school this fall.

This September, make sure the students you care for pack protection of their civil liberties in with clothing and reference books.
This is essential for students who are male, white, conservative, openly Christian, or from affluent families.

If you fit any of these categories, you must read it all.

:: Mark 6:13 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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What goes around... Comes around.

Larry Ellison must have had a Seinfeld (search ) moment when told that his nemesis, Conway, had hired Larry’s former comrade-in-arms, Reback, to bring in the feds. I can see Larry now, grinding his teeth, mumbling, “Reback!!” just like Jerry would with Newman.
Larry Ellison does not make many mistakes. But his decision to bring the Department of Justice and state Attorneys General into the business of the high tech sector could be the one he most regrets. His tactics and the plans of his colleagues are now being used against him and his effort to buy PeopleSoft.
Is turnabout fair play? Perhaps, but the precedent that has been set is a dangerous one. Larry Ellison and a few other powerful Microsoft competitors invited the government to come into the industry to target their rival. They did so for selfish reasons, but now they may see the tables turned, as Milton Friedman predicted. Once the government has the power to regulate part of the tech industry, it will likely expand its reach and the entire industry and the economy will suffer.
Larry Ellison is now stuck in Seinfeld’s “Bizarro World” and I have a sneaky feeling that he is regretting the day he invited the government into Silicon Valley.

:: Mark 6:09 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus on National Review Online is even more critical of the current state of racial disharmony in America.

Look, I've written against the ghastly racialization of American society for years — and I'm not sure I can say anything more. Excuse the defeatist air, but that's the way I'm feeling right now. I'm just about ready to wave the white (oops) flag.
If you say a white teacher can't teach 'black history,' you must say that a black teacher can't teach 'white history.' (Why should we have 'black history' and 'white history' anyway? When it comes to the United States, black people are as much a part of the story as cherry trees, Westward expansion, D-Day, and everything else.) When you say that black children must have 'black role models,' because white ones won't do, you must say, at the same time, that white children can't look up to Jackie Robinson, Marian Anderson, etc.
But you've heard these points a million times. There's nothing left to do but sigh — or get madder, which, on second thought, is better — more constructive — than sighing.

:: Mark 5:54 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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This Peter Kirsanow article concerning the recent Supreme Court decision on Racial Preferences in college admissions in the National Review Online brings up some obvious, but often ignored by products of such a policy.

Yes, we know that the Supreme Court permits selective colleges to award a 'plus' to black, Hispanic, and Native-American applicants. But just who, exactly, qualifies as black, Hispanic, or Native American?
Absurd Supreme Court decisions can produce seemingly absurd questions. But as silly as the above query sounds, it's one courts have wrestled with for much of our history, particularly during the Jim Crow era. Fortunately, those days are gone. But now the Grutter case has once again revived the distasteful relevance of racial identification.

:: Mark 5:50 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Lileks needs to loosen up and let the world know how he REALLY feelsLILEKS (James) The Bleat

At the mall Saturday afternoon we passed a big sign in the Express window; it advertised “Recklessly Sexy Jeans.” Sounds to me like “jeans that make you sleep with anyone after a couple of shots of Captain Morgan.” Might as well infuse the pants with clamydia; saves time.

:: Mark 4:31 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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KAY S. HYMOWITZ asks in a piece titled, "STUPID WHITE LIES
- Michael Moore, Humbug "
He's mendacious and obnoxious, so what accounts for his appeal?

Recently a wealthy Chicago couple named Drobney announced their plan to bankroll a left-wing talk radio station. They needn't bother. The left already has a multimedia star--and even without a radio station, he's bigger than Rush, has more fans than O'Reilly, and sells books faster than Coulter. Followers plead with this "folk hero for the American people" to run for president. Reviewers compare him to Twain, Voltaire and Swift. Unlike Rush & Co., the appeal of this blue-collar megastar extends far beyond the hoi polloi. Hollywood and Manhattan agents wave gazillion-dollar contracts in front of his face. He wins prestigious awards that will never grace the Limbaugh or O'Reilly dens--Oscars, Emmys, Writers Guild Awards and jury prizes at Cannes (where his latest movie received a record 13-minute standing ovation). People stop him on the streets of Berlin, Paris and London--where, according to Andrew Collins of the Guardian, they consider him "the people's filmmaker."

Ms. Hymowitz continues...

Mr. Moore is hardly the first to engage in a little nostalgic mythmaking. What makes him unique is his willingness to construct his myths on a scaffolding of calculated untruths. It's an irony worth savoring. Mr. Moore's chief conceit is that he is the lonely truth teller, seeking out the story no one else is brave enough to touch. He repeatedly blasts the media for ignoring issues that only he, a lowly college dropout, has the courage to bring before a hoodwinked public. "In the beginning there was a free press--well not really, but it sounded good," the announcer of his TV series, "The Awful Truth," would say as the show opened. But the awful truth is that Mr. Moore himself is a virtuoso of lying--which is the only way he can give the appearance of truth to his untenable theories.

She then classifies Mr. Moore's lies and highlights a few examples of each type: bold-faced lies, lies of omission, artistic lies, slanted, insinuating lies, lies of exaggeration... you get the idea.

I would not have been so generous in my characterization of Mr. Moore nor of his work, but it is a good article none the less.

:: Mark 10:13 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Legendary entertainer Bob Hope has died aged 100, a family spokesman said on Monday. Hope died of pneumonia on Sunday night at 9:28 p.m. with his family at his side, spokesman Ward Grant said.

He will be missed.

:: Mark 10:00 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Bill Press is a bit loose with the facts in his arguments against the recall initiative in California.

Losers should not be able to demand an instant replay of every election. Else how can anyone, Republican or Democrat, ever govern?

This is a fundamental tenet of democracy that today's Republicans don't seem to understand. In 2000, they didn't like the outcome in Florida, so they asked the Supreme Court to overturn it. In 2002, they didn't like the outcome in California, so now they're asking voters to rerun it. Win or lose, why don't they just accept the will of the voters? Isn't that what democracy's all about?

As I remember it, the Republicans went to the Supreme Court in 2000 to block the Democrats from overturning a result that THEY did not like.

:: Mark 11:49 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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You must read the following from Scrappleface. Scott always amuses and amazes the rest of us with his droll wit and incisive satire, but he has never been more droll or incisive than he is today!ScrappleFace: Saddam to Offer Eulogy at Sons' Funeral

(2003-07-22) -- Saddam Hussein may deliver the eulogy at a state funeral for his sons, Uday and Qusay, who died suddenly today in Mosul. The elder Hussein was invited to speak at the funeral by the commander of allied ground forces in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.

'We understand the emotions triggered by the death of one's sons,' said Lt. Gen. Sanchez. 'So, we want Mr. Hussein to stand up there on the podium, in clear line of sight, and tell the world how special his boys were. We aim to give Saddam the respect due a leader of his caliber. I can assure you that he will have the full attention of many of our finest men.'

The allied commander said Mr. Hussein's remarks would last 'roughly 7.5 seconds, after which the former Iraqi leader, doubtless with a heavy heart, will return to an underground bunker.'

"

There are few that could have expressed it better, but some of the responses to this one come close. My personal favorites are posted under the names of Mikey with, "uday and qusai are edday, onay erginsvay!", and this bit from Greyhawk,"This brings to "two" the total number of sons of Saddam killed by enemy fire since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities in Iraq."
Brilliant!

:: Mark 7:34 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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If you have not taken the time to study the comments made by the British PM Tony Blair to Congress, take the time to do so now.The following is just a taste:A Fight for Liberty

There never has been a time when the power of America was so necessary or so misunderstood, or when, except in the most general sense, a study of history provides so little instruction for our present day. We were all reared on battles between great warriors, between great nations, between powerful forces and ideologies that dominated entire continents. And these were struggles for conquest, for land or money. And the wars were fought by massed armies, and the leaders were openly acknowledged, the outcomes decisive.
Today, none of us expect our soldiers to fight a war on our own territory. The immediate threat is not conflict between the world's most powerful nations. And why? Because we all have too much to lose. Because technology, communication, trade and travel are bringing us ever closer together. Because in the last 50 years, countries like yours and mine have trebled their growth and standard of living. Because even those powers like Russia, China or India can see the horizon of future wealth clearly and know they are on a steady road toward it. And because all nations that are free value that freedom, will defend it absolutely, but have no wish to trample on the freedom of others.

:: Mark 10:44 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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From the OpinionJournal - Taste column:

For the first time in six centuries the muezzin's cry echoed over Spanish Granada with the inauguration in that city of a new mosque last week. The call to prayer hadn't been heard in the old capital of Moorish civilization since the last Muslim king was expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492.

Wistfully overlooking the peerless 14th-century Alhambra palace below, the boxy, whitewashed mosque sits atop a hill, wedged between a convent and a church. It's saga has been a long and unlucky one. Begun in 1981 with Libyan money, which soon petered out, it was taken up by King Hassan II of Morocco, who soon died, and completed finally with funds mostly from the United Arab Emirates.

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A rather ominous remark by a top mosque official was quoted approvingly in the Muslim coverage. The new mosque, he said, would be "one of the purest sources of Islam." Someone should have told him that the Islam of Moorish culture at its height was not pure but thoroughly evolved after eight centuries of collaboration with Jews and Christians. In fact, one could argue that the oft-bewailed missing "reformation" of Islam was under way there, until it was aborted by the Inquisition. At any rate, doctrinally Moorish Islam was anything but fundamentalist. The new one, however, is unlikely to be anything else.

The completion and opening came at a bad time, arguably the worst moment in Spanish-Muslim relations since the muezzin went silent. Not only has Spain uncovered a string of al Qaeda plots on its soil but it has publicly backed the invasion of Iraq to the anger of its growing Muslim population, some 500,000 at last count. Indeed, the entire new-mosque venture is now freighted with sensitive historical and political questions.

Predictably, the Spanish authorities seem to have little influence or knowledge regarding the new mosque's direction, although they vetted its architectural design with scrupulous care. The funding came from outside the country. As for the religious precepts and the choice of members for the mosque's five-person ruling committee, all were determined independently.
Here, then, is a precise illustration of the West's complicity in its own troubles. The mosque seems customized for Spanish soil and the traditions of Spaniards only aesthetically. Spiritually and politically--which are the same thing to hardline Islamists--the mosque remains a product of forces from outside Spain.

This article raises some serious ethical questions about government involvement in and influence on religious philosophical discussion. Mr. Kaylan seems to advocate that the Spanish government take an active role in determining what is taught with this comment:

Why shouldn't Spain actively try to re-create Moorish standards of Islam in doctrine as well as in brick and mortar? It can start by sponsoring a Spain-inspired creed within its own borders. We in the West complain incessantly about anti-Western thought in Saudi-inspired madrassas, or religious schools, around the world. We demand that they open up to a freer market of ideas, but we shy from entering the marketplace. We can start within our own borders by sowing new ideas in mosques and madrassas. The benefits will accrue as much to Islam as to the West. After all, the grandeur of Moorish culture grew not out of a pursuit of purity but from the irritant of exposure to other cultures.

While the return if Islam to the Iberian peninsula may be troubling for many valid reasons, a return to Spanish government involvement in religious instruction holds equally troubling potential.

:: Mark 10:40 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) is pushing for a Repeal Of D.C. Gun Ban

'It is time to restore the rights of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and to defend their families against murderous predators,' said Hatch, whose bill has 18 co-sponsors. 'Try to imagine the horror that [a] victim felt when he faced a gun-toting criminal and could not legally reach for a firearm to protect himself.'

:: Mark 1:45 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Great stuff!
Bush: Saddam Bought Geraniums, Not Uranium

July 15 — In an extraordinary retraction of key elements in his last State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush revealed today that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein did not attempt to buy uranium in Africa, as earlier alleged, but merely geraniums. “As I was reading the speech to the nation, I should have caught that typo,” the President told reporters today. “My bad.”

:: Mark 11:10 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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You must read this! If there is anyone left in America that does not see that PC insanity and hyper-sensitivity to all slights and slurs -real or imagined- is completely out of control, then they are blind by their own free choice.Dishonor on Campus - The Washington Times: Editorials/OP-ED

Just when you think the politically correct clowns on the campus can't get any more ridiculous, they shoot another live white man out of a canon.

It would seem that the creed of the advocates of tolerance and the free exchange of ideas on our nation's campuses reads thusly:"The only group who's right of free expression is not worthy of protection is comprised of those individuals with whom we disagree."

:: Mark 10:19 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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The Instapundit points this bit out in the ongoing gun control debate:Instapundit.com:

The District of Columbia is a case-study in the ineffectiveness of gun-control. Heck, it's a case study in the ineffectiveness of a lot of outdated government policies.
But here's the most revealing quote:

Matt Nosanchuk, litigation director for the Violence Policy Center, a gun-control advocacy group, said there is no evidence that greater access to guns reduces crime.

Ya gotta read it all.

:: Mark 10:08 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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More fallout from the Nevada Suporeme Cout's recent decision:OpinionJournal - John Fund's Political Diary

Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who as minority whip is the most powerful Senate Democrat after Tom Daschle, has just had his re-election thrown into jeopardy by five fellow Democrats who sit on the Nevada Supreme Court. The justices, joined by the court's lone Republican, threw out a constitutional amendment that required state tax increases be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, saying it was superseded by the Nevada Constitution's mandate to fund public education.

:: Mark 10:05 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Roger Atwood reports in the OpinionJournal on the rest of the story about the looting of the Iraqi National Museum.

The most striking fact to emerge from discussions with those living or working around the museum is that, in the days before and during the looting, they saw the museum being turned into a major military defensive position by Iraqi forces.
In plain violation of the Hague Convention of 1954, Iraqi fighters occupied the museum complex and used it as a combat position for at least three days after museum staff had fled. Neighborhood residents corroborated the charges made by American forces that the Americans had come under attack from inside the museum grounds and that fighting in the area was heavy. Even as they criticized the Americans for not protecting their national treasures, Iraqi witnesses to the looting said that Saddam Hussein's forces had turned the museum into a small arsenal.
'The Baathists were in there, shooting at the Americans. Many people saw it,' said Jabar al-Azawi, referring to members of Saddam Hussein's party. An elderly man wearing a gray robe, he offered me a cold drink in his garden on a quiet street around the corner from the museum. He said that the fighting was so intense that everyone on the block except him fled. 'I loved the museum, and I blame the Americans and the British forces because they didn't stop the looting,' he said.
U.S. forces have cited armed resistance from inside the complex as the main reason they could not seal off the museum and prevent the looting. In the end, they protected it only after they had defeated the last remnants of Saddam's forces in the area.

You really should read the whole story.

:: Mark 10:02 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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James Taranto isn't impressed by Johnny Depp's logic:OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today

Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that actor Johnny Depp 'now plans to make Paris his permanent home because the United States 'mortifies' him with its 'childish freedom fries and freedom toast.' ' Rationalizations for supporting a genocidal dictator are so much more sophisticated.

And then he takes a swing at Johny's hosts

Look Mère, No Hands!
"Lance Armstrong retained his overall lead at the Tour de France after the tenth stage Tuesday, despite losing time to protesters who blocked the route," reports the Associated Press:

The race was marked by a protest that forced the main pack of riders to stop flat in their tracks after supporters of radical farmer Jose Bove ran into the road and blocked cyclists near Pourrieres, about 147 kilometers (91 miles) into the race.

Tour officials immediately ruled that the protest was "a normal race incident," meaning that the riders who lost time because of the protest would not get it back.

Only in France is it "normal" for antiglobalization wackos to interfere with an athletic event. Though we have to admit, French bicyclists are a pretty impressive bunch. They manage to get around without using their handlebars, since their hands are always in the air.

:: Mark 9:52 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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LDS News Article

APIA, Samoa — The Apia Samoa Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was destroyed by fire on Wednesday evening, 9 July 2003.

The temple was being renovated and enlarged to add an expanded baptismal font and was scheduled to be rededicated in October.

More here.

:: Mark 6:02 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Read this. Research it. And then put a stop to it!WorldNetDaily: U.N. seeking global gun control?

Barr warned that many member nations, including the UK, Netherlands and India, want to set up a legally binding protocol requiring all U.N. countries to start registration of firearms.

:: Mark 10:36 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Go Alan, go! Yahoo! News - Greenspan Says Fed Could Cut Rates Again

Greenspan said that the Fed was prepared to leave interest rates at low levels "for as long as it takes" — even though rates are at a 45-year low. The goal would be to get the economy growing at a faster pace, he said.


Greenspan's comments — part of the central bank's twice-yearly report to lawmakers - signaled that the Fed, which has already reduced a key interest rate to the lowest level since 1958, is prepared to cut rates again. This could happen as soon as its next meeting on Aug. 12 if the economy is not showing convincing signs of a post-Iraq rebound.


The Fed "stands ready to maintain a highly accommodative stance of policy for as long as it takes to achieve a satisfactory economic performance," Greenspan said in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee

:: Mark 10:11 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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On a lighter note, in a WorldNetDaily article about an attempt in California to ban SUVs from state fleet, we get this bit from the SUV Owners of America:

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports, SUV Owners of America is running a full-page ad in yesterday's USA Today that pokes fun at an anti-SUV campaign by religious leaders called 'What Would Jesus Drive?'
The ad, with a smiling man standing next to his SUV, asks 'What Would Jesus (Rivera) Drive?'
'For millions of people like Jesus Rivera, it's all about safety, utility and versatility,' the ad says, according to the AP. 'Maybe that's why they call them SUVs.'

As Glenn Reynolds would say, "Heh."

:: Mark 10:34 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Maggie Gallagher opines on Marriage on National Review Online that Gay marriage is not some sideline issue, it is the marriage debate.

The fantasy of certain (not all) libertarians is that we can privatize marriage and the result will be a utopia of religiously created social order. But if marriage is just a religious rite, then it cannot also be a key social institution in a secular, pluralist nation. We do not depend on faith communities to ensure the education of children or the maintenance of private property because we understand that society needs educated citizens and a stable realm of property in order to prosper. The question is: Do we also need marriage?

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Marriage is a universal human institution. We do not know of any culture that has survived without a reasonably functional marriage system. Perhaps stray reproduction by single moms plus immigration can sustain America over the long haul. A look at Europe, however, does not make one sanguine. The attempt to substitute the state for the family leads not only to gargantuan government, but to miniscule families: If marriage and children are just one of many private lifestyle choices, people stop getting married and they stop having children in numbers large enough to replace the population. (One child is enough to make you a mother. When marriage is unreliable, just how foolhardy do you expect women to be?). The U.N. is now issuing urgent warnings about European depopulation.

You should read it all.

:: Mark 10:07 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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More comentary on the pathetic state of the American judiciary from Barbara Simpson:: WorldNetDaily: Justice in America: Anything but blind

The California Supreme Court ruled last month that if a judge has been either a member of the Boy Scouts or volunteers with the organization, they have to admit it. In other words, in cases where sexual orientation is key, the assigned judge must either recuse himself (drop out of the case) or disclose his connection with the Boy Scouts so the lawyers can decide whether to ask for his removal. This ruling gives them the power to do that.

She goes on:

As for the court ruling, what's next? If guilt by association is valid, should we require full and total disclosure of everything? We're already seeing how pro-life candidates for judicial nominations are excoriated for their belief.

How about having full religious disclosure? After all, those Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Muslims and other belief systems have some pretty strong positions on issues that are not necessarily politically correct. Maybe we should weed them out too, or at least label them.

How about judges who are (you should excuse the expression) patriotic? Should they be disqualified from a treason case? What about their political views? Should a Republican hear the case of a Democrat? A black hear a "white" case? An atheist hear a religious case?

I have to agree. We are in a lot of trouble here, and it will only get worse.

:: Mark 5:11 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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If you think that the US Supreme Court is out of control, you should look at Nevada's State Supreme Court.

A handful of legislators had promised their voters that they would not raise taxes. They opposed the new budget, because, as one legislator said, 'we cannot pass an education budget without the revenue to support it. That would be like writing a check, when we know we don't have the money in our account.'

Since 2/3 of the legislature must approve any tax increase, these leaders were able to stop the new taxes. But rather than reach an agreement with the people's representatives, Governor Guinn filed suit against them, arguing that since the constitution requires the legislature to fund public schools, the court should simply order the budget passed.

The court agreed, and ordered the legislature to pass the budget under simple majority rule. Since 'the procedural two-thirds revenue vote requirement in effect denies the public its expectation of access to public education,' said the court, 'the two-thirds requirement must yield to the specific substantive educational right.'

This is an unprecedented and extreme ruling, which ignores fundamental principles of democratic government.

As a follow up story, this should come as no surprise to anyone.

LAS VEGAS — Gov. Kenny Guinn’s approval ratings have slipped 10 percent since the start of the legislative session in February, with less than half of Nevadans saying he is doing an excellent or good job, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal/reviewjournal.com poll published Saturday.

Update: The Wall Street Journal has an opinion on this issue:

In a state that has given us the quickie divorce, legalized prostitution and gambling, you'd think it would be hard to raise eyebrows. But compared to their Supreme Court, Nevada's sin industries are looking downright respectable. In a landmark 6-to-1 ruling Thursday, Nevada's justices came up with a real doozy: Essentially they ordered state legislators to violate the state constitution they have sworn to uphold.

We are in a lot of trouble here, folks; make no bones about it! The constitutional crisis that is developing in the judiciary could have ramifications far beyond taxes and marriage laws. The very pillars of our government and society are under assault. If balance is not restored, the foundations of this nation will crumble. The rule of law must triumph over the "rule of lawyers". If we continue to allow the courts of this nation to subvert the will of the people by countermanding the decisions of our duly elected representatives in this manner, we are through as a free nation.

Update: Eugene is pretty steamed about this too. The Volokh Conspiracy

:: Mark 10:01 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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This is an excerpt from President Bush's speech delivered last Tuesday on Goree Island. While it is not as forcefull as I might have wished, nor does it address the horrors of the present day slave trade, I hope that it inspires you to read the whole thing.

In America, enslaved Africans learned the story of the exodus from Egypt and set their own hearts on a promised land of freedom. Enslaved Africans discovered a suffering Savior and found he was more like themselves than their masters. Enslaved Africans heard the ringing promises of the Declaration of Independence and asked the self-evident question: Then why not me?
In the year of America's founding, a man named Olaudah Equiano was taken in bondage to the New World. He witnessed all of slavery's cruelties, the ruthless and the petty. He also saw beyond the slaveholding piety of the time to a higher standard of humanity. 'God tells us,' wrote Equiano, 'that the oppressor and the oppressed are both in His hands. And if these are not the poor, the broken-hearted, the blind, the captive, the bruised which our Savior speaks of, who are they?'
Down through the years, African-Americans have upheld the ideals of America by exposing laws and habits contradicting those ideals. The rights of African-Americans were not the gift of those in authority. Those rights were granted by the Author of Life, and regained by the persistence and courage of African Americans, themselves.

:: Mark 9:52 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Good reading in the OpinionJournal today as the editorial staff attempts to bring some clear, rational analysis back into the debate on Iraq. In response to the monotonous drone from the left side of the political isle and the media parrots under their spell about the "factual inacuracies" in the President's statements leading up to the war in Iraq, the Journal tries to set the record straight about who it is that actually sets US domestic and foreign policy and put the claim that Saddam may have been seeking uranium from Niger back into context.

The charge is that 16 of the words that President Bush uttered during his January State of the Union address may have been false. Here's what he said: 'The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.' We say this 'may' be false, because in fact the British government continues to stand by this assertion even if the CIA does not. So what Mr. Bush said about what the British believe was true in January and is still true today.
Based on this non-lie, then, we are all supposed to believe that the entire case for going to war was false and that--precisely what? Other than calling for someone's head, and for a Congressional probe that would give free TV time to Democrats running for President, the critics don't seem to be demanding anything specific about policy. Do John Kerry and Joe Lieberman now regret their vote to allow Mr. Bush to go to war in Iraq?

:: Mark 9:40 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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You have to give Chirac credit for consistency. He has backed every brutal, oppresive regime that he can find. This article in the Telegraph lends weight to that argument.

President Jacques Chirac negotiated a secret deal to protect Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general accused of Europe's worst atrocities since the Second World War, according to evidence submitted to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
M Chirac allegedly agreed to sabotage the extradition of Gen Mladic to face genocide charges for his role in the planned extermination of Bosnian Muslims, including the massacre of 7,000 men and boys in the UN safe haven of Srebrenica in July 1995.

The article continues:

The claim, dismissed as "hearsay" by Paris, was contained in the transcripts of a telephone conversation between the former Yugoslav president, Zoran Lilic, and the head of the Yugoslav armed forces in Belgrade.

They described Mr Lilic explaining in December 1995 that Gen Mladic would be safe from extradition after the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian conflict, even though he had already been indicted for war crimes.

"He will not be delivered to anyone from the tribunal. He has got the guarantee by Chirac and Slobodan [Milosevic]," said the transcript. "Accordingly, he has to deliver these men to us, if he wants to, or he should come with us and place the men at the place of his choice."

Scott has a fabulous take on this over at Scrappleface.com

:: Mark 10:46 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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A doc's gotta do what a doc's gotta do! CNN.com - Doctor performs brain surgery with store drill - Jul. 11, 2003

'We have no (neurosurgical) instruments at the hospital. ... He was dying, so I had no choice but to run to a hardware store to buy a drill and use the pliers that I fix my car with, of course after sterilizing them,' Cesar Venero told Reuters in a telephone interview.

:: Mark 9:35 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Highlighting the gross ignorance of the major media outlets would be a full-time job, but then how would you find the time to point out the stupidity of their sources and guests?WorldNetDaily: Media ignorance

On NBC's June 15 edition of 'Meet the Press,' Tim Russert interviewed retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who might be a presidential candidate in 2004. Clark criticized President Bush's tax cuts. That's OK, but Clark demonstrated gross ignorance when he said, 'I thought this country was founded on a principle of progressive taxation. ... In other words, it's not only that the more you make, the more you give.'
Tim Russert, just as ignorant, passed over the statement.

The article goes on to point out the following:

It was not until the Abraham Lincoln administration that an income tax was imposed on Americans. Its stated purpose was to finance the war, but it took until 1872 for it to be repealed. During the Grover Cleveland administration, Congress enacted the Income Tax Act of 1894. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1895. It took the 16th Amendment (1913) to make permanent what the Framers feared – today's income tax.

:: Mark 5:47 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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More F.U.D. from the Global Warming Chicken Little Patrol:Hit and myth of global warming - The Washington Times: Commentary

A press release from the federally supported National Center for Atmospheric Research claims a 'New Look at Satellite Data Supports Global Warming Trend.' This claim is likely to be played out big by supporters of the Kyoto Protocol, who want to restrict drastically the use of energy.
But the NCAR result is based on the wishful thinking of well-known Global-Warming promoters rather than on solid science.

:: Mark 5:40 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Now this should inspire some interesting conversations at the office.The Contra Costa Times

'Males are, in many ways, parasites upon their partners,' Jones writes. 'Their interests are to persuade the other party to invest in reproduction, while doing as little as they can themselves. Like all vermin, from viruses to tapeworms, they force their reluctant landladies to adapt or to be overwhelmed.'

At least Maureen Dowd thinks that it's funny.

:: Mark 5:34 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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From the "People unclear on the concept" department:BBC NEWS | Middle East | Danes prepare for snow in Iraq

Denmark's troops in Iraq may dream of the frost of a Scandinavian winter on days when the temperature rises to a blistering 46 degrees.

:: Mark 5:30 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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This is unbelievable...The Courier-Mail: Students riot over cheating ban [10jul03]

MORE than 3000 students of 20 law colleges in the eastern Indian state of Orissa have boycotted their final university examination and demonstrated in protest against a ban on copying.

:: Mark 5:27 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Good help us all...The Japan Times Online

According to the facts surrounding the case as presented by investigators, the student abducted Tanemoto from the electronics shop at around 7:20 p.m. on July 1. He then took the local tram and threw the child from the garage roof at around 9:15 p.m

:: Mark 5:25 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Dinesh D'Souza rightly contends that the United States isn't all that bad.

Anti-Americanism from abroad would not be such a problem if Americans were united in standing up for their own country. But in this country itself, there are those who blame America for most of the evils in the world. On the political left, many fault the United States for a history of slavery, and for continuing inequality and racism. Even on the right, traditionally the home of patriotism, we hear influential figures say that America has become so decadent that we are 'slouching towards Gomorrah.'

:: Mark 1:53 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Please go read this on Armed Pilots on National Review Online

Unfortunately, the TSA appears to be full of old Secret Service bureaucrats who think like Ridge, and who can't stand of the idea of gun carrying by people who don't work for the government.

And then go call your congressman.

:: Mark 1:51 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Victor Davis Hanson has some great questions about Iraq on National Review Online.

What are we to make of the last four months? In 21 days at a cost of less than 200 fatalities, the United States military ended the 24-year reign of one of the most odious dictators in recent memory and freed their people. In response, here at home there were no mass victory parades in appreciation for our soldiers' proven bravery or public braggadocio about their own singular prowess. Some of our fighters, who in a moment of martial zeal had raised the flag of their country above the toppling statue of a horrific tyrant, were more likely chastised as undisciplined chauvinists rather than praised as enthusiastic patriots.

While I agree with his premise, and conclusions, I believe that we owe it to the American soldiers - past, present, and future - to remember them every day of the year...and to do so with the awe and respect that they so richly deserve.

:: Mark 1:45 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Maybe this is tied to the Lacy Peterson case.Gruesome Cat Killings Mystify Authorities

At least 40 felines have been mutilated in the Denver metropolitan area in the last year – four of them over the weekend – and the 11th murdered pet in Salt Lake City was discovered Tuesday at a country club.

You never can be to sure with those wacky demon worshipping types.

:: Mark 1:37 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Add this:

The Supreme Court is comprised of men and women, who like us, are flawed by sin. They got it wrong with the Dred Scott decision: They got it wrong with the Roe v. Wade decision; and they got it wrong with this decision. With every arrogant action which confronts God’s revealed truth, comes God’s justice.

and this:

America’s highest court’s assault on the culture is now complete, and the twin sisters of slaughtering the innocent and sodomy are now legal and protected rights in the land.

to the debate.

:: Mark 2:18 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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An intersting wedding story from WorldNetDaily

Saturday, June 21, was a glorious June afternoon here in Ohio. In a rural church near the historic town of Lebanon, about 200 people gathered for one of life's happiest events: a wedding.

:: Mark 2:11 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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The irony inherent in this bit of news is so strong that it brings tears to your eyes.

Scientists announced yesterday that they have been able to remove immature ovaries from four-month-old foetuses. The theory is that they can then be stimulated in the test tube to go through the later stages of development before the creation of fully mature eggs.

:: Mark 1:47 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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