Path to Humility

There are few paths that will bring you to humility more quickly than parenthood.

Right of The Times

Even though Senate Democrats appear unlikely to pursue a filibuster against the Alito nomination, The New York Times is urging full-speed ahead on this political loser:

"A filibuster is a radical tool. It's easy to see why Democrats are frightened of it. But from our perspective, there are some things far more frightening. One of them is Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court."

So not only are conservatives complaining about leftwing media bias. Now even the Senate Democrats will be, too.

Plantation Politics

Talking to an African-American group, Hillary Clinton, tone deaf as ever, decried the GOP "plantation," adding, "You know what I'm talking about." Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Really, Hillary. Bill was a lot better at pandering for black votes than you'll ever be. And blacks are slowly starting to wise up to Democrats' taking them for granted and giving them lip service, rejecting school choice and other initiatives that would help them better their lots.

If anyone has a "plantation," it's not the Republicans.

On the Down Slope

John Kerry paused on the slopes of Davos to issue a call for a Democratic filibuster against Judge Samuel Alito, who apparently is "out of the mainstream." Doesn't he remember who won the last election? The thin mountain air must be making him lightheaded.

Hamas's Silver Lining

The victory of Hamas, a terrorist group that advocates the destruction of Israel and has slaughtered countless innocents, definitely changes the calculus in the Middle East. But look at the bright side. Yasser Arafat, a corrupt and murderous thug, was able to hoodwink many people about his allegedly peaceful intentions. He said one thing about killing Jews to his own people and then smiled for the cameras and spoke about peace in the West. Arafat even won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. But no one should have any illusions about Hamas.

True Lies?

James Frey's book, A Million Little Pieces, made it big when Oprah Winfrey added it to her book club. It turns out that key elements of the autobiography were exaggerated or flat out untrue. Yet Oprah is standing by her author, saying that the details don't matter. Apparently what counts is the powerful narrative's ability to inspire people.

How postmodern: What counts is not the veracity or intent of the author, but the reaction of the reader (even if it is based on a lie). You have to wonder what details have been doctored in Oprah's many personal stories.

GLAAD is Mad

I have to admit it. I never watch "American Idol." But a lot of Americans idolize the FOX show. On Tuesday, 35.5 million people tuned in to watch the making of the next pop star and to have some vicarious fun as the judges cruelly rip apart bad acts and strange contestants.

Concerning last night's offering, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) isn't laughing. GLAAD is taking offense against FOX because the judges told one (presumably homosexual) contestant to put on a dress. Another asked someone who appeared to be an effeminate man, "Are you a girl?"

In a statement, a GLAAD spokeshuman said, "The real offense here was in the producer's decision to add insult to injury by turning a contestant's gender expression into the butt of a joke."

Aside from the unfortunate wording here, have you ever noticed that the self-styled gay-rights movement is anything but gay whenever people express anything but lockstep enthusiasm for a lifestyle that celebrates sad "gender expressions" as normal?

Open Secret

The latest line of attack by Democrats against the president is suggesting that Bush has broken the law by approving surveillance of Americans speaking with al Qaeda associates overseas. They say he didn't "fully" inform Congress of the program, which allows wiretapping without obtaining a warrant from a judge. Bush says he told congressional leaders.

Now there will yet more be hearings. Great. Al Qaeda doesn't need a secret surveillance program to find out about ours. All they will have to do is watch CNN.

Little Things

In the pursuit of big goals, be prepared to sacrifice little things. Just make sure those little things aren't your children.

Leftwing Looniness

Over-the hill entertainer Harry Belafonte, 78, who two weeks ago called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world," is at it again. "We've come to this dark time in which the Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended," Belafonte charged at the annual meeting of the Arts Presenters Members Conference. "You can be arrested and not charged, you can be arrested and have no right to counsel."

While such nuttiness hardly deserves a response, I just couldn't resist, since Belafonte apparently represents a sizable wing of the Hollywood set. Think about it a minute. If Belafonte were right, he would have disappeared the first time he opened his mouth, never to be heard from again. His comments refute themselves.

What will it take for these people to realize we are at war and that "the greatest terrorist in the world" is trying to protect them, too?

Religion of Peace 9

... IslamisareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionof....

We interrupt this program for a breaking news bulletin:

"There has been no word from Muslim terrorists holding American journalist Jill Carroll after a deadline passed on their demand that all female Iraqi terrorism suspects be released. Muslim groups from the United States, Iraq, and Europe are calling on the kidnappers to release Carroll unharmed. Of course, these same Muslim groups continue to insist that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism."

We now return to our regularly scheduled program:

... isareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionofpeaceIslamisareligionof....

Truce Lies

Bin Laden has crawled out from whatever rock he has been hiding under to issue a new tape. On it he says he is planning more "operations" against the United States. He also offers a "long truce," presumably if we will pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan so that they can be "rebuilt."

Let's remember that a truce to Islamists is not a peace treaty, but simply a temporary measure to gain an advantage until final victory can be won. So in spite of his bluster, bin Laden must feel under pressure to be offering even a truce. And if we gave him one, we would still have to confront him at a later date.

Nagin and the "Chocolate" Factory

On Martin Luther King Day, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said it's God's will that the city be "chocolate" and that the Almighty has been sending hurricanes because he is "mad" at America over Iraq. After the justifiable furor over these idiotic remarks, Nagin was forced to apologize.

Somewhere in Virginia Beach, Pat Robertson must be smiling.

Killer Ruling

Yesterday, in a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court struck down the right of the federal government to prohibit doctors from prescribing lethal doses of medications to terminally ill patients. Not only does the Oregon law in dispute tempt doctors to violate their Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm," it subtly pressures the sick to seek their own deaths. Expect more states to enact such legislation now that the high court has given them the green light.

We have forgotten that suffering is a necessary part of life in this fallen world. We have also forgotten that life, in all its beauty and complexity, is a gift from God. It does not stop being a gift even when its pleasures are removed. Life is about more than simply minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure. But we are so secular in outlook we can no longer see this.

We are not our own. The ultimate evil in life is not suffering. It is failing to live for God, the source of life. No wonder so many people prefer death to life.

Boycott the Boycotts

Seattle pastor Ken Hutcherson is calling on Christians to boycott firms such as Microsoft that support "gay rights." I share his concern over the decline of morality in this country, but I believe such actions are counterproductive and produce more heat than light. Let's keep preaching about godly morality and why homosexuality is a sad perversion of God's gift of sex. But let's boycott all the boycotting.

Can Hardly Bear It

In the week leading up to yesterday's NFC divisional playoff game, the Chicago Bears did a lot of trash talking of their opponent, the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers did their talking during the game, going up and down the Bears' home field, racking up 29 points against the league's allegedly best defense.

Best talkers, maybe. Next year, keep your mouths shut and make your statements on the field.

King's Dream

A new AP-Ipsos poll says that 60 percent of blacks and 23 percent of all respondents plan to commemorate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The best way to commemorate King's dream, however, is to live it out every day. We need to judge people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

People and Stuff

People are more important than stuff. Make sure your datebook and your budget reflect this simple truth.

Congratulations

Letters of congratulation may be sent to Associate Justice Samuel Alito at the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Scenes from an Abortion Clinic

Update: Here's a URL with an article by reporter Martin Bashir: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=1495429&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Last night, Nightline profiled an abortion clinic in Arkansas. A few scenes (with comments):

An 18-year-old in for an abortion said she was not "ready" to be a mother. (Then why was this young, unmarried girl having sex? Didn't she know the connection?)

The doctor, who had "performed" somewhere around 10,000 abortions in his career (he had lost count), tried to tell the reporter that the fetus was a "blob of tissue." But under sharp (and surprising) questioning, he was forced to concede–when confronted with the scientific realities of brainwave activity and the beating heart within weeks of conception–that the unborn are human life. He fell back to the old canard that, well, they are not "persons." (And how does he know this? And if he doesn't, what gives him the right to kill these living "blobs of tissue"?)

The doctor said giving up a child for adoption is harder than having an abortion. He said adoption is "not like giving a puppy away." (So, by this reasoning, you might as well kill the puppy.)

He said the women who get abortions from him are "born again," with new leases on life. (He said nothing about the many real risks to their psychological or physical health via abortion, nor the fact that many of the women who make this choice feel subtle–and sometimes not so subtle–pressure to abort from boyfriends and others.)

The doctor said that abortion is "just another form of birth control," and that the life of the mother is more important than the life of the unborn. (It must be much more valuable, as he had no qualms about giving the same person eight or even nine abortions.)

Most abortion-rights people (such as Bill Clinton) at least say that they want to make it "safe, legal and rare." Hillary Clinton has even conceded that abortion is a "tragic choice." Not this guy, who has a financial stake in making it safe, legal and commonplace.

One could say that many women who come to this doctor's office don't grasp the gravity of what they are doing. You can't say the same for him. God, have mercy.

Parenting

Parenting is rewarding, but tough. Being a Christian doesn't make it any easier. Sometimes your children fight so much you doubt their salvation ... or your own.

Grilled Alito

As the Democratic grilling of Samuel Alito has begun, keep in mind that the American Bar Association has given the judge its highest "well qualified" rating, and that he has already served for years in the federal courts with distiction. But Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, has already announced he will vote against Alito and is in Iraq rather than at the hearings.

So much for the open-mindedness of liberals.

It Depends What the Meaning of Character Is

On this weekend's broadcast of the NFL playoff game between Washington and Tampa Bay, an announcer said one of the keys to Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs' success was that he brought people with character to the team. Later, Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor was ejected for spitting in the face of an opposing player. Such is character, I guess, in 2006.

Choices Matter

A handful of years ago, Maurice Clarett was on top of the world. He was the star running back of the national championship Ohio State football team. Today he sits in jail on a robbery charge.

Don't tell me that choices don't matter.

Newt Was Right

The bipartisan Abramoff scandal has sparked yet another call for political reforms in Congress. Been there, done that. We need real change that strikes directly at Washington's corrupt political culture, in which politicians gerrymander safe seats and look at cash as their lifeblood.

In 1994 Newt Gingrich and the Republicans introduced the Contract with America, a prominent feature of which was term limits. They ran on it and began an era of political dominance that continues to this day.

Somehow, however, the Republicans never got around to instituting term limits and have become just as corrupt as their rivals across the aisle. If they want to keep power, they had better get serious about real change in Washington. Now.

Term limits. It's an idea whose time has come. Again.

Pat, Again

Televangelist Pat Robertson has embarrassed evangelicals ... again. Robertson said yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was God's payback for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza: "He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America. God says, 'This land belongs to me, and you'd better leave it alone."

What will Robertson say when he is the one suffering the stroke?

Parenting

Dads, when something comes up and you have to watch the kids, don't call it babysitting. It's called parenting.

Stuff

Little stuff, little worry. Much stuff, much worry.