Why Bhutto's Assassination Matters
by Joel Rosenberg [novelist] 12/27/07

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday by Islamic radicals. A leading pro-democracy and pro-Westerner political reformer in the Muslim world, Bhutto had just finished addressing a campaign rally of supporters in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. Jihadists opened fire on the once and possibly future premier using automatic weapons, hitting her in the neck and chest. A suicide bomber then blew himself up at site, leaving Bhutto dead and killing at least 20 others.

The attack is certainly another tragedy for Bhutto's family (her father, who was premier in the late 1970s, was hanged by radicals in 1979) and we should be praying for their peace and comfort during this difficult time. But why else does Bhutto's death matter? [more]

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Absolute Zero Plus Gore
1/293 Ain’t A Problem
by Steve Finefrock - Hollywood Forum [scriptwriter] 12/28/07

Temperature’s a risin’.  Political as well as global. The warmin’ ‘n smarmin’ is getting twenty feet deep, even if the IPCC denies water levels will rise that high. The malarkey factor is deeper than kudzu, as the kudzu of global warming ‘calculations’ overcome and chokes out the arguments that don’t fit Pope Gore.

Challenge the Pope?  Ain’t ya heard of the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility?

Try some Absolute Math as you examine the almost one-degree Centigrade/Celsius rise in average global temperature in the past few decades. [more]

Usually, when people say they’re not religious, they’re looking to pick a fight or at least start an argument.  That’s probably because people who identify themselves as atheists or agnostics are often as dogmatic as Cotton Mather and have merely made a religion of their own non-belief.

In my case, however, religion simply plays no role in my life.  Or perhaps I should say institutionalized religion, seeing as how I very much subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system.  It’s the reason that I’m so grateful that two sets of Russian Jewish grandparents had the guts to pack up their kids and caboodle, and move to America. [more]

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by Julia Gorin [pundit/comedian] 12/21/07

In the late 90s, when the damage of having a reckless buffoon, communist sympathizer and for-sale “leader of the free world” in the White House came to fruition, the only thing that allowed me to sleep at night was the sure knowledge that Christopher Ruddy was in the world. He’s the guy who started Newsmax, an outfit which, as one of my editors then scoffed, “is founded on Clinton-bashing”—to which I replied that I couldn’t think of a higher calling.

At night, I would drift off to sleep thanks only to the quiet assurance that someone in the world was keeping track. Keeping track of the lies, the treason, the consequences, the causes, the maneuverings, the cover-ups, the crimes, the escapes from justice and so on. I had seen Ruddy debate the pro-Clinton camp on TV, easily making mincemeat of it and exposing all pro-Clinton arguments for the fluff that defending Clinton can only be. Thank God for Chris Ruddy and Newsmax, I thought—someone who can keep straight, and set anyone else straight, on the rampant criminality of the Clinton White House. [more@ExileStreet.com]

If you want the wide-angle-lens view of a conflict, ask the generals. But if you want up-close-and-personal snapshots of war, talk to the street-level NCOs.

Three senior sergeants serving with the 1st Infantry Division's Dragon (4th) Brigade took time away from leading their troops in Baghdad's former badlands to share with their views of where we are in the war - and where we're headed.

First Sgt. Todd Hood is "Top" in the Delta Destroyers of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry; 1st Sgt. Travis Wewers has the Bravo Barracudas of the 4th Brigade's Special Troops Battalion, and Master Sgt. Michael Clauss is the brigade's senior intelligence sergeant - soon to take over the Barracudas from Wewers.

Between them, these veteran soldiers have seen it all. [more]

The Hunt for Fred October
Boffo Reviews, Two Months Late?
by Steve Finefrock - Hollywood Forum [scriptwriter] 12/19/07

Yepsen is aboard, plus Barone, as are other me-too reconsidering pundits. Fred done good.  Held firm. Told that prune-faced lefty hostess with the leastest, No way. No hands. No mo’. Will it lead to the long-overdue ‘Big Mo’mentum, so long awaited?
 
Fred got ‘demoted’ in an chat this summer, by my poor vision or poor memory, from admiral to ship’s captain for his role in “The Hunt For Red October” – I’d thought I saw an eagle on his shirt lapel in that two-shot scene in the largest ‘conference room’ you’ll ever see in a navy ship, even a capital ship the size of a super-carrier.  That’s Hollywood ambition in set design. The erroneous summer-season demotion by this budding Fred-Head was corrected in a later chat with the same would-be Fred-Head, who’s now with Rudy instead. [more]

"What’s your connection to…this…Serbian thing?”

I get that a lot. I usually answer: “Just being an American hyper-patriot.”

That was, after all, my original motivation for protesting a war for the first time in my life at the age of 25. When my country bombed a European nation on behalf of Muslims making the usual claim of oppression, my concerns were two-fold: America’s security, and America’s soul.

It’s hard to describe the dizzying disorientation I felt on March 24, 1999, the day I learned that the United States was going through with bombing an ally from two world wars. It was more surreal than September 11, 2001, for on the latter date I wasn’t alone in my disorientation. But the fog that engulfed me for several weeks starting March 24th, 1999 as I observed people complacently sipping cappuccinos in outdoor cafes as if nothing was happening was overwhelming; I knew America had turned a dark corner and would pay a price. [more]

I believe I could very well be the only person in America with a TV set who has never watched a single so-called reality show.  I also believe that many of you are sitting there convinced that if I’m not outright lying, I am certainly stretching the truth to the breaking point.  How could anyone, you’re asking yourselves, not have tuned in for 15 minutes of “Survivor” or “The Bachelor” or caught a tango or two on “Dancing With the Stars”?

The answer quite simply is that I’m just not interested.  I’m not a snob where TV is concerned.  I watch “Monk” if I’m home, some old movies on TCM, baseball from April to October, and I’m a big fan of the Canadian sit com, “Corner Gas.”

But why would I want to spend my time watching Jane Seymour or Marie Osmond dancing or Simon Cowell scowling?  A better question is: why are so many of you planning your lives around these shows?  Don’t people have hobbies anymore?  Is nobody out there crocheting or putting ships in bottles or whittling?  Isn’t anyone playing canasta or charades? [more]

God-Killing Books and Movies for Kids
The Golden Compass
by Marc T. Newman [media reviewer/critic] 11/14/07

First in a series about the upcoming movie The Golden Compass and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman

“My books are about killing God.” *
- Phillip Pullman

Are you concerned with the witchcraft and dark themes embodied in the Harry Potter book and film series? If you are a Christian and your answer is “Yes” then Phillip Pullman thanks you.

Sort of.

Identifying J.K. Rowling’s stories about the boy wizard as covering fire, drawing away the ire of concerned Christians, Phillip Pullman – the author of the best-selling His Dark Materials trilogy – has been slowly advancing what he identifies as an even more subversive philosophy: the need for children and adults alike to kill God. Of course, Pullman also seems to be a little miffed at the universal attention that Rowling has enjoyed – describing his books as “flying under the radar” despite their theocidal themes.

Not any more. [more]

There are two kinds of awards in the world -- good ones and bad ones.  It is simple enough to distinguish between them.  I am the recipient of the former and other people are recipients of the latter.  But if it were up to me, there would be a moratorium on all of them.  They just keep getting dumber and dumber.  I mean, I refuse to believe that I’m the only person who is sick and tired of seeing the likes of Michael Moore and Al Gore win Oscars and people like Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, taking home Nobel Peace Prizes.

Let’s face it, if they simply drew names out of a hat, the folks who hand out these things could hardly do worse.  At least on “Dancing With the Stars,” the winners have to know how to do a mean tango. [more]

30 Days of Night:
The Problem with The Problem of Evil
by Marc T. Newman [media reviewer/critic] 11/8/07

When Damien Karras, the faith-challenged priest in The Exorcist, decided to liberate Regan from demonic possession, not by invoking the Name of his more powerful God, but by substituting himself for her, I had a strange feeling that an important line was being crossed. If you saw the film, you cannot forget the scene.

Karras walks into the room of that afflicted little girl and finds her standing triumphantly over the fallen Father Merrin. Seeing Merrin splayed across the floor in defeat is more than Karras can bear. Knowing he lacks Merrin's faith, no supernatural help is likely to come to his aid. So Karras reverts to what he knows: boxing. He attempts to beat Regan senseless, and seeing that it isn't working, he simply offers a sweeter deal to the demon inside her. He screams, "Take me!" And once the demon changes residence, with the last ounce of his human strength, he throws himself out the window, down the steps, to his apparent death. [more]

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What If Jihadists Watched The Kingdom?
by Marc T. Newman [media reviewer/critic] 11/1/07

Warning: This film analysis contains plot spoilers that are necessary to make the points contained herein. Read at your own risk.

There is nothing quite so quintessentially American as a company softball game. Everyone plays, regardless of age or ability. Families cheer on the teams. It is the iconic nature of this softer side of America’s favorite pastime that makes it the perfect target for the radical Islamic jihadists of The Kingdom. Demonstrating careful planning, the terrorists deliver a one-two-three punch that leaves theater-goers gasping at the indiscriminate carnage – and thirsty for payback packaged in the form of Jamie Foxx, who, as FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury, has arrived in Saudi Arabia with a crack investigative team to bring the bad guys to justice.

Critical reviews of The Kingdom range from those, like Michael Sragow at the Baltimore Sun, who see the film as a prime example of the need to combat terrorism with a police response, rather than a military one, to Glenn Kenny at Premiere, who observes that The Kingdom is “designed to stoke audience bloodlust.” Both of these reviews, like many others, look at the film from a U.S. audience’s perspective. As I watched The Kingdom, I tried to imagine how a jihadist might respond to it. The answer was chilling. [more]

Recent events remind me how much I dislike liars, cheaters and those who aspire to victimhood simply so they can cash in.

To begin with, we have Ball State’s ex-basketball coach, Ronny Thompson.  Even if we discount allegations that he violated a number of NCAA rules, including illegal recruitment, when he resigned he had a record of 9-22.  Now, it appears he’s asking the university for additional money, alleging that he left because of racial hostility.  Well, I don’t happen to live in Muncie, Indiana, but if there’s one thing I do know it’s that basketball is a religion in that state and, whether the coach is black, white, green or beige, any guy with a 9-22 record is going to find himself in a hostile environment. [more]

Obama Rides The Race Card
by Bruce Thornton [author] 11/6/07

When Barack Obama accused Hillary Clinton of “playing the gender card,” the hypocrisy that typically defines our public discourse on race descended into the surreal. Obama’s whole career has been created by and has exploited the perception that he––son of a white mother and an African father, raised in Hawaii, graduate of Columbia and Harvard––is “black,” that is, a victim of America’s incorrigible racism and oppression. In other words, Obama has gotten to where he is by subtly playing, or allowing others to play for him, the most powerful trump card in the game of social and political power.

The rules of this game state that all blacks, no matter how privileged, are victims, all whites are racist oppressors who just don’t “get it,” all black cultural dysfunction is a consequence of white racism, and only whites who loudly and repeatedly acknowledge their guilt can redeem themselves by distributing social, economic, and political reparations. The Amarillo Slims of this game are the Democrats and racial hustlers like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Cornel West. But even some Republicans these days have accepted the rigged rules. Just look at how easily the whole Katrina disaster, a consequence of an entrenched, inept black city government, was laid at the feet of the Bush administration. [more]

Dumbledore Is Not Gay
Taking Stories More Seriously than the Author
by John Mark Reynolds [author, academic] 10/24/07

Recently, J.K. Rowling announced to the world that one of her characters, the heroic mentor of Harry Potter, Dumbledore was gay.

Nonsense. There is no evidence of it in the books and the books (at this point) are all that matter. I have always thought the books deeply Christian not because Rowling told me so (which she recently confirmed), but because the text is full of Christian images and ideas. She had a chance to give Dumbledore a boyfriend, but she muffed it. I refuse to denigrate friendship by reading every close one as sexual . . . and she gave us nothing else. [more]