The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others,
and does not accentuate the bad.
The inferior does the reverse.
Confucius
Chart of the Day: Eliminate Anti-Competitive Certificate of Need
Image of the Day
The Road to Serfdom
Obama and the Politics of the US Absence From Last Weekend's Paris Charlie Hebdo Rally
I'm not sure why I've seen a drop-off in readership over the past week or so, but my best guess is that I have offended some readers by distancing myself from what comes across to me as an Islamophobic reaction; I also believe that Charlie Hebdo has pushed the ethical boundaries of free speech. Yesterday I published an essay on the kerfuffle which so far has attracted few readers, although I think it's one of my better one-off's. The fact magazine survivors decided to put an offensive image of Mohammed on the first magazine cover following the tragedy is predictable and possibly understandable in terms that terrorists cannot think that they have succeeded in intimidating the target, but it alienates the same moderate Muslims we hope to win over.
My position is, unlike 9/11 and subsequent atrocities in Britain and Spain, this attack was not aimed at the French general public. Now one of my signature lines in the blog says, "If there is one thing Obama knows, it's symbolism." While he drone-bombs several countries and tries to recruit partners for initiatives on Syria, Iran, etc., it is odd he stood apart even as our European ally leaders rallied in Paris. I am ambivalent to the idea of Obama's appearance, although to some extent given the video kerfuffle during the Benghazi tragedy, I do think there would be an inconsistent policy to criticize an offensive video but not an offensive magazine.
As for me, I would have taken a pass because as I have repeatedly said, the way you deal with unacceptable behavior is to isolate/ignore it, not overreact to it. Khan has published a similar perspective arguing that the West gave radical Muslim leadership the evidence it needs to go to moderate Muslims and argue the West is hostile to Islam.
Guest Post Comment: Pope Francis vs. "Turn the Other Cheek"
This has got to be one of the most pathetic anti-Catholic posts I've seen, all to ignore the fact that the asshole Charlie Hebdo satirists intentionally provoked Muslims with disparaging treatment of their religious beliefs, an incontrovertible violation of the non-aggression principle.
It's appalling this blogger is basically copying and pasting the same crap I've seen from lots of juvenile opinions trying to accuse the pope of misstating a well-known phrase.
Jesus was NOT a radical pacifist; He engaged in using a rabbinical rhetorical device called hyperbole. Let me point out that this is the same Jesus: "He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." Why a sword for someone who taught them to turn the other cheek? Is He a hypocrite?
Remember Jesus rebuked Peter for using the sword not in a defensive manner. What Jesus was emphasizing is that we should always try to seek peace, even though sometimes you need to defend yourself.
For this blog which advocates proactive violence against Muslim terrorists to ridicule the pope who used a schoolboy taunt against his mother to describe defending her honor as a teaching moment is incredibly disrespectful and disingenuous. The fact of the matter is that Charlie Hebdo, in an unprovoked manner, disrespected the Muslim faithful. I obviously don't agree with the murder of the Charlie Hebdo victims. But it doesn't exonerate aggressive speech which, at minimum, is an abuse of freedom of expression.
Choose Life
Facebook Corner
(National Review). Obscuring the threat of radical Islam won’t diminish it.
This is yet another pathetic neo-con National Review piece, trying to make Islam the new Communist monolith bogeyman. PLEASE. Islam is not under some established authoritarian structure where some commander is directing various terrorist plots. Do we argue that Jim Jones was part of some monolith Christian terrorist conspiracy? Don't forget the US murder rate is nearly four times the French rate, and the Charlie incidents are exceptions. Many of the Islamic groups target each other as well, e.g., Syria. National Review, instead of resorting to traditional conservative (e.g., Old Right) suspicions of the military-industrial complex and criticisms of bloated, unaudited DoD budgets, wants to expand an unsustainable Big Defense and has decided on its rationale, despite the fact our defense budgets already exceed the sums of the next several ranked foreign countries.
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| Via Libertarian Catholic |
It's difficult though because in some 'pro-life' (and Catholic) countries (such as in South America) they charge women with a crime for having a miscarriage.
This is a crackpot pro-abort talking point, straight out of left-wing webpages; I thought I saw an earlier comment that basically came from the title of the first article that surfaced from a Google search on the topic. What this commentator doesn't say is that we are not referring to the majority of tragic natural miscarriages but from intentional actions to abort a child (independent of a doctor).
This is a sample of what is being referred to (e.g., in Utah): "the case of a 17-year-old girl from Vernal, Utah, who was seven months pregnant last May, when she paid 21-year-old Aaron Harrison $150 to beat her up after her boyfriend threatened to leave her if she didn’t terminate the pregnancy.
"According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Harrison brought the girl to the basement of his parent’s house and attacked and kicked her, leaving bruises on her stomach and a bite mark on her neck. The baby survived the assault, was born in August, and has since been adopted." What the Utah law attempted to address is the fact Harrison could be charged for his role in the assault, but not the pregnant woman who solicited the assault.
(separate comment)
The basic point I've been making in this thread is that the OP has been intentionally misleading by simply talking the prosecution of miscarriages, the vast majority of which are natural and involuntary. And the fact is that the pro-abort movement has vigorously opposed the Utah law. Roe v. Wade did allow for state laws covering the final trimester.
(separate comment)
Wrong again. The vast majority of miscarriages occur to women who wanted to be pregnant. At least one of my own sisters had two miscarriages--and she is an RN who wanted those babies.
(separate comment)
For some reason, I don't get pinged by FB every time this jerk sophist OP responds with his stream-of-consciousness bullshit. He keeps shifting his argument in an arbitrary manner. The only thing he's gotten right is the biological fact that life begins at conception; that's indisputable. I think he's making a pro-abort reductio ad absurdum argument that Mother Nature is a criminal abortionist, because many if not most miscarriages occur without the woman ever knowing she was pregnant, e.g., a fertilized egg fails to implant in the womb.
He is grossly exaggerating any threat of prosecution for miscarriage; this is just pro-abort fear-mongering distortion as usual. Obviously the State is not going to prosecute a grieving mother who involuntarily had a miscarriage or stillborn child; there's not a jury in the world which would convict her, an unpopular prosecution. No State is going to prosecute over a pregnancy for which there is no evidence.
(separate comment)
LC, I warned you that the leftist troll was arguing this bullshit (re: Mother Nature). Incidentally, I did a simple Google search on prosecution of miscarriage in El Salvador. As I predicted, it comes from all the usual pro-abort, leftist websites. I'm not going to read all the pro-abort propaganda to try to get the "real numbers", but it's notable that it's typically couched in terms like "could be prosecuted", some ad hoc cases, but it looks like only a small fraction has been prosecuted and I suspect there are circumstances, not unlike the Utah case.
Unlike the troll, I'm attaching one of the actual marquee cases. Doctors and nurses are supposed to report cases of suspected abortion. In this case, the woman was charged with murdering her unborn child, although a forensic report showed an undetermined cause of death (and it's believed she had a natural event, called a placental abruption). Bottom line is an overeager prosecutor, an incompetent defense attorney. She eventually won her case on appeal. So much for the idea that El Salvador prosecutes all miscarriages as murder (not that the troll admits it). One point from the report: "The correspondent did cite a second gynecologist who stated that “most abortions are never detected, and he says feminist activists over-exaggerate the impact of El Salvador’s abortion law.” http://www.lifenews.com/.../activists-exploit-tragic.../
(Stossel). Unfortunately, in politics, libertarians are "Davids." But libertarian IDEAS have been winning. Today, most Americans say the United States "should mind its own business internationally," Florida just became the 36th state to legalize same sex marriage, support for school choice is growing, and some states are legalizing marijuana. All good news! But Goliath still grows. On my show, we “Davids” fight back. STOSSEL re-airs tonight at 10PM on Fox News.
Gays have always had unregulated relationships. How a number of fascist judges by fiat override state sovereignty over marriage regulation to confer special legal privileges to a politically-favored group is hardly a "libertarian" idea: it's tyranny at its core--nor the idea of gays allowing the government to regulate their relationships.
(Rand Paul 2016). It really is just one big informercial at this point.
This is "progressivism" as usual, with gimmicky terms. Remember "free" checkups and "free" birth control or "free" Interstates? Of course, time and materials aren't free; you see demand for services spiked, of course, because consumers aren't vested in the true costs. That's how we end up with sector inflation exacerbated by government policy. Note that community colleges already are much cheaper than 4-year colleges and universities (the last figures I saw were $3-4K/year). No doubt this will lead to a spike in students who will never finish and shouldn't be in college, not to mention federal funding means strings to community colleges.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists
Céline Dion, "All By Myself". Here is Céline taking another remake to #1 on the A/C chart. Normally, I might pair it with the Eric Carmen original solo classic, but darn it, I wanted to hear his Raspberries' 70's classic, "Go All the Way". I'm not an advocate of premarital sex, but the distinctive guitar riffs, the irresistible melody/harmony, the driving bridge verses--just superb pop artistry, almost Beatlesque.
