OrthodoxNet.com Blog

FrontPageMag | Steven Milloy | May. 7, 2008

Can global warming’s vested interests close the deal on greenhouse gas regulation before the public wises up to their scam?

A new study indicates alarmist concern and a need to explain away the lack of actual global warming. Researchers belonging to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, reported in Nature (May 1) that after adjusting their climate model to reflect actual sea surface temperatures of the last 50 years, “global surface temperature may not increase over the next decade, as natural climate variations … temporarily offset the projected anthropogenic warming.” Continue Reading »

(ed. Jacobse) The debate behind the debate is this: is the world logo-centric or not? That brings us into the realm of word, speech, and narrative. It’s a fascinating area, and I was pleased to see Tom Wolfe (whom I consider to be a superb cultural commentator) is addressing it.

Uncommon Knowledge on National Review Online

The Word According to Tom Wolfe: Chapter 3 of 5
Darwin, Marx, Freud, (E.O.) Wilson? Tom Wolfe says the common thread there is the power of the word — of ideas that change human history in large and obvious ways.

Read Sorry But Your Soul Just Died (referenced in the interview).

PriestsforLife.org | May 7, 2008

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American Thinker | Marc Sheppard | May. 5, 2008

Mounting evidence of lower temperature trends despite rising atmospheric CO2 levels is becoming a real problem for the greenhouse gas crowd. And reports that the cooling appears to follow a period of dormant solar activity aren’t likely to ease their anxieties. Continue Reading »

Townhall | Dennis Prager | May. 6, 2008

It is with no pleasure that I put in writing what I have long believed: Though many individual liberals have only goodwill toward black Americans, the liberal world since the late 1960s (i.e., after the major civil rights legislation of the mid-1960s) has done incalculable damage to black America and to race relations in this country. Whether out of guilt or because of its own racist views (i.e., the unspoken but regularly implied belief in the inferiority of African-Americans), the left-of-center’s general attitude toward black Americans has been that they cannot be judged by the same standards as others.

From lowering standards of admission to universities to blaming the high number of black men in prison for violent crimes on white racism to decades of cultivating black victimhood and the subsequent Wright-like rage against America, liberals and their party, the Democrats, have immeasurably hurt African-Americans and America. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Andrew Walden | May. 3, 2008

Speaking at the White House, Pope Benedict XVI April 16 embraced America’s “quest for freedom….” Benedict explained: “Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience - almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad.”

Today, as in the Civil War, Logos is on the side of freedom. And in spite of the secular media effort to obfuscate, Benedict’s message couldn’t be clearer: Logos rises to defend against the secular call for submission to the Chaos unleashed by Islam. Continue Reading »

Human Events | Benjamin Wiker | May. 5, 2008

As David Berlinski recently noted, “the thesis that there is a connection between Darwin and Hitler is widely considered a profanation.” But striking an indignant pose — feathers in full ruffle — is not an answer to such a serious charge, especially when the words of both Darwin and Hitler speak otherwise.

Those defending Darwin cannot have read his Descent of Man, wherein he applies the principles of natural selection to human beings — a thing he prudently avoided in his earlier Origin of Species. In the Descent, the eugenic and racial inferences are clearly and startlingly drawn by Darwin himself. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Jude Acosta | May. 3, 2008

God bless America. I mean that with all sincerity. We are a nation of hopefuls and always have been. We march on Washington. We cure diseases that have wracked humanity for eons. We break records and run faster-than-four-minute miles. We split atoms and conquer space. We manifest our destinies and defy the presence of gorges, rivers, and mountains that threaten to block our collective will. Continue Reading »

ScrippsNews | Deroy Murdock | May. 1, 2008

Australia, the land where sinks drain the other way, has alerted Americans that we see Earth’s climate upside down: We’re not warming. We’re cooling.

“Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature on Earth has remained steady or slowly declined during the past decade, despite the continued increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and now the global temperature is falling precipitously.” Dr. Phil Chapman wrote in The Australian on April 23. “All those urging action to curb global warming need to take off the blinkers and give some thought to what we should do if we are facing global cooling instead.” Continue Reading »

NRO | Roy Spencer | May. 1, 2008

There seems to be an unwritten assumption among environmentalists — and among the media — that any influence humans have on nature is, by definition, bad. I even see it in scientific papers written by climate researchers. For instance, if we can measure some minute amount of a trace gas in the atmosphere at the South Pole, well removed from its human source, we are astonished at the far-reaching effects of mankind’s “pollution.”

But if nature was left undisturbed, would it be any happier and more peaceful? Would the carnivores stop eating those poor, defenseless herbivores, as well as each other? Would fish and other kinds of sea life stop infringing on the rights of others by feasting on them? Would there be no more droughts, hurricanes, floods, heat waves, tornadoes, or glaciers flowing toward the sea? Continue Reading »

Compassionate Warmonger | David Bueche | May. 2, 2008

Driving across town the other day I saw a bumper sticker bearing what’s become a common refrain: “Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism!”

I sped up to catch a glimpse of this patriot - a twenty-something dude in jeans and a black t-shirt sporting the obligatory goatee and super-sized sideburns. Given the choice between him and his Prius or Paul Revere thundering through the New England countryside - I prefer the guy on the horse. Continue Reading »

OrthodoxNet.com | C.S. Lewis

In the second place, to understand that logic must be valid is to see at once that this thing we all know, this thought, this mind, cannot in fact be really alien to the nature of the universe. Or, putting it the other way around, the nature of the universe cannot be really alien to Reason.

We find that matter always obeys the same laws which our logic obeys. When logic says a thing must be so, Nature always agrees. No one can suppose that this can be due to a happy conincidence. Continue Reading »

AP | May 1, 2008

As you read the story about Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who used his influence to get his daughter a master’s degree she didn’t earn, you have no clue whether this unethical political bully is a Democrat or a Republican. Since the writers failed to mention (translation = purposely left out) the party affiliation of Gov. Manchin in the first few paragraphs of the story I had a strong suspicion this guy was probably a Democrat. Sure enough on paragraph #12 of the story, buried 2/3 of the way down (below the fold) the AP writers identified the governor as a Democrat. Surprise, surprise! Had this politician been a Republican, the label would have been splattered all over the story, beginning with paragraph #1. Continue Reading »

HumanEvents | Sen. Tom Coburn | Apr. 28, 2008

America became a great nation because at key moments in our history our national leaders were willing to make sacrifices to preserve freedom and opportunity for future generations. Yet, that tradition is being abandoned today in Washington. Congressional leaders have decided that sending money home for pet projects, appeasing special interests and catering to well-heeled lobbyists are more important than giving future generations the hope and opportunity that was sacrificed for us. Politicians have found it easier to make the easy decision now and hope they do not have to deal with the difficult decision tomorrow. Continue Reading »

PriestsforLife.org | Apr. 30, 2008

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ARN | Roddy Bullock | Apr. 29, 2008

Q: How many materialists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Given time the light bulb will change itself.

No joke. Light from darkness, life from non-life, mind from matter; it’s all a mere marvel of matter in motion. Never mind where matter came from, and no matter where mind came from, for matter-only materialists everything that is came unplanned from everything that was in a string of unguided eternal change. Magically transforming the mundane into the marvelous, it seems nothing is impossible with change–time makes light work of miracles. For the life sciences branch of materialist philosophy, Darwin’s theory mandates the same explanation for all life: unguided change over time gave us eyes to close and mouths to open in the service of a dead philosophy emanating from a brain that thinks it has a mind. Who would have thought? Continue Reading »

American Thinker | Christopher Chantrill | Apr. 29, 2008

Liberals are right about the “Right-wing Noise Machine.” It really is a wonder to behold, and last week it was performing like a well-tuned NASCAR race car. They say that liberals are all prepared for the inevitable “swift-boating” of Barack Obama. Look behind you, liberals. It already happened and, like last time, it was an own-goal scored by liberals. Continue Reading »

Townhall | Dennis Prager | Apr. 29, 2008

Here is what Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. (Obama’s pastor and spiritual advisor) said in his sermon on the Sunday following the horrific terrorists attacks on 9-11 (as replayed during the Moyers interview):

“Terrorism! We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hardworking fathers. We bombed Gadafi’s home and killed his child. ‘Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against a rock!’ We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | J.R. Dunn | Apr. 29, 2008

As everyone knows by this point, we are in the midst of a food crisis. Domestic prices of basic foods have risen by 46% over the past year, putting even more pressure on already stressed consumers. Overseas, food riots have occurred in Haiti, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Indonesia, Yemen, and as close to our borders as Mexico. These riots were severe enough to bring down the Haitian government of Jacques Edouard Alexis. Others may follow. Continue Reading »

American Thinker | James Lewis | Apr. 28, 2008

If you haven’t listened to Jeremiah Wright’s hate sermons at Hugh Hewitt’s website, you must do so. Every American with open eyes and ears has to listen to the voice of racial hatred, coming not from the Klan but from a clergyman of the Christian Left. Reading his words isn’t enough, because you won’t hear the unmistakable meaning of his vocal intonations. If you are a person of good will you will feel upset. But it’s of the utmost importance to understand this moment of truth. Continue Reading »