Veritas Forum

"Tobacco company-sponsored anti-smoking advertising aimed at youths not only has no negative effect on teen smoking, it may actually encourage youngsters to smoke, according to a study co-authored by an Oregon State University researcher."

Mmmmm...

Helped along by Dhimmitude in Britain.

"A man who was being hunted for the murder of a policewoman is understood to have escaped from Britain by disguising himself as a veiled Muslim woman.

Mustaf Jama, a prime suspect in the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, assumed his sister’s identity — wearing the niqab and using her passport — to evade supposedly stringent checks at Heathrow, according to police sources."

My sympathies rest entirely with the young man who sought to destroy the inflatable Frosty. I'm thinking I just might be able to get a Liberty Mr. Cynical out of this...

Harold Meyerson, the vitiating troll of the Washington Post's editorial pages, has written a delightful column about his loathing for orthodox Christians. It's nice to be reminded of just how much toxin is in the liberal worldview. Remember, these people will put us up against the wall and shoot us if they get the chance. Though on second thought I doubt they'll use a method of execution so relatively painless.

Men and women process pain differently.

This essay by Carl Trueman offers an interesting perspective on the Ted Haggard debacle. He examines Augustine's commentary on problems with some early church leaders. A summary of his argument is as follows:

Leaders such as Ted Haggard are akin to the Holy Men of the early church. They are individuals of great charisma who symbolize the superiority of Christianity by outdoing the pagans in terms of the measures of success within the wider society; and such culturally acceptable success lifts them above criticism, giving them a quasi-godlike status. In addition, there is a certain parallel between the nature of human leadership in general as that which involves power and the nature of human sin as the transgression of God’s law. Throw into the mix crowds of adoring followers and a culture which judges success by numbers, wealth, access to the media and to the great and the good in Washington or elsewhere, and you have a situation where the capacity for human self-love and self-deception can potentially spiral out of control. That this so often finds expressing in sexual encounters of the most transgressive nature should be no surprise, for such activity is human self-love in its most unadulterated form.

A couple weeks ago I linked to a story about how Morocco (that haven of Muslim moderation) had jailed a German for "attempting to shake the faith of a Muslim." Well, here's a good piece on the plight of Morocco's Christians, who, while not being martyred yet, are certainly being oppressed.

This will remind all fans of many incidents in that brilliant British TV show.

Robert J. Samuelson has a good piece in the WaPo today that explains why declining American power is going to lead to a nastier world.

Given the rampant anti-Americanism abroad today, the fading of Pax Americana may inspire much glee. The United States is widely regarded as an arrogant source of instability, blamed for many global woes -- from greenhouse gases to Islamic militancy to unpopular globalization. No one can know what will replace Pax Americana, but with time, the people who now celebrate its decline may conclude that its failures were mainly those of good intentions and that its successes were unwisely taken for granted.

From America's finest news source:

RANGOON, MYANMAR—Than Shwe, the brutal dictator of the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, dramatically increased his already horrific rate of murdering citizens this week in a late, desperate attempt to become Time magazine's 2006 Man Of The Year, who will be honored in the Dec. 25 issue.

Hilarious piece on the quirks of some of the world's leading despots.

SeaTac removed Christmas trees after a Rabbi asked for a menorah display. They didn't want to be exclusive.

Widow-burning is making a comeback in parts of India. Aren't we all so excited that they're repudiating the legacy of British imperialism and returning to the happy practice of sati?

Remember the Democrat with 90,000 of cash in his freezer? Well, he's coming back to congress. I bet Pelosi tries to make him a committee chair...

"It was brewed in the year that the Suez Canal opened, Charles Dickens embarked on one of his last literary tours and the Cutty Sark was launched in Scotland.

But the recently-discovered cache of 1869 ale should have been undrinkable, given the conventional brewing wisdom that even the best beers are supposed to last no more than a couple of decades. Beer experts, however, say the 137-year-old brew tastes "absolutely amazing"."

Did anyone else suddenly get the urge to stash a few brews away?

Little Green Footballs on the saga of determining just what it was that was motivating a freelance terrorist wannabe.

From a piece on the new Canadian TV series, Little Mosque on the Prairie, "six imams were hauled off a US Airways plane in Minnesota in November after apparently spooking at least one fellow passenger by murmuring prayers that included the word Allah." Of course, as readers of this humble weblog know, those imams were doing more than just murmuring.

From a writer for the Washington Post, who is arguing that same-sex divorce proves that there ought to be same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, high-profile same-sex couples, including the named plaintiffs in Massachusetts' landmark case, are splitting up just like other couples do. In San Francisco, the "namesake" same-sex couple in that state's fight also split up last month and a similarly-situated couple in Vermont also appears to have done the same...Opponents of same-sex marriage point to these break-ups as proof that there can be no "sanctity" in a same-sex union. As a divorced man, I see the opposite. To me, these high-profile break-ups help prove that same-sex couples are just as capable of dreaming and failing as are so many of the rest of us.

The idea that both divorce and gay marriage are desecrations of marriage doesn't seem to have come into his mind at all.

But wait, I thought the Koran taught that there was no compulsion in religion...
"MOGADISHU, Somalia — Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days...Those who do not follow the prayer edict after three days have elapsed, "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law,"

Note the apt name of the fellow quoted above: Rage.

There's a good piece on Islamic outrages over on Human Events. It includes this, "In Sudan, a slave assigned to watch his Muslim master's camels was crucified when he was caught sneaking out to attend a Christian church."

This is the best column I've yet seen on the 6 flying imams. The opening: "Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Those are the words that started it all. Six bearded imams are said to have shouted them out while offering evening prayers as they and 141 other passengers waited at the gate for their flight out of Minneapolis International Airport. It was three days before Thanksgiving. Allahu Akbar: God is great.

Initial media reports of the incident did not include the disturbing details about what happened after they boarded US Airways flight 300, but the story quickly went national with provocative headlines: "Six Muslims Ejected from US Air Flight for Praying." Yes, they were praying--but let's be clear about this. The very last human sound on the cockpit voice recorder of United flight 93 before it screamed into the ground at 580 miles per hour is the sound of male voices shouting "Allahu Akbar" in a moment of religious ecstasy."

Go read the whole piece.

How a piece this good got into the LA Times I don't know, but it's worth the reading. An excerpt: "Protests aimed at keeping the pope out of Hagia Sophia rocked Istanbul right up to the morning of his visit to the site. Contrast that intolerance with the tolerance granted Muslims in regard to the Al Aqsa mosque — this time, an Islamic site in Jerusalem annexed by Judaism. Unlike the permanent Muslim desecration of Hagia Sophia, after Israel's victory in the 1967 war, the Jews did not deface or convert the mosque into a Jewish synagogue or temple, even though the Al Aqsa mosque is deliberately built atop the remains of the Temple Mount, the holiest site of Judaism and, by extension, an important site for Christians. Moreover, since reclaiming the Temple Mount, Israel has granted Muslims control over the Al Aqsa mosque (except during times of crises)."

Free occupied Constantinople!

Happy Monday, to ya'll. Fun news from Saudi Arabia.

"-- RIYADH, Saudi Arabia _ Saudi women still can't drive cars, but they can sell them. Potential buyers can go to an all-women showroom where, for the first time, other women will help them choose a car and answer questions about horsepower, carburetors and other automotive features.

Neither the saleswomen nor the female buyers can take the car out for a test drive because women are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia _ even though they have been allowed to own cars for decades and hire male drivers. Almost half the autos belong to women."

It's a less bloody item than most Islamic outrages I post, but a telling one.

Another story of how those poor Palestinians are oppressed by the Israelis. Oops, looks like it's Islam and not Irael behind this.
"A hitherto unknown group calling itself the Just Swords of Islam issued a warning to Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip over the weekend that they must wear the hijab or face being targeted by the group's members...The group said its followers last week threw acid at the face of a young woman who was dressed "immodestly" in the center of Gaza City. They also destroyed a car belonging to a young man who was playing his radio tape too loudly...According to the group, its members used rocket-propelled grenades to attack 12 Internet cafes and a number of music shops in different parts of the Gaza Strip."

Also note that the Gaza strip has about the highest fertility rate on earth. Time to buy more weapons.

I am entirely in favor of this. Make the Muslim children take part too, and if they don't like it, they should get out of France and go to some desolate Islamic hellhole. Seriously, how can you be French without knowing about wine? "French schools should teach children the virtues of drinking wine, a report by France's governing party says."

Since it's been a while, here's a slew of them.

Muslim Mob Kills Six Christians In Ethiopia

A good piece on how Islam destroyed Orthodox Christianity in Turkey.

Here's news on the jolly rape-supporting Muslims in Pakistan.

A teacher is brutally murdered by the Taliban for instructing girls.

Morocco jails German for trying to convert Muslims