Horticulture Journalism 101...

Fall usually isn't the time for planting, but that hasn't stopped CNN.

HotAir and Michelle Malkin have been leading the coverage on this, and MM.com is now linked in the headlines at Drudge, along with Newsbusters and Politico... awesome.

Let's start with this video montage from HotAir last week... the politics of planting:


Now head over to Michelle Malkin for the Drudge-linked post on the Republican debate last night...Digging out more CNN/YouTube plants.

Go to NewsBusters for all of the CNN bias coverage you can stand.

Human Events has coverage here:

Retired Brig. Gen. Keth Kerr who was featured as a "spontaneous" questioner on CNN's YouTube Republican Debate on Wednesday night is actually an operative in the Hillary Clinton campaign.

...

So Hillary’s campaign strategy obviously goes beyond planting friendly questioners at her own appearances. It now includes sending her lieutenants (in this case a General) into the enemy (GOP) camp in an “Operation Harassment.”

It is more than a little ironic that the "don't ask/don't tell" policy that Kerr -- a Hillary Clinton operative -- was attacking was in fact implemented as official military policy by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

... and more on Retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr here.

Audio: Michelle talks about it with Glenn Beck on his show this morning.

Update 11/30: Michelle Malkin continues the coverage with CNN’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Also - surprise, surprise - one of the questioners was a CAIR intern! You seriously can't make this stuff up!

Here she is talking about CNN's "veritable greenhouse" on Fox & Friends this morning:

The story of J-Mac... Unbeatable. Unrelenting. Unstoppable.

This YouTube video was posted in September, but the game took place on February 15, 2006. I hadn't heard of high school senior Jason McElwain before, but what a truly remarkable and inspirational story:


Wow. More video/news coverage from CBS here.

Prager: It is not true that the world hates America

According to Dennis' latest column, it's the left that hates America:

One of the most widely held beliefs in the contemporary world - so widely held it is not disputed - is that, with few exceptions, the world hates America. One of the Democrats' major accusations against the Bush administration is that it has increased hatred of America to unprecedented levels. And in many polls, the United States is held to be among the greatest obstacles to world peace and harmony.

But it is not true that the world hates America. It is the world's left that hates America. However, because the left dominates the world's news media and because most people, understandably, believe what the news media report, many people, including Americans, believe that the world hates America.

...

It makes perfect sense that the left around the world loathes America. The final question, then, is whether this loathing of America is characteristic of the American left as well. The answer is that the American left hates the America that believes in American exceptionalism, is prepared to use force to fight what it deems as dangerous evil, affirms the Judeo-Christian value system, believes in the death penalty, supports male-female marriage, rejects big government, wants lower taxes, prefers free market to governmental solutions, etc. The American left, like the rest of the world's left, loathes that America.

So what America does the American left love? That is for those on the left to answer. But given their beliefs that America was founded by racists and slaveholders, that it is an imperialist nation, that 35 million Americans go hungry, that it invades countries for corporate profits, and that it is largely racist and xenophobic, it is a fair question.

Do you disagree?

Here's a google search on "hate america" with some examples of hating America, Bush Derangement Syndrome, and the VRWC against America. Sheeesh.

Related...The Media, Their Polls and the False News They Produce.

Much more at Newsbusters and the MRC.

Inhaling the truth...

Doug Giles with a surprising take on Obama's confession that he used to smoke dope:

Sir Winston Churchill used to suck down cigars and scotch like there was no tomorrow while dictating to his female secretary whilst butt naked. Would you vote for a dude now who did that? Of course you would. You voted for Bill Clinton.

Were this week’s confessions by Obama motivated by some supposed dirt Hillary has on him? Who knows, and who cares? If that’s the worst she has on him I say Obama can exhale because the Clintons are dirtier than Howard Stern sitting in the Mojave desert eating a mud pie and chasing it down with a cup of dust. You can relax, BO.

Now, obviously, because I’m a conservative I would never vote for the young senator—but I do appreciate Barack and even Rudy for being honest and owning their checkered pasts. It’s refreshing to hear the truth every now and then in a milieu that’s ripe with bull such as “I didn’t inhale; it wasn’t my fault; I did not have sex with that woman; and I never flip flopped.”

He likely won't be at the top of the Dem ticket this time, but Oprack Winframa is here to stay.

Save the planet... don't have kids? (updated)

Please God, save us from ourselves... literally:

At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to "protect the planet".

Incredibly, instead of mourning the loss of a family that never was, her boyfriend (now husband) presented her with a congratulations card.

While some might think it strange to celebrate the reversal of nature and denial of motherhood, Toni relishes her decision with an almost religious zeal.

"Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet," says Toni, 35.

"Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population."

While most parents view their children as the ultimate miracle of nature, Toni seems to see them as a sinister threat to the future.

It's an extreme stance which one might imagine is born from an unhappy childhood or an upbringing among parents who share similar, strong beliefs.

Good grief! Where have we heard this before... the environuts taking their twisted logic to the point where the answer is human extinction? Start here.

From LifeSite.net:

Global populations have been falling dramatically and few countries of the developed world have a fertility rate higher than bare replacement level. Recent statistics have shown that nearly 40 per cent of the world’s countries have fertility rates from 0 to 2.4 children born per woman, whereas the bare minimum replacement level is 2.1.

A United Nations report showed in August this year that 28 per cent of the world’s countries allow abortion on demand. 84 per cent of the wealthier countries allow abortion on eugenic grounds for “foetal impairment”; 78 per cent allow it on “economic or social” grounds and 84 per cent of wealthy countries allow abortion in cases of rape or incest.

But not everyone is as sanguine about humanity’s impending self-induced extinction. Mark Steyn wrote last year that the falling fertility levels in Europe and the formerly Christian west will spell the end of western civilization. “We are living through a remarkable period: the self-extinction of the races who, for good or ill, shaped the modern world,” Steyn wrote.

“Much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries....Europe by the end of this century will be a continent after the neutron bomb: The grand buildings will still be standing, but the people who built them will be gone.”

Mark Steyn on the "logical reduction of environmentalism:


Hat tip to HotAir with Save the planet: Have an abortion.

Oh, and how can we save the planet? It's so obvious!

Update: Right on queue, Mac Johnson chimes in with some outstanding commentary:

... But don’t think I am critical of the eco-sterility cause. For once, I have found a leftist movement that I totally agree with. Leftist should not breed under any circumstances. If we can get 100% compliance on this point, we’re just one generation away from a better world. I think it’s fair to say that Vernelli and her kind are absolutely correct: the fewer children they have, the better.

It amuses me greatly that the greatest political proponents of evolutionary theory today, western leftists, are about to be its most recent victims. I can assure you that no species, no group, no community has ever successfully evolved childlessness as one of its defining characteristics. The dinosaurs and the Shakers tried, but for some reason they’re not around today to share their wisdom on the subject.

By contrast, social conservatives the world over, many of whom reject or question evolution as a theory, are all set to be the theory’s great winners, since they maintain the traditional love of family. But then it doesn’t matter who believes Mr. Darwin. It just matters who has kids. The future belongs to those who send descendants there.

The future will not belong to those that commit evolutionary suicide because they are fretting overly about their carbon footprint. It is safe to say, therefore, that the future will not belong to sterile vegan animal rights activist environmental patients.

Whew! One less thing to worry about.

Wouldn't that be nice!

Kathleen Parker also chimes in with Survival of the Stupidest.

Thanksgiving links...

Start with Mark Alexander at the Patriot Post. Then check out their Family Thanksgiving Quiz with your kids.

Then check out Newt Gingrich discussing how to Make Thanksgiving Meaningful Again.

Robert Huchinson talks about The Biblical Roots of Thanksgiving.

Jennifer Rubin says we have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

Ken Connor wonders if Americans really understand to whom they should be thankful.

Michelle Malkin says before Thanksgiving brings out the worst in you, stop before you gripe.

Archbishop Charles Chaput thinks this is a time for acknowledging our dependence on God.

Ollie North is thankful for people like John Bolton who expose the U.N.

God bless you all... have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving.

Considering Duncan Hunter...

Jay from STACLU wonders Why No Push For Duncan Hunter?: (Rush too)

[T]he point I’m trying to get at is the unfair treatment by the MSM towards Duncan Hunter. I’ve also been curious as to why so many conservatives are backing liberals like Rudy Giulliani and questionable characters like Mitt Romney. Why is so little attention being paid towards a solid conservative like Duncan Hunter?

I agree.

Here is where he stands. Please consider Duncan Hunter for President.

(Video to the right is Hunter's appeal to conservatives)

Update: Here is a strong endorsement of Hunter from Mark Alexander at the Patriot Post:

The consensus among the chattering class is that this presidential cycle features no clear heir to the Reagan mantle. Yet of the declared candidates, conservatives outnumber the media-dubbed triumvirate of Giuliani, McCain and Romney. Most notable among them is Duncan Hunter, the California representative who hails from The Gipper's lucky city of San Diego.

...

Every characteristic touted as a distinguisher for another candidate is one Hunter also demonstrates. He combines the military service and acumen of McCain with the border-security stances of Tom Tancredo, he's been a consistent defender of human life and traditional families in law and he has a firm grasp of the principles of constitutional law. He has as much or more experience as a legislator than most of his primary contenders.

A true Patriot, Hunter proclaims, "America is a great nation because America is a good nation. God still loves this nation. We are still a people of character and strength and kindness. And so with faith in God, with confidence in the goodness of the American people, let's win this race for the United States presidency."

Read about all of the Presidential candidates at the Patriot Post.

Ann Coulter on Hunter:

Hillary Clinton: I'm So Glad You Asked!

Mac Johnson is, again, awesome:

America’s trust in the Clintons suffered a horrible blow last week, when it was discovered that Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff had planted the “spontaneous” questions being asked by audience members at an Iowa campaign event.

"They were canned,” Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff (a Grinnell College student attending the performance) said of the questions that Clinton took. In a remarkable coincidence, Clinton’s answers seemed quite polished -- almost prepared, really.

This was truly only a coincidence, though, according to Clinton’s widely trusted campaign staff, which at first denied planting any questions. Then, under a gathering mountain of evidence, her staff admitted planting one question, but claimed that no one told Clinton there was a planted question in the crowd or with whom the fraudulent question had been planted. In other words, Clinton called on the correct person, who asked the correct question, to which Clinton gave a very specific answer, but Clinton did not inhale before giving that answer.

The staff also claimed that the only time they have ever planted a question in the audience was the one time they got caught doing so. And if people were dumb enough to believe that line, the divorce rate would be a lot lower.

In yet another remarkable coincidence, shortly after claiming they have never planted any other question, the Rev. Geoffrey Mitchell, a Democrat minister came forward to report that a Clinton staffer had tried to convince him to ask a planted question at a different dog and phony show in Iowa.

Clinton’s staff immediately denied this, then provided a parsed explanation of the denial. Sure a staffer talked to the man, they said, and they discussed the general concept of questions as a grammatical concept, but nobody was asked to ask any questions – and, besides, the staffer and the Reverend Mitchell were old buddies just talking about politics and the whole thing is therefore just a misunderstanding. Rev. Mitchell denies knowing the staffer at all, except by name. Apparently, the first question the staffer should have asked the Reverend was “You aren’t an Obama supporter, are you?”

See -- it’s a misunderstanding.

But let’s get back to the original incident and marvel at how well the answer fit the question, which was planted, but totally unknown to Sen. Mrs. Bill Clinton:

Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff: “As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?

Clinton: "Well, you should be worried. You know, I find as I travel around Iowa that it's usually young people that ask me about global warming." Clinton then went on to describe her plan for saving the world

Well, of course it’s usually young people that ask that question, the staff tells the old folks to ask about social security and prescription drugs.

Everything would have gone just fine with the planted question, except that Gallo-Chasanoff, apparently new to the Democrat Party’s style of politics, decided to reveal the dishonesty. "[T}hey wanted a question from a college student,” Ms. Gallo-Chasanoff later told reporters. “One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask].”

In light of these damaging revelations of Clinton’s claimed ignorance of the malfeasance of a senior staff member, and maybe some other guy who was probably just misunderstood by the long-time friend he had just met, Sen. Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been anxious to talk to members of the press to explain things, and I’m proud and quite shocked to say that I was granted an interview with her this weekend, shortly after I received a new 12-cylinder Audi A8L from an unknown benefactor (a remarkable coincidence). A transcript is below: ...

Read the rest.

Check out The Hillary Project too!

Hyping an atheist fantasy movie for kids just in time for Christmas... (updated)

Brent Bozell writes about The Christmas-Crushing Movie:

... The media have played happily along in disguising Pullman's religion-bashing. On NBC's "Today," weatherman Al Roker delighted in making "The Golden Compass" the fall book selection of "Al's Book Club for Kids." Pullman appeared on NBC to deny that he was really promoting atheism. He touted letting the reader decide what the author intended, in a "democracy of reading." The closest he came to atheism was saying the book championed "open-minded intellectual curiosity." If that sounds like a transparent dodge, it certainly was. He told the students asking questions to think of the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the menace in Pullman's trilogy isn't called the Caliphate, and its hideous monsters aren't mullahs. They are cardinals and priests, and the heroes are an atheist former nun and two rebellious gay male angels.

The atheists may be angry that the movie waters down Pullman's anti-religious message, but they can take comfort in the fact that many parents (and grandparents and even godparents) will, sadly, buy the hype over this movie and buy this trilogy of vicious anti-religious books for the young readers in their lives. To the Christian book buyer, beware: Instead of celebrating God's son born in the flesh, you'll be celebrating God being killed so that man can advance to true consciousness. ...

Read it all.

Also, Newt Gingrich discusses The (Anti-Religious) Bigotry of the Elites:

... Of course, when it comes to official anti-religious bigotry, not all religions are equal.

Did you know that, while religious images are under assault across the nation, in nine Western states the courts have ruled it constitutional for public schools to require a three-week course on the Islamic faith -- a course in which all junior-high students are mandated to pretend they are Muslims and offer prayers to Allah?

This is the same court, mind you, that infamously ruled (in the case brought by atheist activist Michael Newdow) that it is unconstitutional for students to mention "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. ...

Check out Newt's new movie called Rediscovering God in America.

Update: Pastor Paul Edwards has an interesting take on the movie:

... Our response should not be to merely paint Pullman as a liar and deceiver, denying that the Church he depicts exists. On the contrary, we should agree, at least in part, with Pullman that such a Church has existed—and still exists—but that it is not the genuine Church, as Pullman leads his readers to believe.

If “The Golden Compass” is a lie passing itself off as truth, is the appropriate course for us to run from it, to bury our heads in the cultural sand, pretending that, if ignored, challenges to the faith aren’t real? Would you deem it a valid response if your college freshman merely ran from the challenges to her faith she can expect from her atheistic philosophy professor? If not, why would you encourage your children to run from the challenges to their faith implicit in Pullman’s trilogy?

It seems to me the proper response from those who are convinced of the truth ought to be to engage error, not run from it. Rather than fearing our children might read a book or see a film that challenges their faith, such a scenario presents us with an opportunity to teach them to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.

We should be willing to read the books and see the movie with our children (of the appropriate age and level of maturity), engaging the difficult issues raised by Pullman, and allowing the True Compass, the Word of God, to guide us into all truth—to bring to light the hidden things of darkness. If true followers of Jesus Christ boycott “The Golden Compass” we run the risk of validating Pullman’s thesis that Christians suppress and control, rather than engage in open and honest debate in a vibrant, passionate and intelligent defense of the faith.

Why not counter Pullman by being a living demonstration of the Church he fails to portray in his trilogy rather than validating him by being exactly what he says we are?

Great points.

Prager on the latest issues of Rolling Stone...

Dennis Prager says To Understand the Left, Read this Issue of Rolling Stone:

... But even if no foul language were used by so many of those interviewed in Rolling Stone, the absence of serious thought would be enough to fear leftist influence on the country.

Some examples:

Jane Goodall: "We seem to have lost the wisdom of the indigenous people, which dictated that in any major decision, the first consideration was, 'How will this decision we make today affect our people in the future?'"

The romanticizing of "indigenous peoples" is a popular leftist myth, believed not because it is true - "indigenous people" were just as cruel and raped the land just as much as later groups - but because it is a way of attacking the Western societies and cultures that replaced "indigenous peoples."

Bill Maher: "... [in 2003], it was a relatively small number of young Muslim men. Now, thanks to this clash of civilizations we've created, the threat could come from anywhere."

According to Bill Maher and many others on the left, we Americans created this clash of civilizations. Presumably, prior to 2003 the Islamic world was morally similar to Western civilization. This, too, is a dogma of the left: Before our invasion of Iraq, the Muslim world was populated by peaceful young men; violent Islamists were made by America, not by any aspects of Islamic culture and values. Maher should tell that to the Armenians, to the blacks of the Sudan, to the Israelis, to the Algerians who have lost tens of thousands to Islamic terror, and to the others murdered and maimed by young Muslim men prior to America deposing Saddam Hussein. As noted by a Labor member of the British Parliament in the Guardian this past Sunday:

"Ten years ago, in November 1997, 50 Swiss tourists rose early to visit the Valley of the Kings across the Nile from Luxor in Egypt. Suddenly from the hills came a group of Islamists. They shot, disembowelled and decapitated the tourists." While the American president was Bill Clinton, not George W. Bush.

Bill Maher on Republican opposition to radical changes and expenditures to fight carbon emissions: "I don't understand what any person doesn't get about 'You're going to die too!' I mean, do they have their own air? I could understand that, because they're selfish pr--ks by nature: 'I've got my own air. What do I give a s--t?'"

Another central leftist dogma: Conservatives aren't merely wrong, they're "selfish pr--ks by nature." That's why, as regards manmade global warming leading to catastrophe on Earth, the left doesn't address the challenges posed by many dissenting scientists. The left merely dismisses them as either paid by industry (the Newsweek cover story explanation for all dissent on this issue) or as human beings so selfish by nature that they even deny their own impending deaths.

Princeton Professor Cornel West: "... a morally insensitive period from Reagan to the second Bush, when it was fashionable to be indifferent to the suffering of the most vulnerable."

Again, the vileness of conservatives.

Cornel West: "Black folk in America have never been optimistic about the future -- what have we had to be optimistic about?"

No matter how improved the lot of the vast majority of black Americans, leftists like Cornel West continue to argue that there is no reason for a black American to be optimistic.

Read and listen to Dennis at Townhall.com.

Coulter...Setting the record straight on Joe McCarthy

Ann Coulter discusses M. Stanton Evans new book - Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies:

... Blacklisted by History proves that every conventional belief about McCarthy is wrong, including:

-- That he lied about his war service: He was a tailgunner in World War II;

-- That he was a drunk: He would generally nurse a single drink all night;

-- That he made the whole thing up: He produced loads of Soviet spies in government jobs;

-- That he just did it for political gain: He understood perfectly the godless evil of communism.

Ironically, for all of their love of conspiracy theories - the rigging of the 2000 election, vote suppression in Ohio in 2004, 9/11 being an inside job, oil companies covering up miracle technology that would allow cars to run on dirt, Britney Spears' career, etc., etc. - when presented with an actual conspiracy of Soviet spies infiltrating the U.S. government, they laughed it off like world-weary skeptics and dedicated themselves to slandering Joe McCarthy.

Then as now, liberals protect themselves from detection with wild calumnies against anybody who opposes them. They have no interest in - or aptitude for - persuasion. Their goal is to anathematize their enemies. Blacklisted by History removes the curse from one of the greatest patriots in American history.

Read the rest in McCarthyism: The Rosetta Stone of Liberal Lies.

A Veterans Day Tribute...

In honor of Veterans Day this Sunday, please read this inspirational story from Mark Alexander at the Patriot Post:

In February 1966, five months into his first 13-month tour in Vietnam, Roger’s unit was searching for Viet Cong around Gia Le. Roger had walked point for patrols during the previous four months and had been shot once, so his intuition about the enemy’s presence was acutely tuned.

On a night mission to a small fishing village reportedly occupied by VC, Roger and 12 other Marines were moving down a trail lined with dense bamboo. His squad leader had taken Roger’s position as point man, and Roger’s instinct told him the squad was moving too fast along the trail. So urgent was his sense that something was wrong that he wanted to call out, but did not want to betray their position.

In an instant, gunfire erupted and a series of “daisy-chain” explosions propelled Roger and two other Marines over the vegetation into an adjacent rice paddy. As he slowly recovered from the shock of the concussion generated by the explosions, he could see green tracers from VC weapons cutting up and down the trail.

The ambush was over as quickly as it began, and more than 60 VC emerged like ghosts from the bamboo, killed the wounded Marines on the trail, collected their weapons and disappeared.

As Roger regained his senses, he pulled the other two Marines in the water to the edge of the rice paddy. He then pawed around in the muddy water for his M-14, and crawled back onto the trail to check for survivors among the ten remaining Marines — among his friends. The squad leader had taken 29 rounds. There were no survivors.

Read the rest.

From the NRSC - They give so much so that we may live free:

Anheuser Busch's commercial welcoming back the troops :

Bob Carter Debunks Global Warming Hysteria...

Powerful stuff... must-watch video for anyone still on the fence. The debate is not over Al, you narcissistic, fear-mongering, hypocritical, bloviating windbag.

Here are four videos that comprise Carter's roughly 37-minute lecture given at the Annual Conference of the Australian Environmental Foundation on September 8th, 2007 in Melbourne: (hat tip to global warming truth-teller extraordinaire, Noel Sheppard)

The first of four parts where Professor Bob Carter uses the scientific method on the popular theory with global warming being linked to CO2 levels. He examines the hypothesis and it fails the test. Does this surprise you?

Part 2 - Professor Bob Carter examines more of the data concerning climate change which does not stand up well to convince anyone with a logical mind.

Part 3 - Professor Bob Carter continues looking at the things which are problems to the idea that CO2 is driving climate change.

Part 4 - Professor Bob Carter examines examples of the scientific data being ignored over popularist views about CO2 causing climate change.

Time to go nuclear.

Bonus: An audio message from the Goracle.

And... Weather Channel Founder: Global Warming ‘Greatest Scam in History’.

Wishful thinking...

The straight-talk express. If he was running, I'd be saying "John Bolton for President". He's not, but read this write-up of his new book from Jay Nordlinger and you may join me in the wishful thinking... if you're not already there.

Also, more talk on his book with Cavuto:

On boys being boys...

Ross Mackenzie writes Rallying Boys to a 'Dangerous' Standard of Normalcy:

... Feminists who would condition us all may argue that boys are doing no worse than before — it only seems that way because girls, liberated at last, are doing better; the real crisis facing boys, they say, is that they’re not enough like girls. Yet something is rendering boys enervated and effete; something is sapping their energy. Midge Decter notes a “shying away from their instinctive restlessness and competitiveness, and, with it, a fading of whatever happened to be the standards of gallantry.”

Maybe it’s the feminist revolution. Maybe it’s divorce and single(-mother) families. Maybe it’s our Spockian mores of child-rearing. Maybe it’s an outgrowth of the relativism that no longer finds innate goodness in America — and so worth defending, and its enemies worth fighting — and likewise no longer recognizes, or values, the goodness inhering in boys.

Click here for the rest of the column.

I haven't read anything from Mackenzie before, but I'm glad to have found him. Click here for Mackenzie's column archives at Townhall.com. Click the picture above to order the book.

An important photo... please share

Independent military reporter and photographer Michael Yon is amazing.

His latest dispatch titled "Thanks and Praise" is not only a must-read, it's a must-share. He writes:

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Infantry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. "Thank you, thank you," the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

A picture certainly is worth a thousand words. Please share this and support Michael if you can.

As Bryan over at HotAir points out... we're winning in Iraq, wouldn’t you think this news would be big enough to warrant better placement than page A19? Not for the New York Times.

Giles: PC-riddled Christianity is more dastardly than uncut atheism...

Get off on your bad self Doug! Damn, he's fun to read. How about this snippet from his latest titled Pusillanimous Pastors are Worse than Strident Atheists:

Look, Christian, if it weren’t for the atheists busting our chops and asking us the tricky questions and bringing up the offensive aspects of Scripture, most of the church wouldn’t lift a manicured, uncalloused finger to investigate such topics and formulate a non-whacked answer to the gloves-off godless inquiries.

So, quit crying church, the atheists are good for you. Embrace them. They’ll put meat on your bones and hair on your chest, Nancy boy.

Frankly, the people who concern me — the ones I think are more malevolent than the obstreperous atheists — are the postmodern prevaricating pastors and priests who sidestep the stout aspects of Scripture because of the pressures of political correctness.

Correct me if I’m mistaken, brethren, but I’m pretty certain that Christ saved his most scathing invectives for the in-house boys who were ashamed of His person, works and word and who bowed to the crowd.

I was thunderstruck the other day at how far the church has moved away from preaching the raw gospel when I happened upon an old black and white Billy Graham crusade on the tube. It had to be at least 40 if not 50 year old footage.

Billy was in his prime. He was young, had dark wavy hair, and he was full of P&V. I’m thinking this is pretty cool. However, let’s check Graham out. Let’s see if he preaches Oprah verses Obadiah like a lot of postmodern therapeutic Tony Robbins wannabe ministers are doing in the pulpit today.

As you can imagine, Billy didn’t play. The man delivered the goods. He didn’t bee-bop and scat around the difficult sayings of Christ and the gospel. He clearly wasn’t on TV preaching to get rich, to sell his latest book, to be Christendom’s playmate of the month, nor to soul stroke an impenitent mob of vapid narcissists.

Graham simply stood up there with boldness and verve and delivered the gospel unapologetically. It was heaven or hell...turn or burn...that came rolling off Graham’s tongue. I was blown away by how non-PC Billy G was. ...

Read it all.

Let's go straight to the man himself... Billy Graham from 1957 in MSG. Examine your heart:


Shawnjor has lots of other clips from Billy Graham up on YouTube... check 'em out!

Steve Jobs: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

This video is from earlier this year, but I thought it was worth sharing... Steve Jobs with some good life lessons, giving the comencement speech at Stanford University:


Click here for the transcript over at YouTube.

Polling data: America's Most Widely Held Views

I am a huge fan of Newt Gingrich. I hope he get's traction with the change initiatives he's promoting.

From Newt's American Solutions comes America’s Red, White and Blue Platforms: (read here)

96% It is important for the President and Congress to address the issue of social security in the next few years.

95% We have an obligation to be good stewards of God’s creation for future generations.

94% Children should be allowed a moment of silence to pray to themselves in public school if they desire.

93% Al Qaeda poses a very serious threat for the United States.

93% In the worker visa program, each worker should take an oath to obey the United States law, and to be deported if the worker commits a crime while in the United States.

93% It is important to acknowledge today that the reference to God in the Declaration of Independence – that we are endowed by our Creator with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

92% Our focus should clearly be to provide long-term solutions instead of short-term fixes.

91% We should dramatically increase our investment in math and science education.

91% We should hold city governments to the same standards for cleaning waste water as are applied to the private industry.

90% We favor a law that allows public school children to take a moment of silence for prayer if they desire.

90% We approve of a Christmas tree or a Menorah being placed on public property during the holiday season.

90% We should give tax credits to homeowners and builders who incorporate alternative energy sources in their homes, like solar, wind, and geothermal energy.

Click here for video of Newt speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on November 6th.

You may also want to check out Newt's new movie called Rediscovering God in America.

Darth Vader in Love

I'd never heard of Peter Serafinowicz before, but he's clearly got some strong comedy kung-fu... and it's time for something light-hearted. If you've got a few minutes, this four-part skit of Darth Vader in Love is fall-on-the-floor hilarious:

Communist Chinese government won't allow athletes to bring Bibles along with them to the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

Holy intolerance.

Another Sowell quote: What “multiculturalism” boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except Western culture — and you cannot blame any culture in the world except Western culture.

If you want to 'make a difference', give back the truth...

Thomas Sowell should be on your regular reading list if he's not already. He has an amazingly clear and concise writing style that is easy to read. He's also thought-provoking and, well, right.

Townhall has all of his columns. Here's his "curriculum vita" if you're interested.

His latest column is titled Stop "Making A Difference":

Making a difference makes sense only if you are convinced that you have mastered the subject at hand to the point where any difference you might make would be for the better.

Very few people have mastered anything that well beyond their own limited circle of knowledge. Even fewer seem to think far enough ahead to consider that question. Yet hardly a day goes by without news of some uninformed busybodies on one crusade or another.

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Indeed, many who repeat the "giving back" mantra would sneer at any such notion as patriotism or any idea that the institutions and values of American society have accomplished worthy things and deserve their support, instead of their undermining.

Our educational system, from the schools to the universities, are actively undermining any sense of loyalty to the traditions, institutions and values of American society.

They are not giving back anything except condemnation, often depicting sins common to the human race around the world as peculiar evils of "our society."

A classic example is slavery, which is repeatedly drummed into our heads - in the schools and in the media - as something unique done by white people to black people in the United States.

The tragic fact is that, for thousands of years of recorded history, people of every race and color have been both slaves and enslavers.

The Europeans enslaved on the Barbary Coast of North Africa alone were far more numerous than all the Africans brought to the United States and to the 13 colonies from which it was formed.

What was unique about Western civilization was that it was the first civilization to turn against slavery, and that it stamped out slavery not only in its own societies but in other societies around the world during the era of Western imperialism.

That process took well over a century, because non-Western societies resisted. White people, as well as black people, were still being bought and sold as slaves, decades after the Emancipation Proclamation freed blacks in the United States.

Those who want to "give back" should give back the truth. It is a debt that is long overdue.

Here's a great collection of Sowell quotes that are worth reading also.

Sowell: "Nothing as mundane as mere evidence can be allowed to threaten a vision so deeply satisfying."

Dinesh D'Souza debates Christopher Hitchens... Christianity vs. Atheism

Is Christianity the Problem? From 10/22/07, this was an outstanding debate if you missed it. Hosted by Book TV, D'Souza and Hitchens go back and forth on some very thought-provoking topics. Each of these vids is about 9 minutes long... well worth it if you have a little time. (thanks to operationmongoose for the quality video)

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Also from D'Souza - The atheist indoctrination project.

There is nothing “repugnant” about waterboarding... (updated)

So says Deroy Murdock:

It’s not quite torture, but it sure has been painful watching Senate Democrats tie attorney general-designate Michael Mukasey into knots over waterboarding. Responding to their demands that he denounce this interrogation method that simulates drowning, Mukasey Tuesday called it “repugnant to me.”

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Though clearly uncomfortable, waterboarding loosens lips without causing permanent physical injuries (and unlikely even temporary ones). If terrorists suffer long-term nightmares about waterboarding, better that than more Americans crying themselves to sleep after their loved ones have been shredded by bombs or baked in skyscrapers.

I agree.

Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive says that the U.S. military must run a torture training facility:

Tens of thousands of troops have been through this training and yet somehow the idea that we do these same things to the scum who murder innocents in order to protect innocents is beyond the pale. BS. Why don't we just institute the jihadi draft, make them members of the military and give them a little Resistance love. They have earned it and we can't afford to miss a single tidbit of intel that could help us send more of them along to Allah.

Yup.

Cdr. Frank 'Spig' Wead speaks out also:

Based on lessons learned from survivors of the brutal North Korean and North Vietnam torture of US military prisoners of war, the Department of Defense ordered all branches of the services to implement comprehensive Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (S.E.R.E.) training programs. Every member of Congress should be extremely well versed on the military S.E.R.E. programs since they have had direct oversight and funding of these programs for over 40 years. Viewing the most recent Congressional hearing, one must assume that they are ignorant of or intentionally misrepresent the very programs that they fund and support.

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Congress, let me ask you a very simple question about your leadership and your sworn responsibility. It is a yes or no question, and you have a personal choice to make.

Would you endorse the use of a waterboard interrogation technique against a terrorist like Mohamed Atta al Sayed, the leader of the highjacking of American Airlines Flight 11 or not. The answer for me is simple: “turn on the hose.” If you answer anything else, then God help America because Tom died in vain.

'Turn on the hose' indeed.

Speaking of torture, I'd rather be waterboarded than have to keep hearing from Keith Olbermann.

Also, from Bryan at HotAir - Video: Lefty whackjobs waterboard themselves, and Video: Code Pinkos waterboard some poor schlep while Diane Feinstein walks on by.

Update: Alan Dershowitz chimes in from the WSJ Editorial Page:

Michael Mukasey, whose confirmation as attorney general now seems assured, is absolutely correct, as a matter of constitutional law, that the issue of "waterboarding" cannot be decided in the abstract. Under prevailing precedents - some of which I disagree with - the court must examine the nature of the governmental interest at stake, and the degree to which the government actions at issue shock the conscience, and then decide on a case-by-case basis. In several cases involving actions at least as severe as waterboarding, courts have found no violations of due process.

The members of the judiciary committee who voted against Judge Mukasey, because of his unwillingness to support an absolute prohibition on waterboarding and all other forms of torture, should be asked the direct question: Would you authorize the use of waterboarding, or other non-lethal forms of torture, if you believed that it was the only possible way of saving the lives of hundreds of Americans in a situation of the kind faced by Israeli authorities on the eve of Yom Kippur? Would you want your president to authorize extraordinary means of interrogation in such a situation? If so, what means? If not, would you be prepared to accept responsibility for the preventable deaths of hundreds of Americans?

Good question... answer undoubtedly not forthcoming.

Oh, and there's an update to one of the links from Bryan above...And the Academy Award for Best Waterboarding in a Protest Scene goes to…. Fake, but accurate, protest waterboarding.

Coulter is perfect... not anti-Semetic

OK... maybe not perfect, but fantastic. Call this a round-up of the latest manufactured Coulter controversy that the left and the media are crying about. It started here:


Some great comments over at HotAir.

Then Alan Colmes accuses Coulter (and, I guess, Christians) of being anti-Semitic:


Alan Colmes is both a fool and an embarrassment.

A great interview... Dennis Prager discusses this on his October 16th show - "The Compassion Crowd"... specifically dissecting responses from the vapid hosts of The View.

If you'd rather read than listen, he also writes... Ann Coulter Wants Jews to Become Christian - So What?. Here's a snippet:

She said she believes that Jews who accept Jesus as their savior are "perfected." I fail to see why this is some form of hate-speech, let alone the basis of anti-Semitism, as stated by Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, which often defames conservative Christians, whom he and his organization hold to be the greatest domestic threats to America.

You can also listen to Ann talk with Dennis on his radio show from October 30th.

And from Coulter herself in "How Long Before the A.D.L. Kicks Out All its Jews?":

... The usual liberal coterie acts shocked and offended by Christians who actually believe Christianity is true -- unlike Democratic politicians -- to conceal the fact that the left is increasingly dominated by people conniving in the destruction of Israel.

How about having Tim Russert ask Hillary if she believes the New Testament is the perfection of the Old Testament? She claims to be a Christian. Let's get it on the table: Is she or isn't she? It doesn't get any more bare-bones than that.

Let the cat out of the bag that a 2,000-year-old religion practiced by a majority of Americans teaches that Jesus came in "fulfillment of the scriptures," and you might be better off if you had adopted the preferred approach of liberals' new friends the Muslims and simply slit the Jew's throat. ...

Finally, John Hawkins interviews Coulter via e-mail over at Right Wing News:

Q: Hillary Clinton seems to be trying to paint herself as a girl power feminist role model, someone that other women should vote for because she represents them as women. What do you think about that?

A: It hasn't helped John Edwards.

Beautiful.

Fathers: Don’t Lose Heart...

I really liked today's Play of the Day from All Pro Dad. Good advice I think:

Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”

The same is true for a good father. When he feels fear about meeting monthly bills, or his child possibly doing drugs, or paying for college, or a marriage that seems dead, he digs deep and determines to do the right think and stick it out. He keeps his marital vows. He keeps his word to his kids. He leads a life of self-sacrifice so his children may live better than he.

It is said of old men that they plant the acorns of trees they will never sit under. In the same way, your courage will allow generations of your family to flourish that you will never see.

You matter more than you imagine. Don’t lose heart.

More resources from Family First.

Estonia's 'Singing Revolution'...

Brent Bozell is a hero in the culture war. Read his columns regularly if you can, and be sure to check out his organization called the Media Research Center too. Great stuff.

His latest talks about an inspirational new movie called The Singing Revolution, which he describes as follows:

Some documentaries entertain. Some educate. "The Singing Revolution" will bring you to your feet, cheering. It is the quintessential celebration of the human spirit.

Go to the movie's website (linked above) and enter your zip code and e-mail address to request a screening in your area.

Here is the trailer: