There is so much out there, let’s take a quick look around, shall we?
Students in Iran, just wanna know: “Obama, are you with us, or with the regime”. Oh, don’t ask Obama; he really doesn’t know. All he knows is, if Bush was for you (and he was), Obama must be against you. He’d really like to help you, but it’s the rules. Sorry.
Keith Hennessy: Enough already, with the ‘inherited debt’ lies. Ed Morrissey agrees and writes:
…bear in mind something Hennessey doesn’t state: these deficits come from Democrats. Democrats have controlled Congress and therefore the purse since January 2007. The last budget that the Bush administration signed went into effect in October of that year. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid played keep-away with the FY2009 budget, passing continuing resolutions until Bush left office and then an omnibus spending bill when Obama became President. The $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 is owed entirely to the Beltway triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, and has nothing at all to do with George Bush.
CBO hearts GOP Healthcare Reform: Costs much less, saves lots more. Mrs. Pelosi wants to spend 1.2 Trillion, and since Obama is just the campaign guy, he doesn’t really care what she does as long as she passes something with a D behind it, that he can claim…if he decides it’s safe to. So, expect Obama to come out again sometime today to re-stuff the straw man that the GOP has no plans of their own
Speaking of Healthcare Reform: Obamacare covers prayer? Wow. I hope not; wouldn’t that infringe on the venerated “separation of church and state”? By my lights, you do not want the government to be partners with spiritual interests. Period. For that matter, separate marriage from civil unions, while we’re at it, and leave the sacraments to the churches and the civics to the civics.
Phil Fox Rose: Asks from a Christian perspective:
“…if we can agree that universal coverage is for the common good, or even, as President Obama called it the other day, “a core ethical and moral obligation,” then we can move forward and discuss how to implement it in ways that will not increase the debt or limit our freedom.”
Hmm. Okay, but that’s difficult, though, when neither Obama or Mrs. Pelosi are working in good faith with the opposition party to draft health care legislation (or other legislation) that “will not increase the debt or limit our freedom.” Aside from the fact that this White House seems not to like freedom all that much, and that Mrs. Pelosi’s plan includes a “monthly abortion premium”, the truth is, all the Democrat leadership keeps saying to the GOP is, basically, “shut up, just shut up;” you don’t have a plan, you don’t want to do to anything.” So, it seems we have a ways to go to that moving forward, part.
Stimulus: Saving 9 out of every 5 jobs! Got the hours right, anyway.
NY Cabbie: Throws gays out of his cab. But of course, it’s really the Catholics who are the “haters.” That’s the approved narrative, yes? That, and oh, yeah, Mother Teresa bashing. And oh yeah, God is an imaginary friend.
Overreach and hubris; nobody wants that!
A new blog: I kind of like
Malware and bank fraud. Important information.
Since Nancy Pelosi, who deserves this drubbing by John Fund, does not seem to know what “winning” means, I am not surprised that she got hung up on that ‘draining the swamp’ thing.
I like this post of Annie’s, not because she kindly links to me, but for this, which expands brilliantly on my post from yesterday:
Louder and lower exerts a stronger force on attention, which, like water, flows downhill. People will go again and again to have their fears, rages, and preconceptions reliably stimulated and serviced. It’s our human equivalent of a rat pressing a lever. It’s a way of getting off, as predictable and sterile as porn. In fact I’m going to coin a word for the pull of political invective: zornography (from the German Zorn, rage or fury).
It’s something to think about, as we flip to our favorite blogs, turn on our favorite tv or radio gasbags: are we feeding our own rages with reliable, filling, but ultimately soul-killing rhetorical anti-nutrients? Certainly we need and want the information we can find or hear at these venues; information is good and necessary. But can we get it, anymore, in America, without the rage piled on like too many homefries with your scrambled eggs? And yet, I do understand, I mean, look at the first part of this post. It’s so hard to separate the information from the feelings it all engenders…sigh. I mean, all these kids singing presidential hosannas, they just make you shudder and go “ugh.”
But we must try to separate and detach; I know we must.
I see rude people: this book looks like fun
25 Ridiculously Healthy Foods; most of ‘em I like, and one of them is chocolate! My son is on an avocado kick.
I like this little blurb on Twitter, which one can come back to over and over throughout the day, to think on:
The Hebrew word for God combines the past, present and future tenses of the verb “To Be.” It is unpronounceable, but sounds like breathing.
5 Hard Truths that will Set You Free: Or, as Rose Castorini famously said in Moonstruck, “Cosmo, I just want you to know, no matter what you do, you’re gonna die, just like everybody else.”
Perennial with the earth: Walt Whitman on Wax
St. Al Gore Icon: I just threw up a little in my mouth. It’s no good religion that hates dogs.
November 5th, 2009 | 2:23 pm | #1
Muslim nutter in Arizona kills own daughter for being too “western”
November 5th, 2009 | 2:50 pm | #2
Thanks for the blog link to “The Call & the Journey”, the blog for Oct 18th jumped off the screen at me as it very much describes my situation at the minute as I am coming to the end of a 2.5 year volunteering stint in central Uganda….helped articulate my situation very well at the minute as I try to work out the next step!
As an aside for an interesting link have a look at these two links which are discussing the same vocation journey from “slightly” different perspectives
link
link
H/T to A Nuns Life
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November 5th, 2009 | 3:00 pm | #3
A view of Iran which differs from yours
I think I share your values in this regard because I too am a liberal (say a classical liberal if you like), a universalist, a supporter of human rights & dignity worldwide. So I was uncomfortable with some of the anti-war crowd & ambivalent towards war itself. But since Obama’s election, seeing the hawks attack him & the Larison response, I have become more sceptical about military reactions.
I do not essentially view this as Obama’s job but as the Iranians’, & we will welcome them into the free world when it is done.
On chocolate- I actually only recently discovered that it isn’t naturally sweet, but only becomes so because us pesky westerners keep adding milk & sugar! But I have weaned myself off that, so now I like it with savoury foods. Especially anything Latin American, obviously.
I eat eggs, pulses, nuts, fruits, onions, peppers, & them quite a lot. With each meal I have half a loaf of rye bread toasted, one piece with peanut butter, one with mint sauce & one with each of the many fruit jams & spreads that I have.
People tell me off for eating mint sauce so often because they don’t think it is aesthetically pleasing or well mannered
Plus it is always good to eat oats. After all that & my cycling I think I have earned a massive binge drinking session & some kind of ridiculously unhealthy “meal” from a kebab house or pizzeria once a month or so. (I don’t drink alcohol on any other occasions than during my blowouts).
November 5th, 2009 | 3:11 pm | #4
Lots of people trying to lay claim to some sort of sanctity; most of them on closer examination don’t really qualify. Albert Gore, Jr. occupies first position on that list.
To me, chocolate is health food. My other dietary rule – oftimes ignored by none other than me – is moderation in all things. Lunch is always the hard one for me. Today I had 2 chicken breasts stuffed with artichokes and baked in the oven. Very tasty but not quite enough. I think I’ll top it off with a bit of chocolate now.
Also, a nutritionist I know say that crunchy foods relieve stress. Consequently, there’s a bag of kettle chips close to hand!
I really need to cut back on my love affair with food!
November 5th, 2009 | 3:35 pm | #5
I picked up on the comment about health care being a moral concern.
In the debate of it, there seem to be two ideological positions, neither of which holds much water; one is that health care is a right, which seems unreasonable from a policy standpoint- would we have to provide it even unto bankruptcy?
But the other is far more problematic, if only because it has such horrible ramifications; that health care is a product that is subject to the vagaries of the marketplace- can’t afford it? tough luck! seems the be the underlying logic.
I think it SHOULD be agreed that providing health care for the sick is a moral obligation- whether that translates into a government run program is debatable, and of course the exact boundaries of what it means are debatable.
But the Christian position should be a steady drumbeat of insistance that something be done, that providing universal care for the sick is a mandate, not an option.
November 5th, 2009 | 3:59 pm | #6
An interesting set of links today, Anchoress, many thanks!
I do not trust any society that doesn’t like dogs, mans’ oldest best friend.
November 5th, 2009 | 4:48 pm | #7
Although in fairness, in the west calling a person a “dog” is virtually always some form of insult.
November 5th, 2009 | 5:49 pm | #8
[...] original from me today, but thought you might like this post as much as I did. Hat tip to the Anchoress – whose blog I thoroughly [...]
November 5th, 2009 | 7:21 pm | #9
[...] Serving up hot links… » The Anchoress | A First Things Blog Says: November 5, 2009 at 09:45 | Reply [...]
November 5th, 2009 | 11:52 pm | #10
While “dog” might sometimes be used as an insult, fact is, most human societies love, and respect dogs. It’s unfair to our best buddies to use that word as an insult.
November 6th, 2009 | 12:59 am | #11
OK – I’m going cold turkey. The sewing machine beckons.
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