In whose hands?

As a non-Catholic, I hesitate to comment too directly on Pope John Paul II. One could certainly jump on the 'What about all those pedophile priests he didn't deal with?' bandwagon, but that's not my issue here. I find it interesting that two Catholics, John Paul II and Terri Schiavo, wound up with two different paths out of this life. The juxtaposition is striking. On the one hand, we have Ms. Schiavo. She ultimately fell victim to the culture of Death that is ever growing in terms of groups whose lives are deemed unworthy of living. We started with fetuses and we're continually pushing the envelope to include anyone we feel uncomfortable being around because of their age, medical condition, state of mind, or maybe even their looks. On the other hand, John Paul II made a conscious decision to forego any further treatments to prolong his life. At least he got to participate in the final decision

Better deal than 4 out of 5 Dentists!

From 'best of the web' at the Wall Street Journal, an article here telling us that 5 out of 5 scientists think our solar system is unique. You know, stuff like having a planet with water that is in a circular orbit as it spins on its axis positioned in such a way that it supports life. You know, unique, like one-of-a-kind, special...waitaminnit....maybe ummmm, created that way for a particular reason or purpose. OK, that part might be a stretch for the logical minded, but perhaps we can suspend secular reasoning for just a moment to reflect...maybe, just maybe God did it. Ooops, I said it again. Hope I didn't offend the secular minded amongst you...:-)

A passion for pulling the plug, or tube, or trigger.

Peggy Noonan gives us her take on the Schiavo situation. Along with the politics surrounding this and other events, she's 'dead on' on a most basic issue: you either believe you are a creation of God, or the end result of a myriad combination of circumstances. That perspective defines for us how people are looking at Ms. Schiavo. Now, I'm not for any branch or individual overstepping the Constitution, but whether one believes...or not, we all answer to a Higher Power. Disbelief won't negate our requirement to answer to that Higher Power. It simply puts the answering off until we are individually or collectively called into account. If you don't think that you're knee will bow or your tongue confess...the Constitution gives you that right to think so. It just doesn't change the facts. It does, however, change what your idea of Right and Wrong and Life and Death are. That's why people are going way beyond simply allowing someone to starve to death and taking a more direct route with with guns (which is my argument for making it a law to require and/or to provide all citizens with firearms to protect themselves from people that think life is worthless). As I saw on a bumper sticker the other day, "If you don't believe in God, you'd better be right". Some would consider my position dogmatic. It most certainly is. Hey, its my blog, afterall... :-)

Its not like its a matter of Life or Death, is it?

I'm not the first to make this observation, but recent events really are highlighting this 'culture of death' phenomenon our country is experiencing as the Easter holiday is upon us. The first thing that comes to mind is Terri Schiavo. We have a person that is not on life support, whose ability to function beyond a 'persistent vegetative state' is still subject to debate amongst medical experts, and it seems that our judicial system is Hell-bent on killing her. This in spite of Congress and the President of the United States doing their collective best to give her another chance at Life. We have a young man, Jeff Weise, up in Minnesota that killed 10 people, including his grandparents, and even himself. It was found out later he was deep into 'neo-nazism'. Jessica Lunsford, a mere 9 years old, is murdered by a convicted sex-offender. Here locally a bar fight that in the past would have resulted in some fist fight in the parking lot, winds up with a 'drive by' type of shooting with four people dead. A high school football player simply attending a party is gunned down by another teenager, all because he was asked to leave.

The common thread? In all these cases, Life has lost its value to the people that are taking it. If we are to believe the polls concerning Terry Schiavo (which I don't), Life has lost its value to most of the rest of us as passive bystanders. Its no longer important whether anyone lives. There is no such thing as Eternity, only a blank space where we used to exist. The thing taking its place is Death. Literally, Life and Death have become equivalent in value to many people, and in some cases Death is actually preferable, the first choice. How ironic it is that the Holiday that celebrates Life in the form of the Resurrection falls on the heels of all this death, death, and more death.

Assuming a belief in a God of any kind, our mere existence is in and of itself a miraculous occurance. The culture we're living in now doesn't acknowledge God or the miraculous nature of our existence as the result of His own existence. How short a step it is to Oblivion when our lives are assumed to end there.

Do you see what I see?

Lets take some inventory, shall we?

Afghanistan: free of Taliban rule and having democratic elections. Check.

Iraq: free of Saddam and on its way to a democratically elected government. Check.

Palestinians: Almost acting like a nation with elections. Check.

Libya: renouncing terrorism, paying back victims of said terrorism,
and dismantling its terrorist system. Check.

Egypt: Hosni Mubarek calling for more 'open' elections

Lebannon: Its citizens in revolt ( and peaceful, BTW) against their Syrian oppressors, the Syrian backed government resigning. Check.

Syria: now coughing up some major Baathists hiding from Iraqi justice: Check

Awwww, maybe its just my imagination that Freedom and Liberty are compatible with Middle Eastern cultures. That people, no matter where they are or where they came from all want that same kind of freedom. Maybe all the usual suspects are figuring out that they need to start running the opposite direction now, merely to get in front of this march to Freedom, or risk being left behind in its dust, or worse, trampled beneath it. Maybe standing on principle and not backing down from a fight with Evil in whatever form it takes, get results. Maybe going it alone or with less allies than you'd like when you know the cause is right is actually the right thing to do. Maybe it is just my imagination after all...

He said it, not me.

Picked this up on Powerline. Its a quote from Winston Churchill, from his experience in fighting in the Sudan.

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."

Protestors in Lebannon, wanting their country back... 

Signposts in the Middle East

Just picked up a report from Fox News here concerning Syria pulling troops out of Lebannon. A little slow, since they agreed to that in 1989, and we really don't know what they mean when they say they're pulling troops out What was really interesting is a quotation from one of the participants in a protest related to the assasination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri.

"It is my civic duty as a Lebanese to take part in this uprising," said Youssef Mukhtar, a 47-year-old engineer. "Enough bloodshed and disasters. It is the 21st century, and people should be able to govern themselves. The situation has become unbearable and we have to regain our country."

21st century, indeed. I wonder why, after all these years of occupying their neighbor, the 'occupying nation' (that's NOT the United States) is NOW announcing a pullout of troops? I wonder why, after all these years, we have Lebanese citizens clamoring for self-government? Could it be, that after seeing countries like Afghanistan and Iraq moving toward democracy and 'governing themselves', these folks would want the same thing for their country? Could it be that Mr. Bush's policies, ever how imperfectly carried out, actually are having the desired effects? I'm thinking so.

An open letter to Democrats...

It seems almost daily one finds example after example of Democrats shooting themselves in the foot over foreign and domestic policy, and for what? Do you guys hate Bush that bad that you can't see the real opportunity before you as a party? My late father, rest his soul, was a yellow-dog Democrat. For those of you to young to remember, it means if Mother Teresa was a Republican, he would have voted for a yellow dog running on the Democratic Ticket. He always considered Democrats as the party for the Little Guy, the Workin' Man, the Disadvantaged, the Downtrodden, the Forgotten. Democrats were the ones to stand up to Big Government and Big Business, and hold them accountable to regular folks. It wasn't Liberalism in his day, it was Progressivism. The biggest problem you guys have is you've forgotten all that. We need people that won't allow Big Government and Big Business to run roughshod over the common man with no accountability. We need folks to act in our behalf. Where'd you go? All the way to TooFarForYourOwnGood, Texas...that's where. You want to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves? Well, how about unborn children, the least able to fight for their rights? Are you too busy advocating a woman's right to choose, after she's already chosen? And that makes sense to you? Want a cause to champion? How about all those 20 and 30 somethings that WILL NOT have Social Security having a say in their future retirement and their families well being? Want to advocate for civil rights? How about the BILLIONS of people across this planet still in the grip of Totalitarianism, torture, religious fanaticism , genocide, and the like? Want to show the electorate that you have as much claim to 'Christian values' as Bush? How about not looking down your pseudointellectual noses at the "unwashed" in this country and actually try caring about them, and then doing the appropriate, 'Christian', thing? That enough to keep you busy? It would be so easy to out-bush Bush, I could do it from my couch, for crying out loud. Maybe if you'd take a break from hating the guy so much and get your 'stuff' all in one bucket, you might do yourselves, and this country, some good. I don't get all I want from the Republican side. I'm ready to strangle the whole lot concerning our borders, culture, and government spending. We do at least need a loyal opposition in this country to keep us all honest, the 'other side', if you will. The problem is that you have no side, no agenda, no ideas, no vision, no nothing...except for your hatred of a very imperfect man that's got all of that stuff. Heaven help you. I know I can't.

More on the Iraqi elections, terrorism, cowardice, and bravery.

As you can imagine, there are some bloggers in Iraq, "Iraq the model" being one of the more prominent, which you can visit here . Great story on the cowardice of the terrorists and the heroism of Iraqi citizens during the election. If you have any doubts about who is wearing the black hats in Iraq, go check out this blog.