Samantha Pierce

Parableman is moving to a new site here's the new Parablemania , http://parablemania.ektopos.com/

Schools system accused of being racist . Why is it that racism is always at fault? The study, the African Caribbean Achievement Plan, said: "Some, although not all, African Caribbean young people underachieve because they are educated in an education system that is not totally effective and which exhibits aspects of racism." Karamat Iqbal, lead adviser on equalities for Birmingham LEA, was an author of the plan. He said to engage pupils properly, their heritage ought to be recognised in the curriculum. You know, I when I first came to the States most of the teachers had no idea where Barbados was. They certainly weren't teaching West Indian history and the kids took great pleasure in making fun of my accent. But some how I still managed to continue learning how to read, write, and do math. Of course that was 20 years ago. The article mentions that Black and Asian studengs are "underachieving at school in Birmingham partly because of 'racism' in t...

"Slave reparations case dismissed" Good thing: "CHICAGO - A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by descendants of slaves against corporations they say profited from slavery, saying the plaintiffs had established no clear link to the companies they targeted." Bad thing: "The court still left the door open for further litigation." One of the companies named in this reparations suit is Lehman Brothers. This Christian Science Monitor article reveals the extent of their involvement in American slavery, "Out of thousands of companies that have turned in affidavits [disclosing involvement with slavery], only one, Lehman Brothers, has acknowledged any record of a slave. Martha (no last name was recorded) served as a domestic in the home of the founding brothers. (The company contends the business itself had no ties to slavery; the reparations lawsuit disputes that.)" I guess the reparations movement has it's own versi...

Pakistan: Christian jailed on dubious blasphemy charge Pakistan: Christian teenager forced into hiding

We're not the only ones who thought this story was bloody stupid. Baldilocks does too. I can't believe someone actually said, "It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become." Grrrr. I suppose a pimp or a drug dealer would have been a more suitable candidate? Up date: Joanne Jacobs at Foxnews, Flight From Excellence .

The Passion of Apostates (Part II): The Hugh Hewitt Connection , note the striking difference between how Mr. Hewitt is described and how Rev. Stanger is described. Right-wing Christian ideologue and media pundit Hugh Hewitt is repaying actor/director Mel Gibson with lavish praise for the invitation he got to one of Gibson's exclusive pre-screenings of the controversial forthcoming film "The Passion of the Christ." [Finally, someone had the courage to stand up and expose Hugh’s true colors. After hearing all this talk about him being a “center-right” blogger I’m glad someone pointed out the truth – he’s a media pundit. I mean, really, one post a day does not a blogger make.] Gibson has tried to keep his production hermetically sealed for months, shutting out mainstream Christian, Jewish and interfaith leaders from screenings. But based on a leaked version of the script, many of those religious leaders are deeply concerned that the film will unleash a wave of anti...

We made it into Evangelical Outpost's End of the Week Roundup ! "No, it's my turn on the computer!" -- Favorite Husband and Wife Blogs (Tie) {Le Sabot Post-Modern & TulipGirl } / {Parablemania & Uncle Sam’s Cabin}

Hello again to all my friends I'm glad you came to stay! Our fun and learning never ends, here's what we learned today! It's Friday! And in keeping with that, I would like to take a moment and interject some levity into the conversations. I thought I would share my thoughts with you on the subject of cats and their domintation of our world. As I was talking with my sister last night, I told her I would have to get off the phone soon because I needed to go upstairs, to which she replied; 'don't you have a cordless?'. Well the answer to that is no, but it got me to thinking about how the idea of cordless phones came about. After careful thought this is how I think it all went down... It was 3pm on a Friday afternoon, the roast was in the oven, the potatoes were boiling on the stove, and the vegetables were steaming. All was in order to have dinner ready and waiting for the husband and kids who would be arriving in 30 minutes. Then the phone rings....

I used to live in Crown Heights when I was a kid. My mostly fond memories of living in that neighbourhood have been tainted by what happened there in August of 1991. My family bought a house in Queens shortly before the riots happened so we were spared being in the eye of the storm. This story strikes very close to home for me. New Play About Crown Heights Blames Jews for Deadly Riots “A play blaming Jews for the Crown Heights riots of 1991 has opened at a new theater on West 42nd Street that was built in part with a tax-exempt, multimillion-dollar city bond. The play, called "Crown Heights," portrays the murder of chasidic scholar Yankel Rosenbaum as a tragic accident in a fight in which Jews threw the first punch.” This is an anti-semitic revision of history folks. To add insult to injury it is also funded by the tax dollars of the American people. I’m not so old that I don’t remember what really happened in 1991 or who happily poured oil on and fanned the flames of t...

Part three Poverty: A Culture Issue, Not a Race Issue Poverty is a problem that cuts across color lines. Only about one-third of the black community is part of what we call the underclass. There are large numbers of whites and Hispanics which also fall into this category. The factors which keep blacks in the underclass are the same which keep others mired there -- illiteracy, illegitimacy, crime, substance abuse, etc.

Farmed salmon industry faces lawsuit SAN FRANCISCO - The farmed salmon industry faces legal action in California for failing to warn consumers that the fish contain what environmental groups say are potentially dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals. Defendants named include major U.S. grocery chains such as Safeway Inc., Kroger Co., Albertsons Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. and farmed salmon producers in Canada and Europe. Surprise surprise! Who knew this is where we would end up when the study that is apparently driving this shake down legal action first surfaced a few weeks ago.

From The Empty Chair by Fr. Rob Johansen, The most popular kind of music among young people today is "gangsta rap", which glories in violence, degradation, and exploitation. It assaults the very idea of social bonds. One of the biggest fads today is body piercing: It's no longer enough for some people to wear one or two, or even three earrings, but now some young people pierce their noses, their eyebrows, their cheeks, and even less mentionable parts. But it goes even farther, to things like branding, or something called "tongue splitting", in which people have their tongues surgically split in two, so as to resemble that of a snake. A serious problem among young women today is "cutting": these girls cut themselves deliberately, mutilating their bodies. All of these kinds of self-mutilation, all of this degradation, is symptomatic of something. It didn't just come out of nowhere. These things are symptoms of deep emotional and spiritual pain...

Many Turks become Christians, but must tread carefully "UPI reports that 35,000 Turks became Christians last year — a major social movement in that country. There is a certain poetic justice to this, as the report suggests that many are the descendants of Christians who were forced to become Muslims during the time of the Armenian genocide and the persecution and expulsion of the Greeks. However, these Christians still have to be quiet and 'not make waves,' even in that enlightened, secular, moderate Muslim nation. Now why is that?" From Dhimmi Watch .

Brains can hurt job applicants by Marquis Harris (Thanks to American Black for the link) Could anyone imagine the day when an aspiring educator would be told that he is, in essence, overqualified? Perhaps my story is merely an exception to the rule. In either circumstance, the outcome is appalling. I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology. I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean's List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president. While in college I was also privileged to serve on mission trips to Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica. In the summer of 2002 I was granted the opportunity to intern with Saxby Chambliss, who was then a U.S. representative running for ...

Well well well! It looks like some people (and some countries) may have been bought off by Sadam Hussien. Who woulda thunk it? Tim Blair writes: Maybe it really was all about oil : Claims that dozens of politicians, including some from prominent anti-war countries such as France, had taken bribes to support Saddam Hussein are to be investigated by the Iraqi authorities. The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council decided to check after an independent Baghdad newspaper, al-Mada, published a list which it said was based on oil ministry documents.

The Evangelical Outpost has comments on a Salon.com interview with one Rev. Mark Stanger, a big wig in the mainstream Episcopalian church. It seems this gentleman doesn't approve of Mel Gibson's "The Passion". Stanger's obvious hostility towards, and disregard for, the gospel is painful to behold. If this is the kind of leadership that the Episcopalian church has no wonder it is in trouble.

This looks interesting, Speech Codes.org . From the about page, "Colleges and universities routinely punish students and faculty for their speech, their writings, and their membership in campus groups. On campus after campus, administrators create and enforce codes to outlaw free speech and free expression that does not conform to various new campus orthodoxies. Almost all of these speech codes depend, for their survival, upon a double standard that strikes at the heart of legal and moral equality." Thanks to InstaPundit for the link.

La Shawn Barber comments on conservative club woes and life as a liberal in Every Muhammad, Jamul and Jose .

Part Duex Racism: Reality and Perceptions "But just because racism is mostly dead doesn't mean that it's lost its impact. (I'll take a moment now and acknowledge that there certainly still exists white racism, what I deny is that it is widespread.) Like some sort of malevolent ghost, it haunts the popular memory of the black community. To listen to many of the self-appointed African-American spokesmen is to visit an alternate reality -- one where despite massive gains by blacks in every sphere of endeavor, little has changed since circa 1965 and every perceived slight is 'Selma!' all over again. "Am I saying that African-Americans should forget the past? No. But I am saying that their community's 'leadership' does them a disservice by constantly inflaming mistrust and raising the specter of racism. The perception of racism can be just as debilitating as the thing itself."

Tacitus comments on the incident where a vehicle carrying women in Iraq was fired upon killing and wounding some of the women. Apparently most of them were Christians.

Not really new, she's been blogging for longer than I have I think, but we've just discovered each other. baldilocks: Curiously Minimizing Dead Cell Content , author of Name Follies and Bush Lied Revisited What is a lie? A lie is an “assertion of something known or believed by the speaker to be untrue: a deliberate misrepresentation of fact with intent to deceive (Webster’s Third).” Was President Bush lying when he said that he believed that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction? Let’s put the question another way: did President Bush not really believe that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq possessed WMDs? For that is what those who accuse the president of lying on this subject are saying. I believe this is known as a serious Fisking in the blogosphere. Update: I stand corrected by Parableman, "Fisking is when you examine a piece line by line or page by page with your comments inserted. This is just a good rebuttal."

Latest Column: Safe Sex Lies by La Shawn Barber ( update: the permalink works now). "What's the surest way to increase a teenager's risk of incurable diseases, cervical cancer, pregnancy, infertility, abortion, a broken heart, a jaded view of love and marriage, and doom a child to poverty and fatherlessness? "Teach her how to put a condom on a cucumber. "...increased abstinence education is a major cause in the drop in pregnancy and birth rates among teenagers. Among unmarried girls between ages 15-19, increased abstinence education accounted for a 67 percent decrease in pregnancy rates. "In other words, the decline in pregnancy rates among teens is due to a reduction in the proportion of sexually active girls, not to the increased use of contraception, according to an April 2003 study published in Adolescent and Family Health. "I can hear liberals now: 'Get out of the Dark Ages! It's unrealistic to expect teenagers to not have ...

Discoshaman bravely jumps into the fray with a post on race . "I'm about to stray into touchy territory in our hyper-sensitive times, and actually make a statement about race. These days, this is something like juggling nitroglycerine -- one slight mishandling and it explodes in your face."

Name Follies The White African-American What was it about skin color again? You are blind as a bat, and I have sight , lots of comments. Thanks to One Fine Jay and InstaPundit for the links. Update: Westside twins say their posters lampooned race-based awards

"I will make you Muslim and you will bear a Muslim child" Christians in Pakistan fear a 14-year-old girl kidnapped by several men will be forced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim. Shamim Kausor, of the district of Toba Tek Singh in Punjab province, was abducted from her home Dec. 31 by men who pulled up in a jeep and took her away by gunpoint, according to the Washington, D.C.-based persecution monitor International Christian Concern. ICC said young Christian girls in Pakistan often are abducted and raped and forced to marry Muslim men but generally have no rights or recourse for the crimes committed against them.

What on earth are these people thinking ? Health authorities in Florence have sparked an outcry after they officially welcomed a version of female circumcision. A gynaecologist in Florence is proposing to perform a "light" version of infibulation, the mutilation of the genitalia of young girls which is practised in many African countries.

Zeyad has posted an article discussing women and sharia law in Iraq. The GC gave the role of legal courts, according to this law, to clerics and tribal leaders. Which means that the destiny of women in Iraq will be subject to fatwas and personal interpretations of Islamic Sharia texts by Mullahs and tribal sheikhs, when it should be according to a fixed personal circumstances code. This project evoked storming rage and condemnation from Iraqi women because of the stark differences between the two. In the case of the personal circumstances law, legal courts rule depending on evidence and proof, because law is science, and science depends on certain knowledge. Whereas in the second case rulings are made from beliefs based on personal interpretation and misconstruction of Islamic law.

This story that I mentioned yesterday has made it on to the Fox News website, White Student Calls Self African-American . I think somebody's got some splainin' to do. All this flap because a kid from Africa decided that he was eligible for an award given to African American students? The offending poster's description: "The poster pictured junior Trevor Richards, 16, smiling and making a thumbs-up sign. A message at the top encouraged votes for him for next year's award. " What school official said about poster: ""The content of the posters, they believed, was inappropriate and insensitive to some members of our school community'" Now, considering that this kid has probably spent more time on the African continent than any of the black students at his school why is it "inappropriate and insensitive" for him to refer to himself as an African American? Unless of course you actually know next to nothing about Africa or the history...

I've talked my sister Simone into joinging me in this blogging venture. One down two to go (should I drag the 12 year old into this?). Her first post is Dollars and Sense , enjoy.

There's a raging debate going on over on Tim Blair's blog about public schools in Australia. Apparently they aren't much better than US public skuls, I mean schools. Prime Minister John Howard seems to have gotten himself even further onto the badside of the Aussie left by criticising their indoctrination institutes. PM queries values of state schools "'Some schools think you offend people by having nativity plays,' Mr Howard said. 'I think that it's a reflection of the extent to which political correctness overtook this country, particularly through the teaching unions, which I think are a bit out of step. "'People are looking increasingly to send their kids to independent schools for a combination of reasons. For some of them, it's to do with the values-driven thing; they feel that government schools have become too politically correct and too values-neutral.'"

The following comments are taken from: Barron Takes Aim At City’s Policies Begins run for mayor with call for diversity by Glenn Thrush January 20, 2004 "We're calling for a racially balanced, gender-balanced administration in New York City," Barron told a crowd of enthusiastic supporters on the steps of City Hall. "Too few white men have too much power." Bloomberg spokesman Ed Skyler said, "Anyone who thinks they can beat his [Bloomberg's] record is welcome to try." If elected in November 2005, Barron would be the city's second black mayor. David Dinkins, whose served from 1990 to 1994, was the first. Barron didn't say whether he plans to quit his council seat to run for mayor. Other possible Democratic hopefuls include former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, former Public Advocate Mark Green, who narrowly lost to Bloomberg in 2001, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, City Comptroller William Thompson and Brooklyn Congressm...

Neato 2004 election prediction map . Alas! I live in a blue state. Thanks to Tim Blair for the link.

Interesting discussion going on over on Theognome's blog about child baptism and communion.

InstaPundit writes, Africa is a rather large and complex place, and there are, in fact, lots of white people, as well as ethnically Chinese and Indian people, who have many generations of African ancestry. For that matter, black Africans are a highly various group, and don't tend to think of themselves as an undifferentiated mass. Unfortunately, many people -- including many people who think of themselves as culturally sensitive -- persist in stereotyping. Of course, this works both ways. My brother -- who doesn't look any blacker than I do -- is sometimes asked by Nigerians (in Nigeria) whether he is black. At first he thought this was odd, but one explained "We have Americans coming here all the time who say they are black, but they look white to us." He also has links to a couple other interesting stories about white African Americans.

The Blackmun Wall , a memorial to the women who have lost their lives to legal abortions. It's really depressing. I didn't make it past the first panel. Thanks to Tulip Girl for the link.

Forty Acres and a Mule: The Ruined Hope of Reconstruction "In Louisiana, at the state convention in New Orleans in 1866, a white mob attacked Republicans and their black supporters. Thirty-four blacks and three white Republicans were killed before federal troops restored order. I bet that got your attention. But wait, there's more. "Radical Reconstruction attempted to protect black suffrage in the South with the deployment of thirty-eight thousand federal troops. They oversaw the 1868 presidential election, which brought the Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant, a moderate, to the White House. Five hundred thousand blacks voted, presumably for the Republican Party. Grant won by only three hundred thousand." There's also this interesting bit about the "free" North and a bit about the Klan. "In the North, a majority of states still did not allow blacks the vote and showed no inclination to change. The solution from Congress was the Fifteent...

Found this at Tongue Tied Adventures in Jurisprudence "A federal jury in Kansas City is hearing a lawsuit by two African-American sisters which claims that a flight attendant's use of the rhyme 'eenie, meenie, minie, moe' was racist and caused them physical and emotional distress, reports the Kansas City Star. "Louise Sawyer and Grace Fuller said they were traumatized when a stewardess on a Southwest Airlines flight said over the intercom, 'Eenie, meenie, minie, moe; pick a seat, we gotta go,' in an effort to get passengers to take their seats. "Some say the original child's rhyme ended with 'catch a nigger by his toe,' and the sisters say hearing it on the plane caused one of them to have a seizure later in the day. The flight attendant says she has only ever heard the version that ends 'catch a tiger by the toe.'" I think I'm going to have to start a regular segment called, "Are you for real?" It...

It's a good one . "To be called an Uncle Tom is an honor. Like our foundational black thinkers, Uncle Tom is often invoked but rarely read. He is not who the Politburo says he is. He was a moral, religious man of dignity and duty who accepted his lot as a slave because he had no choice yet by his behavior transcended it. He was an ancestor of whom to be proud; how has it been overlooked that he chose torture and death rather than inform on two sexually abused female runaways? To follow the Politburo's anti-intellectual, perverse construction to its logical conclusion, blacks should have cultivated no manners, created no art, pursued no knowledge, expended only the mimimum energy at their tasks, and avoided any kindness or heroism that could not have been confined to the black community. They should have actually been subhuman." - Debra Dickerson, from her new, stimulating book, "The End of Blackness." This sounds promising, I'm ordering a copy today.

Here's a link to "The Passion of Christ" the new Mel Gibson movie. You can view the trailers at this site. Joshua Claybourn also has a link to an article about Gibson's struggles to get the movie distributed. It will be interesting to see how such an overtly Christian movie such as this will go over with the American public.

This is a bit late but I just found this article by Mr. Sullivan from the New Republic and it is ever so insightful. "...none of the other candidates has even raised the issue of Al Sharpton's record of race-baiting. Listening to them you get the impression that black and brown Americans are entirely unable to fend for themselves, and have no problems that aren't caused by whites. This is not to say that there isn't some truth in what the candidates said, but that its one-sidedness is part of the problem, not the solution."

“The O’Connor Project” Roger Clegg on National Review Online "The major problem facing African Americans as a demographic group today is the fact that seven out of ten of black children are born out of wedlock.... So long as the African-American illegitimacy rate is more than triple that of whites, you are going to have a serious 'underrepresentation' of academically well-prepared blacks when it comes time to think about college. "Note that, while there is no doubt that illegitimacy, failing public education, and poverty are serious social problems, it is a mistake to view them as essentially racial in nature, because many whites (and Asians) face them, too, and many blacks (and Latinos) do not. For those who support racial preferences, the deep-down justification for them remains a sense that they are needed to "make up" for past discrimination against certain groups. But this justification won't wash, as the days of Jim Crow recede further into t...

Discoshaman at Le Sabot... "Most Democrats and liberals are decent people who live their lives, pay their taxes, and have different politics than I do. But we're both Americans, and I joke about them lightheartedly. "There is an exception to this -- the AINO (American In Name Only) crowd. On the Hard Left exists a section of people who have truly earned the name traitor....In the household of America, these people are termites. For these people my pen is dipped in acid." Well said. I'm still a bit timid about the pen dipped in acid bit but if provoked I'm sure I could get there.

Parableman (formerly known as Jeremy) comments on the implications of this poster featuring Condoleeza Rice. "The tactic of belittling Condoleeza Rice for being part of a Republican administration is putting Republicans in a catch-22. If they don't appoint minorities to these positions, then they're contributing to institutional racism. If they pick thoughtful, intelligent minorities who are somewhat like-minded but even have significantly independent views, then these people get labeled as Uncle Toms. The fact that President Bush picked these people shows that he does in fact trust them, and isn't that a sign that racial problems are diminishing? To reframe this in the opposite direction is moving race relations backward. "For these reasons and probably a number of others that aren't immediately coming to mind, I see the attitudes behind this poster as a serious harm to black people in the United States today. Therefore, according to the definition of ...

Also an account of thugs intimidating doctors at Healing Iraq . More on Sharia in Iraq According to Iraq at a Glance it's a no-go for sharia in Iraq's civil law. "I read in Al-Sabah newspaper that Mr.Jalal Al-Talabani, a member in the governing council, stated that the decision or decree no. 137 [re sharia and civil law] has been canceled and considered it invalid, because the decree did not have the votes of 2/3s of the members of GC, so the decree was invalid and will not be carried out." He's back Omar Masry is back blogging at Iraq 2.0 . He seems to be having trouble remembering what year it is though.

What Can We Eat? If any of the stuff mentioned in this article were true we'd probably all be dead by now. But we're alive and kicking so somebody must not be telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Eco-Extremism, Not Science, Behind Fishy Salmon Scare by Steven Milloy Well now that explains a few things. Study: More pollutants in farmed salmon than wild This is a good example of media hype and fearmongering. If any of the claims made about farm raised salmon were true we would see a serious rise in cancer cases in the US because so many people eat salmon. I'm not one of the brainless masses who will believe anything a scientist and a reporter tells me just because it's "scientific." I know a thing or two about the scientific method and it's limitations and statistics and the lot. It's common practice in the scientific realm to spin your results so they fit with your theory. Scientists are ordinary people just like you an...

Get ready for some righteous anger folks. I found a link to this article at Black Electorate.com . It's about one of those things that make me go grrr . Slaves' descendants seek landmark reparations The article opens, "By the time Andrew Jackson Hurdle penned his life story in 1919, the former slave had become an ordained minister, helped found a religious college and referred to himself as a 'self-made man.'" It then goes on to describe the efforts of Mr. Hurdle's daughter (he, apparently, is long since dead) to sue certain US companies for reparations based on the claim that they profited from her father's enslavement. I can not believe that people actually consider reparations as a viable option to cure the ills that plague the "Black community" (as if we are a homogeneous group). This is the most ignorant, wrong headed, and backwards thing that I have ever heard of! I really am embarrassed by/for the people who really think that r...

Tajikistan: pastor at prayer shot dead Christian missionary activity in Muslim countries has always been dangerous. Islamic law forbids any Muslim to convert to another religion, on pain of death. And dhimmi laws for Christians forbid proselytizing. This just in from Tajikistan, via the Barnabas Fund : "A pastor who was also an active missionary has been shot dead while he was praying in a chapel." Pakistan church blast injures 11 According to Islamic law, when dhimmis get out of line, they forfeit their contract of protection with their Muslim masters. Evidently some Muslims in Pakistan think that that is just what Pakistani Christians have done, mainly by virtue of being Christians, who have become kafir harbi (unbelievers at war with Islam) because of the actions of the United States.

I've been blogging for a little over a month now and I've finally discovered alliances thanks to Discoshaman . After reviewing the various alliances I am ready to declare my loyalties. So here goes. Whereas I am a stay at home mother with two children, a husband, and a home to manage all by myself, whereas the name Alliance of Free Blogs looked appealing until I read the long list of requirements that I really don't have time for, whereas InstaPundit was one of the first blogs I ever read and I feel some type of way about trying to do bad things to him, whereas I like the guy because he's funny and apparently knows how to cook , I hereby ally myself with the Axis of Naughty . As Jeremy said in his declaration , "After comparing the two groups, and given all the insights I've gleaned from Reynolds, I see no choice but to side with the ill-named group over the ill-conceived group."

Sharia to replace civil marriage and inheritance laws , by Zeyad at Healing Iraq . He also mentions the killing of a Christian dentist in Basrah.

Arab Mother Of Two Murders Four Israelis In Suicide Attack "Brig.-Gen. Gadi Shamni, IDF Commander of the Gaza Formation, said today, 'The terrorists take cynical advantage of the State of Israel's humanitarian desire to help out the Arabs of Gaza and allow them to [cross the Green Line] and find work in Israel.'" Jihad Watch has excerpts from an Associated Press article posted here, Palestinian mother kills four in suicide bombing . What's most interesting about this post are the comments that have been made there so far (as of 5:25pm EST). One individual writes in a series of comments, "Simply put... Disgusting. What kind of woman or mother would abandon her children. animals..... They are all animals." "Kill them until they beg you to stop. " "These are very dark and serious times....Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the only true answer to this problem." I trust that you see the irony of making such hateful and re...

Iraqi Christians From Dhimmi Watch Iraq: Mainstream Political Leaders Denounce Attacks on Christians "A call by more than 200 mainly Muslim intellectuals and political leaders from Iraq to stop attacks on Christians and cease forcing women to wear the veil was published on Sunday 4 January on the Arabic website Elaph [now viewable at http://www.ankawa.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=55&topic=6]. The call was directed at Muslim clerics, the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Authorities. They specifically called upon Islamic religious leaders to issue fatwas forbidding such 'atrocious crimes against humanity and the Islamic [sic] religion'". Looks like the aritcle they link to is in arabic. There are other links to reports from the Barnabas Fund in the post.

World Magazine Blog has a post called Immigration Realities with some really good comments so far.

Sullivan on the Dem debate THE DEMS REGRESS "There wasn't a nano-second in which any candidate said anything to suggest that minorities can do anything to benefit themselves without more government help, more money and more white condescension." Tim Blair on the Howard Dean at the Dem debate What does this prove? "Under fire in a campaign debate, Howard Dean conceded grudgingly Sunday night that he never named a black or Latino to his cabinet during nearly 12 years as governor of Vermont." Nothing at all, I suspect. Hiring minorities for the sake of hiring minorities doesn’t indicate sensitivity to racial issues; it indicates cynicism. Besides which, Vermont is about the whitest place in the US. When Vermonters say “Yo”, the second syllable is always “gurt”.

Gay genetics Discoshaman writes a bit about the implications of a possible link between genes and sexual orientation for Christians in The Gay Gene: Would it Matter? He also addresses Howard Dean's apparent claims that there is a scientific link between genetics and sexual orientation. Up date: Some very insightful comments on the issue by Adrian Warnock in the UK, "But there is no use standing on the sidelines saying how shocking it is that a presidential candidate can hold these views. Not only do presidents hold these views but so do some people who call themselves Christians. I suspect that very few of them would feel brave enough to comment on a post on a site like this one to express this, however. Why? Probably not because they are afraid to discuss the morality or otherwise of their lifestyles, but rather out of fear of the rabid response they are likely to get. "One thing is clear in my mind about this subject and that is that I want to be as persona...

La Shawn on the radio I've forgotten to do this for two days in a row now but La Shawn Barber has gotten her first radio interveiw . Listen to it here , it's the 01-08-04 broadcast.

Democrat presidential hopefuls on the INS The question about the INS's legendary ineptitude came up during the Iowa Black and Brown Forum debate between the democratic presidential hopefuls. When asked what they would do to reform the INS the candidates questioned basically said, "The INS is bad and if I am president I will fix it." As you can see this does not address the fact that people spend years waiting while their paper work sits gathering dust on someone's desk! If any of these people are really serious about immigration reform then they will see that the INS needs a few more employees and a whole lot more accountability to someone, anyone, please. They certainly don't need more money. What the heck are we paying for with all of those wretched fees they charge anyway? Are we renting the space that our applications occupy on the desks of over worked INS employees? And another thing, why should people, who have obeyed the laws of the land fr...

Thoughts on the President's proposed immigration policy In case you have no idea what I'm talking about here are some links: Bush Amnesty Plan Raises Immigration Concerns , an opinion piece by Craig Nelsen Bush seeks legal status for illegal immigrants , I could do without all of the opinion scattered through out this news story (such as, "Bush's election-year proposal is designed to help meet the needs of U.S. employers and to woo Latino voters.") but it does contain some facts. I'm conflicted about this whole immigration thing. I've had some dealings with the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) in the past and I must say that I was most certainly not impressed. The ineptitude and bureaucratic backlog at the INS is legendary in the immigrant circles I grew up in. My parents submitted citizenship applications for the entire family and for more than 3 years our applications went back and forth between various inboxes at various INS offices. I ...

Another one escapes the plantation The Democrats are busy shooting themselves in the foot again. Or are they just putting their feet in their mouths? Or are they shooting themselves in the foot and then sticking it in their mouths? In any case here's the deal, Dean Backer Calls GOP Candidate 'House Mexican' "Steven Ybarra, a Democratic National Committee (search) official and regional coordinator of Latinos for Dean (search), called Rosario Marin (search), the former U.S. treasurer under President Bush who is now seeking the GOP nomination to compete against California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a "house Mexican for the Republicans." The attack was sent out in a mass e-mail to political activists, community leaders and a number of journalists this week. " I liked Marin's response, "'This man has absolutely no regard for a person who has worked all her life, who has gone from nothing, from very very humble beginnings to the person that's si...

Are you a Flame Warrior? Flame Warriors , this is really funny, especially since I've met some of the flame warriors described on this site. I found the link on Theognome's blog . He was kind enough to add me to his blogroll. Anyway, for the moment I think I'm a Newbie but I aspire to be a Kung Fu Master .

Iraq on France Good post over at Iraq the Model about the French decision to ban religious attire (yarmulkes, head scarves, crosses, etc.) from schools. Read the comments as well, they make some good points.

Look it! Fan mail! Well, isn't that nice! Discoshaman over at Le Sabot Post-Moderne comments, "I /love/ the name of your blog. My wife just pointed out your site to me today, and I think it's such a needed resource. There's a definite dearth of political blogs focused on current events within black Republicanism. I'm adding you to the blogroll tonight. Keep fighting the good fight!" That's something nice to wake up to after some intense blogging this past week.

Neat stuff over at Parablemania and a short story on abortion Jeremy has a link to a great article in his post " Scientific data on human genetic diversity ." He also comments on this claim by democratic presidential hopeful General Wesley Clark, "Life begins with the mother's decision." Err, right. I once knew agentlemann from Norway (a place that some might characterise as the capital of the euthanasia movement) who was appalled at the way Americans treat abortion. In his country a woman does not make a decision about having an abortion without first having a lengthy consultation with her doctor(s). The family is always involved and abortion is not seen as a rights issue but as a medical issue. In Norway having an abortion is a decision not to be made unless one has all the facts and sound, presumably medical, reasons for having the procedure done. A woman is not abandoned to make such a heavy decision on her own under the flimsy premise that it...

This is funny Of Martians and Jihad by James Lileks I found the link on Tim Blair's blog . It's one of those things where you laugh and then you stop becuase you're not sure if you should laugh at something like that. But then you start laughing again because you can see the element of truth in it.

We're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it any more! Kevin L. Martin is not playing nice with the Democrats over at the Black Conservative . I tried not to take too much pleasure in his damning account of the Congressional Black Caucus, but alas, being only human I failed miserably. I hope you all have better luck than I did. Black Conservatives Need to Ensure a Complete Defeat of Democrats Black Conservatives need to start banding together in this new year to with a winnable game plan that will ensure the complete defeat of the Democrat Party. The year 2004 is a banner year for black conservatives as it has been ten years since the Republican Revolution, but not to be overlooked by any means it has been ten years since the worst ethnic cleansing since World War 2 was allowed to happen. Most black conservatives have never held the Congressional Black (Democrat) Caucus responsible for the part it played in the needless deaths of nearly one million of our clos...

More on Terri Schiavo Fr. Rob Johansen is back and blogging to save Terri Schiavo's life from her creepy husband and some shady lawyers and judges in Florida. Here are some excerpts from his latest post, Update On Terri Schiavo, or, Being a Judge Means Never Having to Say, "I was Wrong" In the latest proceeding, Governor Bush asked the most recent court-appointed guardian, Jay Wolfson, to investigate 10 issues related to Terri's case, including such things as the circumstances of the injuries which led to her brain damage. Governor Bush also asked Wolfson to make a determination as to whether Terri and Michael could be divorced. Mr. Wolfson had also, in his report to the court, advocated that swallowing tests be done on Terri, as well as other measures to determine whether there is any likelihood that therapy could improve her condition. All of these questions, and the request for a swallowing test, are highly inconvenient to Michael Schiavo and his attorney, ...

From the Christian Science Monitor A bill to protect campus conservatives? By Amanda Paulson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor A professor requires that students write - and send - antiwar letters to President Bush to receive full class credit. A graduate student instructor warns, in the description for his course on Palestinian resistance, that "conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections." A criminology professor assigns a paper on "Why George Bush Is a War Criminal," and fails a paper submitted instead on "Why Saddam Hussein Is a War Criminal." These are just a sampling of recent anecdotes that critics cite when they want to show that campus politics not only tilt to the left, but sometimes do so to the exclusion of all other opinions. Conservatives, they warn, may have become the most discriminated-against minority in academia. Now, they're offering a solution: an "academic bill of rights,"...

More on Iraqi Christians Christmas for Iraqi Christians: Three bombs and a Fatal Shooting "The Christmas Season for the beleaguered Iraqi Christian community was punctuated by three bombs, two of them in places of worship, and a fatal shooting." This from the Barnabas Fund , with thanks to Bruce Gordon. "Christians in Baghdad narrowly escaped carnage as a bomb went off in their church at Christmas. The congregation had just celebrated the birth of their Lord with a traditional service when the bomb exploded. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the blast shattered church windows and caused other damage. A week later as the New Year was ushered in, another bomb was discovered at St. George's monastery in Mosul. Again, in the face of potential tragedy, the Christian community had cause to be thankful as it was defused before it detonated. Restaurant goers celebrating New Year's Eve in Baghdad were less fortunate. Five people were killed by a car bomb in a predom...

Democrats and Republicans fighting over the Black vote? I found the links to these two articles at Black Electorate.com (thanks to La Shawn Barber for posting a link to the site). Black Votes -- No GOP Fantasy "Believing it has cornered the market on black voters, the Democratic Party may want to dismiss the GOP's announced goal of winning 25 percent of the African American vote in 2004. Democratic leaders may be correct in saying the feat can't be achieved in time for this year's presidential election. But the current political dynamics in black America do not bode well for the future; the Democratic Party could lose its good thing." "More African Americans now have college degrees, ushering them into the middle class, shifting their values and priorities while prompting them to abandon the "blacks-as-victims" theology. Many low-income blacks have gained an appreciation for the opportunities provided by the free enterprise system and ar...