Stones Cry Out

The housing bubble, anyone remember it? That’s when people who would not have otherwise been able to get credit to buy a house were given it anyway because the government pressured banks to do it. Everybody gets a home, and if you’re against this policy, you clearly hate the poor. Then the bubble burst, defaults were rampant, and more government programs had to be thought up to save us from the previous government programs. And, as Bruce McQuain notes at the Q&O blog, yes, the government’s meddling is what caused that sub-prime mortgage meltdown, which then was a huge contributor to the subsequent recession.

And now we have this.

The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say will help power the economic recovery but that skeptics say could open the door to the risky lending that caused the housing crash in the first place.

President Obama’s economic advisers and outside experts say the nation’s much-celebrated housing rebound is leaving too many people behind, including young people looking to buy their first homes and individuals with credit records weakened by the recession.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to … create public policy to repeat it. It’s allegedly being instituted to allow the poor to participate in the housing recover, but you can be sure that it won’t be a temporary measure, because any attempt to return to semi-sane credit checks will, will, be demagogued, once again, as eeevil Republicans throwing the poor out on the streets. This has to prove without a doubt that Democrats only care about intentions, not results. Even if the results have just finished happening.

Short-attention span voters love this stuff. Obama just thinks anything Bush did he can do better, and in this case, he very well could. We just did this, like, six years ago, and Barney Frank told us it was all good and not to worry. And then we had to bail out a bunch of banks, because we made them make loans to people who couldn’t pay them back, because, you know, racist / sexist.

On to the business at hand …

1. Your tax dollars at work … OK. probably not your tax dollars but somebodies. Golly, gubmit sure is silly.
2. Ooh, surprise, taxes going up is the “hidden” plan.
3. Better than raising taxes any day of the week.
4. Which is another reason why not to do this.
5. A prediction made.
6. Another.
7. Hollywood and the musical.
8. Remember this.
9. Not alone in that confusion.
10. Despicable? or just ordinary ho hum?
11. What if you didn’t kill him, just put a round in a lung?  That’ll usually take the vim and vigor out of a guy.

This week has been crazy. The hotel web site crawls (which I can access at night). I’m with only sketchy phone service, no data, and no network all day. Odd doing that during a non-vacation day.

Ok. Link?

1. Pressure and the working world.
2. Syria and a prayer request.
3. Bike tech of a different sort.
4. Going way past the feed the beast notion.
5. Shale.
6. Not wrong. Christian. Jesus pointed out evil men love those who love them, love the man that hates you .. that’s a little more difficult.
7. Jane Austen and game theory.
8. Stupidity in schooling.
9. This is strange. On a Christian group conversation blog, a fellow “can’t imagine a leader not hung up on power” … Uhm, there was this Galilean fellow, you might call him the  leader of a movement, some time back …

izzat ’nuff?

Woo.

1. Yikes.
2. Keep on training.
3. Poetry so bad it has to be read to believed. (refer also to prior feed the beast suggestions).
4. Repugnance.
5. Women and the Greatest Generation (of).
6. Immigration and a 1k mile border fence … but not in the US.
7. Geesh. Please, can we stop listening to/hearing from this moron.
8. I was once in that place.
9. Russian Roulette considered.
10. Uhm. Wrong answer. Sex is determined by XX or XY pairings in chromosomes … you are not “neither” or “both” but one or the other, if you’re human.
11. Hey! Notice. The first quote is by one speaker. The second by others. People of the same party can have different notions and expressing different ideas is not a 180 shift of a viewpoint.
12. Love and the ordinary Puritan.

Yo. Link?

1. On Mr Gosnell from First Things.
2. A modern Confessor. Martyrs are remembered for dying for their faith, confessors are remembered for suffering torture or imprisonment for the same … just not to the point of death.
3. Dirty Dozen, fiction film and well known. Filthy Thirteen, non-fiction, history and not known. Something is wrong there.
4. Mill on epistemology.
5. Whose interests indeed.
6. Gun control and how to (or not to) bargain.
7. Conversion experiences.
8. Demagogue, as if that were a bad thing. Oh, wait …
9. Freedom of association, something we don’t enjoy any more apparently.
10. Speaking of gun control, a survey of police officers and their views.

OK then.

Just as our President supposedly "evolved" on the issue of same-sex marriage, Rev. Jim Wallis, head of the liberal Sojourners group, has done the same thing. After saying that marriage shouldn’t be redefined, now that the culture apparently want to change it, now he’s fine with it.

Michael Brown, author and radio talk-show host, wrote an article for Charisma News that calls Wallis on the carpet for this change. (Emphasis his.)

Rev. Wallis, you told us in 2008 that “the sacrament of marriage” should not be changed and that “marriage is all through the Bible, and it’s not gender-neutral.” Now, in 2013, you want to redefine marriage and make it gender-neutral. In doing so, you have betrayed the Word of God and the people of God.

To be candid, sir, I’m not surprised by your theological flip-flop—just pained and distressed by it, since your name is still associated with evangelical Christianity in America and you are a prominent church leader.

This is not just an issue of going against what Brown (and I) believes the Bible says, but it’s yet another case of Wallis saying one thing and doing another. Brown offers up many examples.

In the past, you raised some valid criticisms about the “religious right” and its deep solidarity with the Republican Party, but then you joined yourself to the religious left and the Democratic Party, even campaigning for Democratic candidates. So much for taking a kingdom-of-God position that transcends partisan politics and challenges the political establishment.

To be sure, you have rightly challenged us to consider the poor and the oppressed, pointing to the hundreds of Scriptures that call us to “social justice.” But then you have turned around and applauded Communist dictatorships that championed oppression and tyranny.

When it comes to Christian integrity, you disappointed us when you received funding from pro-abortion, pro-atheism billionaire George Soros and when you allowed the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the world’s largest gay activist organization, to take out paid advertising in your Sojourners magazine, even though the HRC would love to silence all religious opposition to homosexual practice.

It is true that in 2008, you expressed having “mixed feelings” about the HRC ads, stating that you “probably wouldn’t do it again.” But today, the HRC celebrates your defection from biblical values, announcing in headline news, “Leading Evangelical Christian Voice Announces Support For Marriage Equality.”

Rev. Wallis, you have brought reproach to the name of Jesus, to the Word of God and to evangelical Christianity.

But the height of the hypocrisy is that Wallis seems to be making his moral decisions based on the culture, not based on Christ.

Worst of all, you have reversed your earlier position on what the Bible clearly says about marriage based largely on where “the country is going.”

What? Jim Wallis, the critic of the religious establishment; Jim Wallis, the counter-cultural revolutionary; Jim Wallis, the advocate of a Jesus who changes the world rather than conforms to it. You, sir, are now willing to redefine one of the most foundational and sacred human institutions, the institution of marriage, based on where the country is going? Isn’t that the path to spiritual and moral suicide?

Read the whole thing. (Hey, you’ve read most of it already.)

So it goes.

1. Once allies, no longer?
2. For your inner cowboy. Or outer?
3. Texas, apparently jealous of Boston has to do “it” bigger. Somebody should tell them Texans that when it comes to bad things, bigger is not actually better.
4. Gun control and the reasonable middle.
5. Zoom.
6. Some bomb tech information.
7. When the “sharks” are making a marginal profit … seems to me that they are not actually sharks.
8. In which “can’t” means “won’t” … and 7 of the murder charges remember are for killing “accidentally not killed” late term abortions … an issue for which Obama voted to kill ’em anyhow in Illinois.

Gee I thought I had more saved. …. ah well.

There’s a murder trial going on in Pennsylvania. A doctor was arrested in 2011 for killing 8 people, and the trial has been going on since March 18^th. Accusations of beheadings, special treatment for whites, severed feet in jars, 15-year-olds administering anesthesia, unsanitary clinic conditions that spread STDs to unsuspecting women, and multiple state agencies made aware of this but who chose to ignore what was going on.

“What?”, you may be asking. “Why isn’t this front-page news?” Indeed, the fact that it isn’t strains credulity. It’s so unbelievable that the popular Snopes website that debunks (or in some cases, “bunks”) urban legends, felt compelled to let its readers know that, yes, that story you see being passed around in e-mail or on Facebook is, indeed, true, and not some made-up legend.

Kirsten Powers wrote an opinion piece asking the obvious question of why this isn’t front-page news. The answer, I think, is because all this happened at an abortion clinic. Kermit Gosnell, who has been performing the cheapest and fastest abortions he could possibly perform for over 30 years, finally was arrested, but not after so much damage had already been done.

And where is the media in all this? Well, they say they covered the arrest in 2011, so at this point it’s just a local crime issue. Right, like Aurora, and Sandy Hook, and Littleton. As the facts come out, there’s no need to cover that. Rather, let’s talk about a basketball coach behaving badly. Hey look! Rush Limbaugh said something shocking! That doesn’t happen often, right, it must be news!

Let’s not talk about babies born alive and having their spinal cords quote-unquote “snipped”. Let’s not talk about deliveries in toilets. Let’s not talk about this little abortion shop of horrors.

Why not? Well, as James Taranto wrote, that just might make people think hard about their stance on abortion. They might start to change their minds, two examples of which Taranto mentioned. Oh, let’s make sure they think hard about their stance on guns, or immigration, or whatever else they need to hear about to come to the liberal way of thinking. But the realities of abortion? Doesn’t fit the narrative, so the media ignore it. That’s advocacy, not just in how something’s reported, but whether it’s reported at all.

If Kermit Gosnell had killed those women and babies with an AR-15 rifle, you know it would be national news. Or if he were a Christian. Or if he had killed abortion doctor George Tiller. Instead he was performing what the law has contorted into a Constitutional right that the Left enshrines in their political platforms. When what used to be called back-alley abortions are being done right in an alleged clinic, both the government and the media turn a blind eye to it.

It doesn’t fit the narrative, and it might (well, it is) changing some minds on this liberal sacrament of abortion. I am of the firm belief that the politics of the issue is directly affecting its coverage. Oh, oh, that liberal media.

Good morning. Links?

1. Yah, and you can only ride a horse cause the founders didn’t “intend” cars. And … the framers didn’t want you using only crossbows, but allowed the most technologically advanced military weapons to all. Guess that means Mr Leiter thinks actual (real not pretend) assault weapons for civilian use is what they intended.
   
2. Portion control.
3. For those places in the world not near one of the top 10 largest freshwater lakes.
4. The knuckleheads in Congress will not call for background checks and registration of … pressure cookers?
5. Speaking of which … Science!
6. From the aisles of the diversity knuckleheads. Doh!
7. ’cause marathons are not in such hubs?
8. He would know.
9. Dangerousness.
10. Seriously? My daughter applied in October to here (Illinois) to schools online, was accepted in weeks, got financial aid offers about a month later and decided in January. What deadline do they speak of?
11. Grist for the SSM debate. Actually, less like grist more like sand in the axles.
12. Not grown here.
13. Toys for your toy.
14. ’cause all libs know you get STDs from toilet seats and pregnant from thinking the wrong thing.
15. Flee from evil veggies.
16. Mr Rahe needs to read his co-poster Mr Groseclose. Mr G found the WSJ reporting is liberal as they come … it’s their opinion pages that aren’t liberal. The Wash Times is one of the few non-liberal papers in their reporting section according to the studies.
17. Well it’s good to hear that NBC is not part of the threat.

The smoke from the bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 15^th had hardly had a chance to clear when the media began speculating about right-wing extremists. Folks, please, let’s take care of the wounded and bury our dead before breaking out the knee-jerk reactions, OK? It seems like after every single act like this, the media just has to have a race to see who can blame conservatives first.

After the Aurora shooting, for example, Brian Ross apparently did a Google search for the shooter’s name, Jim Holmes, and may have hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button, before reporting that he was a Tea Party member. Turned out, of course, that some guy with the same name did belong to the Tea Party, but he wasn’t the shooter. Still, it was too good to check, it fit the narrative, and Ross reported it.

But did they learn their lesson? Why, of course not.

• Esquire’s Charles Pierce suggested conservatives when he wrote, “Obviously, nobody knows anything yet, but I would caution folks jumping to conclusions about foreign terrorism to remember that this is the official Patriots Day holiday in Massachusetts, celebrating the Battles at Lexington and Concord, and that the actual date (April 19) was of some significance to, among other people, Tim McVeigh, because he fancied himself a waterer of the tree of liberty and the like.”
• MSNBC’s “journalist” Chris Matthews got in on the disgraceful speculation and claimed, “Normally domestic terrorists, people, tend to be on the far right.”
• CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen told host Jake Tapper shortly after the bombings that they could be the work of “right-wing extremists” just as easily as they could be the work of Al Qaeda.

Yeah, just like the Unabomber, Gabby Gifford’s shooter, the aforementioned Jim Holmes, and Adam Lanza. Not that they’re all far Left, mind you, but they certainly aren’t or weren’t far Right.

To try to make it seem like this sort of unhelpful speculation was happening equally on both sides, the left-wing FreakOutNation website posted that a Fox News contributor was immediately blaming Muslims. See? Exactly the same thing, right?

Well, except that Erik Rush has contributed to CNN as well as Fox. No mention of that. Oh, and that his was an ugly, but personal, tweet, rather than being broadcast nationally by, well, anyone. Oh yeah, exactly the same thing.

Yes, both sides have their nuts. However, when it comes to jerking their knees around, the left-wing, mainstream media have the blame game down to a science, and they make sure you heard it here first.

Well I’ve come to a point where I’ve been far enough from the abortion debate, which the Philadelphia kerfuffle has brought back to the front burner, that I feel I can’t muster a coherent argument for abortion at all. So, what I’m going to try to do here is mention the two or three points/arguments that I know for that case and see if anyone out there can fill in the gaps or offer argument not mentioned that are stronger. Read the rest of this entry

Good morning.

1. Some SSM thoughts from First Things.
2. Zoning laws meet the green movement.
3. Bad arguments meets hypocrisy. Let’s see “background checks” … would not have stopped any of the recent events but are necessary and … “didn’t read the bill” was exactly the Pelosi statement regarding AFA which at the time was just fine. Wonder when he’ll cite the Democrat representative who didn’t realized magazines used in pistols were reusable when citing ignorance.
4. Just remember, background checks would (not have) fixed this either.
5. Remembering Thatcher from the UK(raine).
6. Commandments and Scripture … are not deontology.
7. The perils of education.
8. Drones.
9. Just remember, this is an incentive to save more, not less.
10. Yer homework.
11. A photographer captures the perfect image for April 15th. Your government and you, a relationship in pictures.

Well, the Gosnell kerfuffle is in the news.

1. Dachau’s neighbors and what they knew.
2. NAF?
3. Bias in media. I did see an amusing turnabout on this.  One “feminist” wrote an article about this guy 2 years ago, which apparently means that the feminist press has been “all over this” since the get go. Uhm, riiight. Apparently the NYTimes employes only one feminnist writer. Who knew?
4. More on media.

See?

Three, mark that, three in a row.

1. ACA marking time.
2. Obama salary stunt described.
3. A brave man indeed.
4. Remember Obama’s speech in Egypt, talking about Islam and religious freedom? Hmm.
5. I too have the book, it has been recommended to me, but haven’t read it.
6. Whose the protagonist.
7. Jobs report.
8. Some remarks on the Obama budget, unserious as ever.
9. About that minimum productivity limit.

Two days in a row! Woo.

1. The East and icons.
2. Chopsticks and nukes.
3. More to come with Obamacare rising.
4. Mr Irons makes the same point I’ve made.
5. Spartacus! While Lance (used) to be a the big US cycling star, when Lance was riding I was a fan of Michele Bartoli and then Cancellara.
6. Alcohol … yah, prohibition worked so well.
7. So, Mr Obama flaunts his ignorance. One: “Surely there are well meaning Democrats who can tie their shoes. Two: “Fully automatic” … except, alas,  it wasn’t and we all know that (including the speaker). Three: “We waste money …” which is an excellent description of what you’re doing full time, however politicians are not usually so upfront about money wasting as their vocation.
8. So if Mr Bush had said that? What would be the reaction in the press?
9. Yes, you are constrained. This is a feature, not a bug. If you think otherwise, you’re unfit for office.
10. Oh please, get real. What percentage of Down under overseas travel is to the predominantly Muslim Malaysia? Probably most … hence the policy. It’s not “dhmittude” it’s about profit.
11. I don’t the reason for the continued shortage? I begin to suspect government intervention/regulation.
12. No dilemma … no reason to choose between them at all yet, these can not be the only criteria/description of the policies.
13. I guess Garmin and Tom-Tom will be funding the appeal, for the ruling basically says you can’t use a GPS while driving.
14. Heh.

Episode 36 of my podcast, "Consider This!", came out this morning. Here’s the (slightly edited) script for one of the segments regarding the call for "marriage equality".

When the Supreme Court took up two cases regarding same-sex marriage recently, Facebook lit up with red equal signs of people proclaiming their support for what they call “marriage equality”. And that’s how I’ve heard the debate framed by supporters for years, as an issue of equality. One group gets to do something that another group doesn’t. Where’s the sense of fairness, of everyone being equal under the law?

Well, to understand the underlying problem here, let’s take two other areas where one could demand equality. Let’s look at voting and driving. Are you for voting equality and driving equality? Should some voting or driving laws be different for different people, or not even available at all to some?

Let’s take a group of people I’ll call blind people. Now, should they have both voting and driving equality? I’m going to hazard a guess that you said yes to voting but no to driving. I don’t need to be a mind-reader to get that one right. But, but, equality! What about equality? Shouldn’t we really be taking to the streets and demanding the Supreme Court rule on driving equality for the blind?

No, of course we shouldn’t. But why equality for one thing and not another? Steven Smith, a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego, wrote an article using this example of why we treat the two situations differently.

That is because an ability to see is not a relevant qualification for voting, but it is a relevant qualification for driving. We know this, though, not by applying the idea of “equality,” but rather by thinking about the nature of voting and of driving. Probably there is no disagreement about these particular conclusions. But if you did happen to encounter a good-faith disagreement, you would not be saying anything helpful if you thumped the table and declared that “blind people should be treated equally.” You would only be begging the question.

You can’t drive if you’re blind, or under a certain age, or haven’t taken a driving test. Heck, you can’t vote if you’re a felon, or under a certain age, or mentally incompetent. So even with voting, there are inequalities. And therefore, just demanding marriage equality, without considering the nature of marriage, is useless.

And so what, then, is that nature of marriage? That’s the next logical question, and something I will be taking up in a subsequent episode. Until then, I have another link in the show notes to a rather lengthy paper by the Heritage Foundation on what marriage is, why it matters, and the consequences of redefining it. I’ll be pulling points from it for when I tackle this subject later on. You may want to take a look at it and perhaps write or call with your thoughts to be included in the episode.

But this foundation of the issue of equality needs to be laid first. Suffice to say, for now, that just spouting “Equality” with your fashionable, red equal sign doesn’t really mean much. It’s not an argument. It’s not a reason. It’s just a slogan.

If you want to let me know what you think, call 267-CALL-CT-0 (267-225-5280) for the feedback line, or e-mail considerthis@ctpodcasting.com.