Smacking down moralistic moral equivalency

A little history lesson (here) about ending WWII for Jon Stewart.

Living free versus dying

This morning I was reading the latest edition of Imprimis. The essay from Mark Steyn hammers the reality that we are inclined to want many things other than freedom when push comes to shove. From the article:

"Give people plenty and security, and they will fall into spiritual torpor," wrote Charles Murray in In Our Hands. "When life becomes an extended picnic, with nothing of importance to do, ideas of greatness become an irritant. Such is the nature of the Europe syndrome."

The key word here is "give." When the state "gives" you plenty—when it takes care of your health, takes cares of your kids, takes care of your elderly parents, takes care of every primary responsibility of adulthood—it's not surprising that the citizenry cease to function as adults: Life becomes a kind of extended adolescence—literally so for those Germans who've mastered the knack of staying in education till they're 34 and taking early retirement at 42. Hilaire Belloc, incidentally, foresaw this very clearly in his book The Servile State in 1912. He understood that the long-term cost of a welfare society is the infantilization of the population.

I thought of the subject again over lunch with a friend as we discussed the stress of employment and paying bills and most-things-work-related . . . a comfortable, secure, high-quality-of-life job is very appealing at times. Steyn's article, beyond any perceived (or real) relationship to contemporary partisan politics, provides insight into a founding principle of our great republic: Live free or die.

Wow, "more info" equals "more pro-life"?

I've heard some speculation that recent polling trends (in favor of the pro-life position) were a reflection of push-back following the election of the most abortion-friendly president in American history, but this article suggests that the pro-life trend (which has been occurring over several years) may be the result of increased use and availability of ultra-sound.

Iranian "Elections"

I was intrigued by the headline, "Iran approves candidates," linking to an article about Iran's upcoming presidential election. From the article:

Campaigning has officially got under way in Iran's presidential elections, with just four people cleared to run out of the 475 who registered.

Iran's Guardian Council cleared four candidates, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the current president, to run for election, Iran's Jumhuri-ye Eslami newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Guardian Council likely thinks they're "guarding" the people from themselves.

Pro-life legislation finally gets a vote in TN House

Pro-life victory in TN: SJR 127 passes the House at last.

Hey, is Nancy Pelosi a lawyer?

There's a "movement" afoot to disbar 12 Bush Administration attorneys for their purported support of "torture." VELVETREVOLUTION.US : The DisbarTortureLawyers Campaign:

Torture is illegal under both United States and international law. The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and it states that treaties signed by the U.S. are the “supreme Law of the Land” under Article Six. The Geneva Convention and The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment both prohibit torture and have been signed by the United States. These laws provide no exception for torture under any circumstances. Moreover, the United States Criminal Code prohibits both torture and war crimes, the latter which includes torture. The Army Field Manual prohibits the use of degrading treatment of detainees.

Despite this well-established law, under the Bush administration, torture was authorized by George Bush and kept secret using classified designations. The White House requested legal memoranda to support its use of torture and it received those authored by a host of attorneys, including John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Stephen Bradbury. Attorneys who advised, counseled, consulted and supported those memoranda included Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Michael Chertoff, Alice Fisher, William Haynes II, Douglas Feith, Michael Mukasey, Timothy Flanigan, and David Addington.

(emphasis mine). Well, it wasn't exactly kept a secret.

Majority of Americans "pro-life"

Poll: Majority of Americans Are Pro-Life for the First Time

Fifty-one percent of Americans consider themselves "pro-life" and just 42 percent say they are "pro-choice," the first time a majority of the country has stated a personal objection to abortion since Gallup polls began tracking the data 15 years ago.

See Newsbusters for more info on the poll.

Remembering 9/11

While I was at youtube, I came across this stirring documentary about 9/11. It is an excellent reminder of the enemy we face in Jihadist Islam.

Great movie speeches . . .

Great art inspires us to great things, in my opinion. This movie clip inspires me to be willing to fight and risk loss.

What song brings a tear to your eye?

Tea Party Primer

If you have been following coverage of yesterday's Tea Parties (even reports about the CNN Chicago Tea Party dust up) you might not have a firm grasp on what the Tea Parties were/are about (I'm not sure I could have told you even though I took part).

Well, my friend The Blue Collar Muse (Ken Marrero) provides the best Tea Party Primer that I've seen, below.

A lot of material to work with

A little known (or appreciated) policy in Tennessee is that whichever party has the majority of total members in the General Assembly gets the majority of seats on every county's Election Commission--the people that hire the person who runs every county's election apparatus. Well, I just saw this Tom Humphrey report that,

County election administrators who are fired because of their political affiliation could successfully file lawsuits against county election commissions, according to state Attorney General Bob Cooper.

Given the challenges that seem inherent to administering elections (and have seemed largely intractable for Democrat-chosen election administrators) the newly-Republican controlled election commissions should have no problem removing many election administrators "for cause."

The intersection of isolated lives

I had missed the story about a missing California 8-year-old girl until today, when it was announced yesterday that a pastor's granddaughter had been arrested in the slaying:

A Sunday school teacher was booked early today on suspicion of murder and kidnapping in the slaying of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, whose body was found in a suitcase in an irrigation pond.

This reminded me of several other recent reports of murders, for example, the man in Binghamton, NY who went on a shooting spree in an immigrant community service center or the man in Pittsburgh who seems to have ambushed and murdered several police officers for no apparent "reason." The information on the California arrest is sketchy, but it appears that they have likely found at least one person involved in the murder.

My anger at such perpetrators is palpable, but I eventually get to thinking about the challenge of predicting or preventing such crimes. It has become cliche to read the statements of people who knew such murderers: "s/he was quiet," "he kept to himself," "never would have imagined s/he would do something like this."

As I contemplated the whole "Sunday School teacher" aspect of the CA story, I began thinking of my own children and my own church. Given the protocols and circumstances of our church, I don't really have any concerns about my children when they're in the care of our learning center. For example, I know that our church does background checks on volunteers, and there is a requirement that at least three people be present at any given time, especially when using "the facilities." But I also know how "desperately" we have to recruit people willing to serve in the learning center. And in a small church, those protocols would be difficult to implement.

I worry that in our culture it has become increasingly difficult to avoid becoming a victim to such crimes. It has become more difficult (a) to avoid crossing paths with criminally-inclined people and (b) to even know that someone is criminally-inclined. I don't know what the "push back" is. I think we must be wise about allowing someone too much "access" to our lives without a basis for trusting them with that access. I also think that a right-to-carry permit can be a useful "hedge" against those in our society who are demonstrating an increasingly bold appetite for violence.

Bush responsible for hate murders in Iraq

Comcast.net: Gays killed in Baghdad as clerics urge clampdown: "Homosexuality is prohibited almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions have become especially dangerous for gays and lesbians in Iraq since the rise of religious militias after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein six years ago."

Way cool . . .

Liberal Originalists? Whatever works . . .

In this article ("Rethinking the Constitution's Original Intent" - WSJ.com) about a movement among some Liberal legal scholars' toward Originalism (i.e., interpreting the Constitutional based on what was intended in its original text), there is this revealing statement about this "movement."

Professed Liberal Originalist Douglas Kendall provides some historical context for Liberal Originalism and refers to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black who, ostensibly, represented the ideals of Liberal Originalism but ultimately threw in the towel:

"Black was the great progressive textualist, and once he lost the battle, the court decided that avenue is closed," says Kendall. Other justices of the 1950s and '60s, including William Brennan and William O. Douglas, "were less concerned with having the correct test as getting the right answers," he says.

(emphasis added). Yep. "The end justifies the means."

Religious freedom in the U.S.A.

On James Madison's birthday, a fascinating op/ed on his view of so-called "separation of church and state": Madison and Religious Freedom - WSJ.com

Madison and his evangelical allies had a completely different concept. They wanted to promote religion. They just believed that the best way to promote religion was for government to leave it alone.

This basic approach has made America one of the most religiously free and religiously vibrant nations in the world.

Indeed.

Fowler on renewing the "Tennessee Plan"

2/19/2009 - Is Following the State Constitution a Bad Policy? - Opinion - Chattanoogan.com:

"As a former legislator, I know that it is sometimes hard to know what the best policy is and how to balance competing policy values. But it is always a good policy for the legislature to follow the plain, common sense language of the state’s constitution, and it is always bad policy to disregard it. When our fundamental, supreme governing law ceases to be just that, then we are in trouble."

Adoption from A to Z

If you're interested in learning more about adopting a child, you can meet representatives from almost every Middle Tennessee adoption agency (including the Department of Children's Services) and attend seminars hosted by adoption experts at the Middle Tennessee Inter-agency Adoption Coalition's annual conference, Feb. 21, 2009.

Follow this link for more information or to register. The price for the conference, including lunch, is $25 per person (or $35 per couple).


(In the interest of full disclosure, I'm the co-chair of IAC . . .)

The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids -- New York Magazine

This article about the impact of praise on children is fascinating, and it resonates. Enjoy . . .

"How Not to Talk to Your Kids--The inverse power of praise." -- New York Magazine: