A Pot of Gold?

These are the two houses directly to the south of ours. I am sure it is just a coincidence, but since we moved in, they are both for sale! Is it our rooster? Our dirt bike? Our seven kids partying all day long every day? 

The Newest Members of Our Extended Family

Mr. Rooster is just learning how to cock-a-doodle-do, being only four months old. He is finding it hard to be the noisiest member of this family!
 

Tonight's Sunset

 

And a Few Moments Later

 

A Few Minutes Later

The sky becomes so bright as to be almost frightening to some people. Not to me. I am in complete awe.
 

You Have To Look In all Directions, To See The Unity Of God's Sky

The back yard, under the awesome light of God's evening show. The fort behind the swing is now finished, with sandbox underneath. Yes, Robin, the Mickey Mouse Club meets regularly, and you are cordially invited to drop in any time.
 

HowGreatThou Art, Part Two!

Another amazing display of color, power, and grandeur from the Creator.
 

Creative, Inventive, Manipulative, and Retarded?

An illegal immigrant from Mexico is being arraigned today on charges of murder. His name is Jose Luis Rubi-Nava. Mr. Rubi-Nava lived here in Colorado with a friend named Maria Franco-Fierros. Before murdering Ms. Franco-Fierros, Mr. Rubi-Nava beat her, as he had on numerous other occasions. This time, however, he was not satisfied just to beat her. He tied a strap to the bumper of his truck, and then fastened the other end around the neck of his friend, then sped away, leaving a mile long track of Franco-Fierros' mutilated body behind him on the road.

Mr. Rubi-Nava's public defender (that's right, this illegal immigrant murderer's defense is being paid for by the American taxpayers) is claiming that her client is mentally retarded and has "other cognitive-comprehension disabilities". Colorado law, and Supreme Court opinion forbid the execution of mentally retarded inviduals.

Let's see now. Mr. Rubi-Nava snuck into America, found a woman friend who lived in a nice suburban subdivision in Colorado, found a job, sent money back to his wife and kids in Mexico, hid himself from apprehension by police, and dreamed up a marvelously inventive, albeit considerably depraved, way to murder his woman friend.
David Harsanyi covers the story today here in the Denver Post.

I wonder if they will find a forensic psychologist who will help the killer get off. I am confident that they will find at least one, if not several who will sell their soul to help this attorney protect her client from getting the justice he deserves.

In the course of doing "best interest of the child" reports for the District Courts in Colorado, I have met such individuals in the psychology profession. They can put up a reasonable argument for any side of any issue, depending upon who is paying them for their testimony. Facts are not what matters. It is the all-knowing psychologist's interpretation of facts that is important! This is a case, however, in my opinion, where there surely could not be a reasonable argument put forward on behalf of this killer.

How Great Thou Art!

Tonight God put up a glorious sky, filled with rainbows and light. Here is a picture looking south from our front yard.
 

Fourth and Final Tier

The fourth tier of the garden is done.
 

You Can See It Coming

Last night a big electrical storm approached the house from the southeast, but then veered to the north and missed us. Lightnig was all over the sky, so I tried to capture it, even though my camera battery was failing. This is a view of the lightning storm looking south from our front porch.
 

Another Story Of Child Abuse By An Illegal Immigrant From Mexico

Here is a new foster care story. Our neighbors across the street in Golden had two teen daughters. I have previously referred to the family affectionately as the redneck family in our block. Each of the teens repeatedly got pregnant and had babies. Between the two of them, there were six babies by the time the family left due to foreclosure. Both s got involved with illegal immigrants from Mexico. The last one broke bones in the teen's infant daughter's legs and ribs, and fractured her skull. These incidents happened over several months of time. The grandma called me today to proudly announce that she has been awarded temporary custody, while the daughter undergoes a series of classes and tests. The sonofabitch who did this to the little has been deported back to Mexico. I wonder how long it will be before he is back in the United States.

Temptation

Here is the cake that rapidly disappeared as we celebrated Greg's sixth birthday two nights ago.
 

A Magnificent Creation!

Birthday boy six-year-old Greg created this castle/carriage with Legos he got for his birthday two days ago. He told me that it took one hour to put together, and he could not wait to show it to me when I got home tonight. Greg has real stick-to-itness, and loves art. It will be a joy to teach him again this year as he enters first grade.  

Roar, Zoom! Shock and Awe!

One of the really cool things about our new country living is that we are near Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora and also not too far from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Fighter jets roar across the sky throughout the day. We are also near Denver International Airport's south runways, so we get those jets taking off and arriving. But it is the military jets that I particularly enjoy. Go get em, guys and gals!

A Relaxing Ride

Mother-in-law is here, so Colleen and I actually got to enjoy a half-moonlight horseback ride tonight. Coming back we could see the whole front range of the Rockies. Very relaxing, and the first time we did something alone together in months.

Yours, Mine, Ours, and Theirs

I showed Colleen all the encouraging comments you all have written about my idea to write a book on foster care from the perspective of foster parents. Her idea for a title: "Yours, Mine, Ours, and Theirs"! She especially liked MizzE's prediction that we would sell a ton of books, and asked, "Then we could quit doing foster care?"

Fighting The Good Fight

Thanks for the comments on the last post. I hope you all will not mind if I write more here in blogger about foster care experiences. That way all the posts get saved, and I can go back through some day to pull it all together in a book.

Occasionally we go to meetings of foster parents. It is so cool to see the love these people give to the children in their care. I think of one crusty old truckdriver dude who just melts when his foster daughter cuddles up in his lap in the meetings. The private agency that licensed us has done a good job of recruiting black and Hispanic foster parents, too. Many of them are extra savvy about the real world. They know what it is going to take for the children to learn the skills they need to make it in life. They know the lies, the phonies, the stigma. But, as Jungle Mom says, we all have to keep fighting the good fight. People are counting on us.

"It's Summertime"

Go here to watch and listen to Ella Fitzgerald's flawless rendition of "It's Summertime." Or, if you want more soul, but less perfection, stay there long enough to hear the same tune played by Big Brother and The Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin.

My Friendly Greeter

This tree with purple blooms is located at our front gate. I love it! Anyone know its name?

A Cactus Garden?

This morning's inspiration was to clean out all the weeds from a cactus garden in the front of the house. I got the last weed just as the sun started bearing down. The garden is on the west side of the house, and the sun hits there about 11:30 and bakes away all the rest of the day. I'm thinking I will just plant some petunias and other shallow bedding plants, then throw in some wildflower seeds in the fall.

Charm

This is Charm, the puppy who got the free ride from pasture to house a couple of nights ago.
 

More Joy From Denver!

 

Feeling Depressed?

If you are feeling a little depressed, just take a virtual drive over to this house in Denver!
 

Puppies Have To Obey Rules, Too!

Puppy gets a free ride back to the house. She followed me out to the pasture, where I enjoyed a sunset horseback ride with my sons.
 

A Beautiful Human Being

The Cook Shack--Gab & Grub is a blog I love to visit. Tonight he brings us a beautiful woman from Utah. See if you don't agree.

Toil and Sweat, But Enjoying Every Minute

I know that the rocks look like they have been laid by a drunk in places, but that was just the best I could do, and I swear the only medication I am on is Claritin. The weeds and grasses were waist high. Three levels are complete, with one more to go.

In Our Front Yard!

This is when I first realized we are living in a very different place. I looked out the front window, and there were two of my children on horseback.

Riding the Boar Goats

I apologize for the quality of these photos. My computer is still not working right. This is a photo of Linebacker Dude and Jon riding the goats on one of our first evenings at the new place. The Mickey Mouse on the barn suitably describes this blogger dude from the city who is trying to pretend to be a rancher!

Guess What? We Just Flushed Batman Down the Toilet!

Here we all were, sitting at our first real meal in about two weeks. Barbequed Chicken, garlic potatoes, rolls, barbequed beans, applesauce, a three tiered coconut cake, and brownies! The sky is dark, and lightning begins. Thunder is heard. The conversation turns to tornadoes. The rain starts to come down hard: sideways!

Just then seven-year-old Jon comes in from the bathroom followed by five-year-old Greg, all excited. Guess what? We just flushed Batman down the toilet!

You flushed a toy down the toilet in our new house? Mom and Dad look at each other in horror. Quick-thinking fifteen-year-old son takes Jon by the hand, and they go into the bathroom. Having done similar things many times before, the fifteen-year-old knows just what to do. He requires Jon to reach down into the toilet and retrieve Batman. Jon proudly returns to the kitchen with Batman looking no worse for the experience. After a thorough hand-washing, everyone returns to the less exciting activity of watching the sideways rain come down.

Exhausted, But Exhilarated!

Hello friends! We are alive and well out here in the little house on the prairie! I don't know whether we will ever get all the boxes unpacked. We moved everything in U-Haul trucks and trailers. I still have not found the cord that plugs in to post photos, but as soon as I do, I will begin posting them.

I could not have imagined how much I would enjoy this country living. The sunrises and sunsets are amazing. Between changing poopy diapers and unpacking a box or two, I have been busy building a terraced garden just outside the kitchen window. The weeds and grasses were waist high and higher. I have been pulling them all by hand to make the garden. We paid the neighbor, who absolutely loves roaring around in his ATV, to mow the grasses and weeds around the first two acres. The outer acre and one-half we have left in the native grases for the horses and goats, and our enjoyment.

The last count was one fox with babies, one cat, six dogs, four boar goats, two horses, seven children, and two very exhausted, but very happy parents. Our fifteen-year-old son has a new Honda dirt bike, and has been busy giving rides to all of the other children, and building a jump course around the outer perimeter of our property. (My job is to enforce the agreed-upon rule that the dirt bike track stays on the perimeter of the property). The house faces west and sits at the top of a hill. The barn is down the hill to the east, then the property goes uphill for the final acre and one-half, so we have a good view from the house of the goings on.

Someone, who lived here previously, planted over two hundred trees. As you can imagine, trees are a very precious commodity. I will be diligently watering them and photographing them. There is a wonderful variety, including two that are an amazing purple!

My wife wants to make sure that I am held accountable for my stinky attitude toward the whole concept of moving away from the beautiful city of Golden, Colorado, nestled as it is at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and close to all the urban amenities of the Denver metro area. This move was Colleen's life-long dream, and she is deliriously happy. That alone makes the whole move more than worth it to me.

Hillary Attacks Fred

Did you see that Hillary has come out on the attack against Fred Thompson? Apparently Fred said in answering a question that some immigrants from Cuba could be terrorists. So Hillary gives a speech at Disneyland in Orlando ridiculing Fred and trying to make him seem anti-Hispanic and anti-Cuban refugee in all-important Florida. It is a brilliant move on Hillary's part, beecause her base doesn't even think there are terrorists in the world, while Fred's base is very invested in securing America against the very real terror threat. It also shows that Hillary is worried about Fred. I don't recall her heretofore singling out any other Republican candidate. Go get her, Fred!

Enjoy!

A Rant About A Realtor

Colleen says I should blog about our experience today. We closed on our loan and will be moving to the new place tonight through Tuesday.

During a lull in the real estate closing proceedings, our realtor said Bush's efforts to pass an "immigration bill" was the first good thing he has done since he has been president. I countered rapidly that failing to secure the borders may be the worst thing he has done since being elected President.

The realtor then went into a Bush Derangement Syndrone meltdown. It went something like this. Because George Bush is an avowed follower of Jesus Christ, he is purposely trying to use his position to create Armageddon, the return of the Messiah, and ensure Bush's place of prominence in Heaven. It is Bush's fault that Ahmadinejad wants to destroy Israel. It is Bush's fault that Al Qaeda is in Iraq. The thing that really pisses him off is that Bush is a believer who talks about his faith in Jesus Christ!

All of this coming from a very smart, very successful American businessman. Having seen a Habit For Humanity sticker in the front window of his house, I decided to attack Jimmy Carter. I called him a virulent anti-Semetic on the payroll of the Arab oil princes. He countered that Bush saw to it that all of the members of bin Laden's family got safe passage back to Saudi Arabia soon after 9-11. I said maybe all of us little people need to know as much as possible about what goes on in Washington D.C., so we can make good choices when we go to the ballot box.

What sticks in my craw is his anti-Christian bias. He said not a word agaisnt the Jihadists, who would not hesitate to blow him to bits. It is safe to criticize Christians. Surely he must know we are Christians. Why else would we have a house full of orphans and former orphans? Does he think we just like poop? When he said that Bush just wanted to ensure a good place in Heaven for himself, Colleen right away countered with "He who is first in this earthly life, shall be last in Heaven." I'm not sure if that is an accurate quote, but any Christian, including George W. Bush, knows what Jesus was talking about, because it is the very essence of Christianity to place the Kingdom of God above any earthly treasures.

And another thing! Probably the best thing Bush has done, besides going after the terrorists, is to cut taxes, so that our economy could recover from the recession he inherited from Bill Clinton. Remember the double digit inflation of the Carter years? Let's not lose perspective about George Bush, just because we are disappointed that he has failed to secure our borders. He has done some good things. After the Clinton years, having a man of faith and moral convictions in the White House has been a wonderful improvement.

Update: Invincible Armor links to a post that lists many things that George Bush has accomplished, that we should not forget in our current state of disappointment in him..

Good Guys and Bad Guys

Who are the Senators who deserve special praise for their work in opposing the amnesty bill? Senator John Cornyn, Senator Jim DeMint, Senator Jim Inhofe, Senator Jeff Sessions, Senator David Vitter, and Senator John Thune. Who are the Republicans who showed that they really had more in common with Democrats? Bennett, Craig, Graham, Gregg, Hagel, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, Snowe, and Specter.

The "Fairness Doctrine" Loses

According to Ramesh Ponnuru at The Corner, the House voted 309-115 for a Mike Pence amendment barring the FCC from imposing it. What a day this has been in the United States Senate and House of Representatives! Of course, the Clintons and Kerrys will keep trying. They have got to find a way to stop all of us unwashed slobs from expressing our views about issues being legislated in Washington D.C. Power to the People!

Via Ace of Spades

Red, Blue, and Yellow

Ace has an interesting map of the U.S., showing how the senators voted. It is shaded yellow if a split vote, blue for two amnesty votes, red for two votes for the sovereignty of America. Except for blue states California and Washington, the west and upper midwest were yellow. Except for Arkansas, Mississippi, and South Carolina (yellow states), and blue state Florida, the south was solidly red, creeping all the way up into Ohio! Ace's coverage of this whole battle has been a joy to read.

Celebrate!

Celebrate! The bill is dead. The rule of law is upheld! Let us not forget those who tried to sell out our country: Graham, Lott, numerous Democrats, including Salazar from Colorado, and the man who says he wants to protect America, but fails to secure our borders, George W. Bush.

Not Newsworthy

In order to stay abreast of enemy tactics, I have the New York Times as my home page. Today is one of the most publicly engaged, exciting days in the U.S. Senate since Watergate. Yet, there is not one word on the NYT front page about the unfolding events in the Senate on illegal immigration. That must be a sign that our guys are going to win!

Now This Is A Way To Enjoy Retirement!

Gayle, over at the Dragon Lady's Den, has a remarkable video about a retired televison station owner, who now spends his time as an inventer. He has been working on a cure for cancer, but stumbled on something that might be just as revolutionary: the ability to use saltwater as a fuel!

An Irony in the Debate Over Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants

It seems to me that there is an irony in the debate over the amnesty proposals for illegal immigrants. Most people who are legally trying to come to America are doing so precisely because we are a country in which the rule of law prevails, and they are coming from countries where that is not the case! The irony is that now these people who are patiently awaiting their opportunity in America are watching, on the one hand, a political party that is blatantly looking for new votes, and on the other hand a political party that has a sizable number of senators who are doing the bidding of big corporations who want cheap labor, and too few of these legislators seem to be concerned about the importance of the rule of law or the sovereignty of our nation!

Listening to these politicians dance around in interviews is amazing. I just heard Sean Hannity interview the pitiful Senator Voinovich from Ohio. Ohioans, you can do much better!

If I Have To Look At Them One More Time, I am Going To Scream!

Tonight I had to make a run to the supermarket. I bring my items up to the checkout counter, and there they are: Angelina Jolie, Brittany Spears, Linsey Lohan, and Paris Hilton. I snapped! I asked to speak to the manager. I told her I have had it up to here with having those skanks thrust in front of me every time I come up to pay for my groceries. She told me that the tabloids pay big bucks to the corporations that operate the supermarkets. The big bucks are for a position that hits you right in the face while you wait for the persons ahead of you to check out.

If we started a nationwide picket line, though, what would we want them to put in place of the Globe and Cosmo? Time? Newsweak? The New York Times? At least during the O.J. trial the Natioal Enquirer kept coming up with facts that later made it into the MSM. And, if memory serves, during Watergate the same thing happened. Okay, we'll let National Enquirer stay, but get rid of all the others!

Iranian Forces Cross Into Southern Iraq

Breitbart reports that Iranian helicopters have been spotted in Southern Iraq. Ace of Spades wonders whether President Bush can take time out from arm-twisting senators to pay attention to these aggressive moves by Iran.

Do You Like Being Deceived or Experimented On?

Were you aware that black people in America have been victimized by the medical community by having things done to them without their consent? Or not done to them when effective medical solutions were available? Nancy Reyes gives the details here.

Do We Still Have A First Amendment?

Talk radio is all abuzz about the Clintons and other Democrats trying to revive the "Fairness" Doctrine. That would mean that instead of market forces driving talk radio, hosts would be required to balance every view with equal time given to an opposing view. Dianne Feinstein became the first Senator to endorse the idea. She, of course, was criticized by talk radio when it was exposed that her husband was profiting from her position of influence over defense spending.

A Major Producer of Refugees

Don't like America? Maybe you would prefer Zimbabwe, which used to be a major exporter of agricultural products. Now, under dictator Robert Mugabe, over four million people have been forced to flee the country. While fleeing, you can either be eaten by lions or crocodiles as you try to cross the Limpopo river to go into South Africa, where you are unlikely to find a job and likely to be abused. Read more here by courageous freedom fighter Mfundo Mlilo.

Via Finestkind Clinic and fishmarket

The Most Extensive Political Oppression and Slaughter in Human History.

Did you know that the Spanish Inquisition, carried out over three centuries, killed as many people as Soviet communism killed in an average day? Did you know that President Bush dedicated a memorial to the Victims of Communism on June 12 in Washington? One million dollars, mostly from Vietnamese, was raised to build the memorial. That is about one cent for every person killed by an evil ideology that still controls one-fifth of the world's population!

The figure of one million victims only counts actual deaths. Tens of millions more, who will never be counted, had their spirits crushed, their minds numbed, their bodies destroyed by communism. Many Christians have taken up the cause of illegal immigrants coming to America from Mexico. But, do you hear those same Christians saying anything about Christians being killed or imprisoned in communist China or Cuba?

Read the whole article here in First Things.
Via Finestkind Clinic and fishmarket

Its Ban May Have Killed Twenty Million Children

Did you know that the banning of DDT probably caused twenty million child deaths from malaria? Read about it here in the latest issue of National Geographic.
Via Finestkind Clinic and fish market
Color-synthesizing scanning electron microscope image by David Scharf

The West Will Be Of Little Use

Mark Steyn writes devastatingly here about the mistakes we in the west have made in dealing with the Islamic killers.

Topical Take
Thursday, 21 June 2007
It's slightly depressing to read that Her Majesty's Government were entirely taken aback by the hostile Muslim reaction to their decision to knight Salman Rushdie. One assumed they had factored into their calculations at least a bit of pro forma Death-to-the-Great-Satan prancing in the livelier quartiers of Pakistan - or even, with classic Brit cynicism, figured that enraging hundreds of millions of Muslims over an imperial bauble was a cheap way to look courageous and tough and determined after the recent humiliations inflicted on the Royal Navy. But no: the whole burning-effigies-of-the-Queen routine took them completely by surprise. It really is impossible to exaggerate the depths of self-delusion within which the multiculti bien pensants exist. With characteristic clumsiness, Margaret Beckett, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, managed to make things worse. As The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

"Obviously we are sorry if there are people who have taken very much to heart this honour, which is after all for a lifelong body of literary work," she said, after protests in the Muslim world over the award.

She stressed that Rushdie was just one of many Muslims who had been recognised by the British honours system - something she said "may not be realised by many of those who have been vocal in their opposition.

"People who are members of the Muslim faith are very much part of our whole, wider community ... they receive honours in this country in just the same way as any other citizen."

Er, yes, but Sir Salman does not, I believe, consider himself a Muslim. (Certainly, the last time I saw him, he was enjoying an alcoholic beverage.) So, locked into the usual identity-groupthink, Mrs Beckett has, in effect, repositioned Rushdie within the group that wants to kill him. Thanks a bundle. Few of us understood the full implications of the fatwa 18 years ago, but, if even ministers of the Crown can't get it in 2007, then we really have learned nothing. This is from Mark Steyn From Head To Toe:

I was reading a Salman Rushdie column the other day and, not for the first time, agreeing with 95 per cent of it. In fact, I agree with him so often these days I’ve almost stopped noticing it.

But not quite. Far away at the back of my mind, I still remember the Rushdie of the 1980s - reflexively leftist, anti-Thatcher, the works. The old line – a neoconservative is a liberal who’s been mugged - goes tenfold for him. He’s not just a liberal mugged by reality; he’s a liberal whom reality has spent the last 13 years trying to kill. I still have difficulties with his novels, not least the one that got him into all the trouble, but in his columns and essays he has outgrown his illusions.

At the time – Valentine’s Day 1989 - most of us in Britain and the West didn’t appreciate the significance of the event. It marked the first time the Ayatollah Khomeini had claimed explicitly extraterritorial authority. Why he chose an obscure and for most of us unreadable English novel for his expeditionary foray is unclear, but the results must have heartened him tremendously.

Rushdie had not set out to offend Muslims. None of the London reviewers found anything controversial in the book. When British Muslims and their co-religionists around the world burnt copies of The Satanic Verses in the streets, BBC arts bores held innumerable discussions on the awful “symbolism” of this assault on “ideas.”

But it wasn’t symbolic at all. They burned the book because nothing else was at hand. If his wife and kid had swung by, they’d have gladly burned them instead. Overseas, they made do with translators and publishers. Rushdie’s precious lit. crit. crowd mostly opposed the fatwa on the grounds of artistic freedom rather than as a broader defence of Western pluralism. That was a mistake.

In the Fifties and Sixties, Nasserism attempted to import Soviet socialism to the Middle East. It never really took. A generation later, the Ayatollah came up with a better wheeze: Export Islamism to a culturally defeatist West. Everything that has become pathetically familiar to us since September 11th was present in the Rushdie affair.

First, the silence of the “moderate Muslims”: A few Islamic scholars pointed out that the Ayatollah had no authority to issue the fatwa; they quickly shut up when the consequences of not doing so became apparent.

Second, the squeamishness of the establishment: Rushdie was infuriated when the Archbishop of Canterbury lapsed into root-cause mode. “I well understand the devout Muslims’ reaction, wounded by what they hold most dear and would themselves die for,” said His Grace.

Rushdie replied tersely, “There is only one person around here who is in any danger of dying.”
Roy Hattersley, the Labour Party’s deputy leader, attempted to split the difference by arguing that, while he of course supported freedom of speech, perhaps “in the interests of race relations” it would be better not to bring out a paperback edition. He was in favour of artistic freedom, but only in hard covers - and certainly, when it comes to soft spines, Lord Hattersley knows whereof he speaks.

Gerald Kaufman, a Jewish MP who has since gone on to disown Israel all but totally, attacked critics of British Muslims: “What I cannot accept is the implication that it is somehow anti-democratic and un-British for Mr Rushdie’s writings to be the object of criticism on religious, as distinct from literary, grounds.”

Kaufman said this a few days after large numbers of British Muslims had marched through English cities openly calling for Rushdie to be killed. In the last few months, several readers have e-mailed me with their memories of those marches. One man in Bradford recalls asking a West Yorkshire police officer why the “Muslim community leaders” weren’t being arrested for incitement to murder. The officer said they’d been told to play it cool. The cries for blood got more raucous. My correspondent asked his question again. The police officer told him to “fuck off, or I’ll arrest you.”

And, most important of all, the Rushdie affair should have taught us that there’s nothing to negotiate. Mohammed Siddiqui wrote to The Independent from a Yorkshire mosque to endorse the fatwa by citing Sura 5 verses 33-34:

The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land, is execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land. That is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the hereafter. Except for those who repent before they fall into your power. In that case know that God is oft-forgiving, most merciful.

Rushdie seems to have got the wrong end of the stick on this. He suddenly turned up on a Muslim radio station in West London one night and told his interviewer he’d converted to Islam. Marvellous religion, couldn’t be happier, praise be to Allah and all that.

The Ayatollah said terrific, now you won’t suffer such heavy punishment in the hereafter. But we’re still gonna kill you.

As bad as the fatwa was, the inability of the establishment coherently to defend western values was worse. Clifford Longley, the Religious Affairs Correspondent of The Times, was one of the few to understand what was at stake. The British government must surely know, he wrote, that some Muslim beliefs, “at least at face value, are not compatible with a plural society: Islam does not know how to exist as a minority culture. For it is not just a set of private individual principles and beliefs. Islam is a social creed above all, a radically different way of organizing society as a whole.”

Longley wanted anyone parading a “Death To Rushdie” placard to be “taken at his word and arrested for incitement to murder. The immediate consequences could be unpleasant, even including the risk of riot. But the painful shock of such a confrontation may regrettably be necessary before the British Muslim community is brought face to face with the reality that tolerance and compromise, even over fundamentals, are a fundamental requirement of life in Britain.” Instead, all those British Muslims who called openly for Rushdie’s death are still around, more powerful and with more followers.

Her Majesty’s Government lacked the will then, as most of the West does today. In effect, the Ayatollah was allowed to get away with annexing Islam for political purposes, not just at home but internationally. If “moderate Muslims” are a viable demographic at all, they face a choice: They can follow the murder-inciters of Bradford, the suicide-bombers of the West Bank and the depraved killers of northern Nigeria on their descent into barbarism. Or they can wake up and save their religion. Either way, the West will be little use.
from Mark Steyn From Head To Toe

Via Finestkind Clinic and fish market

The New Word: "Progressive"

Blogger Greg Gutfeld gets right to the "Gut" of things at his Daily Gut blog. Here is one of his latest provocative posts.

At the Campaign for America's Future "Take Back America" news conference this week, no one uttered the word "liberal." Instead, they used "progressive." Weird. Are progressives taking over the left? Or are liberals these days refusing to define themselves as liberal? It is, after all, a term that scares children, the elderly and anyone else who remembers Jimmy Carter.

Progressive, it is then.

Some advocates will explain, probably in between bites of organic rice cakes, that progressivism is a broader way of thinking - an orientation that rises above the usual right vs. left dynamic. The adjectives used sound positively delightful: "advanced," "pioneering," and "free-thinking!"

It's those words, no doubt, that will lure a grad student into bed. Of course, you'll get crabs, but it'll be worth it - even microorganisms deserve a chance for social justice!

Civilization--A Precious and Fragile Commodity

Victor Davis Hansen once again makes important points; this time he writes about the hypocrisy that is undermining civilization. The hypocrisy of the Mexican government, the hypocrisy of terrorists in the Middle East, and hypocrisy of millions of Muslims who migrate to Europe or America and then want to impose Sharia law.

Via Chas' Compilation

Don't Miss This Remarkable Work

An eighth grader has produced a video about D-Day. It is fabulous. See if you agree.

Via CookShack Gab & Grub

He Has Failed To Secure Our Borders

The New York Times today has a story that is supposed to help us understand the roots of President Bush's affection for immigrants from Mexico. I believe that affection has clouded his understanding of today's illegal immigration realities in this post 9-11 world. His stubborn refusal to secure the border has permitted unknown numbers of terrorists and criminals to sneak in, along with the many otherwise good people who, nevertheless, began their lives in America by breaking our laws, as they snuck into our country illegally.

They Should Be Seen, Not Heard

Overheard at the Cedar County Democrats tent in Tipton, Iowa: John Edwards' nine-year-old daughter was asked by her mother which presidential candidate she prefers. Her answer? Hillary! Courtesy of the Editor of the West Branch, Iowa Times. Via Yeah, Right, Whatever and The Drudge Report

Today's Flowers

An unusual color clematis flower, and some campanula. The campnula are good for an area where you have some shade during the day, but the clematis like lots of sun.