Hold The Mayo

I've posted a whole lot about the activities of my pal, George Soros. (You can read those posts here.) Apparently there are some people in Ukraine who aren't thrilled to see him in their country. Demonstrators today threw a substance characterized as mayonaise at Mr. Soros today. full story here The demonstrators were believed to be from a group called "The Brotherhood" who assert he's in the country to foment revolution.

I have no idea why Mr. Soros is in Ukraine, but I wish he'd stay there.

Ketchup Endorsement

This blog proudly endorses:

Hunts! The best ketchup for America's leaders!

Special Delivery

By now you've heard of this incident at Karl Rove's house. Sondra over at Knowledge is Power has a pretty good idea how someone might've gotten his address.

Hint: How you vote is confidential but your money speaks just a little louder.

Drivers Wanted

In general, I doubt I spend more time on the road than most Americans. However, over the course of my relatively few years of driving, there have been few times in my life when I haven't been in a hurry to go somewhere. To that end, I've developed some rules of thumb in order to predict the behavior of drivers in front of me. Bear in mind these are just generalizations. They are in no way scientific, but they seem to work okay for me. They are...

Rules of Thumb about Traffic

In general:

1. The newer the car the faster the driver.
   
2. The number of bumper stickers on the car has an inverse relationship to how fast it will be driven. In other words, cars with a lot of bumper stickers tend to drive slower.
   
3. General Motors cars manufactured in the 80's seem to have slower drivers.
   
4. Those driving 80's era Buicks are the slowest of the slow drivers.
   
5. Those driving new Buicks are the slowest of the fast drivers.
   
6. Those who drive cars that appear to have been in various minor accidents are faster, more reckless drivers, regardless of the age of the car.
   
7. The shorter the driver, the slower the car will be driven.
   
8. The older the driver, the slower the car will be driven.
   
9. Older minivans have slower drivers.
   
10. Newer minivans are generally driven at or close to the speed limit.
    
11. Drivers of newer SUV's generally drive faster.
    
12. Cars with Wisconsin license plates will be driven slower.
    
13. Cars with Iowa license plates will be driven slower, but not as slow as those with Wisconsin plates.
    
14. The presence of a fish symbol on the back of the car seems to have no bearing on the speed of the driver.
    
15. The louder the car engine the faster it will be driven.
    
16. The louder the stereo inside the car, the faster it will be driven.
    
17. A car with a statue of the Virgin Mary on the dashboard will tend to be driven slower.
    
18. A car with stuffed animals in the back window will be driven slowly.
    
19. A car with a weiner dog inside will be driven slower. Reduce even more speed for each additional weiner dog.
    
20. A pickup truck with an unleashed dog in the back, especially if it's a larger breed will drive faster regardless of the age of the pickup truck.
    
21. Cars that have been purchased in the Chicago suburbs will be driven faster and more aggressively, especially if they are foreign made.
    
22. Station wagons are slower than sedans.
    
23. If a car has one of those three letter country stickers on the back, ie, EUR, it will tend to be driven faster. (unless there are lots more bumper stickers besides that one.)
    
24. German made cars are driven faster than American made cars, but not faster than newer American made SUV's.
    
25. If the driver is wearing sunglasses they will tend to drive faster than a driver not wearing sunglasses unless the sunglasses are those wrap around kind they give to people with cataracts.
    
26. Drivers with graduate degrees who are under the age of 45 will drive faster.
    
27. Drivers with a high school education or less will drive faster unless they are over the age of 45.

    To summarize then, the fastest drivers are those with new German made cars or with new SUV's purchased in the Chicago suburbs, who wear sunglasses, are under 45 years old, with a loud stereo and Illinois license plates.
    The slowest drivers are those who are over 45 years old, not wearing sunglasses, driving older Buicks, loaded with tons of bumper stickers and have Wisconsin license plates.

    Do you have any rules of thumb about traffic?

    Posted by jdmays at 09:49 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Will Learn Arabic for Food

On February 26, 2004 the House Intelligence Committee reported an ongoing critical shortage of those who speak Middle East languages. In the US Army alone, up to 2,000 positions currently remain unfilled with the largest shortfall in Arabic and Farsi. As of November 2003 the Army had only about 1300 active duty soldiers who can speak or read some Arabic. All of this is despite the fact that operations in countries that speak these languages have increased dramatically for all US Agencies and are expected to increase in the foreseeable future. With the troops currently in Iraq, there's a great deal of reliance on SPEAKING VERY LOUDLY and using hand gestures. Clearly this isn't the best way to fight the War on Terror.

Arabic is the most needed but it is a difficult language to learn. A spokesman for the American Translator's Association as quoted by the Associated Press says, "It's easier to train someone to fly an F-14 than it is to speak Arabic. [source]

The Arabic language is the key to understanding over 200 million Arabic speakers as well as over a billion Muslims who use Arabic as their liturgical language. The State Department rates languages for their difficulty on a scale of 1 to 4 with 4 being the most difficult to learn. Arabic is rated as a level 4 along with Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.

There are a great many difficulties in learning Arabic. It is not of Indo-European origin as is English which means that there are no word similarities, ie, gut for good, or vater for father. It is semitic with Arabic script used to write from right to left. There are certain sounds (phonemes) in Arabic that are not present in English. Also, Arabic has diglossia which means that the written form and the every day spoken form are different. [source]

However, even with the difficulty of learning Arabic, it is important that we have sufficient Arabic speakers to interact with local populations as well as to translate intelligence intercepts. More students are taking Arabic. It is estimated that there are currently more than 10,000 students taking Arabic classes, but it isn't enough to fill the need that exists. Clearly the US Government will need to take some additional steps to fill the need.

The idea of establishing a Linguistic Reserve Corps has been tossed around. It doesn't necessarily solve the overall shortage of those who speak Arabic but it may provide for an emergency source of these people in times of national emergency. One major concern about this approach is that it may rely too much on native speakers of the language and therefore pose security concerns.

Fortunately, the US Government has a long history of training people to speak foreign languages. The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, the language capital of the world, serves this purpose. The school can currently accomodate 3,500 students at it's campus in California and additional students by contract in the Washington, DC area. The government has the ability to teach people languages such as Arabic. The remaining task then is to identify and recruit those individuals who are capable of doing so.

The Defense Language Aptitude Battery is used by the US military to measure a person's aptitude for learning a foreign language. If the US Government is really serious about winning the war on terrorism they would begin encouraging everyone to take this test and with good scores actually offer to employ and pay these people to become linguists. Current efforts to do this have not been sufficient.

In my opinion it's because the military and defense related civilian agencies are still doing things the same old way they've done them in the past. I can only hope that other aspects of fighting the war on terror are going much better than the effort to obtain speakers of Arabic and other crucial languages.

The Old Republican Switcheroo

I have about as much inside information on President Bush's campaign strategy as Howard Dean, in other words, I have no inside information. However, after hearing Vice-President Cheney repeatedly go on the offensive against John Kerry, I'm wondering about the President's strategy. I've come up with a great plan that would help to propel the President to victory...

Here's my scenario. Cheney aggressively goes after Kerry throughout the Summer. He savages him. The Democrats have their convention in July. Kerry gets the nomination and with much fanfare and publicity announces his running mate. In the run up to the Republican Convention at the end of August, or at the convention itself, Cheney announces that he is retiring from government. He could cite his heart problems or simply say he's ready to retire to Wyoming. President Bush then announces an up and coming popular (possibly hispanic) conservative to be his running mate. The ensuing media attention drowns out John Kerry and captures headlines for a good month and helps propel Bush to an overwhelming victory in November.

I think it's a pretty clever scenario. Of course, I thought of it.

What do you think?

Life As A Mercenary

A while back I posted about using contractors in Iraq. As a follow-up to that post and via Grims Hall and Mudville Gazette comes a link to an incredible story featured in this month's issue of Esquire. The story is called Hired Guns and it's a must-read for anyone interested in the current state of affairs in Iraq.

Hint: It's like the wild-west only without the sheriff.

Urban Warfare

I crouched behind some barrels and concentrated on making myself as small of a target as possible. Around me I could hear rounds impacting objects and zipping over my head. I couldn't believe the high volume of fire and I also couldn't believe how fast my heart was beating. Then the shooting stopped. Are they reloading or charging my position?

I didn't really want to wait around and find out so I fired off some rounds in their general direction and ran for some cover off to the side. If I could get on their flank I might have a little better chance. As I glanced around and took stock of my new position I felt a sharp pain in my leg. Like an idiot, I had left it slightly exposed and now I was paying the price. Fortunately, no one was shooting real bullets. The rounds in this firefight were paintballs, but my leg still hurt like crazy. I knew I would have a welt there for several days.

The military says it's the closest thing to actual combat without using live rounds. The Marines say their soldiers learn urban warfare tactics much faster when they're using paintball guns. [Source]. Nothing teaches young Marines better like the sting of a paintball fired at high velocity. It really hurts. But it hurts much less than getting shot with real bullets. In the past, laser systems were used and they still are, but there isn't any pain when you get shot and that's an important training tool. The US Army has even used paintball in battle scenarios while training with other countries like Turkey. Some accused terrorists were actually using paintball to train.

Whoever invented paintball wanted to avoid parents concerns about their kids playing "war games". To this day, the paintball guns are actually called paintball markers. Not that it fools anybody. As far as I'm concerned, it's a chance to relive those halcyon days of yesteryear when we played "army" tromping through the neighbors' yards with our plastic M-16's and Tommy-guns.

It's a hobby that anyone can get into for under $200. This will get you a paintball "marker" a face mask, co2 tank and miscellaneous accoutrements. The only real tricky thing necessary is some place to shoot five or six of your closest friends. Many paintball fields have sprung up where you can play, but it's cheapest if you know someone with a decent plot of land and some woods.

Paintball seems to be getting really popular. It used to be that you could only get the equipment at specialty hobby stores, but now you can go to Wal-Mart or any major sporting goods store and buy everything necessary.

I have to admit that I sometimes feel a little silly running around with a bunch of paintball gear. I'm perilously close to being 40 afterall. But it is a whole lot of fun, especially when you can get the other guy before he (or she) gets you. Hopefully, it's the closest I'll ever come to actual combat.

National Paintball - World's largest distributor of paintball products.
Brass Eagle - Manufacturer of paintball products.
Yahoo Directory of Paintball Gear and Equipment

The Morning Briefing

Mudville Gazette offers a morning briefing that is thorough to say the least. Either he's really getting this stuff from the DOD or he's on the manic side of a Bipolar Disorder. If you're just waking up from a winter-long hibernation this will get you up to speed fast.

Ping & Pong

Every once in a while I come across a blog and say, "I wish I would've done that," because of it's clever design and wittiness. JP Carter mentioned Walloworld and it looks like someplace I'm going to be visiting on a regular basis. There's even a warning, "May Contain Nut Products". I love that. The most recent article there, Masters of the Ping & Pong hints at some future intrigue in the sinister underworld of Ping Pong. I assume it's not too different from the sinister underworld of Scrabble as documented here. If you're bouncing around the blogosphere and you'd like to see an excellent blog - Walloworld is the place.

Over the course of my travels around the blogosphere I manage to accrete blogs on a pretty regular basis. Ocassionally I have to go through and do some weeding. It's tough though because there are so many great blogs out there. My current list of blogs is here.

Crazy George

Crazy George Soros is at it again. Via Alpha Patriot comes the news that George thinks the US Govt is in the hands of "extremists". He shared these views in a speech at the Institute for International Integration Studies in Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Soros has made it the primary purpose of his life to defeat George Bush so I guess these remarks are to be expected. [Full Story] Mr. Soros went on to say the US Govt is pursuing a policy of American Supremacy. I hope he's right about that.

Why would we not want to pursue such a policy?

I've been keeping an eye on Mr. Soros for quite a while. Below are some links to other Soros related posts:
Out of The Woodwork
Free Speech for Billionaires Only
Cognitive Dissonance
Politics or Economics?
Soros Report

Brittney Spears Endorses Presidential Candidate?

There's a rumor (rumour for you brits) going around that Brittney Spears has endorsed a candidate for President of the US. How did I hear about this rumor? Well...

It seems that I actually made up the rumor in a desperate and pathetic attempt to get hits. The really sad thing is that you, dear reader, are reading this which means that a Brittney Spears Endorsement holds some interest for you. Possibly, this could be an indication that you need psychiatric help.

I'm writing such a miserable excuse for a post because it seems like all my posts which involve at least a modicum of thought and writing ability get the least amount of attention. Conversely, the throwaway, hardly put any thought into it type posts seem to do at least as well, if not better than the "thought-provoking" ones.

In the realm of "hits" I consider myself a moderately successful blogger. Still, I'm always looking for ways to jack those hits up to the stratosphere. I had an idea and I thought it was a good one; I would interview some of the bloggers from Blogdom of God. I figured that if Jen can get away with a stunt like that to get more hits, surely I could do the same for the blogs at Blogdom of God.

As a precaution I thought I would check Jen's page to make sure she hadn't interviewed anyone from the Blogdom yet. Scanning down the page...it looked pretty good...until almost at the bottom and there I see Adrian Warnock TBA. Arrgghhh!!

At this point I started ranting to myself, "Where were you Jen when I was arguing with Adrian, trying to get him to accept the fact that it's okay to kill terrorist leaders?" Not only that, but I would've found it interesting to interview him. I wonder if it would be crass to try and get to the rest of the Blogdom before Jen does?

With that brilliant idea shot down, I'm now searching for some other nifty gimmicks and geegaws to get more hits. In the meantime, I guess I'll try posting some actual content. (except today's post of course)

Clash of The Cultures

There's a lot of flame-throwing going around between the candidates for President, the press, other politico's, bloggers and possibly even your grandma, but despite outward appearances it isn't really about the candidates. Dick Clarke makes accusations against the president, carried in primetime by CBS News' 60 minutes, (owned by Viacom and publisher of his coincidentally just released book) and everyone seems to think it's going to make some kind of difference. It won't and here's why...

George W. Bush and John F* Kerry are simply proxies for a much greater battle - the battle between two competing worldviews. Without benefit of a smoking gun held by either candidate, none of the things said about them is going to make one bit of difference in their popular support. (or lack thereof)

Let's face it, the polls haven't really changed all that much and they roughly match the proportions demonstrated during the last presidential election. The polls haven't changed because the candidates represent something much bigger than themselves. They represent their respective worldviews. If John Edwards or Wesley Clark had won the nomination I suspect the polls wouldn't be much different than they are today.

So, which worldviews do they represent? You could go back to the 1960's on this one. This Presidential contest is essentially a rematch of that tumultuous time when the "progressives" were battling against traditional values. In general, Kerry represents those who tend to view morals and values as being highly subjective and relative to the situation and culture at hand. They tend to see patriotism as anathema to world peace. They tend to view the average citizen as someone who needs to be cared for by the state. They tend to see the actions of the US in international matters as bullying other nations and imposing our values upon them. They tend to see economic answers in the various forms of income redistribution.

Bush supporters tend to see morals and values as largely unchangeable and absolute regardless of the situation or culture affected. They tend to believe that these values should cut across all nationalities and cultures. They tend to believe that the individual needs to be protected from the over-reach of the state and that individuals will spur on the economy when it is in their own best interests to do so. Globalism and international organizations are viewed with great suspicion and as a threat to the sovreignty of nations. Both sides seem intent on demonizing the other.

As long as each worldview feels that they have a representative running in the election, the particulars don't matter much. Bush isn't going to win by pointing out Kerry's numerous flip-flops and Kerry isn't going to win by portraying the President as a reckless cowboy. The winner of this contest will be decided by whomever can sell their prospective worldviews, not necessarily the candidate, to the so-called swing voters.

It is this fact that makes the matter of media bias so important. Of course, liberal organizations deny there's a media bias while the same idea is practically an article of faith to conservatives. The bias that exists is growing less subtle every day. A few examples can be found, here, here, and here. (If you want examples of conservatives showing a bias over liberals you'll have to find your own examples.)

For Bush to win this election, those on the conservative side must battle for the culture of our nation. We must by legal means oppose attempts to censor and spin the news to denigrate a conservative worldview. We can do this in several ways. A good way to do it is by blogging, but we have to be careful about being too optimistic over the effect our blogging efforts might have. In my experience, usually only liberals read liberal blogs and the same is true for conservatives, which really limits the impact. Another good way is by boycotting the sponsors of television programs and news departments who are blatant in their bias against a conservative worldview.

We can complain to CBS News all day and they won't listen, but when their sponsors start pulling out, they get real attentive. If an actor or actress seems to feel it's their duty to shove their worldview down your throat at every available opportunity then don't patronize their movies, don't watch their television shows, or buy any of the related junk. Even if the movie gets good reviews - don't go see it unless you are interested in being a proud sponsor of liberalism. Also, make sure your congressman and other politicians - especially local politicians know where you stand on these issues. Remember, a common trick of the left is to convince you that everyone ascribes to their point of view and it's only the wackos, the fundamentalists and gun-nuts who don't.

On the positive side, if a television network promotes a program that reinforces your values and beliefs, then support it. Watch the show. Tell your friends to watch the show. Buy their sponsors' merchandise. The same is true for radio talk shows, news programs, and even newspapers. Write glowing editorials saying how brilliant you think they are.

I'm sure there are other ways to fight this cultural war. Probably, slapping a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker or John F* Kerry sticker on the back of your minivan isn't going to do much. The battle needs to be fought for the culture not the candidate. The right candidate will win if we're able to convince enough people of the superiority of our particular worldview. In the meantime, it's easy to get caught up in the controversy du jour, but that isn't going to win elections.

On a side note, I've added Progressive Protestant to my links over there on the side of the page. Yes, they are big fans of John Kerry, but I've decided to overlook this obvious defect in their thinking because they have an interesting blog and because they are brothers in the faith. They're relatively young guys and there's always hope their political beliefs will mature gracefully. I hope you'll check them out.

Things Worth Fighting For

He managed to borrow some money from his girlfriend and convince a magazine to pay him 20 cents a word to cover the start of The First Iraq War from a hotel in Baghdad. The result of his reporting was a very successful book, Martyr's Day: The Chronicle of A Small War. In order to cover this war, he scorned the public affairs officers and minders who tried to control his access. It's ironic then that he became the first journalist to die in the Second. At the time, he was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division and was killed in a humvee accident.

A book of his writings has just been published, Things Worth Fighting For. It's on order from Amazon but while I wait for it, I thought I'd finally take a look at Michael Kelly's first book...

In Martyr's Day, Michael Kelly entered Kuwait along with elements of the Egyptian army. Once there, he roamed the city interviewing it's inhabitants. Like most people, I've heard of the atrocities committed by the Iraqis in Kuwait but this book is a real eye opener. It's difficult to imagine human beings doing these things to other human beings, but the witnesses are credible and Kelly does a great job of setting the scene.

There's a thorough description of the famous "Highway of Death" complete with looters picking through the remains of both vehicles and people. Kelly spent a great deal of time exploring the refuge camps in both Iraq and Iran. He journeyed through Kurdish territory the length of Iraq risking his life in the process, to bring us a description of a people the world seems to care little about.

Martyr's Day helped me to better understand the dynamics of present day Iraq. For me, it reinforced the righteousness of the US decision to overthrow Saddam. I highly recommend this book and I look forward to reading Michael Kelly's latest and, sadly, his last book in the next few weeks.

Some Additional Links:
Bio from The Atlantic Monthly
Profile of Michael Kelly and His Career
An Interview with Michael Kelly shortly before his death.
Obituary from USA Today

Time's Up

Richard Clarke, your fifteen minutes of fame are up and you've spent them unwisely. Go here for the details.

The Right to Remain Silent

I was in Kiev, Ukraine several years ago riding on the Metro subway system. I was with a 13 y.o. "translator" who, in reality, didn't speak all that much English. Just as we were getting off one of the trains a man approached us, obviously intoxicated and very agitated. He figured out that I was an American and he was shouting various things at me that I didn't understand. My Russian vocabulary consists of exactly two words, Nyet and Spasiba. Neither of which seemed to have much impact on him. He was a short burly guy and I figured I could probably take him in a fight. However, getting into legal trouble in a former soviet republic didn't seem like a real great idea. The guy kept getting in my face and yelling. I was about to "go nuclear" on him when a police officer walked up...

In the former Soviet countries, the police and the army are virtually indistinguishable. The policeman walked up to this guy and as soon as he saw the cop he calmed down immediately. It was incredible. The policeman was unarmed and had used no physical force. He hadn't even yelled at the guy, but such is the power of a police officer in a totalitarian state.

A case before the Supreme Court is now deciding what kind of power a police officer has over an ordinary law-abiding citizen. A Washington Post article describing the case is here. It specifically concerns whether a police officer has the right to ask you your name and compel you to answer. The attorneys for the defendant are making the following argument:

[the] law violates the constitutionally based right to privacy and the right against self-incrimination, Robert E. Dolan, an attorney for rancher Dudley Hiibel, told the justices. It is "an improper tipping of the balance in favor of the state," Dolan said.

As far as I'm concerned, the power of the state over ordinary citizens has gone too far. I wrote about this in a post titled, Roadblock Ahead. If I have committed no crime and there isn't reasonable suspicion to believe I have committed any crime, I shouldn't be forced to show the police any identification or answer any of their questions about my identity.

I'm not optimistic about how the Supreme Court is going to rule. They've already restricted our freedom of speech with McCain-Feingold and have upheld the ability of police officers to use random "safety checks" at roadblocks. I fear it won't be long until our responses to the police had better be the same as that man in Ukraine, or else we'll find ourselves locked behind bars.

Switched at Birth?

I received both of these today. At first I thought there was some mistake and that I'd received two issues of the same magazine. Then I realized they were two magazines with exactly the same picture on the cover. Compare for yourself:

 
Great minds think alike, I guess.

Progressive Protestant

Progressive. Maybe it's because I'm practically a card-carrying evangelical, but the word sets me on edge, especially when used in connection with religion. There's even a weblog called, Progressive Protestant. As far as I can tell the blog author is a nice, respectable guy, but the name of his blog still rankles me a little bit and here's why...

To say that your beliefs are progressive implies that other beliefs are regressive or backward. It implies a sense of superiority or elitism. It says, in effect, "My beliefs are much better than your old-fashioned, quaint beliefs." The progressive beliefs are somehow more advanced or evolved than the non-progressive beliefs. To further define the meaning of the term "Progressive Christianity" there's an organization called The Center for Progressive Christianity. They list their beliefs on their website as 8 Points, as follows:

By calling ourselves progressive, we mean that we are Christians who:

1. Proclaim Jesus Christ as our Gate to the realm of God
   
2. Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the gateway to God's realm
   
3. Understand our sharing of bread and wine in Jesus's name to be a representation of God's feast for all peoples
   
4. Invite all sorts and conditions of people to join in our worship and in our common life as full partners, including (but not limited to): believers and agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning skeptics, homosexuals and heterosexuals, females and males, the despairing and the hopeful, those of all races and cultures, and those of all classes and abilities, without imposing on them the necessity of becoming like us;
   
5. Think that the way we treat one another and other people is more important than the way we express our beliefs;
   
6. Find more grace in the search for meaning than in absolute certainty, in the questions than in the answers;
   
7. See ourselves as a spiritual community in which we discover the resources required for our work in the world: striving for justice and peace among all people; bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers;
   
8. Recognize that our faith entails costly discipleship, renunciation of privilege, and conscientious resistance to evil--as has always been the tradition of the church.
   [Source]
   

I'm not going to go into a point by point refutation of "Progressive Christianity" (maybe some other time), but it's worth noting in the above points that certain key facets of the Christian faith are abandoned. Under this system of belief: Jesus Christ is no longer the only way to be saved. The sacrament of communion is no longer reserved only for those who believe in Christ. Point number four implies that there is no requirement as far as a belief system and point number 6 implies that there is no such thing as absolute truth and one would assume this includes the authority of scripture. There are other points listed that aren't loathsome at all. Afterall, who wouldn't want to resist evil, or act as a judge over other people. All churches should love others and show respect for their beliefs. However, most of the points here were considered heretical many centuries ago and still are.

A statement on the website expresses a certain hostility toward those with orthodox beliefs, "The claim that Jesus offers the only access to God for all people promotes attitudes that lead to racial and ethnic divisions." They go on to say,

"By promoting an acceptance of all people and a respect for other religious traditions, the Center can help transform evangelism from a divisive activity in our society to enterprise that, by its very nature, will promote peace and justice." [Source]

The real problem with "Progressive Christianity" is that it fails to recognize it isn't progressive. In my opinion, the "progressive" label is applied so it's adherents can feel clever and advanced. The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD addressed a variety of heretical teachings very similar to the ones espoused by this group. As a result they issued the following doctrinal statement called The Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten from the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father (and the Son).
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
[Source]

Regardless of whether you agree with the Nicene Creed or not, you have to admit that the beliefs of the so-called "progressives" aren't exactly new. They've been addressed and found to be heretical. They are certainly different than orthodox Christian beliefs, but that doesn't make them progressive.

Personally, I have more respect for atheists who deny there is a God than I do for "progressive" Christians. The progressives want to keep only the stuff they like and reject the rest, but it just doesn't work that way. Afterall, Jesus said he was the only way to be saved and it's a little tricky to get around that. I imagine this post might prompt some response from these progressives. I'm not an expert in Church History or theology, but one thing I do know; there's nothing new under the sun. The progressive label is false advertising, or at best, misleading. I think it would be more accurate if they called themselves, "Heretical Christians".

I like to collect old books. I especially like finding old books with "new" or "modern" in the title like "New Math" or "Modern Social Concepts". It's fun to read these books because of a certain irony. The more they claim to be new or modern the more antiquated or dated they look. Let's hope it will be that way with "progressive" religion someday.

Additional Note: I have no idea if the author of the Progressive Protestant ascribes to any of the views I've discussed in this article. I do know that he's a big fan of John Kerry and in that respect he's a little mislead. :) However, it is possible to be a Bible-believing faithful Christian and not be a Republican.

Words Not Action!

John of Arrgghhh! is making fun of my desire for action not just words but that's okay. I'll take any attention I can get - even negative attention. While you're over at his blog be sure to check out this post on Iraq One Year Later.

Tomahawk Chop

From the Chicago Sun Times: More than 9,100 students at the University of Illinois voted in favor of keeping Chief Illiniwek at the school, while about 4,000 voted against the school's much-debated mascot, student government officials announced Thursday.

I consider this a vote against political correctness. The chief survives this attempt at a Tomahawk Chop by opponents like the Progressive Action Resource Coalition. The battle has been won but you can bet they'll be back. PC never sleeps.

Bush Knew?

The blogosphere, at least the liberal end of it, is in a dither tonight over the interview on 60 minutes of Richard Clarke. Richard Clarke was appointed as the terrorism "czar" under Bill Clinton and served for about a year under Bush. Blogs like this one are noting Richard Clarke's assertion that Bush was obsessed with Iraq and ignored warnings from the Clinton Administration about Bin Laden. Of course, they overlook the interview with another Bush aide who tells a different story...

Deputy National Security Advisor, Steve Hadley, told 60 minutes (as quoted here) something else:

The President, from his first day in office, was meeting with his director of Central Intelligence, getting intelligence briefings on terrorism and al-Qaeda, so the threat was already raised.

So we have two different people with two different versions of the story. Who to believe? Well, it would seem that both parties have something to gain here. Surely, those from the Clinton Administration don't want to be seen as the ones who let their guard down prior to 9/11. Obviously, those from the Bush Team would like to avoid the same accusation, especially with an election around the corner.

It should be noted that Richard Clarke told a different story in a previous book. In "Losing bin Laden," by Richard Miniter, Clark said that it was the Clinton administration - not Bush - that dropped the ball on bin Laden. It would seem that Richard Clarke is contradicting his previous statements. With a brand new book on the way, Against All Enemies due to be released just before his testimony at the 9/11 commission,(what a coincidence) Richard Clarke would seem to be a dubious source.

None of this matters to the mainstream press. At best, they want to see scandalous headlines in order to generate the controversy that pumps up ratings. At worst, they aren't exactly sympathetic to the Bush Administration and would like to undermine it.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs, a non-partisan organization, found in a recent study that despite having given the most favorable coverage to the war, CBS was toughest on President Bush in its aftermath with 77 percent negative evaluations, followed by ABC with 67 percent negative and NBC with 62 percent negative comments.

None of this means for certain that the criticisms of President Bush aren't warranted. I'm not advocating blind faith of any branch or official of the government. However, in light of Clarke's questionable veracity, I don't put too much credence in them. Of course, those who want to believe that he's some kind of warmonger will foam at the mouth and point to this as yet more "proof" of Bush's malevolence.

Interviews like the one on 60 minutes convince nobody. They're designed for one purpose only, to create controversy and pump up television ratings. It's up to the viewer to do a little critical thinking, something exceedingly rare these days, in order to make a reasoned judgement. In my reasoned judgement, there's a whole lot of smoke here, but not much fire.

Note:
Okay, I'm ready for the onslaught from the left-leaning blog I quoted above. Let me have it -- tell me I've been duped by the evil Bush -- and that he's evil incarnate, blah blah blah. I know how you libs feel. I couldn't stand Bill Clinton and it was difficult to evaluate anything the man did without seeing it in a negative light. That didn't win elections though and Clinton won both of his. We'll see if the mud being slung around sticks to Bush. In the meantime, let's all enjoy the fact that in America, we're all entitled to our opinions - not matter how idiotic others think they may be.
-jim.

Transcendent

It seems like only yesterday that the Illinois Militia ventured into Indian Country, but in fact it was 1832. Chief Blackhawk really didn't appreciate being provoked. The soldiers who died are buried there on a bluff overlooking Stillman Creek and the monument to their memory is there too. It was erected in 1901 with funds from the Illinois General Assembly. It was there long before I was born and it will most likely be there long after I'm gone... [pic]

It's painfully obvious that matter lasts a long time, maybe forever, but living beings are around for only a pitifully short period. All of my most important aspirations and accomplishments will fade away but the rock in my neighbors front yard will still be going strong. It's a frustrating fact of life that usually leads one to ask if there's any sense to it all.

Faced with the question of existence we must make a choice. Usually it comes down to one of three choices. The first option is to simply busy ourselves with all the adventures, excitement, and pleasure available while trying not to think of anything deeper, as long as possible up until that final moment. The second is to acknowledge that there is nothing that transcends our existence. All is just happenstance without any inherent meaning. The third choice, and in my mind, the best one, is to recognize certain things that transcend our existence.

Look around. It's beautiful here. Even in mid-town Manhattan something of nature's beauty can still be observed. All of that beauty points to something just below the surface. It's something that we try to grasp but never fully understand and it's bigger than any one of us.

I don't mean to get into all sorts of philosophy here about why I believe there are such things as objective right and wrong and that God exists. The point is that we all have a choice to make. If there is anything that transcends mere existence shouldn't we seek to imbue our lives with this meaning? Afterall, the rocks, trees and hills will still be here long after we're gone and we'll be somewhere else where we might wish we invested a little more time and effort.

Blog for Bush

Just a little reminder. This is a Blog for Bush. If you're coming here expecting something "fair and balanced", you'll be disappointed. You won't see any real nasty stuff, but you will notice the tone getting a little more strident in regards to the upcoming election.

While you're at it, check out this post on John Kerry's character.

Are You Passionate?

Critics of The Passion were very vocal about the film's potential for stirring up anti-semitism. Of course, that anti-semitism never really materialized. In a previous post I noted that only three incidents of anti-semitic violence were reported. Thanks to Powerline, I found out that one of those incidents was apparently faked. Infinite Monkeys and Powerline gives you all the details, including some good information from the LA Times.

The point I made in my original post still stands. The claims of anti-semitism in this film were, at best, overblown and at worst, driven by a political agenda determined to see it fail.

Campaign Slumber

On Bill O'Reilly tonight, they're asking an interesting question. Gasoline prices have been going through the roof and yet...nothing from the White House. No statements condemning the oil companies, the Saudi's or anyone else. No plan for how this problem is going to be addressed.
Hello? Anybody home there are Bush Campaign Headquarters?

I really, really don't want to get used to the sound of "President Kerry".

World Domination

E-Nough posts about an article he read in the french magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. It's all about "the sect that wants to conquer the world"...not Al-Qaeda, but Evangelists. Of course, religious discrimination seems to be all the rage in France these days so I guess bashing evangelicals can be expected.

Sign of The Blog

Have you ever said to yourself, "Gee, I wish I had my own customized church sign." Well, you're in luck! A friend of mine sent me a link to this site where you can generate your own church sign.

Tragedy Strikes Again

Bob Zangas, a U.S. Marine Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, was working in Iraq as a Civilian when he was killed last Tuesday. He also maintained a weblog here documenting his experiences with the Iraqi people. More information can be found here.
Larry and Jean Elliott were Baptist missionaries in Iraq. They were gunned down on Monday in Mosul. The Charlotte Observer tells more about them and their work here. Their son Scott runs the Election Projection weblog. A statement there says, "Jesus Christ was glorified in their lives. He will be glorified in their deaths." Please remember these families in your thoughts and prayers.

The Real George Bush

John Kerry and other Democrats have called President Bush a liar, a traitor, you name it, they've said it. But then I see stories like this one that describes an encounter with the President at church. Or this one from an experience someone had with him at Walter Reed Hospital. The two viewpoints don't make sense unless of course the President is some kind of evil genius capable of "spinning" the public. But then he's referred to as a bumbling fool or a figurehead who lets others run his administration. You can't have it both ways. Either he's an evil genius, a bumbling fool, or a decent guy trying to do the right thing for this country. I prefer to believe the latter but John Kerry and others, who clearly have something at stake here, want you to believe something else.

Unleash the Hounds!

It's been amply noted in the press that Bush has been trailing John F* Kerry in the polls. Indeed, Mr. Kerry has been putting the hurt on GWB for quite some time now. As a Blog for Bush this is getting tiresome which is why I was happy to finally, at long last, see someone pushing back...

Over the weekend, Colin Powell addressed Kerry's contention that "foreign leaders support me" and urged him to name names. Kerry claims to have "looked them in the eye" as they were giving him this alleged support, yet Kerry hasn't had an opportunity to look anyone in the eye.(unless you count Howard Dean) It looks like he might be making the whole thing up and it's about time that someone from the Bush camp had the guts to start challenging these types of statements.

The Bush campaign better wake up fast and start publicly challenging Kerry's outlandish statements and wild accusations or they're going to wake up the day after election day with a real bad hangover.

Other stories related to this one:

Chirac's Lies and The War in Iraq

Is He Running in America or Brussels?

Terror in New York City

American Digest wonders what it would take to mount a coordinated terrorist attack on New York. It's not something I would care to speculate about in writing, but American digest has and it's suitably chilling.

On a related theme, Fox News is running a series on how to respond if a terrorist attacks. Their experts give advice based on various situations. It's the kind of thing you hope you never need to know.

Can you hear me now?

The Barna Research group attempted to call 3400 randomly selected protestant churches during the month of December. They found that a human being could not be reached at 55% of the churches. An analysis of their findings reveals some surprising differences in regard to the responsiveness of certain denominations and even among geographic regions.

Of the 55% of unresponsive churches:
- 19% had neither a person nor an answering machine responding to calls
- 16% had an answering machine responding to all five attempts.
- 20% had either an answering machine or no answer at all during the initial five attempts.

In case you think the researchers were just unlucky, every church sampled was called a minimum of five times during business hours, with one call made each day at different times of the day over the course of a two-week period.

The mainline denominations usually take a beating at this weblog for their beliefs (or lack thereof) but not this time. The study found that mainline churches (American Baptist, United Church of Christ, Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, United Methodist and Presbyterian Church USA) were "highly responsive" as a group. 63% of them had a person answering the telephone during the initial five call attempts.

The churches least likely to have a human answer the telephone were Baptist churches other than Southern Baptist or National Baptist. The churches most likely to have neither a human being nor an answering machine were the Holiness group (30%), COGIC congregations (27%) and Baptist churches other than Southern and National Baptist (24%).

Barna also noted some differences among geographic regions. The most reachable churches (65%) were in the Mountain and western states. The least reachable churches were in the southern states (36%). The midwest and northeast offered a live response to calls about 50% of the time.

I've observed a lot of discussion on various weblogs about how churches can reach un-believers. Maybe they could start by answering the telephone.

One Year Later

All this week (March 14-20) this history channel is airing a mini-series called, "The Iraq War: One Year Later". The video footage is pretty good and there's a lot of detail about the course of the war. It airs at 8 central. More information is here.

Over There

The Evangelical Outpost will soon exist in more of a literal sense as it's author, JP Carter, will be deploying to Iraq. Hopefully he'll figure out how to keep blogging from there, even if it has to be via email to a fellow blogger who can post for him. (hint, hint)

In the meantime, there's an article over at The Army Times that provides the most comprehensive "Lessons Learned" information I've seen yet. You can find it here.

When Terrorists Attack

In light of the horrible attacks in Madrid, this might be a good time to highlight a website I just discovered. It's called www.ready.gov and it's from the US Dept of Homeland Security. Generally, my opinion is that the US Dept of Homeland Security is just another one of those useless bureacracies whose primary function is to spend tax dollars. That still may be true, but the website does have some helpful information.

There's an article about what kinds of things you'll need for an emergency kit and suggestions for making an emergency plan. There are also specific tips for what to do in case of a biological or chemical threat as well as a nuclear blast or radiation. It isn't exactly cheerful reading but it could save your life someday.

Where is the Passion?

According to some critics, The Passion is anti-semitic. Okay, but now the film has grossed $213.8 million dollars so far which means that a whole lot of people have seen it. Where is the rampant anti-semitic violence that was predicted? One paper reports three (3) recent anti-semitic incidents. One of these supposedly anti-semitic incidents was against a Christian church. [source]

Let me get this straight. Millions of people saw the movie, yet there are only three incidents and somehow this is supposed to mean the movie incites anti-semitism? I think there's some discrimination going on here but it isn't against Jews.

It is estimated that The Passion will be one of the top 50 grossing movies of all time. Somehow, though, I'm not anticipating it will win a whole lot of oscars. It might've had a chance if Sean Penn had been cast as Jesus with Tim Robbins as Judas and Susan Sarandon as Mary.

Stalking Matt Labash

Each week I eagerly await the arrival of my issue of The Weekly Standard. They've been rather infrequent lately. Sometimes I get it on Tuesday, sometimes Thursday, it's gotten to the point where I never know when it's going to show up, but I digress. The first column I read each week is the one written by Matt Labash. The guy is pretty funny. Right now you might be saying to yourself, "he obviously leads a rather shallow and meaningless exstence since the highlight of his week is reading The Weekly Standard." You may be right, but there's more...

I can be a little obsessive at times, especially when I get bored and I get bored pretty easily. Just for kicks, I thought I'd see if I could find out a little bit about Mr. Labash. It turns out that this writing thing is a pretty good gig for him. He's roughly 32 and here he is writing for a National publication. In fact, it seems just a little too good to be true.

I began to wonder if this "Matt Labash" really exists. Thanks to the miracle of the fabled "internet superhighway" (I'm really glad people have finally stopped calling it that.) I can check on this Labash character from the privacy and comfort of my own home.

Googling "Matt Labash" turns up an interview with JournalismJobs.com and there's even a picture of him. Yep, that's him. It looks like someone hit him over the head with a mallet, then while stars were still swimming around his head, snapped off a quick picture. In the interview he discusses a lot of issues that readers at Journalism Jobs probably think are profound. He talks about the whole idea of being on TV, "It makes me feel like a dork and that's my rule of thumb public behavior-wise: try not to be a dork. "

Okay, that shoots down my first theory. Theory 1: Matt Labash is really a pseudonym for either William Kristol or Fred Barnes. Heck, maybe they write all the articles in The Weekly Standard. Alas, I have a hard time imagining either one of those guys using the word "dork" in a sentence, at least not without the influence of some powerful mood-altering drug.

Then there's Labash's report from the Schwarzenegger campaign, "It seems like only yesterday that I was jetting around California with Arnold Schwarzenegger, enjoying one-on-one access, eating Arnold's food, laughing at Arnold's jokes, choking on Arnold's cigar smoke." Theory 2: Matt Labash is really a political operative sent by Halliburton. Indeed, maybe it isn't Cheney that is the "dark, insidious force pushing Bush toward war and confrontation", but it's this Matt Labash guy.

I was getting pretty convinced of Theory 2 when I happened on another Matt Labash story. There's this denial at The Village Voice, "I may have jokingly inquired about the propensity of medical marijuana activists to use marijuana at their medical marijuana party, but in absolutely no way did I attempt to procure marijuana, medical or otherwise." His denial sounds just a tad too rehearsed for me. It blows my Republican Operative theory though. Republicans, even Operatives, never joke about The Weed.

There's another picture of Matt Labash here. Hmmm, looks suspiciously like the photo that appears on The Weekly Standard website, only goofier. Memo to Matt Labash: you might want to get rid of this one. Also, get some Minoxidil buddy, you're going to need it in a few years.

Back to his bio at TWS. (I'm getting tired of typing, The Weekly Standard.) It says there that he's a senior writer and lives in Owings, Maryland, with his wife, his son Luke, and his dog, Leviticus. Leviticus? You can't make stuff like that up. I mean, who names their dog Leviticus? By the way, here's another picture. What's with the unbuttoned shirt? He looks a little cocky in this one, but I'm starting to think this guy really exists. Then another piece of information hits me.

It's in his latest article, Popcorn and Passion, he opines about The Passion and an "interfaith dialogue" he held with a Jewish guy at the theater. Along the way, he pretty much admits to being a Christian but he waits until the last paragraph for the real zinger, "On the way out, I play the part of the dutiful evangelical anyway, and ask Norm if, after watching the movie, he has any desire to switch teams." He's a, gasp, Evangelical. That settles it for me. No one in these times publicly admits to being an Evangelical.

I guess there really is a Matt Labash. He writes really good articles for a national neo-con publication and on a boring, cold March evening I'm really envious of him.

Urban Exploration

A few years ago I stumbled onto some websites about "Urban Exploration". Basically, the "urban explorers" seek out underground tunnels and old buildings to explore. A recent post by Murdoc refreshed my memory about these sites.

One of the most interesting is called The Action Squad where you can check out the adventures of some urban explorers. The Action Squad is based in the St. Paul, MN area. If I lived there like this guy I think I'd be real tempted to do a little exploring myself. While you're at The Action Squad be sure to visit The Labyrinth. There's also a webring dedicated to Urban Exploration.

Would you like Fries with that?

In my part of the country, we've seen a lot of jobs leaving. They might be going to Mexico or even to another state, but it doesn't really matter because they aren't here. I've heard the economists talk about this phenomenon called "offshore outsourcing". It isn't new but it seems to be happening a lot lately. John Kerry calls it a "double-blow" to US Workers who are already affected by a poor economy. Of course, he blames all of this on President Bush. Meanwhile, there aren't too many people out there championing the cause of protectionism to force jobs to stay in the US - not even John Kerry.

It isn't just the midwest, the effects of offshore outsourcing can be felt all across the country. An article over at the American Enterprise Institute provides some facts about offshore outsourcing:

No one knows how many jobs may be affected. The most widely publicized estimate is that as many as 3.3 million jobs over fifteen years may be vulnerable to outsourcing abroad.
For individuals or groups of workers affected, the need to find new work often entails a difficult adjustment.

Some commentators have expressed concerns that outsourcing may have contributed to the weak growth of jobs in the labor market during the recovery from the recession. February employment data, for example, showed job gains that continued to be disappointingly small.

Wage premiums for workers in the U.S. with college level training and skill training beyond the high school level are still quite high: going to college or getting technical training will continue to have a high payoff for U.S. workers for the foreseeable future.

Economists say offshore outsourcing has little impact on the overall unemployment rate and the practice helps the US to stay globally competitive. It's estimated that about 500,000 jobs have moved overseas. In a pool of workers that numbers 130 million people, it isn't a real huge amount - unless you happen to be one of those without a job.

Companies see the potential savings from not having to pay workers as much in wages and benefits as well as lower manufacturing costs, but there's a downside too. A recent Infoworld article cites some problems for companies that move offshore including; cultural factors that inhibit effective communication with workers, poor available infrastructure, higher training costs, costs associated with layoffs in the US, and the logistical difficulty of running a company thousands of miles away.

At the very bottom of all of this outsourcing sits the American consumer. The fact is that we like stuff cheap. When we shop, we look for the best deal and frequently the best deal is manufactured someplace else. Go to Wal-Mart. The place is jammed with people looking for a bargain.

Economists say the jobs that leave help to make the US more competitive, "The workers released from (outsourced jobs) will go on to develop the next big thing." [Source] I guess that's easy to say if you have a job. Proponents of outsourcing say,

If jobs making blue jeans and toys disappear overseas, other jobs will pop up - jobs in transportation or in industries that produce things the new economy needs. This places a burden on displaced workers. They will need the courage to retrain and financial assistance while they do it.

The Bureau of Labor statistics says that by 2006, for every two people leaving the work force, only one person will be coming into the work force. They estimate that by 2008, we're going to have 10 million unfilled jobs in this country. [Source]

It may be true that we'll have a whole lot of jobs by then, but what kind of jobs will be left? An article in the Washington Post titled, Maybe We Could All Deliver Pizza... imagines a world where only low level service jobs exist,

To hear the pessimists tell it, "Snow Crash" is right around the corner. You don't know "Snow Crash"? It was a turn-of-the-21st-century cyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson, who foresaw a nightmarish future in which the "Invisible Hand has taken all those historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani brick-maker would consider to be prosperity." And what the inexorable forces of comparative advantage thus revealed was that the U.S. economy would evolve to the point where Americans excelled at only four things: "music, movies, microcode (software), high-speed pizza delivery." Well, maybe we should scratch the microcode, since software companies have been outsourcing programming jobs to Asia at an accelerating pace.

The future doesn't look too bright for those without a college degree or certain technical skills. It seems the world has left them in the dust.

There aren't any easy answers to the "problem" of a global economy. It isn't enough to say we'll reap better jobs if we send other jobs overseas. It isn't enough to simply tell someone who's worked on an assembly line for 20 years that they're going to have to learn how to program a computer. Forcing companies to stay in the US isn't going to help either. Higher prices and lower competition will also spell layoffs - probably at a much higher level than they are now.

Government protectionism isn't going to solve the problem. The only thing likely to make a dent in the problem of offshore outsourcing is something that I call, "Patriotic Consumerism". In other words, we have to be willing to pay a little more for some things. We have to be willing to insist that our products are clearly labeled, "Made in the USA". I seriously doubt Americans will be willing to take such actions. We need to figure out how to deal with this global economy.

Until then, the words of a Bruce Springsteen song are likely to ring true for many, "Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to my hometown."

Nazi Raccoons

In 1934 Hermann Goering released some raccoons to "enrich the Third Reich". Those raccoons have multiplied and are now at record numbers with more than a million of them in Germany alone. A plan is being discussed to put out a "Raccoon Bounty" in order to reduce their numbers. Good luck. I think some of those Nazi Raccoons have invaded my neighborhood. You can identify them by the little swastika armbands they wear. They're pretty aggressive too. How do you say, "Get away from my garbage!" in German? <