Naked Celebrities and The Porn Myth

Recently, Allure magazine made the headlines, at least briefly, with five beautiful women it convinced to "bare all" for its magazine. The blurb went like this:

Allure asked five celebrities to bare it all for the camera. Learn what they had to say about self-esteem, their bodies, and stripping down; for more of our revealing interviews with them,...

"Self-esteem, their bodies and stripping down." There are many posts possible in these few lines. But I was drawn to one in particular. Mainly, why would they do this? What is the motivation for a beautiful woman to want to share that gift with the world and what is the difference between this and stripping and frankly, prostitution, because stripped (sorry) to its basic argument isn't that just another form of sharing yourself with others for their amusement?

OK perhaps the last part goes to far and I've actually asked more than one question there but still...

I was reminded of an article that I read many years ago, from feminist writer Naomi Wolf. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to find the article, which in part said this:

I will never forget a visit I made to Ilana, an old friend who had become an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem. When I saw her again, she had abandoned her jeans and T-shirts for long skirts and a head scarf. I could not get over it. Ilana has waist-length, wild and curly golden-blonde hair. “Can’t I even see your hair?” I asked, trying to find my old friend in there. “No,” she demurred quietly. “Only my husband,” she said with a calm sexual confidence, “ever gets to see my hair.”
When she showed me her little house in a settlement on a hill, and I saw the bedroom, draped in Middle Eastern embroideries, that she shares only with her husband—the kids are not allowed—the sexual intensity in the air was archaic, overwhelming. It was private. It was a feeling of erotic intensity deeper than any I have ever picked up between secular couples in the liberated West. And I thought: Our husbands see naked women all day—in Times Square if not on the Net. Her husband never even sees another woman’s hair.

She must feel, I thought, so hot.

Compare that steaminess with a conversation I had at Northwestern, after I had talked about the effect of porn on relationships. “Why have sex right away?” a boy with tousled hair and Bambi eyes was explaining. “Things are always a little tense and uncomfortable when you just start seeing someone,” he said. “I prefer to have sex right away just to get it over with. You know it’s going to happen anyway, and it gets rid of the tension.”

“Isn’t the tension kind of fun?” I asked. “Doesn’t that also get rid of the mystery?”

“Mystery?” He looked at me blankly. And then, without hesitating, he replied: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Sex has no mystery.”(more)

Much the same thing was said in the book "Everyman's Battle". One of the suggestions to men struggling against the lure of pornography and its addictive qualities and consequent detriment to marriages was to "starve their eyes" during the course of the day. Because to do otherwise, particularly with pornography (but in other ways too) cheats our spouses (and future spouses) of full devotion.

Wolf understands this:

The reason to turn off the porn might become, to thoughtful people, not a moral one but, in a way, a physical- and emotional-health one; you might want to rethink your constant access to porn in the same way that, if you want to be an athlete, you rethink your smoking. The evidence is in: Greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity. (more)

After all, pornography works in the most basic of ways on the brain: It is Pavlovian. An orgasm is one of the biggest reinforcers imaginable. If you associate orgasm with your wife, a kiss, a scent, a body, that is what, over time, will turn you on; if you open your focus to an endless stream of ever-more-transgressive images of cybersex slaves, that is what it will take to turn you on. The ubiquity of sexual images does not free eros but dilutes it.(more)

Yes, I've seen the pictures. They are beautiful and, I might add, tastefully done but something still nags my mind about it all. That these beautiful creations have felt the need to share their charms with many for sake of self-esteem and curiosity rather than with one in favor of chastity and mystery.

Miss California's Warning for All of Us

I haven't been much interested in the Miss USA pageant since I quit salivating over the lingerie adds in the newspaper back in Jr High. But unless you've been under a rock the last few days you have no doubt been hearing of the brouhaha over Miss California's response to the question on same sex "marriage."

A nice summary can be found over at Pearl Diver:

So Miss California got baited and reeled in at the Miss USA Pageant. And, of course, now she’s being fried by the oh-so-neutral mainstream media we’ve all come to know and love. I am so proud to be a Californian right now! First, We the People speak our minds and establish that in California, marriage is between one man and one woman. Then, our “little Miss,” responds to a loaded question posed by gay blogger, Perez Hilton, with a very diplomatic, but firm response, “I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised.” (more)

Pearl goes on to discuss an interesting phenomenon with the searches on the subject focusing on the possibility that Miss C might be a Mormon. It's an interesting read as is the rest the blog over at Pearl's place.

But something caught my eye while reading the comments section. Avery interesting comment from Opine Editorials that said this:

"Miss Prejean is currently a student at San Diego Christian College, which is associated with Shadow Mountain Community Church at whose International Ministry Center Miss Prejean has volunteered. While virtually any faith would be proud to count Miss Prejean a member, it appears she is currently affiliated Southern Baptist.Here's the wrinkle: Miss Prejean's educational background would have been part of her application for the Miss USA pageant, to which all judges would have been given access. Mr. Hilton likely knew Miss Prejean's Christian faith when he targeted his highly divisive question at her. Donald Trump, the pageant owner, attributes the question to her "bad luck." I'm not so sure."

And I think he is on to something here. I think Miss California was targeted specifically for her views on this subject and I think it bodes ill for all of us.

STR says this:

The fact is, decent Americans are the ones being bullied here, citizens who are people of conscience, overflowing with tolerance in the classic sense, but are being pushed around and oppressed because they disagree with the extreme views of the minority. Instead of making the case for traditional marriage, maybe we should also point out what's really going on behind the rhetoric that appeals to fairness and equality.

Let me tell you what’s really going on here.
Good people with honest differences with the Homosexual agenda are being bullied.

First, Americans are incredibly tolerant of homosexuality, especially considering the moral concerns lots of folks have with it. Same-sex couples have been getting married for years in private ceremonies. No one interferes, and no one should.

Americans are happy to give equal rights, and that is done virtually everywhere. However, they do not want their arms twisted into approving something they do not think is good for America or for families. That’s the real issue. (more)

The expansion of hate law legislation ( a dubious idea to begin with) only adds to the concern for the loss of religious freedom and free speech.
Hate Crimes Legislation Draws Criticism from Christian Groups

And in order to pass the legislation proponents often (surprise) play fast and loose with the facts.

From OneNewsNow
Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, notes that Democrats were forced to eliminate a key portion of the bill -- the findings section. "We exposed the fact that they claimed, they have fraudulent claims that there was an epidemic of hate against homosexuals and drag queens, transgenders -- and that claim was the foundation of the bill," she notes. "They claimed that homosexuals are fleeing across state lines to avoid persecution, and that perpetrators are crossing state lines to commit crimes against these gays, lesbians, and transgenders, and that they have trouble purchasing goods and services or finding employment. We nailed them on the fact that that's a lie." Lafferty says during yesterday's markup hearing, Democrats neglected to mention that in America -- a country of 300 million people -- there have been only 1,521 cases of hate against homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people. (more)

Lifesite shows us what may be at stake:

...In a motion almost completely ignored by the mainstream media, the Judiciary Committee voted 15-12 to allow the hotly contested H.R. 1913, known as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act of 2009, to go forward.

The measure would grant the federal government a new authority to prosecute any violent crime anywhere in the country that is perceived to be "motivated by prejudice" against a number of protected characteristics, including "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."
Christian leaders are particularly concerned that attempts to secure the right to speak against the homosexual lifestyle and its normalization have failed. Among many rejected proposals for the bill was one offered by Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, which would have included a clause ensuring ministers could not be prosecuted for abetting a "hate crime" because they preached the Christian perspective on homosexuality.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the Congressman who introduced the bill, claimed the bill posed no danger to Christian free speech, saying that it "only applies to bias-motivated violent crimes and does not impinge public speech or writing in any way." Section 10 of H.R. 1913 states: "Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."

Yet free speech advocates have pointed out that under current U.S. law, any action that "abets, counsels, commands, [or] induces" a perceived "hate crime" shares in the guilt of that crime, and is therefore punishable.

The danger posed by the "hate crime" legislation to Christian ministers was confirmed when Congress considered practically identical legislation in 2007. Then, Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., admitted during a hearing on the measure that it could be used to prosecute pastors for preaching the biblical perspective on homosexuality, given the perception that it may have "induced" a later hate crime. ...(more)

…and now, a brief word from our Illustrious Potentate…

Prayer Study

Prayer was to be a focus for me in the New Year. It was to be the focus of my church and the Sunday School class I teach. I even started an new blog back in January that would focus on the subject. The last post on the blog was February 7 right before I started my various hospital/doctor visits.

I have found that when I am tired or sick my formal prayer times dwindle. I still prayed, like when I was placed in a quiet room in the back of the ER at about 1 in the morning and was overcome with a very real sense I was dying. I prayed that I wouldn't die that way, at that time, in that place, knowing full well I had no say in the matter. I realized I wasn't really prepared to die and we all, as Christians, should be prepared to do just that, everyday. For I think it is in being prepared to die (and knowing that you can't kill us) that allows us to live life in ways that otherwise would not be possible. (that whole loving your enemy thing and loving God with all strength, heart and mind) But that is another post.

Something akin to this train of thought was written over at STR some time ago and is worth a read.

We have begun reading Richard Foster's "Prayer" in our Sunday School. I thought I would share some of his thoughts in the notes I've taken for the class:

True prayer is nothing but love. – St Augustine

God aches over our distance and preoccupation and mourns that we do not draw near to Him. He grieves that we have forgotten him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence.

He is inviting us to come home.

Regardless of our situation- the Father’s heart is open wide and you are welcome to come in.

Loving is the syntax of prayer.

The first prayer Foster talks about is called "Simple Prayer."

To pray is to change. But the movement is first inward to protect us from being overwhelmed by God’s glory.

Simple Prayer- the prayer of beginning again

We yearn and hide from prayer.
Our busyness is a smoke screen as we are never to busy to eat or sleep or making love.

There are a number of “somethings” keeping us from praying. First is the notion that things must be just right, that our lives require fine tuning before we can really pray.

We all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives- altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter.

This side of heaven we will never have pure enough motives, or be good enough or know enough to pray rightly. It is in the very act of prayer that these things are addressed in due time.

In Simple prayer we bring ourselves before God, warts and all. In a very real sense Simple Prayer is about us. We are the focus- our wants, needs and concerns.

The most common form of prayer in the Bible. Examples of these are Moses complaining and Elisha retaliating against the children who jeered. But in the midst of these self-centered prayers something more arises.

Simple prayer is beginning prayer. It is daily bread. It is daily needs and we will never outgrow it.

When we pray...the real condition of our heart is revealed. This is when God truly begins to work with us.

Action

To believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life is the stuff of prayer.

Frustration anger and tears are also the language of Simple Prayer. “Lay before Him what is in us. Not what ought to be in us..” C.S. Lewis

The details of our lives matter to God. Carry on an ongoing conversation with God about the daily stuff of life ala “Fiddler on the Roof.

1. Only one thing is required- Love

2. Never be discouraged by our lack of prayer- “The desire for prayer, is prayer….” Desire leads to practice and practice will increase desire. Give even our lack of prayer to God.

3. Let go of trying too hard to pray lest you get spiritual indigestion. Beware “spiritual greed.” i.e. wanting more of God than can be properly digested.

4. Learn to pray even while we are dwelling on evil. The Lord loves us perhaps most of all-when we fail and try again.

5. In the beginning strive for uneventful prayer experiences

Dangers

Self-centered, narcissistic, selfishness. Rationalization and manipulation of our experiences so that we hear only what we want to hear. Self consumed we may lose sight of God altogether and worshipping “the creature rather than the Creator”.

Did you read #4? "Learn to pray even while dwelling on evil". That is an incredibly powerful realization is it not? That we can pray in that state? But it is very difficult to do and in fact most of us avoid all contact with God in those moments and those that follow, because we do not feel worthy, when in fact, it is precisley at those times when we should be praying all the more.

I am reminded of a sermon by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in which he prays:

Lord Jesus, come yourself, and dwell with us, be
human as we are, and overcome what overwhelms us.
Come into the midst of my evil, come close to my
unfaithfulness. Share my sin, which I hate and which I
cannot leave. Be my brother, Thou Holy God. Be my
brother in the kingdom of evil and suffering and death.
Come with me in my death, come with me in my suffering,
come with me as I struggle with evil. And make me
holy and pure, despite my sin and death. (Advent Sermon Barcelona 1928)

So I'd like to invite you to come along and join my Sunday School class in reading this book on prayer. I'll post notes as we go along much as we did the Advent Study. May our love of God be increased and our prayer life be enriched by the power of the Holy Spirit as we take this journey.

Don't Believe the Health Hype. Five Fallacies Debunked

A change of pace from Dumb Little Man with commentary by Eutychus...

1. I should exercise in my “fat burning zone.”
A special zone that allows me to burn more fat? Perfect! So you accelerate, check your heart rate, then decelerate and peddle cautiously to ensure you never leave the fat burning zone.According to Michael Brazeal, Director of Fitness and Exercise Physiologist at the California Health and Longevity Institute at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, California, you’ve been misled.
If my heart is beating at all during exercise I figure I''m doing pretty well. No thoughts of "fat burning zones" ever darken my minds door.

2. If I focus on abdominal exercises, I will lose inches off of my waistline.
Remember the video of the woman in the pink leotard trying to trim her waist by being violently jiggled by a vibrating belt machine? Guess what? It didn’t work then and it doesn’t work now.
I'm sorry the image of the jiggled woman in a pink leotard got me way off track here..

3. If I do too much weight training, I’m going to look like Schwarzenegger.
Many people like having a toned body, but don’t want a bulky one. As a result, we are suspicious of weight training, scared that the end result will be an overly muscled, Amazonian physique ideal for winning body building competitions. According to Brazeal, that’s a fallacy. “Due to hormonal differences, very few people are capable of achieving exaggerated muscle hypertrophy which is an increase in muscle mass caused by resistance training. Unless you are on some type of supplement, you are not going to bulk up,” says Brazeal. This is a real relief for me as this is the real reason I avoid the gym. (ahem) That and the fact that my dad died at 55 while jogging... but I digress.

4. If I eat meals from the low calorie menu at a restaurant, I’m being responsible.
Just as decadent chocolate desserts tempt us, so do the words guiltless, low fat, low calorie, and heart healthy when they’re printed on the menus at our favorite restaurants. But relinquishing control of what you eat is always suspect no matter how convincing the marketing campaign. I can honestly say I have never been tempted by the words guiltless, low fat, low calorie and heart healthy. Those words might as well be tasteless, boring and "why would I come to a restaurant and eat that." Low fat?- that's like washing your feet with your socks on.

5. If I want to lose weight, I can’t go wrong by eating lots of salads.
The salad myth is wrong for two reasons: salads can be just as high in calories and fat as any other meal (especially when ordered at a restaurant) and your body can feel deprived when it doesn’t receive meals that incorporate all three major food groups. This can cause you to munch relentlessly later on. Two words- "Salad shooter"- nuff said.

The entire article and the rest of the reasons can be found here. (without my commentary)

Iraqi officials say al-Qaida-linked chief Abu Omar al-Baghdadi arrested

From NY Daily News:

BAGHDAD - The suspected leader of an al-Qaida-linked militant network was captured Thursday by Iraqi military forces, security officials said, in what could mark a significant blow against Sunni insurgents as they step up attacks.

Two separate suicide bombings, meanwhile, killed at least 42 people.Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has been a key target for U.S. and Iraqi forces for years as the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militant factions that is believed dominated by al-Qaida in Iraq.

But little is known about his origins or real influence over insurgent groups, which have staged a series of high-profile attacks in recent weeks, including, apparently, the two suicide blasts Thursday in Baghdad and north of the capital in Diyala province.

The U.S. military has even said al-Baghdadi could be a fictitious character used to give an Iraqi face to an organization dominated by foreign al-Qaida fighters.

But Iraqi security forces said he was in custody. (more)

Five Reasons the EPA Should Not Attempt to Deal with Global Warming

Comon Sense form the Heritage:

On April 17, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an endangerment finding, saying that global warming poses a serious threat to public health and safety. Thus, almost anything that emits carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. This is the first official action taken by the federal government to regulate carbon dioxide.

The endangerment finding is the initial step in a long regulatory process that could lead to the EPA requiring regulations for almost anything that emits carbon dioxide. Automobiles would likely be the first target, but subsequent regulations could extend to a million or more buildings and small businesses, including hospitals, schools, restaurants, churches, farms, and apartments. The following five reasons explain why this would be a big, costly mistake.

1. It's an Economy Killer
Above anything else, any attempt to reduce carbon dioxide would be poison to an already sick economy. Even when the economy does recover, the EPA's proposed global warming policy would severely limit economic growth.

2. Negligible Environmental Benefit
The extraordinary perils of CO2 regulation for the American economy come with little, if any, environmental benefit.

3. Lack of Scientific Consensus
The scientific consensus behind global warming, especially the seriousness of the impacts, is anything but strong. Last December, the U.S. Senate Minority released a report that included 650 dissenting scientists refuting claims made in the IPCC report.[4] That number has grown to over 700, more than 13 times the number of scientists (52) who had a direct role in the IPCC report.

4. Backdoor Policy
While some Members of Congress undoubtedly support the EPA's attempt to curb global warming, the fact that unelected and unaccountable EPA bureaucrats are trying to bypass legislative efforts makes it all the more objectionable.

5. Expanded Bureaucracy
Having EPA bureaucrats micromanage the economy, all in the name of combating global warming, would be a chilling shift to a command-and-control system in which EPA officials regulate just about every aspect of the market.

go here to read all of the article and the reasins in their entirety

Taliban advance eastward, threaten Islamabad

A few months ago when Pakistan haled it's "cease fire" with the Taliban forces in its eastern provinces, many warned that there would only be a lull before neighboring provinces began to feel the pressure. According to Islamo-fascist doctrine (outlined in the Koran) a cease fire is only a time to consolodate power and re-supply before beginning the war anew.

And here we are. From the Long War Journal:

The Taliban are pushing past the districts of Swat and Buner and are threatening Islamabad, a senior Islamist member of parliament said at a briefing.

The Taliban have consolidated control over the district of Buner and are moving on Mansehra and Haripur. These two regions, which are just on the outskirts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, have been relatively spared from the violent Taliban insurgency that has plagued the Northwest.

The Taliban have entered the district of Mansehra and are threatening to take control of the Tarbela Dam in neighboring Haripur district, said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl, an Islamist political party, during a debate in parliament.
"If the Taliban continue to move at this pace, they will soon be knocking at the doors of Islamabad as the Margala Hills seem to be the only hurdle in their march towards the federal capital," Fazl said, according to a report in The News. "After occupying Buner, they have reached Kala Dhaka and may also be taking over the water reservoir of the Tarbela Dam." (more)

So is Pakistan approaching collapse? Time asks the question here.

NOM CONGRATULATES THE PEOPLE OF CONNECTICUT

Press Release from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)

Princeton, NJ) - The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) applauds the Connecticut legislature which, in a surprise move today, adopted substantive religious liberty protections as part of what was expected to be a routine bill implementing the Connecticut court decision ordering same-sex marriage. “We are just grateful that the Connecticut legislators acknowledged and addressed the serious potential implications of same-sex marriage for traditional faith communities,” said Maggie Gallagher, president of NOM. “We hope this decision represents a change of heart among gay marriage advocates and a new willingness to accept broad conscience protections.”NOM launched its “Gathering Storm” ad campaign in Connecticut and neighboring states last week to help alert the people to the threat on religious liberty brought on by same sex marriage legislation. Robocall technology was also used to generate citizen outreach to elected officials regarding SB 899, a bill that followed a state Supreme Court decision granting same-sex marriages. “Thousands of ordinary Connecticut voters called up legislators. We are pleased that our Gathering Storm ad campaign could help put this issue on the map even in a blue state like Connecticut,” said Brian Brown, executive director of NOM.

Isn't the Motive Always Hate?

It is expected that the House Judiciary Committee will pass federal hate crimes legislation today, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of federally protected classes.

The fear among many, of course, is that this will be the cover for prosecuting who speak biblical truth about sodomy, as has, in fact, happened in other countries with similar legislation.

“Violent crime is already illegal and there are already penalties available – a gradient of penalties based on severity,” said Matt Barber, director of cultural policy for Liberty Counsel, a religious rights organization. “What’s more,” he said, “every American currently, regardless of their sexual preference, is guaranteed the same equal protection under the law.” What hate-crimes laws do, Barber said, is “take the focus off the crime itself and instead puts the focus on the opinion of the alleged perpetrator.”

My question is this...aren't all violent crimes prompted by hatred? Who has ever thought, "I love that person so much I am going to kill her?" Has anyone ever beaten someone up out of charity? "Hey, that person over there needs a beating, and since I have two good hands and a tire iron, I think I'll just go over there and help him out." All crimes of violence are prompted by hatred. Does it really matter whether the perpetrator hates for a particular reason?

cap and trade could cost the average household more than $3,900 per year

The MIT braintrust has done some refiguring and it turns out the Republicans may be a bit closer to the truth on this one.

From the Weekly Standard:

It's just another inconvenient truth: If Americans want any of the government remedies that would supposedly save a planet allegedly imperiled by global warming, it's going to cost them.

Just how much it will cost them has been a point of contention lately. Many congressional Republicans, including members of the GOP leadership, have claimed that the plan to limit carbon emissions through cap and trade would cost the average household more than $3,100 per year. According to an MIT study, between 2015 and 2050 cap and trade would annually raise an average of $366 billion in revenues (divided by 117 million households equals $3,128 per household, the Republicans reckon).

...In other words, Reilly estimates that "the amount of tax collected" through companies would equal $3,128 per household--and "Those costs do get passed to consumers and income earners
in one way or another"--but those costs have "nothing to do with the real cost" to the economy. Reilly assumes that the $3,128 will be "returned" to each household. Without that assumption, Reilly wrote, "the cost would then be the Republican estimate [$3,128] plus the cost I estimate [$800]."...(more)

Presidential Approval Index

If you listen to mainstream media you would believe that Barack Obama is a superstar!! That maybe he is the answer to all of our worries! The second coming!! However, if you look at his approval index as provided by The Rasmussen Report, who has accurately predicted the last several presidential elections, BHO is sinking like the Titanic. It actually gives me some “Hope”.

How can we have a national debt larger than the GNP? That’s where we’re headed! Do the pinheads in DC not learn something from this economic crisis? People borrowing more than they can possibly ever hope to repay? Oh yea, I forgot, they had to close the House Bank due to all the unpaid overdrafts……in the word’s of Emily Litella………..never mind………..

...and now a word from our illustrious BO.....

Fatties cause global warming

I used to be a skeptic but this article might have convinced me.....not.
From the Sun:

THE rising number of fat people was yesterday blamed for global warming.
Scientists warned that the increase in big-eaters means more food production — a major cause of CO2 gas emissions warming the planet.
Overweight people are also more likely to drive, adding to environmental damage. (more)

Extremist in the Pentagon

From HumanEvents

Democratic Party financier George Soros, who puts much of the blame for Islamic terrorists on America and former president George W. Bush, can celebrate his first foothold inside the Pentagon.

It is in the person of Rosa Brooks, far-left former Los Angeles Times columnist. She was once counsel to billionaire Soros' Open Societies Institute, whose funding arm bankrolls a number of hard-left pressure groups, such as MoveOn.org. MoveOn.org, of course, is the Washington outfit that smeared Gen. David Petraeus as a betrayer of his country, and depicted Bush in a Web ad as Adolph Hitler.

Brooks, who has also likened Bush to Hitler and claims the former president is "psychotic" and "fanatical," will not be a minor player. The Pentagon's No. 3 official and top policymaker, Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy, has selected Brooks as a "principal adviser."


The title means Brooks will have the constant ear of the Defense Department's policy chief as Flournoy weighs in on the budget, troop deployments, secret missions and weapons buying. In the Pentagon bureaucratic elevator, every major decision flows through Flournoy's shop on its way to the defense secretary.

Some in the Pentagon, normally a conservative and patriotic enclave, are reacting with alarm at Brooks' appointment. One Gates staffer told Human Events that Brooks is an "extremist." (more)

Interrogation Techniques

Were enhanced interrogation techiniques effective? It would appear so.

The NY Times reports " President Obama’s national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists." (more)

From CNSNews the CIA confirms that the techniques were effective in preventing an attack on Los Angeles:

The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

At the NY Post,

Former CIA Director George Tenet justified using controversial interrogation techniques, including sleep deprivation and water boarding:

.. to pry intelligence from terror suspects insisting it has saved lives, according to an upcoming interview on "60 Minutes."
Tenet said the agency's methods used on detainees helped the U.S. government foil terror plots.

"I've got reports of nuclear weapons in New York City, apartment buildings that are going to be blown up, planes that are going to fly into airports all over again, plot lines that I don't know.
"I don't know what's going on inside the United States, and I'm struggling to find out where the next disaster is going to occur."

When 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Pakistan, the "enhanced interrogations" were a surprise to him, said Tenet.

Interrogation techniques need to remain a surprise to be completely effective. Those techniques have been taken off the table and so has the element of surprise thanks to President Obama, which is one reason a fomer CIA chief has said that Obama has risked National Security in releasing the memos.

the “deepest kind of corruption

Over at Judicial Watch:

In what a veteran national security official calls the “deepest kind of corruption,” a Republican administration covered up a Democrat lawmaker’s crimes in exchange for her support of a controversial secret wiretapping program.
The Bush Administration dropped an investigation into a California congresswoman’s collaboration with foreign spies so that she would publicly defend its warrantless domestic surveillance operation as it was about to be exposed in a national newspaper. The scathing details of this bipartisan corruption scandal were revealed this week by a news publication that covers Congress. (more)

In something of an ironic twist Rep Harman is now "outraged" over the wiretapping, calling it "an abuse of power."

and in related news the WaPo is reporting: Prosecutors Considering Dropping Espionage Charges Against Former AIPAC Lobbyists

Gay and Alive

What did you think when you read the title of this post. I'll wager it had nothing to do with happiness.

My oldest son came into the room a few minutes ago having just watched an episode of "Get Smart."

"That is a good example of how things have changed," he said. "(Smart) just said, 'What happened, you used to be so alive and gay'... If someone had said that now days people would say, 'what is she lesbian or something?' "

The word has been co-opted by a movement. As has the whole idea of male friendship.
It reminded me of an article that I read some time ago at Touchstone on language and the death of male friendship:

Sam Gamgee has been fool enough to follow his beloved master Frodo into Mordor, the realm of death. To rescue Frodo from the orcs who have taken him captive and who will slay him as soon as he ceases to be of use in finding the Ring, Sam has fought the monstrous spider Shelob, has eluded the pursuit of the orcs, and has dispatched a few of them to their merited deaths.

Finally he finds Frodo in the upper room of a small filthy cell, naked, half-conscious, lying in a heap in a corner. “Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!” he cries. “It’s Sam, I’ve come!” With a bluff tenderness he clasps him to his breast, assuring him that it is really he, Sam, in the flesh.

Still groggy, Frodo can hardly believe it, but he clutches at his friend. It seems to him all the tissue of a dream—that an orc with a whip has turned into Sam—and it is all mixed up with the sound of singing that he thought he heard and tried to answer. “That was me singing,” says Sam, shaking his head and saying that he had all but given up hope of ever finding his friend again. He cradles Frodo’s head, as one would comfort a troubled child.

At that a snigger rises from the audience in the theater. “What, are they gay?”...

...Language is not language if it is not communal; it is a neat trick of political abracadabra to argue for an individual’s right to change the very medium of our thought and our social intercourse. If clothing is optional on a beach, then that is a nude beach. It cannot be a nude beach for some and an ordinary beach for others; to wear clothes at that beach at the very least means something that it had not meant before. If you may paint your house phosphorescent orange and violet, and you persuade a couple of your neighbors to do likewise, you no longer have what anybody would call a historic neighborhood.

If all of Kate’s friends leap into bed with whatever male gives them a hearty dinner at Burger King and a round of miniature golf, and Kate chooses instead to kiss her date once on the cheek and leave him on the porch, she will suggest to everybody that she is a prude. She may be, or may not be; she may be more firmly in the grip of lust than they are, for all we know, and may just detest the boy. But her actions have connotations they did not use to have.
Imagine a world wherein the taboo has been broken and incest is loudly and defiantly celebrated. Your wife’s unmarried brother puts his hand on your daughter’s shoulder. That gesture, once innocent, must now mean something, or at least suggest something. If the uncle were wise and considerate, he would not make it in the first place. You see a father hugging his teenage daughter as she leaves the car to go to school. The possibility flits before your mind. The language has changed, and the individual can do nothing about it.

By now the reader must see the point. I might say that of all human actions there is nothing more powerfully public than what two consenting adults do with their bodies behind (we hope) closed doors. Open homosexuality, loudly and defiantly celebrated, changes the language for everyone. If a man throws his arm around another man’s waist, it is now a sign—whether he is on the political right or the left, whether he believes in biblical proscriptions of homosexuality or not.

If a man cradles the head of his weeping friend, the shadow of suspicion must cross your mind. If a teenage boy is found skinny-dipping with another boy—not five of them, but two—it is the first thing you will think, and you will think it despite the obvious fact that until swim trunks were invented this was exactly how two men or boys would go for a swim.

Because language is communal, the individual can choose to make a sign or not. He cannot determine what the sign is to mean, not to others, not to the one he signals, and not even to himself. ...

...On three great bonds of love do all cultures depend: the love between man and woman in marriage; the love between a mother and her child; and the camaraderie among men, a bond that used to be strong enough to move mountains. The first two have suffered greatly; the third has almost ceased to exist....(more)

It's a good article. Close, intimate male friendship is no longer possible to the degree it once was. And every man has suffered for it. Frankly, so have women.

11 embryonic stem-cell research arguments refuted

I had drill this week-end. As a member of the Air National Guard I have a military obligation one week-end a month. As an active duty member of the Guard, I wear the uniform full time so when I have drill it means that I am in the middle of a 12 day work week. While 12 day work weeks pale in comparison to 120 day work weeks we did in Iraq, I am old and whiney and tired tonight and will use the fact as an excuse for picking out some good stuff at other blogs and using the "autopilot" buttons and posting.

Over at bioethike I have found a couple of posts worth sharing.

11 embryonic stem-cell research arguments–refuted

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One does not equal the other

One does not equal the other

From bioethike
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Sex (inuendo), Lies and Videotape

I know it shoudn't but it does still surprise me at how far modern journalism has fallen from its lofty place. The death of many newspapers reflects this sorry state and news stations are not far behind. They days when journalism sought to be our watchdog, warning us when public figures lied and acting as the guardian of truth are fast going into the recycle bin, to meet a similar fate: we hope something good will be made of it, but suspect it will probably be found at the landfill with the other things of our lives we have no further use of.

So where to begin. first with the sexual inuendo:

Bozell: "Now the News Isn't Just Biased, It's R-Rated. MSNBC and CNN Owe the Public An Apology over at MRC.

Alexandria, VA – WARNING: The following contains material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children. It contains material that is apparently wholly appropriate from alleged “journalists” on MSNBC and CNN.

Rather than report the news, the networks were utterly derisive and dismissive of the TEA Parties and their participants. Worse still, both used the oral sex slang-term “tea-bagging” to disparagingly depict what ordinary Americans were said to be doing in attending them. (“Tea-bagging” in the sexual sense is inserting one’s testicles into someone’s mouth.)
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and her guest, liberal Air America’s Ana Marie Cox, combined to use the term “teabag” at least 51 times in a 13-minute segment. At one point, Cox said there’s “a lot of love in tea-bagging.”

Maddow’s MSNBC cohort, anchor David Shuster, also uttered the vulgar phrase and made a total of twelve separate oral-sexual puns in his April 13th attack on the event.
The next night, CNN’s Anderson Cooper twice interrupted his guest, analyst David Gergen, to gleefully declare “tea-bagging” while Gergen was stating that he thought Republicans had nothing to say, and then followed Gergen’s statement with the guttural “It’s hard to talk when you’re tea-bagging.”

Over at Powerline they have their own inuendos but make a good point:

There is something funny going on here, if not exactly where Cooper, Maddow and Sullivan find it. Cooper is widely reputed to be homosexual. Maddow and Sullivan are of course public homosexuals. It is funny in an ironic sort of way that these folks choose to disparage the tea party protesters from somewhere inside the homosexual subculture. Why not just call the protesters girly boys and let everyone in on the joke? Or would that spoil the fun?

There is not only something funny going on here, there is a story here. These supposed journalists and their networks (or publisher, in Sullivan's case) have rather seriously insulted the citizens who colorfully took to the streets to air respectable views in a most civil fashion. If they had any decency, Cooper et al. would apologize for their vile reference to sexual practices in the context of ordinary citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. (more)

Now for the lies.

Over at Fact Check we find that Obama (gasp!) may be playing a bit foot loose with the facts:

President Obama says 90 percent of Mexico's recovered crime guns come the U.S. Not true.

How about the widely (all the way down under) publisized lie that Obam is blazing new trails with the rest of the world. Not true,

"Imagine if, only a year ago, the President of the United States had visited Turkey, addressed its parliament, then kissed the Prime Minister on both cheeks.

"That might have been considered far-fetched, but so, too, would have been the President's affirmation that his country was not at war with Islam and that being Muslim in the US is part of the fabric of life.
"It is indeed unimaginable that George Bush would have embraced such thoughts, words and deeds."

Pardon? "Unimaginable?" Only to the spectacularly uninformed. (more)

Same Iraq strategy. Same kissing up to the Saudis (and it pissed us off then too)


Now for the videotape:

It's Staged. NBC News Washington's Tea Party Video On-Line Is a FAKE

From Vocal Minority: Folks, it's two days after the April 15 Tea Parties and the local page of NBC News Washington on-line still has this video of a Tea Party protest that took place across the street from the White House (mockingly entitled "Scenes from the Most Important Protest in Political History"): This is a fake, people. It's staged. These are not Tea Party protesters. It's a left-wing group called either The Billionaire Boys or Billionaires for Bush.


And finally we have this from Cairn H/T doctorbulldog:

CAIR Caught Selling Jihadist & Anti-Judeo-Christian Books to Public

Removal of Notre Dame President?

According to an article on CNSNews, Notre Dame alumni are urging their friends to stop contributing to the university until Fr. Michael Jenkins, the president who has invited President Obama not only to speak but to receive an honorary degree, has been replaced.

They have created a website, http://www.replacejenkins.com/, which has more information.

Intrinsically Disordered

A legal complaint has been filed against a Spanish bioethics professor who had the nerve to speak the truth.

LifeSite has the story but Secular Heretic has a number of good links including one speaking of the dangers of homosexuality to one's health and others outlining the dangers to the freedom of thought and religion that the homosexual activists pose to the rest of the world. Like this one:

David Booker an employee of the "English Churches Housing Group" has been suspended for answering questions about his faith to a colleague at work

Go over to Secular Heretic and have a look.

New Blog

To Eutychus and Friends,

I have at last launched my blog, Bedlam or Parnassus. Inspired particularly by Eutychus, Red Cardigan, and Euripides, I could no longer refrain from creating a venue to discuss the insanities (Bedlam) and the inspired wisdom (Parnassus) of our age.

Don't worry, Eutychus...I will continue to read and post here as well.

So, check out Bedlam or Parnassus. Let me know what you think. Post your comments and send me suggestions.

Oh, yeah...if you like, please link me on your blog as well.

Unreal: CNN reporter openly contemptuous of tea parties

Wow...I am speechless. Where does she think she is, MSNBC?

A tour de force of bias via TV Newser, from her sarcasm to her Fox-bashing to her badgering a guy who’ll be paying off Obama’s monstrous deficits for decades about why he isn’t satisfied with a $400 tax break this year. The title of the clip is “CNN Reporter Roughed Up at Chicago Tea-Party,” which, as you’ll see, is a transparent lie...

From HotAir

Texas A Terror State? -UPDATE

The DHS has issued a statement here

The administration has redefined Islamic extremists' acts of domestic terrorism were recently redefined by Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and President Obama, as man-made disasters, and of course the "war on terror" has been renamed an "overseas contingency plan"

Now, according to a new Department of Homeland Security document Texas could be classified as a terrorist state.(or is it a "potential man-made disaster producer? Nevermind) It could well be and in which case, you can sign me up:

From American Thinker:

The DHS Intelligence Assessment Document marked "For Official Use Only" and entitled; Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, was released to law enforcement agencies nationwide. Its stated purpose was to "deter, prevent, preempt, or respond to terrorist attacks against the United States." Read the entire document here.

If this DHS Assessment is an example of the kind of analysis our decision makers receive from our intelligence agencies, we are in far worse straits than I had imagined. It is amateurish, poorly written and its logic is absurdly shallow. It sounds as if it was cobbled together from bits and pieces of dated research to quickly fill a short notice requirement. I suspect it was not intended to inform or educate law enforcement first responders and decision makers, so much as it was designed to shape their perceptions in the information war the Left is waging on the American people.

Rightwing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters, and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning.

The statement "they have not yet turned to attack planning" has the ring of inevitability to it, an assumption that attacks will come because of race and that it is impossible to object to Obama simply because of his radical politics. We are presented no evidence or example of how "Rightwing extremists have capitalized" because I suspect that their evidence would fall firmly under protected speech, and rightly subject to criticism. More importantly it would reveal the ideological underpinnings of the authors.

Anti-American rhetoric, such as calls for revolution and hate speech from the Radical Left has been over the top for many decades, yet we endure another fabrication of "potential" rightist conspiracies. With tens of thousands of Islamic Jihadist attacks since 9-11, and less than half a dozen "right wing extremist" examples in the last 20 years, one wonders how much critical analysis went into this nonsensical report. By their admission the threat has been merely words, but unlike Islamic extremism where words often equate to action, the opposite has been true of America's fanatics. (more)

Surely Texas fits the bill and proudly so with the Governor attending the T.E.A. Party in Austin and reminding the federal government about the 10th amendment and telling them to step off:


It is the opposition of the "overreaching power of the federal government" that may have sealed Texas's fate as a terror state. Rick Perry's statement on the Governor's website, may have doomed the state of Texas by supporting HCR 50, which supports states' rights under the 10th Amendment. You know the 10th Amendment--the one that expounds on Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution and spells out explicitly the limits of the federal government, just in case the federal government became confused of their limits. Perry stated,
"I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state. That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states' rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union....Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."
A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government's constitutionally designated powers and impede the states' right to govern itself. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.

Let's test Texas's terror threat assessment capabilities based on voting habit:
Anti-abortion--check
Pro-Gun--check
Anti-gun control--check
Predominantly Christian--check
Military bases--check
Returning soldiers--check
Against high taxes (no state tax in Texas)--check, check
Anti-illegal immigration--check
Against an overreaching federal government--check
Conservative--check
Extreme right-wing (according to Democratic Party standards)--check
Understands Article 1, Section 8--check
Understands the 10th Amendment--check
Rejects federal authority in favor of state or local authority--check

That sums it up: Texas is most definitely a terror state in the eyes of Secretary Napolitano and her agency.

Some reaction:
Legion objects to vets as terror risk
Homeland Security told: 'Americans are not the enemy'

De-baptism

According to this Time magazine article, de-baptism is all the rage in England. In the article you can read all about how to download your very own de-baptism certificate to "Liberate yourself from the Original Mumbo-Jumbo that liberated you from the Original Sin you never had."

I will not get into a theological discussion here about whether the Holy Spirit enters a person's life at baptism or at some other time, but I do think signing a de-baptism certificate certainly has to come close to the so-called unpardonable sin of Mark 3:29 and Luke 12:10.

Yet there were two comments in the article that I simply cannot let go without remark. If and when I ever launch my own blog...I have it all set up...this would be the kind of thing I would comment on.

De-baptism certificates apparently were in high demand shortly after Pope Benedict XVI's comments about condoms on his way to visiting Africa recently. Time writes, "Public gaffes like that one may explain the anti-Catholic backlash driving similar movements elsewhere in the world." It is the opinion of Time that the Pope's comments constituted a gaffe. Yet this was not the opinion section of the magazine. A great many Christians, including this one, acknowledge the wisdom of the Pope's comments and the sheer lunacy of those who are outraged against them.

Secondly, the article states, "Given that God takes on different forms for different people," there have been requests from those of other faiths for a similar reversal of defining acts in their lives, such as a "de-bar mitzvah" certificate. It is far from given that God takes on different forms for different people. In fact, any orthodox Jew, Muslim, or Christian will state flatly that there is only one God for all people, whether or not anyone believes in Him. It is precisely because of this that, for example, Muslims and Christians cannot agree about the fundamental issue of their faith, however much western media outlets have tried to put all faiths into a blender and by hitting the puree button thus declare them one and the same.

What the Resurrection Proves

Good stuff over at STR.

R.A. Torrey, a prominent evangelist at the turn of the last century, published a book called The Bible and its Christ. Torrey opens his fourth chapter, on the resurrection, with a recap of the previous arguments, and then asks,

But suppose He did rise from the dead, what of it? What does His resurrection prove? It proves everything that most needs to be proved. It proves everything that is essential in Christianity.

There follow six points:

1. The resurrection of Christ from the dead proves that there is a God, and that the God of the Bible is the true God.

2. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that Jesus is a teacher sent from God, who received His message from God, that He was absolutely inerrant, that He spoke the very words of God.

3. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that He is the Son of God.

4. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that there is a judgment day coming.

5. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that every believer in Christ is justified from all things.

6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that all who are united to Christ by a living faith shall live again.

Fred Sanders at Biola University goes on to say,

The apologetic project of “proving the resurrection” is important, especially to demonstrate that the Christian faith is not a leap into the irrational or a retreat to personal commitment. But on its own, it’s a fairly tiresome business. Unless, that is, you keep the theological context in view: Christ as the revelation of God the Father, as the one judge whose claim on all humanity has been vindicated in a mighty act of divine self-demonstration, as the one whose sacrifice is salvation, and whose rising from the dead catches humanity up in its momentum. (more)

A Book For the Reading List

I am ashamed to say that I don't think I ever read, Dante's Inferno. I think I was supposed to but for one reason or another I did not.
Anthony Esolen, English professor at Providence College has a new translation out that I cannot put down. It has actually been out for quite some time but I just got around to giving it a look (another embarassing revelation)
"a substantive Introduction, extensive notes, and appendixes that reproduce Dante's key sources and influences," pretty much hits the nail on the head as a description.

I fell in love with Esolen's writing over at Mere Comments and really enjoyed his, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization," but while I enjoy poetry I was hesitant to take the chance on this book. My only regret is that I waited so long. I will never hesitate to buy another of his books. I think this is readable by anyone and most will enjoy it.

Judge Says Illegal Alien ID Thieves' Privacy Violated

The sign outside hell, in Dante's Inferno reads, "Abandon all hope, you who enter here"...I'm just sayin'....
H/T Judicial Watch
Get this:

More than 1,300 illegal immigrants who used fake or stolen Social Security numbers to file taxes will face no consequences because their privacy rights were violated by the local authorities who busted them.

A judge ruled this week that the search of a north central Colorado tax preparer suspected of having an unusually large illegal alien clientele was illegal. That means that at least 1,300 illegal immigrants who filed tax returns with fake or stolen Social Security numbers will not be charged. (more)

The sheriff and district attorney in Weld County caught the violators by searching thousands of federal income tax returns at the Greeley office of a tax preparer that caters to illegal aliens. Dozens have been arrested and charged with identity theft or criminal impersonation but this week’s ruling will likely set them free.