Journalism 101

"The Iraq war has been a disaster, and journalists have paid for it," Christiane Amanpour on CNN.

Is this the problem with modern journalism or what? Since when has reporting the news taken a back seat to the reporters themselves? Now they're paying the price for an ongoing military action? What about the soldiers, sailors and Marines? What about the incredibly brave Iraqis who continue to stand in lines to sign up for the military and police, even though it makes them sitting ducks for terrorist attack? No, thank you, Christiane, for straightening us out on who the real focus of the war is. Those nutty terrorists, perhaps they just don't realize how important you are. If Christiane is feeling so persecuted (distracting her from saving the world, no doubt) she should get another job.

Quote of the Day

"The life you have in Christ is a thing of infinite sacredness, far too high and holy for you to know how to act it out. ... (So) live, above all, day by day in the blessed truth that, as He Himself, the living Christ Jesus, is your wisdom, your first and last care must ever be this alone: to abide in Him."

— Andrew Murray, "Abide in Christ"

The problem in Palestine

Hamas, a terrorist group that has vowed to obliterate Israel, just won a majority of seats in the new Palestinian parliament. They largely defeated Fatah, the political party (if you want to call it that) of the PLO. I draw two conclusions from this.

One, Yasser Arafat was the worst thing that could have happened to the Palestinians these last 40 years. He sucked up the financial aid other nations sent to the Palestinians over those years and died close to being a billionaire, and the corruption that he cultivated was a major reason that his group was turned out in favor of a bunch of murderers.

Here's the other thing: The terrorist attacks on Israel that Hamas has perpetrated for decades are now no longer the acts of an independent, loose-cannon group. Any further terrorist acts will be the acts of a sovereign government. That makes them acts of declared war from one nation toward another. So don't look for Israel to restrain their responses anymore. This will mean all-out war, and it won't go well for the Palestinians.

Geopolityx

Here's the long-term problem with Iran: More than half their population is below the age of 30, and they don't remember the Shah and most of them hate the way they live. Most of them want freedom to live the way they want, have a say in their government and improve their lives, just like everyone. Meantime, the old Islamic revolutionaries are still in power, and they're determined to develop a nuclear bomb. So our real problem is to try to prevent them from succeeding without doing anything to make this younger generation hate us when they graduate to power. As close as Iran is getting to becoming a nuclear power, it may be hopeless, and the rest of the world will just have to decide between two evils.

PoliSci 101

Hey, if these senators who keep bleating about the Supreme Court protecting abortion rights really wanted to end the problem, they could! Yeah, they could pass a law! A law, declaring abortion a right for everyone in the US of A! They could do it! In fact, it's their job! So why don't they? Because they know it would be political suicide for most of them, and they don't want their votes on the record! So they rely on nine unelected justices to do their dirty work for them, because they know judges can't be voted out of office. Talk about basic courage of your convictions! These guys make me sick.

New computer

As I've always, always said, technology is wonderful as long as you don't have to use it. I got a new computer, finally graduating into OS X, and some things have been great and others pretty frustrating. For instance, I can finally use this site with only one computer — I used to have to cobble together posts using two computers! Go figure. On the other hand, files in old software that should have no trouble opening up in updated versions won't work at all. Plus, they didn't install the wireless networking cards like they were supposed to. So there you have it — nothing that everyone else hasn't dealt with.