I will charge thee nothing but the promise
that thee will help the next man thee finds in trouble.
Mennonite proverb
My Next 2014 Endorsement: Greg Abbott for Texas Governor
What more need I say about the veteran Texas Attorney General beyond the fact that he has sued the Obama Administration more than 25 times? Among his wins at SCOTUS: a victory against secular censorship of religious speech (a decades-old Ten Commandments exhibit on the grounds of the state capitol; the plaintiff got irritated passing by the exhibit daily on his way to using the law library at the Texas Supreme Court building). I have a more nuanced position on this issue; many of the commandments are generic moral principles across religions and cultures and certainly these moral concepts were part of the context of English and American secular legal tradition. If I have to tolerate say plaintiff Van Orden's opinions of religious speech intolerance or have to (perish the thought!) pass by Democrat offices or billboards on the way to church? Oh, the disingenuous ones will argue, it's on public property! But keep in mind that the Ten Commandments are shared by multiple religious traditions and I might object to the text of any of the other memorials on Texas grounds. I also distinguish between historical documents and religious advocacy and the nature and extent of religious content.
Just a couple of interesting notes to non-Texans whom may not know about Abbott: he cannot walk (no lie: a tree fell on him while he was jogging in 1984, crushing his spine), and his wife Cecilia is a third-generation Latina. I believe Cecilia is a San Antonio native, and they got married at OLL. (Neither of them earned a degree there, but let me say the chapel is probably the most spectacular I've ever been in; if you ever visit the campus, the chapel is a must see;e.g., see here: the photo doesn't go justice to the dazzling white altars/fixtures in the background as I recall from memory. It was also where I went on a prayer date with my first girlfriend.) They have an adopted daughter, Audrey. Abbott is only the second GOP attorney general in recent Texas history; his predecessor was the current senior US senator, John Cornyn .
Also Bowing to the god of Political Correctness on the Zimmerman Verdict
- Hillary Clinton: Just as she was late to the gay "marriage" support party, she is now showing her "leadership" and "courage" by expressing her "deep heartache" of the verdict. Is this her feminist twist on Bill's "I feel your pain"? Hillary--WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? I have zero tolerance for political exploitation of a tragedy. Instead of discussing the fact that an all-woman jury acquitted Zimmerman, a politically courageous act requiring their personal anonymity against racist reprisals, she shows the same sort of political backbone as in terms of paying lip service to accepting responsibility in the Benghazi terrorist attack.
- Bruce Springsteen is also pandering to the anti-Zimmerman sentiment by dedicating a song to Trayvon Martin. I would respect Springsteen more if he wasn't recycling politically correct nonsense. What's next for Springsteen--writing a gay "marriage" love ballad?
- There is Holder's incoherent attack on "stand your ground" laws. First of all, there is no evidence that "stand your ground" laws are exacerbating gun violence; second, as I pointed out in an earlier critique of Sharpton's similarly incompetent reference to the Zimmerman case, the defense argued self-defense, not stand your ground. Zimmerman had been pinned to the ground by Martin; he couldn't move away from the scene. For other legal laymen, this question has to do with whether, say, if someone invaded your home and was a threat to you or your family, whether you could be charged for using lethal force, say, versus being able to escape from the house without using your weapon (trusting if the police arrived in time, they would capture the criminal). In other words, you could end up being arrested in an Alice in Wonderland world where the home invader becomes the victim. The intent of stand your ground is to protect you from being charged if the officers subjectively thought you didn't have to use force to get away. It is not a blank check to shoot at will. There are variances in stand your ground; in most cases, you usually have immunity on your own property (say, your home or car); your ability to use your weapon in other areas is more constrained by context, e.g., the nature of any existing threat. Let's be clear here; Holder's position make it easier to charge and convict someone of using a firearm, even in defensive contexts. This is just another "progressive" tactic to implement gun control.
During the Zimmerman trial (June 10-July 13) in Chicago (mine):
- 54 people were killed by gunshot (not one by George Zimmerman)
- nearly 1 in 3 were below the age of 20
- just over 3 in 4 were people of color, most of them male
- number of Al Sharpton "Justice for Dead Chicago Teen" Rallies: 0
- In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes - Benjamin Franklin
- The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets .- Will Rogers
When Sweden reformed death taxes, it gave people with taxable assets more of an incentive to put off the Grim Reaper for the sake of their heirs. As Mark Perry of Carpe Diem points out, the more you tax something (death), the less you get of it.... Or, as I might add, when you cut the death tax, you increase the living base...
Chinatown Bus Issue
Familiar readers may remember that I commented on this topic several weeks ago in the blog. Reason actually gives a nice overview of the bus industry, including the recent Chinatown "curbside-pickup" vs. traditional hub/bus station model. I don't think that Reason covers the World Wide Tours crash in this overview, although I referenced an earlier Reason piece on it. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is one of those vacuous "progressives" whom never misses a crisis as an opportunity to expand the incompetent reach of Leviathan.
How I Know I'm Getting Older
I was on a website this morning with a link to Neil Diamond mentioning he had a blast leading the crowd in a rousing rendition of "Sweet Caroline" at the MLB All-Star Game. The All-Star Game? When I was a kid, it was the biggest game of the year. But I haven't looked at the standings in weeks. I remember seeing a TV promo over the weekend and making a mental note to watch. I blame missing the game on post-Zimmerman verdict shock syndrome....
Something I've Never Heard From Primarily Muslim Countries
From Catholic World News:
The spokesman for Papua New Guinea’s bishops has condemned a proposal, introduced in parliament by the governor of one of the nation’s 22 provinces, to ban non-Christian religions.
“It is not by banning other faiths that we become more Christian,” Father Giorgio Licini said in a statement posted on the bishops’ website. “...Never forget that true faith is something much beyond constitutional provisions, legal books, and even daily practices. And nobody can be prevented from professing his or her own beliefs both in a private and a public manner.”My Favorite Aunt was a Catholic Sister/Nun
Aunt Grace, one of Dad's big sisters, was a teaching sister; she later left her congregation (primarily an issue of organizational politics beyond the scope of this post) although she subsequently joined a lay order (I believe Franciscan). I remember when I was in Newport for officer training, she drove to pick me up one weekend. She had a wonderful personality, a booming teacher's voice, and an infectious sense of humor, probably my biggest inspiration for becoming a college professor. I have some mixed experiences with other sisters (I can still taste the soap between my teeth--I think I was a second-grader and got caught talking back to some fifth grade hall monitor on a power trip), and a number of my OLL professors were Sisters of Divine Providence,the congregation actually behind the creation and operation of a women's college, which went coed a short time before I went there.) Very nice, highly competent professors, as good as any I had or met in academia. I personally regard sisters as the greatest ambassadors for Christianity; among other things, they tirelessly educate and provide health services, not just for Catholics, but servicing people in need, even from other religious backgrounds; they convert, not by words or contracts, but by loving application and example of Christ's teachings of love in their actions and lives. They sacrifice everything--being married with children, frequently vows of poverty, etc.--to serve the people of God. One of the gifts includes their own virginity and perpetual chastity; this provides a context for my moral outrage over the following news item:
A trainee Catholic nun in India was reportedly abducted and gang-raped over a week by men — including her cousins — in just the latest sick sex attack to shock the country.
The 22-year-old was lured to a train station earlier this month in the Orissa region of India by her captors, who told her in a phone call that her mother was sick, according to reports.
They then took her to another location and raped her over several days before returning her to the station.Her own perverted male cousins raped her? Excuse me while I count to 10,000... Responses to acts of terror remind me of how the old Soviet KGB dealt with religious extremists like these fundamentalist Hindus:
Hezbollah had kidnapped four Soviet diplomats from Beirut during the fall of 1985. One they murdered straightaway. The others they held in captivity.
In response, the KGB seized the relative of a Hezbollah leader. As part of Moscow's anti-terrorism policy, the KGB "castrated him, stuffed his testicles in his mouth, shot him in the head and sent the body back to Hezbollah. The KGB included a message that other members of the Party of God would die in a similar manner if the three Soviets were not released."God is more powerful than the KGB. In the immortal words of Maude Findlay: "God'll get you for that!"
Political Humor
NSA leaker Edward Snowden has filed for asylum in Russia, but Vladimir Putin is against it. You know, if Snowden really wants to stay in Russia he should just speak out against Putin. He'll get to stay in Russia the rest of his life. - Jay Leno
[Snowden has offered to take out the trash on Putin's laptop... There are lines for everything in Russia, including the line for asylum... It probably didn't help that he arrived in Moscow humming the latest Pussy Riot hit and posted that he "likes" the group on Facebook...]
Six employees at L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai hospital have been fired for snooping through Kim Kardashian's medical records. Kim was upset. She said it was an invasion of her privacy, and all three of her cameramen agreed. - Jimmy Fallon
[So much for the NSA training program...]
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Rober t Ariail and Townhall |
The Beatles, "Paperback Writer"
