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Website of the Week
For those who are gluttons for listening punishment, here is my official myspace musician page.
Local Pump Price of Unleaded Gasoline:
$3.52/gallon
Price Per Barrel of Oil:
$125.96 (previously $107.90)
last modified May 11, 2008 at 18:16
This LA Times piece on an abortion doctor in Fayetteville, Arkansas, struck a little too close to home for me (literally and somewhat figuratively). I live in southwest Arkansas and am amazed at all the positive ways that our state likes to make the national news.
Anyway, this piece centers on an abortionist who has aborted babies since 1967 (at least 20,000 babies by his estimation). At 70 years old, he admits that abortion is destroying a life, but in his twisted logic, this gives the mother a new lease on her life. (I half-expected him to break into a Highlander analogy.)
What's interesting about articles like these is that they are written with the intent to humanize and transform the actions of the mothers and abortionists into everyday, acceptable, and personal decisions like choosing which brand of coffee to make or picking out a dress for a wedding. What ends up happening (at least with me), is that the mothers come off as immature, selfish, ignorant, and rationalizing.
I mean, what do you make of statements like these (from the article):
"Oh, God, doctor," the woman said. "I was hoping it was cancer."
***
"There's things wrong with abortion," she says. "But I want to have a good life. And provide a good life for my child." To keep this baby now, she says, when she's single, broke and about to start college, "would be unfair."
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His first patient of the day, Sarah, 23, says it never occurred to her to use birth control, though she has been sexually active for six years. When she became pregnant this fall, Sarah, who works in real estate, was in the midst of planning her wedding. "I don't think my dress would have fit with a baby in there," she says.
***
The last patient of the day, a 32-year-old college student named Stephanie, has had four abortions in the last 12 years. She keeps forgetting to take her birth control pills. Abortion "is a bummer," she says, "but no big stress."
______________
Of course, the abortionist does not come out too great either. On one hand, he admits that he is taking life (remember, at least 20,000 of them), and then, in the same breath, says that he is doing a good thing. Sounds like the twisted logic of a Death Row inmate to me. "Sure I killed those kids, but the parents have been brought so much closer by what I did."
The piece ends fittingly (and chillingly) enough:
"Three abortions before lunch and three more after: The appointment book is always full."
I've had the opportunity over the last few months and weeks to reflect upon much of the debate centering upon Creationism and Intelligent Design. Without rehashing the whole debate, I do want to share a few thoughts:
* There seems to be a big brouhaha over what exactly 'Intelligent Design' is. Many aspersions are cast upon the ID argument based upon these varying definitions and characterizations. I heard one commentator ask, albeit jokingly, how ID can explain "head lice, ticks, mole rats, vultures, walruses, typhoons, migraines, earthquakes and tornadoes, hammertoes, splinters, hairlips, superbowl half-time" etc. etc. Although clearly said in jest, it still reflects how ID can warp from one meaning and context to another.
* Many of the detractors of Intelligent Design say that it is not a testable theory, that it's adherents are merely Creationists in labcoats. It may very well be that supporters of ID do so because it bolsters Creationism, however, let's not let evolutionists off the hook either. Are we really to believe that Darwinists look at the evidence and say it points to evolution without any bias toward a particular result? I mean, if how I interpret the evidence says on one hand that I can live a life of licentiousness and pure hedonism without fear of judgement or guilt, while on the other hand, I could draw the conclusion that there is the possibility that the earth is young and thereby add credence to belief in Creationism, God, Jesus Christ, Adam, sin, death, judgement, and so on... Which do you think would be the most attractive theory to embrace (by the world's standards, at least)?
* In the young Earth/old Earth debate within Christian circles, many old Earthers say that for God to create the Earth, stars, etc. in an advanced state, somehow this would be deceptive and creates a "false history". Since God does not lie, they conclude that God would not create things with false pasts and that there might be room for the Framework and Day Age theories which allow for the possibility of an older Earth. The only problem with this line of argumentation is that whatever state of creation something is in, you can always find a preceding condition (or history). For example, if God created man in a mature state, this would be deception too, since maturity implies that at one time the man had been an infant and had grown to the present state. Oh, they might argue, suppose God created man in an embryonic state! Nice try, but this would be deception as well (by their reasoning) because an embryo has a preceding history, i.e. a sperm and an egg. The sperm and the egg had to come from somewhere, too,... a man and a woman. And then, we are right back where we started from.
Okay, it's just now the Christmas season, so you should not yet be tired of hearing Feliz Navidad. However, what are you going to do when you do? And, aren't you tired of only knowing one Christmas carol in Spanish? Well, the professor feels your pain and has a solution.
The Fish in the River
What, you say? I'm sorry, in espanol, it's Los Peces in El Rios. And it's a great and enjoyable Christmas carol to learn. You can read the Spanish version here, but this is how it translates into English:
The Fishes in the River
The Virgin Mary combs her precious hair
as she gives thanks for her baby.
Even she cannot understand why
God chose her to be a mother.
CHORUS:
But fishes in the river,
they are so delighted.
The fishes in the river,
to see the birth of God.
See how they swim and swim
and then they swim some more.
The fishes in the river,
to see the Savior born.
The Virgin Mary washes swaddling clothes
and hangs them on the rose bush
While birds of the air sing in praise
and the roses begin their blooming.
CHORUS
The Virgin Mary washes precious hands,
hands to take care of the baby
How I'm in awe of those busy, busy hands,
hands to take care of my Savior.
Well, anyway. Enjoy. And you're welcome.
Michael Yon is an imbedded reporter in Mosul and took the following photograph. (Complete Hat Tip to NRO's The Corner)
In the Corner, Kathryn Lopez points us toward Rita Cosby's interview with Bruce Willis and Michael Yon.
COSBY: You know, we've seen some of these amazing pictures that we're showing here.
You know, Michael, there's a photo I want to show of a soldier and a baby girl, in particular. Here it is. Why is this photo so meaningful, Michael?
MICHAEL YON, EMBEDDED BLOGGER: Well, I shot that photo on a day when a suicide or homicide car bomber ran into one of our Stryker vehicles, injured a couple of our soldiers, and, unfortunately, there were a lot of children who had crowded around to wave at our people.
And the attackers had every opportunity to just wait a couple of blocks and attack our guys later, without the children being around, but instead chose to attack straight through the children.
And Major Bieger, who is in the photo, found the little girl -- her name is Farah -- and decided he wanted to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible.
And so he picked her up, wrapped her in a blanket, and loaded her into one of our vehicles and started to take her to the hospital as fast as possible. And unfortunately, little Farah died en route.
We went back to that neighborhood the next day, and the people there actually welcomed us with open arms. They welcomed us into their homes.
UPDATE: I spoke with an acquaintance who served in Iraq for a couple of years but is now back and working in the US (I'll call him Private Ryan). I told Private Ryan about the above mentioned story and asked if he was surprised that something like that would happen in Iraq. He said "no" but terrorists did not usually target children when he was first there, but he started to see it happen more and more frequently. He said that terrorists would pay little children between $5 and $10 (a lot of money in Iraq) to throw a grenade at soldiers. He said that the terrorist offers the child the money and will say something like "Here's $5 if you'll go throw this rock at that group of soldiers over there." Very conniving and utterly depraved. Private Ryan said that US soldiers are sometimes faced with the choice of shooting a child with a grenade or saving their own lives. The child almost always comes out on the losing end of that decision.
The Private also relayed a story about a man that brought a cooler to the soldiers with a grenade in it. The soldiers pinned the man down until he explained that he had been paid to throw it at the soldiers, but did not want to endanger his life by carrying it out. Instead, he decided to turn it over to the Americans.
Or another story in which their translator and his wife and family were killed (four children under 9 years old) were killed for aiding the United States.
These stories, if anything, drive home the goodness of our cause and the price that is being paid daily, both by our soldiers and the Iraqis, to help establish liberty in Iraq.
Ancient Church Found in Israel
(AP) Israeli archaeologists said they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian church in the Holy Land on the grounds of a prison near the biblical site of Armageddon.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the ruins are believed to date back to the third or fourth centuries and include references to Jesus and images of fish, an ancient Christian symbol.
"This is a very ancient structure, maybe the oldest in our area," said Yotam Tepper, the head archaeologist on the dig.
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