ANOTHER SIGN OF THE COMING REVOLUTION

Media revolution, that is.

My brand new online girlfriend (if only she knew), Mary Katharine Ham, bitch-slaps the mainstream media and I mean bitch-slaps ‘em good.

You needs to read that stuff, it’s that good.

 

REBUKING THE RELIGION OF DARWINOIDS

I love it when David Warren goes off and basically says, “Yeah, I said it. And I meant it, too!” In his latest piece he writes:

I continue appalled that a crude Darwinian materialism continues to be pumped by our schools into the heads of people too young to defend themselves. That it is presented as something morally and spiritually neutral, as “pure science”, when it is pure bluster.

Here is where a little autodidactic training in philosophy has served me better than any kind of scientific tutoring could have done. For I am able to spot the premise upon which the logical argument sits: and therefore grasp the argument’s circularity. Working from the premise that only strictly material causes are admissible in the study of biological effects, the Darwinians then demonstrate that all biological effects can be explained from strictly material causes.

But the human mind, which can tell the difference between something that is alive and something that is dead, finally rebels against this circularity. Darwinism provides no account whatever of the singular miracle of life. The very will to survive is inadmissable on materialist premises. Random collocations of atoms do not behave to a purpose. And as the physicists have realized -- such as Einstein, the man who said, “God does not play dice with the universe” -- the existence of material is itself a problem. The ultimate particle is not even a particle.

How long will it be before they have an “acceptable” explanation for that absurdity? And prior definitions, like that of the atom, are discarded to the dustbin of history and the new definitions are championed as if they were always understood to be thus?

I especially like Warren’s explanation regarding why he does not discount Intelligent Design:

The popularity of “Intelligent Design” is growing because it offers a way for science to get out of the face of religion. This is also why the Darwinoids hate and fear it: because the whole point of their Darwinism is to get in the face, of Christianity in particular. “ID” uses exactly the same fact-sets as all the biological disciplines; it merely leaves God to open minds, rather than consciously trying to “eliminate that hypothesis”. In time it will prevail, for the truth always does.

I’m down with that.

 

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

David Warren, while driving home a point about politically correct religious hypocrisy in Canada, provided this beautiful quote and made this striking point:

More than 2,000 years ago, a virgin gave birth to a Son, and the God of heaven came to Earth. Mankind had received its Saviour, and to those who had dwelled in darkness, the light of hope had come. Each Christmas, we celebrate that first coming anew, and we rejoice in the knowledge that the God who came to Earth that night in Bethlehem is with us still and will remain with us forever.”

I’m quoting from George Bush’s Christmas greetings, which washed up in my inbox (and in a few million more) on Monday. He began by quoting Matthew 1:23.

Mr Bush is a Methodist. Do I object to his greetings because I am a Catholic? No. In fact, they were the most Catholic thing to land in my inbox all day, and I subscribe to the Vatican news service. The greeting was not different in kind or spirit from what Mr Bush sent out the last four Christmases. In affirming an unambiguously Christian faith, Mr Bush embodies Middle America. Among their values, also mentioned in his post, “a responsibility to help those in need. Jesus calls us to help others, and acts of kindness toward the less fortunate fulfil the spirit of the Christmas season.” More broadly, part of being a Christian is not concealing that one is a Christian -- even, perhaps especially, in public life. For that would be denying Christ.

That seemed like an entirely appropriate post for me to link to on Christmas day.

 

SEE, THERE’S PROOF – AND THEN THERE’S PROOF!

Baron Bodissey at Gates of Vienna reminds us of the New York Times’ ability (pre-BushDerangementSyndrome) to publish straightforward reporting on the adherents to Islamic jihad, and those (like General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan) that tolerated them. It’s a good post. One of the things that always struck me, and I mean it startles me to this day that more people don’t focus on it, was their obvious reliance on using our Constitution against us. They knew that the Jamie Gorelick’s of America, driving the train in the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, were sold on the European law enforcement model and they further knew just how to play with that. Here’s the Baron, quoting Musharraf, from that pre-9/11 article:

Concerning American claims that bin Laden is a terrorist:

The Taliban has a stand on this subject. They say they need proof, which has not been given to them. We have asked for proof from the U.S. and we are in the process of getting this. From the legal point of view, I haven't seen the proof.

Of course, many of us now see that particular dodge clearly – from the legal point of view, huh? Okay. How about from the JDAM point of view? Or the 82nd Airborne point of view? Yeah, Pervez is a practical man and saw the handwriting on the wall and got with the program – as much as he could, anyway. And I ain’t mad at him.

Keep it real, Pervez, keep it real.

 

A MAN OF SCIENCE AND OF FAITH

Mark Steyn gives a personal reminder to me that explains why I don’t dismiss Intelligent Design out-of-hand:

To those of us watching Europe from afar, it seems amazing that no Continental politician is willing to get to grips with the real crisis facing Europe in the 21st century: the lack of Europeans. If America believes in the separation of church and state, in radically secularist Europe the state is the church, as Jacques Chirac's ban on head scarves, crucifixes and skull caps made plain. Alas, it's an insufficient faith.

By contrast, if Christianity is merely a ''myth,'' it's truly an immaculately conceived one, beginning with the decision to establish Christ's divinity in the miracle of his birth. The obligation to have children may be a lot of repressive Catholic mumbo-jumbo, but it's also highly rational. What's irrational is modern Eutopia's indifference to new life.

A year or so back, I had a conversation with an European Union official who, apropos a controversial proposal to tout the Continent's religious heritage in the new constitution, kept using the phrase ''Europe's post-Christian future.'' He used the phrase approvingly. But the evidence suggests that, once you reach the post-Christian stage, you don't have much of a future. Luke, a man of faith and a man of science, could have told them that.

Faith must always provides a counterbalance to science, lest science become the ultimate irrational faith itself.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Peace on Earth.

Goodwill to all.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.

Abraham Lincoln, 16^th President of the United States

May God continue to bless these United States and our current President, George W. Bush, as America continues to prosecute the War For Freedom. As Lincoln stated, in giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free – and we remain the model republic we were at our birth. Trailblazing pathfinders the world has followed, and the last best hope (on Earth) for mankind.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

 

TRUE SOUTH

Well damn, Mary Katharine Ham, I think I’m in love! Go click that link and see why.

I truly love Southern women who ain’t afraid to be whoever the hell they are, yes I does.

 

INFORMATIVE AND RESPECTFUL COLUMN ON THE DEATH OF JAMES DUNGY FROM HUBERT MIZELL

Hubert Mizell, a Jacksonville native I do believe, and a University of Florida grad, is one of the deans among Florida sportswriters. Apparently, he has retired from the St. Petersburg Times and now writes periodically for the Gainesville Sun. He is personal friends with the Dungy Family and he wrote a quite informative and respectful column on the situation in today’s paper:

My son was on the telephone early Thursday, breaking the devastating news. Tony Dungy’s teen-aged son had been found dead. I began to choke. Of all the tragedies, all the miseries, all the devastation that can strike a parent - or a family - nothing is as bad as losing a child.

In my life as a journalist, I’ve been around a thousand coaches. A lot of good people, a few not so admirable. None ranks higher in my mind, as a human being, than the gentle 50-year-old soul whose Indianapolis Colts (13-1) have been this season’s hottest subject in pro football.

Perfect intro, followed up by an acknowledgment of the Dungy’s as personal friends:

Media people, for obvious professional reasons, aren’t supposed to get too close to sources. But I’ve been around Tony enough, professionally and personally, having shared dinner at our house more than once with the coach and wife Lauren, that I am comfortable with what is a rare bond. As emotions over James come to the surface, we may find many writers and broadcasters who admit to sharing my feelings.

Then, some possibly telling personal insights:

Lauren spent two years commuting between Tampa and Indianapolis, allowing their five children opportunities to not be immediately disengaged from schooling and Florida friends. When the Dungys finally made the total relocation to Indiana in 2003, the eldest son preferred to not go.

James Dungy was a big kid, probably 6-foot-7. But not a gifted athlete. James was frequently in the Bucs locker room - exchanging high-fives and conversation with Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Ronde Barber, Mike Alstott et al - but a younger brother, Eric, was more outgoing and charismatic; more of a magnet for attention from Tampa Bay players as well as media.

He concludes the column by confirming a couple of my personal suspicions, based on how Tony has conducted himself in the past and how he must now be walking that most lonely road of agonizing introspection:

Then came the clobbering news about James. Anybody who has ever spent time around Tony and his family has to be really hurting. Dungy is a native of Michigan, from highly educated stock. One sister is a doctor, another a nurse. A brother is a dentist. Their parents, both career educators, died in the past two years.

That was tough, but quite different from losing James. “It would not totally shock me,” Stroud [a writer with the St. Petersburg Times] told me Thursday, “if Tony left coaching after this season.”

God be with you, Tony Dungy.

 

THINKING OF THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, GUARDIANS OF THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE

In reviewing a site discussing the Navy Hymn, this alternate verse jumped out at me:

Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
And those who on the ocean ply;
Be with our troops upon the land,
And all who for their country stand:
Be with these guardians day and night
And may their trust be in thy might.

Amen.

I think I’ll add that to my permanent stuff at the top of the page.

 

MEDIA CONTEXT, THEN AND NOW, AND LEFT-WING DISTASTE FOR THE CIA AND THE FBI

One of the more startling admissions I’ve had to make since making a political switch is the dramatic differentiation the media generally affords Republican administrations (at least this Republican administration) and the Democratic Party opposition. The current case in point? The manufactured end-of-year story on warrantless domestic searches of Americans. Byron York sets the pre—9/11 table (and it’s the fact that this example is pre—9/11 that makes the current differentiation so egregious to me):

“The Department of Justice believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes,” Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 14, 1994, “and that the President may, as has been done, delegate this authority to the Attorney General.”

“It is important to understand,” Gorelick continued, “that the rules and methodology for criminal searches are inconsistent with the collection of foreign intelligence and would unduly frustrate the president in carrying out his foreign intelligence responsibilities.”

Executive Order 12333, signed by Ronald Reagan in 1981, provides for such warrantless searches directed against “a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power.”

Reporting the day after Gorelick’s testimony, the Washington Post’s headline — on page A-19 [RattlerGator: it goes without saying that editorial decisions on the placement of stories speaks volumes within the newspaper industry] — read, “Administration Backing No-Warrant Spy Searches.” The story began, “The Clinton administration, in a little-noticed facet of the debate on intelligence reforms, is seeking congressional authorization for U.S. spies to continue conducting clandestine searches at foreign embassies in Washington and other cities without a federal court order. The administration’s quiet lobbying effort is aimed at modifying draft legislation that would require U.S. counterintelligence officials to get a court order before secretly snooping inside the homes or workplaces of suspected foreign agents or foreign powers.”

In her testimony, Gorelick made clear that the president believed he had the power to order warrantless searches for the purpose of gathering intelligence, even if there was no reason to believe that the search might uncover evidence of a crime. “Intelligence is often long range, its exact targets are more difficult to identify, and its focus is less precise,” Gorelick said. “Information gathering for policy making and prevention, rather than prosecution, are its primary focus.”

Baldilocks drew my initial attention to Executive Order 12333, issued in 1981, and I took a quick read of some of the basic provisions (all the while remembering that era two decades ago when I was referring to President Reagan as Ronald Ray-Gun, thanks to Gil Scott-Heron). It makes for good reading, especially because it brings so many memories back of just how far off track I was and the fact that I didn’t even have a clue:

Executive Order 12333 of December 4, 1981

Timely and accurate information about the activities, capabilities, plans, and intentions of foreign powers, organizations, and persons, and their agents, is essential to the national security of the United States.  All reasonable and lawful means must be used to ensure that the United States will receive the best intelligence available.  For that purpose, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States of America, including the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, and as President of the United States of America, in order to provide for the effective conduct of United States intelligence activities and the protection of constitutional rights, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Part 1.

Goal, Direction, Duties and Responsibilities With Respect to the National Intelligence Effort

The United States intelligence effort shall provide the President and the National Security Council with the necessary information on which to base decisions concerning the conduct and development of foreign, defense and economic policy and the protection of United States national interests from foreign security threats.  All departments and agencies shall cooperate fully to fulfill this goal.

Part 2

Conduct of Intelligence Activities

2.1 Need.  Accurate and timely information about the capabilities intentions and activities of foreign powers, organizations, or persons and their agents is essential to informed decision making in the areas of national defense and foreign relations. Collection of such information is a priority objective and will be pursued in a vigorous, innovative and responsible manner that is consistent with the Constitution and applicable law and respectful of the principles upon which the United States was founded.

2.2 Purpose.  This Order is intended to enhance human and technical collection techniques, especially those undertaken abroad, and the acquisition of significant foreign intelligence, as well as the detection and countering of international terrorist activities and espionage conducted by foreign powers.  Set forth below are certain general principles that, in addition to and consistent with applicable laws are intended to achieve the proper balance between the acquisition of essential information and protection of individual interests.  Nothing in this Order shall be construed to apply to or interfere with any authorized civil or criminal law enforcement responsibility of any department or agency.

2.3 Collection of Information.  Agencies within the Intelligence Community are authorized to collect. retain or disseminate information concerning  United States persons only in accordance with procedures established by the  head of the agency concerned and approved by the Attorney General, consistent  with the authorities provided by Part 1 of this Order. Those procedures shall permit collection, retention and dissemination of the following types of  information:

   (a) Information that is publicly available or collected with the consent  of the person concerned;

   (b) Information constituting foreign intelligence or counterintelligence, including such information concerning corporations or other commercial organizations.  Collection within the United States of foreign intelligence  not otherwise obtainable shall be undertaken by the FBI or, when significant foreign intelligence is sought, by other authorized agencies of the  Intelligence Community provided that no foreign intelligence collection by  such agencies may be undertaken for the purpose of acquiring information concerning the domestic activities of United States persons;

   (c) Information obtained in the course of a lawful foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, international narcotics or international terrorism investigation;

   (d) Information needed to protect the safety of any persons or organizations, including those who are targets, victims or hostages of international terrorist organizations;

   (e) Information needed to protect foreign intelligence or counterintelligence sources or methods from unauthorized disclosure.   Collection within the United States shall be undertaken by the FBI except  that other agencies of the Intelligence Community may also collect such information concerning present or former employees, present or former  intelligence agency contractors or their present or former employees, or applicants for any such employment or contracting;

   (f) Information concerning persons who are reasonably believed to be potential sources or contacts for the purpose of determining their suitability or credibility;

   (g) Information arising out of a lawful personnel, physical or communications security investigation;

   (h) Information acquired by overhead reconnaissance not directed at specific United States persons;

   (i) Incidentally obtained information that may indicate involvement in activities that may violate federal, state, local or foreign laws; and

   (j) Information necessary for administrative purposes.  In addition, agencies within the Intelligence Community may disseminate information, other than information derived from signals intelligence, to each appropriate agency within the Intelligence Community for purposes of allowing the recipient agency to determine whether the information is relevant to its responsibilities, and can be retained by it.

For a political base that doesn’t even believe in a CIA and hates the FBI, this document is poison. Republicans should highlight this fact because it brings back many memories and provides insight into the unseriousness of much of the Democratic Party on the question of national security. For the record, Baldilocks later acknowledged that Executive Order 12333 wasn’t directly on point regarding this particular warrantless domestic search issue but that’s neither here nor there for my purposes.

 

A PRAYER FOR TONY DUNGY

 

Like much of the nation, especially those of us who love sports, I was shocked to get the news this morning about the death of young James Dungy. As a Floridian and a huge sports fan, Tony Dungy walks tall in my imagination for obvious reasons and I grieve deeply, deeply, for he and his family. As much for myself as they, I throw up to the heavens this prayer:

 

Father God,

 

My Lord and my Savior,

 

Our refuge and our salvation,

 

I humbly bow my head

and pray for the Dungy Family.

 

I pray that you are received, Lord,

so that you strengthen

and you calm, Lord,

that you comfort

and you reign supreme.

 

I pray that a man who

appears to be your faithful servant, Lord,

is your faithful servant.

 

I pray that in this most hurtful moment,

that Tony Dungy will humble himself, Lord,

and allow himself, Lord,

to lay down his burden

and turn it over to his master.

 

I pray that the family, Lord,

will hold firm to one another

and that in this transitional time, Lord,

they will be able to show some

respect and restraint toward one another.

 

I pray, also, that all interested

in this most sensational tragedy

will show respect and restraint

toward the Dungy Family.

 

Amen.

 

 

THINGS KEEP GETTING IN THE WAY . . .

It’s the holidays and, what can I say? Plans seem to change on a regular basis . . . but here are a few initial photos from the cruise:

[1] The view, leaving the Port of Tampa:

 

[2] Passengers enduring the emergency drill:

 

[3] The view outside my cabin window as we try to escape a cold front that moved into Florida on the day of our departure:

 

Are there REALLY only three days left until Christmas? Unbelievable!

 

I’VE BEEN AWAY ON A CRUISE TO COZUMEL . . .

. . . and I ain’t bragging, but this was my first cruise ever and my one great triumph was in NOT getting sick at all. My one lasting memory will be seeing my brother get his black behind up on the last night and, at Karaoke, perform “Free Bird,” that great Southern Rock anthem from Jacksonville’s own Lynrd Skynrd.

Incredible, absolutely incredible (yes, he was god-awful).

More comments and photos to follow later today. But I have to salute the folks in Iraq who prove, every day, that people are people and just how paternalistic the intellectual left is when they insist that Arab culture couldn’t possibly be democratic. Do yourself a favor and check out this video on the historic elections in the heart of Mesopotamia.

Thanks to Florida Boy Michael Yon for the link.

 

IN IRAQ

Among many others, Hugh Hewitt notes an important milestone:

It is Iraq the Model's live election day coverage from across the country. For more links see PajamasMedia.

May true, old school liberalism spread and flourish in Mesopotamia.