Terri, One Year Later

One year ago, a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo be put to death, and many in the "death with dignity" crowd rejoiced. Because the disabled have lives that many able-bodied people believe are not worth living, many believe it is OK to kill them, even if they have not asked us to. As Joni Eareckson Tada told CT, "People have a fundamental fear of disabilities, and that fear drives social policy."

Update: "For the Children"-Not

From LifeSite.net:

"A government commission set up at the request of the President of the French National Assembly has concluded that homosexual ‘marriage’ and adoption by homosexual couples, and medically assisted procreation for homosexual couples should not be permitted by law. The decisive factor to the report's conclusions, after an investigation of more than a year, was the commission’s decision to act 'to affirm and protect children’s rights and the primacy of those rights over adults’ aspirations.'"

Churches and Immigration

It is the government's job to enforce the rules on immigration. Illegals and businesses that break the law should be penalized, but churches that help unfortunates with their humanitarian needs are simply doing what churches are supposed to do. Churches are not an arm of government and should not help government enforce the law.

Religion of Peace 12

... IslamisareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionof....

We interrupt this program for a breaking news bulletin:

After receiving word that Afghan authorities were dismissing the case against former Muslim Abdul Rahman for converting to Christianity, Muslim protesters chanted, "Death to Bush!" and "Death to Christians!" "Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it," said imam Faiez Mohammed. "The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion."

We now return to our regularly scheduled program:

... isareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionof....

Iraq Media Bias

Answering the charge that coverage of the Iraq war has been biased, mainstream media spokespersons are offering up yet another collective, "Moi?" Yet what if the media reported a basketball game by only announcing when one side made a basket or forced a turnover, and ignored anything good the other team did? That's what current Iraq coverage looks like.

We only see the deaths caused by the cutthroats and thugs, only the mosque bombings, only the people who feel dissatisfied with progress. We seldom see coalition progress, coalition strategy, or the number of terrorists killed or jailed. No wonder public support is down.

Illegal Immigration

Yesterday more than 500,000 people across the nation protested House legislation seeking to severely restrict illegal immigration. The bill, which would need Senate approval and the president's signature, would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally, crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, require churches to check the legal status of people they help, and build fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border.

Aside from the fences and the church requirement, you mean to say we haven't been punishing businesses and illegals who flout our laws? No wonder illegal immigration is out of control.

Yes, immigrants built our country, but we are talking today about illegals, who themselves are exploiting and exploited by the current system. Both justice and security demand that something has to change.

Disability and Death

Many able-bodied people assume that disability is a fate worse than death. Perhaps they should ask the disabled.

No Thanks

Some people get the Stockholm Syndrome after long days or months of being held captive. Christian Peacemaker Teams members apparently had the malady before they ever got to Iraq. After a multinational military team rescued three CPT workers the other day, CPT neither acknowledged the heroism and risk it took to free them, nor even gave thanks.

Apparently the United States remains the root of all evil in Iraq, even that perpetrated by the Islamic extremists who kidnapped them and murdered Tom Fox, one of their companions. Of course, how CPT explains the rape rooms, the mass graves, and the killing of thousands every month while Saddam was in power as a product of U.S. hegemony I have no idea. Facts don't matter when your mind is already made up.

I salute the bravery of CPT members, who are willing to put their lives on the line in the service of peace as they understand it. I only wish they had the wisdom to go with it.

Update:
Last night CPT released a statement on its website indeed thanking those who released its workers.

Addenda
23 March 2006, 9 p.m. ET
We have been so overwhelmed and overjoyed to have Jim, Harmeet and Norman freed, that we have not adequately thanked the people involved with freeing them, nor remembered those still in captivity. So we offer these paragraphs as the first of several addenda:

We are grateful to the soldiers who risked their lives to free Jim, Norman and Harmeet. As peacemakers who hold firm to our commitment to nonviolence, we are also deeply grateful that they fired no shots to free our colleagues. We are thankful to all the people who gave of themselves sacrificially to free Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom over the last four months, and those supporters who prayed and wept for our brothers in captivity, for their loved ones and for us, their co-workers.

Karzai's Dilemma

The case of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man who converted from Islam to Christianity and who now is on trial for his life, presents a major dilemma for President Hamid Karzai. If Karzai goes along with the extreme Islamists who say anyone who leaves Islam deserves to die, he will face the West's (and especially the United States') opprobrium. But if he lets Rahman off, his own Muslim credentials and credibility will come under attack in this reactionary Muslim culture, threatening the stability of its fragile democracy.

So if you pray for Rahman, don't forget Karzai.

Turnout

Yesterday in the Illinois primary election, only about 25 percent of registered voters bothered to turn out. That means that a far smaller percentage of citizens actually exercised its right (and responsibility) to vote.

Conservatives can kick themselves, and take heart. They didn't turn out and got more Republicrats that Illinois is famous for. But the good news is, with a little elbow grease, there's no reason we can't take a leading role in Illinois politics. It's not like we have to overcome huge numbers of people who like the system as it is.

Scientocracy

The secular left has been worried for some time about theocracy-not from militant Muslims, who actually practice it, but from Christians, who still have the temerity to think they have a right to participate in the public square. Turns out the left should worry about another theocratic religion: Scientology.

Prominent Scientologist Tom Cruise apparently had a March 15 rerun of the South Park cable series poking fun at the sci-fi religion of the late L. Ron Hubbard pulled from the air. Cruise threatened to not promote a big-budget movie he's starring in this summer, Mission: Impossible 3, if the offending program went on the air again. (Well, there's one movie I won't have to waste time on.)

South Park is a raunchy, equal-opportunity offender, with a Jesus character hosting a public access program nobody watches. Yet it is Cruise, a Hollywood liberal, not "theocrat" Jerry Falwell, who shuts down free expression when his own beliefs come under scrutiny.

Tom, meet Osama.

Until the Job Is Done

Despite heavy promotion by the mainstream media, this weekend's Iraq war protests largely fizzled. It's not that most people are in favor of keeping U.S. troops there indefinitely; we aren't. But the fact is, we can't leave until the job is done, if we value our civilization and the lives of the people of Iraq. The left is always trotting out Vietnam to describe the difficulties in Iraq, but the lesson of that war is that tyranny must be defeated, however long it takes. We didn't finish the job then, and three decades later one of the last communist governments on earth continues to oppress the people there.

Tearing Down

Don't tear someone else down to build yourself up. One day you may be the tearee.

Three Years

Today, on the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, there are protests in Europe, calling for immediate withdrawal (presumably so the thugs can take over). In Baghdad, however, there is growing confidence that democracy and the rule of law are taking hold. This week at Saddam's trial for genocide and war crimes, Saddam kept insisting that he is still president of Iraq, and the judge kept reminding the "Butcher of Baghdad" that he is now a defendant in a criminal case.

Iraq's interim president, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, told CNN on Thursday that the trial will be fair. "All Iraqis can listen and hear and understand that he will be tried according to the law," al-Yawar said. "There will be no political aspect to his trial."

Al-Yawar said the trial "means that a very dark era has been gone forever."

Protest that.

St. Patrick's Breast-Plate

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.

I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop [deck],
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

Technology

Technology was made for man, and not man for technology.

Final Office

Spending more time in the office will get you, in the end, a better coffin. It might even get you there quicker.

Psalm 127:2

"In vain do you rise early and stay up late, toiling, for while they are sleeping He provides for those He loves."

Boss Time

When you reach the end of your life, will you be saying, "If only I had spent more time with the boss"?

Alien Rights?

On Friday in Chicago, 100,000 demonstrators from across the Midwest turned out to protest a tough (some would say draconian) new bill against illegal immigration. Shutting down rush hour, they were demanding their rights.

I understand the concern to make sure people are treated with dignity, but what rights do the 12 million illegals in the U.S. have in our society? Rights apply to citizens, not illegal aliens. Of course, our country was built by immigrants, and they do have the right to go home and apply for citizenship legally. But the right to peacefully assemble and protest belongs to Americans and legal residents.

Peacemaker

"Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God."

Tom Fox
(1951-2006)

Grand Delusion

All those who, from Kim Jong Il down to Aunt Tilly, believe they are godlike, are suffering from a grand delusion. They can't control the day of their own death, much less their trips to the bathroom. We are here solely at the good pleasure of Another.

Can and Should

Grownups know the difference between can and should. Or at least they should.

GWOT Scorecard

As the glow from Oscardom dissipates, we return to Tuesday's news on the global war on terror:

1. Patriot Act reauthorized;
2. Hearings on the terrorism surveillance program rejected in the Senate;
3. Dubai ports deal in serious trouble.

Three for three. Not bad.

Pervasiveness of Stupidity

If something looks fishy and you have to choose between "stupid" and "conspiracy," choose "stupid." Never underestimate the pervasiveness of human stupidity.

Why

If a company offers you a "no-risk, high-return" business deal, ask yourself why it would tell you about it.

Money-love

Money-love does not depend on how much money you have, but on how much your money has you.

Leaders and Followers

Books about leadership are common. Not too many volumes about following make the bestseller lists, however. Everyone, it seems, wants to be a leader. But what good are even the best leaders without followers? Not everyone can be a leader, and that's okay. Make it your aim to be a good follower. A good leader will thank you.

Effort and Results

Never confuse effort with results. Your boss won't.

Expletives Deleted

Bad language conveys shock value and strong emotions, but little real thought. It doesn't take a lot of brains to resort to a potty mouth. Delete your expletives. Otherwise, people will think that you can't.

Preparation

Preparation won't make you a genius. But it may make you look like one.