Considerettes

Now that James Cameron is making a new documentary suggesting he’s found the bones of Jesus, will Andy Rooney now castigate him for making money off of Jesus? He certainly took Mel Gibson to task for this. Think he’ll do the same for Cameron?

Yeah, me neither.

Technorati Tags: Jesus tomb, James Cameron, Andy Rooney, Mel Gibson, Christianity

Popularity: 9% [?]

Who said this in a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting while questioning John Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence?

I was just wondering, does the military have a plan to, if necessary, to go into Syria to go to the source of any weapons coming from Syria? That are going to Sunni insurgents? That are killing our troops? … I think we ought to take action on all fronts including Syria and any other source of weapons coming in, obviously Iran is the focus – but it shouldn’t be the sole focus.

What member of the committee asked if the military had a plan for dealing with Syria and Iran?

Are you sitting down? No really, are you?

The answer is:

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Popularity: 12% [?]

The movie “Amazing Grace” chronicles the struggle, physically and politically, of William Wilberforce against the slave trade in late 18th century and early 19th century Britian. To this movie review amateur, it is well-written, and very well-acted. And its story is a powerful one, regardless of your religious persuasion.

It is a little hard to follow for some, though. While I was able to follow the timeline of the movie, one of my daughters noted that she had trouble with that. The story starts chronologically, but at one point jumps 15 years ahead to where Wilberforce meets his future wife, Barbara Ann Spooner. At one of their meetings, he spends the night relating to her the events of the skipped 15 years. We are shown what happened, and occasionally jump back to William and Barbara. It allows William to comment to her on what he was thinking at the time without requiring him to recite some soliloquy during the showing of the events themselves. Finally, one he has caught her (and the audience) up to the moment, the movie continues chronologically from there.

Flashbacks aside, the movie holds many ideas for the viewers to contemplate. Some are related to religion, some are related to politics, and some address how the two intermingle. And yes, they can intermingle without becoming tangled. Such are the examples that need to be understood, especially in this present age.

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Popularity: 22% [?]

Would you believe that here in the United States, someone would suggest that religious freedom and parental right undermine the public school system? It’s happened. A US District Judge has used that as part of his reasoning in a recent ruling.

A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the “gay” agenda taught to Christians who attend a public school in Massachusetts, finding that they need the teachings to be “engaged and productive citizens.”

U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf yesterday dismissed a civil rights lawsuit brought by David Parker, ordering that it is reasonable, indeed there is an obligation, for public schools to teach young children to accept and endorse homosexuality.

Wolf essentially adopted the reasoning in a brief submitted by a number of homosexual-advocacy groups, who said “the rights of religious freedom and parental control over the upbringing of children … would undermine teaching and learning…”

This started in 2005 when David Parker objected to the fact that he couldn’t get his kindergarten child opted out of, or even notified of, same-sex household issues when they were brought up. The judge’s ruling gives them three options; private school, home school, or vote in enough School Committee members to get things changed. Fair enough, but can you imagine a court telling a black man that if he doesn’t like being forced into blacks-only restrooms and schools that these are his only choices? It would be unthinkable, but religious freedom, written quite plainly into the Constitution, is being afforded less protection than civil rights laws.

We are losing our constitutional rights at the hands of the judicial branch of government, and few notice, care, or even agree that it’s being eroded. The folks with the latter view are the most blind.

Technorati Tags: education, homeschool, Judge Mark Wolf, David Parker, Massachusetts, Christianity, homosexual

Popularity: 26% [?]

Give us the rest of your kids, and we’ll call it even.

German authorities who sent 15 uniformed police officers to take custody of a 15-year-old girl who committed the crime of being homeschooled now have suggested a solution that, in their minds, would “resolve” the situation: the parents should give up custody of their other five children.

The situation involving Melissa Busekros has been in the headlines ever since the beginning of this month, when the officers arrived at her parents’ home with a court order allowing them to take her into custody, “if necessary by force.”
…
“Melissa’s father, Hubert Busekros, said he and his lawyer were offered a compromise this week that they could not accept,” the [Homeschool Legal Defense Association] said. “The authorities wanted the Busekros’s to give up custody of their other five children in order to resolve this situation. Hubert said the authorities are considering doing psychiatric exams on the other five children in order to implicate Hubert and his wife as unfit parents and thereby break up the family.”

Such actions, the homeschool organization said, are “an outrage.”

“There are approximately 40 other cases pending in Germany [against homeschoolers],” the HSLDA said. “Many homeschool families have fled to Austria or another nearby country where homeschooling is legal. The German government is persecuting these innocent families without mercy. The German Embassy has indicated they cannot allow ‘parallel cultures.’ Christian homeschooling is a ‘parallel culture’ that Germany does not want.”

As always, some of the best updates can be found at the blog “Principled Discovery”.

Technorati Tags: education, homeschool, Germany, Melissa Busekros, Hubert Busekros

Popularity: 19% [?]

I’m proud to say that I got 8 out of 8 right in this ABC News quiz on whether particular persons, organizations and nations are Sunni or Shiite Muslims. I do have to give most of the credit to Mark Alexander’s piece, previously highlighted here, that discussed them. (That and a little luck.)

Technorati Tags: Islam, Muslim, Sunni, Shiite

Popularity: 10% [?]

Steve McIntyre, who’s done his own, unpaid, work discrediting the global warming “hockey stick” graph, notices some funny business when it comes to the reporting of historical temperature data. He’s noting that, in more recent reports, temperatures reported from the 1920s and 30s are lower than they were in earlier reports, while temperatures from the late 90s are being reported as higher now than they were then. The result is a larger reported temperature change during those 70 years. He’s also got a graph showing the changes in reported temperatures for each of the years, and it’s eye-opening.

Are the numbers being fudged by those with an agenda? It certainly looks like it.

Hat tip: Blogger News Network.

Technorati Tags: Steve McIntyre, global warming, climate change, science

Popularity: 8% [?]

Newsflash: Iran defies UN.

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment program instead of complying with a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to freeze it, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday in a finding that clears the way for harsher sanctions against Tehran.

“Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report.

In other news, the sun rose today, and the ocean is still full of water.

Popularity: 14% [?]

UN resolution 1701 called for, among other things, the disarming of Hizbollah. The UN is giving it’s usual stellar performance. Via the Israel Project:

As Israel and the United States worked together this week to resume peace talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, growing signs indicate a concerted effort by the radical Islamic terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas to rearm themselves in preparation for further conflict.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based, Iranian-backed Shiite militant group that initated a war against Israel this past summer after their gunmen crossed the Lebanese-Israeli internationally recognized border, is now receiving weekly shipments of weapons from Iran and Syria. “We know that Syria is trying all the time to smuggle weapons over the Lebanese border to Hezbollah,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told members of the foreign press on Feb. 20.

In an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper on Feb. 3, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah openly declared that Iran is supplying his group with monetary aid and weapons.

(The text is from an e-mail that is not yet posted on their site.)

I said back in August, when this was all being worked out, that the cease-fire that was supposed to solve everything and keep Hizbollah from further aggression was simply going to buy time for them to rearm. Indeed, that’s exactly what has happened. The toothless UN resolution is simply giving cover to those who who wanted to do something about it, regardless of how impotent. I’m sure they feel better about themselves for appearing, if not being, tough on terrorists. Unfortunately, the Israeli citizens on the Lebanon border and those within missile range of Gaza aren’t any better off for it.

Technorati Tags: Hizbollah, Hezbollah, Hamas, Israel, middle east, Ehud Olmert, The Israel Project, Hasan Nasrallah, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, United Nations

Popularity: 15% [?]

New York State’s Education Department has completed an internal study with results that should disturb parents of any state.

The study found the number of accusations against teachers [of sexual abuse to students] doubled in five years, to nearly one case for every day and a half of the school year. Almost three in four of the “moral conduct” cases involved sex between a teacher and student.

Taken together, the cases show a pattern of a small number of teachers preying on adolescents’ need for attention, then exploiting their insecurities to keep the secret out of fear of ridicule or long-lasting damage.

The misconduct is part of a system in which other teachers can be reluctant to report colleagues, administrators are reluctant to act on claims that could result in bad press and lawsuits, and state hearing officers are not trained to spot and deal with sexual misconduct.

A state investigator called one case “almost like a type of mind control” often reinforced by e-mails and instant messages.

Of course, the study can’t count or document those incidents that don’t get reported, and if colleagues are reluctant to report on each other, there could indeed be a large number under the radar.

Technorati Tags: education, New York, sex abuse

Popularity: 9% [?]

Dana at “Principled Discovery” is keeping close tabs on the Busekros family situation in Germany. She has found out that Melissa’s parents have now been told where she is and can visit her. For further developments, keep an eye on Dana’s page dedicated to news on this situation.

Technorati Tags: education, homeschool, Germany, Melissa Busekros

Popularity: 15% [?]

Russ Neglia has created a new pro-life blog under the Townhall.com umbrella. He calls it “Pro-Life Pro-Logic”, and it’s aptly named. Each post is well thought out and logically and dispassionately presented. He doesn’t post every day, but you’ll understand why when you read his articles. These aren’t quick hits on topic, they are essays that take a little time to read. He’s covered topics such as embryonic stem cell research and did a two-parter on how the death penalty relates to abortion. Check it out.

Technorati Tags: Russ Neglia, pro-life, abortion, embryonic stem cells, death penalty

Popularity: 12% [?]

Great line from James Taranto:

After 9/11, we kept hearing: Why do they hate America? It’s an important question, but the inquiry is pointless if the only answer it yields is: For the same reasons I do. Obviously!

Read the first item for the context. (But don’t stop there. This is a daily must-read.)

Technorati Tags: James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, terrorism, Wall St. Journal

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’ll admit to not knowing my Islamic sects, but Mark Alexander at the Patriot Post distills it down to 1000 well-written words. Definitely worth a read.

And while you’re there, read the rest of today’s digest, which includes news about a push to do and end-run around the Electoral College, notice of a report from UNICEF that says the US and the UK are the two worst places to raise a child, and news of a settlement in a “wrongful birth” case. I suggest you subscribe to their e-mails.

Technorati Tags: Mark Alexander, Patriot Post, Muslim, Islam, Sunni, Shi’ite, Electoral College, UNICEF, United Nations, wrongful birth

Popularity: 17% [?]

According to CBN, Melissa Busekros, the German homeschool student taken to the nearby psych ward for alleged “school phobia”, has been taken to an unknown location by the German government. The state is not telling the parents where she has been taken.

Technorati Tags: education, homeschool, Germany, Melissa Busekros

Popularity: 15% [?]