OCANews.org | George Matsoukas | Dec. 22, 2008
Reflecting back on the events in our Orthodox Church over the past year is hampered by the fact that our Church is jurisdictionally fragmented. Much good and dynamic work is being accomplished in all jurisdictions. At the same time, that work is not always easy to spot because they are buried in duplicated efforts, not supported by other jurisdictions, under-funded, and all the other problems our fragmentation fosters. [Read more…]
American Thinker | Bruce Walker | Dec. 23, 2008
In the Mumbai Massacre terrorists particularly targeted Jews, focusing special attention of the Chabad house. The Holocaust denial in Iran and the proliferation of literary outrages like The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion or monstrous tracts like Mein Kampf, are sad proof that hatred of Jews is not limited to terrorists operating in India. The chic Leftists of Europe unite with terrorists in their reflexive hatred of Israel and unspoken anti-Semitism.
Grimly, not just anti-Semitism found violent expression in the generally placid India. This year alone, more than 100 Christians have been murdered in anti-Christian riots on the subcontinent. The ancient Christian community in Iraq is facing slow extermination. The defamation of Christian faith in elite salons has never been more gleeful than now. [Read more…]
The Seattle Times | Susan Kelleher | Dec. 23, 2008
To hear the city’s spin, Seattle’s road crews are making “great progress” in clearing the ice-caked streets. But it turns out “plowed streets” in Seattle actually means “snow-packed,” as in there’s snow and ice left on major arterials by design.
“We’re trying to create a hard-packed surface,” said Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation. “It doesn’t look like anything you’d find in Chicago or New York.” The city’s approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains, Wiggins said. [Read more…]
Investor’s Business Daily | Dec. 22, 2008
As the financial crisis in California gets worse, it’s pretty clear the real problem isn’t the budget at all, but a political system that has resulted in a dysfunctional one-party state.
California’s $41.8 billion budget deficit expected over the next two years is a record. No other state even comes close. But despite what the state’s politicians say, it’s not because of the recent economic downturn. It’s because of them.
The state has a budget crisis for the second time in a decade largely because the Democratic-held legislature has spent money wildly and without any real purpose. [Read more…]
95news.com | Dec. 20, 2008
A public school teacher in Mississippi marked down an eleven-year-old’s Christmas poem assignment and told the boy to rewrite it because he used the word “Jesus,” which, the instructor explained, is a name not allowed in school.
Liberty Counsel, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, reports that sixth-grader Andrew White of Hattiesburg, Miss., chose to write the poem on the assignment “What Christmas means to me.” After White turned in his rough draft, however, his teacher circled the word “Jesus” and deducted a point from his grade. The teacher then explained that he needed to rewrite the poem without the offending word. [Read more…]
Jim Sinclair’s MineSet | Lee Iacocca | Dec. 20, 2008
Lee Iacocca writes: Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! [Read more…]
Townhall.com | Thomas Sowell | Dec. 17, 2008
The current bailout extravaganza is applying the postponement of reality democratically– to the rich as well as the poor, to the irresponsible as well as to the responsible, to the inefficient as well as to the efficient. It is a triumph of the non-judgmental philosophy that we have heard so much about in high-toned circles. […]
Some of us were raised to believe that reality is inescapable. But that just shows how far behind the times we are. Today, reality is optional. At the very least, it can be postponed. [Read more…]
American Thinker | Brian Sussman | Dec. 16, 2008
Last week, soon-to-be President Barack Obama met with former Vice President Al Gore to discuss global warming. In a brief presser following their closed-door rendezvous, Obama proclaimed, “the time for denial is over.”
Ironically, as Obama yammered, Louisiana hurriedly prepared for a powerful cold front which would arrive the following night. The wintry storm ultimately dumped 6 inches of snow in Livingston Parish and dusted New Orleans with its earliest snowfall since records were accurately established in 1850. And the deep-south cold snap was not an isolated event. [Read more…]
American Thinker | Larrey Anderson | Dec. 14, 2008
Everyone is religious. People will have their religion. The particular religion does not, necessarily, have to include worship of a god — but it must include a dogma and rituals.
For many on the left, environmentalism has become a religion, no real surprise there. But the reason for the need of some religion, any religion, to fill the spiritual void on the left is rarely discussed. This article will examine some of the implications, and complications, of the new green creed — which is, in fact, an ancient creed. It was once called “paganism.” [Read more…]
AlbertMohler.com | Albert Mohler Jr. | Dec. 10, 2008
Secularization is the process by which a society becomes more and more distant from its Christian roots. Though the formal sociological theory is more complicated than that, the essence of secularization is the fact that the culture no longer depends upon Christian symbols, morals, principles, or practices. While most of the world is resolutely unsecular, much of Europe is pervasively secular — and this includes Great Britain.
Nevertheless, the secularization of society is one thing, but the secularization of the church is another. Yet, at least one major leader of the Church of England now assumes what can only be described as a secular vision of the church. [Read more…]