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Good Fences And Other Thoughts

January 29, 2007 By Laura 21 Comments

On Fences
Today is the anniversary of Robert Frost’s death. I’ve always loved his poetry, especially Mending Wall, even though I think his neighbor was right. A wall between us and Mexico will make us better neighbors; in spite of all the little elves running around Congress saying it isn’t so.

On War
Looking at the relative death rates of the U.S. and Iraqi Army versus the terrorists (call them insurgents if you like; I contend that “terrorist” is more accurate) brought to mind the Battle of New Orleans. There are some interesting parallels and a critical difference. It was an incredibly lopsided victory. We lost 13 troops, they lost 385; they had 1,186 wounded, we had 58. The initial inaccurate reporting has become part of history; the battle didn’t occur in New Orleans, it was in Chalmette. (To those who say this is for convenience’ sake in explaining the location, because New Orleans was the nearest big city – nobody ever heard of Bull Run or Karbala, either.)

It was also ultimately a waste of time, militarily, because the Treaty of Ghent had already been signed. But the political aftermath included sweeping Andrew Jackson into the White House. Iraq is not a waste of time in the larger war – Iran, the country that declared war on us in 1979, is basically surrounded. It is receiving incredible pressure from within and without right now, even from Saudi Arabia, which is no friend of ours but can at least be depended on to look out for it’s own interests. The way our time in Iraq ends will affect us politically for decades to come, and the consequences won’t just stop with the political.

On Blogging and God
Recently I all but stopped blogging so that I would have more time to devote to getting back on track spiritually. So far, that hasn’t happened, but I am at least getting more work done. Or I was. I’m not sure what happened to my back, but it really hurts to sit or walk. The only reason I’m taking percocet for this is that I’m out of vicodin. I still managed to get to church Saturday, and interestingly, during worship the pain was relieved. It wasn’t related to the fact that I took a percocet before church, because during the sermon I was in pain again. Unbelievers might suggest that the pain pill kicked in, then wore off. Nope, the timing doesn’t work for that. They might say that I distracted or hypnotized myself to relieve the pain. That’s tough to argue against logically since this is experiential. All I can say is that’s not what happened. During worship, I focused on God and He relieved my pain. It’s not the first time He’s done that, and the lesson in it is profound.

I know I’m not the only Christian who fails to have a steady walk, but it still baffles me why I’m like this. This is not the open rebellion I used to engage in. If I chose not to admit the problem, no one would know. I want God to be actively back in my life the way He used to be. I need Him. And yet, I can’t seem to bring myself to pick up my bible except to carry it to church. I can’t seem to focus my mind enough to pray. Past experience tells me that this dry time will end. As the expression goes, I’m willing to be willing. I’m getting to the point that I’m waiting, and even becoming eager, for God to prune away enough so that I will become fruitful again. In the meantime, I won’t be blogging much.

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Filed Under Christian Living, Other Blogs, Wars and Rumors of Wars

A Tale of Two Stories

January 25, 2007 By Laura 2 Comments

One basic set of information, two MSM outlets.

The LA Times headline is “Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link – U.S. warnings of advanced weaponry crossing the border are overstated, critics say.”

Newsweek’s is “Deadly Triggers – Is Iran providing devices that help insurgents detonate IEDs in Iraq?”

I seldom have anything nice to say about Newsweek. I think the way they have sported anti-American covers on editions sold in other countries is a disgrace, and I haven’t forgotten their Gitmo – Quran flushing story. It was eventually retracted, but not before providing Islamists with an excuse to riot, causing at least 16 deaths. But in this story, Newsweek treats the subject matter fairly, while the LA Times provides an editorial in a news article’s clothing.

The Political Pit Bull compares the two stories in a great post and concludes,

I guess it all comes down to the fact that some MSM outlets like The Times are so hellbent on proving everything the Bush administration claims as the truth to be false that they’re willing to deny–or at least gloss over–the actions of a regime that is directly involved in contributing to the deaths of Americans fighting in Iraq as well as known to publicly proclaim that the demise of our country and ally Israel is soon to come.

If you ask me, that’s a rather uncomfortable position to be in.

I wish it were. But I think that some MSM members are so far gone that they are beyond recognizing their position. They’ll keep at it, like Nazis in Skokie, far past the time that everyone else has realized that they have become a pathetic joke.

Filed Under News, Wars and Rumors of Wars

War with Iran – 27 Years and Counting

January 25, 2007 By Laura 17 Comments

After more than a quarter century of war with Iran, we still haven’t really started fighting, and they have only fought us openly once. Now Iran’s aggressive behavior is escalating, they seek nuclear weapons, and Ahmadinejad said only this week that we “will soon come to the end of our lives.” Another Iranian official said “the Iranian nation will strike 10 slaps to the face of America, in such a way that it will no longer be able to get up on the stage.”

They ran roughshod over Jimmy Carter, but they knew better than to play those games with Ronald Reagan. And that, in a nutshell, is how we still ought to be dealing with them. Carter was and is weak, advocating begging our enemies to behave themselves and appealing to higher natures that they simply do not possess. Today’s Democrats, and more than a few Republicans, emulate him.

Our hostages were released on Reagan’s Inauguration Day – a testimony to the fact that peace cannot be achieved by giving in to an enemy. Carter tried, as did Chamberlain before him, and exposed himself as a fool before the entire world. It’s time we re-learned that lesson.

1981: Hostages arrive home from Iran

hostages.jpgA group of 52 Americans arrived back in the United States today after being held hostage by Iran for 444 days. The hostages were released just five days earlier, the same day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th U.S. President.

“The released hostages stepped off ‘Freedom One,’ the jet that brought them home from West Germany, to an explosion of cheers at Stewart Airport and threw themselves into the arms of waiting and weeping relatives,” wrote The Post Standard on January 26, 1981. “The hostages were serenaded along the route with ‘God Bless America’, ‘America the Beautiful’ and chants of ‘USA! USA! USA!’ by people teeming behind barricades along the route under trees streaming with yellow ribbons.”

UPDATE: I’ve said before that we need another Churchill or at least a Reagan. And I’ve supported the Iraq war in no small part because it puts our troops near Iran’s border. My frustration with President Bush over allowing the troops to be restrained by what I think are excessively protective rules of engagement has been huge. His stubborn refusal to fight back against the propaganda war being waged by the enemy and aided and abetted by our own media most of the time infuriates me. But looking beyond that, he’s accomplished a lot in one area of the larger war on terror. Few people would accuse the Bush administration with subtlety, but maybe they ought to. This Captain’s Quarter’s post about trouble between Iran’s mullahs and their pet Ahmadinejad makes a great point:

However, even if this is a put-on, it still could indicate some insecurity on the part of Iran’s real power brokers. They may have decided that the Bush administration would cave on its tough stance, or that the other Western nations would force him to moderate his position. The Iraq Study Group report may also have given them hope that the US would come hat in hand to Teheran, ready to cut a deal that would allow them much greater hegemony in the Middle East and with better opportunity to pressure its bete noir, Israel.

Bush hasn’t blinked — and the Iranians are slowly realizing that he won’t. Having parked two carrier groups off their shores and in position to take action in the Straits of Hormuz, the mullahs are running out of options for threatening gestures, especially since Saudi Arabia announced a spare oil production capacity that exceeds Iran’s total exports. They can look around their borders and see the US in almost every single adjacent nation.

That’s power, and the Iranians recognize it, even if most Americans do not. Bush has slowly and quietly surrounded the Iranians and threaten every line of communication they have. The US has led the march towards expanding the sanctions we have had on Iran for a generation to most of the West, and even Iranian oil hasn’t been able to reverse the momentum.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Random Yak, Adam’s Blog, Big Dog’s Weblog, basil’s blog, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Thought Alarm, Conservative Cat, Sujet- Celebrities, Wake Up America, third world county, The HILL Chronicles, Woman Honor Thyself, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein… has no mercy, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Filed Under Other Blogs, Wars and Rumors of Wars

Eason on Down the MSM Road

January 23, 2007 By Laura 17 Comments

I had been hopeful that Eason Jordan may have turned back from the dark side somewhat with his latest efforts on IraqSlogger, and inviting Michelle Malkin to Iraq. But apparently even before she left, he could not resist taking a few slams at her, and engaging in the typical MSM fact twisting and falsehoods that have made so many of us distrust them. His plan to get Michelle and Bryan to Iraq was, to assume the best and to be kind, poorly thought out. Instead of military embedding, he wanted to use private security forces.

Perhaps he fears the troops he accused of murder more than being kidnapped by the “insurgents” and “dissidents” so beloved by the MSM. After all, given his complicity in Saddam Husseins reign of terror, if Sunnis captured him he could probably talk his way out of it. And if Shias kidnapped him, he could convert with all the enthusiasm he had when supporting the AP’s use of propaganda.

I was hopeful, for a while there, that Eason Jordan may have seen the light, but it’s clear that even though he’s making his living from blogging these days, he’s still easing on down the MSM road.

Filed Under Other Blogs

Idols

January 22, 2007 By Laura 17 Comments

There are probably a thousand things I’d like to blog about. Partly because I’m interested in a variety of things, but mostly because if I’m blogging, I’m focusing on worldly things and that’s a great deal easier than the alternative. Part of the reason I like to blog is to maintain more of a connection to the outside world – I’m a web developer with a home office. It can be very isolated. I also wanted to improve my writing, and if you want to be a better writer, you need to write more. Writing is also how I “process” things – I find it very helpful to write in order to clarify my thinking on a topic. I can’t do much to support the war effort, but being part of the huge chorus of people who do – 101st Keyboardists, Chairborne Division :-) – is at least something, however small. So I have many reasons for wanting to blog, some better than others.

After the visitor count exceeded 4,000 a month, I became far too interested in the stats. Even accounting for the fact that many people come here looking for porn – no, really - I was a bit too excited about traffic and getting linked to by bigger bloggers from time to time.

My spiritual life – and I think this is true for most people – ebbs and flows. When I started this blog, I was so thrilled with what God was showing me every day. That was almost exclusively what I wrote about. These days, not so much… I’ve been building my house on the sand. I wrote in “Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Not Political Parties” that excessive partisanship, and excessive interest in politics is a sign of Christian immaturity for the simple reason that all of this is temporary.

When I sit in church listening to a great sermon and find myself thinking about a blog post, I know there is a problem. In many ways this blog has become an idol for me. What is an idol? This Sovereign Grace sermon series (audio, notes) on idolatry explains.

“An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as God. All sorts of things are potential idols, depending only on our attitudes and actions toward them…Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character. It may well come in the form of an over-attachment to something that is, in itself, perfectly good…An idol can be a physical object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero – anything that can substitute for God.”
– Richard Keyes

So I’m going to be spending less time on the temporary, and a lot more time on things that are eternal.

Filed Under Christian Living, Other Blogs

Carnival of Hurricane Relief, #71

January 18, 2007 By Laura Leave a Comment

There are some great stories in this edition of the Carnival of Hurricane Relief. Go have a look!

Filed Under Hurricane Katrina

Don’t Download This Song

January 18, 2007 By Laura 18 Comments

It’s another Weird Al Day. His skewed vision of the world is a perfect fit for the day because I just checked my referrers. It’s amazing how many first time visitors come to Pursuing Holiness looking for pornography. The latest is people looking for rape video, because of this post. This is discouraging for two reasons – there are a lot of sick, twisted people in the world. And not only are they sick and twisted, they’re stupid. Really stupid. For pity’s sake, why would someone looking for porn come to the domain www.pursuingholiness.com? Jeez.

Filed Under Other Blogs

Ex President For Sale; Bad Poetry No Charge

January 16, 2007 By Laura 1 Comment

There was a time when I believed that Jimmy Carter, while a weak and ineffectual President, had at least distinguished himself in his post-presidency activities. Well, except for the bad poetry. It’s truly cringeworthy. But promoting Habitat for Humanity, with its concept of “sweat equity” and teaching people to be homeowners was wonderful. A charity that doesn’t just give a free handout but really works alongside people to help them move up in the world is one of the best modern examples of teaching someone to fish instead of giving them a fish, and Carter did well to promote it.

But things change, or at least we tend to learn more than just what’s on the surface. Rachel Ehrenfeld has a excellent editorial at the Washington Times called Carter’s Arab financiers. (h/t Wizbang)

Alan Dershowitz has a great deal more in Ex-President for Sale, the first of a six part series among many interesting articles he’s recently posted on Gather.

Carter is not just a man who failed to respond to the Iranian declaration of war back in 1979. His statements, behavior, and the people and organizations that he chooses to befriend, make it look as though he actually agreed with it.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, Perri Nelson’s Website, Mark My Words, The Random Yak, Big Dog’s Weblog, Adam’s Blog, basil’s blog, DragonLady’s World, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Conservative Cat, Wake Up America, Rightwing Guy, The HILL Chronicles, third world county, Faultline USA, Stageleft, stikNstein… has no mercy, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, Planck’s Constant, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox News, Dumb Ox News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Filed Under Politics, Religion Of Peace™, Wars and Rumors of Wars
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