Jonah Goldberg thinks young people are “so frickin’ stupid”
Goldberg pulls no punches in this clip.

I agree, and disagree with him.

I agree that there is a knowledge issue with youth, 21st century Western youth in particular. Yet I disagree that this “frickin’ stupid” issue is inherent to being young. While youth, by its very nature, brings with it inexperience and, as a result, a lack of wisdom, it’s also free from the excess baggage of constricted paradigms and narrow thinking born from years of repetitiveness. This point is eloquently detailed in Robert Epstein’s book The Case Against Adolescence.

However, I think that we (you know – the older and “wiser” ones) have created the mess we now face with a generation desiring perpetual adolescence. In providing a safe and entertainment-filled environment for our children have we inadvertently prevented them from acting their age – in essence – from being the young-adults they physiologically are?

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Hoplophobia gone wild
It seems that Australian swimming authorities consider it offensive for Australian swimmers to pose for photographs while holding (not “brandishing”) firearms while in a gunstore in the United States.

And the graves of countless Australians, who transformed the land from a penal colony to a thriving nation, are rumbling.

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MSNBC’s Chris Hayes is “rhetorically proximate to a twerp” – Bill Whittle
Watch it all.

And a Happy Belated Memorial Day to you as well.

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The Juvenilization of American Christianity
From the article,

As early as the 1950s, youth ministry was low on content and high on emotional fulfillment. The best youth ministries did provide individualized spiritual formation and even intense discipleship. But even otherwise exemplary youth ministries could unintentionally send the message that the church or even God exists to help me on my journey of self-development. Most youth ministries since the 1960s have followed the club model pioneered by Young Life and YFC. Songs, games, skits, and other youth-culture entertainments are followed by talks or discussions that feature simple truths packaged with humor, stories, and personal testimonies. As they listen to years of simplified messages that emphasize an emotional relationship with Jesus over intellectual content, teenagers learn that a well-articulated belief system is unimportant and might even become an obstacle to authentic faith. This feel-good faith works because it appeals to teenage desires for fun and belonging. It casts a wide net by dumbing down Christianity to the lowest common denominator of adolescent cognitive development and religious motivation.

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And about how Christians keep apologizing for the Crusades
Another zinger from Jonah Goldberg,

The word “crusader” has been completely captured by the forces political correctness. Whatever their sins, the Crusaders weren’t conquerors or the first invading shock troops of Western imperialism. They were warriors sent to reclaim lands taken by Islamic invaders. The great irony is that both Western progressives and Islamic fundamentalists have unwittingly bought into the same propaganda.

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Sorry, I’d forgotten a early appointment meeting a tech at a customer site (sans net) yesterday.

1. Working on politics a noble profession. Hmm.
2. A looming disaster?
3. Living in the now.
4. Yet another example of Presidential duplicity.
5. In which money is important (in an election). To you know, annoy people so they vote for the other guy (or not at all).
6. Where that stimulus money went.
7. For believers in unicorns and faeries.
8. Fish kill and big guns.
9. Speaking of big guns, last week I linked an essay by Richard Fernandez in which he mentioned a book “Shattered Sword” (on the battle of Midway). I read it and recommend it highly.
10. I think that’s wrong … I no longer think that moral responsibility is not linked to free/not-free will. Moral responsibility is a social construct and social constructions are not dependent on freedom. Intelligence suffices for social construction.
11. In which religion drops off the page.
12. Of argument and temperment.
13. By the logic of ever more nationalized healthcare all exercise with risk of injury should be banned.
14. Is this is pro-choice/pro-life issue, a vegan/non-vegan one, or just taste?
15. Mr Obama’s gaffe.
16. Cards on table.
17. See! not for porn. Much more practical it was drugs!
18. Who has experience.

Israel’s Prime Minister lays out the case.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it accurately recently in an American TV interview. He said that the world holds Israel to a "triple standard." Not a double standard, but a triple standard. He explained that there is one standard for the world’s dictatorships, a second standard for the world’s democracies, and a third standard for Israel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu added that the "triple standard" for Israel has meant that Israel does not have the right to defend itself from all the terrorists and rocket attacks hurled against them over the years by their Arab Muslim neighbors.  Netanyahu went on to say that the world would never expect any dictatorship or democracy to “show restraint” had they been the victims of more than 12,000 explosive rockets and missile attacks having been continually hurled across their borders by terrorists killing and maiming thousands of innocent civilians.

"What would the democracies do if 12,000 rockets were fired into their land?" he asked. "They would undoubtedly defend themselves and retaliate if more than one rocket hit them. But when Israel wants to defend itself, we are accused of being the villains, rather then the victims." He added, "No other nation would tolerate that."

Honestly, what other country gets held to the Israeli standard when it comes to defending themselves?

Dang those cellphone cameras!
From the article,

Tesoro High School in Las Flores reported as many as nine students improperly pulled out their cellphones during the May 16-18 administration of annual Standardized Testing And Reporting, or STAR, exams, said Marcus Walton, a spokesman for the Capistrano Unified School District.

Ouch!

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Hmm, Now “Paper or Plastic” might get you fined
From the L.A. Times opinion piece,

…plastic bags are more costly to all of us than they appear and won’t be missed once they are gone. Stores do offer an alternative — asking modern life’s essential question, “Paper or plastic?” — but there are even better options. More shoppers now carry reusable totes, and for those who won’t, don’t or just forgot, paper bags would still be available in Los Angeles stores for a modest fee.

How about we just ban silly regulations?.

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Home burglars caught on home security video
Note a couple of things from the incident: 1) Residence was broken into soon after purse and garage door opener was stolen from car, and 2) A handgun was stolen from the residence.

Takeaway:

• If you have a garage door opener remote in your car, do you also have any documentation which gives your residence address?
• If your car is broken into, quickly determine whether or not items stolen can lead to your house being broken into.
• Keep your garage to house entryway locked.
• If you keep a firearm at home for self defense, don’t leave it in an obvious location where a common break-in hoodlum can quickly find it.

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IN-N-OUT Burger in Tokyo?

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Daytime Curfew lunacy is shutdown in San Luis Obispo County

“I would not have you exchange the gold of individual Christianity for the base metal of Christian Socialism.” – Charles Spurgeon. He had quite a bit to say on economic and political issues of the day, applicable to that day and this.

For those still blaming Bush for our economic situation, Paul Mirengoff reminds us that the housing  market collapse was the main cause of it, and the Bush administration tried to keep it from happening. Democrats would have none of that.

"The New York Police Department, the mayor and the city’s top prosecutors on Monday endorsed a proposal to decriminalize the open possession of small amounts of marijuana…." But the real scourge, Big Gulps, will not be tolerated.

A cautionary tale about hyper-partisanship.

Remember those advertisers that left the Limbaugh show after his remarks about Sandra Fluke? One big one tried to come crawling back, and Limbaugh just said No.

The Obama administration is against voter ID laws, but Michelle Obama herself required IDs to get a book signed. Irony. Meter. Pegging.

Austerity works, when it’s actually implemented. Just ask the European country who’s economy outpaced the average growth in the euro-zone by 500%, and has the only budget surplus there.

Obama actually was a member of a socialist political party while in Chicago. Stanley Kurtz of National Review has the documentation. Where was the mainstream media on this 4 years ago?

In case you heard otherwise, no, the Boy Scouts are not changing their policy on gay scouts and scout leaders.

Good morning.

1. Economics of burger and nation.
2. More econ here.
3. “See me for dust” a phrase I’d never heard.
4. Sprawl.
5. The pro-choice “all life is sacred” conundrum noted.
6. The other marriage debate.
7. Our effing regulatory state, which is getting worse all the time. One side of the aisle thinks that’s a good thing.
8. Moving on up?
9. A birthday party notion. And the entertainment guest dresses like this (if they’re doing it right).
10. How to get Americans in the gym.
11. Some conservatives want to see Obama lose. I think the reason is hidden in the paragraph toward the bottom, i.e., Obama has been awesome at inspiring and recruiting conservatives.
12. Bad expense management has costs.
13. Mr Walker and the Wisconsin coerced unions.
14. Women against raising kids well.
15. That “popular” mandate, crickets say its not popular.

Good morning y’all!

1. Make sure your mouth is empty so to avoid spewing anything on your keyboard and monitor before viewing.
2. Seems to me if taxes aren’t the same GDP % as spending (and are higher) you’re cruising for a bruising … and 40+ % !!!! That should, by all rights, be shrinking all the time and not growing in an information/industrial age.
3. If the numbers were swapped (a) would there be calls for a recount and (b) does that mean a recount is warranted?
4. So which of these 5 scenarios are possible? Probable? I’d bet on wag the dog.
5. More numbers to distrust (not the graph, … the numbers to distrust would be grades).
6. Mali.
7. A good analogy, except for the unfortunate part that the Roman empire lasted for an additional 1000 more years.
8. An invitation to write.

Is Fear a bad thing for a Christian?
Well, depending on the context, it certainly could be. Irrational fear, worrying about the future, fear of death, etc., could all be indicators that the Christian is not fully embracing the hope inherent in Christianity. From Stan Jantz,

When we succumb to fear (and I’m counting myself in that habit), we are basically telling God, “I don’t trust you.” We’re saying, “Faith isn’t good enough; I need facts.”

However, are there times when a healthy appreciation of fear is the most prudent and, dare I say it, the wisest thing to do? Fear can be that quality in our psyche that alerts us to things untoward – situations out of the ordinary – or people to be wary of. Listening to that part of our brain which tells us something is amiss is not paranoia but a survival instinct. And survival is not a wrong thing, in and of itself – indeed – the lives we have been given, by God, are by no means trivial enough for us not to be concerned with managing them well.

In The Gift of Fear, Gavin DeBecker does a very good job outlining the way we can utilize the signals our brain already sends us regarding everyday events, situations, encounters, etc., to better prepare us for untimely events in life.

Remember:  Be prepared, not scared.

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Avoid these words online if you don’t want the government breathing down your neck
But remember… it’s for our safety.

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Coexist?
Not really.

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Are you on LinkedIn? Better change your password
Millions of passwords from LinkedIn leaked online.

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Mobilizing on Capitol Hill for children taken by food allergies

Less than six months after the death of her daughter Amarria, who suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction at school, Laura Pendleton walked the halls of Congress today, joining the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN™) as it continues to work toward passage of the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act.

The urgency behind the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act (S. 1884/H.R. 3627) is heartbreakingly illustrated by Pendleton’s loss. Her 7-year-old daughter Amarria died earlier this year after eating a peanut at the Chesterfield, Va. school where she was enrolled in first grade. She did not have an epinephrine auto-injector at school.

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And people were scared about having Vice President Sarah Palin?
From the article,

Vice President Joe Biden told the graduating seniors of Cypress Bay High School in Florida today that they should imagine a world where hunger no longer exists because crops grow without the need of soil, water or fertilizer.

A restaurant owner can’t refuse to serve people based on their race or gender. It is considered a public business. But how about a photographer? Not just one with a studio open to the public, but one who you would hire to come out and photograph your wedding?

A New Mexico judge now says that they can no longer pick and choose which weddings they will work at.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A professional photographer who refused to take pictures of a gay couple’s commitment ceremony violated state anti-discrimination laws, the New Mexico Court of Appeals has ruled.

The court on Thursday agreed with a previous ruling, in which a district court judge said the photo studio is considered public, similar to a restaurant or store, and cannot refuse service based on sexual orientation, the Albuquerque Journal reported (http://bit.ly/JSAdE5 ). The photography studio had argued that its refusal was not an act of discrimination but a reflection of the owners’ religious and moral beliefs.

The state (New Mexico here, but all over the country) is trying to freeze out businesses that don’t toe the liberal line. Catholic adoption agencies who have the same religious objection, in many places, now have to either violate their principles or shut down to avoid lawsuits. Now we have photographers who have to do much the same thing. Sensing a trend here?

The Alliance Defense Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based legal alliance of Christian attorneys and others that represented the studio, plans to appeal. Elane Photography argued that it provided discretionary, unique and expressive services that aren’t a public accommodation under the Human Rights Act.

The studio asked hypothetically whether an African-American photographer would be required to photograph a Ku Klux Klan rally.

The court responded: “The Ku Klux Klan is not a protected class. Sexual orientation, however, is protected.”

So, you have human rights only if you’re one of the classes with special rights. Don’t we always hear how homosexuals just want equal rights, not special rights? Watch what they do, however. If you’re a Christian photographer, you can now be targeted, even if there is a photographer right next door who is more accommodating and doesn’t have the same moral qualms. This is fair?

Good morning.

1. Bubbles in liquid going down.
2. “On this date”,  remembered (more here).
3. Wisconsin noted, here and here.
4. Google and its decisions.
5. So, is that the central difference between right and left?
6. In a sane world, “connections to Penn State” would be a bad thing for Mr Sandusky, not a good one.
7. The media tries a strained analogy.
8. So was this move Consitutional? And was it a good/bad idea? Are those two related in any way?
9. How not to make an argument, that has to be the worlds worst argument against single sex schools ever. Point one is irrelevant, point two is a good argument for not against, and point three is quickly rebutted by the poster. Whoops.
10. A good monopoly, … mostly good? Good or not?
11. Misunderestimating the tendency of writers to invent words?
12. Secret is secret … unless some small political fallout might be in their favor.
13. Biden … taking stupid to new heights every day. Seriously, do you want a pony too?

Good morning.

1. Green for Spring (and/or Pentecost).
2. Or what is a flash mob.
3. We will likely all remain confused about the creationist atheists. Or perhaps go back to calling all polls cricket races, and lots of noise signifying nothing.
4. Of Conservatism and Orthodoxy.
5. The sky is falling, oh wait, never mind.
6. Interesting. I don’t however get the “two databases” reference at the end.
7. American, debt worse than you imagined. (Keep in mind, the only successful strategy to attack a deficit in recent history is to cut spending)
8. Jewish = White … or highlighting just some the problems that confront racial reward/racial categorization requirements held sacred by the progressive left.
9. Banned. Right or wrong?
10. You can keep your insurance … remember that promise made by the Obamacare supporters. Alas, it continues to be untrue. I guess it wouldn’t be a lie if they didn’t realize things like this would happen. But if they didn’t realize it, they also cannot lay claim be “smart” as they so often prefer. So, stupid or dishonest? Pick.
11. I begin to suspect that photoshop was involved.

Good morning.

1. “Most gracious Sovereign Lady” … at first reading I thought that meant the Theotokos … but it’s not. The caps I think are what threw me.
2. It was this lady in question, who at times is certainly one to be reckoned with.
3. Sounds of battle in the information age.
4. Giving the state more power, rarely a good idea.
5. Talking economics, the gist of which is, I think, that economists are at long last recalling that these really low interest rates is not a good thing.
6. Yikes. Oh, and from the same source … this is a really really [repeat for a  while] good idea.
7. Queue the evil laughter.
8. The same argument holds it seems.
9. (Rich — or expense account equipped) Boys with toys.
10. More toys here.
11. Synthetics and the drug war.
12. Speaking of which, the “medical marijuana” industry/movement just died. It just doesn’t know it yet.
13. The first part of social charity, shut up and sit still.
14. You can just feel the excitement … or not.

Yeah, haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been working on another side project that may or may not pan out. We’ll see. In the meantime, it’s time to play some catch-up on the wrap-up.

No, I don’t believe Obama was born in Kenya, but he certainly let that image get out years ago, and only recently stopped that. As late as 2004, even the Associated Press was referring to "Kenyan-born" Barack Obama. Laugh all you want at the birthers, but they at least had this sort of thing to back them up (for a while).

The Family Research Council has a count of the number of states that have legislated against same-sex marriage. Depending on how you choose what kind of legislation (law, constitutional amendment, etc.), the number changes, but here’s the biggie. "Number of states which currently (May 2012) grant marriage licenses only for unions of one man and one woman:   44" Remember that when you see polls about what people supposedly think about it.

And don’t try to press Martin Luther King into service to that particular cause. He followed his religion in this regard.

“The Iranian nation is standing for its cause that is the full annihilation of Israel.” Their words.

Civility Watch: "Union Leader Takes Bat to Pinata Depicting Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.)"

Michael J. Fox realizes that stem cells, as good as they are, were never some magic cure-all.

Advances in the war:

A record-low 41 percent now identify themselves as “pro-choice,” down from 47 percent last July and 1 percentage point down from the previous record low of 42 percent, set in May 2009. As recently as 2006, 51 percent of Americans described themselves as “pro-choice.”

And speaking of the war, the actual, physical war on women by Planned Parenthood gets exposed by hidden camera videos. Predictably, the media yawns.

Further, "Congressional Black Caucus Upset By Pro-Life Black Americans". Those tolerant folks.

The Washington Post took 20 years to realize that Dan Quayle’s argument against the TV show Murphy Brown was right. It took Candace Bergen 10 years herself. And of course some of us knew that from the beginning.

And finally, oh, that liberal media.

Good morning. Woo hoo … links!

1. Letter of the law.
2. Ethnic spoils and reparations.
3. Memorial day photo choice by the White House, or ego stroking for the head honcho.
4. Two statements by the White House on energy, one of them is a lie. Logic offers no alternative.
5. Our President is fluent in Hebrew. Wow. Who knew?
6. As nationalization of health care proceeds … freedom suffers.
7. So, have the Philippines turned the corner?
8. A book touted.
9. So what are the child safety so-called experts going to say about this? Hmm?

News crew looking for violations at a California Gun Show… ended up breaking the law themselves
From John Lott,

…Things got a bit ironic, however, when CBS took a camera into a gun show. They didn’t find any guns with illegal detachable cartridges, but the news crew was breaking rules left and right. As it turns out, there are “No Camera” signs all throughout the gun show, and gun show representatives announced “No picture taking during the show” frequently throughout the day.

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Obama’s Planned Assault on the Second Amendment
But don’t worry. After he’s reelected he’ll be able to come out from “under the radar” because he’ll have more “flexibility”.

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What if he had not been carrying a gun?
From Salt Lake City,

A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith’s store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith’s employee Dorothy Espinoza says, “He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people.”

…

Then, before the suspect could find another victim – a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. “A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith’s grabbed him.”

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15 year-old girl with a gun,
wards off burglars. But, don’t go run outside while holding a handgun, like she did.

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17 year-old girl with a gun, shoots at intruder reaching through doggie door

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Husband and wife shot at gun safety class
You know the drill by now – there are no accidental shootings – they are negligent discharges. Again, we have an instance when it is reported that the gun… “went off”. From the article,

According to deputies with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office, Michael and Michelle Deel were accidentally shot when the .45 caliber handgun Michael was holding went off. He was shot in the hand and his wife was shot in the leg.