An Interview with Former Atheist (Now Theist) Antony Flew
Friday, December 10, 2004
Why Only Catholicism Can Make Protestantism Work: Louis Bouyer on the Reformation
The above article is posted in honour of the recently deceased Fr. Louis Bouyer.
[Lord, please] remember Louis Bouyer, whom you have called from this life. In baptism he died with Christ: may he also share in his resurrection. [Roman Missal Eucharistic Prayer 2: From Masses for the Dead]
May he rest in peace.
The above article is posted in honour of the recently deceased Fr. Louis Bouyer.
[Lord, please] remember Louis Bouyer, whom you have called from this life. In baptism he died with Christ: may he also share in his resurrection. [Roman Missal Eucharistic Prayer 2: From Masses for the Dead]
May he rest in peace.
Why Our Country's Future is in the Red States Not the Blue Ones
Thanks to Laura Ingraham for alerting me to the above link.
Thanks to Laura Ingraham for alerting me to the above link.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Miscellaneous News:
(On Scientists and Mice)
World's Scientists Admit That They Just Don't Like Mice
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND—Nearly 700 scientists representing 27 countries convened at the University of Zurich Monday to formally announce that their experimentation on mice has been motivated not by a desire to advance human knowledge, but out of sheer distaste for the furry little rodents.
"As a man of science, I deal with facts, and the fact is that mice are gross," said Dr. Douglas White, chair of the Oxford biogenetics department and lifelong mouse-hater. "They're squirmy, scurrying little vermin, and they make my skin crawl. I speak for all of my assembled colleagues when I say that the horrible little things deserve the worst we can dish out."
According to a 500-word statement, scientists hate mice for "their beady little eyes," "their repulsive tails," and "the annoying little squeaking sounds they make."
At the press conference, several scientists detailed their involvement in the centuries-long ruse of "conducting experiments" and "curing diseases."
"For years, I've used lab mice to research cell breakdown in living tissue—and I've been lucky enough to make some pretty important medical advancements along the way," said researcher Ellen Gresham of the Harvard Institute for Advanced Studies. "But even if there were no scientific benefit to the work I do, I'd still experiment on mice, just to watch them suffer."
"The truth is, mice are particularly ill-suited for our tissue study," Gresham added. "We could construct a computer model that would yield more accurate results, but we don't care."... For more, please go HERE.
Where would we be in this world if not for the fine crack journalism of...The Onion to reveal these things my friends??? ;-)
(On Scientists and Mice)
World's Scientists Admit That They Just Don't Like Mice
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND—Nearly 700 scientists representing 27 countries convened at the University of Zurich Monday to formally announce that their experimentation on mice has been motivated not by a desire to advance human knowledge, but out of sheer distaste for the furry little rodents.
"As a man of science, I deal with facts, and the fact is that mice are gross," said Dr. Douglas White, chair of the Oxford biogenetics department and lifelong mouse-hater. "They're squirmy, scurrying little vermin, and they make my skin crawl. I speak for all of my assembled colleagues when I say that the horrible little things deserve the worst we can dish out."
According to a 500-word statement, scientists hate mice for "their beady little eyes," "their repulsive tails," and "the annoying little squeaking sounds they make."
At the press conference, several scientists detailed their involvement in the centuries-long ruse of "conducting experiments" and "curing diseases."
"For years, I've used lab mice to research cell breakdown in living tissue—and I've been lucky enough to make some pretty important medical advancements along the way," said researcher Ellen Gresham of the Harvard Institute for Advanced Studies. "But even if there were no scientific benefit to the work I do, I'd still experiment on mice, just to watch them suffer."
"The truth is, mice are particularly ill-suited for our tissue study," Gresham added. "We could construct a computer model that would yield more accurate results, but we don't care."... For more, please go HERE.
Where would we be in this world if not for the fine crack journalism of...The Onion to reveal these things my friends??? ;-)
Points to Ponder:
(On the United Nations)
Don't Mend the UN, End It.
End it. Strangle it. Kill it off and never lament its passing.
Name one international crisis the UN has successfully settled. Just one. We're still in Korea, and the Kim cult still reigns in the northern half of that peninsula thanks largely to a war run ineffectively through--you guessed it--the UN. Wherever the UN sends its "peacekeepers," either the war ends in stalemate or in a win for the bad guys. Former Yugoslavia? Stalemate. Somalia? Warlord victory.
The UN empowers leftist bureaucrats and toadies to tyrants and has become a true menace to national sovereignty. In its proclamations on everything from population to the environment to tax policy, the UN is a menace to freedom of conscience, thought and worship.
Is it possible to reform such a body? I don't think so. So we should put Kofi's cleptocracy out of its misery.
We should replace the UN with something better, something that keeps democracies in and tyrannies out. Something focused on maintaining national sovereignty and consent of the governed and that eschews the socialist claptrap that infects the UN from its skin to its core. This new body--call it the Council of Democracies, the Proliferation Security Initiative, whatever--should function as collective security for its member states and as an incentive to democratize for non-members. No one should get rich working for this body's bureaucracy, and no one should be able to put his or her kids on the payroll either. This new body will not host lavish parties at American taxpayer expense in Pyongyang and will not send troops to rape defenseless refugees in Sierra Leone. It will fulfill its primary function--defend democracy--or it will wither away. What it will not do is become a perpetual home for the chronically cantankerous anti-American crank.
If we "reform" the UN, that means we will be keeping it around for a while. So rather than mend it, it's time to end it...
Whatever you call this new organization, if it has a chairman or secretary general, Vaclev Havel gets my vote. [Bryan Preston circa 12/01/04]
(On the United Nations)
Don't Mend the UN, End It.
End it. Strangle it. Kill it off and never lament its passing.
Name one international crisis the UN has successfully settled. Just one. We're still in Korea, and the Kim cult still reigns in the northern half of that peninsula thanks largely to a war run ineffectively through--you guessed it--the UN. Wherever the UN sends its "peacekeepers," either the war ends in stalemate or in a win for the bad guys. Former Yugoslavia? Stalemate. Somalia? Warlord victory.
The UN empowers leftist bureaucrats and toadies to tyrants and has become a true menace to national sovereignty. In its proclamations on everything from population to the environment to tax policy, the UN is a menace to freedom of conscience, thought and worship.
Is it possible to reform such a body? I don't think so. So we should put Kofi's cleptocracy out of its misery.
We should replace the UN with something better, something that keeps democracies in and tyrannies out. Something focused on maintaining national sovereignty and consent of the governed and that eschews the socialist claptrap that infects the UN from its skin to its core. This new body--call it the Council of Democracies, the Proliferation Security Initiative, whatever--should function as collective security for its member states and as an incentive to democratize for non-members. No one should get rich working for this body's bureaucracy, and no one should be able to put his or her kids on the payroll either. This new body will not host lavish parties at American taxpayer expense in Pyongyang and will not send troops to rape defenseless refugees in Sierra Leone. It will fulfill its primary function--defend democracy--or it will wither away. What it will not do is become a perpetual home for the chronically cantankerous anti-American crank.
If we "reform" the UN, that means we will be keeping it around for a while. So rather than mend it, it's time to end it...
Whatever you call this new organization, if it has a chairman or secretary general, Vaclev Havel gets my vote. [Bryan Preston circa 12/01/04]
Sunday, December 05, 2004
"Grand Theft Auto Election" Dept.
(With Apologies to Steve Miller)
This here's a story about Washington's Democrats
A party of whiners and insolent little brats.
They sit around crying about losing the governors' race
And here is what happens as they attempt yet more disgrace.
They headed down to, ol Olympia
Where they sought to instill a bit of fe'a{1}
Chris Gregoire and her corrupt powerbrokers
Filed a suit to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
From his win Dino Rossi was elated
But he is aware of Chris Gregoire's reputation
Her incompetence as Attorney General's not minor
She made her living off of the public's taxes
Like a very bad horror movie franchise which continues to spin out turkey flicks, the latest installment of "Tuesday the 2nd (of November)" is in full swing up here in the People's Republic of...er...I mean the State of Washington. I am very leery of another recount because the margin is so close that it would not take much for the Democrats to steal this election. And yes my friends, I need not remind most of you that this is (at least) the third attempt by the Democrats to steal a major election in the past four years. But of course I will remind readers of this humble weblog anyway because (frankly) I am so sick of this kind of crap that I am nearly beside myself. Nonetheless, let us review the past four years and if there are other attempted election thieveries by the Demoncats that I am overlooking, I am sure someone among the readers of this weblog will chime in to correct me.{2}
The first obviously enough was Florida in 2000 which can be read about HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. The second was Ohio in 2004 where the attempt to steal the election can be read about HERE and HERE among other places{3} including an outline of the plan HERE. And as the third installment of attempted thievery, we have my home state of Washington where even John Kerry has chipped in money to attempt the heist -see John Fund's article located HERE for details.
It was noted a few years ago that manual recounts are a key way to distort actual election tallys. That is why (of course) the Democrats always prefer them to machine recounts. Machines of course have their problems of this there is no denying. But to my knowledge, no machines used in any recounting can selectively bend, fold, staple, or otherwise mutilate adversarial ballots as partisan hand counters can. And that my friends is precisely why the Democrats want to see a manual recount in the governors race up here. Let us hope that three times is not a charm for them as this state cannot handle another four years of Democratic governorships.
The Demoncats, they see their power slip away
Hence Chris Gregoire's party must resort to foul play
Though now lameducks, but
Still having influence
They'll use the courts to thwart the will of the people
Sing it: they'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
The past twenty years have been very damaging to our business climate out here. That is no small part of the reason why unemployment is higher out here than the national average and has been for a couple of years. I predict that if Gregoire succeeds in her attempted heist of the governorship that the exodus of businesses from this state will only increase. At least with someone who understands business as governor (read: Dino Rossi the winner of the election) we have a chance at reversing the damage wrought by the last string of Democratic governors who made this state less hospitable to businesses. And that is the bottom line really.
Notes:
{1} This is the word "fear" as Democratic Party strategeryman James Carville would say it ;-)
{2} One of the benefits of having such an intelligent reading audience is that when I make an occasional mistake, someone chimes in via email and corrects me -almost like clockwork most of the time.
{3} There is this "chick" on Air America (a network that replaced one of my favourite classic country stations about six weeks ago) who continues to whine about Cuyahoga county in Ohio as some bastion of thievery by Republicans. (Strangely enough, she does not seem to be concerned about Pennsylvania and Wisconsin where the vote margin was closer than Ohio. Is it perhaps because Kerry won those states in the tally???) All I will say in response to this is that there is a good reason why there are more votes than registered voters in places like Cuyahoga county. Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe explains it HERE. I will give you just a taste of Jacoby's article though - you have to pay for the rest:
A recent story that didn't get nearly the attention it deserved was the New York Daily News report that 46,000 registered New York City voters are also registered to vote in Florida. Nearly 1,700 of them have had absentee ballots mailed to their home in the other state, and as many as 1,000 have voted twice in the same election. Can 1,000 fraudulent votes change an election? Well, George W. Bush won Florida in 2000 by just 537 votes.
It is illegal to register to vote simultaneously in different jurisdictions, but scofflaws have little to worry about. As the Daily News noted, "efforts to prevent people from registering and voting in more than one state rely mostly on the honor system." Those who break the law rarely face prosecution or serious punishment. It's easy -- and painless -- to cheat.
I learned this firsthand in 1996, when I registered my wife's cat as a voter in Cook County, Ill., Norfolk County, Mass., and Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and then requested absentee ballots from all three venues. My purpose wasn't to cast illegal multiple votes but to demonstrate how vulnerable to manipulation America's election system has become.
It was a simple scam to pull off. "Under the National Voter Registration Act -- the `Motor Voter Law' -- states are required to accept voter registrations by mail," I wrote at the time. "No longer can citizens be asked to make a trip to town hall or the county office. No longer do they have to provide proof of residence or citizenship. In fact, they don't have to exist. Motor Voter obliges election officials to add to the voter list any name mailed in on a properly filled-out registration form. Anyone so registered can then request an absentee ballot -- by mail, of course. The system is not only open to manipulation, it invites it."
As journalist John Fund shows in an alarming new book, "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy," the United States has an elections system that would be an embarrassment in Honduras or Ghana. It is so unpoliced, he writes, that at least eight of the 9/11 hijackers "were actually able to register to vote in either Virginia or Florida while they made their deadly preparations."
How fouled up are the voter rolls? So fouled up that in some cities there are more registered voters than there are adults. So fouled up that when the Indianapolis Star investigated Indiana's records a few years ago, it discovered that hundreds of thousands of names -- as many as one-fifth of the total -- were "bogus" since the individuals named had moved, died, or gone to prison. So fouled up that when a Louisiana paper filed 25 phony voter registration forms signed only with an "X," 21 were approved and added to the voter list...[Jeff Jacoby: How to Steal an Election (circa September 22, 2004)]
In other words, the problems with voting tallys are because of liberal attempts to register en masse anyone and their dog to vote via proposals such as former President Clinton's Motor Voter Bill. I say, repeal that bill and make photo ID a requirement for voting along with proof of citizenship. Those two steps alone would fix a lot of the messes which (dare I say it???) is precisely the reason why it will not be supported by very many Democrats. After all, it is damn difficult to steal elections if there are greater safeguards in place. But one final bit on Cuyahoga county and the supposed Republican "thievery" of that county.
It should be noted and inculcated as often as necessary that all the complaints from the Democrats who allege Republican wrongdoing are a result of the very kinds of voter registration schemes that they have been promoting for the past ten years. But that is not all. Indeed, Libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz has a picture at his site of the voters ballot in that controversial county. Have a look before I say anything further on it:
Just at face value, it would appear that the ballot itself was far more favourable to Kerry than to Bush!!! After all, the instructions on where to vote for Kerry are crystal clear. But notice how a voter attempting to vote for Bush could easily mispunch the card if they were not careful!!! This would not happen necessarily in the voting itself as the card should line up properly in the slot. I refer here to afterwards if they happen to look at their card after removing it from the slot (as I used to do with the punch ballots) and notice that number 4 is not punched. (Despite the "4" being noted in the brochure as the number to punch to vote for Bush/Cheney.)
Of course if they were to punch 4 after already punching 14 (thinking that they must have not punched the card properly to begin with) they would then have a spoiled ballot and those are the sorts which are not counted when ballots are tallyed. Bush still won in Cuyahoga but if anything, there is a much stronger argument that the county was close because of ballots that favoured Kerry causing potential spoiled ballots rather than because of anything the Republicans did.
Now I am not going to say that the ballot layout itself was rigged of course but instead I post it here as a pictoral confutation to the moonbat liberals who are still crowing about Bush camp election so-called "conspiracies" and whose bitching about yet more mythical "conspiracies" (rather than simply facing the fact that most people do not want the swill they are trying to sell) will help them to election losses in 2006, 2008, and beyond if they do not face up to the real reasons for why they keep losing major elections.
(With Apologies to Steve Miller)
This here's a story about Washington's Democrats
A party of whiners and insolent little brats.
They sit around crying about losing the governors' race
And here is what happens as they attempt yet more disgrace.
They headed down to, ol Olympia
Where they sought to instill a bit of fe'a{1}
Chris Gregoire and her corrupt powerbrokers
Filed a suit to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
From his win Dino Rossi was elated
But he is aware of Chris Gregoire's reputation
Her incompetence as Attorney General's not minor
She made her living off of the public's taxes
Like a very bad horror movie franchise which continues to spin out turkey flicks, the latest installment of "Tuesday the 2nd (of November)" is in full swing up here in the People's Republic of...er...I mean the State of Washington. I am very leery of another recount because the margin is so close that it would not take much for the Democrats to steal this election. And yes my friends, I need not remind most of you that this is (at least) the third attempt by the Democrats to steal a major election in the past four years. But of course I will remind readers of this humble weblog anyway because (frankly) I am so sick of this kind of crap that I am nearly beside myself. Nonetheless, let us review the past four years and if there are other attempted election thieveries by the Demoncats that I am overlooking, I am sure someone among the readers of this weblog will chime in to correct me.{2}
The first obviously enough was Florida in 2000 which can be read about HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. The second was Ohio in 2004 where the attempt to steal the election can be read about HERE and HERE among other places{3} including an outline of the plan HERE. And as the third installment of attempted thievery, we have my home state of Washington where even John Kerry has chipped in money to attempt the heist -see John Fund's article located HERE for details.
It was noted a few years ago that manual recounts are a key way to distort actual election tallys. That is why (of course) the Democrats always prefer them to machine recounts. Machines of course have their problems of this there is no denying. But to my knowledge, no machines used in any recounting can selectively bend, fold, staple, or otherwise mutilate adversarial ballots as partisan hand counters can. And that my friends is precisely why the Democrats want to see a manual recount in the governors race up here. Let us hope that three times is not a charm for them as this state cannot handle another four years of Democratic governorships.
The Demoncats, they see their power slip away
Hence Chris Gregoire's party must resort to foul play
Though now lameducks, but
Still having influence
They'll use the courts to thwart the will of the people
Sing it: they'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
They'll try to steal the governors race
The past twenty years have been very damaging to our business climate out here. That is no small part of the reason why unemployment is higher out here than the national average and has been for a couple of years. I predict that if Gregoire succeeds in her attempted heist of the governorship that the exodus of businesses from this state will only increase. At least with someone who understands business as governor (read: Dino Rossi the winner of the election) we have a chance at reversing the damage wrought by the last string of Democratic governors who made this state less hospitable to businesses. And that is the bottom line really.
Notes:
{1} This is the word "fear" as Democratic Party strategeryman James Carville would say it ;-)
{2} One of the benefits of having such an intelligent reading audience is that when I make an occasional mistake, someone chimes in via email and corrects me -almost like clockwork most of the time.
{3} There is this "chick" on Air America (a network that replaced one of my favourite classic country stations about six weeks ago) who continues to whine about Cuyahoga county in Ohio as some bastion of thievery by Republicans. (Strangely enough, she does not seem to be concerned about Pennsylvania and Wisconsin where the vote margin was closer than Ohio. Is it perhaps because Kerry won those states in the tally???) All I will say in response to this is that there is a good reason why there are more votes than registered voters in places like Cuyahoga county. Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe explains it HERE. I will give you just a taste of Jacoby's article though - you have to pay for the rest:
A recent story that didn't get nearly the attention it deserved was the New York Daily News report that 46,000 registered New York City voters are also registered to vote in Florida. Nearly 1,700 of them have had absentee ballots mailed to their home in the other state, and as many as 1,000 have voted twice in the same election. Can 1,000 fraudulent votes change an election? Well, George W. Bush won Florida in 2000 by just 537 votes.
It is illegal to register to vote simultaneously in different jurisdictions, but scofflaws have little to worry about. As the Daily News noted, "efforts to prevent people from registering and voting in more than one state rely mostly on the honor system." Those who break the law rarely face prosecution or serious punishment. It's easy -- and painless -- to cheat.
I learned this firsthand in 1996, when I registered my wife's cat as a voter in Cook County, Ill., Norfolk County, Mass., and Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and then requested absentee ballots from all three venues. My purpose wasn't to cast illegal multiple votes but to demonstrate how vulnerable to manipulation America's election system has become.
It was a simple scam to pull off. "Under the National Voter Registration Act -- the `Motor Voter Law' -- states are required to accept voter registrations by mail," I wrote at the time. "No longer can citizens be asked to make a trip to town hall or the county office. No longer do they have to provide proof of residence or citizenship. In fact, they don't have to exist. Motor Voter obliges election officials to add to the voter list any name mailed in on a properly filled-out registration form. Anyone so registered can then request an absentee ballot -- by mail, of course. The system is not only open to manipulation, it invites it."
As journalist John Fund shows in an alarming new book, "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy," the United States has an elections system that would be an embarrassment in Honduras or Ghana. It is so unpoliced, he writes, that at least eight of the 9/11 hijackers "were actually able to register to vote in either Virginia or Florida while they made their deadly preparations."
How fouled up are the voter rolls? So fouled up that in some cities there are more registered voters than there are adults. So fouled up that when the Indianapolis Star investigated Indiana's records a few years ago, it discovered that hundreds of thousands of names -- as many as one-fifth of the total -- were "bogus" since the individuals named had moved, died, or gone to prison. So fouled up that when a Louisiana paper filed 25 phony voter registration forms signed only with an "X," 21 were approved and added to the voter list...[Jeff Jacoby: How to Steal an Election (circa September 22, 2004)]
In other words, the problems with voting tallys are because of liberal attempts to register en masse anyone and their dog to vote via proposals such as former President Clinton's Motor Voter Bill. I say, repeal that bill and make photo ID a requirement for voting along with proof of citizenship. Those two steps alone would fix a lot of the messes which (dare I say it???) is precisely the reason why it will not be supported by very many Democrats. After all, it is damn difficult to steal elections if there are greater safeguards in place. But one final bit on Cuyahoga county and the supposed Republican "thievery" of that county.
It should be noted and inculcated as often as necessary that all the complaints from the Democrats who allege Republican wrongdoing are a result of the very kinds of voter registration schemes that they have been promoting for the past ten years. But that is not all. Indeed, Libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz has a picture at his site of the voters ballot in that controversial county. Have a look before I say anything further on it:
Just at face value, it would appear that the ballot itself was far more favourable to Kerry than to Bush!!! After all, the instructions on where to vote for Kerry are crystal clear. But notice how a voter attempting to vote for Bush could easily mispunch the card if they were not careful!!! This would not happen necessarily in the voting itself as the card should line up properly in the slot. I refer here to afterwards if they happen to look at their card after removing it from the slot (as I used to do with the punch ballots) and notice that number 4 is not punched. (Despite the "4" being noted in the brochure as the number to punch to vote for Bush/Cheney.)
Of course if they were to punch 4 after already punching 14 (thinking that they must have not punched the card properly to begin with) they would then have a spoiled ballot and those are the sorts which are not counted when ballots are tallyed. Bush still won in Cuyahoga but if anything, there is a much stronger argument that the county was close because of ballots that favoured Kerry causing potential spoiled ballots rather than because of anything the Republicans did.
Now I am not going to say that the ballot layout itself was rigged of course but instead I post it here as a pictoral confutation to the moonbat liberals who are still crowing about Bush camp election so-called "conspiracies" and whose bitching about yet more mythical "conspiracies" (rather than simply facing the fact that most people do not want the swill they are trying to sell) will help them to election losses in 2006, 2008, and beyond if they do not face up to the real reasons for why they keep losing major elections.
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