Some Humor to Start the Week

The guy at wuzzadem.com has some really funny stuff. You can enjoy Chris Matthews' interview of Jed Clampett, or O'Reilly's interview with Yoda. 24 fans will enjoy a special, never released episode, complete with torture. We here at the Daily Mail are fond of church signs, so this church sign smackdown is right up our alley. Also, my personal favorites from my initial look around the place were the Wilson/Plame "solitude" tour, and the John Roberts confirmation hearings. Definitely quality entertainment, and there's much more where that came from.

Week In Review

• A Good Question--Asked by Bill Bennett, "What did Popeye ever see in Olive Oyl?"

• Media's most promising medical horror vanishes from India--Yep, no more bird flu in the subcontinent. Hopefully, for the sake of the media, it will soon strike with a vengence somewhere else.

• The Joy of Soy--It may not be all we've been led to believe.
  

• 1200 year old Psalter found in Irish bog--There are a couple of angles to this story. First, that it was found. Second, how does a bog preserve something like a book? (This was my first question.) And third, this bizarre retraction that is tied to the war in Israel:
  

The National Museum of Ireland, which this week announced the discovery of a 1,200-year-old Book of Psalms in a bog, has issued a clarification about just what the Psalter revealed. In its initial announcement on Wednesday, the museum said the 20-page manuscript was open to a page showing Psalm 83; news reports noted that in the 17th-century King James version, the psalm exhorts God to act against conspirator nations plotting to erase any memory of “the name of Israel.” But the museum’s director, Patrick F. Wallace, said in a statement yesterday that the announcement had “led to misconceptions about the revealed wording.” The text visible on the manuscript “does not refer to wiping out Israel,” Dr. Wallace said, “but to the ‘vale of tears’ ” in Psalm 83 of the Vulgate, the Latin version used in medieval times. The text about wiping out the name of Israel occurs in the Vulgate as Psalm 82, which is not visible in the Irish manuscript. ALAN COWELL, NY TIMES

• And speaking of Israel--I have always liked Benjamin Netnyahu (who seems to be called BiBi these days) a former PM of Israel. His words on Hezbollah this week were great: "Did you ever see the movie 'Alien'? There's an alien body, this fearsome predatory body, that resides in the host and then lurches out from the host and attacks you ... that's Hezbollah."
  

Deception is Reality

The media have done their collective part to obscure public perception of stem cell research. Over the last five years, polls have slid towards favoring embryonic stem cell reasearch by about 10 points. Originally the deception lay in demonizing those (like myself) opposed to embryonic stem cell research as though we were opposed to adult stem cell research as well. The media would not make the distinction between embryonic and adult when they wrote or talked about such matters. Now that distinction is fairly well known, so the fudging has become focused on the ignoring of adult stem cell advancements and the disproportionate hyping of embryonic stem cell potential. For example, Dr. Carlos Lima, pictured, has recently taken the stem cells from the olfactory mucosa (the top of the nasal cavity) of spinal injury patients and successfully used them to restore bladder function and sphincter control, improve motor capabilites, and restore sensation to injured areas. That is amazing! I bet you've heard about it all over the news, right?!?! No. More likely you have heard how Bush vetoed a stem cell bill because he is beholden to radical religious elements in the Republican party and therefore he is preventing the cure of diabetes, alzheimers, etc. (I'm sure John Kerry [who served in Vietnam if you have't heard] is just going crazy thinking about how he could have both prevented the current war in Israel AND signed this bill that would likely have raised people from the dead, but he lost to that idiot cowboy in the White House.) You have also likely heard that the Bush veto is causing all of our scientists to flee the oppression of the administration's theocracy. Well, if they flee it won't be to Europe where the EU has put limits on funding embryonic research as well. You know what a bunch of religious nuts the Euros are!

There is much more to say on this, and I will in the future. For now though it should be made plain that the hype, hysteria, and (frankly) hankering for $ is with embryonic stem cell research. (Yes, as usual this is really all about money for too many who should be in it for other things.) The real science that is really helping and in some cases really curing people without the notice of the media is with adult stem cell research. And there may be safe, ethical ways to use embryonic stem cells on the horizon (look here and here). No one is opposed to these efforts except for those who long for unsafe and unethical ways to use embryonic stem cells . . . and believe me, they are out there.

The Aped Crusaders

I have finished with Ann Coulter's Godless. It was very good. You should read this book! I could squabble with some of her characterizations of Christianity (e.g., I'd like clarification about the "spark of divinity in the human soul," but I think I know what she means). My favorite chapters were the last four or five on evolution, and the last chapter, "The Aped Crusader," was especially good. In it Ann shows how the godless ideology of evolution was celebrated and implemented by racist scientists, Nazis, communists, and, alas, today's liberals--aped crusaders all. The following is a selection from the chapter. (Ineluctable means "inevitable," by the way.)

The path between Darwinism and Nazism may not be ineluctable, but it is more ineluctable than the evolutionary path from monkey to man. Darwin's theory overturned every aspect of Biblical morality. Instead of honor thy mother and father, the Darwinian ethic was honor thy children. Instead of enshrining moral values, the Darwinian ethic enshrined biological instincts. Instead of transcendent moral values, the Darwinian ethic said all morals are relative. Instead of sanctifying life, the Darwinian ethic sanctified death.

So it should not be surprising that eugenicists, racists, and assorted psychopaths always gravitate to Darwinism. From the most evil dictators to today's antismoking crusaders, sexual profligates, and animal rights nuts, Darwinism has infected the whole culture. And yet small Schoolchildren who know that George Washington had slaves are never told of the centrality of Darwin's theory to Nazism, eugenics, abortion, infanticide, "racial hygiene" societies, genocide, and the Soviet gulags.

Buy it. Read it. Share it with a friend. My next read? Bennett's Last Best Hope.

I Thought This Horse Was Dead Already!

Driving home today I heard in defense of gay "marriage" the old standby, "You can't legislate morality!" PUHLEEZE! Any law is the legislation of some morality. Even anarchy, a state of lawlessness, is the "legislation" of someone's "morality." So, someone please cite for us a legislated "un-morality." But you're more likely to see a square circle, marvel at government efficiency, or sip on some hot iced tea.

The Horrors of War

Events in the Middle East have taken a further tragic turn and forced the postmonement of the planned lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (they like to say "LGBT") parade through the streets of Jerusalem in conjunction with the "WorldPride" event organized by InterPride. This was going to be such a great spectacle, but at least the other events are still scheduled to begin August 6, including International Gay Youth Day on August 7. The need for such an event is obvious. Can you think of anything else lately that has so united Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders? Still, there won't be a parade. All the little kids will be so sad. General Sherman was right about war.

"Just Married"

Yesterday evening I saw a car done up with the "Just Married" look above. There was a date included as well--7/15/06. Yesterday was 7/21/06. So, I have a question. How long is too long to keep the "Just Married" graffiti on your car? How long did you? My little red Tercel proclaimed to the world that Marian and I were just married, but I washed it off the next day. Is there some sort of etiquette that says how long to keep it? One day? Through the honeymoon? When does "Just Married" become false advertising?

Audible Sigh

I enjoy the music of Athens, GA based Bill Mallonee (aka Vigilantes of Love and VOL). One of our family favorites is Audible Sigh from 2000. While I love it musically (and vocally), I really love the lyrics. An especially interesting song lyrically is "Resplendent" (which also includes some amazing backup vocals from Emmylou Harris). It's about the dust bowl days and one guy's hard luck (or is it?). The first verse ends this way: "in desperate times you know everybody's part / it's your own lines you're like to forget / 'til what you were meets what you've now become / grins and says "hey, haven't we met." It's really a pretty heavy song that explores huge issues like the imago Dei, the yet future dimensions of redemption, God's sovereignty, and the problem of evil. The final verse and chorus go this way:

• honey we're all resplendent
  yeah honey we are all thrift store
  like a wino with a twenty dollar bill
  i'm forever and eternally yours
  and i can make you promises
  if you don't expect too much
  yes and i will run the distance
  if you'll please, please excuse my crutch
  
  how much of this was meant to be
  how much the work of the devil
  how far can one man's eyes really see
  in these days of toil and trouble
  how much of this is failing flesh
  how much the course of retribution
  my my how loudly we plead our innocence
  long after we've made our contribution

That's a fave for an old philosophy grad, but there are also a bunch of upbeat songs that the boys used as theme music to jump on our bed in days past! I don't know who George Graham is, but here's his review of the album. Mr. Mallonee is probably a Bulldog fan, but his music is well worth a listen!

"Currahee"

Those of you like me who have spent any time in the Toccoa, GA area are familiar with Mt. Currahee. Currahee is Cherokee for "stands alone" and aptly describes the small mountain that goes by the name. What I just learned while browsing through some photos on Michael Fumento's website is that the name has been adopted by someone else--the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division stationed in Iraq! Note this sign at their headquarters:


I also saw this photo which actually made me feel good about the USPS for a moment--an Iraqi girl with a US-provided care package in a Priority Mail box!



Mr. Fumento has a slideshow of 250 photos from his trip to Iraq earlier this year. You can read his Weekly Standard cover story "The New Band of Brothers" here. Check them out!

Did He or Didn't He? Ought We or Oughtn't We?

I've been trying to figure out the connections between the pacifist political liberalism of religious liberals and the war-ready political conservatism of religious conservatives. I have an idea and, not surprisingly, it comes down to the resurrection. The resurrection is the great divide between religious liberals and conservatives. Historically, the view of the Church is that Jesus was literally, physically raised from actual, physical death. Hence it is "conservative" and even "old-fashioned" to retain this view. Liberals deny the physical reality of the resurrection. Here is a sympathetic description of two examples of their version of the resurrection from Ronald Getz in a confused 1982 article from Christian Century:

Others will conceive of the event in a “demythologized” manner. What came forth from death was not a body; the event was not historical but existential. What arose was the apostles’ faith, which impelled them to proclaim the kerygma. In a sense we are celebrating, through the “myth” of Christ’s resurrection, the existential fact of our own resurrection from despair through the proclaimed word of faith.

For still others such Germanic circumlocution is impossible to understand, let alone embrace; they will regard the resurrection in a rationalistic, relatively “old-fashioned” deist-liberal manner as a prescientific way of expressing the timeless content of Jesus’ life and ministry -- his preaching about the love of God and the need for human fellowship.

Now, what I take out of this is that if you are a liberal who denies that Jesus faced and defeated a real enemy in his death and resurrection, then when confronted with a real enemy yourself, you will first try to deny that reality. Then you might try to understand the enemy in some sort of "timeless" or "existential" manner. You see good and evil, but deny the reality of rockets being launched into a country in favor of some fairy tale imagery of a knight slaying a dragon. So, since this is all so many words, maybe talking to the rocket launcher guys would be a "good faith gesture" that might get them to stop.

The conservative sees that Jesus faced and defeated a real enemy in his death and resurrection. Good and evil take bodily form. Rockets are real and are fired by real people who must be stopped, not negotiated with. We imitate our Lord in fighting that fight, defending the weak, and being willing to lay down our lives for our friends. So it comes down to this: Did He or didn't He? Ought we or oughtn't we?

A Word from Marion Morrison

"Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure, I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been and never will be."

Mustard Update

Even though nobody wanted to talk about hot dogs and mustard here on the Daily Mail, it became a big thing at work. In fact, it culminated in a Friday morning cookout with hot dogs and bratwurst! Above are the mustards present for the occasion (plus something called "hot dog sauce"). I brought the beer mustard with the green label. It is named after a Polish general, Thaddeus Kosciusko, who aided the American Revolution and fought for Polish independence the remainder of his life. I think he would truly love how his beer mustard tastes on a brat!

So at this point I'm for Bertman Ball Park Mustard on a hot dog, and Kosciusko Beer Mustard on a brat. You really ought to try it!

Apologies

I'm sorry that not much has been going on around here lately. This past week was busy with family things. When I have had time on the computer I've been busy tinkering with some other potential web projects, including a new blog and a redesign of this one. Apparently some of you with Internet Explorer probably can't see the right-hand column; it slides down to the bottom of the page. I don't know how to correct that at the moment. I also don't know why you are still using Internet Explorer. Get Firefox! You will be happier.

"This Is My Body"

Starchild Abraham Cherrix (yes, that's his full name; he goes by "Abraham") is a teen cancer patient fighting a legal battle to use alternative medical treatment for his Hodgkin's disease. I don't wish to get into all of the issues surrounding how this ended up in court. I think we probably all agree that he and his family should be allowed to treat the cancer in the way they have decided.

I heard a radio interview with Abe yesterday and he made the statement at one point, "This is my body." Now, he said this in reference to his court case. He was appealing to the government to stay out of this because after all it's "his body." I agree with him, but I also thought of how we hear "This is my body" from abortion advocates. (Actually, we hear more from politicians and activists "It's the woman's body" than from the women themselves, but you get the idea.) As to abortion I want to say, "No, it's not your body, it's your baby!"

Anyway, what struck me was how we hear these appeals such as "This is my body" and at best they are claims upon certain legitimate rights (as with Abraham) or illegitimate rights (as with abortion). At worst they are claims for the right to vanity and such ("This is my body and I can darn well have this ridiculous plastic surgery if I want!!!!")

What a contrast with Jesus, who said "This is my body" and claimed no rights by that statement, but freely gave his life that we might live. Jesus is the only person who could ever really claim the "right" to his own body, for he was without sin and therefore not subject to death. Yet, he allowed himself to be broken for us anyway.

"This is my body, which is given for you."

Caption Contest

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1 Corinthians 15:26

We must always remember that death is an enemy. There is nothing about death that is "the way it should be." I have heard death spoken of as "just a part of life." There are idealized notions of death and how wonderful it can be (Michael Schiavo and his lawyer describing Terri Schiavo's death comes to mind). There was a time in this country when graveyard tours were popular and the death of children was romanticized. These ideas are often given a biblical justification. Paul says in Philippians, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Now certainly it is great gain to "depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." But this does not mean that the physical death that leads us there is anything but horrible.

We should not think of death without thinking of sin, nor of sin without thinking of death. Death is the direct result of sin, and there is nothing glorious or beautiful about sin. Death may result from great courage and valor. We may honor and remember well those who have died. But death itself is "the king of terrors" (Job 18:14).

It is ironic that atheists and the like are the ones who seem most desirous to bring about death (just look at abortion, euthanasia, etc.). If they really believe physical death is the end of existence, why are they so eager for it? I guess because death is just a wonderful little part of life. Christians, however, realize that life is a precious gift and that death is the most unnatural of things. It is not part of how we were created. To see this, look at Christ. He is the archetypal human. He was without sin. Death, therefore, could not hold him. From God's perspective Christ is natural. He is the way things "ought to be." Life is good; death is an enemy.

Two of Dylan Thomas' better known poems express well the truth that death is an enemy. One I have taken as the title of this post, and the other is "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." (You can hear him read the poem himself here.)


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

New Poll to Discuss

I am sure there are opinions all over the place on this. I have lots of favorite sporting events. NFL playoffs are great. MLB playoffs (speaking as a Braves fan) are tense though usually tragic. NBA . . . no thanks. As a Georgia boy, the Masters is a personal favorite. And I have always loved Wimbledon (but it's just not the same as in the days of Borg / McEnroe). However, I voted for any weekend of college football because it simply is the most passionate, exhilirating, heart-breaking, memorable sporting event around. These are amateurs who play for the love of their school and the game--just as it should be!

The Best Part of This 4th of July . . .

I had some of this at a friend's house, and wow! This stuff takes a hot dog to places I didn't know hot dogs could go! Delicious! For over 50 years, Bertman's Ball Park Mustard has been THE mustard served at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium (and now at Jacobs Field). This mildly spicy, brown mustard has won several awards including a Gold Medal at the Napa Valley Mustard Festival. For me it is simply the best mustard for a hot dog that I have ever tasted!

I'll throw out this question for discussion: How do you dress a dog? I most often go mustard and relish, I love a chili dog when I can get it, and I do not put ketchup on a hot dog. What do you do with a dog?

John Adams and the "Fourth" of July

John Adams' famous letter of July 3, 1776, in which he wrote to his wife Abigail what his thoughts were about celebrating the Fourth of July is found on various web sites but is usually incorrectly quoted. Following is the exact text from his letter with his original spellings:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." (The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, Harvard University Press, 1975, 142).

Why does he speak of the "Second Day of July 1776"? Well, the important vote on independence passed on July 2, 1776, after which there was a Sunday break and then debate was begun on the Declaration, which was adopted on July 4, 1776. Clearly, the more important issue was the vote on independence, which Adams acknowledged in his letters at the time, and in his subsequent writings. However, the Declaration being dated July 4, 1776, very early American history began celebrating Independence Day on July 4th, and great credit was generally given to Jefferson as author of the Declaration, with less credit given to Adams, who was the true point man in Congress for the independence movement.