The Poisoned Well of Political Discourse

Thomas Sowell wrote:

While Gingrich backed away from his demagoguery about Bain Capital, Romney is continuing to press ahead with his charges that Gingrich was a lobbyist for Freddie Mac. As someone who has been a consultant, but never a lobbyist, I know the difference.

. . .

It takes two to tango, and lobbying requires not only a lobbyist but also someone who is being lobbied. With more than 500 people in Congress alone who could have been lobbied, and additional officials in the bureaucracies, if Romney cannot find even a single person to say that Gingrich lobbied him or her, then it is long past time for him to either put up or shut up.

On the other hand, if Romney just wants to sling a lot of mud in Newt’s direction and hope that some of it sticks, then that should tell the voters a lot about Romney’s character.

Is Anybody Serious?

The Demise of Religious Society

Penny Starr wrote:

Shaun Casey, the religious affairs adviser to presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008, said at a discussion on Tuesday about “God and Politics” that the demise of religious society in the United States is a good thing.

“I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying,” said Casey, who is an associate professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

. . .

“There is also a negative underside to that history with respect to slavery, manifest destiny, to war, you know, to empires, so I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying,” Casey said. “But it does raise the practical question, what does bind us together in some way as a country?

“We need some substitute for that and I don’t think we’ve found it yet,” Casey said.

Obama’s Former Faith Adviser: ‘I, Frankly, Am Glad American Civil Religion is Dying’

World War II and the Keystone Pipeline

Pete Winn wrote:

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) took aim Wednesday at the State Department official dispatched to Congress to explain why President Obama shelved the Keystone XL pipeline – telling her that the U.S. had “fought and won World War II” in less time than the administration had spent weighing the Canada-U.S. pipeline deal.

Rep. Barton: U.S. ‘Fought and Won WW II in Less Time’ than Obama Had to Evaluate Keystone Pipeline

Romney’s Wealth

Henry J. Reske wrote:

Mitt Romney’s substantial net worth would not impress the Founding Fathers or some other folks who ran for president for that matter.

The former Massachusetts governor has a net worth estimated at between $190 and $250 million. Even at the high end, he’s not in the same league as George Washington.

Washington’s worth, mostly tied up in his vast plantation at Mount Vernon, is estimated in today’s dollars at more than $500 million, The Washington Post’s blog The Fix reports.

Romney’s Riches Less Than Past Presidential Candidates

Romney and Newtzilla

Jonah Goldberg wrote:

For whatever reason, Romney seems like a creature put on Earth to blend in with the humans and report back what he finds. He clearly likes earthlings, and they in turn find him pleasant enough, and surprisingly lifelike.

Newtzilla Conquers All?

The Golden Age of Presumptuous Ignorance

It really wouldn’t be a day unless I posted something by Thomas Sowell, so here we go. Tom wrote:

This may be the golden age of presumptuous ignorance. The most recent demonstrations of that are the Occupy Wall Street mobs. It is doubtful how many of these semi-literate sloganizers could tell the difference between a stock and a bond.

Yet there they are, mouthing off about Wall Street on television, cheered on by politicians and the media. If this is not a golden age of presumptuous ignorance, perhaps it should be called a brass age.

No one has more brass than the president of the United States, though his brass may be more polished than that of the Occupy Wall Street mobs. When Barack Obama speaks loftily about “investing in the industries of the future,” does anyone ask: What in the world would qualify him to know what are the industries of the future?

Why would people who have spent their careers in politics know more about investing than people who have spent their careers as investors?

. . .

One of the reasons for so much presumptuous ignorance flourishing in our time may be the emphasis on “self-esteem” in our schools and colleges. Children not yet a decade old have been encouraged, or even required, to write letters to public figures, sounding off on issues ranging from taxes to nuclear missiles.

Our schools begin promoting presumptuous ignorance early on. It is apparently one of the few things they teach well. The end result is people without much knowledge, but with a lot of brass.

A Brass Age?

Obama’s Final SOTU?

Burton Folsom wrote:

And if more than 40 percent of Americans pay no income taxes, how can it be “fair” to ask others to pay more?

Samuel Gregg wrote:

There is always something surreal about a Chicago politician talking about “fairness” and “playing by the rules.”

Obama’s Final SOTU?

Lofty Rhetoric

Paul Scicchitano wrote:

Political analyst and Democratic pollster Doug Schoen said that President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address was full of “lofty rhetoric” that amounts to “massive new taxes” on wealthy Americans.

. . .

“The signature legislative accomplishment of his first two years was MIR — missing in rhetoric.”

Schoen Says Obama Speech Was ‘Lofty Rhetoric’

Jews for Jesus

Dennis Prager wrote:

What particularly annoys Jews is not the existence of converts but the existence of “Jews for Jesus.” To most Jews, this is a misleading label, because people who come to believe in Christ should call themselves Christians, not Jews.

Evangelicals and Romney

This is contrary to the Bible, despite what some Jews and prominent Christians may teach. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans:

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Romans 2:28,29 ESV

Sowell on Gingrich

I realize that I’ve been posting a lot of stuff by Thomas Sowell lately, but that’s mostly because I read nearly everything he writes. You’ll get used to it. I did.

Thomas Sowell wrote:

Whichever candidate the Republican voters finally choose from this year’s field, they are bound to have reservations, if not fears. Gingrich’s worst could be worse than Romney’s worst, both as a candidate and as a president. But Gingrich’s best is much better than Romney’s best.

Sometimes caution can be carried to the point where it is dangerous. When the Super Bowl is on the line, you don’t go with the quarterback who is least likely to throw an interception. You go with the one most likely to throw a touchdown pass.

South Carolina’s Message

Forgetting God

From Newsmax:

The district has fought since 2007 to force Bradley Johnson to remove banners saying “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God,” and “God Bless America” from his classroom at Westview High School in Rancho Bernardo, Calif.

Supreme Court Asked to Permit Religious Banners in Calif. Classroom

This is single instance of a world-wide trend, and the consquences are much more serious than many people like to think.

Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Deuteronomy 8:11-20

I’d rather be blessed, and living in a country that’s blessed, than to be blessed and living in a country that’s cursed.

Bumper sticker: Remember the Dark Ages.

The Way That History Went Down

Thomas Sowell wrote (emphasis mine):

More important, seeing those Western European elites in Eastern Europe as the cause of the economic disparities led many Eastern Europeans into the blind alley of ethnic-identity politics, including hostility to Germans, Jews, and others — and a romanticizing of their own cultural patterns that were holding them back.

What happened in Eastern Europe, including many tragedies that grew out of the polarization of groups in the region, has implications that reach far beyond Europe, and in fact reach all around the world, where similar events have produced similar polarizations and similar historic tragedies.

Today, in America, many denounce the black-white gap in economic and other achievements, which they attribute to the same kinds of causes as those to which the lags of Eastern Europeans have been attributed. Moreover, the persistence of these gaps, years after the civil-rights laws were expected to close them, is regarded as something strange and even sinister.

Yet the economic disparities between Eastern Europeans and Western Europeans remain to this day greater than the economic disparities between blacks and whites in America — and the gap in Europe has lasted for centuries.

Focusing attention and attacks on people who have greater wealth-generating capacity — whether races, classes, or whatever — has had counterproductive consequences, including tragedies written in the blood of millions. Whole totalitarian governments have risen to dictatorial power on the wings of envy and resentment ideologies.

Intellectuals have all too often promoted these envy and resentment ideologies. There are both psychic and material rewards for the intelligentsia in doing so, even when the supposed beneficiaries of these ideologies end up worse off. When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.

The Way That History Went Down

Newt and Normalcy

Jay Nordlinger wrote:

“Never trust a man who won’t have a drink with you.” How many times have you heard that? There ought to be a competing maxim: “Never trust a man who won’t trust a man who won’t have a drink with him.”

. . .

Conservatives still say, “Oh, Mitch. Oh, Christie. Oh, Ryan. Oh, Jeb. Oh, Haley. Oh, whoever. Where are you?”

In my opinion, the candidates who aren’t in the race are attractive in large part because they’re not in. They have not been bloodied. They have not been picked over. They have not had their problems exposed. (Everyone has problems.)

They’re not in the arena — presidentially, that is. They have the luxury of sitting in the stands, where we can all coo over them.

Newt and normalcy, &c.

Rick Santorum on Islam

Patrick Goodenough wrote:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says it will send Rick Santorum a copy of the Qur’an this week to help the Republican presidential candidate to “educate himself about Islam” after he was quoted as implying that Muslims do not worship the Judeo-Christian God.

Educate Yourself on Islam, CAIR Tells Santorum

It’s very easy to see that Allah and (the Judeo-Christian) God are not the same entity. Qur’an 4:171 says:

O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not “Three” – Cease! (it is) better for you! – Allah is only One Allah. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.

And Qur’an 4:157 says:

And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger – they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain.

But the Bible says:

Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:10-12

Kuwaiti Royal Prince Converts to Christianity

From Vatican Insider:

According to reports, a Kuwaiti royal prince has become a follower of Jesus Christ.

. . .

First of all, I fully agree with the distribution of this audio file and I now declare that if they kill me because of it, then I will appear before Jesus Christ and be with him for all eternity.

Kuwait: The prince’s mysterious conversion

Newt Gingrich on Stealth Jihad

Newt Gingrich said:

Stealth jihadis use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools; violent jihadis use violence. But in fact, they’re both engaged in jihad and they’re both seeking to impose the same end state, which is to replace Western civilization with a radical imposition of shari’a. It’s time we had a national debate on this. One of the things I’m going to suggest today is a federal law which says no court anywhere in the United States under any circumstance is allowed to consider shari’a as a replacement for American law.

. . .

I would cite to you for example the case in Minnesota where a blind student was exempted from a course and given credit without attending because his seeing-eye dog offended Muslim students. If you want to know what appeasement is like in America, if you want to know why this is a problem here at home, this is the kind of stuff that’s going on because nobody in our secular elites is prepared to stand up and defend Western civilization against the routine steady erosion.”

Gingrich’s Aversion to Shari’a Stems From His Concern About ‘Stealth Jihad’

~ ~ ~

Jim DeMint said:

As for Obama, I believe his deeply divisive and negative campaign will backfire. America has always prided itself on being a classless society, and the kind of class warfare he is engaging in to secure his far-left base is not appealing to most Americans. He is no longer the candidate of “hope” and “change.” He is a president who has wasted $4 trillion, lost our nation’s cherished AAA rating, blatantly ignored the Constitution on a whole range of issues, and lost all credibility when it comes to job creation, cutting spending, and the economy.

. . .

Liberals know a dependent voter is a dependable vote, and there are more people dependent on the government for their basic needs than ever. As more people rely on government programs, the harder it becomes to conduct the necessary reforms to preserve them to help our society’s most vulnerable. Just look at how the Democrats have demonized Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan, the Roadmap for America’s Future. They’ve accused the very man who wants to save Medicare of wanting to destroy it. The window for being able to make those kinds of changes is closing. Once our country has more people taking from the government than contributing to it, it will be extremely difficult to rescue ourselves from economic disaster. That’s why I feel such an urgency to act now before we pass that point.

. . .

Now, I’ve seen lots of compromises in Washington, and they always result in more government — not less. I’m not interested in those kinds of compromises. The old saying goes, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Well, we’ve had too many Republicans joining the Democrats, and now we have a $15 trillion debt. I think we ought to stop joining them and start beating them.

DeMint Weighs In

~ ~ ~

Thomas Sowell wrote:

But the innumerable factors affecting human achievements are not only complex and hard to untangle, they offer neither politicians nor intellectuals the opportunity to simply be on the side of the angels against the forces of evil. Factors which present no opportunity to star in a moral melodrama have often been ignored in favor of factors that do.

The Eternal Peril of the Simple Answer

~ ~ ~

From Ars Technica:

Congress may take books, musical compositions and other works out of the public domain, where they can be freely used and adapted, and grant them copyright status again, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

Supreme Court rules Congress can re-copyright public domain works

~ ~ ~

From DBKP:

The 100 most popular conservative websites on the Internet for January 2012:

The Conservative 100

“Unconstitutional” Prayer

From CNSNews.com:

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a North Carolina county commission over the mostly Christian prayers offered at the beginning of its public meetings.

The justices on Tuesday left in place a federal appeals court ruling that held that the predominantly Christian prayers at the start of Forsyth County commission meetings violated the First Amendment’s prohibition on government endorsement of a particular religion.

The commission said its doors have long been open to religious leaders of many faiths. But the appeals court in Richmond, Va., found that more than three-quarters of the 33 invocations given before meetings between May 2007 and December 2008 referred to “Jesus,” “Jesus Christ,” “Christ” or “Savior.”

Court rejects appeal over prayer at public meeting

And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.

Acts 4:18-21

~ ~ ~

From Aswat Masriya:

Former American President, Jimmy Carter, has called out for the U.S. to support Islamic rule in Egypt, pointing out that it will lead to democracy, freedom and stability in the region.

Carter asks U.S. to support Islamic rule in Egypt

~ ~ ~

Victor Davis Hanson wrote:

Barack Obama has been establishing new rules of racial referencing. In general, his utterances follow a disheartening pattern. When he is ahead in the polls, has won an election, and is not campaigning, then he emphasizes the unity of the country. But when he is running for president, or campaigning for others, or sinking in the polls, he and his closest associates predictably revert to charges of racial bigotry, albeit usually coded and subtle. America is redeemed when it champions the Obamas, but retrograde when it does not.

Obama’s Racial Politics

~ ~ ~

From The Economist:

Unlike people, companies can in theory live for ever. But most die young, because the corporate world, unlike society at large, is a fight to the death. Fujifilm has mastered new tactics and survived. Film went from 60% of its profits in 2000 to basically nothing, yet it found new sources of revenue. Kodak, along with many a great company before it, appears simply to have run its course. After 132 years it is poised, like an old photo, to fade away.

The last Kodak moment?

Congress: What’s Not to Like?

From Newsmax:

But Congress as a whole is still held in disdain by Americans, the poll discovered. Just 13 percent approve with the job it is doing while a massive 84 percent disapprove.

Obama Has Achieved Little, Most Americans Say in New Poll

I’m always vexed by the question, “do you approve of congress.” It’s like asking someone at the Super Bowl, “do you approve of football.” What kind of question is that? And then of course someone always has to ask, “Why can’t they just work together?” (For the good of the country, etc.) Well, for pretty much the same reason the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears don’t work together very well — they’re rivals, not coworkers. They’re on opposite sides!

I better get off my soapbox before I ignite.

Unchurched Christians

Rich Huston wrote:

I like what John Stott once said; “I trust that none of my readers is that grotesque anomaly, an unchurched Christian. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very centre of the eternal purpose of God.”

We are faddish trend-watchers — ignorant of our own history, obnoxiously dismissive of the practices of our spiritual fathers and mothers, and easily duped.

—Kevin DeYoung

Why Church?

~ ~ ~

Dennis Prager wrote:

Males make up about 50 percent of the American population but about 99 percent of those executed. Is the American justice system wildly anti-male?

Ron Paul in Left Field

~ ~ ~

Thomas Sowell wrote:

Gross inequalities in skills and achievements have been the rule, not the exception, on every inhabited continent and for centuries on end. Yet our laws and government policies act as if any significant statistical difference between racial or ethnic groups in employment or income can only be a result of their being treated differently by others.

An Ignored ‘Disparity’

~ ~ ~

From CNSNews.com:

A Polish court slapped a fine on a popular singer who bad-mouthed the Bible — the latest episode in which authorities grapple with religious defamation in a traditionally Catholic country that is growing increasingly secular.

Poland Slaps Fine on Singer for Bashing Bible

~ ~ ~

Rich Lowry wrote:

In 2005 the Center for Equal Opportunity, a think tank opposed to racial preferences, looked at males applying to the University of Michigan from within the state who had no parental connection to the school. If the applicant had a 1240 SAT score and a 3.2 GPA, he had a 92 percent chance of admission if black and 88 percent if Latino. If white, he had only a 14 percent chance, and if Asian, a 10 percent chance.

Applying While Asian

And Then There Were Five

Katrina Trinko wrote:

And the scrubbing of history has already begun. Huntsman’s YouTube channel no longer includes the several web videos the campaign made that were critical of Mitt Romney. And ScaredMittless2012.com and 10KBet.com, two sites the Huntsman campaign started to attack Romney, both direct visitors to Yahoo.com now.

Huntsman to Endorse Romney

I was hoping Huntsman would hang around a while longer and siphon votes off Romney.

My current ranking, in decreasing order of preference:

1. Santorum
2. Gingrich
3. Perry
4. Romney
5. Paul

Not much has changed, expect Santorum and Gingrich swapped places, mostly because of Newt’s unjustified attack on Romney’s work at Bain Capital.

~ ~ ~

Mark Steyn wrote:

A decade or two on, is it likely that Ahmed and Mohammed will agree to be ever more punitively taxed to maintain the lavish retirements of Fritz and Francois? Or that, in the south-western United States circa 2025, a young largely Hispanic population will wish to prop up Medicare for an elderly largely white Boomer population who’ve enjoyed a level of American prosperity their successors will never know.

Re: The More the Merrier?

~ ~ ~

Andrew C. McCarthy wrote:

I keep hoping to hear those three words: “I was wrong.” But they’re not coming. Romney supporters on the right keep rationalizing that he is just doing what he must do to stay viable: resisting a colossal flip-flop that would be more damaging than all the others. The candidate, however, says no, and attests that he is defending Romneycare because he believes in it. I usually worry that politicians lie. I’m worried that this one is telling the truth.

Right, Wrong, and Romney