Warped Logic

So a coworker and I were discussing the recent vegan/animal rights exploits of Heather Mills, read more here. I actually heard about her diatribe against livestock agriculture and the dairy industry on a talk show a few days ago, but I hadn't given it much thought until my conversation today.

So Mills wants us all to stop eating meat and using dairy because all the animals are contributing to global warming (and what doesn't these days). I particularly liked this quote:

We are the only species that drinks another person's milk, so why aren't we drinking rat's milk, or dog's milk, or cat's milk, that's how crazy it is,"

If the behavior of other species is to be our standard for behavior, then consider this Ms. Mills. We are the only species to develop and use artificial limbs when some of our fellow humans lose the use of their natural parts. If we were like other species you would have been left behind at the back of the herd to be eaten by a jaguar!

The fact is that modern agriculture has allowed more people to enjoy a sure, safe, and inexpensive source of food than ever before in history. Today, one farmer provides enough food for 130 other people. That frees up tremendous human resources to develop things such as iPods, airplane engines, computers, cars, alternate fuel sources, missile defense systems, life saving drugs, energy drinks, cancer treatments, and even better prosthetic legs for those who need them. We enjoy a much higher standard of living thanks to modern agriculture.

Now sure, there are drawbacks. For example, some of the people who are freed from the drudgery of working the soil to feed their own faces choose to use that extra time to become activists for stupid causes. Oh well, that gives me something to ponder as I enjoy my steak dinner...

A Good Sermon and A Good Book

Well, the latest sermon by Pastor Jim Nicodem was very poigniant and worth a listen or a view. My family attends the DeKalb Campus of Christ Community Church and Pastor Nicodem is in the midst of a series entitled "Give It A Rest: Taking A Break From the Things That Control Us." At last evening's service, the topic was "Taking a Break From Media." The sermon text was from Romans 12:2:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Pastor Jim discussed how the media is a constant source of pressure exerting a worldly influence in our lives and that it is difficult to hear and be influenced by God's word through all that noise.

You can listen or even view the sermon here along with the others in the series. Each message is posted after they run at all the campuses, so this particular message should be up sometime Monday and is well worth the time.

As a Christian and as a father, it is hard to know how best to counter much of what the media throws at my family and how to help my children navigate the cultural cesspool we live in. Pastor Jim gives some great Biblical advice in this message.

Now, for the book reccommendation. I just finished reading a little book, which you could easily get through in a day. It is an older book, published back in 1996 and titled Away With the Manger. The author is Chris Fabry, who I used to love to listen to years ago when he was one of the morning hosts on Moody Broadcasting's flagship station WMBI.

Anyway, the plot is about a battle in a small town over putting a nativity scene on the lawn of City Hall. The town's Christians become incensed and pull their children from the school's PC Winter Holiday Program and stage protests, etc. In essence, the fictitious town of Hartville becomes a microcosm for the Christmas wars we see pop up in the media every year at this time. Fabry's wit makes the story as fun as it is insightful.

The narrator in the story is a local newspaper columnist, who is by no means on the side of the Christians, which allows Fabry to take some pretty pointed jabs at Christians who too often stop being salt and light and become overly adversarial in the culture wars:

It was curious to me that the religious community was angry with the culture they had retreated from so many years earlier. They had constructed their own Christian ghetto inside America with Chrisitan bookstores, Christian radio stations, Christian workout videos, Christian recordian artists, Christian comedians, Christian workout videos, Christian antioxidants and Christian aluminum siding complete with fish symbols.

In the end, the pastor of the Hartville Community Church delivers an apology to the town for the confrontational nature of their stand.

"Sorry for what?" Karlsen continued. "I think that's what every member of this congregation is asking right now. We put our hearts and souls into getting that manger back in the public square, and we fought till the very end. So what are we sorry for? Sorry for standing up for what's right? Sorry for trying to get God back in the schools where he belongs? No. There's a time to take a stand and a way to take a stand, and I'm telling you here today, on this Christmas morning, that our cause was right.

"But Jesus said, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,' and that's where we were wrong. We did it wrong and we're sorry...

"I don't have any of this written down," he said. "But I want to tell you all something. You can have the best intentions, you can have truth and God on your side, and still be wrong."

"The message of Christmas is this, friends. The same little baby who felt the straw in the manger felt the nails on the cross. The same baby those smelly old shepherds came to see was the very Lamb of God who came to take away our sins. And if we can sit here being forgiven by the holy God of the universe, and turn around and spit venom at the people who don't know him, then God help us. We've missed it, friends. We've missed the whole reason for Christmas.

As one who is often guilty of having, at times, more zeal than love, Fabry's message was one I needed to hear. Pick up the book if you can find it. As I said, it was published more than ten years ago. I secured it through an inter-library loan. It's a fun and valuable little Christmas treasure.

ACLU At It Again

So it's the long Thanksgiving weekend, (made longer by the fact that I had back surgery on Tuesday) and I opened my local paper to read This AP Story headlined Firerfighters take on new role as anti-terrorism eyes of the government.

Essentially, the story is about the testing of a program by Homeland Security in which security information is shared with the New York City Fire Department and to train firefighters in identifying materials and behaviors which may indicate terrorist activities. The idea, clearly is that if a firefighter sees something suspicious he (or she if we are trying to be politically correct) can report it to the appropriate authorities who can then investigate.

Sounds reasonable enough. A firefighter is conducting a fire safety inspection and notices that an apartment contains jihad-related literature, supplies that could be used in constructing a bomb and the blueprints of a Jewish Community Center. (Please note that in the Hollywood version, the home would contain bomb making supplies and the blue prints of an abortion clinic as well as paintings of Jesus and a Confederate flag).

In any case, the alert firefighter completes his inspection then reports the suspicious materials to law enforcement. Sounds reasonable to me.

But, enter the ACLU (cue the Emperor's March from Star Wars or the song "They're Coming to Take Me Away- HaHa!). According to the story's opening paragraph:

Firefighters in major U.S. cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as trusted American icons and infringing on people's privacy.

That's right people, the fire fighters, who were our heroes after 9/11 are the new gestapo!

The International Herald Tribune's version of the story tells us:

There are fears, however, that they could lose the faith of a skeptical public by becoming the eyes of the government, looking for suspicious items like building blueprints or bomb-making manuals or materials.

I know I live in fear that someone might be prowling around looking for my bomb making supplies! In fact, I may become so skeptical that I think I will stay inside a burning building rather than follow a fire fighter outside. I am quaking with fear that the fire department is becoming an agency of rerpression and infringing on my personal liberties.

Only in the warped mind of ACLU and 9/11 truthers could this be a concern.

The American Civil Liberties Union says using firefighters to gather intelligence is another step in that direction. Mike German, a former FBI agent who now is national security policy counsel to the ACLU, said the concept is dangerously close to the Bush administration's 2002 proposal to have workers with access to private homes, such as postal carriers and telephone repairmen, report suspicious behavior to the FBI.

"Americans universally abhorred that idea," German said.

First of all, thank God German is a former FBI agent. I want people who will aggressively follow terrorism leads not wring their hands over the source of the reports. No doubt German was a big proponent of "The Wall" between those involved in intelligence and criminal investigations that played a role in keeping alarm bells silent prior to 9/11! I would say more Americans abhorred the wall than abhorred the idea that postal workers should report suspicious behavior noticed while conducting their jobs.

Just who is guilty of the fear mongering here? For years the left has told us that we will slide down a slippery slope of government intrusion and loss of our freedoms and liberties if we give law enforcement the power to more closely monitor terrorist activities. They also accused the government and those concerned with national security of inflating the threat of terrorism to justify military spending and increasing the intelligence gathering capacity of our security agencies.

Well it's been six years since 9/11 and I've seen terrorist plots foiled and others succeed and people have died at the hands of jihadists. But I haven't noticed the dark specter of government intrusion creeping into any aspect of my life. Of course, I should admit here that I haven't flown on an airline since my honeymoon in 1995. Seems to me it is the left that has been fear mongering.

Maybe we should start throwing that argument back in their faces. Next time an ACLU spokesman starts decrying the erosion of our liberties, call it fear mongering unless they can produce some names. Our side can name several thousand who were negatively impacted by terrorism.

One last thing. When I was young and took Civics in high school we learned about rights and responsibilities of citizens. Among those responsibilities was cooperating with law enforcement, including reporting crimes. Maybe we need to teach that again. The mantra for all citizens should be "If You See Something, Say Something," just like the heroic Circuit City Employee who helped foil the Ft. Dix plot. Or, should we live in fear of electronics store workers who are eroding our precious freedoms?

Cool Map

Just found this link over at a blog I just found. The Global Incident Map has links to terrorist activities and suspicious events going on around the world and you can click any event icon and get details, including links to the story. Check it out here. Thanks to Ex Preacherman for the link and for a very nice blog.

A Study In Contrasts

I was struck by two contrasting posts over at Michelle Malkin's site over the past few days have been in my mind lately. Specifically two pictures that say more than the proverbial thousand words about the basic worldviews and values of the people involved. I think we can look at the subjects of these photos as representative of the cultural divide in this country. As you look at these; ask yourself which is more noble, which speaks of honor and truth, which is worthy of our admiration; and, as we approach Thanksgiving, which should we be thankful for?

First, we have the anti-war crowd that used their children as political tools as they blocked the transport of military equipment in Olympia, Washington and whose protest included throwing rocks and destroying property:



You can find more of Michelle's coverage of these "protests" here:

Next we have an image from the Courier Post of a US Army Colnel coming home on leave from Iraq and surprising his two children at their school during an assembly:



Michelle linked to the homecoming story here.

I'll say no more. The photos speak for themselves.